BRW

I was looking to buy Korg Collection 2 (with the bigger GUIs), don't have the previous versions so need to buy the full-priced set. It's $299 instead of $399 so that's at least only -30%. Still a nice chunk of cash saved, I suppose...

Yeah the E-MU disks would"ve been more interesting, or his LinnDrum. Maybe the DX had 'his' patches on it...but that is unlikely since Prince was supposedly mostly a 'preset guy'. You can hear it easily from the late 80"s onwards, when he got into stuff like the D-50 and ROMplers. During that time he also got heavily into sampling and all that stuff would be cool too.

I"ve always been kind of surprised at the praise for the Graphite 49. I have one and although the keyboard feel is nice and playable (and very noisy) and it has aftertouch (rare), the build quality is very flimsy. It didn"t take long for it to break somewhat after purchase. I still have it since 49 is the perfect size for a DAW setup with limited space, and it"s very light and portable, but I"m looking for alternatives. I also never got any of the DAW features to work. It"s supposed to have multiple presets for most DAWs, but apart from maybe the transport, they never worked properly despite trying a Mackie protocol etc. I bought the SM10 line mixer a few months ago, and it seems ok. People say it"s one if the 'cleanest' of its kind (no unwanted additional noise). It does have some annoyances like a loud pop when powered on (yeah monitors are supposed to be off anyway but accidents happen).

If I had to guess, I"d say due to it sounding kind of plasticcy and frankly very non-Rhodes-like, it"s probably most likely either the standard EVP88 from Logic or Lounge Lizard. Why do you like that sound?

I hate when you buy a $3000-4000 instrument and get a 5-page "Getting Started" guide with it..........aaaaand the important stuff a.ka a "Reference Manual" is always download-only these days. As suggested, I do the print thing (two-sided, bound), but it's an extra hassle. The iPad / PDF thing sort of works - and having multiple guides (and sheet music, and magazines etc. etc.) is great, but STILL I'd be willing to say that it IS faster to flick through actual paper to find what you're looking for.

^ That Karma-Lab chap (Stephen Kay) was sort of doing something similar already with the Motifs, although he did it via his software and MIDI, utilizing the sequencer for added tracks (since the Motifs only had four-part Performances). The so-called "arpeggios" always had "arranger-like" features since they followed your chords. I never really used them because they were poorly programmed - you had to play the chords only one way, and their left-hand voicings didn't make sense to me, coming from a jazz piano background. The Montage with its extensive controls makes this a bit easier which I think Zoltann is doing above (although the same problem with the voicings is still there, since I think a lot of the arpeggios were recycled). You need to do quite a bit of editing to get there, but like Zoltann explains above, the basic idea is to insert the desired "arpeggios" into the Scenes. And edit the Performance in a way that your desired Voices for both hands are split accordingly. And since the Montage now includes a Pattern Sequencer, you could also record some more "pre-recorded" sections and then play-along...

I first heard Kinsey with Tim Hagans" drum"n"bass project Animation/Imagination. Yeah he seems to have been heavily influenced by Z, plays like this in most of his projects too. I"ve been digging this tune 'Essaouira' from another project with Matt Garrison: [video:youtube]

I've got a Soundwear Stagebag 88 for my old 'n trusty Yamaha CP5. It's a sturdy soft bag with wheels and multiple pockets etc. It definitely doesn't offer the protection a hard flightcase would, but it's light enough to maneuver by yourself - and the wheels help immensely. The problem is getting the heavy keyboard into it at first! The RD2000 is a heavy keyboard at 47 lbs, but the CP5 is even heavier (55 lbs).

I was about to start a new thread, but might as well ask here. Does anyone have any info on when the SY77/99 or actual SY77/99 patches were used in "popular" songs? Other patches from relatively similar synths from the era (DX7, D-50, M1, Wavestation etc.) are easier to pinpoint, but in my opinion not these. Was it not as popular, was it a "flop"? I know Corea used one and featured heavily on the ads, but he's been endorsed by them since the 80's or even earlier.

The 'Cloud' part is the authentication method, basically. The plug-ins are just regular plug-ins that do reside on your hard drive. This is the main PITA with the setup, ironically. I"m currently subscribed to the Ultimate plan which is the 'everything' plan for about $20/mo. But I strongly dislike the way Cloud has to check the authentication once a week - and I could swear it was sometimes more often than that. Or, that I put my computer online for it to supposedly check it for one instrument...and then open another only to see that it didn"t do it for that one. The instruments themselves sound good, but most are still very CPU-heavy. The infamous 'Cloud Manager' (which you have to use) is a bloated, buggy mess. A 'lifetime key' basically lets you buy your way out of all this hassle for a single Roland plug-in. The prices were way off IMO, though.

I don"t really care for Nicholas Payton the keyboard player, but a really underrated and my fav NP trumpet album that"s NOT on any streaming services is 'Nick @ Night' from 1999 (Verve). Classic quintet post-bop with great melodic tunes, as well as a cool cover of Ramsey Lewis" 'Sun Goddess' - where Payton actually plays the celeste, funnily enough. https://www.discogs.com/Nicholas-Payton-NickNight/master/612707

This would be a fantastic idea!! And thanks very much for your work on mu:zines, it"s a very nice resource. And yeah, 300dpi if at all possible. Offtopic, but it would also be a massive treat if someone would scan all the Roland Users Group mags and all the Korg"s ProView mags as well. There is some fantastic stuff and artist interviews in those. Yamaha"s After Touch has been fully scanned (not by them) and can be downloaded, I believe.

That's kind of fun, kind of depressing, knowing how many I've missed! I heavily regret missing seeing The Eagles even once before Glenn Frey passed - it just seemed like it was the type of band that would tour "forever" so I'd get a million "second chances". Another one is PRINCE - that one hurts because I had the chance. Never saw Michael Jackson or Ray Charles either, but got to see James Brown before he passed. Missed Keith Jarrett too (so far). Drew a few blanks and a few doubles, quite a few jazz guys. Some I've seen multiple times...cheating a bit by using both first and last names for some A: Aloe Blacc B: Blondie; Brown, James; Black Sheep; Brecker, Michael C: Corea, Chick; Coltrane, Ravi; Calderazzo, Joey D: Duke, George; Douglas, Dave E: Erskine, Peter; Elton John F: G: Glasper, Robert (Experiment); Garrett, Kenny H: Hancock, Herbie; Hubbard, Freddie I: Interpol; Isham, Mark J: James Taylor; Jamiroquai K: Kent (SWE), Kajfes, Goran L: Lloyd, Charles; Ladybug Mecca (from Digable Planets); Lovano, Joe M: Murphy, Roisin; Massive Attack N: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds O: P: Pete Rock; Previte, Bobby Q: R: Roney, Wallace S: Shorter, Wayne; Sting, Steely Dan, Seal T: Toto; Tyner, McCoy U: U2 V: W: Wonder, Stevie; We Are Scientists; Wesseltoft, Bugge (New Conception Of Jazz); Watts, Jeff "Tain" X: Y: Z: ZZ Top

I"m also on the lookout for a USB-C interface for a new Mac, and I"m considering the MOTU M4 myself - supposedly it"s best in class at that (low) price point. I also do need actual hardware MIDI in/out so that"s a plus too. They"re hard to come by, though - especially the M4 model is out of stock in a lot of places.

Regarding the "piano and strings" discussion - I'm pretty sure he's just fond of using a Montage preset which has the option of "morphing" the Seattle Sections strings behind a grand piano sound via the SuperKnob... (Talking in general, not dissing MM: ) I understand the context and the history, but personally I never dug the sound either and also consider it kind of cheesy because even when most people used to play and love it back in the day, it sounded "fake" if you know what I mean. I mean, obviously it was exactly that - but most people play the sound like they are playing a piano sound, ramming the pedal etc., usually making the strings all mushy and indistinct.

ARP synths aren"t really my thing, although I like some (Solina, some Odyssey for funk and the Chroma), but what a great effort this self-made doc is. Props to Alex Ball for doing these, the Roland one was already really awesome. I wonder what his (Ball) background is, his music is also usually very tasty.

Hiromi won!

I don't think it's any particular song, just a major-susb9-major-susb9 chord progression over a drum machine beat. Used in a lot of soul and r&b, it's kind of "steviewonderish" so maybe that's it. Same, although I didn't particularly care for the playing either. I don't like "licks".

Not a keyboard player, but an influential force in music regardless. Also another victim of the corona virus. Probably best known for his "Soul Makossa", which Michael Jackson famously referenced on his "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". [video:youtube]

He also created one of the most sampled tracks. I have the vinyl, '900 Shares Of The Blues' . [video:youtube]

Yeah he"s looking really good. Like, 20 years younger! His playing isn"t quite as dexterious, 'flashy' (can"t think of a better word) or fiery, but for the most part it"s all still there. I"m not on FB anymore so thanks for the link(s).

I think he"s been endorsed by Yamaha for the longest time, and I saw him play the latest CP (4?) on a Thundercat performance at least... It"s probably also sometimes the case that these older fellas use what 'works for them', they don"t feel the need to get the latest greatest...

RIP, master. I actually saw him live something like 10 years ago, and he wasn"t looking good at all even back then - his playing wasn"t there, either, sad to say. His 'sidemen' gigs with Coltrane and Joe Henderson are legendary, but I also loved the 'African modal sound' of his solo albums. Like the tune 'Man From Tanganyika' from one of my fav LPs of his, Tender Moments. [video:youtube]

Another S5000 owner & user here. Look into installing a SCSI2SD adapter instead, that's what I did. You can use a PC or Mac to drag files - AND converted ISO images of sample CDs - straight to an SD card that can be as large as you want, I'm for instance using a 60GB one! I think version v5.1 is only guaranteed to work, I'm not sure about the newer v6. Installation is pretty straightforward, you just need to buy a 3D-printed bracket for it (I used Shapeways, seemed to be the only option: https://www.shapeways.com/product/FU99CQK4L/scsi2sd-v6-bracket?optionId=61467535&li=more-from-shop). Then you take out the floppy drive and replace it with the bracket and the adapter on it. The trickiest part is navigating the cumbersome SCSI cable to the SCSI slot inside the sampler. Once you get that done you get the software that installs the stuff needed on the SD card. Because the S5K supports AutoLoad, you can get a nice little rack synth module this way too. The only limitation is its internal memory, even when maxed.

I have to say, it's been -years- since Roland has got my interest with any of their new products - but all these (apart from the groovebox) are very intriguing. I'm probably gonna go for the JU06A (despite the unforgivably crap polyphony and the miniplug) and/or the Jupiter Xm. ...and the XV-5080 sound set is also in the FA and Integra-7. I know Roland is (at least nowadays) known for recycling most of their sounds, but this actually makes it a very nice "best of" package. Shame about the possible lack of acoustic SN sounds, though, if that is the case. I too thought the Fantom would feature more acoustic instrument programs than the Jupiter, on balance. As I watched the Fantom videos there seemed to be a disproportionate number of synth vs. acoustic sounds. Other than acoustic piano, all I"ve heard were a few section strings patches. I did look at the patch/voice list and found numerous strings, brass, flute, etc., programs, but if these come from the 5080, that"s really...old? That's a good point. I was wondering why most of the demos had only the "synthy" stuff on display - maybe this is why. Some people say that the 5080 still holds up, although I'm sure not in "realistic" acoustic tones. I've been getting into rack modules again and have actually been considering one...