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Jwave

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Posts posted by Jwave

  1. I've acquired countless iPad music apps over the past dozen years. The ones I use the most are:


    Symphony Pro: for creating and editing sheet music using my preferred method of direct touch input (currently buggy - I'm a beta tester for the long-overdue update)

    forScore: for displaying PDF sheet music

    OnSong: for displaying text chord charts which I can instantly change to any key

    Amazing Slow Downer: for practicing with tracks which I can slow down/retune/loop (I wish there was a similar app that supported multiple tracks with mix/pan/mute/solo)

    Let's Unmix: for separating recordings into vocal/drum/bass/piano/other tracks

    liveBPM: for detecting the tempo of recordings and real-time performances


    I've used a bunch of iPad apps for sound generation in gigs, most recently Zeeon, GeoShred and SWAM Trumpet. I've started trying to recreate the many custom song multis from my Kurzweil PC4 in case it's broken or unavailable. The simple option is Korg Module Pro which has good-quality sounds but limited switch/layer/control. My more complex option is AUM which has nearly unlimited configuration and access to high-quality AUv3 sound apps such as Pianoteq, Hammond B-3X and emulations of many classic synths.

  2. The separate acoustic piano track created by the free Gaudio service is generally very good, and invaluable for study purposes. It can also create an electric guitar track, though if there are multiple guitars then some tend to go to the Other track. I’m hoping their “Coming Soon” promise means there may eventually be separate electric keyboard and synth tracks.

  3. I use the free online service Gaudio Studio (winner of the MusicRadar roundup) which can split to six tracks including acoustic piano and electric guitar. I’m in a Steely Dan tribute, and Gaudio has been a gamechanger for figuring out tricky piano parts such as Victor Feldman’s voicings in “Home At Last”. As well as allowing downloads of separate stems, it has an excellent online mixer for creating backing tracks.

    • Like 3
  4. 10 hours ago, time4jazz said:

    This stand does look great, and I’d like to get it myself.  But the min height appears to be 27.5 inches, which would put the keys a little high when playing sitting down. 

    Yes, the minimum height of the Knox accordion stand is the main drawback for many people. Mine adjusts from 27.5” to 38.5” as one Amazon reviewer said. It works fine for me as I’m tall and I put my folding bench to its maximum height.

    • Like 1
  5. 1 hour ago, jason88 said:

    My K2700 has decent pianos but none of them wowed me so thankfully was able to load my own samples.

    I’m curious about which piano sample set you loaded, as I’d love to load improved pianos on my PC4?

    • Like 1
  6. 4 hours ago, Mark Schmieder said:

    McCartney is famous for saying no one recognized "Yesterday", and yet most jazz cats know the verse part.

     

    I'd have to dig out my Real Book to reverify which famous standard it matches, but surely he heard his Dad play it.

    The verse of “Yesterday” is known to have similar chords to the Ray Charles version of “Georgia On My Mind”, but the incomparable melody is very different.

  7. 25 minutes ago, Synthaholic said:

    The VFP2-10 has two mono TS plugs. Are you going to use it for sustain and sostenuto, with the plugs using up the two Switch jacks? That leaves no jacks for organ rotary. Which you may not care about.

     

    I'm just curious how you're going to use yours.

    I never use sostenuto, so I program SW2a in my PC4 multis to switch rotary speed or mute/unmute layers. I actually ordered the Fatar VFP2-10 as a spare as I’m currently using a Studiologic VFP3-15: I had planned to use the middle pedal as a third switch controller (SW1b) but it’s tricky to hit this pedal accurately and it currently doesn’t seem to be responding anyway (perhaps the TRS cable has developed a partial fault after two years). Hopefully the open 10 model will work correctly on SW1a and SW2a like the closed 15 does, due to auto-sensing on boot.

  8. The 60s-psychedelic-pop covers band I was in performed the Beatles “Glass Onion” a few times but the ending was a disaster. Maybe my fault as keyboard player covering strings, but it’s hard to sell that abrupt anti-climactic ending in a live setting!

  9. This weekend I'm filling in with a classic-rock cover band so I've reacquainted myself with the keyboard solos of "I'm A Believer" (four bars, repeated almost identically) and "Breakdown" (four very cool bars from Benmont Tench). Can anybody think of well known keyboard solos that are similarly concise? I'm thinking of featured expressive solos rather than intros or riffs or fills. [No longest solos please - that would be another topic entirely!]

  10. In this situation I usually run a 3.5mm stereo audio cable from the iPad headphone output to an audio input port on my Kurzweil PC4. But the PC3K doesn't seem to have audio input ports so this won't work for you. You'd need to run the 3.5mm cable from the iPad headphone output directly to your mixer, using an adapter if your mixer doesn't have a 3.5mm input.

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