steadyb

the person who wrote the press release

This may be slightly off the original topic, but another huge benefit to MainStage (in my opinion) is the wonderful ability to split and then transpose the key ranges. It lets you turn a 76 or 88 note controller into 3, 4, or even 5 boards with everything sitting right under your hands the way each person would personally prefer. No more tweaking your left wrist to the breaking point just to play a horn or string part in an upper register...it can be sitting comfortably down on the left and still give you what you want/need. Add in multi instrument layering and the full selection of included as well as 3rd party instruments and effect plug ins, and you've got a monster rig for live gigs, whether it's a single keyboard rig or stacked 2 or 3 boards high. There is no left/right restrictions any more. Want to play a bass line with your right hand? Just put it there. MainStage rocks. I love it.

"Samsonite!?!? I was WAY off!"

Yes! Thank you.

Question for Tom or Dr. Mike... Do you know the specific month and year of that issue? In my head I'm seeing November 1983, but I'd love to know for sure. Thanks in advance to whomever knows the answer.

Here it is... Program the sound of a millipede race. Extra points for getting all five millipedes running the track at once. For the sunken cathedral scene, we need the sound of an acoustic piano being played under water. That"s not bad at all, but you forgot the seaweed growing in the piano. Also, there are lobsters crawling on the keyboard. We want the world"s largest cast iron-tuba. We need some background music for a commercial about the world"s first all electronic, fully automatic digital can opener. The sound should reflect both the solid European craftsmanship and the obvious sex appeal of the product. Without going into the rec room and listening (that would be cheating), make the sound of a ping-pong ball hitting a paddle. Now substitute a sandpaper paddle for the rubber one. We changed our mind about the cast-iron tuba. We still need a tuba, but it should be less than 3 inches long and made of plastic. Program a sound that"s halfway between tubular bells and a dentist"s drill. Extra points for doing this without MIDIing or layering the keyboard. Without using outboard distortion effects, give us the distorted electric guitar sound of Jimi Hendrix at the Filmore West. Starting from scratch, do an all-purpose string orchestra pad. Doctor Frankentein"s monster rises from the slab and lurches to his feet. Program the sound of his first groan. Do a beautiful chime sound suitable for putting on a tape loop or repeating sequence in a child"s nursery. Program a brighter-than-reality French horn to punch up an orchestral track. Do Jimmy Smith"s drawbar organ sound. For extra points, do it with and without percussion on the attack. Now take that organ and without using an outboard effect make it sound like it"s going through a fuzz box. How about a marimba with a double bounce on the attack? Now try a harpsichord, but make it sound like you"re listening with cotton in your ears. Set up a demo sound so spectacular that it makes your instrument sound as if it costs three times as much as it actually did. Now try a lead sound that would fit into a Saturday morning cartoon. Get a sound you"ve never heard before. Make sure you can use it musically. We"re doing the soundtrack for a science fiction epic, and we need the sound of the whole world being blown to smithereens by a plasma ray from the planet Zarkon in the tenth dimension. Oh, almost forgot to mention - they"re bad shots, and they missed Nebraska. Now do the same sound, but in a completely different way. Make the sound of the devil"s violin playing a furious hoedown. Make a solo acoustic guitar sound bland and pretty enough to be suitable for Muzak. Do a brass fanfare suitable for the opening credits on the nightly news. Now try the sound of a marching band at the other end of the Holland tunnel at 5:30 in the morning. Recreate the bass line sound from Thomas Dolby"s 'Windpower'. Try the harmonica sound Donald Fagen uses for playing solos. Recreate the sound of common living room furniture. Handel had a headache today, but we have to deliver the master tape to New York tomorrow, so we need the entire Hallelujah chorus (100 voices minimum) in the studio right now. The murderer wore thongs. Make that sound. By Dominic Milano -------------------------------------- Special thank you to Tom Williams. You provided the quote that helped me to find the above article. Much appreciated Tom!!! Cheers, steadyb

YES!!!

I imagine many people have asked about specific back issues of Keyboard Magazine, and if there is a digital archive of the magazine in existence. If there is, I'd love to know about it as well. Right now the specific issue I'm looking for is the Synth Programming issue. I believe it was a yellow cover that month, and there was one article in particular that I'm looking for, if anyone has that issue and could possible post a screenshot of it. I was a long list of questions/recommendations/suggestions of sound to try and program, for instance "A harp with 50' strings" ..."now that same harp at the bottom of a lake", "a 2 inch trombone made of glass"...etc. The idea being, here are 50 or more different ideas of sounds to try and come up with. I remember it being a fun and interesting programming challenge at the time. (and had only my Prophet-600 and DX7 to work with) Anyway, I don't know if I'm explaining it or describing it well, but if anyone has that issue, they can probably find the section I'm speaking of fairly quickly. So, if by chance you have it, and are willing to share a screen shot of it here, that'd be awesome. Thank you, steadyb

Sorry Dan. I know how you feel. I was part of a round of layoffs last Monday. Trying to hang in there too. All the best, B.

Thanks Mike, but is the Google Hangouts audio/video quality and latency as good, better, or worse than Zoom?

Awesome. Thanks Joe

Thank you

Hi guys, Given the current situation many of us find ourselves in, I am looking for a recommendation as to the best cross platform app that would allow audio/video conferencing (just one on one) for songwriting collaboration. This is not 2 DAWs running in synchronized sessions, but rather just a simple way to collaborate with an audio interface, microphone, and headphones at each location (in this case, one PC and on Mac) for a close to real time experience. Along the lines of "hey what do you think of this?" I (Mac) play and/or sing, the other person (PC) can hear it with good quality while seeing me as well, and then respond, "cool, but how about this?" and they play and/or sing something back through a keyboard that has built in speakers, so on the PC end it's just a mic, headphones (through a USB audio interface) and the built in camera. On the Mac end, similar capabilities, but that's where the DAW resides and where the production will be worked on. The goal for the person on the PC end is to approximate the experience of sitting in the room with me at his portable keyboard and play, sing, and talk through ideas as we have in person over the past couple years. Would Zoom be high quality enough to accomplish this, or is there something else that is better and simpler? Thanks is advance for your great feedback. Cheers, B.

R.I.P. Kobe

See, now you jinxed it. One can hope! You'll need more than hope.

Sure is quiet around this thread... Go Lakers!!! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving this year! Cheers!!!

Go Lakers!!!

Lakers!!!

Thanks very much, guys!!!

Hi steadyb! Seems we keep tripping over each other here and there, hope you're doing well. The jury is largely still out on those "clamp this dock to the iPad Pro and it gives you all kinds of ports" products; some folks love this one or hate that one for reliability or stability issues, etc. The reviews on MacWorld are less sucky than most, I recommend you check there. As for interfaces, as mentioned before, any class compliant USB MIDI/Audio interface will work. My absolute favorite is the Novation AudioHub 2x4, which is a powered USB hub as well as a neat little backpackable interface, but you'll have to look for a used one as they've recently been discontinued. Works a treat. The other great option if you don't want something super heavy is the IK Multimedia iRig Pro I/O, which has MIDI I/O on DIN-to-minijack adapters, stereo out on minijack, AC power that charges the iPad (beware! other IK interfaces don't), and a Combo jack for XLR mic or 1/4" guitar input. Very handy. To follow on Geoff's post: as someone who owns and uses two of them, I can say that for your purposes the iConnectivity interfaces are killing a fly with a sledgehammer. They're for people with really intricate setups that need to run two computers at once into one interface, and the tricks they perform to do that without crashing anything are pretty much rocket science... Portable keyboards? Hoo boy, I could talk for hours, but it would help if I knew what you specifically needed and how much you wanted to spend. CME Xkey Air 25 is fabulous for the money; if you want a sustain pedal and DIN MIDI as an option, the wired (not Air) Xkey 37 is sweet (get the Solar case for it and its accessories). A bit more conventional but heavier is the Arturia KeyStep. The Minilab II as mentioned above is also a cool option. I tend to avoid the "little plastic slab" keyboards as they all have issues either with feature set or playability or both. Tell me more, I'll advise more. I'm so glad you mentioned the IK Multimedia iRig Pro I/O, that has been the one I was most leaning towards, but wanted to check in with the really smart folks here first. Thank you. Regarding a portable (for hotels, fit in a suitcase, etc.) keyboard, I want something just so I can keep practicing when traveling for work. Scales, reading, exercises...even if it has to be one hand at a time. Please, recommend away!

Thanks guys!

Anyone have a favorite or preferred MIDI and/or MIDI-Audio interface for the iPad Pro? Is an adapter cable the only option for the USB-C port on it? Are there any to absolutely avoid? Fragile, unreliable, poor design... I'm looking for something good for using specifically with music education apps for reading, timing, chord identification, etc. And while somewhat on that topic, anyone have a favorite small or portable keyboard for travel and hotel room practicing, writing (see above - reading, timing, etc., not necessarily full two handed piano practicing)? Thanks, steadyb

The clipper curse will kick in just in time for the playoffs. Go Lakers!!!

As I was saying... Go Lakers!!!