mauriziodececco

On a similar vein, an improvisation over different styles on Happy Birthday by Jean Louis Valero, a French film movie composer that i had the luck to meet a (long) while ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAL86qkBvzQ

I am not a good keyboarding, by any possible definition. But i playing in three projets, plus a school projet, and i am happy, and my band co-members are happy. The secret is the following: at the beginning of my group keyboardist adventure (arrived relatively late in my life), other than working to be a better keyboard player with a limited success, i worked hard to understand what was the correct environment and level i should play in. I tried a lot of stuff, playing with different people, groups, answering to ads of people looking for musicians, and so no; at the beginning more than once i came back home thinking: shit, i'll never touch a keybed again in my life; really, i think that once it took more than one month to being able to think music again. The other point was to understand what i could bring to a group, what kind of skill or sensibility, and to find people that where compatible with what i have to bring (for the exemple, i am a lot better at arranging and composing things than actually playing) ; it took time, but know i am pretty confident that i am good enough for the people i work with; and i have an idea of where my limits are. A group must be a bidirectional exchange, you should be able to learn from the others, but also to give something back. So, coming to your situation: never give up, but try to really understand if you can stay in the group, learn and have fun, without tensions and frustration; if you cannot, leave, and find (or create) an other one, where the differences in musical level is less of a challenge; probably talking with the group members is important, but at the end what really count is how to you feel. Maurizio

"Nove vite e dieci blues" an auto biography of Mauro Pagani, a great italian musicians and producer; he was an early member of the Premiata Forneria Marconi, an italian prog group that was known internationally back in the 70s and 80s; he was the composer behind the Fabrizio De André "Crueza de ma" that was (imho) one of the most interesting records in Italy in the 80s, and more recently producer of the two Malia records by Massimo Ranieri, again imho a great interpretation in a Jazz key of Napoletan classics. OK, the book is Italian, limited audience here (but you can listen to the records he worked in :). Maurizio

If you read french, Laurent de Wilde (french pianist) wrote a book on the history of electro-acustic instruments; actually is more an history of the people doing the first electro-acustic instruments, very fun and full of informations; it has a chapter on Hammond. https://www.grasset.fr/livres/les-fous-du-son-9782246859277 Maurizio

Well, i don't systematically drink the same wine, i tend to try different things. Last nice discovery was a wine from Sicily, the Planeta Chardonnay, no idea if it can be found in the US. Maurizio

Anybody in the forum got a Roli Seaboard 2 yet ? Eager to get some first impressions; new Seaboard or Osmose, this is the question ... 🤔 Maurizio

I predict that this year the we will see the first serious damage from the coming "Update crisis" for non professional musicians: the time needed to update the OS, application software, sound libraries and equipment firmware every time we switch on our home studio will surpass the time that we have available for making music. Professional, that have more time available, will be less affected, but will also be in serious danger in a couple of years. Even later, the whole digital civilization will be put to a stop by the update crisis, and we will happily go back to play things like acoustic pianos, melodicas and even accordions. Maurizio

IT guy. Today in backend, enterprise software, working for the French public administration. In the past, a lot of stuff, including a 10 years gig at Ircam. Maurizio

After all, a workstation is just a computer with a complete software system within a keyboard; unless you need to easily bring your setup around, if you work in a studio working with a real computer will be a lot easier; if you are classically trained, may be you'll find yourself more confortable composing with notation based software, like Dorico; anyway, there are a lot of choices of different approches and style, so the final risk taken is lower (once you have a computer, of course Maurizio

Do you mind talking about your experience with the M2 MBA and Logic/MainStage: as a lot of other people, i am considering updating either to an high end M2 MBA or a low end Mac Book Pro 14": the M2 MBA look pretty, it is silent, thinner and lighter; and as everybody else, just wondering it is will be enough ... Maurizio

Well, amateur group, amateur film maker, amateur recording, but this is our funk rendition of Summertime : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXbvjm2DFm0

Last saturday i had a gig with my Jazz Funk group in a Parisian bar. The rest of the group went fine, having personal amplifiers or being loud enough (drum or sax) to be able to hear themselves. I wasn't able to hear my Modx; insufficient or almost non existent on stage monitoring. So, this weekend i ordered a Boss S1 Pro. It will work as my personal monitor in next gigs, and as PA for our melodica/bass duo. Maurizio

I owned a Elka MK88, a long time ago (bought it in 88, sold around 91 to buy a Roland FP8). I cannot say a lot about the features, it was a long time ago, and about touch, it was long before i started to take piano playing more seriously. I used at home with a TX802, a TX16W, a matrix 1000 and an Atari, my first home studio that burned my first few salaries :). Maurizio

Paris, France, Europe. But i grew up in Ancona, n the times if Farfisa and CRB. And yes, I actually visited Fresno, a while ago Maurizio

Well it is a known name, but i don’t really have actual info. The name in my memory is associated with low/medium end products, compared with the big names of the epoc lime Farfisa, Crb and Crumar. i also think i have already saw the keyboard, but it is a while ago Maurizio

Happy your back ! Less happy about the Iridium related GAS, but i can cope with that Maurizio

Following the annonce of the Strymon BigSky plugin i download the evaluation licence to try the plugin with my melodica, to get an idea of how the corresponding pedal would work. And it works great; in particular the basic stuff, Room, Hall, Spring and Plate are great for the Melodica, add some body without mudding the sound or adding rings or other artefacts. Very well adapted to using the Melodica as a solo Jazz Instrument (thing that this year i am doing at my jazz school :). The other stuff, Cloud, Chorale, Shimmer seems less useful in this kind of context, but of some use (less than what you would get from a guitar) in a more ambient/electronic contexte. Probably a reasonably priced second hand one (around here they cost as a new Blue Sky, the smaller brother) could be a good option ... Maurizio

Well the 44H is not a longer 37, internals, sound and keyboard are clearly different. The 44HP should have a brighter less nasal (and louder) sound, from the doc and from Youtube demos :). Maurizio

By the way, i am looking for a good reverb to use with my 44H; i found that low end reverb (like those on mixing consoles) give most of the time a boxy, ringing, metallic sound with it, anybody tried high end reverb pedals like Strymon and Eventide on a Melodica ? Thanks Maurizio PS: do not know if it was wiser to post this on a separate thread .....

I moved from a 37 suzuki to the Pro 44h. Currently i do Jazz standards on the Melodica, so the longer keyboard is important. The sound is great, not too metallic, and more "real instrument" on the 44H then the 37, more room for expression when you do a ballad, for exemple; i know the 44HP is brighter, i am happy with the 44H. But the biggest difference has been the fact that the 44 needs less breath, giving more more freedom to built up my phrases and also allowing faster passages; on the 37 moving from one note to the other need more breath, and it was difficult for me to do fast phrases with a uniform sound; with the 44H fast phrases are more natural. Maurizio

I used a piezo pickup with a Suzuki M37C, and it was clunky as hell, especially when used with effects like delay (CLUNK-clunk-clunk ....). I finally moved to an Hammond Suzuki Pro44H, that i currently use in a couple of projects, and i am very happy with the internal mike, no clunks, no larsen. The mike wasn't the main reason to move the 44H, but it helped Maurizio

Same thing here: don't give up, it is an hard time but it will go better ! Maurizio

And, for something different, at least for me: with my group Komalea we just published some ambient/electro tracks on soundcloud; we are far to be professionals, but we have a lot of fun; fretless bass, sax/groove box, and me on the keyboard (MODX)

J ust for fun: it has been like that for at least 32 years: i used this feature the first time in september 1990, when i moved to work in Ircam on a Next machine. When Apple bought NeXT, and slowly transformed the NeXT Step OS in the Mac OS, the column view arrived in the Mac :). Maurizio

Mee too, cannot use the MODX sequencer without a proper piano roll editor (i am probably not good enough :). In a similar discussion, somebody talked about Garage Band. Not yet tried Maurizio