Jump to content


Justin Havu

Member
  • Posts

    1,067
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Justin Havu

  1. From the most recent live-in-studio video shoot one of my bands did.
  2. Ah, when you said in the back, I thought you were talking about the XR18 on the floor, as in the back of the photo, not the back of the rig. Lol. The whole left side, and the 2600, is pretty much bass land, since I cover bass in addition to main keys. 2600 is MIDI'd to the DX7, which is set to the ever-popular E BASS 1 patch, and the 2600 adds a bit of extra meat to that. Oddy was dialed in with a patch similar to a fretless bass.
  3. Behringer XR18 digital mixer. Using it to sum everything down to a pair of XLR stereo outs, no DI boxes needed.
  4. Here we go. Feeling a bit retro-active lately!
  5. My MODX-7 is set to power up in Live Set mode, User bank 1, where all of my favorite/most-used patches reside.
  6. Coffeehouse/concert event. I love playing a big rig like this. With as many sounds as I use, it's a bit easier for me to have some real estate than to change patches during a song. I've also never been a fan of splitting the keyboard. I'm an improv guy that never really plays the same thing twice, and unless I trigger a couple of one-shot samples from either end of the keyboard, I can never remember where the split point is. I'd rather focus on playing during a song than doing a bunch of patch changes in the middle of one. Plus, hauling this kind of setup around helps keep me in shape. Lol The two Behringers and DX7 are merely for playing bass, as we don't currently have a bass player. 2600 is MIDI'd to the DX7, with which I use a couple of different patches, one being the obligatory E. BASS 1 patch. Then, I just have a different bass patch dialed into the Oddy.
  7. Another little something I threw together, using everyone's favorite board...
  8. I use a pair of TX310's for my rig (must have stereo or my main piano and some efx [auto pan on a Rhodes patch, for example] sound lifeless and just terrible.) Lightweight, very affordable, and very simple. Downside is they only have an XLR in, no 1/4", which doesn't bother me at all, since my rig mixer is an XR18. I send the main outs to FOH, and auxes 5 and 6 to the TX's. If I'm in a situation where I need a little more power, I'll grab my TS212's.
  9. I'm also feeling like one of the reasons the RD-1000 was so comfortable to play was that the action wasn't a graded action. So, I'm wondering if maybe finding something with a balanced action might be my best option, as impossible as that may seem, seeing that everyone's going for a graded action. Only thing that comes to mind would be the Montage M8X. That may have more features than I need right now, but we're looking to get something that's also going to be a good build quality, and last us a good long while.
  10. What I've found with GHS keybeds is they seem very inconsistant from model to model. While I remember liking the CK88's GHS, the MODX8+ and MX88 situated nearby felt really heavy, almost like the GH action in the CP300.
  11. Bump/Update: So, the church is on board with getting a new DP to replace our aging, crippling-to-play CP300. However, the $1000-1500 budget has pretty much been lifted, as they really want to make sure I have a good, quality instrument to play. So far, my requirements are that it needs to be a stage piano; as I play standing up, making it easier for me to sing. Also, as per the main topic of this thread, it needs to have a light touch, due to my carpal tunnel surgery 5 years ago--my hands have not been the same since. We don't want anything too lightweight, so Casio is 100% out, other than the fact that I just don't like the quality of anything they've done since the CZ-1. Nord is also out; In my 20 years of playing professionally, I've never played a Nord I've gotten along with, plus the Fatar keybed is just terrible. I need to have 1/4" stereo outs, and built-in speakers are not important at all--I'd rather not have them, or have the ability to shut them off (the one thing I liked about the CP300.) The other big issue is that where I live, there's not really a good showroom anywhere close-by that I could stop in and really spend time with a bunch of instruments. I don't dare walk into either of the nearby GC's as their inventory keyboard-wise has pretty much been a let-down.
  12. I've used various Korg workstations over the years; Triton Extreme 76, 01/W Pro X, M3-61, Motif-XS6. Nowadays, MODX-7, for my budget, I'd consider expensive.
  13. +1 for Standtastic. Rock solid and can hold quite a bit of weight on the stand. The footprint is a bit deep, but it keeps the stand from wanting to tip over. Only issues I have are the screws that adjust the bracket lengths don't like to stay in place, so I have to really tighten them. Also, when tearing down, make sure to go around and tighten all of the screws/wingnuts, as they tend to come loose, or worse go missing, during transport. The supplied bag is incredibly low quality. However, once you have the heights of each tier adjusted to your liking, which probably takes the most time, it sets up and tears down in minutes.
  14. Found a nice bass flute sound library, wrote a quick piece with it. Kinda how I roll. Lol
  15. I had carpal tunnel in both hands back in 2017. Had surgery in 2018 in my left hand, and a cortisone shot in the right hand. Hands are good now, but they haven't really been the same since. Probably the main reason why I can't stand most modern weighted/hammer actions. Lol
  16. If I wind up giving a Kawai a try, I might go for the 520. While not having MIDI out wouldn't really be a deal-breaker, it'd be nice to have if I ever needed it. I'm almost leaning towards the CK88. I remember liking it to an extent when I tried it at a GC back in May of last year. However, the morons at GC had it sitting on a set of angled brackets, which should be absolutely prohibited when displaying any hammer/weighted action keyboard, especially if any part of the mechanism relys on gravity to any extent.
  17. I thought the RH3 was, and still is, a heavy action, until I laid hands on a P515. That action was virtually unplayable. The problem I have with the Yamaha GHS, is it's very inconsistant across the different models. Some feel a bit heavier to the touch than others, and where I live, there's no real showroom around to A/B a bunch of them. IIRC, the CP300's graded action really isn't a true graded action--it's split into three sections: heavy on the bottom, medium in the middle, light on the top, and it just uses three different hammer weights to achieve this. One idea would be to swap all the heavy and medium hammers with light ones, but even the light hammers feel a bit heavy. I also don't think it's much help that they slopped a bunch of white grease in the keybed as well. Lol
  18. Korg RH3 always felt really heavy to me, no matter what model they threw that action in. I remember working for a Korg dealer from 2004 to 2011 and trying the SV1 when that first came out. Neither the store owner or I were impressed enough to stock it, and as far as the keybed went, it was unplayable. IIRC it had some issues, but even after those were addressed, I never got along with it. The other thing I loved about the RD-1000 was I could play near the rear of the keybed with little resistance, which comes in handy when playing stuff in #/b keys.
  19. Compared to the CP300, Korg's RH3, Fatar's TP1xx, any modern Roland, the 1000 felt nice and light under my hands. It literally is a balanced action in that the keys, which are about as long as the piano is deep (with a weight in the back of each key), sit balanced on a long rail. They're held in place by a series of pins about a couple inches beyond the rail. Two big levers underneath the piano lock the keys in place for transport. To this day, I've yet to play another DP that feels as good to me as the RD-1000.
  20. I thought about that. The RD suffers from the dreaded all-notes-off CC that nearly every Roland had around the time the RD-1000 was released (1986), meaning I'd have to filter that CC with my iConnectMIDI 4+ before going to a computer or sound module. The other thing is I'm really looking to keep the church rig to just a single board, stereo DI'd straight to our PA, no dealing with computers/external stuff. I'd be interested in trying an ES520 way more than I'd ever want to touch any Casio. Lol
  21. So last week, my beloved RD-1000's audio output finally went kaput, and after replacing the relay, which usually goes bad on these (and the MKS-20), it still was toast. Such a shame, as that was my go-to piano for Sunday morning service, as I absolutely can't tolerate the action on my church's aging CP300. The RD had, IMO, the best action in any DP I've laid hands on over the last 20 years; smooth, light to the touch, and just easy to play. That being said, I'm hoping to convince my church to sell the CP300 (with matching furniture stand, music rest, and bench) and upgrade to something with a key bed I can tolerate. I'm kinda leaning towards the CK88. Played around with one last spring, and I found it playable, and a good sound to it. I'm wondering what else might be out there within that $1K-2K range. Oh, and anything with any Fatar TP1xx is out. Lol As far as other features, onboard speakers aren't important at all, but I need stereo out. I just need mainly an acoustic piano and an EP for sounds.
  22. Ah. That's where the KingKorg tube went.
  23. The main reason I still love my old trusty RD-1000. Angled front panel, and plenty of room for a second board on top. 95 lbs. is just extra motivation for me to stay in shape. Lol
×
×
  • Create New...