mcgoo

If I could have a tenth of her talent and a tenth of her stage presence, I would be 10 times the performer I am now. She's pretty bada$$ in my book.

Shame on the music director for making you work that hard to figure out what he/she wants. I'm the MD at my church. I don't use Planning Center because I've never seen the need. I post a pdf book of the charts and provide mp3s of the recordings (CCLI Rehearsal License covers that) in a shared Dropbox Folder. I've thought about sending out a Spotify Playlist, but then I wouldn't be able to share edited versions of the songs. I frequently edit recordings because they're insanely long. I also post transposed versions of the songs since much of the music gets transposed. So for me, a shared Dropbox with mp3s seems to work better.

I think a lot of folks are evaluating it on the basis of what it isn't... a ROMpler. Assuming you already have the V-Collection, it seems like it could be a really good top keyboard in a 2 kbd rig for someone doing a pop gig. Or, pair it with something like a Nord Electro, and you've got a decent rig for a Pink Floyd tribute band.

I'm running out of room in my studio, and I really don't need these because I've got the PolyBrute, but I may have to make room for some or all of the sound force controllers.

I'm not sure if it's a culture thing, but the thing that struck me from the OP is, what church doesn't have a piano? That's not a criticism, just a bewildered observation! Congrats on your niece's wedding and kudos to you for helping to make it special.

I'd recommend giving the PolyBrute another look. The layout has never felt crowded or crammed to me. The 1st time I sat down in front of it I spent 20-30 getting lost in sonic exploration. I went thru only 2 actual patches because I spent so much time tweaking. It's very inviting. The ease of assigning anything anywhere is addictive. The PB Connection software is very cool and makes managing patches a breeze. There are excellent tutorials to help you get started. 3 years later I can still get lost in tweaking nirvana, but I can also reach for it and quickly dial up what's in my head. My two cents, because you asked!

Oh. Never mind.... b*tch. 😜

And Billy Preston

I brought the church's RD-800 home once to do some programming on it. As I was schlepping that thing upstairs to my studio, I remember thinking "there's no fricking way I'd gig this board!" With the advent of nice feeling 88 note boards that weigh 30 lbs, coupled with a Laptop / NUC / tablet, I see little reason to break my back these days.

Yeah, it all seems a bit like the Y2k panic. Let's hope it's nothing more than that!

I'm in A Pink Floyd tribute band that has 3 gigs in and around Bloomington for the Eclipse (1 Sunday and 2 Monday). I'm just a LITTLE nervous about getting from our first gig Monday to our 2nd. Could turn out to be quite the Spinal Tap moment.

My updated Gig Rig. FP-30x used for note entry only. The controller on the left is an Atemp MC-1. All sounds are VSTi's with Gig Performer as a host. Instead of a Laptop, I have a touchscreen mounted right in front of me on top of the FP-30x and a NUC mini PC mounted on the pedal board. Lightweight, small footprint and very easy / quick setup / tear down. 1 iPad runs the mixer app to control my IEMs. The other runs Unrealbook. I have charts for everything, but typically don't need them. The charts primarily send program changes to the NUC to call up different Rackspaces on GP. By the way, for anyone interested... I use iPads for nothing other than Unrealbook and M-32 (mixer app for the IEMs). Both run just fine on iPad 3s. You can buy iPad 3s for about $30 on ebay. I have 4 of them.

I had an X2, the single manual version, for several years. Other than not having Chorus (it had vibrato only), it sounded wonderful thru a vent.

I think Steve Coscia (SP?) used to work for Ensoniq. Perhaps he can help. You might also look for Chicken Systems. They specialize in sample translation from one format to another, but got their start doing modifications for Ensoniq gear.

I'm more interested in sounds I haven't heard.... so I'm going to go with the PolyBrute, which I already own. Hours of discovery tease and tempt me every time I sit down to play it.

It's a guaranteed "wtf?" moment, for sure! By the way, it's very quiet. Easy to miss if you're not listening closely on a good system.

Add This guy to the Arturia and for under $500 you've got a pretty solid option to the real thing that'll play much more nicely with your DAW.

I've been learning the piano intro for The Who's "Lord Reign O'er Me". Great intro. Was that Pete Townshend? I'd swear on a stack of Bibles that the quiet G natural he hits at the end of the intro, right after a C# chord is a mistake. It sure sounds like dog poop. And then, as if he's trying to make it sound intentional, he does it again. Edit to add... And now that blasted G is growing on me! Maybe it wasn't a mistake, it was just.... outside.

This thread has veered from concerning, to fricking hilarious, to uncomfortably close to getting shut down, or at least so it seems. Here's to hoping we can keep things from getting out of hand.

I've been gigging with the same drummer in multiple bands since 1982. I think we're to the point that we breathe in sync... We tend to hit things together naturally, and better yet, leave space together. What's been interesting over the last 10 years or so, is also playing with other drummers. It's good to have someone I'm deeply bonded with musically (he's also my best friend), but I also enjoy getting to build that connection with someone I don't know as well.

Huh? My church has a BC that was updated to be a BV. We added trek percussion to it and the chorus still works. Can you elaborate?

PM sent

So….. resurrecting this for any other PolyBrute owners out there that might be interested. I’m still loving my PolyBrute nearly 3 years later, but (and this may be a big duh for some) one thing I didn’t anticipate is just how good a controller it also is. I’ve been fascinated by, and still am, the Soundforce controllers and have been thinking about getting a few…. Or several… or all of them. For those unfamiliar with them, they are front end MIDI controllers for VSTis that mimic front panels of popular analog synths. Before taking the plunge on any of them, I decided to see how hard / practical / beneficial it would be to use my PB as a controller instead. In short, the PB works great and programming a VSTi seems much more natural doing it from a synth than doing so with a mouse. I’ve tested it with Arturia’s JP-8 & OP-Xa and U-He’s Repro 5 and Diva. Works great. You’ll need to go thru the MIDI Learn process for whatever softsynths you want to control, but, at least for the ones I tried, it was pretty quick & painless (once I figured out note #2 below!). 2 quick notes should you choose to join me down this rabbit hole… 1/ On the PolyBrute, assuming you’re using the PB Connect, make sure to have Local Control off (so that when you go to one of the other synth tracks you won’t hear the PB) and make sure that you click “disconnect” on PB Connect before changing tracks. Once you come back to the PB track, simply click “connect” and you’re back where you left off with your unsaved edits still in place. 2/ MIDI Learn does not work on the VST3 versions of the U-He plug-ins. You need to use the VST2 versions. Tweak away! greg

Well, 100% of my income comes from Music or music related services. I'm not aware of the makeup of his clientele otherwise. To me though, that's not important. It's up to him to know tax law and how to use it legally to make sure that I don't pay anymore than the law dictates. As for what we musicians do and him understanding us, we buy tools to make money, spend money to learn our craft, and use part of the house to do our work or prepare ourselves for the work we do. Doesn't seem that difficult to understand. I don't pay him to remind me to keep track of mileage to gigs. I pay him to advise me when it's time to convert the sole proprietorship to an S-Corp.

Don't underestimate the value of a good CPA. I can't write the check fast enough to my guy because he saves me way more than I could if I did my own taxes.