nadroj
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Posts posted by nadroj
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Dexibell J7 Combo
Never heard of this one before. If I'm reading it right, it has a good organ, along with bread and butter sounds, 4 sounds layered at once AND audio over USB? That's going on the list, if so. No pitch/modwheel, but it's cheap enough that I could still get the Minilogue too.
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This is my rig thread. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I've outgrown my current gear. It either sits unused in my house, or has become redundant live. I'm in the process of selling my current 3 boards, and the possibility of having a new rig in the near future is now very real. I know we've had a lot of threads about this, but another one won't hurt.
My Electro is my favourite board ever, but it doesn't do enough. My MODX does almost everything, but I don't enjoy playing it. My main focus is to condense everything as much as I can into one semi-weighted keyboard. Down the line I may get a weighted controller and build a shell for it, but for now I want one keyboard that can cover all of my bases reasonably well, and that is fun for me to play live and at home.
This is going to be my big purchase of the decade, and whatever I get is to last me for the forseeable future. It's very important to me that I get something I enjoy playing, so I don't mind taking a while to make the decision.
REQUIRED:
1) A good organ. My main and busiest band now sees me playing 70% Hammond/Vox in our set. I've fallen in and out of love with the Nord hammond over the years, but I'm generally happy with it. As much as I'd love to be an organist, the reality is that I'm not. I might get a mid-life crisis dual manual clonewheel once I hit 40, but we're not quite there yet.
2) Multi-timbral. Most keyboards have this today, but there have been several rehearsals and sessions I've played in where the limits of my Electro 4 have fallen short of what I've needed. Doesn't need to be workstation like, but just enough to get me by.
3) Usable - Good APs/EPs. The Nord pianos remain my favourite hardware pianos, especailly the uprights. I only use 1 or 2 live, though. Any bright sounding piano would do live, but for home use I'd prefer a sound that inspires me. I sometimes get calls from singer/songwriters, and a good piano sound that doesn't embarass me and sounds good is important for those gigs.
4) Sturdy, compact, reliable. This will be my main workhorse. It needs to be able to survive gig after gig, it needs to fit in the back of my car and it needs to feel good. As I've said in previous threads, feeling is important to me. I want to feel like I'm playing an instrument. MODX-7 ticked almost all of my boxes, but I didn't like the keybed, and it didn't feel good to hammer away at live.
BONUSES:
4) Pitch bend/modulation options. I don't do it live much, but I love playing lead synth parts at home. Riffing over a lead synth is certainly an area of my playing I wish to grow in.
5) Sample playback. Not necessary, but I'd miss it if I didn't have it. There have been serveral times when I've received a callback for a gig over other players simply because I went to the effort of sampling something from a record and played it live.
6) Some sound design options. I like doing my homework, I like tweaking, and I like the challenge of of trying to get as close as possible to a sound as possible. I'm not meticuolous about hitting every part, but I like the challenge of trying to get as much out of a board's capabilities as possible. Also, if I can't be bothered playing at home I sometimes like just sitting down to explore and create stuff.
OPTIONS:
Shortlist of thoughts, in no particular order:
1) Nord Stage 3 Compact
PROS: This ticks every box. Everything I need in one, single keyboard. Tried and tested. Supported by my laptop there would be few gigs I wouldn't be able to cover.
CONS: Expensive. This is stretching my budget, and there would be no cash left over for any effects pedals or extra accessories. It's also so standard and predictable that it almost feels like the "boring" option...
2) Hammond SK-PRO
PROS: Ticks most of the boxes. Probably the best sounding organ out of the lot. It's new, it's cool, it's sturdy. Plenty of extra voices, and it has the flexibilty to split and layer up to 11 sounds at once, which the Nords don't.
CONS: Mixed reviews about the extra voices and mono-synth. Not sure how the pianos would stack up in more intimate settings. Would need to try one out before buying, and the only shops that actually stock them are on the other side of the country. No aftertouch. Expensive. No custom sample playback.
3) Kurzweil PC-4 + Vent or MOJO Desktop. Previously known as the wild card option.
PROS: Good bread and butter sounds, access to Dave Weiser and BurningBusch's excellent programmes. Purgatory Creek sounds are VST quality. Lots of sample memory. Most sonically and programmably flexible keyboard out of them all. VAST synthesis will keep me busy for the rest of my life, and some of the downloable sounds available for purchase are extraordinary. Cheap, with lots of money left over for extra goodies.
CONS: Plastic. This took away from the playability of the MODX. I wanted to love it, but it just didn't feel as sturdy as some of the metal keyboards I've owned. Wall wart - nothing worse than getting to a gig and realising that your external adapter has either been left at home or the tiny cable has got damaged and is unusable. Organ is the weakest of the lot, would need a vent or external module to bring it up to speed. Sonically I can see it working fine, but I'd need to test it to make sure I actually enjoyed playing it. Deep doesn't always mean fun. The Yamaha MODX has some wonderful sound design options, but I've rarely got it set up at home because I don't enjoy playing it
4) Yamaha YC 73/61
PROS: Feels great, looks cool. One cable attached to my laptop would make suddenly make it about as sonically capable as anything else on this list. Yamaha stuff is built to last. Good pianos, extra voices. The coloured drawfaders look cool. Cheaper option on the list.
CONS: Limited editability of on board sounds. Organ simulation is questionable (sounds cool, but nowhere close to the real thing, and the rotary speaker still hasn't been fixed.) No sound design unless I have a laptop attached. No custom sample playback.
5) Nord Electro 6 73 + Korg Minilogue XD Module (current wildcard option)
PROS: Ticks all of the boxes. Very similar to my current Nord model, but with the added flexibility that I'm currently missing. The Nord alone would cover all of the needs for my main band. The XD would sit neatly on top of the Nord for other gigs or home use. It's one of the few modules currently available with a pitch bend/mod joystick attached. It would give me my first analogue synth. Sound design capabilities would be fun. I could potentially run the output of the XD into the Nord and only need one or two cables for FOH. Even with both of these two there'd still be some money left over to put towards accessories or goodies. It's currently the most exciting and fun-sounding solution, but that's only because I've just thought of it.
CONS: This is starting to move away from the one board solution. One instrument wouldn't do everything, and I might grow tired with the faff again and wish I'd just gotten a Stage. If running the XD into the Nord doesn't work out, that's 2 or potentially 4 outputs I have to give to the soundman at a gig, unless I bring a mixer which is yet more faff. ROMpler capabilities aren't great, but the gigs where I need lots of ROMpler sounds are rare. No aftertouch. Limited splitting and layering options, but being able to dedicate a section of the keyboard to custom layered samples helps mitigate that. Nord Electro 6 sucks as a MIDI controller.
What do you think, KC?
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The Samuel Blupowitz Organ Company
I was trying to come up with something like that â The Blupowitz Organ Company, or Blupowitz Organ Corporation?
â¦with their signature tune, "Blupowitz Blitz"!
(yeah, I know it's Sam B. Lupowitz, but I never read it like that, and in my mind, you're stuck with it.
)Regardless of band name, "Blupowitz Blitz" has to be a tune. Needs to be a good'un too!
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I don't have the left hand for that kind of gig, but as I'm getting older I'm starting to discover that a small keyboard led trio/quartet would the dream. Glad to hear you're living it. Enjoy it!
Random office related bandnames from the top of my head:
Few Word Trick
Lizard King
Burnt Foot
5th Vascetomy
Snip Snap
Mung Beans
WHUPF
Colmbian White
The Boboddys
Chair Model
The Samuel Blupowitz Organ Company
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Someone should respond to that comment on Sweetwater if what AnotherScott said is correct (which, let's be honest, it probably is). Some of what the SW commenter says is pretty damning, and if it isn't true it's important that the misinformation is dealt with, especially considering it's on the same page where potential customers are one click away from buying the thing.
Currently in the process of selling my gear to finance a new board which will become my live workhorse, and this is at the top of the list, which currently looks like this:
1) SK-Pro
2) Nord Stage 3 Compact
3) Kurzweil PC4-7 w/ Organ module/vent (wildcard option)
4) Yahama YC61/73
Each of the above would be complemented by Mainstage when needed.
There's a small 2 week gap in September where I don't have any gigs, so would ideally like to get rid of the final keyboard and make the purchase in that window...
I'd also be very curious to know if they were thinking about a dual-manual version, or a lower manual in the vein of the Mojo 61. If this was a dual manual the list above wouldn't even exist.
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The way I see it (and I might be wrong) the Nightsky can give you almost everything the BigSky can, but the BigSky certainly can't give you everything the NightSky can. I've been lusting after a BigSky for a while, but after going down the NightSky rabbit hole my opinion is that the NightSky would be better suited for a keyboard player.
Saying that, as has been said - you can't really go wrong with either one.
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Love this guy's walkthrough of it. Aimed at gigging players - even to the point where he records it in mono. The big questions he asks is: "Is this capable of being your only board on stage?"
SPOILER: He's very positive. GASing hard, currently in talks with one store about a potential part exchange...
[video:youtube]
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That's a pretty cool story. Thanks for sharing. It is indeed a great solo.
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Why do you guys continue to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on these things? They all sound the same. Truly. Stand front of house, I can assure you that whatever you were playing back in 199x and now, played through your local club's sub standard PA will sound pretty much the same to the inebriated, instagram surfing audience. For what these plastic microchip holders cost you could be investing in a real tonewheel or electromechanical, or acoustic and actually protect your principal, or better yet, lessons with a qualified instructor. If latest and greatest is your bag, buy a great controller and a laptop.
Gear isn't about them. It's about me.
Put me behind a keyboard that I don't like that does something very similar to a keyboard I do like, and my playing will be vastly different. The crowd may hear the same tone, but they won't hear the same notes. If I have something that I enjoy, that inspires me and that lets me express myself in the way I want, the crowd in front of those FOH speakers are gonna have a different experience. I can get passable organ tones out of my MODX, and they might even sound similar to my Electro for 80% of the punters, but if you want me to take an organ solo on the MODX you're gonna hear an even shittier organ solo than you would if I was on the Electro.
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OnSong. I use it, and almost every musician with an iPad I know in the circles I play in uses it. I got it when it was free years ago, but since the developers clicked onto how successful it was it now costs a pretty penny, I believe.
I have loads of different setlists for my different bands stored on it, and can quickly pick and choose if the singer skips or calls a wildcard song out of the blue.
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The cons of wall warts are well discussed. One I don't see brought up often is the when the venue you're playing in has those convenient though annoying little boxes in the stage floor where your mains power comes from, and the wall wart is too big and chunky to fit inside it. Or the mains plug is behind something, and there's not enough space to get the hammerhead wall wart in the actual socket. Happened a few times. Usually solved by the packing of extra power extensions, but there have been a few times when it has been a problem.
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Helpful wee thread, thanks folks. HIjacking to ask a couple of questions:
1) Say I take a left out for FOH and the right out for an amp on stage for monitoring purposes. Will the keyboard think I'm running stereo and therefore give the FOH only the left side of whatever stereo sound I'm running?
2) I know running an output from your headphone jack isn't a good idea. Unfortunately, my Electro 4 only lets audio coming into it play out of the headphone jack. It would sometimes be helpful if I could have a way of getting that to FOH. Would a stereo Y-splitter cable help here? Regardless of how slim the chance is, I wouldn't want to damage any venue's equipment, or the Nord itself.
3) On the back of the last question, on a scale of 1-10, 1 being "that's cool", 10 being "explosive instrument death", how bad is taking a mono jack lead from the headphone out and sticking it into a monitor or amp? I know guys who do this regularly
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dsteinschneider, that looks very, very nice. I love it - great solution!
@Konnector, do you have any photos of it without the keyboards inside? I'd love something like that.
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As the old cliché goes: It's not the notes you play, it's the notes you don't play.
I think many of us suffer from this. Perhaps it comes from a misplaced desire to impress, or to show that we're as cool as our favourite players, when we aren't. Two incidents stick out to me relating to this topic:
1) Studying at music college. For one mid-term performance exam I played "Peace Piece" by Bill Evans. There are a few quick atonal runs (most of which I memorised and played) but not a lot in there that requires shredding or super fast runs of any kind. I got to the end of it, and one of the lecturers (a vocalist) said to me: "It sounded lovely, and you played it with expression, but at this stage I want to see more of this", which was followed by her mimicking someone shredding notes all over a keyboard. The other examiner next to her, a jazz guy, gave her a funny look and gave me a sympathetic, "well done" nod. [The thing that annoys me about this is if she wanted me to play that kind of stuff, why on earth did she approve of that tune for my exam in the first place? Not that I'm still bitter or anything...] The fact that this one incident sticks so vividly in my head years later leads me to believe that that moment created a kind of musical complex in me, when I genuinely feel if I'm not playing fast, impressive runs, I'm not being musical...which of course, is bullshit. It's made worse by the fact that years later I still can't really do that kind of stuff.
2) A wedding gig years ago. Our normal guitarist was off, so I took the solo in a medium tempo pop tune. I can't remember which one, but again, I remember the reaction. It was a simple tune that would have been easy just to play melodies over, but that complex kicked in and I started riffing over some of my most well memorised blues licks, and just started spewing musical diahorea, really. The drummer (who I was close friends with at the time, so he was comfortable enough with me to say this) actually shouted out to me mid solo, loud enough to be heard over the monitor mix: (pardon my french, I'm quoting him vertabim as I remember it so clearly: "Why the fuck are you playing all of that blues shit? It's a pop song.". Quite the opposite from the above, I learned in that moment that just because you can doesn't mean you should.
When I joined my current ska/funk/soul band, at the time I was the youngest member in the band by far - 20-30 years younger than everyone else, and as a result, the least experienced. The first thing I noticed was that in their solos (of which there are a lot in that band) they just played melodies. Simple melodies, that worked. They sat well with the chords, anticipated the changes, and while the base solos were similar every night, even when they were improvising they very seldom played anything quicker than 8th notes, or 16th triplets. I was listening to one live recording last week, and the sax player (the oldest member in the band, and very, very good) played just ONE NOTE for several bars, varying the rhythm. I hadn't even noticed when we were on stage because it sounded so freaking good in conjunction with the rest of what was going on.
The trombonist is also a keyboard player, trained to a very high level. He and the singer lay a demo down for a new song, and did a simple piano solo in it. Again, it was all just melody, and I was struck by how simple it was, but also how good it sounded. When I tried to make up my own solos for that tune in rehearsal, they sounded utter crap compared to what he did. We played the same notes, but it was like every note he played was deliberate, creating simple melodies that referenced the main melody, worked well with the changes and just generally fit with the theme of the song. I don't think he played anything outside of the major pentatonic.
Shaun Martin from Snarky Puppy once said "If you can't sing it, it ain't good", and that guy can shred. But one thing I've found from transcribing his solos is that even when he's shredding 52nd note riffs over 13 different keys, they're still singable. I can sing plenty of his and Cory's solos because even though they often go outside of the key and even sound atonal at times, they're still pretty singable.
That was a big post. Sorry for making it about me. Tim, you are not alone, as several other posts here have shown. We're all musicians on a journey, and the wonderful but maddening thing about music (particularly jazz and other types of improvisatory styles) is that you're never there. You'll never know everything, never have it all together, never be perfect, ever, until the day you die. There will always be some way to improve, always be something you can work on, always be someway you can be better. And that's okay.
I'll finish with another colourful quote a rather drunk Mike League (again, of Snarky Puppy fame) said to me at 4am after a late night set at Edinburgh's jazz club a few years ago:
"At first you sound really shitty. Then you play a bit more, and you start to sound a bit less shitty. Eventually you still sound shitty, but nowhere near as shitty as you were when you first started. You might always sound shitty, but the important thing is that you're growing enough to consistently sound less shitty than you were before."
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Regarding the action, I might get burned at the stake for this, but it was eerily similar to the Nord Electro 4 (SW) I had set up in the room next door. Just to try it out, I switched to a wurly sound once I was back at the Nord and was surprised at how close the feeling/sound was to the real one I'd just played. The real wurly just so very slightly slightly (a fraction, an iota, or as we say in Scotland, a bawhair) heavier, and less tightly sprung as well, obviously. Maybe the reason I liked it so much was because it reminded me of the keybed on the piano I grew up playing, which was an upright mini-piano with very light keys - it felt similar to that.
As others have said, the slight vibration from the amp added to the finger-ear connection. It was all round just a very enjoyable and smooth keybed to let your hands float over.
Saying that, having heard all of the stories about broken reeds and things going wrong, I'm quite content with having my Electro. It remains a close 2nd in terms of personal enjoyment, and is by far the closest feeling emulation to that particular studio wurly over any other keyboard with wurly sounds I've played.
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immobile sausage fingers.
Thank you!
I now have a name for a new band
I only want 1% of the royalties for my input when you start this new band.
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Once did an outdoor festival in the middle of winter. Was so cold I had gloves on by the second song. Didn't care that my hands were slipping all over the keys due to the wool...it was better than having immobile sausage finges.
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Yep, never played one before. Was doing a session at a recording studio and the engineer had one set up in in the control room. Said he bought it from a guy in LA years ago, was in great condition. I can confidently say that it was the most satisfying, enjoyable keyboard based instrument I've ever laid my fingers on. The sound, the feel, the keys...Man...the sad thing was I didn't actually have any wurly parts to put down. Think I might change that when we go back next month. Wurly in every tune, who cares what the bandleader or songwriter says
Anyways, that's all. That's the thread. I loved it. I want one.
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Just noticed this. Rotary in that video above sounds okay - better than the YC. I find it funny that Roland can get a better sim in their workstation do it all (well, assuming it's from the VR models) than Yamaha can in a board made for organ. By the sounds of the talk in their YC development video, it sounds as if they thought they'd nailed it too.
Back on topic, that organ interface on the Fantom looks nice. I got a chance to play one last week. 88 is too big, but if I was in the market for a 76/66 synth action do-it-all, the Fantom would be a serious contender. Action was nice for a synth one.
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I don't have any words that will help. Please know I'm so sorry for your loss, Grollins, and am thinking of you.
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That distored Rhodes tone was nasty, but what can you expect - guy did a good job picking up the guitar part. That there were slight warbles in the harmonies can be forgiven, this is a live recording of a live band.
I thought it was brilliant. Loved the article too. No one in any of my bands is allowed to say to me that BR can't be done now.
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We rehearsed (and did a decent job of) Africa, but only played it once and that was it.
It filled the floor, but there weren't enough interesting guitar parts in it for the guitarist mefinks...
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Get Lucky, yes, absolutely.
Some more:
Twist and Shout
Beggin'
You've got the Love
This one is dependent on whether or not the singer shouts out for a piano solo on the night (50/50 chance)
Food for Thought (UB40)
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The song itself was okay, but I could listen to that dude tell band stories for hours.
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Another Rig Advice Thread
in The Keyboard Corner
Posted
Thanks for the responses. Nord Stage 3 makes the most sense given my needs, but there's a part of me that really wants to go for something else lol.
There was once upon a time when the Kronos 73 was my dream board, but its big, bulky, and while I do like the action for piano, it wouldn't suit most of the playing I do in my main band. The LS is too big. I vowed years ago never to gig an 88 again.
I'm aware the YC-73 is weighted. If it's the same "balanced" weighted action I've played on other Yamaha keyboards I wouldn't mind it as an allrounder.
I've tried the Fantom. It sounds fantastic, is built like a brick, and while the 7 keybed is indeed a very nice synth one, again, it's not the kind of action I'm looking for for my workhorse/allrounder.
I'm well used to the TP80 for piano playing, so don't mind that.
The truth is that the more I look at the Minilogue XD the more I want it. 4 voices, but it sounds and looks like I'd enjoy it much more than the Stage 3 synth section. Ideally this new rig will have be both practical for gigging and inspiring to play at home. If I could fit the module onto a keyboard and only bring a couple of extra cables, I wouldn't mind if the other board lacked the synth capabilities. If Yamaha could just sort out the organ on the YC, that and the Korg would make a nice combo for me.
It's just a pity that the Nord Electro 6 sucks as a MIDI controller. Am I right in saying it only has 1 split point for 3 sounds, and that the external part can only be played on one of the splits?