richforman

The regular non-Pro version of the Spider stand has a non-angled second tier. It would be a great feature if you could alter the angle although the way the SP is configured works fine for me. Another slight wish-list item for me is that while it's great that you can infinitely adjust the height of the tiers, that also means it's not calibrated so you can't really get them in the same place every time (you have to move them in order to collapse it) - you'd have to either mark up the column with ink or tape to mark your preferred tier heights, or me I just kind of figure it out with a little trial and error each time.

I've been using one for six or seven years and to me it's the best stand I've ever used. Never any problems with wobbling, on the contrast, the clever four-legged structure always stays stable. There are imo several big advantages over the ultimate apex stands I used for decades before this. That had the cable management clips too but they always broke off in time, these never have. The way the arms fold in to the column for storage in a truly self-contained one-piece design makes it so easy to set up, break down and transport. On the apex, you had to take the arms off and stuff them into the column through the lid at the top but I always found that the lid would eventually break off and then you'd have to take the arms in your gig bag instead and probably lose them, or even when they were in the column sometimes they'd be tough to fish out of it. The Spider Pro gets noticed and complimented on its striking on-stage look. Nothing will ever happen to the tiers, they won't get loose or slanted or break or have to be replaced. Nothing in the way for as many foot pedals as you want. Others have had different experience, this has been mine.

Just got a new Quiklok QL-642 two-tier double-x stand to replace the falling-apart x-stand I have been using for a long time mostly for rehearsals and some gigs (most I use my Spider Pro). $82 at B&H Photo vs. $129 at Sam Ash, I asked them and they couldn't match it. Really like the new one, seems very solid.

Thanks DaveyB belatedly for that great roundup. I think I will be in the market eventually, not immediately, for a clonewheel type organ-specializing keyboard (for now I'm okay with my Ferrofish B4000+ module; B3 requirement is only a small fraction of any of the gigs I currently do although that might change later this year.) Anyway can you expand a bit on what you meant about the SK1's controls or architecture having more of a learning curve? Also did someone say, did I understand this right, that the SK1 is only 15 lbs.? And what are the fundamental differences, since they are both marketed under the Hammand name, of the "SK" line vs. the "XK" and "XK-c" lines? Is the latter seen as more pro-level or something, or is it more obselete having been replaced by the SK's? I'm a little cloudy.

Yeah, think I've done it in both E and Eb. If anything playing it in E instead would probably make the fingering easier.

I just play something very close to the left-hand part in the first example in FKS' post, on a clav patch with my left hand, and the horn line with my right. When a gig comes up where I'll be doing the song, I usually practice it at home the day before to get that two-handed pattern back down. Those voicings for the bridge are really helpful, I do a simpler version of those chords but am going to try to adapt something much closer to that, thanks Funk.

Dave McM, I'm curious about how that dual switch pedal works with your Motion Sound amp as you described. Forgive my ignorance about the amp, I'll try to make my question coherent. Is it programmed/configured to recognize the pedal input as having two different switches and to interpret one as start/stop and the other as slow/fast? I mean, looking at the product link, the pedal is from a different manufacturer than the amp, and it sounds like it is built, or marketed anyway, to go specifically with the Vox amp which I surmise "knows" inherently to use one switch for reverb, the other for tremolo. Is the MSP amp similarly intelligent about how to respond to the two different switches? I don't know if my organ module is as smart as that, will have to do some experimentation. I think it might be that when you connect a switch pedal to the input, it just takes it from stop all the way to fast until you hit it again and then it slows back down to stopped, but I'm really not sure yet.

Thanks fellas. The Boss I had been looking at at the start does look really bulky and the fact that it doesn't have its own cord (and especially that as reported you have to remove your cord from it between sets), seems inconvenient. Dave those look great. I"m just not sure if my B4000+ has the ability to take advantage of the dual switches. I know I can use a switch to change speeds but I'm not sure if I can also use it to turn the rotor on and off as you mention. I'll ask them - the documentation for the B4K+ is incomplete at best, but they have been great about getting back to me with helpful answers to a lot of questions I've had since getting the unit.

Nah, or maybe this one from Marshall, way cheaper, smaller (that's helpful, this will be the fifth pedal in my rig now), has its own built-in cord. http://www.amazon.com/Marshall-Footswitch-One-Button-With/dp/B003OYLGWA/ref=pd_cp_MI_1

Think I got it. I guess the Boss FS-5L is what I'm looking for.

I think I want to get one, if there is such a thing, to use to change the speed of my B4000+'s virtual Leslie. So I could just click it to speed up and not have to hold it down to keep it spinning. Anyone recommend a good pedal for this, not too expensive?

Bought a couple spares of the custom external power supply needed for my Yamaha MOXF; one resides in the soft case I carry around the keyboard in, and one stays set up plugged into the power trip in my practics space at home. (I guess I should put the third one somewhere in my traveling gig-rig also as a backup in case the first one runs away or breais/fails).

MANY years ago when for a brief time my rig consisted of a Rhodes 54-key (dug it!) and on top of it my first polyphonic synth, a Juno 60, I internally entertained the idea of adopting the stage name Roland Rhodes, then my stage set up would have been totally customized!

Another funny story, keep 'em coming!

Yikes!! Fantastic story, ya gotta say!

The Classic Keys sound library for the Motif line including my MOXF8 has a synth patch custom programmed for that song (and many others). Anyway I recently bought a used SRX-07 card from someone right here on this board for a much better deal than that, and anyway I suspect that you can talk down ebay sellers to a more reasonable price on the used ones, I don't think they are going to be able to sell them at that price. I got the same sticker shock looking for a used one but was able to actually talk a seller way down on one (but ended up not buying it, as I did find one on offer from a fellow forum member here before doing the ebay transaction).

Thanks for tipping me off to that! Just skimmed the article quick on my way out the door this morning.

Just got the new Keyboard in the mail today with (finally!) their review of the MOXF, it was very complimentary ('Key Buy award' for what that's worth) and the writer really praised the keyboard action and feel, and the size, breadth and quality of the soundset. When I was shopping a few months ago it was the lousy action of the Krome 88 that drove me to the MOXF8 and then I only discovered a lot of the other great things about it after I picked one up. The lack of aftertouch and of an aux out for click tracks, are very noticeable compromises but for the price and quality and some of the other features, notably its very flexible master controller functionality, it's still a great deal for me and a solution I'm very happy with. But anyway it sounds like if I had been in the market a few months later the FA-08 would have given the Yamaha a run for its money, but the limitations you guys are mentioning as a multitimbral MIDI master controller I think probably would have been turned me away from it.

I'm not in the market for another new keyboard now, but reading these reports I am glad that my trusty old obselete Fantom X7 seems to have most of the features that everybody seems to be getting most excited about on this new one - (very easy) sampling, trigger pads, expandability/additional sound libraries.

I know what you mean, in fact I just started exploring/learning Master mode on my new MOXF8 last night and I am already sold, great functionality there and I think it will quickly become my patch-selection tool of choice for my whole rig for all my gigs.

Hey I'll join in, I was a longtime lurker but for whatever reason have only started jumping in with some posts recently. My name's Rich, 52, I live in Long Island, NY, have lived here since '87 and before that grew up for my first 26 years or so near Philly; started my first band in high school, got in my first bar bands in college and have been gigging in SOME context, pretty steadily, ever since, 30+ years now, wshew. Such a variety of gigging sessions over those years, some good runs with pretty high-quality bands that lasted a while, played a lot, sounded good and made some decent money; dry spells when the bands and gigs were crappier and sparser but have always managed to keep SOMETHING going. Mostly bar bands doing either doing a typical mix of top 40/oldies/classic rock, a few weddings bands, a few projects where we tried to focus on covering more ambitious, proggier classic rock or even fusion, and in the last six or seven years, the focus has been on a few 80's themed show bands and a few classic rock tribute bands (I've tribbed Foreigner, Bad Company, Billy Joel as the second keyboards - not the Billy guy! - in a really good project that is my main gig currently) all of which have gotten me into some bigger theatre, club and outdoor fest type shows and better paying corporates/privates, sometimes with some travel, best was a private party in the Bahamas a few years ago where we were put on a really exclusive beach resort for a weekend. Basically always on the lookout and hustling for a good project or gig; seems the days are past (for me) when being in a single band kept you as busy as you wanted to be, and I really like the variety of playing in at least two bands concurrently, makes it less boring and keeps your chops up better I think. Have had a good-paying day job the whole time too but the gigs account to a decent percentage of my income, maybe 20 or 25% in good times, it feels like more than just a hobby to me even if "career" sounds like an overstatement to describe this pursuit. Have had lots of keyboards over the years, my current gigging setup is or will be as of next weekend, my brand new MOXF8 and my trusty Fantom X7 (oh yeah and my also new Alessis Vortex which will only be used sparingly and on a few gigs, not all); relegated to practice/backup axes now are my S80 and Korg Trinity Plus. Past axes have included a Yamaha CP30, Sequential Circuits Pro-One mono synth, a short-lived Casio synth in the early 80's I can't even recall the model #; then for my first fairly pro working cover bands in the 80's I had a 54-key Rhodes (rare, I think they only made those one year!) at one point, some kind of string machine, then for a long time it was a DX7 on the bottom and a Juno 60 on top; later I used an Ensoniq VFX-SD for a long time, an Alessis Quadrasynth, and whatever else I'm forgetting. Also Used to use some rack modules in the 90's, an Oberheim Matrix-1000 I think it was called, all analog! 6 polyphonic voices but mono-timbral; a Roland US220; a Korg P3 piano module, remember those?; and some kind of organ module with drawbars I also can't quite recall the name of. My "brushes with greatness" through playing have been few, but I did once get to play a six-song set at a party with Bret Michaels; opened for him on another occasion a couple years later; opened for Eddie Money and also for Zebra (met them on a cruise ship a couple years later and they did remember the show and us to my delight!); got to play "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with Bonnie Tyler one time, that was pretty big; played at Miley Cyrus' private 17th birthday party; spotted Danny Bonaduce in the crowd at an NYC club gig!; was brought on at a party by Guy Fieri; oh yeah, last summer Mark Rivera filled in on sax in our Billy Joel band; and most memorably to me but meaningless to the young'uns, back about 20 years ago my cover/bar band got to be Mitch Ryder's (famous rocker in the mid-60's, biggest hit that most people would know is "CC Rider/Jenny Take a Ride" long before Bruce covered it at No Nukes, and also "Devil With the Blue Dress") pickup band for a bar gig here in Long Island. Nice to meet you all!