AWkeys

This is just too cool - thank you!

Not sure how obscure this is, and it's not necessarily about his incredible chops as it's more about his incredible taste and beautiful synth textures. This song is heaven to me. [video:youtube]

I'm a hired gun, so like many of you I have to learn a LOT of songs for a lot of different bands and repertoires, in addition to playing solo gigs and taking requests. Some stuff I gotta hold my nose to play/sing, and I usually take it in stride. That said, the one song that came to mind right away for me is "Can't You See" by Marshall Tucker Band. Can't you see, this song annoys the shit outta me!!!

ROTFLMAO! I love stuff like this - thanks for posting!

I am in the FC-7 camp, myself. I prefer being able to adjust the pedal angle at >90 degrees at "full volume", even when sitting. They have definitely failed on me, and I can mostly blame that on not handling the cable carefully when packing up - that goes for sustain pedals as well. Cheapest solution is to buy a 15' Hosa TRS cable, cut it in half and then you have two replacement cables. Of course you have to spend the time soldering them in.

I have a Lester G (same pedal, but built for guitar impedance and has more controls and a compressor circuit) and several Ventilators. IMO nothing comes close to the Vent hardware-wise other than the real deal but that said, the Lester has a very nice sound and a bit different from the Vent. I also like how the low rotor takes more time to speed up and slow down in ratio to the high rotor versus the Ventilator. Another observation: the Lester sounds really great in stereo but not as much in mono - while the same goes for the Vent, it folds into mono much better to my ears. If you can find one and can afford the bit extra, I say go for the Vent, but if you do come across a Lester K or G, I think you'd be pretty happy.

Excellent conversation! My brother is a tech-geek and he advised me that password length is most important. (Although many prefer password girth, yukyuk.) He told me even using a sentence works.

Isn't the paddle supposed to be split, one side for modulation and the other for pitch? Edit: just watched the video, and I see split paddles - maybe the picture is still of a mock-up?

I remember when Creamware produced a few hardware modules somewhere in the mid to late 2000s. I reviewed the Pro-12 ASB for Keyboard, and it held up to my rev 3 pretty damn well.

Ordered! Thank you!

That's been a gripe of mine about almost all digital pianos - why do the notes die out so fast?? Why does it take a software piano to right that wrong??

Thank you for sharing - that was very enjoyable! As much as I love Moog and own a couple, there's always been something about ARP for me. I've got an original white-face Odyssey and a Pro-Soloist both in the bone yard (for now), and String Ensemble and Korg Odyssey that are alive and well. The KOdyssey sat next to me and played along during the movie.

Good on ya, Mark.

If it's any consolation, I foolishly supported a Kickstarter campaign for a custom-built Minimoog clone that still hasn't delivered almost 4 years later. Because it's Kickstarter, getting a refund for that sizable amount paid in good faith is near impossible.

Happy Birthday dB! Thank you for all that you do! I mostly lurk here, post only occasionally, but this is such an excellent forum filled with a lot of smart people. I thank you all for your informative, sometimes entertaining posts. Wishing you all safety and good health during this pandemic and always. Let our love of music pull us through this difficult time.

I think putting the controls on the left of an 88-key controller is a bad idea. Increases the amount of space need on stage, harder to fit into a compact car or SUV. Always wondered why Roland did this. And yeah, I'm not a fan of the Roland paddle unless it's combined with normal wheels like their awesome A-90/70s from long ago.

Looks like it, but you have to open the unit up to make these adjustments: Programming The following parameters can be edited and stored to setting A or B: - Preset select Preset 1 (Mellow sound with far Distance setting. Cabinet simulation is turned off.) - Preset 2 (Closer Distance setting with the 122 cabinet simulation turned on. - Drive Intensity in 5 steps (off,1,2,3,full)

Ahh - so THAT's what is on Do it Again - I've always wondered. That's been in my backlog of "what was used on this" set of questions! Do It Again is some sort of cheap "plastic organ" (per Donald Fagen), not sure what. But I do know from experience that the pitch bend is done with tape echo. It's a slap-back with the mix pretty wet and you move the speed back and forth in the spots where you hear the pitch-shift. As for "Echoes", that's a piano put through a Leslie speaker on fast.

Happy Birthday, Mike!

A trusted mechanic is a valuable asset. I remember once taking my car to a brand new quick-lube place as I had a coupon for a free oil change. Guy brings me into the garage bay and tells me my radiator needs flushing. He opens the cap and I see a brown liquid in it, as if it was completely rusted out. I told him thanks for the info and that I'd call to schedule it. Went home and checked the radiator the next day, and it was back to antifreeze green. Never had a problem with it. It's amazing to me how many people take their cars to dealerships. While I'm sure there are a couple of honest mechanics working at dealerships, most places are not to be trusted in my experience. I had one roommate years ago always having to put money into his car because the dealer told him so. Wouldn't take my advice to go elsewhere.

Yep, there is definite side-to-side motion which could be an issue depending on how wild you get with your playing. And it's worse the higher you make the stand - I use it mostly for sitting and my old Invisible stand for standing gigs. Still, I love its portability and how fast it sets up.

The K8.2s astound me. I cannot believe how such a small, lightweight speaker can sound so good and get so LOUD when called for. QSC really nailed it with the .2 series.

Thanks for all the tips! A day after my post a fellow keyboardist and FB friend posted his sustain pedal woes on FB, and a bunch of people chimed in. It's a dilemma! So just the other night my Yamaha FC-? died on me and I was stuck with a backup OnStage that only seems to consistently work if you apply a ton of pressure to it. Since most of my two-rig gigs involve my Nord Stage and a Casio PX-5 controlling the Nord Stage - so all sounds are coming from the Nord - I can easily get by with one sustain pedal (unless I use "Dual Kybd" mode on the Nord.) I was examining the OnStage pedal, and I noticed the rubber stop keeps the pedal from fully bottoming out unless you really apply pressure. I had a small knife on me and shaved off a couple millimeters of the stop, and now the pedal works like it should. Brought out one of my M-Audio pedals last night that I replaced the cable on. Seemed to work okay. The thing I have to remember at the end of the night and packing up is to remove the sustain pedals carefully, both from tangling with other cables and from the sharp corners of the bottom of the K&M 18880 stand I use. You all probably know to do this or have better solutions, but I'll share my cheap fix for bad sustain or expression pedal cables. Hosa cables are almost the same "girth" (not sure about wire gauge), so I buy 15-foot TS (for sustain) and TRS (for expression) cables, cut them in half and solder them in as replacements. I don't go through the trouble of creating jacks for these pedals as they're all cheaply made anyway. And RealMC, that's a badass setup!

Hello all, Does anyone have any recommendations for sustain pedals? The $15-$20 ProLine/On-Stage/made in China stuff is absolute shit. The switches inside are frustratingly unreliable. While I know how to replace a bad cable, it's another thing when the heart of the device is defective. I searched back the maximum 2 years and read a couple of threads, but there were no satisfactory answers inside. Thanks for your input!

Good for you! I heartily recommend the QSC K8.2 for a lighter, more powerful monitor. The K.2 series really blows the original K series away, and I'm continually amazed at how good the little 8.2s sound.