Sam Mullins

Yes, there are about a dozen electronic organ sounds, mostly of the Hammondish variety. It sounds like a couple were sampled with slow leslie but you won't get any speed control. Certainly nothing I would use on a real gig but probably fine if your goal is to have a very light load-in for rehearsal.

Thanks Steve! May have to pick this up. I just noticed that I never posted a pic of my CT-S300/iPad couch rig in this thread. I did post it in the "Dig my Rig" thread, but there is probably more interest here. http://www.stickmanor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/casio_ipad_trim_med.jpg - Casio CTS-S300 with built-in speakers (powered by rechargeable batteries) - iPad mini 5 with assorted apps (Korg Module/Ivory, Neo Soul Keys, Sampletank, various soft synths) - short 3.5mm audio cable from iPad to Casio external audio - USB to lightning adapter from Casio to iPad - All of above velcro'd together - optionally a sustain pedal Really enjoying this.

You might want to check out Casio CT-S300. It's less than half the price of the Roland Go but has a surprisingly playable keyboard and is well built for the price. The sounds are OK...but I typically use with a velcroed iPad mini. See these posts for my take on it: [align:center]CLONK: Picture of CT-S300 with iPad CLONK: Some of the features I was looking for when I got it [/align] I've really enjoyed this is as my "couch rig."

Good news Dan! I don't remember if you had done a duo in the past. Definitely makes the prep harder (covering more bases) but the band logistics much, much easier (rehearsal, equipment, song selection, consensus, etc)

True...19 lbs vs. 33 lbs would be nice. Was just working with what I already had. The spacestation does give 'stereo' so that"s a tradeoff (and why I didn"t put one my QSC 10.2"s in there.)

I'm fine with my normal Stage 3/Kronos for my regular gigs. But I have considered something like above for a very light weight rig for pop-up street things: - iPad Mini 5 - Casio CT-S300 (7 lbs, has a non-weighted action that is unusually playable for piano sounds and also internal sounds if there are technical problems with iPad) - iRig iKeys 49 I/O (5 lbs - has audio interface for ipad and has mic input with phantom power) - USB hub to merge midi input to iPad - Aspen Pittman Spacestation - A few cables Stand would be TBD. I tried it in my office and it all seemed to work fine with some audio routing provided via AUM app (to avoid a hardware mixer for mic). Pretty sure I could carry that in one-trip from car with the right bags. Sam

Definitely a Nord Electro 73 key version of some vintage. You can see the draw buttons. Long time LSD fan (Bridget is from our little college town and did music projects at the youth center that my brother runs). I was glad when they added Akie on keys. He is also a helluva lead singer in his own right. One sad note for those haven't heard: "Live from Here" has been cancelled by American Public Media ...financial hardships because of the pandemic.

Perfect! I had been using AudioStretch but the convenience of directly accessing Spotify makes it a no-brainer to spend the $15. Thanks so much! Love this place.

Thanks for the input everyone. Yesterday, based on Dan"s suggestion I stumbled onto exactly what you suggest above. Unfortunately, as you suspected it recorded the video but no audio from Spotify, It appears this may be undoable. Oh well, I"ll go back to doing it on the PC and transferring the files. Not a big deal for cover songs on my pop duo...was just looking for a more spontaneous way of learning jazz tunes on my 'couch rig' (Casio CT-S300 with iPad Mini velcro"d on top )

good idea...i'll poke around. thanks!

I'm hoping some of you will have suggestions for my situation. On my iPad, I would like to have the following process: 1) Find a song I want to learn on the iPad Spotify app (I have a paid account) 2) "Export" audio for that song to a wave file on the iPad. 3) Use AudioStretch on the iPad to learn the song (tool for looping, slowing down audio, etc.) The problem is step 2). I realize Spotify doesn't allow export of wave files for obvious reasons. But does anyone know of an app that can intercept the audio being played by Spotify (or presumably any app) and capture it in a wave file? I know I can do this through various clunky methods like streaming the audio out to another device for recording and transferring back to iPad...but I'm looking for something where I wouldn't have to use another device at all.

+1 Been a long time since I tried PianoTeq....but I find it interesting that there is a continual demand for historical "failed" attempts at piano emulation (i.e. Wurly, Rhodes, pianet, etc) because they have become expressive idiomatic instruments in their own right. But when we get something like PianoTeq which is very expressive and much closer to a real piano than those historical instruments...it is viewed differently. Maybe it should just be viewed as it's own musical instrument.

I also encountered the electrical noise issue with my new Casio CT-S300 when trying to use the USB port and Audio In simultaneously, and so it was with some interest that I read the conversation between Sam Mullins and JimboKeys about the ground loop. The USB Ground Loop isolator discussed costs £49 here in the UK (actually, there's a newer version called iDefender+), and I was very reluctant to spend that much to solve the problem for a fairly low cost keyboard. But thinking about the problem for a while, I realised that there would probably be a cheaper way to solve it. If the ground loop exists between the USB port and the Audio In port, then surely as long as any of those two ports are isolated, the ground loop should be removed. To test my theory, I purchased a cheap ground loop isolator for a 3.5mm audio jack, and plugged that into the Audio In port. Total cost: slightly less than £5. And it works! The humming/buzzing completely disappears when the 3.5mm ground loop isolator is used. So I'm glad to have been able to solve the problem at 1/10th the cost of going down the route of getting the USB isolator. I just thought I'd share this information in case anyone else is looking to solve the same problem. Excellent! Glad you found a cheaper solution ..and wondering why I didn't think of something similar FYI, subsequent to the original discussion I upgraded from old iPad air 2 to a new iPad mini 5 and the noise issue was far less on that system..to the point that i don't really need the isolator.

Sorry to hear about this Dan. I've only experienced it once (thankfully) and I was kinda asking for it when it happened. Basically I had been the boss man doing many rounds of layoffs and it was my time...one can only do that so long before it gets soul crushing. Oddly enough it was during my couple months off that I first joined this forum. I eventually found a great job (back doing technical work instead of management ) where I have been for 12.5 years now. So two really good things came out of it. This is not to minimize what you face. Times are tough and I wish you all the best luck. All the advice about staying positive about yourself is spot on. Based on your thoughtful input in this forum, I'm sure you were a valued employee (15 years is an eternity in this era.) I'm not a fan of common bromides...but if you need some sober inspiration, try Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning." One of the fundamental tenets is that no one gets out of this life without suffering...but it is important to give your suffering meaning. This book was enormously helpful for me when I was having some life struggles a couple decades ago. In that vein, I want to compliment you for being so open about your situation. You have already made some good out of this by warning folks about tying personal business to work email. Be well.

New Fiona Apple.. bit of a departure ..heavy on the percussion. Will take a few listens but I trust it will pay off since I've loved pretty much everything she's done.

This. There is more good new music and performances on YouTube than anyone has time to listen to. Regarding video: She obviously has some talent and has worked hard to become proficient on her chosen technology. All good there...but that will never save an uninspired song. People like Imogen Heap understand that.

I thought it was one of the best performances in years on SNL (I know...low bar.) I hate the long, bloated Super Bowl half-time shows and I don't really enjoy marching bands, but it strikes me that this would be a perfect act for the Super Bowl: - they are already set up to operate wirelessly and would actually be playing everything - its a fun visual performance - it draws inspiration from the various "marching" musical traditions. That I would actually watch.

Module has a Performance Module expansion pack that lets you do splits/layers for $30. I don't have it. There are other iPad apps which let you do splits/layers/audio routing/etc among various iPad apps. So for example, with something like AUM, you can assign the bottom half of the keyboard to Korg Module and the top half to AniMoog. It's probably more complicated to use than something like the internal split mechanism of Korg Module..but obviously more flexible since you can include other apps. There are other similar apps besides AUM; I just happen to be vaguely familiar with that one.

I find that I spend most of my time in Module (with the Ivory Grand Piano add-on) and the Neo-Soul Keys app. Frankly, those two libraries actually sound as good or better than the equivalents on my Kronos and Stage 3. Amazing times for musicians. I have a bunch of other cool synth apps, but most of my time on this mini-Rig is basically standard piano practice stuff (improv on songs, chord voicing/scales) while I'm watching something on TV. I do really like the Arturia iSem app...don't have that old Oberheim sound on any of my other gear.

Oh, I don't have anything special. On the audio, it's a standard 3.5mm stereo audio cable with right angle connectors and is only a foot long. For the PX-350, I think you would have to get a 3.5mm stereo to dual 1/4 phone plug cable. On the USB-> lightning: it's just a short micro-USB ->USB cable and then into the standard Apple lightning camera kit connector. The PX-350 would probably be a standard USB cable -> Apple CCK. Before I got the iPad mini, I was using our family iPad Air 2 and got pretty bad ground loop noise when connecting the audio back into the Casio external input. This was solved by inserting a USB Ground Loop Breaker (I got the ifi iDefender 3.0) in the USB path. But with the iPad mini I've found I don't need it.

Here is my new couch potato rig: http://www.stickmanor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/casio_ipad_trim_med.jpg - Casio CTS-S300 with built-in speakers (powered by rechargeable batteries) - iPad mini 5 with assorted apps (Korg Module/Ivory, Neo Soul Keys, Sampletank, various soft synths) - short 3.5mm audio cable from iPad to Casio external audio - USB to lightning adapter from Casio to iPad - All of above velcro'd together - optionally a sustain pedal Light on the lap, great sounds, no extraneous cords hanging off it and pretty nice feeling unweighted keyboard; I have no problem playing reasonable piano stuff on it. Very happy with this one.

Wow dinna know dat. Super lame. Why? Why indeed...read farther in the thread for the yamaha defense and discussion.

Stretching my memory on the amplification, but I think my first rig in high school (late 70's) was: Hammond C3 -> Leslie Wurlitzer EP and MicroMoog -> Carvin powered mixer -> homemade ported PA enclosures with "full range" 15" JBL speakers. I'm sure the latter sounded like shit...but we weren't really gigging anyway at that point I also vaguely remember borrowing an Acoustic Bass Amp from someone for the Wurly/Moog. I know the high school jazz band had Fender Rhodes Stage -> Fender Twin Reverb. It was loud and had that specific vibe but I would never have a guitar amp now just for that particular sound. I know other people would still do it. It's good to revisit those memories. Sooooooooooooo much easier and better sounding these days. Even the cheap stuff is better than anything mortals could buy back then.

Pure joy on a standard: [video:youtube]

Thanks Joe, that makes the decision easy.