Mjazz

Check out the Blood, Sweat & Tears video posted above.

[video:youtube]

A9sus4

Jacob Collier talked about these extended plagal cadences ("plagal plagal" was his shorthand, I think) in one of the June Lee YouTube interview videos, as I recall. Yours has the nice feature of a modulation and a iii-for-I substitution. Even just walking plagal cadences around the circle of fifths/fourths sounds cool:

Same reaction here, after playing a PX-S1000 at GC a couple of days ago. The pivot point of each key mechanism must be very very close to the back of the visible portion of the key, to fit within the compact chassis. As a result, the touch at the front of the key is way different from the touch at the back.

My sentiments exactly. I searched for these in the owner's manuals on the new models, couldn't find them. I don't know why they would be part of or limited to SCM. Seems like they're an essential element of how the keyboard translates player input into MIDI output values.

My contribution to the change page movement: I was surprised to see that, among the programmable controls that Yamaha removed in these two keyboards as compared to the CP4 were Velocity Sensitivity Depth (VelDepth) and Velocity Sensitivity Offset (VelOfst). I use those a lot on my CP4. Or are they there and I missed them?

The CP88 looks interesting, but having read the promotional materials and looked at the owner's manual, I don't think it is or was intended to be a successor to the CP4. (For example, from what I can tell, a lot of the CP4's adjustable parameters seem to be gone.) The CP88 is a very different thing. So why has Yamaha (apparently) discontinued the CP4? Or is that maybe just a temporary thing, to "clear the runway," so to speak, for the CP88?

Note that on the ZxA1-90 model, the horn has a 90-degree by 50-degree dispersion pattern, and it can be rotated in the cabinet if desired. As shipped, the 90-degree axis is horizontal when the speaker is standing upright. For wedge use, might be good to rotate it. (The other ZxA1 model, ZxA1-100, has a 100-degree by 100-degree horn, so it's the same pattern in either orientation. Not sure they still make that.) I use two ZxA1-90's (on poles) with my CP4, like them a lot.

MoI, what types of voices are you typically playing? AP? EP? Organ?

George Duke, killin' it ... [video:youtube]

Joey D Trio live at Dizzy's NY ... First set: [video:youtube] Second set: [video:youtube]

From http://aspenpittmandesigns.com: APD products are attending NAMM, booth 6872 and debuting their new Center Point Stereo Spacestation XL. But the big news is that for the first time Aspen will be offering a limited number of exclusive Dealer Partnerships to brick and mortar music stores across the country. This marks the first time APD has had the production levels required to support a limited Dealer Partnership network. Until now, Sweetwater Sound has been the exclusive Dealer Partner for APD Products, and it was only thru Chuck Suracks generous support that made it possible for Aspen to restart his new Aspen Pittman Designs company. Sweetwater Sound will continue to be APDs primary web based Dealer Partner as the company expands its brick and mortar Dealer Partnership network.

+1!

It's odd that Blake used the phrase "performance mode" on that web page, to introduce the video. He doesn't use the phrase in the video itself, and it's never used in the CP4 manuals, because on the CP4 you're always in "performance mode" ... there's no other choice, e.g., no "voice mode". When you turn the CP4 on, you're in Performance #001 automatically. Any change you make - like selecting a different voice - is an edit to Performance #001 (which the display tells you with that little "E" for edit), unless you switch to another Performance. I think a lot of folks treat that initial-boot-up state as if it were a voice mode, somehow separate from a Performance, but it isn't. I'm all for saving customized Performances. The CP4 defaults can almost always be improved on!

Leaving aside adjusting EQ, either with the surface EQ controls or by editing within a Performance (and in the case of Rhodes voices, tweaking the Rhodes preamp sim treble setting as mentioned previously), sometimes shrillness is a result of the velocity curve setting not being a good match for your particular playing style. Try this, which doesn't involve editing a Performance, but is a general setting that affects all Performances: - Press the UTILITY button. The display should read "01:General". - Press ENTER. - Down arrow once, and the display should show "VelCurve". It's probably set to "normal" if you haven't changed it already. - Change VelCurve to "wide1" (using the dial or the +/- buttons). - EXIT back out. - Experiment. If you don't like it, just go back in the same way and change it back to "normal" (or try some of the other VelCurve settings). This setting affects all Performances and remains as set when the unit is turned off and back on, until you change it.

I'm very interested to hear more about this too. I've spent a some time messing around "under the hood" with the CP4 AP voices, but haven't been aware of differences in stereo imaging in the various base samples of the same voice (other than the obvious stereo vs. mono versions).

You might try just turning down the treble control on the Rhodes preamp sim (usually it's Effect A, but on some of the EP voices it's Effect B). The CP4 factory setting on most of the EP voices has the preamp treble up. EDIT > PART > EFFECT-[A or B, whichever is Ctg: PRE] > page down to Treble control Of course, you can go for a more elaborate EQ solution by using an equalizer as one of the effects and dialing in a curve that you like.

Thanks Aspen! Super informative.

can't say for sure but I would think not. Spend US $30.00 more (that's all) and get a Mini Tremor. It's a 12" speaker instead of a 10" speaker and a louder amp. Of course it's bigger and a little heavier but I think you will be happier based on your application. Thanks. That size/weight gain is what I'm hoping (probably unrealistically) to avoid ... 43 lbs. vs. 27 lbs.

OT (not Spacestation) ... A question for you Seismic Audio Really-Mini-Tremor sub users: Does it have enough oomph to use for playing left-hand bass, which I occasionally need to do (CP4, small jazz gigs and jams; EV ZxA1s)? Thanks.

This ... [video:youtube] Cedar Walton on the Rhodes, killin' it! And Milt Jackson, vibes; Hubert Laws, flute; Ron Carter, bass; Steve Gadd, drums.

The Wrecking Crew http://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/ [video:youtube] Clip: The Making of Good Vibrations [video:youtube]