piano39

I have a StagePas 300. I highly recommend it for keyboards. At least half the time, I am playing acoustic piano patches on my Motif. I still own a QSC K10, which I use when I need more power, but I prefer the StagePas. Advantage for keyboards is that it is stereo, easy to carry. I host a weekly open mic, so it is not uncommon to use all channels on the mixer. The gigs that I play are usually smaller rooms, where people want to enjoy the music, but hold conversations. It works really well for that.

Uh-Oh--- I told myself that I wouldn't get a Montage because it didn't have a sequencer. I love the sequencer on my Motif XF. It looks like this takes care of that issue. Also- it looks like Yamaha is listening to the users.

Uh-Oh--- I told myself that I wouldn't get a Montage because it didn't have a sequencer. I love the sequencer on my Motif XF. It looks like this takes care of that issue.

I suspect that you are correct. This is why I stopped using softsynths. I have accumulated about 8 hardware synths/ keyboards, some close to 30 years old. They all work like the day they were built. Almost all of the softsynths that I bought no longer function- no longer supported, not compatible with latest OS, etc.

Here are two pointers. Both are a different way of saying some things that were already referenced in this thread. 1) Learn how to use a volume pedal. If you don't have a real Hammond, or a clone, turn off the velocity curves for organ voices . One main difference between piano and organ- On the organ, you can change the volume of the note you are playing after you strike the note. Some organ lines call for voicing each note with the volume (or expression) pedal. Other times, you change the volume gradually over a specific melodic line (Crescendos and Decrescendos). When I play organ on my Motif (I know that the organs are much maligned on this keybaord), I have one foot riding the volume pedal constantly. 2)Playing legato - there is a different technique for organ and piano. If you press an organ key very slowly, you can detect the exact position that the organ voice "speaks". On a real Hammond, you can actually hear the harmonics (depending on drawbar settings) start to "speak" one at a time. Also, if you release the note very slowly, you can detect the key position when the voice stops speaking. This means that to play legato on an organ, you actually have to start playing the second note before the first note is fully released. If you play the second note after the first note is released, it sounds "choppy". For this reason- it is actually more difficult to play a legato line on an organ than on a piano.

I found this out the hard way. I do a weekly gig with a small PA that does the job very well. When a drummer shows up, I wish I had a monitor, but I was reluctant to drag one to the gig. I bought a bluetooth transmiiter that plugged into my mixer monitor send, then wore some BT phones. Probably close to half a second latency. All is not lost, I resurrected my turntable and transmit from my old stereo amp/ receiver to my studio.

I didn't see anything in the press release about the sound generation method. My hunch is that they are romplers. I think that it would be better, though, if they were updated versions of the original casiotones. Those boards (like my MT-40) were all square waves. IIRC each voice was constructed with two pulse waves of different widths. I think that they modulated the pulse width to give the voices some animation. Those came out in the early '80s. I wonder what they could do with square wave synthesis using 2019 tech.

+1 I used to love the old Casiotones ( I had an MT-68, which IIRC was a MT-65 in a brown color). I actually did with the OP suggested- bringing it to the beach, etc.

I agree with the one guitar limit per band. Too many bad experiences. Especially when guitar players feel that the keyboard's role is to play a few intros here and there, and comp behind their solos.

Many thanks to folks on this forum. With the clue that "Dorothy" was also known as "Song for Mother", I found a sheet. Learned it today and played it out at a gig this evening. Blew the doors off the joint. If only the audience knew: 1) Dr. John played 10ths with his LH. My hands are too small. 2)Got lost a few times and just repeated a couple of chord progressions. Advantage of playing solo piano. Now I have to finish the woodshedding and learn the song proper. Thanks again.

Been listening to a lot of Dr. John tonight. A friend just turned me on to the song "Dorothy". Beautiful. I would like to play this. Does anybody know if there is a good transcription of this available?

I used a Behringer 502 for years to mix my keyboards on gigs. No problems. The thing went from the gig to my car trunk. Made no effort to hide it from the cold or heat.

Doesn't the MONTAGE have both? Earlier (top model) Motifs too. The aftertouch on those models is mono, not poly. And the CS80/CS60/CS50 ribbon is very different from their more modern ribbons, and much better. I have a Motif XF, which has the short ribbon under the mod wheels. I like it just fine. I know that an authentic CS-80 update may require the longer ribbon. But why is the longer one better? I guess if it was routed to pitch, you can do Keith Emerson style ribbon stuff. However, the short Motif ribbon is very expressive for filter sweeps, modulation effects, etc. Again, except for theremin style pitch stuff, what would make the longer ribbon better?

I hate to be a buzzkill, but here's the problem....I think that most of the solos that have been cited in this thread are over 30 years old. How come new pop songs don't have any good instrumental solos? Not only keyboard solos, but guitar and sax solos have disappeared as well. (Although I am not lamenting the disappearance of guitar solos on pop). I used to be a voracious reader of Keyboard magazine. I recall when they cited "That's All" by Genesis and "Don't Want to Fall in Love" by Jane Child as being notable for HAVING solos (organ and synth respectively). Just looked 'em up--Jane Child's song is the newer one, from 1990. Don't get me wrong, I agree with most of the selections on this thread as being great. I also would nominate "Don't Want to Fall in Love" for this thread. However, I am dismayed that the pop music has abandoned lead solos.

I must be getting old (Well, I know I am), but I can't for the life of me figure out how this would be an advantage. Wouldn't all of the wireless controllers need batteries? At work, I have a very nice Lenovo laptop with Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. Very dependable machine, but my biggest problem is that, a few times a year, it doesn't see the mouse. I then go on a troubleshooting expedition to figure out the problem. I would not want to spend time doing this on a gig.

Can't understand why this isn't getting more comments. This looks like a truly original design.

I wonder if it is backward compatible to Sampletank 2 sounds. By the way- Sampletank is the reason that I quit softsynths. I have tons of money invested in Sampletank 2 disks. This was my go to softsynth. These are all unusable, unless I upgrade to Sampletank 3 or 4.

I also have an almost complete set, back to the first issue of "Contemporary Keyboard (Chick Corea on cover, IIRC). I would sell these for cheap if somebody came and picked them up. I live in Northeastern Ohio. PM me if interested.

I am intrigued. Most of the listings on the ebay page that you linked to, however, do not show photos of the inside of the bag. I don't think that any of them are arranged as nicely as the cable file bags that are marketed as such. Looks like a trip to Home Depot is in order.

edit: it says 28-voice AWM2 polyphony? Thats stingy, even though it has 64-voice FM polyphony. But the piano and ep will be AWM2, and thats where you really need a little more than 28, Id think. Also, since we only see a 76-key, maybe they plan to sell that alongside the MOXF for the time being, until sales of the latter slow down. First thing that I noticed was the 28 note polyphony on the AWM2 side. I am guessing that is a typo and they meant to say 128 note polyphony??? This thing is loaded with performances, which suck up a lot of voices.

Behringer Model D (Didn't really need it, but couldn't pass this up- Wanted a Minimoog since 1972) Case for my Casio Privia PX-100 (the case cost $85, which was about twice what I paid for the Privia @ Goodwill) Shure SM48 (A "Just in case" mic that I can carry for when I host open mic)

Another one- a nice investment in EMU Proteus softsynth (Forget what it was called), including about a half dozen discs full of sounds. Since EMU walked away, and refused to upgrade drivers, this is another waste of money. To stay with the topic of this thread, I think that Behringer is doing a great thing here.

I feel the exact opposite. My hardware synths never let me down. Software, on the other hand, is constant maintenance. I own gigabytes of Sampletank sounds that are unplayable unless I upgrade to ST 3. 20 years on Cakewalk/ Sonar and that looks like a (possible) dead end. A host of IOS apps that are too flaky to trust at a gig. Oh, yeah, my Delta 44 soundcard on my backup PC- Windows 10 driver issues. I am sure that this is a solvable problem if I spend a few hours with it. In the meantime, I have 20+ year old Casio and Yamaha synths that are reliable as a tank. Ditto for my 10+ year old Alesis and Mackie gear.

Boy, at first glance, I was really enthralled about the concept of this. But this seems to bring back the worst aspect of my days gigging with a Fender Rhodes. - it's too heavy, - the hard case is bulky- takes too much space in my hatchbatck, where do you put the top when you are in a gig? (My soft Gator case for my Motif is a lot easier to deal with). Also, since I am a weakling, I damaged a lot of walls in my house toting keyboards in hard cases around. - set up, tear down time has got to be longer. I imagine that you have to set the keyboard on its back, and screw in the four legs, one at a time. Any modern keyboard stand is quicker. I guess, now that I am north of 60 years old, weight and convenience are huge factors.

Boy, I wanted to learn how to play that piano intro since I heard it circa 1970. Talk about unrequited love. I think that I even started a thread in that other keyboard forum that we all used to use a few years ago. In any event, if there is a transcription of that piano into out there, please post it or PM me.