Jump to content


Mills Dude

Member
  • Posts

    317
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Mills Dude

  1. Good use of the word 'constipated' - About sums it up. There's some live vid on youtube, maybe its a episode of VH1 Story Tellers around the time of Two Against Nature, and its kind of the same things. Becker is pretty animated and as more engaging than you would expect Steely Dan to be. Then there's Donald with his terseness and "constipation". Hey, The Nightfly album still gets pretty regular play by me, perhaps more than Steely Dan records, so I'm down with Donald's constipation as long as he's offering up juicy tunes.
  2. There was a fairly elaborate thread here last year about using Air Pods Pro 2 with transparency mode spearheaded by our own @Reezekeys, one of our touring pros. I'm too lazy to dig up the link but it was a pretty long thread.
  3. Amen ... my buddies dad's VK-09 through a 147 sounded pretty convincing in 1984 to this 18 year old's (at the time) ears.
  4. Had an Emax for while in the late 80's. It probably had the same sample set from the E II. I remember the pipe organ sample to me sounded excellent. My church at the time had a 26 rank pipe organ -- https://pipeorgandatabase.org/instruments/59809#stoplists. While I thought the Emax sample was very convincing, the music/choir director who cranked that real pipe organ up every Sunday wasn't convinced. That thing could shake the neighborhood. Pipe organs have very quick attack, no decay and little to no modulation, so short looped samples can do the trick quite well. The real trick, as stated, is capturing it properly and the fact that each installation sounds different.
  5. I think it would be good to assume that the SCTV writers made up those lyrics. I say this is a big SCTV fan who regards it as the all-time greatest TV comedy. Copping Mancini make sense as I doubt the ragtag SCTV crew had the time or money to get into writing original songs that long. Certainly there are plenty of fake commercials with short jingles that were probably composed on the spot. Interesting to see an SCTV reference popup here on KC especially something as obscure as Lola Heatherton but I'm sure Bobby Bittman and Sammy Maudlin would approve. Johnny Larue, on the other hand, would probably be asking us for royalties along with Guy Caballeros. Wonder how station manager Edith Prickley would feel?
  6. Where's my flying car? -Signed: Boomer
  7. Not a dumb question at all. I wish the KB manufacturers would embrace USB-C PD like the laptop and mobile phone makers and soon to be Apple, thanks to the EU. The thing I hate most about the wall warts is the plethora of connectors and varying electrical requirements. If everything standardized on USB-C it'd be easier to source quality cables and power supplies. I get that USB-C PD is a bit of a mess and can be confusing but I think less confusing that searching a bin of wall warts to find the proper one.
  8. Using your amp XLR line outs should work fine, I assume they are balanced outs. However there are a few advantages to using a quality DI. Electronic isolation - protection from phantom power and ground loops. Level normalization - lowering your signal from line level to mic level Not sure what the purpose of the 'Hum Eliminator' is but a quick google search seems to indicate it has isolating transformers which should address #1. In the past I had used an RD700SX, which had balanced XLR line level outs, in certain situations direct into a mixing board. This board didn't have any isolation, phantom didn't bother it but it could be susceptible to ground loops. The real issue at times though was the line level output. In certain situations, dealing with 'less experienced' sound personnel, they see XLR and just assume mic level. In those situations attempting to explain the differences did no good, those were the types that also seemed not very open to letting me adjust the gain staging properly. I don't regret buying a Radial JDI Duplex, yeah its a bit pricey but it serves its purpose really well. For the local guy with a PA, hired to do some community show, it gives them a level they expect and we can both get on with our respective jobs with minimal hassle. I have that extra protection knowing that I'm shielded from their system. For a professional sound person running around like crazy and running low on their set of DIs, I just show them my Radial. They know its quality stuff and there won't be many issues coming from me. I also have a pair of Whirlwind DIRECT2 DIs. I used to play with a drummer that used a Roland TD electric kit with individual outs, hence the 4 channels - kick, snare, toms and cymbals. Never had any issues with these and they worked and sounded great. I wouldn't have any issue using the Samson mentioned by the OP. For my personal rig, happy to have the Radial and the peace of mind it brings.
  9. A different option, off the beaten path, is tactical pants. My buddy recommended these to me a few years back, https://www.truspec.com/24-7-series/pants/mens-ascent-pants. Bought 2 pairs, black and khaki, and used them extensively when I was doing a lot of business travel to Asia. They look and wear like dockers but very lightweight with tons of pockets, ala cargo pants, and the quality is very good.
  10. This popped up on my YT feed today. I never heard of Anthony Marinelli but in this vid he presents a master class in synth sound construction using the CS-80. For extra bonus points, he goes to his Prophet 5 and shows how to construct one of the sounds there. I especially like the part where he brings in the ring modulator. I've always struggled to understand how to effectively use ring modulation, well now I know. Double extra bonus points for all the synth gear porn in the background.
  11. Ah my old KB300 went everywhere with me in the 80's and 90's, definitely indestructible, bolt on a set of casters and its good to go. In college I would wheel that thing across campus with my DW6000 in original box to rehearsals. It could even double as a stand, just put 2 books on either side of the handle. I never did swap out the speaker for a BW, for me it was just fine. Even used to plug my Strat in with a Tube Screamer or ProCo Rat for those tunes when we needed a second guitar to play some crunch, pop up the gain, tweak the eq and it sounded like most Peavy 80s vintage solid state guitar amps, well almost! Did it sound great? No way! But it sounded better than the KC350 that I replaced it with. The only benefit of the KC was the stereo mixer with line out.
  12. I've had this same thing happen to me many times in the past. For a while, until I self retired, I seemed to get tagged as a go-to player for these kind of one-off gigs. Someone organizes and puts together a set list which are usually just song titles and schedules a single rehearsal some time before the gig. I gather up my charts, confirm the keys, download the tunes, listen to them while driving around in the car, learn my parts, try to note anything out of the ordinary like breaks, time changes -- i.e. what seems like the normal prep for any gig. Sure enough that single rehearsal typically turns me into MD because most of the other players didn't prepare and just listened to the tunes on the way to rehearsal thinking they can wing it. I used to get roped into a lot of these things by a guy who is a great muso, better KB player than me, excellent drummer and world class bass player. He was big on the NY wedding band circuit where players just show up and play the gig, so that was the mindset. However the quality of players recruited were never of that caliber. So there I would be copying out charts, helping backup singers pick out their parts, defining grooves for drummers and bassists. It can be easy to get resentful but it is what it is, I just wanted to have a good gig. IDK, it always seems like the person in the KB chair ends up in that role, at least in my experience. Not to continually knock on the self taught guitarists and drummers but having some basic theory knowledge is crucial to be able to step into a gig like this. Maybe because most of us KB'ers started with formal lessons that, certainly in my case, gave a decent grounding in theory. Yeah I've worked with plenty of well rounded musos but seems that these 'special' gigs tend to gather a lot more amateurs who may have not gigged that much. So things like key changes to accommodate a vocalist, throwing in extra sections for a player to noodle over, how to end a tune that fades out on the recording or just basic arrangement modifications aren't in their wheelhouse. Of course there's always the one singer who comes to rehearsal and says they really want to do a tune that was never discussed and asks can we make that happen. Inevitably those people don't even know what a chart is. So add learning a new tune, charting it out and teaching it to everyone in 15 minutes or less to that task list. Those kinds of gigs never paid enough if at all 😜
  13. Yeah, I love what Scott Henderson does here. In those days I compared everything to Holdsworth and Henderson's tone and lines were something akin. I'm not sure if I heard the record before seeing them on that first tour, whatever the case, blown away seeing them live. I did see the Gambale incarnation also, I believe Holdsworth was opening up for Chick so it was double good for me. Frank G is so very awesome but I always dug the vibe from that first touring quartet with Henderson. Wow, that bass tone from Patitucci on the 6 string, just heaven, and the playing ain't so shabby either.
  14. Yeah for me Richard Tee is on my Mt. Rushmore of pianists/keyboardists. I remember as a young tween being mesmerized by the Rhodes sound in 'Just the Two of Us' even before I started playing. As I morphed out of my teenage prog rock idealization in the early 80s into the vibrant world of the jazz fusion scene of NY, Tee was a mainstay. I hadn't been exposed to any of the Stuff records but I started going to any shows in NY happening in those days. Saw Gadd Gang many times and got hooked. He had such a unique style more than the typical jazzer, mixing in gospel and boogie styles. McCoy Tyner, another Mt Rushmore, was very active in the clubs in that period also and I saw a lot of similarities in playing style. Maybe not so much harmonically but in how they could just command a room with a piano and make use of all 88 keys. Both had those moments of thundering bass where any bass player knew to step out of the way along with a unique solo voice. The real joy of those shows was when Gadd and Tee would go off together and cook up these amazing grooves. They played off each other so well. I was at that 1990 Bottom line show and it was such a good experience., just 24 years old and trying to absorb it all. Kind of a last hurrah for the declining NY fusion scene. I did get to see him on stage again with Paul Simon on the Rhythm tour but that was a big venue., not quite as intimate as those small clubs. Shocking news when he passed in 93, so young. To me it was like the day Miles died, a gut punch but Tee had so much more to give. In my youth I never paid much attention to those great Paul Simon records he was on. Although I remember watching the reunion Concert in the Park on HBO and seeing him command that giant crowd playing Bridge Over Troubled Water. About 15 years ago or so I really got into that Paul Simon period and Tee's influence along are all over those records. One of my favs , Gone at Last where Tee really gets it cooking. He probably whipped that off in the studio in 1 or 2 takes, something that would take me a lifetime to master.
  15. Odyssey makes a lot of sense, it came out in '72 and was duophonic, the tune makes good use of that. Sounds like some kind of PWM. I get why a lot are saying its a clav or other EM through a wah, as its kinda doing the same thing. I covered this in the late 80s and had it pretty well dialed up in my M1. Don't remember if the M! had PWM style samples but there was just enough filter and envelope control to get a reasonable facsimile for that era. Thing about this tune is nobody will even notice what you are doing as long as the guitar player is able to hold court during that solo. So whatever attempt you first posted sounds good enough for me. Guitarist when I covered this had a talk box and knew how to use it., he was awesome. Thinking about this tune reminds me of that band. We were pretty kicking cover band and the guitarist was probably the best I've ever played with in the rock covers bar band category. He didn't have the need to noodle around every song, always knew his parts, played awesome solos and knew when to copy an original part or do his own thing. He didn't have to have a giant stack to get his tone, just a simple princeton 65 or something like that with a modest pedal board. Things were going well for a few years until of course the bass player slept with the guitar players girlfriend - and well we all know how that turns out.
  16. So I had my son cancel on a beach trip today, so I had nothing to do this afternoon and decided to take the 40 minute drive up to Alto in Middletown, NY. Long story, short, don't bother taking a trip there. Its a big location in a traditionally pretty busy shopping district, at least for upstate NY (well not really upstate for upstaters but that's what NYC people would call it). But man, it was a bit depressing. The store was empty, maybe 3-4 customers and hardly any staff. The store was filled with boxes and looks like its being used more like a warehouse than a retail store. I think they even changed the signage outside to indicate its a warehouse. I guess retailing can't really pay the bills anymore and online sales is where its at. Regardless, its a lot different than I remember. There is still all the retail areas present from when the store was in its prime, but unstaffed and filled with boxes. Seems like they do quite a lot of lessons there still and the band instrument section seemed like it was still pretty active. School band instrument servicing is probably still a pretty big revenue stream. Keyboard section was more than half the size it used to be. No staff available and all the instruments were turned off, except for a lone Roland FP90Ex. I probably could have flagged the seemingly singular staff member for the whole store to at least give me the go ahead to turn something on and plug something into the Peavy amps they had. But I just didn't really feel like trying anything out. I don't mean to sound so negative. I am sure that if I asked I could have gotten some help. Alto has always been a good customer service retailer for me and always willing to try and make a sale. There's an older thread for a few years back on here were someone pre-arranged to have some KBs available at this location to try out. They have always been very accommodating, its just kind of clear that they are in transition. It was a far different experience than 20-30 years ago on a Saturday afternoon. Then it would be crowded and noisy with people trying out all sorts of things, totally different these days. This pic shows pretty much the size of the KB area. There are additional KBs setup behind that wall under the monitors, pretty much just all home DPs. From the right, theres a Nautilus, Roland FP90 over that and Dave Smith Prophet '08 over that. To the right of those is some sort of Juno. Next to those is a Numa PianoX GT with a Hammond XK3C on top. Then 2 NE6Ds followed by another FP90 with a Kawaii DP on top. They also had a pair of used Korg SV1s with a red 88 key behind that black one in the foreground. All the way on the left, is an old Roland A90 controller, which actually seemed pretty clean, selling for $299. Here's the red SV1 with a Roland AX-Edge on top. Along that back wall the only thing of interest to me was a Dexibell S7. You don't see many boxes stacked in the KB area, but the rest of the store kinda looked like this and even worse in some areas like the drum section. Wouldn't surprise me if this location just becomes a warehouse at some point.
  17. I am not sure how the situation at Alto is faring these days. Up to 15 years ago, I went up there often and the selection was great, easy to try stuff and I was familiar with the staff and they were very helpful. I stopped going up there when they opened a store in Suffern, NY which was smaller but I knew they dudes there and could work with them. The Suffern store closed a while back and well we are in the midst of retail-pocalypse, so I wonder if the Middletown store is still like it was. The original Alto location, in Monsey NY, was the first place I frequented. Small store but they could wheel and deal. Jon Haber who now owns it was just a teen selling guitars there in those days. I'm sad to see the musical retailer era come to a close. I have so many memories of making trips to these places when I was younger to try the next new thing. But I guess to get back that nostalgia now requires a trip to Sweetwater. It wouldn't surprise me to see Sam Ash close, even in NYC, in the future. Expensive leases, razor thin margins, competing against e-tailers its a tough business.
  18. I remember it well, at least from the mid-80s on. Did plenty of 'mecca' trips from my suburban locale to visit those stores. Like I said above, in 2010 - 2012, I worked right on 48th but that was at the tail end of the era. I would be in those shops a few times a week, just to take a break from work. I think Manny's was still open when I started there. Sam Ash had kinda taken over most of the strip, certainly after Manny's closed and before they moved to 33rd. Also reminds me of the Tower Records on 4th & B'way. After seeing so many great shows at the Bottom Line, it was a mandatory to stop at Tower which had the most comprehensive selection for obscure fusion.
  19. I had this book in the 80's, Rock Keyboards I think was the title. I believe it was just reprints of interviews from KB magazine. That iconic picture of KE was on the cover with him playing 2 boards while facing the camera with that manticore vest. In that book was a chapter on Dennis and if I remember correctly, he said the original Lady recording was the first time he ever played an acoustic piano. I could certainly be dis-remembering that quote but I remember finding that hard to believe. Lady and intro to 'Come Sail' are iconic rock piano parts along with 'Best of Times' Had to cover 'Come Sail' about 10 years ago in a band as a single keyboardist. Used a MOX6 as it had a pretty good Arp String Ensemble patch and a phaser good enough to get close. Doing that middle section right took a lot of effort. I set up the ostinato synth part as a pattern in the MOX and used the Arp patch. Used a Triton for the synth lead and those other echo-y synth runs -- Great tune. Of course I can't forget that awesome swirly Rhodes in 'Babe'. Dennis is definitely up there in the pantheon of great rock keyboardists.
  20. Even though I've worked in NYC for years, since the pandemic been working at home. Around 2010 I worked right on 48th St and 6th, so frequented the last of the 48th St. stores while they were still there. But alas, everything is gone now. Last autumn I was in NYC for a work thing and stopped in at both B&H and Sam Ash. Honestly, I would skip B&H. Its more of an electronics superstore that happens to have music equipment. They do have good pricing and selection but the display area is not easy to navigate and the store is usually very crowded with tourists and gawkers. So difficult to really test drive an instrument. The new Sam Ash location is better for trying out things than B&H. Don't expect the selection of KBs on display to wow you. I'd say its better than your local GC but still hard to find premium instruments. They do get a some tourist traffic so if you want to try something out be prepared to communicate with the staff to try and get something demo-able. In general you'll find a lot of stuff not plugged in or not connected to some audio source. Bringing along a pair of headphones with 1/4" adapter would make this quicker. They most likely would have Roland FAs, MODXs and maybe a Yamaha YC or CK out. Higher end stuff would be hit or miss. Not sure where they are at with Nord these days. The 48th St location usually had the latest Stage and Electro models to try out, the new location looks more like a GC. I've never been to Rogue Music - 220W 30th Street. I remember they used to advertise in KB magazine and specialized in used equipment. Taking a look at their website it may be worth a visit. Alto Music up in Middletown NY traditionally has a great selection of KBs but I haven't been there in a few years so I don't have a good read on what's happening there now. Its a trek from NYC, probably more than an hour north by car. The musical instrument retailing business, like much of retailing these days, is a dying business. Even in a place like NYC, hard to find a music superstore with all the toys to try out. Much different that 20+ years ago when you could just walk 48th St and try everything out.
  21. Which engine does this new Oberheimer have -- the Thin Man or Fat Boy design? Or maybe it has both! But I am waiting for the hydrogen based fusion engine that is 1000x more powerful. Biggest question though -- internal power supply, wall wart or line lump? Wait maybe its self powered with a half life measured in centuries - Woot!
  22. Dude, I love it. Whether it could be self-sustaining financially, who knows. I do love the whole singer/songwriter piano trio vibe. The best parts of Billy Joel for me are essentially that trio with Devitto and Stegemeyer, all those great tunes from that classic late 70's era. I watched some of your vids, thats a big stage your on, probably wouldn't have that a stage that big regularly. I would think intimacy would be a selling point. What you posted was awesome but allow me to give some nits to pick. - I think the group would look better if you were facing the side of the stage as opposed to center. You on the right, bass player on the left, drummer in the middle. Horseshoe with good band interaction to play off one another better. Elton and Billy both do and did that but of course being the stars these days they are front and center. I'd try to capture that mid 70's vibe. - I like your drummer and he's very capable. I think the sound would be better served with smaller drums. He's got some big rock drums and they're pretty boomy. At least have those drums tuned differently. The drums sound tuned to having loud distorted guitars. Not sure a floor tom is even necessary and thats a big one he's got. - Similar with the bassist but maybe the vid off the phone is not the best gauge. I think the bass needs a more high end, tighter sound. - Piano in the vids sounds real boxy, bass heavy and a bit harsh but again maybe an artifact of recording from a phone. Since there's no guitars filling the mid-range, you need something in that sweet spot that's warm. Overall, I think tuning the sound and presentation to be more intimate would improve the marketability where you could certainly do coffee houses, wine bars, etc. Best of luck, its obviously your passion and you write solid songs and present them well.
  23. Resonates with me a bit. I was 14 when I started piano lessons without any piano in the house but my mom worked at a facility where I had access to a piano, so I would go with her to work in the evenings, help her and get my practice time in. Summer when I was 15, had my first job and wanted to use the earnings to buy a keyboard but I had no idea that places like Sam Ash (only real option in those days, early 80s) or that Keyboard magazine existed. So my mom took me to the piano store and I bought some crappy Multivox MX60 electric piano, 61 keys, no velocity for more than $800. Sounded like an RMI but worse. Had no idea there were better options. Later when I got my drivers license and made my first trip to the mecca of Sam Ash in Paramus, NJ the world of possibilities opened. Would've been much better and cheaper for me at the time to buy a used Wurly instead of that monstrosity. Even for bad high school bands, that Multivox was not really usable. We're in different times now with the interwebz and all but I don't know if the options for naïve parents trying to get their kids setup with something has improved. There are a confusing set of choices at so many price points. There's the decision about getting something with piano-like action and sounds to get those fundamentals along with having something that could possibly tweak some modern music artistry. I feel that most piano teachers would push for a lower end Privia, Yamaha or Roland DP because their focus would be on building technique with a weighted key feel. But unless those kids started at 4 years old and have been drilling their technique for years, concert pianist ain't really a career option. For my kids, I would want them to have other options than just piano. And we all know that if you really want to build piano technique there is no substitute for the real thing. I was just having this conversation with my brother-in-law. My niece is 19, been taking piano lessons for a number of years. She can play ok but is limited to sheet music. They have a decent Kawai vertical but she wants to record herself playing and singing to post on Tik Tok. I recommended a Numa X Piano 73 as something that may feel comfortable as a piano for her but also has some modernish synthy stuff and can be embellished with a PC or iPad. Its definitely a pro-level KB and may be overkill for her but he's got the money to spend and the lesser options all seem to fall a bit short. Perhaps the CK88 would fit there also but price point is still in the $1500 range.
  24. Forgot to mention ... Tomorrow War (Amazon) - Big budget action flick with time travel & aliens. Not a great movie but if you like the genre its a winner.
  25. I enjoy this genre. Some things I've seen recently that maybe haven't been mentioned already. Non-SciFi Palm Springs (Hulu) - Kind of a different take on Ground Hog day. Good comedy Future Man (Hulu) - You could call it sci-fi but its more comedy. A bit crass and over the top but I enjoyed. 41 (Amazon) - Can travel back to yesterday and try to undo the past. When We First Met (Hulu I think) - Rom-com about a dude going back to get a girl Map of Tiny Perfect Things (Amazon) - Groundhog day like rom-com. 2:22 (Amazon) - Action drama where I guy keeps reliving that moment to save some girl. 11.22.63 (Amazon) - Limited series where a guy can travel back to try and prevent Kennedy assassination. I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix) - Totally weird drama that moves back and forth through time SciFi-ish Out of Time (Amazon) - Kind of low budget but there's aliens and time travel, always a winner for me. Umbrella Academy (Netflix) - Not so much about time travel as superheros but I loved it. ARQ (Netflix) - Action movie about people in a time loop Travelers (Netflix) - has been mentioned. Good show, great concept, a bit low budget and cheesy at times but I loved it. Too bad it was abandoned.
×
×
  • Create New...