nadroj

I’ve been having this discussion with my wife. I’m away a lot (3 days a week when gigs start, which they did last month) and my wife finds it incredibly hard. But the extra income is significant, and hard to pass up. At the start of the year I couldn’t wait til gigs started again. I was at work counting down the days. Even at home with the kids, I found myself yearning for being away again. I’ve decided that the latter isn’t a healthy place to be in. When I’m away with the guys I absolutely love it. From the 8 hour drives in the van, the flights, the crappy service station food, the green room beers, the actual playing, the hotel room/bar beers, the groggy mornings back in the van…I just love everything about it. We’re an 8 piece, but we get on so well together. When we’re away it’s like being on a paid guys away trip. I just love it. But with two kids, it’s hard. Sometimes I’ll be away and think “I’d rather be home with the kids than in this shitty hotel/green room.” Other times I’ll get back home to “normal” life and feel depressed that it’s over after 30 minutes. It feels like a lose/lose situation sometimes. I find contentment very hard to grasp. Knowing I’ve got a run of gigs coming up makes getting through work easier, but I’ve had to learn recently to enjoy and be content with my family life too. Gigs are great, but the grass is always greener. We’ve a run of gigs in Autumn where I’m away 3 days in a row for 6 weeks straight. It doesn’t seem like much on paper, but with my 2 kids, 3 days of being a single parent from Friday-Monday is freaking tough. My wife is a champ, but I joked to the guys that I hope the marriage counselling is included in the gig fee, lol. We’ve been offered week long stints before, and there have been vague talks of what it would look like if we were offered gigs with actual several week+ tours - support slots, etc. I’d have to think very carefully about it, because it’s already on a knife edge, and my kids won’t be young forever.

Our singer asked me to help with the admin for our rehearsals earlier this year. I put all of the songs together in…a Spotify playlist. And a YouTube one, with some live versions for reference. It’s just the easiest thing to do, by far. No one owns music any more. Hell, hardly any one buys music any more, and making a Spotify playlist is 100 x quicker and safer than downloading from some YouTube to mp3 site. if I need to slow down a piece and listen slowly (which I do regularly for solos) there are ways to do that myself.

Nord Electro 4. Stupidly limited, but the most enjoyable keyboard I ever had. Took it to literally every gig I played when I owned it.

Another SKX owner here. As others have said, the handle on the back of the SK models make them a breeze to lift. Only thing I'd say is that dual manuals are generally taller than regular keyboards, so they can be a bit awkward at times. Length has always been the big thing for me - I hate long keyboards, and will never gig with an 88 key board again if I can help it. Dual manuals are chunky, but short. That does the job for me 😅

I can see why many bands split up soon after releasing their own material. My covers band released our debut original album last year and it was ok. We're all experienced musicians but we learned a lot doing it - particularly about what not to do in our context. We're a live band mostly, and the album had some decent songs on it, but the writing and recording process was up in the air for every different song, and it didn't end up sounding that much like us, or actually how we wanted the songs to sound. We've redone them live and they now sound like how they should, but they sound nothing like the album version when we play them live. We're releasing a new EP this Friday, and it actually sounds like us. The songs are a million times better than the album, too. Unfortunately since we all like it, we care a lot more about it than we did the album. We're picky about parts, and the singer (who does the lions share of the management and behind the scenes work) has vetoed an instrumental ending to one song that the entire rhythm section love. It's been cut from the EP, but we'll keep the ending in live. I was pretty pissed, and vocalised my disappointment, but it wasn't worth making a big fuss over. At this stage we'll be glad to get it released and start playing it live, but when 8 people each have an opinion about what to do/not to do, it's a fun test of the band's resolve. Thankfully everyone in the band is older and mature, so problems are talked about on the spot, rather than bitched about behind closed doors, which makes for a generally very healthy atmosphere, especially when it comes to disagreements!

Knew that would happen. I'd already assumed it out be out of sight, out of mind for me when I first saw this thread. "Affordable" only to a certain class of people. Though tbh I'm not sure in this current economical climate that they could make ANY genuine electro-mechanical instrument "affordable".

Activate the black keys for only an extra £30 a month!

I can see a “VR-X” (VR-0X?) somewhere in the future. In typical Roland fashion, I can also see it falling under the “so close, but not quite” category. An organ based, performance focused keyboard with the V-Piano and an actual editable SN (or zen core) synth engine would indeed be killer. Maybe. They’d find a way to mess something up.

Super cool looking at that piano and thinking about the history behind it. All those songs we’ve spent years of our lives listening to (and playing) came from that. Bet if that Steinway could talk it would have some stories to tell…

*D-beam available for an extra £999.

Locking features behind a paywall is absolute BS imo, and is a scary prospect for the future of instruments. What’s next? Paying extra for MIDI, layers, splits? In one sense I can see it eventually working this way: buy a Nord Electro 9, pay £500 to turn it into a Nord Stage 6! But the cynic in me sees this being being more likely: buy the workstation for full price at £4000, then spend another £1000 to unlock everything. You’re tricked into thinking you’re spending the same when you’re actually spending more. In either case I don’t like it. It’s a sad state of affairs. Cars, TVs, printers, even home appliances are going the same way - hardware locked behind subscriptions and fees, that are bricked if you stop paying. Prioritising shareholders over consumers is a one way ticket to administration. Sorry for the off topic rant.

Wil Blades (killer Hammond organist) said in his patreon that he does scales/warm up stuff three times a week. He doesn’t do them every day. I’ve taken that approach and I must say it’s been revolutionary. I used to feel I couldn’t practice until I’d “warmed up”, but then 30 precious minutes would have passed and I wouldn’t have actually played any music. So if I’m not on a scales/technique day, I’ll just start with whatever’s in my head, get it out of my system (or build on it) then start working on whatever I want to work on.

Cory Henry has a new album, CHURCH, out. 23 songs. It’s like his gospel organ albums made love to his funk apostles records and created this. An amalgamation of everything he’s done so far imo. I’m a few songs in and so far there hasn’t been a dull moment. So much going on in the background, it’s a gospel fan’s wet dream.

I'm sure we all remember the "Jordan Rudess hears Alicia Keys for the First Time" thread. Well, they're back with a new one. This time it's Justin Stanton (of Snarky Puppy) hears Dua Lipa for the first time. As you might expect, it's...very different to the Rudess one. In fact, if you know Justin and Snarky Puppy, it's about exactly what you'd expect. In order to foster a broader discussion, I'll refrain from posting my opinion for now. Suffice to say I think it's super interesting hearing first hand what both musicians hear in their heads, and seeing how they put it into practice (and in both cases, how similar the end result is to their wider work). Let me know your thoughts!

Isn’t it apple and oranges? The CK61 has diving board keys and the Numa has piano style keys, no?

Forte7 was the perfect balance between size and power. I’d love if there was a 7 model with the same action.

If it hits the same price point I’d be tempted. Good bread and butter board, and the audio/USB interface is just the icing on the cake. It makes such a difference when playing at home.

I generally like the “virtuoso hears *popular song* for the first time” videos. Larnell Lewis’s ones are outstanding, for example. This one just felt unnecessary to me. He played a thousand more notes, and it was a thousand times less musical than the original. They should have chosen a track by a songwriter who isn’t actually good at piano - unfortunately for Rudess in this video, Alicia Keys is actually good. The “pop music bad” jokes at the beginning were edgy internet teen levels of cringe. This could (or should) have been done with anyone else, and it would have been better. Someone who would play something with purpose, rather than someone who’s there to wank over a keyboard to make the girl behind the glass blush.

Yeah, it literally slaps.

A couple of band mates and I have been doing a little bit of session work in a studio we rehearse and record at. Usually just to put basic tracks down for amateur singer/songwriters without a band of their own. It’s a nice side gig that pays okay for what it is. We got offered a job to record some 80s covers for a chap we’d recorded some originals with before. I’d never met him, but he seemed switched on. The night before recording we met with the guy to run through structures and make sure he was happy before we went to record without him the next day. We’d done our homework and all went well. Towards the end of the rehearsal he turned to me and said “so obviously I want those orchestral parts in; I’ll do a guitar solo over those once you’ve recorded them.” I was a bit taken aback. The songs were keys heavy anyways without the orchestral parts. I’d learnt the main keys parts plus the extra motifs and runs, but hadn’t orchestrated it all - these were 80s/90s ballads, with French Horns, oboes, trumpets, trombones, orchestrated string sections, etc - far more than your usual brass patch or string part you’d play in a live setting. What had been communicated to us was that he wanted us to do the tracks, and then “put our own spin on them”. That didn’t end up happening - turns out he wanted us to do the tracks almost identical to the originals, with an extra drum track or two added in. Anyways, we recorded the next day and all went well. Three tracks, with keys and several overdubbed parts - but not the orchestral stuff. I said I’d add them in later using software at home if the producer wanted and he said fine, but then he said that if if the client really wants the brass parts as they are he should hire in a brass section - those parts shouldn’t be on me. The next day I sent a couple of extra overdubs I’d been asked to do, then when I asked about all of the orchestral parts the producer said “I have everything I need - don’t worry about the rest. Great job.” It’s thus far worked out fine, but the drummer joked “I’ll be pissed if he holds off payment because he can’t hear an oboe”. I don’t think he will - the producer is good at seeing us get paid, and is very much on our side as the buffer between us and the client. I’m used to being expected to cover subsidised orchestral parts in a covers band, but am now not sure what’s expected of me in a studio setting. Is that stuff usually on the keyboard player? Again, this is a nice novelty gig for us that we’re getting better at - I’m still learning the ins and outs of working as a hired gun in a studio setting. I think communication is key here. Next time should I just ask well in advance “I noticed there are some orchestral parts in your demo/source track - what do you want done with them?”

As of March my ska/reggae/funk band are out almost every week until the end of the year, and I want to try something different for my solos this time around. I’ve been on a bit of a reggae kick recently and have been enjoying the melodic wah clav work in some of Marley’s songs - particularly some of the more melodic solos. Want to incorporate some of that in our set if and when I get thrown a solo. Switch it up from the usual organ. Thankfully the SKX actually has some pretty nice wah clav patches in it, with decent edit-ability. Needing inspiration though - can anyone suggest some good wah clav solos/tunes where wah clav plays a prominent role? Doesn’t have to be reggae! Note: NOT whammy clav please, as I can’t pitch bend on the SKX 😅

If Korg updated their organs, maybe them. Otherwise Yamaha or Nord. But since I can’t do cool, stylish jazz fusion wankery videos it probably wouldn’t be Nord since that’s all that they seem to promote with their endorsers. If they did, though: - Stage 4 (76) - Stage 4 (SW73) - Wave 2 If Yamaha: -YC 61 OR 73 - Montage M6 - An Upright of some kind. I’d have to do a month of research/playtesting to decide.

Bright Grand (small) from the Nord sample library when I used the Nord. Cut through better (while also sounding fuller)!than any other “good” piano I’ve had. Nowadays: the standard piano in the Hammond SKX. Not detailed but cuts through as well as the above Nord. I use detailed pianos for recording, but for cutting over 3 brass and electric instruments the simplest, brightest works the best.