Brad Kaenel

Yes, I own one of these. My teardown instructions are documented here, should you need them: Crumar Mojo Classic/Suitcase Tips and Tricks My only issue has been a weak design for the lid -- nothing mechanical or electrical. Please see my PM to you for detailed info. If you plan to gig with it and/or move it about a lot, I don't personally feel the lid is adequately robust for that; get the wheeled trolley bag for it.

Resistance is futile: I must select the movie "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" -- which was my very first date with my wife (we're both such ST nerds!) TOS crew has to travel back to 20th-century San Francisco to collect some humpback whales. Funniest installment in the entire movie canon, and closest in vibe to the TOS TV series. "Where do you keep the nuclear wessels?"; "A keyboard. How quaint."; "Berkeley... a little too much LDS". Classic.

Interesting to think about this question. I believe I can honestly say the only person I ever intentionally *tried* to play like was Count Basie -- i.e. "what would Basie play (or, perhaps more importantly, not play) in this phrase?". This happened, of course, as is likely typical of many pianists learning to play jazz for the first time in high school "jazz ensemble": your band director tells you to "listen, and play like *this*", handing you a recording and a rhythm chart for "Basie Straight Ahead". (Is there a high school big band student who *didn't* begin their jazz education with that chart?) A few years later I became interested in musical theater, and spent 20 years of "summer stock" rehearsals sitting next to a senior gentlemen who had cut his teeth as a big band arranger in the 40's and 50's, and was now writing Broadway-style shows for teenagers. When he passed, I stepped into his very-large shoes, and the transition for the company proved to be nearly seamless -- I guess you just can't help playing like someone you've watched and listened to closely for a couple of decades. It wasn't intentional; it was just -- natural.

I played for theater auditions today, after a week of a dying uncle, getting chewed out by my boss, and general despondency over some personal sin. Was nearly instantly refreshed, just playing accompanist to a host of high school kids. The worst day playing music is still better than the best day doing a lot of other things... 🙂

I have used the Support page on their website several times, and they have responded to me quite promptly. You may not get the fellow you spoke to years ago, but from my experience, I believe you will get someone knowledgeable. https://www.studiologic-music.com/support/contact/

IK Multimedia iRig Pro I/O interface. Using it to connect my iPad (GSI Genuine Sounds app) to my Mojo Classic lower manual, via MIDI. They have a "Duo" version that has balanced, stereo TRS outs and two XLR ins, if you need that; stereo headphone out is enough for me. Comes with Lightning, USB-B, and USB-C connectors.

Thank you, ChazKeys. Great advice, and I had tried those things already, reboot, airplane mode ON. I was tight on memory, but I only loaded one Rhodes and one Grand, and still had a few megabytes free. What finally solved my issue was opening the Device Settings dialog. I changed the Sample Rate and the Buffer Size from their defaults, and suddenly things started working. Ultimately, I put the settings back to their original values, and nothing changed — still working. Seems like for some reason just opening that dialog fixed the problem. Works fine now, on both iPads. Whatever the gremlin was, it’s gone now…

To anyone who is successfully using the Genuine Sounds player on an iPad, I could use some advice... I've installed GS on both my iPad mini (A8 chip, 2019) and my iPad Pro (A9X, 2017). Neither one, of course, is close to current specs, but they have no operational issues, and work just fine for everything -- except the GS player. The player itself works and seems to run fine, but the sample playback is very slow. Even just playing the onscreen keyboard there is notable latency between touching a key and hearing the audio. And when connected via MIDI (via the Thunderbolt port, not Bluetooth), the latency is pretty huge; I'd guess 300-400 milliseconds, which is unplayable. The sample libraries for GS are large, which I assume means the actual note samples are individually large. Is the hardware on these older iPads just not enough to support the sample player? Maybe the memory is just too slow, or the processor over-worked? I get that; I can't expect new software to always run optimally on old hardware. That's why I'm interested what iPad versions anyone has that is running GS smoothly... MIDI config: Crumar Mojo Classic, 5-pin MIDI OUT; to iRig Pro interface, 5-pin MIDI IN, Thunderbolt connector OUT; to iPad

In a pinch, you can add the equivalent of that rubber "tongue" to your existing pedal, using duct or gaffer tape. Pull off two feet or so, then fold it almost in half, sticky side inward, leaving one side a couple of inches short. Then stick that exposed patch to the underside of your pedal, with the "tongue" stretched out in front -- like the DP-10

If the stuck notes seem to occur on random keys, with no discernible pattern, then I would lean more toward a slightly unseated cable. On the other hand, if always the same key or cluster of keys, then more likely a wornout contact strip that isn't breaking contact when the key is released.

Software developer - IBM and Microsoft ecosystems; 43 years.

Three new Pianos and a new Strings library posted for the Numa X Piano: https://www.studiologic-music.com/products/numa_x_piano/sounds/ B-211 TapeRec C-183 Japan Felt Piano MovieStrings

Thumbs-up to Studiologic's online customer service; I submitted this question via their Support page on the main website and received an answer in less than 24 hours -- great response in these days, and reassuring to know that Studiologic actually reads and responds to questions: Me: "Is it possible to adjust the ramp-up speed of the Leslie effect? It switches from slow to fast *very* quickly, almost unnaturally so. It would be an advantage if we could adjust not just the RPM of the slow and fast speeds, but also the ramp-up and ramp-down time when the stick is used to change speeds. Can these adjustments be made in the current 2.0 firmware?" Support (Gianni Giudici, Brand Manager): "Hi Brad, we have a long list of possible additional controls in a future FIRMWARE update, but I am not able to mention a date or promise this function (at least here and now). In a real Leslie (as both my 122s) we can change just the top HORNS speed between 3 values, but not the ramps that are somehow fixed. That said, the ramp-speed is much different between the top HORNS and the bottom DRUM. If you use a mellow ORGAN sound you should hear more the DRUM ramp (much slower) and with richer ORGAN Sounds you can hear more the HORNS (faster ramp). The difference between HORNS and DRUM ramp/speeds makes a typical deep random phasing when changing speed, that you can also hear from FAST to BREAK (Stick 2 on middle position). Let me know, thanks so far for sharing your comments and suggestions and best regards !"

Billy Joel - Turnstiles "James": my favorite Rhodes tone; "Summer, Highland Falls": such a cool intro; "New York State of Mind": gorgeous changes; "Prelude/Angry Young Man": the de facto test for a responsive action 😁

I was successful in repairing the MIDI velocity issue with my Legend '70s board. Here's the 411... 1) Open the case; begin with removing the expansion module beauty strip: 2) Remove the top panel cover 3) Look at all the SPACE in here! You could install a tailgate party cooler... 4) Disconnect, and remove, the expansion module chassis by detaching these three ribbon connectors... ...these two screws (one on each end)... ...these four screws (two on each end)... ...and unplugging this spade connector 5) Disconnect the keybed from the case by unplugging this spade connector... ...removing these two nuts to free the ribbon cable support... ...and removing these two rows of screws from the underside of the case Although I've photographed the underside of the case by rocking the keyboard up, and sitting it on its rear panel, I don't recommend actually removing the two rows of screws in this orientation. The better, safer thing to do is to leave the keyboard sitting flat, on its base, but cantilevered out into space, overhanging your work table. Then you can remove the screws from underneath without risking the keybed sliding around or falling down, and perhaps damaging something. 6) With all the connectors and screws removed, you can NOW, carefully, rock the keyboard up onto its rear panel, leaving the keybed behind 7) Turn the keybed around (still screwed to its plywood base panel) so you can work with it from the rear 😎 Although I did not realize it at the time, it's not necessary to disconnect the keybed from its plywood base, unless you need access to the weight mechanisms. Consider this step optional, but if you need to, remove these two rows of screws from the underside. Again, I recommend you do this with the panel laying down flat, and cantilevered over the edge of your work table. 9) With the keybed now fully exposed, you need to remove the key(s) in order to get to the velocity control sensor underneath each one. Having never seen the guts of a TP100 before, it took me a little while to figure out how to disconnect the keys. To do it, simply apply some gently pressure (use your thumb) to the plastic blade at the back of the key, and push it forward. 10) You will hear and feel a "pop" as the keytop disconnects from the weight mechanism, below. You can then rock the back of the key slightly upwards, then push it forward a bit more, and pull straight up White and black keys work exactly the same way. You don't have to start from the extreme end -- you can easily remove any key from the middle of the bed. As you will see in a moment, I needed to remove not only the middle C4 key that was giving me problems, but also a few adjacent keys, and a few from the extreme treble end of the keybed. 11) Here is the malfunctioning C4 location with the key removed, and the rubber velocity sensor exposed 12) The sensors are built in sets of four, unfortunately, so you can't just remove one. I removed some additional keys to expose a complete, 4-sensor set. (Note the debris I found in the E4 sensor. This is the kind of thing you would be looking for if your key has stopped making sound, or is intermittent. In my case, this was not currently causing any problems, but it could in the future; I cleaned it out.) There was no obvious problem with the C4 sensor. 13) The rubber sensor pads have little "feet" that poke through holes in the circuit board. You can pull them up, but be careful not to over-stress the rubber or tear it -- it's very soft and very thin. 14) On the underside of the pad, each sensor has at least two (in this case, three) multi-level "buttons" that contact the circuit board when the key above is depressed 15) With better light, you can now see that *IS* something abnormal with one of the sensor "buttons" 16) The "button" is actually torn. This breakage is what was preventing the button from immediately returning to its neutral position after releasing the key, and the reason why the velocity sensor would temporarily read as "full volume" until the button gradually worked its way back into its "unpushed" state 17) Since I don't have these kinds of spare parts just laying around, I decided to "steal" an identical sensor set from underneath the keys at the extreme treble end of the keyboard. I had to carefully cut a section out with an X-acto knife. (If you do this, be careful not to press too hard; there are electrical traces on the circuit board that could be damaged if you cut deeper than the thickness of the rubber.) 18) I swapped the damaged sensor set out for the good set, and put the damaged set back under the treble keys. I felt this was an acceptable stop-gap until I could acquire a new sensor pad strip 19) That's it. Reverse the disassembly process to restore the keyboard back to its original state. Plug it in, and... ...Voile! Key velocity problem fixed! Just as an experiment, I tried "repairing" the damaged sensor button by squirting just a tiny bit of super-glue into the torn "cup". I didn't know if it would stiffen the rubber to the point that it wouldn't depress properly, but I would be no worse off either way. As it turned out, that fix *DID* work, and the high-treble key that inherited that damaged sensor is currently working just fine, as well. I'm going to replace the sensor when I can get a new part, but until then it's great, and that key doesn't get played much anyway -- certainly not nearly as often, or with as much force, as my middle "C".

You guys know I'm not afraid to take things apart, so expect a new "Viscount Legend '70s Teardown" thread in a day or so... Yesterday my C4 key started giving me random max velocity readings. i.e. no matter how lightly or heavily I hit it, it would always sound as if I'd hammered it as loud as possible. Then, if I left it alone for 20 seconds or so, it would go back to behaving normally, until I intentionally hit it hard again. Then it would get briefly "stuck" again at max velocity. Rinse, repeat. This is what I perceive is happening: 1) The two velocity sensors on the key start out in their normal positions: ___ * ___ * * * * 2) I hit the key hard, intentionally, producing a high velocity value, and depressing the sensors: ___ ___ * * 3) But on key release, the upper sensor doesn't immediately return to its full resting position: ___ ___ * * * * 4) So now, no matter how hard I actually hit the key, both sensors will fire nearly simultaneously, producing a max velocity value 5) Eventually, though, the upper sensor pops back up to its full resting position: ___ * ___ * * * * 6) The key will now continue working normally until I intentionally hit it hard, again, and the cycle repeats. Does this sound like a plausible explanation of what I'm experiencing? I've opened up many Fatar-based boards, so I'm not expecting to find anything unfamiliar -- I need to get to the two rubber contact-bubbles beneath the key, and clean out any dust/dirt or other impedance. What gives me a little bit of a head-scratch though is that in my own experience, dirty contacts have always resulted in the opposite behavior -- no sound at all, rather than max volume. Just curious if anyone else has a different take on the problem...

The TP-110 in the NXP is definitely different than the TP-100 in my L70. For APiano playing I definitely prefer the Numa X, but for EPiano I like the Legend 70s better. The TP-110 feels slightly heavier, a bit tighter and more precise, bottoms-out softer; whereas the TP-100 is lighter, looser, bottoms-out harder. I think you have to work a little harder on the Legend 70s vs. the Numa X, and some have said that the TP-100 is fatiguing. Personally, I've played on both for hours at a time and I don't experience that, but of course, YMMV. I think the actions are ideally suited for the kind of piano they are both trying to be: Numa X is focused on being an APiano, the Legend 70s is focused on EPiano.

Just finished setting up the NXP for a theater gig; first one with this board. I had theorized before that its handy 4-zone UI would be great for simpler shows where I just need to switch quickly between three or four patches -- and it works a treat! The show requires only piano, organ, and sometimes layered strings, so I set those up in three zones, inside one Program: sustain pedal for the piano zone; expression pedal for the organ and string zones, with constrained key ranges; mod stick set to control rotary speed on just the organ zone. Just a really nice workflow. Of all things, what threw me was saving my Program as a "Favorite" -- which in NXP terminology is actually a *list* of 24 Programs, not just a single Program; had to go to the manual to grok that one, but I get it now. Really like the utility and handiness of this board, and darn if it doesn't play great, too. Ok, not a top-drawer Hammond/Leslie, but good enough for one-armed pretenders like me. Still lovin' this purchase!

I think Linus is drop-dead funny with his meticulous, deadpan manner. And he's absolutely brilliant in his explanations of the mechanisms and the science behind his quirky C64 musical inventions. Check out his theremin video -- the best explanation of electrical capacitance I've ever heard or read.

With only two 6-month exceptions, lived my entire 63 years within a 15-mile radius of where I was born -- in San Bernardino, Southern California. Bottom of Route 66. Currently, in Highland, CA. Comfortable home; bedroom community; no mortgage; church family. Yah, HOT in the summer months, but that's what pools are for. And we, uh, won't discuss the lamentable state of the political and social State. But this is home; I'll be here until I (or my wife) are called up yonder.

A little bird told me that the Liberation will be available to play at the Bob Moog Foundation booth, this weekend, at the Synthplex event in Burbank. If you're attending, definitely go take it for a riff - you know you want to...

Rare for me: I got to sit and listen to my own gear for several hours, from audience distance and perspective. I was attending a conference, and the hired keyboardist was using my rig. Solo piano, only -- StudioLogic Numa X Piano 73 (Japanese Grand) into Motion Sound KP-610S amp; nothing else in the signal chain. Wow; those two pieces of kit sounded great together. Full-bodied, undistorted, focused projection from the amp, at high-volume (and the dude was bangin' hard; "hey, easy on my gear, man!" ) AP resonance, velocity, dynamics -- all top-drawer. Afterwards, the fellow told me he had never played the TP-110 action, but liked it very much (after 20 minutes or so of acclimation), and was very pleased with the overall UX of the gear. Also impressed with the build and portability of the Numa X 73. Me: Ditto, ditto.

Have you ever watched Jeopardy? 😁 Category: Annoying Musical Instruments A: Kingsford devotees agree that it's the one thing Accordions can do for longer periods of time than Fiddles. Q: What is "burn".

I’m not sure you’re quite getting the rhythm of Jeopardy A & Q; the punchline should come in the Question: A: It’s the sound produced when a piano is thrown down a mine shaft. Q: What is “A flat minor” A: It’s the technique employed by a pianist who bangs his head on the keys. Q: What is “playing by ear” A: Many players say that it’s the very best thing that can be run through a Roland keyboard amp. Q: What is “a chain saw”

Ha! Thanks for finding that older post -- I *thought* I'd written about it before... Amazing that the Pavilion is still operating; probably owned by the San Manuel tribe, these days.