Doug Robinson

Thanks, Dave--are you talking about the piano version? That seems stronger compared to the compact version. If we are talking about the same piece, I will walk away from it! Remember, though, my boards are lightweight and it's unlikely I'm going to anything heavier as I get older--I have a Casio px5s on the bottom which is only about 23 pounds and a hammond SK1 on top, around 17 pounds I think. My new King Korg will sit on a stand to the right.

I just read about these in another thread, and I’m almost positive I want the 1202 piano model with the double tier. I’ve tried their website, eBay and a few other places but it seems like nobody has them. Any ideas? I do live in central Mexico, but I could have it shipped to a Texas address and brought down for me if there isn’t one here. Used would be fine too. Thanks!

Happily, I found a barely used one, with a gator rolling case no less, for only $700 an hour away from where I live! A young guitarist who had ventured into keyboards and then changed his mind. so I spent a little over an hour, just running through the presets and doing a little tiny bit of tweaking. This is just for me! I’m really excited and, as most of us have, I started writing a new song just based on one of the sounds. I understand the objection about the keyboard. If you play too high up on the keys, the black keys in particular require just a tiny bit of extra pressure. Other than that, which I’m already getting used to, I think this is a really fun instrument. I doubt I will do any tweaking deeper than the onboard controls allow for. The first time I’m going to put this into action is for a rehearsal with my new fusion group on August 1. In the meantime, I will be understanding more and more about the instrument, setting up banks with my customized sounds in a logical order and getting comfortable with that. thanks for all your great suggestions, I really had a great time going down that rabbit hole and watching all of those demo videos. I’m sure every option would have unlocked some creative adventures. tomorrow I’m going to set it up with my spacestation amp— Tonight was headphones only.

I wrote to the craigslist guy. Let’s see what happens!

Thanks everyone! Unfortunately, living in central Mexico means that it’s nearly impossible to try most things out before I buy. I think I’m just going to take the leap. Since it’s not my main keyboard I think I can adjust my playing for wild solos and gorgeous pads. And if not… There will be a king Korg for sale in Mexico!

Well, I will keep looking at other options but if I could find a King Korg right now, I'd buy it. That is turning out to be a big 'if.' I'm down in Mexico and my Vpn isn't working so I can't check us ebay, but I've checked craigslist in several US cities as well as reverb.com. Can't find it, either color.

Boy you guys have really sent me down the rabbit hole! I’ve watched so many demo videos for so many different products, it’s really a gas. the one that I like the most so far is the king Korg. Seems like a lot of fun, you can plug a mic in for a vocoder. Is it not very popular here? I wonder why no one really recommended it.

These are such interesting suggestions, thanks! I have never even heard of half of these instruments. I got into just basically having piano and organ and went with that for the last couple of decades. I will be researching all of them. Maybe I can get over my allergy to Nord.

Elmer asked " Do you enjoy to program? Have a preference for analog vs digital or hybrid? If you don’t enjoy programming you’ll want a popular synth with an established community of users that has attracted patch creators. Also how important is quality of synth action and do you have to have after touch? I presume you’re happy with the feel of the SK1? " I don't enjoy programming. I wouldn't mind turning a knob for a cool effect onstage but that's about it. So I think your suggestion of a popular synth with a user community is a good one. As for the action, I am very adaptable, so I can make just about any action work for me. It won't be my main instrument. Do I HAVE to have aftertouch...no, but I had a synth like that 3O years ago and loved it.

I've been playing my Casio px5s and Hammond SK1 for a long time. Mostly meat and potatoes stuff for jazz, blues, fusion. Really, a decent grand, Rhodes and wurly on the Casio and the organs, a wurly, a wah clavinet and a Richard Tee Rhodes on my SK1 has covered all of the bases in the concerts I've been doing since Covid eased up--although, of course, it seems to be making a comeback but that is another discussion. Now I am pulling together a terrific original fusion group--one of the best guitarists in all of Mexico AND one of the hottest young drummers here as well, plus a good hand percussionist and bassist. The guitarist and I are the two principal composers--I told him that I wanted to be his Joe Zawinul and he would be my Wayne Shorter. We didn't even laugh about it--we are shooting for the moon. The music is tight and funky at times, but bursting with energy and splash, maybe a little like Scary Goldings meets Snarky puppy meets Weather Report. Anyway, I would like to add a 63-key or smaller synth that would allow me to create or at least access some more contemporary and vintage synth sounds for solos and melodies. I've been out of the synth buying game for so long, I'm a bit lost. I might have considered a bigger Nord to replace my Casio, but I just don't dig the user interface and they are too heavy and expensive anyway. The older I get, the heavier my gear seems. A friend recommended that i look at a Korg Wave Station or the Wave State. I watched a few videos and they would do the trick, but I don't know what else is out there. Let me tell you my parameters and I would be grateful for your recommendations... Under $12OO used Nothing that requires using an ipad to enjoy it--if it has deeper editing offstage with an ipad, that's fine. But it's a performance keyboard for me and using a pad or a phone onstage would be a distraction I like full sized keys or at least close to it--really small keys don't work so well with my fat fingers I was going to say lightweight, but I know all of them will be Could be fewer that 63 keys, I suppose--I could compensate by transposing octaves FUN to play would be the best If anything in this price range has aftertouch, that would be amazing--I'd love to control modulation with key pressure, and pitch bend is of course necessary. Listening to Cory Henry's moogish solo on Lingus got me jonesing for a different kind of expression than I can get from my current setup. Right now, when I want to scream a little musically, it's always the organ. I need a new scream. And some pads wouldn't be bad either. I guess that is it! Hello to longtime friends and colleagues here--I hope all is well in your world. Thanks for your suggestions! Doug

That’s brilliant, thank you!

Hi gang, long time! I hope you’ve been creating at a steady clip. This is going to sound silly, but a few years back I bought a very cool German – I think – keyboard stand. Ultra lightweight, aluminum. While I love the adjustability of the second keyboard tier that I added, and the light weight, it has been very problematic. Let’s just say that it’s not sturdy and it sheds screws and nuts and bolts like an Irish setter in the summertime. The kicker is that I can’t find any identification to remind me who the manufacturer was. I’ve searched the Internet and I’m striking out. I’m going to try to post a photo here and hopefully one of you can tell me where to look for the manual so I can buy replacement screws. Many thanks!

The Casio px5s changed my gigging life. Good sounds, good action, 24 lbs.

Depending on the price, this is the first synth I"ve been interested in in a while.

I'm so sorry, I was spaced out. I am on OS 10.10.5 and logic 10.2.4.

PEDRO, WAITING FOR A FALCON Subtle, but with some very hip melodic work, I think: https://dougrobinson.com/track/2605956/pedro-waiting-for-a-falcon

From 10.1.2 to whatever is the new OS. Scared to death--will Logic 10.2.4 still work? If I have to upgrade Logic, what happens to the files for the last two albums I recorded? I do backup regularly--automatically with Time Machine.

Thanks, CP! As you can tell from every other song besides 'the children' melody is hugely important to me. Therefore, creating a mostly Ambient piece like that one was a real Mental challenge. In the end, I still had to introduce the piano/guitar harmonic melody. But I also found that I really loved doing it and I might go even further in that direction in the future. It"s like telling a story with a very long arc and no obvious punchline.

Thanks, Greg--I am not afraid of hard work but I also have the budget to hire someone to help out. Gigging is not what this music is about--it's more along the lines of ambient New Agey stuff, albeit with more harmonic sophistication. I stuck a link up in Shameless Plugs a while back. I'll bump the thread.

Thanks, zxc etc I will contact you via pm later. Much appreciated.

Hi, I'm sure what I'm about to say will seem silly to many of us, but here is my situation. I have a new album called Start With Water that I believe is excellent. It can fly under the radar as a New Age album, although a purist might object after listening from start to finish. I have some excellent personal contacts who have helped promote my work in the past to a point. I know I can count on a solid positive review from one of the major print and online jazz magazines and also a well-known music reviewer, for example. I have some industry friends in the jazz and New Age world as well. There is an altruistic aspect to this project, as it calls attention to an amazing water charity that is actively changing lives around world right now. Therefore, I think I can get publicity in not just music mags but also Sierra Club, AARP and others--maybe even the Harvard Review. I'm looking for a promoter or PR cat who I can pay to make some noise--get me onto the New Age radio charts, for example; interviews in New Age publications (they are out there). I'm a good guerrilla marketer myself, but right now I'd rather throw money at someone to help raise awareness as opposed to doing it all myself. Any thoughts? Google searches have revealed almost nothing, other than people whose focus was getting you live gigs...back when those were a thing.

OMG--that Misty video! I mean, I was laughing out loud for most of it, but also had I not been aware of his mugging, his solos were fantastic!

Nice, Raisin Bread!

How did I not know about this? Hi everyone!

I think these videos were just fantastic! Thanks, man. I am in awe of your skills and your persistence. And on the final video, the motif you were playing from about 8:09 on was really sweet.