Justin Havu

Went out for another 8 miles yesterday. It was too beautiful outside to not do anything.

Got this guy as a companion to my Odyssey.

There are a few here to choose from.

Today's voyage. Weather is supposed to be nice all week, so I'm hoping to get out as much as my body will allow. 6 hours later and I'm still feeling the ever-popular runner's high.

South Berwick, Maine

Today's outing. Quads feel like lead, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

First outing with the new Garmin. Love it already.

Ended up replacing my old Fitbit with a Garmin 245. I'll be testing it on a run this afternoon, but so far, I love it.

Probably a D-50 or an M1, or both.

Nope, I ride a bicycle, actually! That album sounds spectacular on vinyl. And yes, it's one of his best. I also really like the first PMG, Offramp, and Still Life (Talking).

Back on topic, just got the original "Big Fat Snare Drum" drum "topper". Very cool, and the company has some other interesting variations and stuff I'm interested in. Also purchased three pairs of Vater recording sticks.

Yep. I've got a Karma, a Trinity Pro X, and still have the aforementioned 01/W Pro X. No room to do this on either the Trinity or the 01/W, but on the Karma, I just set up a Favorites bank (Bank D) and I copy all of my most-used/favorite/customized presets over there, then I can organize them any which way I choose. Granted, I could just use an editor/librarian to re-order all of the factory presets, but the official one from Karma-Lab is a bit pricey, and it'd be a ton of work. That, and I barely use the Karma engine for playing live, and a lot of the presets are too reliant on Karma for them to be playable.

I worked for a small Korg dealer years ago. The sales rep said that Korg did this because most new customers will just scroll through the sounds one by one, and instead of going through multiple piano sounds in order, they wanted to have the customer audition a variety of sounds. I believe they've been doing this as far back as the M1, as my 01/W Pro X is set up similarly.

Decided to challenge myself today and went 10 miles, longest distance I've ever ran in my life, without walking. Got it in around 2:05:00. My quads will probably be burning for the next couple of days, but I'm not worried. Lol My next goal is 13.1, which I want to get to by next year. I'm going to try to get out as much as I can before it gets really cold and winter hits up here, even if I wind up just doing 3-5 miles here and there.

Re-recording of a tune I wrote back in 2009.

Funny, I was given an old silver Cube 60 keyboard amp this past summer. I've yet to try it out, as I've been so incredibly busy, but I've been so used to using powered PA cabs for the last 15 years that I forgot what a "keyboard amp" is supposed to sound like. Lol

Haven't been to very many shows, but out of the ones that I did see: Best: Yes 2002 tour at UNH. I only knew a couple of the tunes, but I didn't care about that. 6th row from the stage, and the sound was spot on that night. Everything was well balanced, and the volume was perfect. Loud enough to fill the space, but not overwhelming. Yanni, 2004 Ethnicity tour in Portland, ME. I know, it's Yanni. Lol. However, as with Yes, the sound and volume were absolutely perfect, and the musicianship in his band/orchestra was spot on. Between him and Ming Freeman, I spotted 10 Triton Studios, and a couple of 88-note controllers (Yamaha KX88? Couldn't tell what they were.) Extreme, 2006 at Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom. Very loud volume, but you could hear everything clearly. Original lineup, with a guest appearance from Mike Mangini, who played two or three songs from Punchline. Gary was spot on the whole night, and the whole band sounded tight. The big surprise was the encore: a cover of Boston's "Rock And Roll Band" with a guest appearance from Barry Goodreau. Neither my friend or I expected that. Saw them again in 2017 with Barry Goodreau's Engine Room opening. Over a decade later, and they still brought it. Gary was in great shape that night, and he still hasn't lost his voice. Pat Metheny, 2017 at the Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH. Amazing performance. I was only familiar with three or four tunes (He opened with Into The Dream, then the band kicked in with Have You Heard), but that didn't bother me at all. There was one tiny clam during Question And Answer, Pat came in a beat early at one point, and both he and Antonio cracked up about it and just kept going. Worst: I can only think of one. Dream Theater, 2019 at the Orpheum in Boston. The band were great, however LaBrie couldn't hit the high notes anymore. Then again, it was a couple of weeks into the tour, and they were probably playing every night without an adequate break for him to rest up before the next gig. The volume was excruciatingly loud. too loud for the room. You'd think that even though they were a prog METAL band, they'd still want a decent sound in whatever venue they were playing that night. Worst part of the show were the two college kids right in front of me, probably Berklee students, shoving each other back and forth during the majority of the show, and the ushers didn't do anything about it. It was a theater, after all. Oh well.

I prefer wheels. I don't really use the mod wheel for vibrato unless I'm going for a specific sound. I normally use the pitch wheel for vibrato--To me it sounds more "human" and expressive. But again, it depends on the music, and the sound I'm looking for.

Best of luck, Dave! I've been trying to get out as much as I can over the past few months. I definitely feel like I'm getting stronger, and in probably my best shape so far. I'm going out 4-5x a week, 7.5 miles twice, 5 miles otherwise, also mixing in some biking. So far, since stopping my antidepressant meds in august of 2021, and getting active 9 months ago, I've gone from 265 lbs to around 195, just 20 lbs away from my goal. Trying to get out as much as I can before it gets too cold. I do have a treadmill that will tide me over for Winter / bad weather, but I prefer running outside.

My go-to's are Addictive Keys, Omnisphere, and Arturia V-Collection 8. I try to use hardware whenever I can, mainly the MODX-7 as well as the Behringer synths I have. I'm still severly lacking in really good organs. I've got B3-V and DB-33, as well as a couple of the free ones. The dry sounds are okay, but the weak point for me are the Leslie sims. I've yet to see any software instrument get it "right."

Everything. I've stopped using USB directly from a keyboard to a computer due to major ground noise issues. My main interface is an XR-18, which conveniently has 5-pin DIN in/out. Nice thing is I can use whatever keyboard I want to use as a master, even if it's not USB-equipped. If I'm doing something with a ton of hardware, I'll use the XR for audio, then a MIDIPlus 8x8 interface for MIDI.

Been playing keys in church for almost 20 years. Started out in a small assembly with just a pianist and an occasional saxophonist. At the time I started, we were just doing stuff out of the hymnal--and a lot of those are quite challenging. I also played organ on some stuff--church had a Hammond D-152 with a Leslie 122RV, and it was the first time anyone heard a more rock-oriented sound out of that organ. Switched to my current church 11 years ago (small-to-medium assembly), and became the MD/worship leader three months after joining. This assembly had a full band at the time. In addition to myself on keys, there was another pianist, electric guitarist, bassist, occasional drummer, and acoustic guitarist, as well as two or three singers. People have come and gone over the years, and our pianist passed away a couple years ago. Currently, we have two small teams that alternate every week, and I play both weeks. Team #1 is myself (leader), and two singers, one of which plays acoustic guitar. Team #2 is an acoustic guitarist/singer (leader), another singer, and myself. Team #1 does older, more traditional praise and worship (stuff from the early 80s to probably the mid 2000's. Team #2 does the modern stuff. I also oversee the A/V department, and take care of any tech issues that come up. Volunteer position, and I love it so much, I wouldn't have it any other way. As far as gear goes, I'm currently using my RD-1000, as the church's CP300's action is incredibly stiff, sluggish, and difficult to play. I live in an apartment in the same building as my church, so all of my gear is stored in the storage room behind the chapel, where if we ever have anything break down, I can very easily swap something out.

Yup. I can see, and get to, everything I need to on that front panel, and there's plenty of room to set the MODX up there. I do have to reach a little bit for the MODX, but not to the point where it's uncomfortable to play. I do wish the pedal/power supply cable were a bit longer so I could raise the height of the whole rig another 3-4 inches, which would get my wrists nice and straight, and in a comfortable playing position.