Noah DC

Truly did not expect the end result here to be the mounting of a defense placing Milli Vanilli 'miles ahead' of today"s 'garbage' music! I agree these conversations do have that ring of dinner table politics - older folks telling younger folks how it is without any real idea about the current scene. If anyone would like to take a constructive approach and learn about all the great music out there these days (and great Vanilli-esque schlock! Schlock can be great and meaningful to people, too!), then I"m sure there are plenty of folks here happy to oblige with some links, myself included.

In 1953, when there was Miles Davis and Nat King Cole and any number of legendary producers and sidemen working in the industry, the number one song for eight weeks on the Billboard charts was 'How Much is that Doggy in the Window.' Schlock is timeless. Bad musicianship is timeless. Great musicianship is timeless. And any of it can make people feel right at any given time and that"s a good thing.

The weirdest part of this thread is that anybody chose 'the last 25 years' as the timeframe to mark the decline of pop music. As a younger guy, it"s just a bizarre hill to die on. I was cracking up googling the Billboard Top 100s from '25 years ago.' Yeah, the inherent musicality of pop music has really gone down hill since 'Every Rose Has It"s Thorn' hit number 3 on the charts. Of course, the true origin of The Great Musicianship Decline in Pop Music is after they gave Milli Vanilli that Grammy in '89. Now those guys knew their tritones!

Man, the fluctuations in these app prices are tough for those of us obsessed with getting the best price. Just bought the Leslie only software for this same price a month ago... May have to grab this, too.

I also would never have attempted this and I didn't like the trem/vibrato too much in this video. But if you just switch off the tremolo and/or vibrato and put the Rhodes layer to max. 18 percent it adds a lovely warmth and a wooden body to the Steinway B or D without any recognizable Rhodes sound. The unlayered Pteq pianos alone lack a little bit of warmth compared with good sample libraries. Yes, I could the benefit with the vibrato off for sure. I use Pianoteq's earlier versions so I'm definitely a fan.

Interesting! But ... somewhat strange? To me, the layering sounds exactly like what it is - a Rhodes and a piano played at the same time. Which is not a sound I would ever attempt.

Yes.

I got the updated IK Irig Keys 2 Pro for my Model D - 37 keys and unlike the previous version, it can be used as a standalone controller (your intended purpose). Simple and without the functions of other controllers, but it also has the capacity to be plugged directly into a smartphone through IK proprietary cables and then send audio out from its 1/8th jack. That could be useful if the Model D ever went down/out of tune and you needed to use the iOS app in its place. Irig Keys 2 Pro

Quick update here. I heard back from IK Multimedia about my ticket (very responsive customer support, to be honest). I told them I was running Windows 10 on a computer with the Intel HD Graphics 3000 video card, and their response below is, essentially, that the IK T-Tracks Leslie doesn't show up on my computer screen because Intel hasn't updated the drivers for that card to be fully Windows 10 compatible. If true - and it could well be - it is a very strange outcome that the only graphics issue I have with any VST (or any software, really) is with the T-Racks Leslie. But it is what it is. Lesson seems to be: if you have a computer with this older graphics card, do not buy IK T-Racks Leslie plug-in! Looking deeper into this, we did find some information which might help you move forward. It looks like the drivers for your GPU are not fully Windows 10 compatible. From what we're seeing online, this can great affect performance. It seems Intel dropped support at Windows 8.1. https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/81500/Intel-HD-Graphics-3000 Digging deeper this is what we found for other online users in regards to programs using Open GL and other similar systems on Windows 10. With this information it would be best to contact Intel, the GPU manufacturer to see what could be done here. If they plan on updating the drivers of this card for Windows 10 full compatibility or if they have any other solutions. https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/360001589520-Cubase-10-HiDPI-support-on-Windows-10

Windows. I might just be referring to how the IK program manager sets you up to download the plug-ins - it could very well be that what you're saying is correct in how they're used. I found a workaround for today's recording by assigning the fast/slow switch to a key on my computer keyboard. I still can't "see" the plugin (i.e. the leslie graphics or any of the settings), but at least I seem to be able to use the presets and to change the fast/slow. Still open to anyone else's thoughts on how to troubleshoot! I will report back if I hear anything from IK support. Thanks, everyone! Appreciate folks sharing wisdom on this stuff. For what it's worth, right now I'm running Mojo 61 stereo (leslie sim off) --> Speakeasy stereo preamp --> IK leslie and it sounds real good to my ears..

Hey thanks for these responses! To get at the comments about the drivers or system compatibility, I'm trying to install the same software and plugins on an older Surface Pro to see if that solves it. KuruPrionz, I did uninstall using the software and reinstalled in the order you suggested, although there is no separate plug-in installer for the IK leslie itself - it is allegedly "contained" within the T-Racks 5 CS installation - so perhaps the issue lies there. Regardless, I'll follow your suggested order as I retry this on my Surface. To the question how I was planning to record, yes, I was planning on running the leslie going in so I could better capture the slow/fast switches in real time. I am not clever enough to understand how I'd drop my pre-recorded track into the effect plugin and still get the fast/slow switching in the places I'd like it. That said, I think that might be a good option for songs where I don't do much switching if I can't get the software and running visually but I can get at least get the MIDI changes recorded and implemented after the fact. Will keep messing with it...

Windows 10 on a Lenovo Thinkpad X220 i5 processor with 8 GB. I'm not very experienced with recording plugins through the DAW so I'm very open to this all just being a computer user error on my end! The strange thing is that I am definitely getting the leslie effect - the Mojo sim is off and I can hear the IK horn simulator on slow. I just can't see or use any of the plugin controls, which of course makes the software unusable since I can't switch the leslie to fast.

I just bought the T-Racks version of IK Multimedia's leslie after some discussion on another thread flagging that it was on sale (and how good it sounded). I need to track some organ from home today and I just don't think the Mojo 61 leslie comes off as well as I'd like in these quarantine recording projects. In other words, I want to run the Mojo organ audio through the IK leslie on Ableton via T-Racks 5 CS via my Komplete Audio 6 interface. Problem is, when I open the IK leslie plugin in Ableton Live Lite, it does not pop up and instead appears as a black box (see the picture attached). When I try to instead open the leslie through a plugin called "T-Racks Suite," it works in terms of the sound (I can hear the Mojo tone with the IK leslie sim effect on slow), but again, I have no control over the settings and the area where I should be seeing the leslie software just shows a black box (see other attached picture). Shot in the dark here on such a specific problem, but anyone have any thoughts on how to fix this? I've uninstalled and reinstalled all of the software mentioned above and put a ticket in with IK Multimedia. Just figured I'd check with folks on here, too! Noah

I've been looking into options all pandemic for improving my Hammond sound on tracking projects, and I'm considering this IK Leslie to run my Mojo through on some recordings this week. Should I do this? It sounds like folks are saying $65 is a good but not particularly great deal on the IK Leslie compared to where it's been in the past ($35? $12?). That said, I need to get some recordings done this week and may jump even if I could save 30 bucks down the road. Thoughts from anyone familiar with this software would be mighty appreciated...

Today is apparently the last day to buy Cory Henry's class on pre-sale for $99 before it jumps to $119. Some clips and pdf samples from the class are up online, and I'm thinking about grabbing it... https://yousicplay.com/masterclass-cory-henry/

IMO this is furniture for small apartments, something budget-conscious families might buy to enjoy a nice sounding acoustic piano rather than built-in 4" speakers of a home DP. Should we really assume this might be a viable instrument to gig with â when it isn't â then proceed to diss it because it doesn't meet the qualifications to do that? I completely agree with this. For folks in college towns or the suburbs with big living room spaces or music room basements, I can see how this wouldn't be a value-add over a used upright. But if you live in a city apartment like I do, this seems like possibly the only route available to living with a real acoustic piano. It seems nuts that someone could have an actual piano up against the wall that is so small. I'm going keep tabs on this one...

Get the Keys 37 Pro 2 instead - it can act as a regular MIDI controller whereas the original only uses IK"s proprietary cords. The original might work just as well for your iPad purposes, but I figure why not add rig flexibility? I had the first one but upgraded when I realized the new model can plug into anything as a stand-alone controller. The 2 fits (tightly) into the case they sell for the first one.

I"ve toyed with picking up one of those Invisible stands, but after looking into it, they just can"t adjust low enough for anyone who wants to play a stage piano sitting down. According to one of the handful of owners I nearly bought from, the lowest height setting on the bottom tier of the Invisible is 29' which would put my CP4 many inches above a viable height for playing sitting down. Surprised to hear some folks are into these as an option when they want to play both sitting and standing...

Since we"re on the topic, this is a good comparison video for the Mojo 61, which has the same Wurly as the Seven, I believe. [video:youtube]

Mojo 61 Rhodes has that same fff snap.

This is not a particularly insightful comment, but the level of portable recording quality you can buy now for 100-150 dollars is nuts. I hadn't realized until I stumbled into the Tascam DP-004 last spring.

Folks seem to be recommending models that put an emphasis on miked field recording rather than the stereo line in recording and mix monitoring capacity the OP mentions. For what it's worth, I would actually suggest that the Tascam DP-004 or the Tascam DP-006. Both are inexpensive (I got my DP-004 used a few months ago for something like $60), have multiple stereo line ins, have a set of knobs to monitor the mix and to actually mix the final file, and have a stereo mics that to my ears sound great. They also come with an SD card and connect directly to a computer through USB. I'd recommend those models rather than the ones designed for field recording - I've found mine to be great for recording ideas direct. DP-006

The big variable here is, what is the height of your bottom keyboard? For particularly low ones, I've thought about attaching identically shaped wood blocks to the top surfaces of the lower board support surfaces... i.e. if you can't bring the 2bd tier arms any lower, you can try bringing the lower keyboard up higher. Unlike stands where the keyboards rest on round surfaces, these square surfaces would allow you to easily build something up if you needed to. Really dig this idea - I've wanted for a long time to flip the stackers and simply rest my Mojo 61 on top of my CP4's flat top, but the CP4 is just too low to do that without cutting the stackers' height by a few inches (which I'm considering). If you or anyone else finds a good sturdy way to add height to the bottom board - with wood blocks, thick foam, plastic, whatever - definitely let me know!

For what it's worth, there is a Speakeasy AMA up on reverb at the moment. Speakeasy RoadBox 3

Damn... those guys are just crushing it in that clip - right out the gate.