Tom Williams

A used pair of Alto TS112A powered speakers. Found 'em on CL for $300 for the pair. After pooh-pooing them based on published specs, I took the advice of folks from this forum and gave 'em a chance. Mid and high frequencies are very clear, and due to the bi-amping, even low bass is decent sounding. Somewhat related (I'm beefing up my PA a bit), I just bought a Pyle Pro DI box brand new for an astounding $9. The attenuator switch is defective, but since the rest of the thing works, I added a blob of solder to the PC board to freeze attenuation at -0dB. Considering that I bought an Altec impedance matching transformer for about $15 in the 1970s, the Pyle is still a bargain. Nevertheless, my next DI box will be at a higher price range. I've ordered an ART Dual-Z passive box for my next experiment, about $40 from almost all retailers.

. . . ^^^^^This^^^^^ I looked at the blog a few months back, where he discussed the strengths and weaknesses of Finale and Sibelius (and 4 other lesser known packages) and what lessons he and the coding team learned from them. Absolutely amazing stuff. That said, Printmusic was plenty for me for years. I only upgraded to Finale after they sent me an offer to do it for something like $100.

Yup -- I had such a book; it seemed to be an authorized set of transcriptions, though it moved the sax parts to 2nd trumpet. I re-transcribed those to sax, and it nailed it. Executing those transcriptions taught me a lot about practical arranging.

At this moment (bedtime), a pink noise system in my bedroom. It masks passing cars, skittering rodents, my CPAP, and the occasional tinnitus.

Latest purchase: Mackie M1200 power amp to drive an 18" subwoofer. Latest acquisition: a Phonic PAA2 realtime analyzer, on "indefinite loan" (meaning I get to keep it forever if they don't ask for it).

Adding my Amen to the general lament. Disclaimer: I think Hillsong as a rule has done a lot more good in the area of worship than I ever will; the following gripe is mostly an expression of feelings, and should not be taken too seriously as an evaluation of the state of contemporary worship music. A few decades ago, I was trying to get hymn-only folks to see what else was out there. Nowadays, the difficulty is trying to get my fellow "contemporary worship" people to appreciate hymns as hymns -- no back beat (or, more currently, endless tom tom drones) needed. And no, "Grace Like Rain" and "My Chains Are Gone" ain't Amazing Grace. They're harder for a congregation to learn, and harder to sing. For better or ill, K-Love has replaced, rather than augmented, the hymnal in a lot of churches. Speaking of which, I find the Rend Collective to be a nice change from the Hillsong formula. Have I mentioned recently that I really like the pipe organ setups in my PC361? :-)

Hey, MOI, I can 2/3 relate -- my wife and I were separated three times in the past 12 years. I even received the divorce papers once. Didn't sign. It looks like we're now back together permanently. I'll try and thrown in a, um, complementary view to some of the others above, while trying not to hit you with any (verboten) religion: if there is a way to reconcile and save the marriage, it is (usually) better than the best divorce. Either way, stay strong.

Just today I ordered a third-party 9v power supply to replace the one I have misplaced for my AX-Synth. (Cue the Keytar jokes.) I also ordered a 20 foot extension for the DC side. I had gone to the nearest existing Radio Shack to get an adapter, but the transformer cost $20, plus $7 for the right connecter, whose size I was required to guess. Such pricing and inconvenience do not encourage me to do business with them. $7 with Amazon gets me a 9v 1W transformer, $10 a 20-foot extension, still $10 less than buying the two parts from RS. Madness. Same transaction (Amazon) I ordered a 10' TRS cable which I shall unceremoniously cut in two to repair my 20-year old Ensoniq CV pedal. I also called my best friend, in another city, and sent him on a mission to pick up a used Acoustic B15 bass amp for me. 50 bucks, 15 nominal watts, and a whole 10" woofer, hopefully should be right for playing AX-synth bass guitar at local acoustic (lower case) jam sessions and sing-alongs.

Talk about a crack addiction: a year and a half ago I got my first Kurzweil, a K2500RS (Rack / Sampling, also has a hard disk) and upgraded the OS so I could use KB3. I still like it a lot. But it's heavy and unwieldy for hauling to church, and there's no useful leslie effect in it. So I also bought a Roland/Boss Leslie pedal, which is very pleasing. Then last Easter I found a K2600 (76 notes, sampling) on CL, liked it even more -- 'cept for the KDFX Leslie. That's all right; I just use an aux output pair for KB3 organs, post chorus, post overdrive, into the aforementioned Boss pedal. Just one object to haul (plus pedals), easier than the rack and a MIDI keyboard, but 55 pounds plus a 35 pound SKB case -- 90 pounds (40 KG) is a little much for my aging bones and scrawny muscles. And winter (slick sidewalks) is coming. So yesterday, with the, um, reluctant agreement of my wife, I ordered a used PC361 (half the weight) from GC. I've been watching the Kurzweil intro videos on my TV. Upcoming: I'll be selling the K2500 RS, and probably my beloved Alesis Fusion, which "reliably" boots in one, two, or three tries (as it has since I bought it 6 years ago). If anyone can gimme some advice on reasonable prices to ask for the above two, I would be very grateful. Selling them should at least partially offset my beloved spouse's financial concerns.

Left side: Kurzweil K2600. Below that, M-Audio Keystation 88es, Boss RT20 Leslie simulator on the floor. Rack: Mackie mixer, K2500R, misc., Digital Music MX-8 Patchbay. Center-right: M-Audio Axiom 61, and my previous main squeeze Alesis Fusion. Far Right: AX-Synth and a hand-carved djembe. Both Kurzweils' KB3 organs are routed through the RT-20. As a rule, I take the K2600 out for keyboard gigs, and the AX-Synth when I sub as a bassist. This stuff takes up about 1/3 of my living room. http://airnetworking.com/audio/tww_kbd.jpg

Hi, kids. Tom Williams here. I found this forum while researching a K2500 rack unit I recently bought. I grew up in West Virginia, and have lived in this area (about 100 miles south of Pittsburgh) most of the time. I first played in bands -- and bars -- when I was 15 years old; as of this writing I'm 54. Most of my playing in front of people the past ten years has been as part of church bands, either as a keyboardist, percussionist, or faux bassist. Over the years I have bought, worn out, and chucked two Farfisa organs, a Leslie 860 (which I most regret throwing out), two professional grade Casio synths, two Ensoniq EPS "13 minus" samplers, one SQ32 (also Ensoniq), and one Voce organ module. This past year or so I've beefed up my pile of old-but-playable keyboards, such that the only thing that's been around much over a year is a much-underrated Alesis Fusion; see the sig line for more details.... I've always programmed, or at least custom-tweaked, 90% of the patches I play, mostly to maximize expressivity. As a result, I have noticed that any "new" keyboard tends to spend 6-12 months in my home before I even take it out to perform. I play rock, country and some jazz styles; and I admire (but don't play) more traditional (18th and 19th century) keyboard music. I do computer stuff for a living. Hobbies include photography, religion(1), politics(2), and (apparently) writing about myself. (1,2) I promise to behave. Or at least to /try/ to behave.