Sam Mullins

Hey...great minds think alike! The 4-octave (with full-size keys) Reface DP was my wish list item from manufacturers for years...never happened Gosh, it would be really cool if Yamaha read this. But surely they've pondered this specific thing. The Reface is so solid. Especially when you consider the reface width (with 3 octaves of mini-keys) is 20.87"...and you can fit 4 full-size octave in a little over 27" (e.g. irig keys i/o 49 is 27.3") So with only 6.5" wider, you would get a MUCH more usable instrument. Sigh.

Hey...great minds think alike! The 4-octave (with full-size keys) Reface DP was my wish list item from manufacturers for years...never happened But like i said I'm now happy with my solution. Obviously, a newer model iPhone might also give you better sound options if you find the Casio sounds unacceptable. Action is always subjective but I find the CTS-300 much better than the typical department store consumer stuff and actually better than some dedicated MIDI controllers. And for the price, it's built pretty solidly and has that nifty handle.

I get a lot of use out of the "couch rig" I mentioned in that thread (basically ct-s300 and ipad mini velcro'd and wired together...scroll down in second page for picture). After nine months, with the exception of the speaker quality (understandable at $130), I couldn't be happier for that purpose. Love having high quality sounds like Ivory for Module and Neo-Soul Keys.

FYI, if you aren't aware: The Amazing Slow Downer app supports Spotify directly. So you can stream your playlists directly from Spotify and get all the benefits of that app: section looping, time-stretching, pitch change, etc. No need to download files, convert them, etc. Very handy for learning/transcribing and well worth the $15 (ios) to me.

Interesting because the absolute loudest show I saw was also at Irving Plaza; Husker Du on their last tour in 1986. Horrible show; they all hated each other at this point and 2.5 minute post-punk masterpieces were bloated with extended wanky guitar solos at horrific volumes. I had to go out to the lobby for relief. The funny part of that show was that the opener was a young Dwight Yoakam in fully Gene Autry regalia....the moshers didn"t know what to think. But he won them over and was by far the best part of the evening.

A few random highlights: - UK opening for Jethro Tull in the late 70's: was a huge prog rock guy in high school and UK was at the top of my list at the time. - Los Lobos at the Channel in Boston in 1985: I was in grad school at MIT and heard cuts from Will the Wolf Survive on the student radio station, bought the LP and then got tickets the next day and my skeptical wife said "we are going to see a Mexican polka band?" One of the all time exciting shows I've ever seen; the energy and joy was just over the top. (It was also one of the loudest I've ever been to...but that is coincidental) - Fred Hersch Trio a couple years ago in the "side room" of Hancher Auditorium (U of Iowa performance space)....sublime. - A teenage Sarah Jarosz opening for Darrell Scott at Iowa City Arts Festival....her genius was already obvious. - Steely Dan at New Orleans Jazz Fest a couple years before Walter passed - Joni Mitchell at Swope Park in Kansas City in 1983 for Wild Things Run Fast Tour - My one chance to see a hero...and the band was stellar. - In the regional/touring category: Any Stuart Davis or Willy Porter show - Alt-country hero Robbie Fulks opening with a guitar cover of Karn Evil 9 at a local club in the 90's

I use the idefender+. works great but is more expensive ($45-50) than what you have linked to. For a discussion of this and other solutions to similar situations (e.g. just getting a cheap audio plug that does ground lifting), scroll down within this thread about the CTS300: https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3014975/all/casiotone-s300-as-really-cheap-travel-keyboard

I agree that the way it is packaged is not optimal; to me the AUv3 thing should just be standard (even if that just means that part is included and the associated price bump is in the base price.) But I didn't feel deceived at all; the information is there. And the additional cost is negligible for me.

A question asked of IK many times over the past year or so....no definitive response from them apart from "taking the suggestions on board, and looking at it", which is a shame really because the Sampletank for iOS is a "killer" app in my view! having to have it running in the background outside of AUM, Camelot or even Keystage is a major pain, and in my workflow and gig setup, unusable. And it's odd considering that Syntronik is supported on AUv3. But Korg has similar issues; Module was not AUv3 until recently and most of their apps still are not.

I purchased KeyStage and the app/fx units add-ons last night. I will probably never use it for a "real" gig (assuming those ever happen again) because I'm quite pleased with flexibility/redundancy/functionality/stability of my Stage/Kronos (with Set List) combo. But I have played a few sidewalk things where load-in/out hassle is a factor and have this fantasy of having a "popup" rig of: - light weight 61 key controller - ipad - small mixer - mic - single PA cabinet. I have all the hardware above and could do songs (in my duo with my brother) where we just use a couple sounds...which is about half the repertoire. For the other half, there are lots of splits which are generally set up across both my keyboards. I never envisioned being able to play those songs on a single 61 key controller. But using Keystage with the sections, I think I could pull off a lot more of them. Anyway, there's a good chance I'll never do that, but was so impressed with the functionality in the new V2 youtube video that I just wanted to support agoturk's efforts. Good job man!

I downloaded KeyStage last night and played with it briefly. I'm quite impressed with the advertised functionality (no opinion on stability yet obviously) and like the interface better than AUM (which is a narrower tool). One point: it appears that if you are using AUv3 apps, everything will come up automatically. If an app doesn't support AuV3, then you need to use MIDI internally and you have to start the app up manually. This would be the case with Sampletank (at least the version I have does not support AUv3.) That is a bit of an annoyance from my point of view but maybe unavoidable. Someone let me know if I'm mistaken.

..not to mention his fabulous D6 Clavinet samples which are priced at exactly $0 !!!

I would say yes. I have had a Kronos 2 61 for about 5 years and have no GAS for a replacement. I honestly don't spend much time playing it at home but for my live gigs (back in the days before C-19) it was just the ticket. Set List let me keep my iPad at home. It covers a really wide range of sounds and the action is light but really nice. Yes, it's a complicated beast and not really the thing for Monday night blues jam. But it lets me do all sorts of splits/velocity layer tricks etc that are desirable when you cover rock/pop tunes in a duo. (e.g. I've got a combi that uses 15 parts for Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence." ) I really enjoy having two main boards that are on opposite ends of the spectrum: Nord Stage is intuitive, easy to adjust things on the fly and I rarely do anything complicated from a programming perspective. Kronos is deep and involves menus, but with planning and programming, lets me do things live that I could never do with just the Stage. Feel lucky to be at a point in my life where I don't have to compromise...which has now put me in the weird position of having more disposable income to spend on music toys than ever... and less desire to do it.

Yeah, I hope I like it when I finally get it. I had one fiasco with another vendor on this item and had to cancel after it was lost in shipping for 4 weeks..finally got a refund and reordered with different vendor. I was actually surprised at how few decent corner desk options there are. Lots of cheap consumer stuff but not many units that met my requirements (shelf for 40' monitor and two mid-size monitors, some rack space, and not too skimpy on the desk space.). Wish it had a slide under computer keyboard shelf...but I can add that if need be.

Yeah, although I like looking at new keyboard gear, I really got what I need. I recently remodeled my home office/music studio and decided I should focus on being comfortable and productive with what I have. So I"ve ordered a nice corner desk: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MDVCNR1--middle-atlantic-products-mdv-cnr1 And a modest controller to make my Cubase experience better: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/nanoKONTStu--korg-nanokontrol-studio

A great insight. It's true, by the time the rest of the culture had caught on to, for instance, Sgt. Pepper, and started putting out their big, colorful, psychedelic records... the Beatles had already moved on to their rootsy, gritty album with the all-white cover. Few other bands offer such a grand musical journey over such a short recording career. I posted this quote a couple years ago from Dan Breithaupt's book on Steely Dan's Aja: (Fagen) "The main thing we got from the Beatles was the idea that each album should be a gift. You shouldn't take it lightly. I remember in the sixties, starting with Rubber Soul, they'd come out with an album, and it always seemed like they'd worked on it really hard so it wouldn't be disappointing". (Breithaupt) So, while their contemporaries were making off with entire Lennon/McCartny melodies and turns of phrase, Steely Dan stole the Beatles' work ethic.

I only played Dream Police one time and it was over a decade ago so I"m not any help here. But I do have a good story. My old band was scheduled to open for Rick Nielsen"s son, MIles, at a local bar. The week before, he sent an email to us and said 'if you want to play a song together, I know pretty much any Beatles or Cheap Trick song'...so we responded and said 'you"re on...how about Dream Police?' He was surprised because that was probably one of the more difficult songs in their repertoire with the semi-proggy part. So we worked it up and were supposed to run through it at sound check, but MIles didn"t arrive until shortly before we went on. So in the middle of our set, we brought him up and played it cold and close to perfectly...except that MIles bungled the words on the muttering part in the middle which his Dad 'sang'. Afterwards, he laughed and said, 'one of the few lead vocals my Dad ever did is the one I screwed up.' Nice guy and a very good musician in his own right.

49 keys. I got one for a specific reason different than what is discussed here. It has pros (light, compact, battery power) and cons (proprietary connectors, limited controllers) which have been outlined in other threads and I won't get into here. One nice thing with the built-in audio is that in addition to the two analog outputs, the analog input supports phantom power. Gives you the option of not using a mixer in some live solo situations...but in that case you would likely want at least 61 keys. If someone made a keyboard with similar audio options (two out, one mic/line in with phantom power) with 61 weighted keys and standard reliable USB connectors, I could see it being popular with buskers. Keys + ipad/computer + mic + portable amp and you are good.

That's encouraging. I think a lot of people had probably given up on Korg ever supporting AU until last winter when they supported it on Electribe Wave. Not sure what took so long, but if they were just making sure performance and stability were good, then I'm all for it. This wouldn't be that big of a deal for me but I just adore Ivory on Module...sits right with my ears. Everything else in Module I can get comparable or better on other iOS apps.

Finally....great news! Now I can use Ivory from inside Cubasis and AUM. To clarify Tom's comment...4.0 is free upgrade if you have Korg Module already. He's talking about sale on new purchase.

But David, this is the US of A...we must make everything into sports.

Sorry...jumping in here without following this thread (not a regular MLB follower). But my comment is how the heck are the NBA/NFL going to play when MLB can't get through a week without this happening?

I haven't played the Mk3 that you reference. However, I will say that whenever I go to a brick and mortar music store and play the cheap controllers (say < 200), I hate almost all of them. IMO, CT-S300 is much better than most of what I've seen in that price range (including other cheap Casio and Yamaha consumer keyboards). It's possible that you would like the Mk3 action better...only you can say after playing both. But for your purposes, I would also consider the following advantages of the CT-S300: a) built-in sounds with speakers...so can be used totally separate from a laptop/tablet. b) that nice little handle for carrying c) ability to operate on rechargeable batteries.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Oooh...Fred is my favorite. Will have to give it a watch. Thanks!