[Is it my piano.....? Bose, vs other amplification for low-impact solo/duo/trio gigs?]

6 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

I am very happy with my two Alto TX308s. Bare-bones and cheap they are! [...] These speakers are just unbelievably light! Load-ins are a total breeze, I'm leaving my hand truck home for almost all my local gigs now. Of course, having two helps with the sound output, and setting them up on either side of me gives me the sound field I like to hear. My .02, for what it's worth...

"Nothing sounds as good as lightweight feels..."

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Viscount Legend Soul]

I'm waiting for the Viscount Electro. They've got all the pieces.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[New Studiologic Numa X Piano]

15 hours ago, Brad Kaenel said:

I find TP100 very good for Rhodes on the L70s, and the TP110 quite excellent for piano on the Numa X

 

14 hours ago, kanefsky said:

So your opinion is that the TP100 and TP110 are intended for different purposes, rather than the TP110 simply being a new-and-improved version that would be preferable in all cases

I suspect that the TP100 wasn't designed from the outset as a Rhodes-like action. It was more like "make something light to compete with Yamaha and Casio!" "Here, this feels horrible, will that do?" "It's fine, ship it"

 

I'm looking forward to trying the TP110.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[How to make a simple MIDI Keyboard setup for home]

@D. Gauss nails it.

 

But seriously, a few question:

- What is your budget? Would you be willing to trade your Arturia for something that could act as a controller for your software setup AND give you "switch on and go" capabilities?

- What sounds do you need? If you like SV2, I'm guessing: acoustic piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer. Anything else?

My first thought was something like a Casio PX5s, which has good EPs and capable controller abilities. But no onboard speakers.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Lyrics to jazz instrumentals]

On 7/29/2023 at 3:22 AM, o0Ampy0o said:

One thing I detest is when an instrument replicates the vocals.

This. Particularly when the instrument plays exactly the same notes/rhythms as were originally sung. It sounds very stilted and unnatural. 

 

I have no problem with an instrument taking on a melody and playing it idiomatically for that instrument. But vocal and instrumental idioms are different.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Yamaha CK61 and CK88]

1 minute ago, AnotherScott said:

the panning function that was just added to the YC

That's news - when did that come in?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Back to a workstation? Anything out there with a good sequencer?]

The market has moved to PCs and tablets. Logic on an iPad would be a great accompaniment to your MODX.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Randy Meisner dies aged 77]

Love that song he sang. RIP

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Excedrin Headache #9 / VI Labs Ravenscroft LATENCY !!!]

`As mentioned above in this thread: what audio interface are you using?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Roland needs to move some Fantom-0’s this summer]

15 minutes ago, ProfD said:

I'm still convinced that most modern KB MIDI controllers are designed to be data entry devices.  They're not really aimed at piano-trained KB players. 

This. Many "pure" controllers struggle to send MIDI program change in a way that's useful to a live/gigging musician. The best controllers tend to have on-board sounds (step forward the venerable Casio PX-5).

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Amplification for Nord/clone/single keyboard gig axe]

If you want to spend $1000+ on a mono amplification system for keys, I would look at RCF, Electrovoice, FBT, possibly QSC/Yamaha - ahead of a company that makes jazz guitar amps.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Rhythm ideas for duo]

2 hours ago, Stokely said:

So first possibility is an IOS drum app if it's simple enough.  Currently messing with "Drum Computer" which certainly is complex but might also work in a simple fashion.  I want something with virtual pads, a prominent tempo control, and ways to pull up patterns fairly easily. 

If someone wants to develop an Alesis SR16 app, I'll be all over that.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Has your GAS ever gone for good? (😙)]

6 hours ago, Stokely said:

I have some stuff I'm not using and should sell but every time I think of it, it just makes me tired.   Little stuff that can be easily shipped is not as much of a big deal, but keyboard selling sucks.   Some people like it I guess, I'm not one of them.

I learned my lesson some time ago. Whatever board you buy - keep the box. That way at least you can ship it to the next owner with the same level of protection it had when it arrived to you.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[The Biggest Movie Event of the Summer!]

On 7/23/2023 at 5:45 PM, Docbop said:

$155 million opening weekend the old broad still sells.     Maybe by time NAMM rolls around Casio can make a Casio Privia PX-S7000 in Barbie Pink.   

Reminds me of when one of the manufacturers launched "a laptop designed for what today's woman really wants" (or some other such guff).

 

It was an ordinary laptop - but in pink 

 

Cheers, Mike.

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

On 7/10/2023 at 7:13 PM, Leroy C said:

 

I dig so much about these pics. What's the mallet controller - MalletKat? 

 

A fretless bass AND a plexiglass! I approve.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Apple Airpod Pros as active & "intelligent" earplugs]

20 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

I wonder if Sony's method when blending ANC and transparency is to simply add the transparency "feed" into the ANC's nonchanging output stream, or does it actually vary the amount of ANC as well?

It's the same thing isn't it? If you add a 100% ANC (out-of-phase) and 10% transparency (in-phase) you get 90% ANC. I presume that Sony are simply varying the relative amplitude of "ANC" and "transparency" in their implementation of "Ambient Sound" (1-20). 

 

Now what would be cool is to combine this "dial in the quantity of ambient sound you like" feature with a limiter function: something that dynamically monitors external sound and momentarily ramps up the ANC to compensate for the excessive ambient SPL. Yes this would probably incur the "clipping" artefact that you heard at the Cameo gig, but if that saves your hearing it's probably worth it.

 

I don't know if Apple are the company to deliver this holy grail: I'm yet to be convinced that they get the musician/audiophile market (this would be useful for gig-going audience members as well). Sony should be able to deliver this. Sennheiser definitely understand this market sector (their modern true-wireless buds sound amazing) but I don't know if they have the tech know-how to deliver the kind of "adaptive transparency" processing that Apple have achieved.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)]

I presume this Hipgnosis (the design studio that did cool album covers) has no link to that Hipgnosis (that's buying the back catalogue of loads of artists)?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Rhythm ideas for duo]

What would be cool is live-programming a percussion/drum track with a looper - either acoustic instruments (shaker, tambourine, cajon etc.) or on a SPX/Octapad-style device. Let that run while you switch to keys/guitar. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[The Biggest Movie Event of the Summer!]

36 minutes ago, Dave Bryce said:

There’s a Barbie movie?

You know - the one about the blonde doll who works on the Manhattan project...

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Apple Airpod Pros as active & "intelligent" earplugs]

1 hour ago, Reezekeys said:

I agree, and I'm at a loss to explain the figures in that NYT article. Both "regular" and adaptive transparency involve adding to the ambient sound the buds aren't blocking passively.

This is the thing that confuses me with this whole thread. I can only resolve my confusion with the suggestion that a phase-inverted signal can be "added" to ambient sound to reduce total SPL - that's the principle of active noise cancellation. That's the only way to achieve 

 

15 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

-10dB with AT enabled

Cheers, Mike.

[Microsoft Surface Go3 as a serious musical instrument]

4 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

what is the advantage of paying the extra for the Surface Go over an iPad for musical applications? I suspect connection options would be better on the Surface

Screen size? £££/inch ratio is better than a >11in iPad Pro.

 

Also the ability to connect things while charging, as you mentioned.

 

I was thinking about a chromebook-tablet (Lenovo Duet something) which gives you 13in screen and the ability to run Android apps, as a large-screen score reader solution.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Lyrics to jazz instrumentals]

Apologies for taking this into an adjacent lane in order to repost this KC favo(u)rite.

 

Dave Tull hasn't retrofitted lyrics - he wrote an original song. However, he went one further and wrote words to his own (vocal) "solo".

 

Cheers, Mike.

[The Biggest Movie Event of the Summer!]

You win the internet for today.

 

Cheers, Mike

[One of our best from Oz - Morrison trumpet and piano at the same time!]

Love James Morrison. There's a clip of him playing trumpet in his RH and (slide!) trombone in his LH - call and response! His piano playing's pretty solid too.

 

@lightbg impressive - I think you've posted that before? Did playing LH bass on the keyboard not work for you?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Control Yahama Psr s710 with Numa compact 2x]

I'll let Numa owners chime in - but I know the Numa has a two-zone MIDI controller capability. You probably have to activate that functionality in some way. 

 

Cheers, Mike.