Stokely

I am pretty interested in this board. If I were to get it, it would be replacing my Roland VR700. with that in mind, some questions/thoughts. Reasons I'd get it, partly based on supposition: - sound - smaller, lighter Things I might miss: - strings and horn patches. I don't use them very much but I'd have to cover these with my Kurzweil. Now: any thoughts on the piano sound and how it might compare? I don't care for the piano in the VR700, but it is my backup sound in case my Kurzweil acts up again. I would assume this could also be a decent backup sound but always good to ask! Midi/drawbars: The VR700 doesn't send cc messages via drawbars...@$%#...so does this? Action: apologies I may have asked this before. I LOVE the VR700 action, and dislike the Nord Electro's. How's this one compared to either of these, if you have tried them all? Obscure question: Has anyone used this with an ipad/iphone via usb midi? Just curious as to whether this would work as-is. my Kurzweil was seen by my iphone right away, had an issue with the ipad (both had the same ios version...ugh). Anyway, having an ipad in the rig would give me some more sound options that I might give up with this more specialized board.

Not exactly on-topic, as I use IEMs and wouldn't need this. However, our bass player/soundguy who owns our PA and I were talking about the PA yesterday. He's replacing our current subs and mains since they are 5 yrs old (selling them for a good price actually). The subs will now just have two 10" speakers per side, and the mains will be K10.2s. It's incredible how small and powerful PA stuff has gotten (though to be sure our biggest challenge is being quiet, not loud!). Lights too...I love 20-30 minute loadins/outs as a band. The whole band is now direct except for acoustic drums. Yesterday was a kind of milestone: a sound company gig (ie, not our PA) and everyone went direct, putting themselves in the hands of the company and the monitors. Had about 10 minutes to soundcheck. It went great! I do prefer my IEMs though

I had the Virus b (keyboard) and used it in a classic rock setting. Programmed an oberheim-like patch for Styx etc. Tremendous keyboard in every way. The build quality, keybed, everything. I made about 10 patches and then had fun changing them on the fly (something I had no idea I was going to do when I bought it)...most things are there on the knobs and it's just a joy to tweak. I recently played the DM12 at guitar center and it had a similar compact "heaviness" about the build quality. Keys were nice though I can't recall if it had aftertouch. Sounded good but they never have good speakers at those stores (wtf?) and I was short on time. Aftertouch on the Virus is outstanding, it's very easy to control it with that keybed (some keyboards I've played it's too easy to accidentally invoke it if that makes sense.)

Piano without velocity info I would think would be useless...short of some super-compressed pop piano thing

Certainly becomes an electro alternative though for people like me that was contemplating one. My main problem with the electro is the key action, it's pretty stiff (I'm used to the easy action on the VR700)...I've never actually seen a Mojo 61, is it comparable?

(hopefully didn't post this already) Picked up a Behringer Powerplay P1 - for $49, a stereo headphone amp with limiter? Hard to go wrong! I'm now able to pan my monitor mix (this vocal there, this one there, guitar waaaaay over there etc) and it's helped a lot with being able to monitor at even lower volumes in my IEMs. Also got a G&L asat classic tribute model, $299 for stupid deal of the day on MF. Unfortunately, I twice jammed my middle finger of left hand playing bball and haven't been able to play it much...jammed fingers are the devil especially as I don't heal as well at 49 as I used to....

I've been unable to sell my VR-700 (was hoping then to pick up an electro 5) so I'm reconciled to my current rig being "done"...for a while at least. So I bought a guitar G&L tribute asat classic (natural wood model with alnico pickups)...the Stupid Deal of the Day at Musician's Friend had it at $299 (normally $499). I couldn't pass it up, especially since I haven't "bonded" with my current electric and am going to attempt to sell it.

"claps, finger snaps, sandpaper, and wood block" Normally these would be firmly in my "who cares, nobody will ever, ever notice or care" category.* Flip side, those are really exposed so probably *something* needs to go there. Flip/flip side, nobody has likely heard this song in forever so it won't matter LOL *I realize there are bands that try to get things exactly right. Not my cup of tea, too much work, but I respect the amount of effort.

I "nickel and dimed" my xmas allotment this year Got a Behringer uphoria 404 to replace my motley crew of interfaces I had...was using a zoom H2 as the interface, it just was kind of clunky. Very happy so far, quiet and sounds fine (Haven't tested the mic pres yet. Got Addictive Keys, all three keyboards, on the 50% off sale. Not sure the cp70/80 will ever be used, but they got me on the "diminishing cost as you buy more" thing Bought two guitar pedals, both "clones" so the price was rock bottom. One is a Fender amp sim pedal and one is an overdrive. Both sound great. Going to spend $50 on a Valhalla reverb plugin--but I have analysis paralysis right now. All four V plugins sound awesome Probably leaning toward vintage verb. Just the demos of these have made a big difference on everything I'm doing in Logic, from piano sound to guitars, compared to the built-in reverbs. All this is leading up to an Electro 5, assuming I can sell my VR700...no bites on CL so far.

Hoping to get an electro 5 myself. to replace a VR-700 (which I do like, but I consider this an upgrade) Also hoping that Native Instruments has a black friday sale, would like to get the definitive piano collection (Gentleman upright, Grandeur and Maverick grands) if it is 50% off.

Thanks, pretty much jives with my current thoughts on pros and cons. I should really get out there and listen to some of the newer boards like the FA06. When last I shopped, organ was really an afterthought on everything except the pc3, and even then I prefer the Roland organ in a rock setting (they are very different sounds, no idea which is more "authentic" but the V-combo sits very well in mixes). Heck I could always go back to organ on the pc3 and get something that shines in other areas...you can really rationalize just about anything if you aren't willing to carry 3-4 boards around! Always a compromise somewhere....

Just looking for opinions...at the end of the day the thought of going through selling a board on CL or ebay might make this moot anyway... I have a VR-700. I got a good deal on it, and I'm very happy with the key feel and the organ sound. It has nice drawbars as a bonus. I bought it mainly because I wanted to develop my organ technique since it has a waterfall keybed...but frankly I've only used it for gigs and there's so many other things I've been working on (bass, guitar etc). Also, it's 76 notes and I really don't need it to be...so pretty long and fairly heavy. I don't use splits on it since I have two boards and it's limited anyway in that regard. The main thing is that I don't like the piano sounds *at all*. Obviously synth and other sounds are not extensive, though the horns and strings work for the few songs I need those for. Anyway, kicking around the idea of selling it and getting the VR09. My other board is a pc361 and it just died on me (looking to get it repaired); so something that can better cover everything I do would be nice. I'll get in to a music store and give it a serious play, just wondering if anyone has played both boards and has a perspective. The other possibility would be an electro 5 but that is way, way more $ (I would have sold both boards to get it, but after my mishap with the pc3 I'm sticking with two boards...)

Yes I do appreciate that about Costco but I try not to abuse it...I'll take things back in a jiffy if they truly don't work but I'd feel pretty bad if I bought it to "rent" it!

Because of time, for now I'm either going to 1) figure out a way to use my current furniture mover or dolly...I did this last time and it was rough but worked. 2) get the nice hand truck from Costco 3) get a really cheap but otherwise similar in form steel one from Walmart...39 bucks so even if it doesn't last for many years it's no biggie. That will get me through this gig and I'll have time to find one for the next gig if need be (option 1 will only happen once!!!) The model that seemed to fit most advice here without a huge jump in price was the RT14. It has the bigger wheels and would certainly be big enough, heck the band might want to start using it to move the PA, it's bigger than the one we use now for that

Last-minute question. I checked Costco and this hand truck was $99. It is a pretty typical "convertible" hand truck. http://www.coscoproducts.com/eng/products/handtrucks/details/2970-12304abl1-3-in-1-aluminum-convertible-hand-truck It's too short to load horizontally, but if I loaded vertically it's more than enough (too long in fact, the far end wouldn't help hold the boards unless I packed it with more stuff...can be overcome). Does anyone use something like this? I would imagine a con this is more a beast to transport, it's more solid and large than a typical hand truck. On the plus side we have some rental properties and we'd certainly use it to move appliances etc (though we could do so with the rock-n-roller cart as well).

I am ashamed to admit this didn't once occur to me. I have a very similar load. I normally don't have to bring one of my 12" powered speakers to gigs, but on the oddball ones with FOH I often do since I never know if I can use my in-ears...and it looks like there'd be room to put it where you have that blue suitcase. That doesn't even look extended, correct? Could you have gone with a smaller model even? Though in pics it looks like the smaller models have shorter handles, which is often a problem for me with carts (I'm tall). Appreciate all the posts and info! In 3 years of gigging I've only had one 30 ft stretch of non-pavement--just the types of gigs we do...that was an outdoor pool deal at a resort, not our normal thing. I think I'll stick with the solid wheels. I'm sure we'll land a 400 ft hike through grass in a couple weeks! LOL The biggest issue I may have is that I waited too long...normally I'd order from Amazon but I need something Sat morning. I may cobble something together (like last time) out of a furniture mover and lots of bungies It worked, but barely. My wife said costco has an extendable hand truck of some kind so I'll check that out on my lunch break, and then call Sam Ash/GC to see if they have anything in stock...hopefully for similar prices to online!

Hello, I have an upcoming gig with a really long load-in (crept up on me) and have to make a quick decision on getting a cart. Normally I don't need one but when you do...you do. Anyway, I was leaning toward a rock'n roller cart vs. a convertible hand truck. The main thing with the hand trucks is that the "foot" can't be lowered, so a keyboard isn't going to fit on the platform. I guess I could angle it up so one end is resting on the foot, but that's not ideal (hopefully that makes sense). The one question on the carts I have is on size. Should I get one that can extend long (wide?) enough so that my boards can fit on with both ends...or can I get by with a shorter cart extended and one handle lowered. Obviously it would be a bit more secure with both ends attached, but it would require a large model. I have a 76-note keyboard that is 53 inches in its case, so just a bit too long for the R8 or R10 iirc. To muddy the waters I normally only bring my shorter board to gigs like this (quick on/off benefits etc) but I figure if I'm shelling out $ for a cart I may start using it at most gigs. Even short trips are annoying when you do a number of them! I can see getting smaller cart and just using bungies to ensure the boards stay on. I may do that anyway but with one handle off the boards could slip off the front. Hopefully that is clear what I mean, I just mean the cart extended all the way out but instead of a "U" it would make a long "L". Flip side, I'll have this thing for years hopefully, and a $50-$100 difference isn't going to mean much over that amount of time...while getting something shorter that caused more hassle certainly will! So I might lean back toward a model that can fit the board inside the handles lol!

Yes indeed, our band is in that demo (actually older for some). But as the post above states, so is our crowd 95% of our set is 70s music, that was the "theme" the singer wanted (though we reach up into the 80s a bit, I wish we'd just drop the theme but it's not "my" band). And don't underestimate the power of the 80s amongst the younger set. I work with a lot of 20s to 30-year olds and they show an incredible knowledge of 80s music. It's just the retro target right now I guess.

I know how that goes. One of my favorite tunes to play live is INXS's Don't Change. It is absurdly easy, high energy, great set opener...yet most bands say it's too obscure. Well I'm not always the best judge of what goes over so maybe they are right..but why not take 10 minutes to learn it and we'll give it a shot to make the keys player happy!

We combine the outro of Too Much Time on My Hands into this. It's not the smoothest transition you can imagine--tempos aren't quite the same, though at least the keys are the same--and we need to work on it a tad but we end up getting there

I'd add, "or care at all what you are playing, unless it is horribly out of key or time". And maybe not even then. That's why I usually don't agonize over parts unless they are extremely central to the song. The only person who cares at all what you play is that keys player from a rival band hanging on the side of the stage. Everyone else is drunk and/or dancing or trying to get laid. Now lead guitar, different animal there.... I do spend quite a bit more time on vocals and I wish our band would occasionally have a vocal-only rehearsal to work out who is doing what. I submit that your average cover band listener won't know an organ sound from a synth but they can hear bad vocals All this blather aside, this is a timely thread as I need to improve both what I'm playing (somewhat) and the sound I'm using...Anyone play this on a pc3 and have tips? I have a custom patch adapted from a stock one but I'm really not happy with it.

I need to watch that...I *know* I'm playing the pre-chorus completely wrong but I've been skating by....nobody has complained but I feel dirty I have issues playing the chorus, but that's because I'm singing the lower harmony part...that part is pretty syncopated so I simplify it.

Darn it, if my trusty 2-tier Z would ever die I wouldn't mind getting one of these...looks way, way easier to load and carry than the Z, and of course looks cooler But I'm convinced the Z will still be standing in 300 years while Wall-E wonders how to compact it....and I'm too cheap to spend $ unless there's an absolute need! (no, the Z will not meet with an "accident")

I think this is true, and in my case it bugs me. I got a great deal on a VR700 and like the board a lot, but I'm not sure how I'd use the drawbars at home to control software. There may be a way to map it, I haven't tried yet since it's primarily a live-use board. The reason it bugs me is that apparently the older VK-8 *does* send cc messages with it's drawbars, though I'm not sure exactly how it is implemented. Regardless, not sure why Roland would change that, unless the controller #s got standardized to some other function. But to the point, yeah I'd be surprised if it would help you. I'd expect the sysex it would send would be only meaningful to the VR700 and probably set to only send that data.

Yeah, not to veer this further off the main topic, but I just had a second gig with the VR and its a keeper, I just love playing it. The action is probably the main reason, it's fantastic, works well even for piano (for me the non-pianist!) And yes, I forgot the Nano only had usb. Haven't used it for awhile. I wish all the manufacturers would just use ccs for drawbar mesages, and make sure the keyboards send out the message as well as respond if it has sliders or drawbars (oddly my VR doesn't but the VK8 did...). I'd love to use the VR to control software organs fully. I assume there are still some unassigned ccs out there. My days of knowing midi reasonably well are long gone though...