[Anyone heard of this guy Rick Beato?]

5 hours ago, Docbop said:

I've been real sick lately and not posting

Get well soon Dr Bop.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Talking of...]

...73-note boards with a C-C range, I came across this little thing hiding away in a German music superstore:

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_sp_120.htm?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aDw8x1KlLi8UGrRqLdby9QNQcLTKC5XxkVEO8bYVA2eElBC-yjRsBRoC3vMQAvD_BwE

 

"Lightly weighted" keys, plastic 6.2kg, 12 sounds, USB MIDI and Audio (no 5-pin MIDI), Line out jacks, battery operation. Dirt cheap. Could be an option for an iPad controller or similar.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Anyone heard of this guy Rick Beato?]

5 hours ago, JoJoB3 said:

You know another cool channel that may be more immediately applicable and/or time worthy to many here might be
https://www.youtube.com/@Producelikeapro 

I do enjoy me some Warren Huart. He did a Q&A video where the Q was "as a producer, which instrument should I learn?". And Warren replied "you know I'm a guitar player, I love guitar, I've spent my whole life playing guitar, I've done my 10,000 hours on guitar, and as a guitar player I would definitely say... keyboards!".

 

Cheers, Mike.

[If the Star Wars bar had a funk band]

10 hours ago, Baldwin Funster said:

I'd called it Boba Phat.

Later to be sampled/remixed by a hip hop producer called Def Starr?

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

[Looking for a 76 Key MIDI Controller with some real estate on top]

1 hour ago, ProfD said:

The SV top is not flat. However, the Crumar and Viscount would work.😎

 

 

So here's my thought process. Virtually no lower board is deep enough to support an upper board entirely on its own. (The CME that @seratone posted certainly isn't). So I'm interpreting the requirement as "front edge of the upper board rests on the lower board, rear edge of the upper board supported separately"  - as in the pic in @Iconoclast's post - which is something the SV can do. 

 

But it certainly an't flat-top.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[NYT Says Taylor Swift Is Bigger Than The Beatles!? WTF]

18 hours ago, ProfD said:

Maybe a Freudian slip.

Nah... a Freudian slip is when you say one thing and mean your mother.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Looking for a 76 Key MIDI Controller with some real estate on top]

3 hours ago, seratone said:

Just like the title says - A controller with a flat top for another keyboard. I'm looking to build to a Mainstage rig. I want to keep things pretty compact so I want to avoid an 88 key controller. I also am hesitant to have two keyboard stand tiers so I'm looking for a controller that has a flat surface on top for another 46 or 61 key controller with no faders or buttons in the way. I found something called a CME Zkey - but it's not longer available.

 

Does anyone know of such a thing?

 

 

Requirements: 76 weighted keys and a flat top. If you're willing to consider 73 keys, then Yamaha P121, Korg SV1/SV2, Crumar 7/17, Viscount Legend?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Looking for a 76 Key MIDI Controller with some real estate on top]

Do you need weighted action? The old Viscount/"Oberheim" MC1000 came in a semi-weighted 76 action. Apart from one large data wheel (that you could simply pull off) there's a 7-element screen and a few low-profile buttons. Nothing that would get in the way of a controller on top - I gigged it as a controller under various boards in exactly this way:

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Who plays the piano solo on "I�m So Excited"]

1 hour ago, MathOfInsects said:

Diana Ross's "I'm Comin' Out" came on, and HOLY CRUD if that's not a funky-ass bassline and drum beat. [...] And the drum beat...funky AF. Go listen, you'll see. 

Nile, 'Nard and Tony Thompson will do that to a track.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Great idea or a silly thing?. Affordable stereo wireless audio]

1 hour ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

Well, I should say my idea was not to be used always that way. When there is a cabled option, it is of course better.

 

But whenever you need to go wireless, this is a cheap and seemingly effective way to send an stereo signal, in case you need it (it may be applied to any audio device)

Agree @Jose EB5AGV. I wasn't suggesting your idea is a bad one. Simply that I'm not looking for wireless in my rig.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Great idea or a silly thing?. Affordable stereo wireless audio]

12 hours ago, Stokely said:

Yeah, our guitarist is wireless, and both he and the singer have wireless microphones.

They occasionally have issues, not sure exactly what.

I've thought about it, but I have:   keyboard outs, mic out, and monitor in(s) (this last either an ethernet cable or xlr depending on whether I'm using Ultranet with a Behringer mixer).  If I'm going to one run cable, it's just as easy to run them all as they are all in a custom snake made of flex sleeve.   If I continue to use Ultranet, I don't think there's any wireless option; I may sell my P16 monitor mixer and go with stereo XLRs now that we have enough sends for everyone to go stereo.  So if I did that, I'd need five wireless transmitter/receivers.

I'm honestly not sure it'd be worth it, and I'm not sure the setup would save me much time. 

I'm with @Stokely on this. Sleeve together your cables into a snake, label the connectors and sockets, and the entire snake is virtually as easy to connect as a single cable. Plus I'd be panicking about batteries going flat if I went wireless. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Lightweight semi-weighteds: CK61, CT-S500, Liano]

3 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

If only it had 1/4" outs and 5-pin MIDI...

 

I'm not expecting it, but a 76 version of the CT-S500 would be pretty nice.

+1

[Another Take on "What's Wrong with Music These Days"]

1 hour ago, RABid said:

She loves you yea yea yea

She loves you yea yea yea

She loves you yea yea yea

Yeaaaaaaaaa!

 

And the writers are deemed genius

Not to be contrarian, but most of the folks who label the Beatles "genius" point to She Loves You (and Please Please Me, and I Wanna Hold Your Hand) as the start of an ascent that reaches its peak with A Day In The Life, Come Together, Something etc.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

[New Wurlitzer]

If you're going to go digital, why confine yourself to Wurly? Add Rhodes, clav - and hell, an AP or two - and suddenly you're 2001-era Nord.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[NYT Says Taylor Swift Is Bigger Than The Beatles!? WTF]

40 minutes ago, HSS said:

Queen Taylor

 

My first thought.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Just watched Greatest Night in Pop doco..]

3 hours ago, SMcD said:

while Al Jarreau got himself problem-drunk, Willie held steady despite definitely toking up every single time they took a break.

Remember what they say:

- 5 drunk guys will start a fight

- 5 stoned guys will start a band.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[7 Levels Of Chord Progression Complexity?]

15 hours ago, AROIOS said:

Guitars have the advantage of uniform "shapes" of a given voicing.

(Conventional) KBs don't have that luxury because of the (idiotic) design of diatonic-centric layout.

The "uniform shapes" of guitar means it's possible to develop technical proficiency without being exposed to underlying theoretical aspects.

I agree about the diatonic (or "C-preferential") layout being a disadvantage. Particularly so in the subject of manuscript. I'm arranging something which switches between E major and E minor key centres (modal interchange), which for Alto and Baritone  Sax is Db Major to C# Minor. Cautionary accidentals everywhere!

 

Cheers, Mike.

[NYT Says Taylor Swift Is Bigger Than The Beatles!? WTF]

On 6/21/2024 at 4:29 AM, Baldwin Funster said:

So following the Elvis pattern, here comes Fat Taylor.

Taylor Leisurely?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[7 Levels Of Chord Progression Complexity?]

7 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

I think it’s because fingering on piano keyboard is easier - at least in the sense of grabbing the shape.  On the guitar, all the variety of shapes across 6 strings in standard tuning is a bit like playing twister.   Not to mention holding down steel strings and getting each note to sound can be physically challenging until hand strength is developed.  
 

I’ve had older students start piano for the first time and they find keyboard dexterity challenging.  Guitar would devastate them imho.  

I agree, but I'm making a slightly different point - that understanding *theory* is much easier on a keyboard. "See that white key to the left of the pair of black keys? Can you hear how they all sound the same note, but in a different octave? So if I tell you that a chord is C and E and G, how many ways can you play that combination of three notes".

 

That's double-hard for a guitar beginner who just wants to play a Hendrix solo.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[7 Levels Of Chord Progression Complexity?]

Slight tangent brought to mind by this thread: I was talking to a guitar-playing friend of mine (very strong player in the Mark Knopfler mould), who discovered a new teaching method for solo chord-melody playing. He was struggling to get his head around how the system works, and showed me a video.

 

It boiled down to "know the neck so well that finding the next note/chord/voicing is as natural as on a keyboard". The teacher was basically playing piano on a guitar. 

 

Lesson 1, part 1 of the accompanying book starts:

"Major 7 chord:

- Seventh on top: these four shapes

- Fifth on top: these four shapes

- Third on top: these four shapes

- Tonic on top: these four shapes

Practice all 16 shapes in all keys" 

 

"Learning shapes" is something keyboard players typically don't have to think much about.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Dig My Rig--Let's see your setup!]

On 6/22/2024 at 6:34 AM, Kenny Ingram said:

dual Kurzweil

Back in the day, I lusted after a dual Kurz rig. A MPS61 (was that the model number) over a SP76

 

Chers, Mike.

[Tembro an Open Source software ROMpler]

4 hours ago, Theo Verelst said:

this I think is a type of piano sound nobody gets through digital signal paths:

And yet it's gone through a digital signal path. What do you hear that's different, and how do you think they have achieved it?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Is it time for a different board? My synth dilemma:]

@Viv Savage+1. If you like the Kurz sounds, but not the weight, the PC4-7 is a great choice. You could throw a lightweight (~25lb) hammer-action underneath it if you want an additional playing surface.

 

Cheers, Mike

[Why not just steal keys from the top octave to save weight / space?]

11 hours ago, ProfD said:

I'm kinda surprised this thread still has traction.  I guess nobody likes my idea about a gym membership.🤣😎

For me it's not so much about weight (although that helps), it's the ability to fit into the trunk/boot of a (Europe-sized) car. Almost all the 88s (52in wide, 12in deep, 6in high) are fractionally too big for my car. A few inches shorter and it will fit.

 

EDIT I think some of the super-shallow, super-thin boards (SL Numa Compact 2, Korg Liano etc.) might fit, but I then lose the hammer action. And I've found I play better with a nicer action. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Using YC USB jack for low power led lamp?]

3 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

Don't some of these little gooseneck LED lamps run on one or two AAA or AA batteries? I don't think those could provide "0.5 - 2A" for very long.

Quite right. "0.5 - 2A" is I think a reference to the typical kinds of power output available on a USB A socket. (500mA comes out of a normal USB port on your computer, and 2A is I think the original iPad charger). LEDs are efficient, so I would be surprised if it's actually drawing more than 250mA out of that socket to fulfil its 1W power output, with a bit of overhead.

 

Cheers, Mike.