PianoMan51

Or how a junk drawer magically fills itself.

My, how much stuff comes from nothing. Like the physics of vacuum energy.

The logarithmic nature of our hearing is always confusing. We think adding a second powered speaker on stage will double the volume. No, it adds 3dB of volume, which slightly increases volume, but gives us the opportunity to spread the volume over a wider expanse. I worked in telecommunications test firm for 20 years. Rather than pull out a calculator, I ended up just using a handful of useful short cuts. Here’s one… Ten times the power = two times the volume. Or, +10dB doubles perceived volume. An example is, If you want to double the volume of 10W amp, you need 100W. (All other things being equal.)

The measurement Bell (and the decibel dB) was invented by Bell Labs scientists who were studying the physical nature of sound with emphasis on making efficient telephone networks. Back in the 20s when they also invented the amplifier and electric microphone. And then researched vocoders, transistors, microwave background measurements, lasers, and on and on. It was they who explored the logarithmic nature of our hearing. The ‘+10dB equals a doubling of perceived sound volume’ was a convenient averaging of many test subjects. Move from 10dB to 1 Bell (it’s the same) and you realize that the whole measurement scheme was based around human hearing.

So many posts here refer to an “Al Quinn”. Is this Harley’s brother?

Maybe this isn’t in line with the discussion. But… I’m piano man because at the end of the day my internal musical spirit finds the acoustic piano the most simpatico. Still, I’ve played a s%%% load of synths over the years and always had a feeling of them being tools to create a certain sound to fit into a certain song. When I’m done creating the patch and practicing the riff, I’m done. Analog and digital. Didn’t hear much difference. Little personal attachment. The Moog Matriarch changed my attitude.

“the balls of your fingertips”… You have them there?

Cheap. Work. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RM6Q9XW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Theo, You are absolutely right! Having the right sounds can be inspirational. And then when you achieve that sound, going further into songs more complex than blues is really challenging. You have been sending us examples of your exploration in sounds for many years. I know for me I sometimes didn’t realize exactly what you were aiming at. But now I think I understand better. All of us here make our own jams. Some with sequenced tracks, and others just in our minds. Take care of yourself. Jack

Just one more song built on Rhythm Changes.

I’m playing in two big bands, so lots of 7 page charts. Scotch tape breaks after a few dozen uses. And destroys the paper if you try to remove it. This is my second order of art tape. Very flexible and can be removed. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BX36S6NJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Youtube has some instructions on how to use. Basically you alternate taping the front and back sides so that the sticky part of the tape between the pages always folds inwards. Otherwise that sticky edge will glue the pages together like an old Penthouse at summer camp.

Gigged briefly with Alicia’s Keys when it first came out. One thing I remember is that it was the only piano VST I had that perfectly summed to mono. Since it was designed for stage use, I assumed that this made it suitable for stereo and mono FOH. Maybe recorded in M/S or in mono with a stereo fx.

Noisy keys. Loose keys. Bought a used CP-4 years ago. Cheap. Had two black keys that had an amazingly sloppy sideways movement. I was pissed until after my first gig. When I realized that when I actually played, I didn’t even notice the two bad keys. The sideways motion was not apparent at all while playing the piano. Now, don’t get me started on the Fatar keybed on my mid-90s K2500!

Dave, If you ever come to doubt the work that you and the forum team do… Consider the amazing responses in the posts above. Jack

Me: “Doctor, I’ve had this strange ringing in my ears. Seems like it’s been years! And then yesterday, it changed…” Doctor: “Do you live near the ‘Church of Christ the Dadaist’?”

Let me guess, you’re working on a script for a movie called A Few Good Synthesists. “Synthesizers with balls? You can’t handle balls!”

One possibility comes from playing with transposing horns. Bb horns sound in the key of Bb when their charts are written in C (no flats). When my piano (concert pitch) chart is in Gb (6 flats), a Bb trumpet chart is in Ab (4 flats). An Eb clarinet chart is in Eb (3 flats). Vs a song in F# where the transposing charts are in G# and D#.

The 18880 is very lightweight and seems flimsy when setup by itself, even with the knobs snugged down. Once the keyboard is placed on top, from the players position kick each of the two legs outward an inch. This will create enough tension to tighten up the rig while the weight of the keyboard holds that tension in place. I don’t do gymnastics on my keys, but I’ve had this stand for more than 10 years and used it for over 500 gigs. Let’s call my playing two-fisted piano. A fresh spray of flat black paint every five years… Admittedly not very sexy. But Velcro an ultra light seat to it and I can carry both in one hand easily, while carrying the keyboard under my other arm. And I sing, so a mic stand is attached to the 18880 with a pair of hose clamps. Tres chic! Lol.

Of course it’s the total schlep. Which is why the K&M 18880 at 3.2kg is popular here. Expensive, yes…

Make sure. The transformer is hi-z on one side and low-z on the other. The traditional design has the XLR on the “low-z mic” side and the 1/4 male on the “guitar “ side. It’s just a transformer inside. Different numbers of windings to create voltage and impedance shifts. Yes, it can work backwards. Just make sure it’s working in the right direction for you.

I bought a cable to connect the melodica to the transformer. 1/4” unbalanced at one end, XLR male at the other. The output end of the transformer is already 1/4” and can go directly into your pedal boxes. Unfortunately the transformer is hanging physically on the pedal’s input Jack. So I usually use a 1/4” female to 1/4” female (mono) adapter and a second 1/4” cable to move the transformer off the pedal Jack. It’s still a kluge. Maybe that’s why the Hammond 44 marketing materials never show a transformer being used.

The transformer was designed to take the input from a low impedance dynamic mix and output it into a guitar amp. I don’t know the design specifics for the transformer turns, but it appears to add voltage gain in my case.

Way back in the day (late 60s) there was a sea change from high impedance to low impedance mics on stage. That meant for me that the new good low-z mic that you just bought would not work well well with the band’s Shure Vocal Master mixer that had high-z inputs. So, you bought an impedance matching transformer. I still had my Shure AO5UF in a box of 30 year old unused crap. And then I got a Hammond 44. A low-z unbalanced mic, not a pickup. Yes, it could plug into a guitar input, but not optimally. So I tried the matching transformer. Just what I needed. You can find new versions on Amazon for $20 or so. BTW, the signal flow is: Hammond 44 to transformer to iRig to iPhone to mixer. Out from Hammond is 1/4” unbalanced. Use an adapter to plug into transformer’s XLR female input. The iRig is a cheap I/o for getting an electric guitar in and out of an iPhone/iPad with audio connector. The output of the iRig is 1/8” female stereo. The iPhone hosts a bunch of inexpensive Eventide plug-ins.

To me, the success of my piano sound relies 85% on proper EQ (for the song/band/room) and 15% or less on the patch itself. Now there are lots of exceptions, but during gigs that are piano heavy, I’m working the EQ first.