HSS

I picked up a TC Helicon SingThing powered-monitor mini-PA /vocal processor about a year ago mainly to mess with around at home. The SingThing is essentially an updated version of the older Voicesolo FX15O which was a pricier and IMO better sounding alternative to the Mackie SRM150 and Behringer 205d hotspot min-PA's. The SingThing, like the older Voicesolo FX150, is very portable and weighs ~7 lbs., IMO it would probably be loud enough for keys and vocals at a small intimate venue. I must admit that I'm quite surprised by the SingThing's sound quality. Although the SingThing is not as loud as either the SRM150 or B205d, IMO itsoverall audio quality and bass response are significantly better. The SingThing has a Tannoy 6.5" co-axial speaker and is rated at 150 watts max. I haven't seen published SPL's but I suspect its max SPL may be in the 80 -100 range. In any case, the SingThing is louder than the internal speakers on most portable digital pianos I've played (e.g. Privias, P125, ES110, Compact 2/2x, etc.)

These new Numa X pianos sound very interesting, especially the 25 lb. 73 key version with the supposedly new improved TP/110 action. I have the Numa Compact 2X and, even though it's not a top shelf board, IMO it's a helluva lot of board for just $600 both in terms of onboard sounds and controller capabilities. Hopefully these new Numa X pianos follow suit, and offer similar bang-for-the-buck.

Here's Carolyn Wonderland's drummer rockin' out on a Cajon in Austin about nine years ago. IMO it sounds pretty good. [video:youtube]

Not only was Billy Preston the consummate natural-born musician, as you can see in this video of him playing with Ray Charles in 1967, he could bust moves that rivaled James Brown's. [video:youtube]

I haver a couple of cheap Behringer B208d's in my combination home office / studio. The room is only12 x 12 ft so the B208d's work fine. Any more power / spl would be overkill for my purposes.

Hey, where do you go to get refurbished Alto's? I love their stuff -- and no, they did not pay me $5 to say that.Early last week there were eight refurbished Alto TS310's listed on Reverb.com for $185 each with free shipping (plus sales tax). My offers of $150 for one and $165 for a second one were accepted. All eight were snapped up within a day or two. I was lucky that I happened to see them because I hadn't sniffed around on the Reverb.com site for a couple of months. FWIW... Here's the original Reverb.com add for the refurbished Alto TS310's. Maybe the guy will have some more refurbished Alto stuff available before too much longer: https://reverb.com/item/38529260-alto-professional-ts310-2000-w-10-2-way-powered-speaker-refurbished-by-alto I tested the two TS310's out yesterday after they were delivered and, as reported by others here at KC, they are definately serious bang-for-the-buck. I'm going to unload a couple of Behringer B212d's, a Casio CTK-3500, and a Rolls headphone amp on local Craiglist to help pay for 'em.

I just purchased a pair of refurbished Alto TS310's for $340 total with a 14 day return policy. I'm anxious to see how they compare to my Yamaha DBR10 to determine if I hang onto them or return them and use the money to buy a second DBR10.

Based on manufacturer specs and comments here at KC and elsewhere, Alto powered speakers, which I have no experience with, appear to be serious bang-for-the buck. I'm curious specifically about how the Alto TS310 campares to the Yamaha DBR10 which I currently have. I'd like to hear from anyone who has had real world experience with both because, as we all know, manufacturer specs can be misleading,

Crap! RIP Mr. Hill.

True. For example when I sum the Grand Lady D sample to mono on my Nord, IMO it sounds like azzz compared to the newer White Grand sample which sounds much better summed to mono. It may have something to do with the width / separation of the stereo field the sample was recorded with and the resultant phase issues when summed to mono.

Unfortunately my Numa Compact 2X doesn't sum to mono at the left (or right) output like most boards, it has no mono summing button like on my Nord 5D, and has no mono piano samples. As a result, when I gig with bands in mono with the Numa Compact 2X, I just use its right output because its more focused on the upper octaves than the left output and cuts through the band mix a little better and clashes with the bass player a little less. Just using its right output also reduces possible phasing problems that sometimes happen when stereo samples are summed. Having said this, to my ear, the sound from the Numa Compact 2X's right output by itself is a little 'thinner' than summing to mono or playing full stereo. FWIW... Here's a very good summary of the mono vs. stereo issue written by highly esteemed KC forumite Kanker (aka Kevin Anker) who was mentioned earlier in this thread: https://www.musicradar.com/how-to/how-to-solve-stereo-stage-piano-problems?fbclid=IwAR0MRH6b_mY8lEjb9UqHRZev1LNqVK55dPCSKyfiZesqARUGnAHbSl5eh1k

I agree. I picked up two factory-refurbished B208D's last year for just a hundred bucks and change each. Although the B208D's aren't nearly as loud and hi-fi as QSC K8's or even Alto TS308's, the B208D's are cheaper and weigh less than either. At low volumes for a solo or duo act, IMO the B208D's are actually decent for keys and vocals as long as you don't drive them too hard and don't need butt-shaking bass.

Some of Ringo's grooves were simple but wonderfully weird. I used to gig on drums and always had difficulty with some of his stuff (e.g. into to "Come Together"). From the man himself, at ~3' 20" in this video, Ringo starts talking about being how he's left-handed playing on a right handed kit.

"Jazz isn't dead. It just smells funny." - Frank Zappa

The Yamaha DBR10 is pretty good for the money. It's similar to the DXR10, but with less power, lighter (~23 lbs.), and about half the price. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DBR10--yamaha-dbr10-700w-10-inch-powered-speaker

I'm in same boat wanting to be able to mix a few sounds on my old Iphone 6s. I already have VB3m and Ravenscroft running flawlessly and, like you, am looking for decent cheap Rhodes / Wurlies. In addition to basic sound mixing on the Iphone, I also want to be able to convert between mono / stereo and do basic zoning/ splitting with volume control (e.g. organ pad on left hand and AP on right). After reviewing some YouTube videos it looks like AUM can do these things so this is probably what I'm going with.

Thanks for the heads-up D-Dave. That's good news about VB3m running on a Samsung Galaxy S6. I already have VB3m running great on my Iphone 6s and Ipad Pro 9.7". I also have a Samsung Galaxy S7 with Android 8.0 OS so I may pick up VB3m for it and give it a whirl. FWIW... At $14 a pop, VB3m is a no-brainer even if I have to buy seperate IOS and Android versions of it for a total of $28. Having said this, I wish there was a way I could get a discount because I'm a shameless cheapskate. Kudos to Guido for cranking this puppy out at an incredible price and then fast-as-a-speeding-bullet updating in response to user recommendations.

Similar. Somehow a little more solid/substantial feeling, though. And better than my MODX7 or Korg PA1000. Competitive with the Vox Continental. Vox is more even to the back which is nice. But the "harder edges" to the keys (especially the black keys) makes the PC4-7 seem more piano like. I think the Kurz would be better at preventing you from accidentally hitting notes adjacent to your target (a common problem with playing piano on non-hammer actions), but the edges are not sharp like the early SP4-7, there's no impediment to organ playing. Thanks. That sounds encouraging. I like the SP4-7's action and have been considering upgrading to either the PC4-7 or SP6-7.

That's good news about the action which I understand is Medeli. How would you compare it to the Medeli SW action in the old SP4-7?

Yup, figured out the boogie-woogie bass line, but never got past the I chord. C E G A Bb A G E C E G A Bb A G E etc repeated until my mother told me to stop. Now that you both say it, yeah that was the first thing I picked out by ear on a piano. Blues in C chords (taken from guitar), pentatonic blues scale, walking bass.Same here. When I was about 13-14, I learned 1-4-5 blues in C by ear with a walking bass line, dominant 7th's, and blues pentatonic scale. And I still like playing 1-4-5 blues in C, with G and F slightly behind. As long as you play from your heart, simple can be good. I pretty much play by ear now, only occassionally resorting to charts if I'm in a hurry and dealing with songs with complexity.

I just tried VB3m again on my Numa Compact 2x from my old Iphone 6s. After flipping the app's switch for inverting the drawbar midi cc's, VB3m worked great. When I had some problems getting the Numa Compact 2x's drawbars configured a couple of days ago, I probably screwed something up because I was in a hurry to go for my second Covid jab. I plan to try VB3m on my NE5d and SK1 over the next couple of days. My take is that even though VB3m is not as robust / flexible as IK's B3-X, at a $14 price point, this may cause IK to drop its price for B3-X. Competition is good, especially for a cheapskate like me.

I just picked up the IOS version a few minutes ago and briefly played it off an old Iphone 6s from my Numa Compact 2x and it worked great with negligible latency. Presumably like you (?), I flipped the switch in the app's settings for inverting the midi cc's for the drawbars but it didn't work for me on my Numa Compact 2x. I'll play with it more later when I have more time. Regardless, IMO VB3m is a good deal for just $14.

I agree. This is why I bequeathed the new Ipad Pro we purchased last year to my son. In the meantime, until I'm forced to change, I'm sticking with my second generation Ipad Pro and Iphone 6s because I like the option of having the headphone jack out. I would add that buying new peripherals everytime Apple changes connectivity can be an expensive habit.

Besides what's strictly subjective, I think some of the variability in how people rank these boards is that different players can care about different things (possibly also related to their musical styles, e.g. jazz players may care more about different attributes than rock players, etc.). So for example, I care more about overdrive, leakage/crosstalk, key click, and percussion than I do about chorus/vibrato. Others are much more concerned with the CV than the overdrive or key click. I preferred the Nord over the SK1 largely because of the overdrive. My favorite built-in rotary effect is the Numa Organ 2. No board has the best of everything. (I haven't actually played a Mojo, though I have played VB3 elsewhere... and yes, it is quite good.) Of course the real B3s and Leslies we're emulating varied in some of these attributes as well! Just as an aside, the Numa Compact 2X overdrive/rotary is not nearly as good as in the Numa organs. All good points... I don't use much overdive, so the SK1's overdrive issue doesn't concern me much. C/V and percussion are what I use the most, hence my bias.

What version of IOS are you running? Our 2nd generation Ipad Pro is running 14.4 and our Iphone 6s is running 11.4 and both run Ravenscroft flawlessly with a buffer of 512. We have an older Ipad from 2012 with IOS version 9.3.5 and Ravenscroft makes periodic crackling noises on it no matter what I do with the buffer, polyphony, sustain, etc.