psionic11

I also like the way all that knowledge was distilled and put into bite-size segments. Great content and great delivery. My music theory is all theory and not enough put into practice. So Adam's video really hit home as it gave me a bird's eye view of jazz levels. For some reason, this version of "Round Midnight" caught and kept my ear. I'm very happy I can play it by memory now. A lot of things here 'click' more thanks to Adam's examples. [video:youtube]

I've been a jazz newbie for decades now. Only 2 songs I know are Autumn Leaves and 'Round Midnight (which I just learned last month). Here's an amazing overview that might appeal to some of you: [video:youtube]

In the greater Orlando and Central Florida area, you've got a lot of opportunity as a working musician: - Disney and Universal tourist areas - corporate convention work - The Villages retirement community - Local bars, restaurants and occasional festivals The area leans more blue and diverse closer to the attractions, and more red as you venture further away. Southern rock is still alive, but so is Top 40. There is a thriving original scene, and a fair amount of cover band gigs as well. You can also do some side work on cruise ships if you and your wife want to try something different. Traffic along Interstate 4 can be bad at times, but not so bad at other non-rush hour times. Cost of living is decent. Worth considering.

There are definitely times when a fat synth bass played with funk and feeling really feels good. But there are times where a synth bass is just not going to cut it -- Geddy, Flea, P-Nut, Stu Zender... Even songs where pick bass really matters to the song, like in Gimme Three Steps and any punk song. As both a keyboardist and a bass player, on any given day, I prefer to groove hard with a drummer while I lay it down with the bass guitar.

Last month I finally moved out of my storage space hoarding...errm... "holding" old gear I never used. Why pay $150 a month to hold old stuff and spare keyboards, especially when my last 2 bands never practiced there anymore? My guitarist wasn't too happy to have to move his drumset and all his crap to another cubicle on his own, but I was tired of throwing away money. So I tossed out the empty factory boxes, half-working MIDI controllers, etc, and moved what I could back home. Gave away a working Fusion 8 with a dim screen to my vocalist, so his son could learn on it. Finally tossed the VFX-SD I got for $200, the poly AT on it wasn't very good anyway. But the clincher was the Alesis X-guitar that I tossed into the dumpster. I should have knocked on the door of that punk band that was playing and gave it to one of them. About a week later, there was talk of old stuff on GS, and just out of curiosity I looked on Ebay. There was one selling for $1000!.... woops

Using KARMA, you can actually approximate having the horns only play specific parts, but it's limited and rather complicated, and might not be worth it to most. My preferred approach is to make a different combi for every cover. I listen carefully to the song, picking out the individual instruments, and seeing who is playing what. Then I make mini zones, and esp with horn parts, there is some overlapping zones. Then I play the actual chords and notes the horns are playing, not just generic chord blocks. Gets more than close enough, and minimizes that generic homogeneous sound you mention. It worked well for songs like The Walk (Mayer Hawthorne), Power of Love, Love Shack, Uptown Funk. May not work so well for other songs or genres. I kinda cheat though, and also use an Integra, split and layered the same way. Best of both worlds.

Here's how to assign a part to whatever MIDI Channel you want. 1) Press Part View button. 2) Press and hold SHIFT, then press the arrow keys (around the wheel) to go to the tab Level / Ch. 3) Use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the CH column. 4) Use the wheel to change the channel to whatever you want. 5) EXIT button. Don't forget to save / write your changes: Press SHIFT + EDIT button, then yes to Studio Write, etc. Hope that helps.

Within a Studio Set, you can change each part's MIDI channel, and in fact its keyboard range as well. In other words, you can layer several parts all on MIDI channel 2, have them only in a 2 octave range, then set another group of 3 instruments on MIDI channel 3, and have that overlap the high octave of the channel 2 group, etc. Better yet, you can individually EQ each part, and also set up velocity ranges if you want. Have that high piccolo trumpet only pierce through when velocity is higher than 120, for example. Hope that helps.

You did the polite thing and deferred. Often that's enough. But when the other party persists, you can try to deflect once again. If they do not pick up the subtle hint, then you will have to more directly just say you're not interested, as you did. Be direct, and don't leave it open-ended. If they persist, don't change your answer, just gradually change your tone of voice: No, thanks. (they persist)..."why" I'm not interested. (persist) I said no. (persists) No! How many times do I have to say no? (but why) I'm not interested! (persist... at some point you need to be more rude than firm.) NO!

Simple. "Thanks, let me think about it." If they reach out to you later via text or phone, it's easier for everyone concerned if you politely decline then.

Nice, that's pretty ingenious playing 2 instruments at once. Harder to do with a trombone, since you need both hands. Speaking of brass instruments and giggling: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/putting-musical-instruments-in-pants-instagram/

The Kronos has very decent horns, especially with expansion pack Funk and Soul Brass EXS16. Since I have an original model, I had to buy it, but since the Kronos 2 and all later models, the sound pack is included. Here's some sound demos: https://shop.korg.com/Kronos/EXS-16 The Integra also has good brass. Bonus being a rack. First time I heard about the GSi Gemini module. If you click on Preset Lists (lower left), you can audition its brass: http://www.gsidsp.com/ I'd still prefer an Integra over a Gemini.

When I first got my Stage 2 in April, I mentioned on the Nord Pianos thread that I had emailed Nord support about the phase issues when collapsing their grand pianos to mono. I suggested they use mid-side recording techniques instead for better results. It's far-fetched to think that they incorporated that idea based on a random suggestion, but your comment just made me think back to that email. It's more likely that they just got a really good sampleset, perhaps, as some have speculated, from a certain 3rd party provider.

A couple years ago there was a local female fronted cover band that did several classic rock epics. They did Stairway well and the crowd loved it. Not cliche at all, it's so rare to be heard. I worked out all the recorder parts - 2 soprano and one tenor. If you think about each as an individual melody, it may help you to pick each line out. Occasionally there will be 4 parts. This is what I hear in the recorders: Tenor (mostly half notes) (famous guitar intro 1x), last line of intro GA A (2nd round of intro) A Ab G Gb F A.... C D F A(lo) BC B D.... C D F GA(hi)... C D EF F A Ab G Gb F.. GA A.. A Ab G Gb F A... C D D CBC DE D GA A(lo)... C D F A(lo)... BC D EF F A Ab G Gb F.. GA A.. A Ab G Gb F GA A... Someone will probably come along with a better transcription. Let me know if you need the other recorder parts, otherwise I'll just leave you with this:

Nice pics. Big stage, lots of lights, and a lot of wedges. Stage volume must have been rocking. The Haven by Full Sail here in Orlando has a pretty big stage, and they also put on metal shows pretty often. Looks like you had a blast. Keep on representing keys, you usually only see them in Top 40 acts.

Great to hear you got it all sussed out! If the audience says it was good, then it WAS good... (for the most part)! That A70 sounds like it's a great controller, I'd probably snatch one up if I wasn't already set. But... I thought you were in a symphonic metal band? I pictured an 80s crowd digging the keytar, not a metal crowd? Hey, if it works, it works.

Total shot in the dark here -- My Integra has 2 different settings to choose which driver to use for USB. One is Roland's, the other is the more generic class compliant. Does your RD2000 have a choice as well?

Another possibility is the Baby Spider Pro. A bit more expensive, esp with the accessories, but the 3rd tier can be positioned so the top of the hammer action keys are at a standard 26.5" inches. Room for pedal board too. http://i.imgur.com/IZScw3K.jpg

I haven't played the new Vortex with the sliders. Looks sweet. But my wireless Vortex with the USB stick is plug and play with my Kronos. Fun with splits, aftertouch and ribbon snd PB and accelorometer, pads can trigger Kronos virtual pads. Range is pretty good too, can go just as far as my wireless bass, about 40 feet into the audience. All you have to do to humor your band is play one song where you have a solo. Buy a cool strap, and hang it off your rig while onstage for the cool factor until it's time. All you need is 30 seconds of actual play time to make it worthy of gossip for your fans...

Lighter, cheaper (presumably), and if it's just a controller, Nord is probably fine. I own a Nord and played a Forte - absolutely lost myself in the sound. If I was starting again, I would likely make the Forte 7 the heart of my rig. But it's getting heavy. Cheers, Mike. Yep, the Forte 7 was about $3200 + tax, while the Stage 2 with softcase was $2000 + VAT. I was looking for a 3rd tier hammer action controller for my gig rig. The Forte 7 was just too big for that role. If I was starting all over again with hardware, I'd still go Kronos 61 as the heart. I don't like the heavier models.

Forte 7 was too big of a beast. The Stage 2 is only about 5 pounds lighter, but its form factor and a wheeled softcase make it easier to transport. Both have the TP40 action, which was my main goal. The Nord's pianos were also much better than the Forte pianos. In fact, I was turned off by the Forte's sound. It sounded very dated to me. A couple months ago I had the Forte, a MODX7, Kronos, Integra, and an iPad all running through the same system. I was surprised and disappointed by the sound of the Kurzweil. It's killed all my curiosity for VAST now that I had one on hand for a month.

I decided back in April that I wanted a 76 key controller. Sweetwater was out of stock on the MODX7, and when I went in to my local GC, they didn't have any on the floor either. But I went ahead and ordered it anyway, knowing that I could just return the board within 30 days if I didn't like it. I was pretty sure I was going to return the MODX7 within the first couple weeks. The B stock Forte 7 went back to SW when my Stage 2 HA76 came in from the Netherlands. Somehow I decided to keep the MODX7, too good of a bargain. Point is, you could always order, try at home, and return if you don't like it.

You never did mention your MIDI signal flow from AX7 to the others. Wireless DIN or USB into Kronos DIN or USB? Thru to Dom? Or to Dom then THRU to K? If you use an iPad in your live rig, MidiFlow might be able to do some manipulation for you. But the MidiSolutions Event Processor is probably your best bet. One crucial feature I miss from my X-station is MIDI merge. Kronos should have had that feature. I faked it once in KARMA using a pad GE, but the result was clunky with envelope retriggers. I ended up just getting a Mio4 anyway. I believe you can have your cake and eat some of it. You've got the AX7 to Kronos portion figured out, so can go to front of stage for your solo there. For the Dominion solo, you could do some parts of the solo on the AX7, then shamble on over to the Dominion to do your PB or mod ribbon parts, then move away again. For my wireless bass + keys songs, I'm free to move around to and away from the keys. At one point I even attached a 2nd FCB to the first, and placed the 2nd one closer to the drums so I could make eye contact with drummer and guitarist while doing bass fills and playing MIDI notes with my feet. Point is, moving around stage to play different pieces of gear is novel and entertaining to the audience. Maybe you could get an Alesis Vortex Wireless as a 2nd keytar.

+0.5 on the Voice Live. I have this preset on mine that lets me sing all the parts to the intro/chorus of The Eagles "Seven Bridges Road." You will have to program your vocal FX in and use the footswitches to change patches or stomp certain FX (delay, harmony, etc) on or off. This is TC Helicon's flagship, and it's aimed at the solo guitar/singer, with one layer dedicated to vocal FX, one layer to guitar FX, and one layer to looping. [video:youtube] However, instead of getting the flagship, you can also get the more streamlined Performance VK: Its programming options are more limited, but you get more practical results more quickly. This is aimed more at the vocalist who will be playing keys. [video:youtube] Both the Voice Live and the Perform VK create harmonies using several different sources to determine the key. There's built-in mic to hear and analyze what key you're in There's audio in from keyboard/guitar to guide harmony. And there's direct MIDI input ("notes mode"). This last device is really fun, as it's geared more to experimental vocal FX while playing keys. At its heart it takes on the fly samples and you can immediately play the keyboard with your samled vocals. It defaults to using MIDI input. This means you play the keyboard to detemine the harmony notes. You can create a small keyboard range to dedicate to controlling harmony. Like the VK, this Performance VE is limited, but may be more in line with having to create the vocal FX types in Bohemian Rhapsody. [video:youtube]

seems to me these might work, since the 2-3 country songs we do seem to get a lot of love. [video:youtube] [video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeFgAJVMVeM