roygBiv

This suggestion might seem a bit off the wall, but in the past I was on a similar quest and ended up with this ART mixer/splitter: https://www.amazon.com/ART-SPLITMix-Channel-Passive-Splitter/dp/B002VX0DCE PROS: 1. It can take up to four inputs. 2. It uses TRS. - so a single TRS cable from a headphone output can be used. 3. It is completely passive. - so no noise, distortion is introduced, etc. CONS" 1. It uses TRS - If you want to use the stereo out from your keyboard, you have to use a 2X TS to 1X TRS cable. 2. It is completely passive. - Being passive means there is also a significant dB loss (I think 3-6 dB, can't remember off hand). - So, you need to send the signal to something that has a pretty good input gain amplification (like some powered speakers). By itself, it ultimately did not work well for use with my Space Station, as the SS has a pretty weak input amplifier anyway. However, if you run something small after the ART splitter, then you can juice the gain back up (I was using an FMR RNC compressor, which not only gave me plenty of gain, but a nice, transparent compressor). Anyway, I now use the ART mixer/splitter as a submimxer for my laptops, computer, etc. into a stereo channel on my larger recording mixer. EDIT: Wow, I didn't realize how big that mixer is until I saw the picture I posted.....

PS - a comment about carpeted floors: I converted ~half of my basement into a low-budget recording studio/practice place about 10 years ago. During my research, several sources noted that for the most "natural" sound, it is better to use a hard/reflective surface on the floors, and sound treat the walls (and especially ceiling if it is not high) when recording acoustic instruments. Something about the psycho-acoustics of how the human ear is used to hearing sound reflections (especially important for drums). Probably why lots of studios have a hard wooden floors with throw rugs as you suggest. So, I kept the concrete floor (painted it), but made a lot of the sound-absorbing panels to hang strategically on the walls, and stuffed the joists in the ceiling above with the cotton-based insulation (then covered it up). Made a huge difference in how the room sounds. But what do I know, I'm just a hack. So take the advice above with a grain of salt. Or maybe a shakerfull.

I'm with Elmer on the vinyl plank flooring suggestion (technically, I think it is often referred to as "Luxury Vinyl Plank"). Basically, like plank flooring that you fit together, but is made of vinyl so no problem with moisture Caveat: No personal experience with it, but have done a lot of online research (and asking people in stores) into how best to treat my concrete basement floors. Luxury Vinyl Plank is the one everybody suggest is the safest way to go for basement flooring, due to moisture concerns (not only from flooding, but moisture release from below). Of course concrete or actual ceramic tile is also ok. I imagine vinyl flooring should also be ok too, but (from what I have read) it takes more floor prep work, subflooring, etc., to make it look good. Whereas (supposedly) Luxurious vinyl plank flooring can be laid directly down onto a cement floor, as long as the floor is relatively flat. Again - no expert, just comments based on research from the interwebs.

Thanks for the Tips Franky, that vcombo website has lots of good tips! Quick question for anyone: Has anyone figured out a way to toggle teh effects on and off? Maybe with external MIDI? My current band is doing 'Jazz Ska', but we sometimes do extended jams where I would like to add some Dub-type stuff, specifically, hitting an echo after playing a note so that it does the trailing echo ( dingâ¦dingâ¦dingâ¦â¦ , common in the Dub genre). I used to do this with a Boss Space Echo pedal, but it seems stupid to drag a pedal to do something that should be doable with the effects in the VR09, specifically, the Tap Tempo delay, which allows you to match the echo repeat to the beat of the song. The problem - unfortunately you can only active the echo effect on the VR09 by turning the effects dial - which is really hard to do fast, all the way to the righ (for the near 'full on' setting that will give you multiple repeats. Hence my question - is there a way to 'toggle' the VR09 effects on and off, maybe with an external midi trigger, so I can set the delay value full on, and only activate it after playing the note. Thanks anyone for any tips Roy (PS - the only way I can think that might work is to set up side-by-side registries of the same sound, one with the echo off and the other with it on, and toggle between, but that has not been very smooth so far)

Just stumbled across a couple of nice reviews of the Casio CT-1 from Andertons on YouTube (the first is just Casio CT-1, the second is a comparison with the Roland GO:Piano). Of course Jack is an acquired taste (kind of the Robin Williams of keyboard presenters - fun if you like watching a direct feed to an unfiltered brain). But, I think he does a great job in these videos showing off how great the CT-1 is for basic sounds you would actually use in a gig. [video:youtube] [video:youtube]

And from a pretentious Academic Perspective..... One accepted way to assess "impact" of a scientific publication is to check how often it has been cited by subsequent papers. (For example using Google Scholar, etc.). Anyways, instead of working to increase my citation impact, I instead stumbled across this interesting tool that measures how many times a musical artist has been sampled/covered, etc. Kraftwerk has pretty spectacular stats: - 834 samples, 203 covers, 63 remixes The only "Rock" bandsI could find with more were members of the "Pantheon" (Beatles, Stones, etc.). Give it a try, its kind of fun to see who gets sampled/covered the most. You might be surprised - Kraftwerk is more sampled than the Rolling Stones (but has fewer covers). WhoSampled site: PS - interestingly, artists in the Rap genre show a lot more sampling (of their samples?)

How's this for Meta? Jay-Z take on this controversy. Jay-Z comment #1: [video:youtube] Jay-Z comment #2: [video:youtube]

This is great news! I thought they got passed up yet again (long time fan since the late 70s when I was the only guy in "high" school that even listened to them). That led me to buy an Arp Axxe with all my paper-route money in ~ 79?, and trying to understand how synthesizers worked led to a career in science. So I owe them a lot. Agree completely. Also, until the last 10 years or so, i had not appreciated what a massive impact they had on early hip-hop, and more complicated (non disco) rhythm patterns in dance music in general. I think you nailed this with the ultimate analysis and prediction! One founding member being unable to attend due to existential issues (yes). Other members not really speaking with each other (yes). History of using robot mannequins for stand-ins during interviews (yes). Frankly, now that you laid it out like that, I would be shocked if they didn't use robot stand-ins. Big question for me now - who will induct them? Maybe Coldplay and GrandMaster Flash?

Yeah, that thing annoyed me until I realized just what you said - I think that was a conscious decision to allow them to come closer together. Since I never use the Roland hand-wavy thing they seem to love so much, I just slide the VR09 right up to the edge of the RD64 keybed. The biggest plusses of the RD64 - only 3 sound options for each piano/ep/clav/organ. Keeps you from too much paralysis by analysis. "Oh, well, guess I'll use this sound and get on with it". The Pianos especially are great sounding, the EPs not bad, and Clav's pretty good. Organ sounds are pretty useless. If you need more sounds, you can also use the RD64 in "MIDI controller mode" to run an iPad or sound module.

Agreed, that's been my approach (kind of like back in the early 80's, when you had to bring one of each keyboard type - don't miss those days!) Thus, I went with the Roland "Gig Rig" combo a VR-09 organ/synth on top, RD-64 piano on the bottom (note - you can actually partially support the VR09 on the "shelf" at the back of the RD64 to get both keybbeds very close together). I its very comforting (to me anyway) to know "piano/EP/clavs" is always at the bottom, everything else on the top - lowers my stress level in live situations. As this video shows, it is pretty clear Roland designed them to be used together:

Along these lines, my first thought was maybe Waters wants Doley to apply his Whammy Clav magic to some of the iconic Gilmour solos?

Pretty much my story too, except the harmonica part - and getting any money

Of course. But one has to start somewhere when testing proof of principles. Starting with an older version of VB3 makes sense (if you can't get that to run, good luck with their more advanced software packages). Anyway, just speculation on my part - I would love to have a VB3 in hardware (speaking as someone that has VB3, VB3 II and also a hardware Burn unit).

I wonder if they are developing this so they can offer a cheaper organ module that is based on a cheaper (Samsung) Tablet running Android/Linux and VB3?. Would make sense from a product development aspect - leverage the mass produced/ cheaper parts of the module to keep costs down, and continue focusing on their excellent skill set in software-based music instrument emulation. Basically, a (potentially) cheaper GSi Gemini?

As noted above, I think the problem is definitely in part because of the different layout. Plus, the tactile feeling strings give you, which lets you emote much more easily (string bending, vibrato, palm muting, etc.). Those things really aren't there on keyboards. Because of those factors, on guitar, once you learn the "box", some basic scale, learn how to bend strings, control feedback, etc., you can play at a higher level (or at least sound like you are) faster than you can on keyboards. And once you learn the note names for the 1st two strings, and your basic cords (power cords, majors, minors, etc.), you can bluff your way through a LOT of songs on guitar. Especially for rock music. Thus, if your rhythm is up to it, that medium-level skill then enables you to play in bands, etc., and convince yourself you are "good enough". However, when you inevitably hit the musical ceiling (ouch!) due to your limited skill set, it is very hard to go back to learn music theory (grammar) to play guitar properly - when you can just figure out the part by ear. I think it might be analogous to what can happen to people that grow up speaking a language natively (or maybe at home because it is their parents native language). Without an education in proper grammar, etc., they can find it incredibly boring to learn the underlying aspect of a language - why bother when you (imagine) you speak it "just fine". Anyway, I'm writing this as a guy who has played rhythm/lead guitar for ~ 35 years. And also is also is the guy that gets in better bands because I also play keyboards (only adequately). The annoying thing for me is that I DO know music theory relatively well (due to both some early training on piano, and a lot of self-study), but I can't solo worth crap on keyboards. In contrast, give me a guitar, and I can solo all night (what guitarists doesn't think he can't?). But i have never gotten beyond the intermediate chord recognition level on guitar, keep hitting that ceiling. b5 or dim 9th, in any key? Can figure it out no problem on keyboards. Same on guitar? Blank stare. Anyway, I'll stop ranting now PS - I am excited to go through the "Jazz Comping Survival Guide" by Fareed Haque (TrueFire course Governor Silver has mentioned in other posts) - from what I've seen online, I think that might be a good escape route from "the box" for a guitar player like me..

Opps, sorry to be confusing - it is indeed a Speakeasy "Vintage Tube Classic" "clone" pedal made for Motion Sound rotating speakers (it says Motion Sound on the lower-right corner, so I just put that in my message). (apparently, according to their PDF manual, the "Motion Sound" moniker is what they ascribe to their pedals that have a 1/4" output). https://speakeasy.federalproductions.com/assets/90b4b33a9c/Pedal-Vintage-Tube-Preamp-OM.doc.pdf

They don't really overlap. T&F emulates the AO28 tube preamp in a Hammond organ; Vent emulates the tube amp (and rotary effect and speaker/cabinet coloration) of a Leslie. In terms of signal chain, clonewheel-->T&F-->Vent would be the most authentic processing signal path. Ahh, thank you for this tidbit! When I was trying my many guitar pedals to get the "best" organ sound out of my Roland VR09, the absolute winning combo was VR09 (distortion, leslie off), -> Motion Sound "Vintage Tube Classic" pedal -> Neo Vent (disortion almost completely off). That really was a killer combo, and now it makes sense - basically, I was getting the A028 preamp from the Motion Sound, and the Full Leslie from the Vent. Unfortunateley, the Motion Sound pedal is quite large/heavy, so I only use that combination for recording.

One option not yet mentioned is the BK Butler Tube Driver (or Real Tube, etc., there are various names out there) Apparently Mr. Butler first designed these for his organ (the one with a keyboard I mean), not guitar. https://www.in2guitar.com/driver.html (PS - I've wasted a lot of time with my pile of guitar effects, trying to do this for organ and electric piano - one key many things lack is the cabinet simulator - some guitar pedals will give you nice distortion, but assume the utlra high fizzy distortion will be dampened by the guitar speaker/cab - and when it is not (such as a keyboard amp with a high frequency horn), it can sound super nasty).

I've done this in the past for several years in a Reggae/Ska band (to trigger sounds/sound effects). The two best options I could find are: 1. iPad running the app Beatmaker 2 (not 3 - the newer version is too complex, IMHO). Beatmaker is a whole production environment (DAW, etc.), but has a sampler in it that has 16 pads, with 8 separate banks of those. You can easily edit the samples within Beatmaker, tweak the EQ, add compression, etc. And it is easy to get the samples in and out. The sample-assigned pads can be played on the iPad screen, or midi-mapped to keys or external controller pads. Beatmaker 2 has been very stable for me live. No extra gear to bring if (like me) you have backup song chord charts/lyrics on an iPad anyway. Another plus is that you can also use it on your iPhone - thus, you have a backup! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/beatmaker-2/id417020234 Another option is an app called "Koala". Also a cool sampler. 2. Korg microSampler. Unfortunately, no longer in production. A small keyboard with "mini-keys". Has built in effects, you can map a different sample across each key, or in a different mode, have one sample mapped across the entire keyboard. Pretty good software for uploading/editing samples (at least on a PC, not sure if it works with a Mac). https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/korg-microsampler

Wow, thanks for noting this, I did not realize the VR09 was a possibility with KeyStage! That inspired me to search YouTube for "Keystage VR09", where I found this little gem: [video:youtube] Looks like you CAN control the B3X drawbars with the VR09 using KeyStage - very exciting! That would make for a killer, lightweight rig - the great sounds of B3X with your iPad, and if for some reason your iPad glitches out, you still have the VR09 with its still pretty good organ sounds! Fun times we are living in!

One caveat - I started down this pathway ~ 10 years with similar logic - over time, a lot of $10 deals can add up to the latter number over time. Don't ask me how I know But it is a lot of fun, and there are a few iPad apps that are truly unique, and others that are totally gig-worthy (such as Korg Module). If nothing else, get something like Module, also put it on your phone, and you have a backup sound-module in your pocket if disaster strikes. Back to your original question - I've been tempted by KeyStage and Camelot Pro, but have yet to buy either. Currently use AUM. Thus, Miden's comment about Camelot Pro leaving the latter in the dust should be weighed heavily, I am tempted again to buy it. Last comment - some of the scores/sheetmusic readers (like Set List Maker and ForScore) can also send (limited) program changes to your keyboards, that can be handy if you pull up your music for a particular song, and it automatically sets up your keyboards with the correct patches. Unfortunately, I use a Roland VR09 rompler/Roland RD 64 as my main set up live. While a great combo, neither can do remote patch changes, thus I've not pursued the above. OK, real last comment - the main way I have used the iPad live (as it reduces risk for "mission critical failures") is using it for "gratuitous, spicey sounds", i.e., to play samples/fun sounds and cool effects - less catastrophic if the iPad glitches out, as you still have your main boards ready to go for meat-and-potato sounds.

which is sad... I've written more melodic, catchy "hooks" on my miniKorg 700s for original tunes than any other keyboard (that's why I still keep it around). Very limited in what it can do, but what it does, it does extremely well - like painting with watercolors, limitations can be a strength - I find it is pretty expressive to play, in part because of the limited controls, which helps you focus on what the riff you are trying to play (like a horn player). Also the limited controls are designed to make it very hard to make a "bad" sound. Almost everything you tweak still just "sounds" right. Kind of a one-trick pony, but like a Telecaster, that one trick is pretty fab! Maybe we can have hope that this means Uli will be making a cheap knock-off clone?

My morning just went from "Cool, a new miniKorg 700 that I can buy to replace my original one for live gigging!", to "Yikes! - Thatsa notta gonna happen!" "The miniKORG FS will be in limited supply for 1,999 and you know you don"t have the New York apartment looking out over Central Park that this synth deserves or the right sort of organ to sit it on." https://www.gearnews.com/namm-2021-korg-debuts-minikorg-700-fs/

Agreed, see Edit above

Actually, I'm not sure that is the one that was discussed here on the "K - Korner" Hmmm, maybe it was a Vox thing? I can remember what it looked like, some people liked it, others didn't, some talked about other things. It was a very unusual thread in that way. EDIT: Sorry for the distractions Eric, I finally found the Keyboard corner thread I was thinking about - here it is: https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2977456/1 (Not Korg, not sure what I was thinking there...)