Jump to content


Please subscribe to MPN’s YouTube Channel!

OrpheusNY

Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    90

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by OrpheusNY

    The Anti-Keyboardists

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    I recall that Boston also put “no synthesizers, no computers” on their records, which was probably due to many of the same reasons Queen did, as Brian May and Tom Scholz were both mad scientists of guitar tone.

     

    Given the amount of effort and know-how they both demonstrated, it doesn’t bother me at all. Mad scientists of guitar deserve their due.

    Yamaha CP88 and 73 - Deserve their own thread

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    On 8/1/2022 at 11:44 AM, ElmerJFudd said:

    August - 2022, Yamaha is prepping the next OS update for the CP73/88 and will be including a new CP80 sample library.  I’m eager to see what other features and sounds get added based on all the user feedback. 


    Long prep time, if it is indeed coming! What do we think, CP88/73 owners, are there going to be any more OS updates, or was 1.5 the last one? Coming up on two years now since an update.

    Nord Stage 4 Announced

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    While Nords are expensive keyboards, one might count one’s blessings that one is not a professional violinist.

     

    in violin world a just a quality bow can easily cost the same as a Stage 4. Then there’s the fiddle.

     

    I  think Nords should be awarded points for their durability and longevity, which means you can amortize the cost over a decade or longer. Look at all the folks on this thread still using Stage 2s.

     

    What Nords and violins do have in common is they both  tend to hold their value pretty well.

     

    but man,  good violins are expensive.

     

    signed,

     

    father of a violinist 

    • Like 2

    Good sounding PA or Keyboard Amp for a digital piano and a vocalist.

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    3 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

    EV ZXa1 would be my suggestion for something good sounding, lightweight, relatively low-cost.

     

    Using a mixer will get you more gain out of your keyboard, but if it's for low volume use, and if you don't care about EQ or reverb, you can probably get by without it. 

    Another intriguing option would be EV’s new Everse 8, which has two XLR/TRS combo jacks, a 3.5 mm stereo input, and Bluetooth. There’s a little 4 channel digital mixer with FX you can run from your phone on their app. It also can run for several hours on battery. And it sounds great and is lightweight at 16.8 lb.

    Old rack modules- sell, donate, or recycle?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Opinions sought- I need to clean out my deep storage, and I have some old 20th Century rack synth modules- A Roland JV 2080 with a bunch of expansion cards, a Yamaha EX5R and I believe a Kurzweil Micro Piano that I haven’t touched in a decade at least.

     

    My sense is that ROMplers of that era are not of particular value these days and are unlikely to be revered or sought after in the future (maybe somebody doing a retro 90’s project could use them?)

     

    Assuming the dollar value is quite low, I thought of trying to find some kids to donate them to, but given that they’re kind of a technological dead end at this point maybe that would just be child abuse.

     

    Are they electronics recycling material at this point? If you were going to sell or donate them, where? Right now they’re about 2 hours north of NYC. No desire to pack them up and ship them anywhere.

     

     

    Yamaha CP88 and 73 - Deserve their own thread

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Yamaha controls the uploading of wave forms to the CP88 via firmware. And they haven"t included a 'sample synth' as one may find on Nord.

     

    That said creating and saving patches on the CP88 is very easy given it"s new user interface. If creating patches is not your cup of tea - a creative programmer could make a few bucks manipulating the CP88"s user interface and selling a patch collection to download on PC and upload to the CP88 via USB thumb drive. As a community of owners - sharing patches should be happening already. Is there a CP88 group already on Facebook or a YamahaSynth.com forum"s?

     

    Yamaha has an in-house app called Soundmondo. Users share patches with other users for free; it"s not monetized.

     

    The UI is a little klunky, but there are a decent number of programs there for the CP-88, including some from the Yamaha product specialists.

    Question about Yamaha sample memory and updates

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    It"s usually a long wait between sample updates though.

     

    Only 9 months between OS 1.3 and 1.4. Nord, on the other hand, hasn"t had a significant sample release since the White Grand in June 2019 (unless I missed something) which doesn"t make the existing library any less useful, of course, but they were on a roll there for a while with upgrades to their existing instruments.

    Question about Yamaha sample memory and updates

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    So, I"ve had a CP-88 for about six months and have been really enjoying it. I"ve also done all the OS updates, which has added substantially to the onboard sound palette.

     

    The original spec had 57 sounds: 10 piano, 14 e-piano and 33 sub (all others). As of OS 1.4 there are 106 sounds onboard- 14 piano, 19 e-piano, and 73 sub. Nearly double the raw number, although I imagine the sub samples take less memory than the pianos and e-pianos, so the storage demand hasn"t anywhere near doubled.

     

    Does anybody know, or care to guess, whether Yamaha originally shipped this board with a significant chunk of the onboard memory capacity just empty? Is there any chance that the existing samples are -or may at some point be- getting compressed to make room for the new blood when the OS is updated?

     

    I"m used to the Nord model where the user has more control over which sounds get what chunk of memory devoted to them and updating is mostly not an all-or-nothing proposition. My ears aren"t telling me anything"s being sacrificed sonically to add new sounds, but I also don"t really understand how there will continue to be memory left for new sounds much longer. Maybe they will just stop the updates when they run out? It"s a mystery.

     

    Not complaining, just wondering.

    Looking for help with a small MIDI controller conundrum

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    There are TONS of soft synths out there and you don't need too many - just a couple of good ones.
    Not to mention that the virtual instruments bundled with Logic range from pretty good to great.

     

    ...and the penny drops. I think you"re all correct, I don"t really need another keyboard at all necessarily and will have enough soft synths bundled with Logic itself to get us started with that aspect, so I don"t necessarily need that part of the Arturia package either.

     

    I think I"m going with plan 'B,' which will be a PreSonus FaderPort (single fader) to get us enough tactile control over the DAW navigation to keep from getting mouse-frustrated. The kid can start with the iPad Logic remote app to play with the live loops, and if she gets into it to the point she wants better pads I"ll grab her a Novation Launch Pad X or some other pad based controller. Who knows, maybe I will get into the pad/loop thing too, although I fear I"m far too set in my linear ways.

     

    Thanks to all for helping me think it through, I think this will be a better plan.

    Looking for help with a small MIDI controller conundrum

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Have you considered using the Nord for keys and adding a controller box with buttons, pads, sliders, etc for DAW control ?

     

    - Jimbo

     

    Yes, although then I"d lose out on the software synths and the integration with browsing them that the Keylab offers. I"m thinking having more software based sound engines at least available would be handy for home recording.

     

    Is there one fader box in particular you like?

    Looking for help with a small MIDI controller conundrum

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    So, my high school aged musical daughter and I decided to start to learn Logic Pro together this summer since a lot of the other stuff we were going to do got canceled. I play piano and have an Electro 5 I use for gigging. The last sequencer I had was Opcode Vision and I"ve never done much with home recording or any other modern DAWs. We"re both primarily players at this point. I do enjoy tweaking sounds on the Nord.

     

    I"ve been doing a bit of reading on the topic and think we"ll both benefit from having some control surface knobs and faders and buttons to work with while learning Logic. I"ve zeroed in on the Arturia Keylab mk ii as an option that combines the most useful features to me as a keyboardist- enough DAW control surface stuff for the basic home recording we"ll be attempting, a keyboard controller for me, and the little 4x4 pad matrix in case the youngster wants to dip her toes into the Ableton-like aspects of the most recent Logic update. I think a lite version of Ableton comes bundled as well.

     

    If you"re an experienced home studio DAW user, and particularly if your coming from a piano background and like to play wide two handed voicings normally, maybe you can help me solve this conundrum:

     

    Assuming I want a lighter action for this controller (I think I do, because the Electro is 73HP), and the Arturia is my best option ( I"m willing to be talked out of it if there"s something better for my application) I"m looking at either their 61 note or 49 note Keylab mk ii.

     

    The control surface features are identical, as far as I can see, except the smaller one has the pitch and mod wheels next to the keyboard, the 61 above. The 49 key version comes bundled with V Collection 6 (lots more adjustable parameters available In the software synths) and the 61 note version comes with Analog Lab, which I understand has most or all of the instruments of V collection but only a subset of the parameters can be adjusted.

     

    God Bless You if you"ve read this far. Do I want a smaller 49 note controller to take up less space (home studio will be in a small room) that comes with fully programmable versions of the software synths, or will the octave less of keys from 5 octaves to 4 drive me nuts? I"m ok on the 73 note electro, but haven"t played a fewer than 73 note keyboard regularly in a long time. Will the 61 notes drive me nuts anyway, so why not take it down to 49 to force myself to think of it as a one hander for leads and basses and the like?

     

    What would you do? Thanks in advance for any advice you might have. Even better if you use a 61 or 49 note midi controller to run your DAW. I imagine this controller will be used 80-90% at home, with possible occasional outings as a 2nd board.

     

    If there"s some other obvious obvious hardware I should be considering that I missed, happy to hear about that too.

     

    Thanks!

    eBay now adds out-of-state sales tax

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    state revenue must be dipping. Hence the need, or rush to catch up with internet sales tax.

     

    I'll give them that. Sales tax on new items only.

     

     

    The thing is, when taxes are levied on a transaction its not the item itself thats being taxed, its the transaction. And exempting used items would exempt huge swaths of the retail economy, and create a giant loophole for tax evaders.

     

     

     

×
×
  • Create New...