Iconoclast

Rocky Mountain Way.mp3 OK, try that on. Definitely good enough for a cover gig and probably better than what Joe has used live.

I don't have an Odyssey soft-synth, but trying it with the Prophet V. Reducing the Polyphony down to 2 seem to create a little snappiness to it that captures some of the feel of it. I can't seem to get the flange/phase effect by modulating PW on a slow LFO though, but an actual flanger seems to do a decent job. Trying to use the velocity to vary the filter/resonance to get the feel.

That's about the size and shape of an Odyssey?

Because all the R hand stuff sounds like a synth and really nothing like an EP? It really sounds to me like a filter is opening on either an LFO synched to song tempo or an envelope modded w/velocity (Did anyone have that in 1972-73?) I just found that on the wiki page for the Arp Odyssey it mentions being used on both Rocky Mountain Way and Life's Been Good To Me.

I just saw some speculation that it's an Arp Odyssey? Anyone? I really seriously doubt that it's a Wurli or Clav.

So I think a wurli or clav might get the pulse, but none of the other R hand stuff sounds like either of those instruments to me.

Need some clues to program the really cool synth(?) part behind the talk-box guitar solo on Rocky Mountain Way. Help me Hive Mind (you're my only hope). What do you possibly hear or is there some ancient interview you read that might give me clues to a better patch for this song. It's a really cool part and I'd really like to nail THAT sound. My available tools: Nord Stage 4, Mainstage, and all the Arturia Instruments and effects. The difficult thing is that low pulse note on the E it seems like there's a filter that opens more on alternating notes, like maybe it's a velocity setting? But I just can't quite get anything to be the right amount. I also hear maybe a slow flanger coming through the patch.

I have a full up functioning DX9 in mint condition and I couldn't give the thing away. Can't bring myself to throw it in the garbage. But I've advertised it for 100$ obo and got zero responses. So yeah, good luck!

I used to train Taiwanese pilots how to fly and they had a saying, "Everything is difficult before it is easy" In other words, the challenge is part of the learning process and you've already been through this process millions of times. What can help? Break the job down into smaller tasks and get some small victories on the way to your ultimate goal. I think this is what your teacher is trying to do for you? So find a couple milestones along the way to your ultimate goal, and make sure you recognize when you've achieved them. Good luck! I'm currently working up some stuff...OK, it's not Bach, it's the piano solo at the end of Sweet Home Alabama, but it's got some techniques that are not part of my normal bag-o-tricks and it's trying my patience too. You'll get there.

I think guys can argue about which DAW is best until the end of time, but the truth is that the capabilities of any of the major ones (Logic, Studio One, Pro Tools etc) far exceed the capabilities of the typical artist. If you already have a Mac, Logic is the cheapest option and is as full featured as a DAW gets. I've used it extensively and I think it's excellent. Mostly I stick with it because I perform with Mainstage and the workflow between the two is nearly identical. There's actually very few people in the world who have used Pro Tools and Logic enough to actually speak to the differences.

I used to run my Hammond XK3c through a PodXt which served many uses. Mostly, it gave me a volume pedal! But I used the delay and some of the reverbs on it almost all the time. Had a few moments where I used a Flanger and the PODXt had a great one. And I also took more than a few organ solo's with the wah pedal. Really cool and unexpected, you'll definitely get the audience's attention with that one.

I have to make some room in the studio and a couple boards just have to go. What's the pros/cons of the various places to sell and are there any less obvious ones than Reverb/Ebay that are effective for musical sales?

I'm a huge fan of all the later PT albums and then the earlier Stephen Wilson Solo albums. The Raven Who Refused to Sing is probably my favorite of the solo albums and the most "proggy" (by my definition at least). Guthrie Govan and Marco Minneman played on that record and of course they alone are amazing. I went to a Steven Wilson show in Phoenix a couple of years ago, on a whim, first time I'd seen him, and it still remains one of the best shows I've ever seen. Absolute masterpiece. He will do certain shows in surround sound and it's surprisingly effective. They use it sparingly but when you realize that some of the music or sounds are coming from all around you, it's an absolute head jerker. Then the way they weave the special effects and movies in with the music, very emotional show. On a different tour, when they do the song "Routine", the song/video combination had literally everyone in the audience in tears. Almost unfair to the audience how devastating that performance is live. Glad you enjoyed them.

Exactly one of the reasons that I use an independent midi footswitch for my patch changes. It connects via USB to the computer and I just put it on it's own channel. It's definitely small enough to travel with, and flexible enough that I can also use it for other functions (leslie slow/fast, trigger samples, or even sustain if I had to). Completely independent of whatever board I'm using with Mainstage. Morningstar makes a couple switches that are really flexible. They're marketed to guitar players who want to control complex pedal boards, but they of course work great with keyboards. Extremely flexible with more capability than I'll ever use and very small so easy to travel with.

Camelot Pro doesn't work correctly with the Forte either. 1. I can only command patch changes in Program mode. Camelot will command a change from Program to Multi and back but will not change patches within Multi Mode, only within Program Mode. 2. The program numbers displayed in Camelot do not match the program numbers displayed in the Forte. Program #1 on the Forte is displayed as #2 on Camelot. As you get progressively higher in program numbers that difference becomes larger. Program 320 on Camelot is program 353 on the forte. 3. I haven't figured out which configuration is bad, but I keep ending up in midi loops where the Forte is playing the same notes over and over again very rapidly. I've tried using Mainstage to command changes in Forte and had a little more success but I still keep running into unpredictable midi loops where notes, or controls (pedals, sliders, pitch bend etc) get locked in unpredictable midi loops. I've pretty much given up getting my Forte to change programs/multi's from an outside source. Sad because there's a lot of things I really love about the Forte. The EP's on it are really great IMHO, the pianos as good as any and the organ is definitely usable. But I have gravitated more and more to Nord just because it reacts more predictably to external midi and plays better with Mainstage. I would suggest you write audio modelling support. They were very helpful with me, at least they responded quickly with an honest e-mail about their situation: "Hi Robert, thank you for contacting us and sorry for the late reply. Unfortunately, we have some users that are experiencing issues with Kurzweil devices, especially with Forte. A couple of customers loaned us their keyboards. We did several tests and we found many bugs trying to control the machines via MIDI (with any application, not only with Camelot). More, the two machines showed different behaviors. Running into MIDI loops, software freezing or even memory errors (i.e. sending SysEx provided by Kurzweil developers) is quite easy. We made many reports to Kurzweil (since August 2020), our hope is that will fix those issues as soon as possible... Anyway, my suggestions are: be sure that the "Local Keyboard Channel" in the Camelot map matches the Kurzweil forte one. From what Kurzweil devs told me, the "mode change" message is actually a set of Control Changes and you have to send them on the right channel be sure that eventual "transmit MIDI data" (or something like that) options in Forte MIDI settings are disabled. There isn't a MIDI command for local off, you have to select it manually. We have an Artis and an SP6 and there is a button "Local/Dest" on the keyboard. I'm sorry, I don't remember if Forte has one button like that. For the program change issue, I don't know what to say. I based the map on the MIDI implementation that I found online, and if I well remember it was ok when I tested it on the customers' machines. I'm sorry for that bad news. At the moment we're far to suggest Kurzweil keyboards for all these issues. If you want, you can send us a video, just to see if you're doing all correct... Best regards, Simone Simone Malacrida"

As an owner of both Arturia and Logics B3's, they are definitely both different. I seem to be completely at odds with some other opinions here about the Logic B3; I find that it's pretty ballsy and has a lot more gain in the Leslie speaker cab model than Arturia or the Nord. To get the Nord and Arturia really dirty you need in the case of Arturia to add a pedal or for the Nord add an amp. The Arturia model is very noisy and I frequently need to add a gate to it. I also used to use a Hammond XK3c (still have it, just don't gig with it anymore) and I thought it had completely different qualities than the models. Much glassier and pretty, but it just didn't get into Jon Lord territory very easily.

To me the Nefertiri is almost a cross between a Wurli and a Rhodes. The bells/tines/sparkly tones are way subdued or even absent in the lower registers.

I complained about the reffing..but I don't thing it would have made a difference. VGK was clearly a better team in that matchup and it's now coming out that a lot of the Panther's stars were playing very hurt. Ekblad broke a foot in game 1. Tkachuk had a broken sternum. Both had to clear concussion protocols at one point. Gudas had a high ankle sprain (I don't even know how you play at all with one of those). The first round had so many upsets. I ran a bracket challenge for my beer league team and it was really a crapshoot. Literally...I did a totally random one as a joke and it would have gotten second place. I don't think anyone picked FLA to be in the finals, let alone make it past Boston.

Sometimes...you just gotta let the boys have a little brawl. Panthers sending a message for game 5 and their fans are disappointed by the reffing. That last tripping call Stone drew...right after he'd obviously slashed the stick out of a Panther players hand was frustrating. I could see the slash being a no-call, but then the trip should have been a no call too. Giving Tkachuk 36 penalty minutes in the first two games? Letting Stone do whatever he wants? But then I start watching the NBA and I realize...it's the same damn thing. The refs can call a couple little fouls early in a game and make a star sit out minutes with foul trouble. NBA refs are just as flexible.

On a different subject...this might go down as the worst reffed series in years. The referee's in game 1 and 2 totally emasculated the Panthers and I think they have no idea where the actual line is between stupid penalty and no-call. Vegas actually seemed like the more physical team the last couple games.

There were two expansion teams running deep into the playoffs. VGK is 1 game away from winning it all. The biggest issue with hockey is very few have ever played the sport or even put on skates. It's a tough game to understand if you've never played it. But personally, there's no better sport to watch in person. But then again...I still play, and all my kids played, so we have a different perspective.

The only thing that could make this song any sadder

Well...not tonight it wasn't. Congrats to Las Vegas. On paper this looks like a hum dinger of a final. I would think most money is on Florida, but you never know until the teams actually meet.

I like the Keyscape Rhodes (and there's several) but not the Wurli. They seem a little clunky and have a bit of all the mechanical noises baked in. I'm Probably spoiled by the Kurzweil Wurli's with IMHO the Nord being a close second. The Rhodes sound is so broad...there's a lot of choices and they each have their place depending on the song. Although the Rhodes that comes with Mainstage isn't amazing, I've found that, in a live setting, it sometimes works really well even though it's probably the least realistic of all the VST or instrument choices that I have.

Does it sound like you're cheating? That's my razor. Did you just not try to get the vibe that made the original a song you wanted to copy? If you headed in a completely different direction, then cool! if it works. In summary, don't get caught in the middle. Either sound like you made a professional effort to capture the original emotion of the song, or take it in a different direction, but don't sound like a lazy version of a popular song. I do love it when an iconic riff or solo is played very close to the original, but I also love the artist who takes you somewhere unexpected, even if it arrives at the same destination.