Jump to content


McHale

Member
  • Posts

    12
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About McHale

  • Birthday 01/14/1972

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. Bringing this thread back from the dead. @whannahhow has it been working out for you since you made it? I'm getting ready to do something similar and any news on how it worked out all this time would be most welcome! -Mc
  2. It's a few hours drive from me but when I'm driving out to the east coast I go right by it. Not even on purpose. A few years back I was driving back from PA and I had an original song idea in my head and I was about 3 hours away from sweetwater. I turned on my recorder app on my phone and whistled the parts. When I got to sweetwater I pulled out a thumbdrive, sat at the very same workstation I had at home, sequenced all the parts, and came home and finished it. Someone on the floor asked if I needed any help and I explained what I was doing and he got me a cup of soda and gave me a thumbs up. If you go, be sure to let your salesperson know you'll be there and ask for a tour. It's pretty sweet. -Mc
  3. It's because of the service at Sweetwater I buy from them almost exclusively. Two weeks ago I got a defective keyboard controller and I called and talked to the sales guy and asked to speak to one of their service techs. Service tech called and I explained the issue and asked about tearing it down so I could fix it (one of the key sections wasn't aligned properly - probably a 10 minute fix). I've been repairing and restoring gear for decades. He literally said "Let me just send you a brand new one." And I was like, no, I can fix it I just want to make sure there's nothing I have to worry about when I take it apart. "DUDE... seriously... I'll send you a brand new one, no questions asked." So I grudgingly accepted a new replacement and sent back the defective unit (costing them 2 way shipping PLUS whatever they will do with the returned unit). I felt guilty that it cost them money to ship me a new one when it was probably stupid easy to fix. And here's how much I trust my sales guy at Sweetwater. On the day Korg revealed the OG Kronos at NAMM, I called him up and put in my order. He literally checked every day until it was in the system so I could get one from the first batch. He called me with the current price (MSRP) and when it shipped he price matched the cheapest place online. If they promised you a new replacement and you didn't get a new replacement, call them and they'll resolve it for you. p.s. I agree, MORE LAFFY TAFFY.
  4. I'm not sure what's in the Nautilus because I haven't repaired one yet but I do know they aren't using the 510. Korg ran out of 510's over a decade ago and they started using 525's around the time of the Kronos 2. I wouldn't be surprised if it's still a 525 in the Nautilus as they did very little new R&D on the Nautilus. If you have an original Kronos, keep an eye on ebay and pick up a couple 510's while you still can. I literally have 3 spares and a spare Kronos power supply. Everything else will have to be repaired WHEN the time comes. If you have a Kronos 2, pick up a 525 since they're relatively cheap.
  5. The question was, what would *I* do differently. After about 40 years of gigging keys and having once been firmly in the hardware camp, I think my answer is quite relevant. I went from 5 keyboards, to 4, to 3, to 1 or 2 depending on the gig. Now I'm 2 controllers (61 and 88) with the 61 key controller dedicated to B3 and the other for everything else. In his position knowing everything I know now, that's what *I* would do.
  6. I'd have jumped in the soft synth / keyboard controller game as soon as I could. I've been lugging/gigging hardware synths since the 80's and that was fine but now workstations that I have depended on are no longer dependable and parts aren't available. All of the gear I sold off because of purchasing "the one to rule them all" are gone forever and I wish I'd have kept them. Soft synths are available forever, as long as you have a working computer. Computers and computer parts will always be available. The very specific proprietary boards in my Kronos, already gone. You can always upgrade the controller and not have to worry about recreating patches over and over again. I've probably created the "Won't Get Fooled Again" patch 5 or 6 times for different gear I was using at those times. MANY MANY patches have gone through the same. The classic rock songs are timeless and recreating those patches is a necessity. It would have been nice to have used the patches I created a decade ago and merely added additional VST's if necessary while upgrading the existing VST's when upgrades are released. In the long run, it will be cheaper, lighter, easier to manage, and more convenient.
  7. I don't know of any that go that high but I can confirm my preferred Z stands (Z-726L) do NOT. I don't think any Quik Lok Z stands go any higher than this one. https://www.quiklok.com/product/z-726l-keyboard-stand/ Height Adjustment: Main Stand: 26.3", 27.5", 28.7", 29.9", 31.1", 32.3", 33.4" - (67, 70, 73,76, 79,82,85cm) Second Tier: 9.2", 10.2", 11.2", 12.2" (23.5, 26, 28.5, 31cm)
  8. While putting together my current band I was going through emails looking for old set lists and I saw the final exchange before I quit my last longtime band. It was a doozy. I was the only one in the band with a fulltime job and the bass player who booked the shows assumed I could just leave work whenever the band needed me to it if he begged hard enough. He booked a show to start an hour after I get off work, I lived more than an hour away from the gig, and there was rush hour traffic to contend with on a Friday night. We had an agreement as a band that we would not book shows during specific times of day. Regardless, he did it all the time. When he proposed this last gig I offered him 3 options: 1. Say we'll start as soon as I get there and I'll get there as soon as I can 2. play without me 3. cancel the gig. He confirmed the gig and he and the rest of the band members badgered me to take the day off for days. When I explained that I couldn't leave early the guitar player responded with "Dooooooood... it's like you don't even want to be in the band anymore. What's up with that?!" That was the final straw and I quit on the spot. After they couldn't find a replacement after a full year they asked me to come back, promised things were different now, and guaranteed we wouldn't be taking crappy low paying gigs anymore (we'd been together like 15 years and played every major venue in the area, opening for top shelf signed bands or being the main act). So I went back and our first practice we ran through the entire show. It was just like I'd never left. At the 2nd practice I was informed they booked a show for a Thursday afternoon and we'd be making about 40 bucks a piece... and I had to drive 2 hours to get there. I packed up my gear and walked out without saying a word. It really was just like I'd never left. The guitar player (who started the band) left soon after for essentially the same reasons. As a fun side note, I had to bring my own PA to shows whether or not they provided sound because the bass player needed multiple monitors around the stage so he could "rock pose" wherever he stood. Keyboard player guy that sings doesn't need a monitor.
×
×
  • Create New...