Nathanael_I

Makes a lot of sense inside Yamaha’s product line. They have stage boxes already. They have PA speakers that have Dante inputs. Someone could use this and have a fully digital PA running at 96K (the benefit is low latency, not higher Nyquist cutoff). For “nice band equipment” money. UI looks nice. Basics are simple, which is good. They clearly see it going into install spaces - that is a huge market. Way bigger than musician market. I suspect they will do well with it, though few will be in bars and clubs. The x32 has the benefit that every live sound mixer has used it. Totally the McDonalds of digital mix. But you have to spend double to get better workflow, and more capability. And few NEED that capability. The Allen& Heat SQ series is a great example of what’s right above the x32, but it is 2x price. The x32, despite its many limitations is very hard to beat. And used market exists to further drop price.

I just use the presentation application built into Macs: Keynote. I use the basic shapes: circles, squares, triangles, stars, etc to indicate different types of connections. This has all the necessary detail for a setup crew. I'm sure you can make it fancier, but this gets the job done. You could use any presentation software: google, MSFT, Apple to get this done.

Pre-order for Sept-Oct delivery is open for new orders. See the Expressive-E site.

MSFT Sufaces are great. Solid hardware. Mac level nice. And quite nice for real audio apps. Remember - laptops worked great for live performance 10 years ago! The current gen ones do it in their spare time! It’s 2023. My iPad has the same M1 chip and RAM as a laptop. These hardware platforms crush a workstations little Atom or Raspberry processors. Any current “nice” laptop from MSFT or Apple, or the current iPad’s are great platforms for audio. Not okay platforms. Great platforms. My M1 Max laptop is as powerful as my i9-9900k overclocked video edit box! This laptop can crush what was a top of the line DAW four years ago! Audio is practically free on these new platforms. The Apple Silicon and new Intel 13xxx chips are spectacularly capable for audio. The old Windows issues are long, long gone for latency. Win 10 and 11 are very stable. producers are making top40 music on iPads and headphones. To the OPs point, these are serious music tools. I would add that the iPad can also run Avid’s utility that turns the iPad into a ProTools control surface. Super useful in my studio. Gig Performer is great for this if not needing Ableton.

Audeeze, sennheiser hd600, 650, 800, high-end Focal stuff. There’s several boutique companies that regularly score better than audeeze on the headphone review sites. We live in a golden era for headphones. And the best news is that the best models are in the $4-6k range. These rival speakers north of $50k apiece. The value is unreal. This is one place that truly world-class excellence can be obtained by many. Spend above $1100 bucks or so and it will likely be the best sound you’ve owned unless you have high end speakers and a treated room.

+1 to @uhoh7’s take. It doesn’t replace anything I own. It’s a massively excellent addition. If all I use it for is leads, it’s worth it. But nuanced pad swells without pedals? Yes please, and thank you - fully playable from the keys.

Microsoft calls this a Surface. They have existed for years. I have one. Every bit as stable as my Mac laptop. They even have a touchscreen. The hardware is better than Mac. There’s a reason no one makes modules. They are too expensive to make and can’t compete with the phone in your pocket or the device on the shelf from MSFT or Apple. the answer here is not a return to the past but making peace with the slightly different way the future presents itself.

Ravenscroft for iOS. A class compliant interface with MIDI. Cables. And you are there.

Given the very serious organ players here, I’m not sure it is at all suitable for that. For me, Hammond-ish things are a texture or a timbre. I am not an organist. I can play the little of that I need on an 88 note keyboard. The purists can cringe. I have much respect for organ players. I’m just not one. But this as a synth over an 88? Sure! I think it works as a synth over a synth too for those not doing traditional music.

Many congrats! There’s nothing like an acoustic grand for satisfaction. It’s always money well spent to get a great tech involved. You will have many happy years ahead!

Chauvet and ADJ have three distinct lines of lights. The DJ stuff is at the bottom. This stuff is not that bright and not that good. But it’s cheap. The pro grade stuff is more. It is also available used for 50% of new. But the lights are better in every way. I’d buy better quality used than cheap new.

First thoughts after unboxing, updating firmware and playing for a few hours - in no particular order… - The Osmose is very well made. It exudes quality. Evidence of care is everywhere. All those production notes we received about manufacturing samples and design changes went to good use. They clearly shipped it when it was ready and not before. It’s like they knew that someone needed to do this truly well to move the industry. - It is all the goodness the Roli Seaboard lacks. It’s real keys. Adaptation from other keyboards is very fast. I’ve never missed the Seaboard - it just wasn’t worth the user experience or learning curve. It was not capable of classical instrument subtlety, though it offered more than a standard key bed. - The Osmose IS sensitive like an acoustic instrument. It responds naturally. The high internal sample rate that I first experienced on the Non-Linear Labs C15, definitely makes a seamless finger-to-sound connection. The haptics are ‘natural’ - which says to me that they obsessed over it. - Because it is an extension of keyboard technique and not all new, it easily passes my bar for “worth it to learn”. The Seaboard did not. As much as the Continuum is deeply impressive, the Osmose’s keyboard interface is the expressive surface I want, from pitch layout, to rough feel. The Osmose delivers for keyboard-oriented players. This is the MPE controller for us. - The performance controls and preset tweaking all are very straightforward. No manual needed. - the keys have their own feel. The top part of travel is like an unweighted synth action, but more controllable. Then there’s a soft “bottom” that’s kind of like an aftertouch strip, but, you can push through it to the full aftertouch, which is deep and controllable. The side to side motion is easy to control for vibrato. I have not set out to master guitar style bends yet, but they are clearly possible. - that they are selling this for $1800 is a bargain. At the preorder price, it’s the least expensive synth I own, and yet, the most expressive! I have not tried the Eagen matrix editor yet. I’ve watched training vids. That will be a longer term project. I’ve still got most of the internal presets to go, so until I’ve sorted that, I’m unlikely to start with an “init” patch. It is likely the most powerful synth engine I own - and the deepest. So, it will be its own journey.

Mine came! No shipping confirmation, but it and the bag just showed up. Off to symphony in 10 min, but its here!

Audio Test Kitchen is wonderful for answering questions about how a given mic compares to something that you know. Whether that’s a 58 or a U47. And it is 100% internally consistent. It’s a huge help if shopping for professionally priced microphones. If shopping for a particular kind of mic, it allows easy comparisons of likely options. It isn’t universal, but it’s a huge service to the industry and has helped to improve the accuracy and consistency of mic specifications. They are documenting what many manufacturers don’t publish. It doesn’t answer all questions or have every mic, but it’s super useful.

I was a first day order as well, but I’m not sure that matters at this point. I got the confirmation they processed payment today. So I think I’m with @Lady Gaia that shipping should be soon.

Very cool, Phil! I don’t have shipment notice yet, but am looking forward. I appreciate your thoughts.

Ebooks for everything reading related by default. Paper books only for things that aren’t available other ways. Videos if they are crisp and to the point. Ableton videos made by Ableton come to mind. As soon as someone says, “hey guys, “ to start their rambling unplanned introduction, I’m gone. Loopop is great. He gets the medium. Has navigation always visible.

https://www.audiotestkitchen.com/ They have put 300 microphones in the exact same rig with the exact same sources as scientifically controlled as is possible. The results are quite useful. You can audition 300 mics from your studio.

And best wishes on the recording project. The extra keys are great fun for improvising. Played softly they give a unique effect. What a wonderful piano and opportunity!

100% agree on the Bosendorfer VC pianos. Big fan. Gorgeous instruments.

The cost is high. A single reel is $365. It gives 15 min of recording time. Tape cost for a album is thousands of dollars above studio and engineer time. And you can’t mix outside the studio. I have a friend with a gorgeous studio right out of the 70s. Trident console all refurbished. Studer 2”. How often does he use the tape deck? Almost never. He figured out how to hit it and get “that sound” on drums, but it’s easy to get with plugins. Local bands can absolutely not afford tape costs. He is happy for the experience of learning it. But he grew up recording digital.

Indeed. It has not been easy to learn. But it has become strangely easier over time and practice. It is often deeply uncomfortable to be quiet enough to hear that voice and realize how little it seems to care about the difficulty of change or how its desires push against present reality. MathofInsects is right. We all experience it differently. It is sometimes very hard. And that sucks. Except we can come through and are stronger... transformed in some ways, the same in others. This is a hard choice. Hard to make and hard to keep, and often impossible to do perfectly. I do wish you well on the journey. You are enough and deeply adequate.

The loss must be grieved. It is good to mourn the loss of important activities, people, and possessions. It is wise to fully acknowledge the good and wonderful parts of our lives, experiences, and relationships. Present with us for a time, and now removed, we feel their loss as a diminishing of our lives. And it is true. All these things contribute to our joy. Through the work of deeply acknowledging this, we gradually become aware of a deeper truth. While it is a diminishment of our experience, the deep inner core of who we are is unchanged, and undiminished by loss. It cannot be otherwise. The inner life can be a bit dinged up at the level of emotions and thoughts. But our actual identity is older... deeper... and stronger than the hits and shocks that stir the surface. Often hidden below the surface of our conscious experience, our true selves shelter - waiting to be sought and asked closer to the light. The overlays of bands, projects, etc are vehicles for this true self but don't actually define it. So when life shatters the illusions that we've built that the vehicles truly represent us, there is a part of us that knows what to do. That part was never fully expressed in any external manifestation, and so, it remains capable of yet another go. In fact, it wishes to continue. To take the learnings and experiences and blend them into a yet richer, and more true expression of the inner condition. But it will not be the same. This is deeply OK. The inner self is wiser, knows itself better, and wishes to express more and remove false images and expectations. This true North is available to everyone. Artists often have a unique connection to it and an intuitive flow around it. But when injured, we all need a reminder. Grief is part of the pathway to joy. Just don't stop there. Grieve until done, and then listen... Spring comes after winter. You already have the seeds of the new life inside.

The record thing puzzles me greatly. They don’t sound that good. Do people really like surface noise? I do not understand the cognitive dissonance required to assert that records sound objectively good. There’s good music that’s been released on record, but the recordings are not amazing compared to well-done digital. I have a daughter who owns some records and never plays them. Just owns them. So odd. I took the DVD player out of the studio 2-3 years ago and have never needed it. Modern digital is completely superior for accurate reproduction. The issue of what to sell as an artist is real. Vinyl & CDs are a way to create scarcity. But it’s an artificial scarcity. I wonder if it will be a thing when everyone knows it’s not real. I don’t want a CD. And definitely not a record. High end classical is paid download for hi-res master files. I don’t have a high end music server to manage this stuff, so it generally gets listened to once or twice. Convenience matters. And the sound quality can be high (Tidal). Artists have to sell something, but I’m not sure that recordings are that thing. Global distribution costs less than $100 a year. The issue is being heard at all, long before it’s monetizing an audience. But artists or bands that do a vinyl only release are just not on my radar. I wouldn’t hear about them, and even if I bought the album, what am I going to do with it?

One of the biggest gifts we can give ourselves is permission to grow and not be defined by who we used to be or what that person used to prioritize. All of us are more than the instrument we play, more than our skills, talents, and learned abilities. We are all capable of being happy and fulfilled in a variety of situations, and indeed, have been over time. Our futures mirror our past in this way. We can be happy in a variety of ways, but not all in every way at once. It sounds to me like you know that your life has changed already, but is it ok to redefine yourself yet again? The answer is yes. You can redefine yourself however you want, and you know this. But it is deeply OK to grow and realize that as an artist you may need to continue to go into the unknown - and that may mean no to the travel gig, no to unfulfilling local gigs, and see where passion takes you. The internet is a big place. Your perfect collaborators may come to you through you posting clips of what your heart is most happy about. The recording projects you were happy about may not hold the new "becoming" you. And this too is OK. Even if you don't know the "Yes" yet, it is likely wise to pay a lot of attention to the internal "No".