HSS

At most I'd perhaps do a solo gig with a drum machine but beyond that playing a band gig with full-blown backing tracks isn't for me. I'd rather sound like crap that than be a mime pretending to play. Having said this, I don't begrudge anyone doing what they want or need to do, especially to pay the bills. It's interesting that one of the bands I play with is a Grateful Dead band. Needless to say, Dead songs aren't very amenable to using the backing-tracks and the dancing hippie Deadheads would probably walk out of any show if backing tracks were used. Having said this, I'm not a Deadhead and play with that band mainly because it's the best paying gig I have and it's fun playing in front of folks who are actually focused on the band's music. My other gigging bands are musically better than the Dead band, but they don't pay as much, and their audiences are pretty much unaware of what the band is doing on stage. They could use backing tracks and, for the most part, their audiences wouldn't know the difference or care.

I met Joe a few times about 15 -20 years ago when I lived in Houston. He recommended KC to me. He's a good dude.

When gigging with one of my low-brow blues or soul bands with one of my clones, regardless of the song, I always start with the old standby 888000000, with C3 on, 3rd perc / fast on, and Leslie sim off / brake. I then start pulling/pushing draws and toggling things on/off dependent upon the song's vibe, the band mix, and my mood. During solos I tend to pull /push draws and toggle things on/off more, often pulling upper draws to add some screaming sizzle during the solos' climaxes. I would add that I'm a mediocre payer at best and in my old fart dotage, I'm lazy and don't want to and often can't remember specific settings for different tunes, so I go with my gut feeling in the moment. I suspect if I wasn't so lazy and more professional, I would probably memorize settings for specific songs and/or take copious notes on stage with me.

True... I have a new PC4-7, which has excellent sounds and controller features, but I'm reluctant to give up my old SP4-7 because of its small footprint and sturdy steel build. Of course, the SP4-7's sturdy steel build comes with an extra 5 or 6 lbs. of weight vs. the PC4-7. Sorry for wandering OT.

I have a P121 which I really like. The reason I'd prefer a semi-weighted version of a CK is because I suck at playing organ chops on a fully-weighted hammer action board. Each to their own. In any case, a small footprint 73 or 76 key option is a sweet spot for many low-brow dive bar players like me who usually end up on dinky little stages fighting for a few extra inches of space.

The CK's look like a lot of bang-for-the-buck. If Yamaha came out with a 73 or 76 key semi-weighted CK, I'd probably jump on it.

I recently bought a used mint-condition Kurz PC4-7. I really like it's sounds, portability, interface with numerous assignable knobs and sliders, midi capabilities, and compromise SW action. IMO it's AP's and EP's are top shelf, especially after adding Dave Weiser's sounds and the Purgatory Creek Rhodes. It's KB3 and Leslie sim, although not quite as good as my Hammond SK1 or NE 5dD, work for me in a band setting. My only slight concern with the PC4-7 is its durability with its lightweight plastic shell FWIW... My old SP4-7 feels more durable with its largely metal shell. Of course that metal shell adds about 5 lbs. of weight.

Paul McCartney's tribute to Jimmy Buffett was impressive both in its length and content. RIP Jimmy. I hope you found that lost shaker of salt. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/paul-mccartney-pays-tribute-jimmy-204155085.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

Sorry for going OT, but barf buckets and tubs were real in some of the joints in New Orleans when I lived there during the 80's. I know because on one ill-fated night of debauchery I partook of one at a joint called "Nick's" (?).

Crap... RIP Robbie Robertson.

I lived in N.O. during the 80's so my knowledge might be dated. Besides the usual suspects, (e.g. Maple Leaf, Tipitina's, etc.), there used to be a joint I frequented on Frenchmen Street in the Faubourg Marigny called "Snug Harbor" that had good live music. I used to catch Walter Wolfman Washington and Charmaine Neville there on a fairly regular basis. I remember one night Dr. John came and sat in with the Wolfman for pretty much the entire show. There was another fun place in Mid City called "Rock 'n Bowl" which was a bowling alley with live bands.

Thanks. So I might have been originally correct that no specific string resonance effect is available for the piano samples on the CK's, only damper resonance. Could the CK's "Harmonic Enhancer" which creates harmonic overtones be an effect that is roughly equivalent to string resonance if it's dialed in correctly? Sorry if that's a stupid question which I excel at. FWIW... Here is the spec page 25 from the P125-121 manual which explicitly shows string resonance (outlined in red).

Thanks! I missed it. I need bifocals. Hopefully man-sized diapirs are still a few years down the road.

It's not a deal breaker for me but when I quickly perused the CK's user manual I didn't see anything about string resonance for the piano samples. Do the CK's have it? My Yamaha P121 does so it would be a little surprising to me if the CK's don't.

Agree... FWIW, I use Vycro MX software rather than John Melas software with my MX88 because it was free when I downloaded it a few years ago and I'm notoriously cheap. Vycro MX software, however, is probably not as powerful and smooth as John Melas software but it still works for me, letting me set up complex performances with multiple splits and layers with up to 16 parts. Both the MX 88 and CK88 have USB midi and audio which is a nice feature for hooking up an Ipad / Iphone to access more sounds with one cable IMHO this can help mitigate issues with the MX's older sound set.

FWIW... My brother-in-law is from and still lives in Uzbekistan and doesn't speak English (or any Western language other than a little Russian). He tactfully told me a few years ago, via translation, that Western / European music sounds like noise to him. Of course, being a proud Murican, I jokingly replied via translation that his native Uzbek music was weird and out-of-tune sounding to me. We then laughed and pounded down our beers. Sorry for wandering OT, which I'm prone to do in my dotage.

FWIW... The only "tribute band" I'm currently gigging with is a Grateful Dead tribute band. Since the Dead never did any of their own songs the same way twice, it gives me considerable freedom to do them the way I want to within my own technical limitations. Most of my other current gigs are with blues and old school soul bands with no expectations of covering songs precisely.

FWIW... Here's Ray putting his own stank on a tune. He mutated this country classic into a funky vibe. https://youtu.be/MDvPkuuNEdU IMHO this is what real top shelf musicians / "artists" do when doing someone else's tune. Of course, since I suck, I just kind of copy songs within my limitations. When I solo, I try to capture the song's vibe along with my own feelings at that moment in time, usually leveraging my small basket of licks mainly based on minor and major pentatonic scales. Besides, I'm not technically good enough to precisely copy other's solos. When I try to abuse the audience with my vocals, I often change the key until I don't squawk like Donald Duck. I get my $75 - $150 for the gig and go home. And yes, I confess, I'm guilty of occasionally using the transpose button. So that's that.

Idiocracy.

“I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes” - Henry David Thoreau, Walden Having quoted the brilliant Thoreau, I confess that I recently bought a tye die shirt for some gigs I'm doing with a Grateful Dead tribute band.

I played a Yamaha CK88 next to Yamaha P125 at a local GC last week. IMO the P125's speakers were noticeably louder and had more bass response than the CK's. FWIW... The published specs for the speakers on both boards support my impression.

Thanks for the info about the RD88's splitting capabilities. The onboard speakers for the RD88 and CK88 are both rated at 6 watts per side. FWIW the RD 88 appears to win on specs alone with two 4.7" woofers and two .78" tweeters, while the CK88 apparently only has two full-range 4.72" speakers. Of course, a lot depends on how the speakers are configured and their sound dispersion both for the player and a potential small "audience". Based on the specs alone, the onboard speakers in the Yamaha P121 (and P125), which I have, appears to be better / louder than both the CK88 and RD88, being rated at 7 watts per side with two 4.7" woofers and two 1.5" tweeters. Having said this, manufacturer specs often end up being meaningless in the real world.

Thanks for the info. That's good that more than one split point can be programmed into the RD88 and saved to a scene. Perhaps a software update could fix the issue with the split / dual buttons overriding the splits in the scene. But given that the RD88 has been around for a few years, Roland may not be prone to do more updates. Having said this, the RD88 is a couple hundred bucks cheaper than the CK88 and is thus an attractive option for me, especially given that I'm notoriously cheap and the two boards are comparable in many ways. FWIW... The dedicated organ section on the CK, although a nice feature, is not critical to me because, if necessary, I can cover B3 with my Hammond SK1 or Nord 5d (or with IOS VB3m). Besides, I hate trying to do B3 licks on weighted keys.

A little bit OT: The CK's can apparently implement three zones with two separate split points. After quickly going through Roland RD88's manual it appeared to me that, although it can also implement three zones, it was limited to one split point. Does anyone know if I'm correct about this?

As observed at the top of this thread, a lot of the bands were like wind-up toys at live shows in the 70's. IMO The Meters were one of the few bands back then who usually stayed in the funky pocket when playing live without speeding up too much. Maybe they were drinking whiskey and doing 'ludes rather than tooting up, who knows. In fact, in this example, the drummer Zigaboo Modeliste, actually seems to slow the tempo down leading into the next song during the drum break beginning at ~3' 10". https://youtu.be/p5IQ0y8wllk?t=122