BluMunk

It's great. I do notice that there seems to be some inconsistency in the response of the black keys compared to the white keys- at light touch sometimes they don't sound. But I haven't measured it and am playing with different touch settings to see if it's just about finding the right response settings and the right approach to playing. Also, the highest Bb and B rub against each other and the B sticks in the down position when played. I am rarely at those top 3 notes of the keyboard, so at the moment any repair feels like more risk/trouble than it's worth. It's really a joy to play. I also recently purchased Alicia's Keys (on sale and mentioned in this thread earlier this spring), and the two play together really well. I haven't done much with the aftertouch (aside from testing to make sure it works)... at the moment I'm just reveling in what feels like a very natural key-to-ear playing experience. The midiboard action is precise and responsive in a way that a lot of other boards I've used are not. (Also, I really love the form factor for my small studio/office space. Having the top of the instrument serve as a level shelf provides so many micro quality-of-life enhancers over boards with slanted tops and/or tops covered with vital panels and controls).

This arrived a few weeks ago... loving it so far. ----------

I played the GX for many years. I really like the action. On the heavy side, very solid feeling. A little difficult (at least for me) to get really rapid-fire on it. I can't speak to the SX.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4GK8P_OMq8

We're directly under totality here, and just watched it from the back yard. Way cooler than I had expected. Not only the sun/moon itself at the moment of totality, but also the sense that it's sunset in 360 degrees. I had thought 'dark' would be 'dark', but of course it was only ~50 miles away north and south (and farther east and west) that had 'normal-to-semi-darkened' sunlight. So, the horizon in every direction had varying degrees of 'sunset' light. Also, the process of going from 'mostly' eclipsed to 'totality' and then back from 'totality' to 'mostly' was very quick and dramatic.

Too true. One of my first paying (poorly) gigs was a duo with a vocalist... he had a stack of karaoke CDs. I copied them to mini-disc which felt a little more robust to me than gigging with a CD player, and off we went. All the tracks had piano on them, but I just duplicated and/or played right over the piano on those tracks, with my piano louder than the tracks in the mix so it kind of worked. It felt strange to me, but as you say, I don't think any of our audience noticed or cared. We eventually moved away from those tracks to a 3-piece plus vocals. A lot more musically rewarding, but much more difficult to rehearse and much less lucrative per gig. And, we had sized ourselves out of a lot of the cafe/restaurant gigs we had done as a duo.

I'm in a pretty small "big city" in a rural part of the country. Growing up, we had 1 music retailer in town, and while it may not have been anywhere near as exhaustive and comprehensive as some of the big players in music retail, it felt magical going there as a teen. Not only for the instruments, but for the sense that you were in a space populated by gigging musicians. We had a very vibrant music scene here in the 90s, and the kids, amateurs, and pros all shared the store. Yes, it was a commercial space, but it also embodied a sense of community. I'm pretty sure my parents bought my first 'piano' there (a Yamaha electric furniture/home model), I got my first electric guitar and amp there, my Roland RD700-GX, the Korg M3 (used) in my profile pic, and countless cables, pics, hand drum pieces, sheet music, pedals, and other gear. I also got hands on plenty of new and used keyboard equipment... it was never a huge department, but they always had a selection of the latest from Roland, Yamaha, and Korg, and a decent turnover of used gear. A Guitar Center opened here in 2012, but even by then the local shop was starting to be threatened by online shopping. A few years ago the local store sold to a larger retailer that seems to focus mostly on band/orchestra instruments and relationships with schools and students in that sphere. Which is great, but far from the gigging guitar/drum/bass/keyboard player resource it once was. Anyway, just a data point, and noting that especially in smaller communities, a music store can really serve as a hub for active musicians, and that shared community space is one of the intangible things we lose when we lose retail shops. As fun as it is to joke about people playing Smoke on the Water in the music store, I remember being 10 (or whatever) and hearing people playing those 'cliched' songs on the showroom floor, and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. I aspired to be able to do that! Now that exposure is going, going, gone.

Happy day, and I'm grateful for this space you (and others) have maintained for us all!

Just adding... I am a relatively new Forte 7 user (bought it from a forumite last year), and I am loving the action. In my opinion it is very light (and maybe shallower than some), but sturdy, and allows for expressive piano playing. If I felt like going back to moving long, 50lb+ boards around I'd snap up a full-sized Forte for gigs when I need a full-size board.

Only on this forum would the words "my ventilator just died" not be followed by panicked responses of "get off the internet and call 911 you dope!"

I'm plugged into the DXR's line level input, and that level can't get any quieter... it's sitting somewhere between -infinity and -20. Sounds like a mixer is the answer? I was hoping folks with deeper audio experience might have some simple-but-not-obvious-to-the-lay-person alternative

So, I'm using a Kurzweil Forte, going direct into a Yamaha DXR10. For this particular gig, turning up the volume slider to like 2 out of 10, and keeping the monitor's input at that same relative position (reading somewhere between 'off' and -20db) is plenty loud. The challenge is twofold: first, I have very little room to adjust volume if/as necessary. Second, I'm also sending signal to a board for recording, and they're not getting the amount of signal they'd like. So, I think what I'd like to be able to do is to be able to send a louder signal (like, have the volume @ 50% on the Kurzweil) to the sound board, while also sending a quieter signal to my amp. I've never had this issue before, but it's also my first gig with the Forte, so I'm learning more about it. Anyway, is there an easy solution here? I can always add a mixer, but having another thing to plug in is a sub-optimal solution.

If your budget is zero and you have both options available... I'd test both at home, and if both get the job done pick the one that feels right. It sounds like you'd sacrifice some functionality if you went with the M1 because of some software that doesn't function in the new architecture? In that case, stick with the Intel Mac. There's no reason to go with the newer machine if you don't need to. (as a side note, I just listened to the video in your sig... very cool and impressive!)

I don't know if that's as clear as you make it out to be. In the interview, Mark asks something like "if we could replace the guts of that synth over there with a digital recreation, but keep all the interface the same, how would you feel?"... and Anthony says something along the lines of "well, probably, I'd be fine with it," but kind of struggled with the concept. And, I think @Jim Alfredson was referring to digital in general, not VSTs specifically (though am happy to be corrected). There's a discussion to be had about mouse/keyboard/screen interfaces vs. knobby/slider-y interfaces that has nothing to do with the words analog and digital.

Isn't it solved though? Is there anything about digital that prevents it from having the same tactile knobby goodness as a favorite analog? It seems to me that the issue is a different one that they touch on in the video: digital technology has so many more possibilities that it has potential for no limitations. But without limitations, where does the thrill of discovery and refinement of concepts come from? Want digital that's just as inspirational and fun as analog? Slap a knobby interface on it, and resist the urge to design in features more complicated than the interface can handle. Refuse to add any features behind a 'shift' button.