Danny Linguini

A voice coach some years ago talked a lot about this guy. He"s one of the few pop singers who was very well trained and took exceptional care of his voice throughout his career. It definitely shows.

It"s only gonna get worse. People"s nerves are already frayed and it"s only been a few weeks of this crap. Wait until it rolls into a moth or two or more, and it"s going to look like that scene from the first Kingsman movie.

Hey, where da white women at? Sorry, but that trick only works on the weak-minded. Not a chance. Sad, too - brother Mel picks on everybody pretty much equally. I got to see him give a talk on Blazng Saddles after a screening a few years back. That was a lot of fun. Carl Reiner showed up as well... ...but Mel wasn't in any Star Wars films - just one Star Wars parody. See how I used The Force to steer this thread back on topic? dB Hey, where da white women at? Sorry, but that trick only works on the weak-minded. I don"t know why I always find it particularly funny when Rey does that, from the first time in TFA, to her latest exercise. If I could have just one super power, it would have to be the Jedi mind trick.

I absolutely despise when tv commercials totally bastardize Christmas carols and songs with their cutesy lyrics. And it"s usually commercials that play about 80 times an hour, which makes me want to break stuff. It"s probably the universe telling me I watch too much tv.

No, the greatest movie quote is 'Leave the gun...take the Cannoli!' Sorry, but it"s 'Dos hombres??' Followed closely by 'Anybody got a dime? Somebody go back and get a shitload o" dimes!'

J. J. Abrams. 'Nuff said. Haven"t seen it yet, but planning on it some time next week. I really didn"t like VIII, but I understand IX pretty much makes up for it and then some. I saw the very first SW at least 30 times, and I still watch them all whenever they"re on tv. So I"m looking forward to a solid and fun wrap-up to the whole saga.

Composing music is a talent that not everybody has. I"ve known a few people who can crank out originals like I fart after a burrito. It"s amazing. I don"t have an original cell in my body. I"ve written exactly two songs in my 62 years, and they were both garbage. I can play other people"s crap, but I can"t create a lick of my own (total pun intended), while some folks can just spit out song after song. So don"t get down about the writing â some people got to, most of us don"t. Likewise with synthesizers. I"ve had countless boards that can do all kinds of cool stuff, but I don"t have that creativity to do anything other than copy what somebody else has done. So I got rid of most of them and kept one just in case, plus a stage piano. I find it much more gratifying now just keeping it simple with the piano and the occasional pad layers. And I don"t miss the other stuff. I can completely relate to where you"re coming from with synths, too. Way back in college I remember hearing somebody practicing a French horn, and somebody else sitting at an ARP synth spinning a bunch of knobs and within a few seconds almost perfectly mimicking the French horn. How cool, I thought. Some time later I got to sit at the same ARP and was just completely flummoxed â could not figure out where to even begin to make anything remotely resembling a musical note. That was the beginning of my very frustrated relationship with synths. As for playing, Max earlier had a great point. What kind of music do you like to listen to? Maybe look up some various piano works and see if anything tickles you. Keep it simple, and just stick with the piano, and keep your ears open for stuff you might like to play yourself. You"re the only one you need to satisfy, not anybody else. Or just take a break. But as almost everybody else has said, don"t unload everything â keep a piano, and maybe a synth in case you get the itch.

Very sad to hear this. I only interacted directly with Aspen briefly after I purchased a SS, and he went way above and beyond helping me get it set up, and even sent a spare fuse in case I happened to blow one. He obviously loved what he did and wanted anyone who uses his gear to get the most out of it they possibly could. Such a shame. But one of those people who I"m glad I had the opportunity to meet. RIP, Aspen, and thoughts and prayers to family and friends.

It depends on how much older. Im 61, and the last four years have been absolute shit health wise. Ive led a relatively healthy life, too - dont smoke, drink, or do drugs, though until recently Id been about 25 lbs overweight, which isnt horrible. Down closer to my fighting weight now. Heart problems at first, and now some kind of rheumatoid crap going on. Got a closet full of meds now that Im sure are pickling my kidneys and liver, which should be even more fun in about another 10 years. Nope, sorry, so far Im not a fan of this getting old crap. At all.

Oh yeah. I used one of these with a 4-piece band and in a duo - fantastic little unit, simple to operate, and results were outstanding.

Great job, guys. I had no idea the whole shebang was on the chopping block, so very many thanks to you all for not only managing to keep it around, but setting the foundation to make it even better. Very much appreciated!!

Even if I wanted to do things different, I don't know that I could have. I have the attention span of a gnat; as such, I don't easily commit fully to anything. I kind of dabble to varying degrees in different things, music being one of the higher degrees. I've got the natural chops to have gone a long way with music... IF I had the passion, desire and stick-to-it-iveness. But I get bored -- I'm not the kind of player who will sit for hours trying to get one passage exactly right, I'm more like close enough is close enough. I probably would have been diagnosed as having ADD if there was such a thing back then. If I could have done anything differently, things probably would have turned out the same. The only thing I maybe wish was that I had taken piano lessons early on instead of accordion, but with the kind of piano teacher that would have given me the same well-rounded background that my accordion teacher did -- classical technique, 'pop' styling, theory, all that, which was hard to find in piano teachers. I'd still most likely not have made a career of it, but I think I'd have a much better technical foundation on keys than I do now.

I'd love to try something like this, possibly using two side firing speakers out of phase instead of one, maybe coaxials to give the blossom effect even more clarity. I've even imagined protective 'doors' over the sides that open to act as built-in reflecting baffles in case there are no reflective surfaces nearby. Same L/R inputs and mono out as the SS to feed the mono 'center' speaker of your choice. It would be a fraction of the weight and allow so much more flexibility. The possibilities would be endless. But, and without actually seeing inside, I'd fear that everything is so integrated in there that there'd be no way to separate out the center channel components. I don't know, mine is sitting here doing nothing right now, so there'd be nothing lost to tear into it and do some investigating. I mean, it's just wires and stuff, right?

That's good to hear! Why did you choose to replace your CP4 with a SP6 in the first place? Were you looking for lighter weight? Or were there other sounds or features that persuaded you? Mostly because I wasn't 100% happy with the AP's. They are definitely very good, but even tweaking the EQ I couldn't get the sound I wanted. I remembered a better sound experience with my Kurz's. Purely personal taste. Secondarily was the weight. I haven't gigged in awhile, but I'm thinking about it again, and I'm just getting too old to lug around that kind of bulk if I do. Of course my biggest concern was losing the CP4's action. but that's proven to be unfounded -- I'm very happy with the SP6's. And keep in mind, I have gotten rid of other boards specifically because I didn't like the action. The CP4 was and is a great piano; the SP6 just kinda suits me a little bit better.

I had a PX5s a couple of years ago, and I can't honestly remember the EP's on it, mostly because I didn't use them much. But the SP6 does have some pretty nice Rhodes variations and a couple of decent Wurly's. I do remember, though, that I did not care much for the PX5s's action. But I am loving the touch of the SP6. To me it's as good as the CP4, just a tiny bit noisier, but that's only really noticeable when I've got the volume turned down (which is not very often). I feel as 'connected' to this board as I did with the CP4.

So I finally got to spend a little time digging around and found the on-board EQ. Mapped the four parameters to the knows and woke that 9' grand piano right the hell up. Didn't take much to give the bottom a little more punch and the top a little more twinkle, now with the mixer EQ totally flat. It is wonderful. Messing around more with Multi's too, and finding some really nice mixes. Much nicer programs than what's on the SP4-7, I'd even say many are at least as good as the CP4, which I liked a lot. EP's are a little lacking in variety, but what's there is very usable. Kurz did a great job with this board, especially at that weight and price point.

I suspect that the pad layer is built into the program in cases where a pad is assigned to the Variation button. Solution: Create a Multi. While playing your piano sound hit the Split/layer buttons. Select Layer. Now scroll through the presets until you hit some pads, select the one you like, exit and save. I'm assuming that zone volume can be controlled by one of the knobs. (In a multi, the layers are called zones.) I'll try to test tomorrow on my own unit. I think you're right, because I can't find a mention of it anywhere, and the Mod wheel just does what it always does with the main program voice. So this will force me to mess with Multi's, which I've been avoiding so far while sampling and practicing all the pianos. Speaking of which, I am really getting to like the action. It's a tiny bit more 'thumpy', than other stage pianos, but really not bad at all. The thing I'm liking most is that I seem to be able to play faster and more precise than on other boards, evdn the beloved CP4. I'm also getting used to the 9' Grand that's sound more and more pleasing the more I play it and tweak the mixer EQ. Even excluding the price point, this is a very nice board.

Question for seasoned SP6 veterans (HA!): is there a way to change the pad/layer sound when the Variation button is active? I see where to change the pad volume in the Edit screen, but can't find anywhere to change what the Variation button does, whether it's a pad layer sound or to add an effect.

It has arrived. Immediate first impressions after a couple of hours of banging -- nice. The touch was my biggest concern, and it's one of the better stage pianos that I've played. Not quite as good as the CP4, but damn close. Just my opinion, better than the PX-5S. AP sounds I'm going to need to work on a bit. The one I like the best so far is Punchy Edge -- it's bright and crisp without being painfully bright, and more 'alive' than the others. It's the one that moves me right now. Navigating around is also going to take some work. It's not too horrible, but basic functions like split and layer are not easily found without the manual. Would also be nice if you could program the Variation button (maybe you can -- I haven't found that yet). Looks like it has 4 zones available real time, which is already more than the CP4 offered. Now I just need to get my chops back, because I've been playing on a semi-weighted SP4-7 for the last 4 months, and I'm already feeling it after just a couple of hours. Long story short, nice sounds, and very nice action for such a lightweight package. If I ever get out gigging again, this is gonna be a dream to lug around.

SP6 shipped! Should be here Wednesday!!! And no snow in the forecast!!!!!!

Well, as disappointing as it is to have to wait over a month for delivery, it's encouraging as a Kurzweil fan that there are so many pre-ordered to create that delay. Hopefully it lives up when it reaches the masses.

I've been checking Sweetwater regularly, and it looked like they're going to start receiving SP6's is a few days, so I placed an order. Then I got an email saying that they've got to fill back-orders, so mine probably won't ship until April. Oof.

So I was banging away on my SP4-7 today, and I was reminded how much richer and fuller the pianos are than even the CP4's. Particularly the Horowitz Grand -- it's bright and crisp, but full-bodied without being tinny. It's always been -- and still is -- my favorite digitally-reproduced AP, even with the inherent compromises of the older technology. But I also can't help but miss the extra richness that string resonance adds that the CP4 (and others) provide, which I know the SP6 also has. If the SP6 has something close to the Horowitz Grand of the SP4 series (which the above demo and others seem to suggest it does), tastefully incorporates string resonance, and has a decent action, I'm gonna be one happy hobbyist when I finally get my hands on one.

Nice stuff! Let's see if this works..... [video:youtube]QIyy_byPOnc

Anybody got these in stock? All my usual haunts have it back-ordered or pre-order only.