mauriziodececco

At the time, not enough money to buy a DX7, or anything else. I finished my studies, got the first salary in january 1986, and a year (or soà later i bought a TX802, together with a Matrix 1000 and a TX16W sampler, and a master keyboard. Yes, and an Atari :). Maurizio

https://www.thefarside.com/2023/11/23/0

Sure, a lot of options around the analogue/VA/wavetable word. I wanted something that added samples to the pictures, so i looked at the Wavestate (that was in the short list), and Iridium/Quantum (that was problematic from the physical weight point of view, i walk to rehearsal and gigs :). Maurizio

Yes, this is exactly the point, the alignement with the project. The project is not really standard: fret-less bass, groove machines and sax, and keyboards. Keyboards means the NW2 and my Melodica with a reverb. The style is half jazz and half techno, with the groove machines covering rythme and various riffs/pads, with a large analogue component. I am looking in this context for sounds that come out of the mix; either aggressive, or with a "natural" component that well separate from the groove behind (samples of acoustic instrument, voices, and so on); and this with a big component of improvisation, because the grooves are also (partially) improvised. The NW2 seems to work well in this context, either in aggressive or "different" leads or pads. Later i'll try to post the result of this work in the "Let's hear ..." thread Maurizio

OK, i admit the sentence was a kind of short 😇, to give a short answer i would say "knobs (and buttons)". A longer one: it is a synth, not a workstation or rompler, that use samples as one as the sound source; don't use for organs, don't use for pianos or epianos, don't use it as a multi-timbral general purpose keyboard; it is not worth it. Use it if the high bandwidth between you and the sound engine is important, if direct access to the keyboard functionalities is important for you, more important that the compromise this approach imply, and if the added sample based sound engine is important for your sonic world. Not to say there no other solutions in that direction, of course. Maurizio

I haven't found a lot of material in the forum around the Nord Wave 2, other than the discussion of three years ago in the MPN gear lab (that, will all due respect, were a little biased by missing the essential NW2 use-case). I just sold my OB-6 (that sat unused for a number of years in my studio) and bought a NW2, that is substituting a MODX7 in my electro/jazz improvisation based group. After the first experiences, i am very happy. Yes, it is true that the MODX7 is massively powerful, that can do almost anything and everything, but .... yes, if you spend hours in your studio doing sound design, it must be very gratifying. But if you need to change the chorus rate in a preset, or another parameter that has not been mapped to a macro, *while* improvising, well, you are out of luck, especially you do not remember perfectly well the menu structure. To be clear, i have nothing against the MODX menu organisation; i am an IT guy, used to switch OS as needed, and a new set of windows and menus do not scare me; the point is another, is playing versus programming; of course, it is a very specific use case, and in most of the cases this will not be a important subject. In concrete terms, in a year using the MODX i almost used only presets, sometimes organising them in new performances, and may changed a couple of parameters (notable reverb levels). I was never able to program a single new sound from scratch, or to modify in depth an existing sound. The day after receiving the NW2 i had a rehearsal, and in that single rehearsal i created and modified in depth more sounds than in a year with the MODX. OK, i had other Nord keyboards in the past, so my brain is already wired for them, but it make a huge difference, if what you need is the ability to quickly and deeply interact with your synth while you are playing; the bandwidth between your brain/body and the keyboard is completely different. So, anybody here having fun with a NW2 ? Anybody used a lightweight wheeled gigbag with it ? Maurizio

Well, after at least three years of thinking about it, i sold my unused OB-6 and ordered a Nord Wave 2, that will substitute my MODX7 in the setup for the electro-jazz group Komalea. Maurizio

A second Hammond 44H (v2) Melodica. The first need tuning, and it must be sent to Amsterdam. But rehersals are coming, there is no free slot in my planning, risking staying without the Melodica a week would stop activity (a probable mini concert end of september, for exemple). So, i have finally decided to have two of them, in order to have one always in working order. Whow, it sounds like a pro Maurizio

Since the thread was resurrected, i'll tell the end of the story, it may be interesting to some 44h owners. After trying the BigSky plugin, i tried the IK Multimedia X Space plugin (there is a trial for it), and i found that for the 44H it sounded as good, if not better, than the BigSky; i found that the melodica require a clear reverb to avoid mudding up the sound. So i finally bought the corresponding pedal, new on amazon, for quite a lot less than the big names stuff. I use Rooms and Spring for medium/fast pieces, and a Plate for ballads, and it sound great. I use shimmers and other wild effects on a ambient/electro project. By the way, the 44H micro level was a bit too low; to avoid noise in the reverb pedal i bough a booster pedal that can add some amp saturation; the result is a fuller sound, great in solos. Maurizio

My first serious melodica gig; actually the end of the year concert for the classroom I followed at the American School of Modern Music in Paris. The composition is mine, is called Strike, the arrangement is by the class professor (Aneta George), with the contribution of all the musicians. Text by the singer, Alana Savoir. For the moment, the video is on youtube, but unlisted, you cannot find it by searching; later we will probably publish more stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyhZ2D3PI9g

Take a look to the Paolo Principi stuff, at psound.it, there are a number of differents ones. i have the vintage accordeon one but i am not an accordeonist so i cannot express an opinion from an autenticity point of view. i just like the sound 😉 Maurizio

Right, forgot to mention: i have a Hammond 44H with an internal microphone. Currently, is going thru a TC Electronics Spark Booster to rise the level, and thru a IK Multimedia X Space pedal for a nice reverb. Then usually to the house mixer; once it was plugged on a guitar amplifier and sound quite good :). Maurizio PS: i plan to post shortly a video of my last Melodica gig with my the Jazz School in the let's hear your music section

Anybody tried to use a in group context a Melodica with a Synth guitar pedal ? Like the Boss stuffs, or the Eventide H9 or H90 ?? I know somebody in a past discussion posted a video where he was using a application on a iPad; i tried using the arturia MS20 emulation, sound nice but the latency is such that is almost useless in a group context. And, i am thinking more to a pedal based setup, without iPads or computers. Maurizio

Wasn't Danny Elfman to write a column on film music on the Keyboard magazine in the late 80s ? Maurizio

Especially considering the announced price 🙄😧

This time is real (according to sound on sound): here Maurizio

I think this is a equation with a very difficult solution to find: there is a balance between being a community, and being a company offering services to this community. Growth is a very difficult subject on Internet, and around music in general :-<. You can discuss if the services provided are worth it, if the price is good or not and so on. But i personally don't care; this place has been my musical house in the last years, helped me in so many different ways that i have given in the past and I'll give again my contribution to keep it up and running; everything else is a technical detail. Anyway, since we are discussing it, a Patreon like contribution is closer to my idea of community, so i am happy with it; but ready to contribute in any other possible way. Maurizio

I also grew up in the 70s; with a couple of friends we built our own sound-making electronic circuits (i wouldn’t dare call them synths) dreaming of the Oberheim polyphonic synthetiser that was in the list of instruments used in our preferred records (Tangerine Dream and Klause Schultze). In the midle of the eighties, after an unsatisfactory flirt with a Poly800 i got a Matrix 1000, that i used for almost thirty years, and i sold to finally buy a knobby, vco based, synth with the Tom Obhereim signature, an OB-6. In the meanwhile, i moved all my composition work to an almost total software workflow, and for the moment i do not gig with the OB-6, cannot bring two keyboards in the parisian public transports … but i just cannot sell it 🙄 Maurizio

Yes, It would be a slow bootstrap; and by the way, the fact that the platform is open, doesn't means that the final product is open to final users; after all, a number of companies is already working on similar platforms, like Korg and even Akai with its MPC Keys. I think the biggest problem is finding the actor having enough money and vision to start such thing ... Maurizio

What I would like: define an open plafform based on off the shelf technology for a user customisable keyboard. For non technical people: a PC is an open platform, because people now how to add hardware software to it. It is not necessarily open like open source. Take a Rasperry Pi, the latest 4 core, 8Gbyte of ram. Add SSD USB storage, USB audio interface, optional keyboard, and an OS (Linux or other real time OS) with a VST or June or something layer. Define a standard way to interface to hardware interfaces, like knobs, buttons, display, leds. Invent the less technology possible. Publish royalty free the platform specification and reference design. Lobby to convince plugin developers to port to the platform, start with the small one that may have an immediate advantage. Sell a few model based on the platform, and make industrial alliance with other hardware builders. OK, if anybody here have a few spare million dollars I am willing to do it :). Maurizio

Buon Compleanno Dave ! Maurizio

Are you aware of the GPU Audio work ? It is not open source, so it is on a different league, but it seems very interesting. Maurizio

I finally had the occasion to play the Osmose for around 15/20 min. The first reaction is “Why the hell nobody invented this before ?”. The point is that the extended keybed experience feel like a natural extension of the standard one, not only concerning the horizontal note pitch bend but also the incredible aftertouch and the note response that can start when you touch the key and not when the key is completely pressed. I felt a lot less natural the legato/glissato and very difficult to master; an other minor point: i realised that as a piano player i do not control my fingers horizontal speed when my hands move around the keyboard ; the result is that in some situations I get out of tunes notes by pitch bending them; but this seems easy to control once you understand the problem . About the sounds: anything plucked/percussive is great, including epianos; not all acoustic emulation are credible; for what i do it would be an incredible complement of my Modx, but surely not enough alone unless used with a computer. For composition /sound design work it would be useful but I personally think that its nature make it a great live/performance instrument while something more experimental like a roli could give more options in the studio , even if requiring a more significant effort to master. Just some quick impressions Maurizio

From the photo, it look like an exploded electrolytic; i bet it have the same value of others in the circuit, try to find one that have the same diameter. But if it is really exploded electrolytic, there are some probabilities that other stuff is burned, like the regulators ICs. Disclamier: my electronic skills are a bit old (around 40 years) and rusty; may be somebody with a more recent experience can contribute

Yes, but not a breath controller glued to a MIDI keyboard; i think we need something more real, that give the same degree of control on the air column. By the way, i played a bit with the Arturia MS20 with the melodica, the pitch follower works quite well, but it is not very fast; cannot play The Chicken on it