Mills Dude

Didn't Jaco play one of these? Maybe on that unreleased Weather Report record.

Ahh, the old double-double bass. Does gator make a gig bag for that? Or maybe a pelican case so I can bring it on a plane 😜

I think used Electro 3s are going somewhere in this price range. Its got access to the Nord sample library with fine EPs and a good enough B3 emulation for most things. Not sure about the Farfisa though.

Thanks for clarifying, I have a better idea of what you're working with. For modern software development, I'd say PHP and Ruby on Rails is considered obsolete these days. Sure, I get a lot of places still doing this and maybe the medical records company you work for primarily does this. If I wanted to become a modern software developer with marketable skills, I'd skip those stacks. Pretty sure that doing MIDI with PHP would be nearly impossible as its an environment meant for serving web pages. Looks like there's some stuff for Ruby -- Ruby Toolbox. For me, I wouldn't waste my time on the Ruby front, but you know that business space better and if there's a market for Ruby developers out there, then give it a go. Python on the other hand is not considered legacy in the industry, perl yes, python no. Python is the teaching language of choice these days, so lots of devs coming out of school with python and quite a bit of jobs available in this space. In the financial industry, the quants (Quantitative Analysts) who come out with high level math degrees (MS Math or Statistics or in some cases Financial Engineering degrees) all code their algorithmic trading in Python. In general, having good Python is marketable, Ruby not so much at least as I see it. On the code camp topic, I'm aware of them and I've even presented at code camps. I'm pro code camp as I feel there's a big difference in being an Computer Scientist and actually being able to write good code. A code camp won't guarantee you write good code, but its geared toward teaching the applicable skills. I often joke with my co-workers and some may get offended when I say "We are not Computer Scientists, we are the plumbers of the 21st century". My point being that learning structured automata, language theory and compiler design are skills not really applicable to cranking out line of business applications. In the financial industry now, there is a bit of push back on the code camps and many of the big banks are making candidates do LeetCode and HackerRank problems like "write an algorithm to find the longest palindrome in a string". I've heard this is being done directly to try and weed out code camp graduates with they rationale that they lack theory or 'good problem solving' skills. I personally disagree with that assessment and would much rather hire someone who can write clean, maintainable code that works well and knows the target frameworks/OS we're building on. I don't want coders who waste time writing their own hash tables, when that problem has been solved a long time ago and we have libraries written with implementations written by much better programmers than us (i.e. the computer scientists). Google, MS and other big tech companies for sure are doing CS, but for the rest of us, yeah we're just plumbers. I'm not knocking plumbers, they have to solve important problems every day but they're doing it within a set of guidelines and frameworks. So back to the topic at hand. If you have some exposure to Qt/C++ you can certainly start from there. While C++ is still very marketable, what I find though is that the jobs are available for real C++ gurus. Modern C++ can be quite daunting, with the concept of templates and those shops hiring would probably expect your skills to go further than just being able to write some simple C++ code. Even the old C style where everything is pointer based can take a while to master. Modern C++ requires knowing about copy constructors, references, l-value references, etc. Everyday coding is C++ is much less forgiving than other environments. Just figuring out syntax errors from your compile step when trying to use template classes from the standard C++ library can be frustrating. A missed semicolon in the wrong context could trigger a confusing error that when you finally find it and its just a simple syntax error can be frustrating. Not to say that you can't use Qt/C++ to jump in and write simple C++ code to get something working. I could be way off base here as I'm skewed to a more competitive job market. Could be that the space you are familiar with, those C++ programmers are not at the level I'm thinking about. I like the Python idea. There is a Qt wrapper for python - PyQt and looks like there are some python libraries for MIDI A good skill to develop is understanding OO (Object Oriented) programming. In general, it's just easier to get started in something like Python than jumping into the C++ stack. VSCode is fully capable as a python IDE. Ultimately all the languages boil down to how to break a problem down into small steps, by decision trees (if/else/switch), generating and iterating through sequences (loops) and breaking steps into smaller manageable units (source files, classes, functions) to maximize reuse. So learning how to do these things is the key. Starting with something like Python is just easier to get your feet wet. Strongly typed vs. dynamic languages is also a consideration. Python is considered a dynamic language with a weak typing system. C++/C#/Java are strongly typed languages, meant to catch errors at compile time but you need to consider understanding the underlying type system. Modern full stack development, i.e. web development, is the where the market is hot and will be hot for a long time. Web based UI using React/Angular/Vue (in that order) against a Node.js backend. All written in JavaScript or TypeScript which is a more type-safe superset of JavaScript. The backend can also be Python, I see this a lot as well as Java/C# backends. C# is gaining a bit of traction due to .NET becoming cross platform. The older web stack is pure HTML/JS using jQuery on the browser and some backend, what we call LAMP style. I'm sure there are lots of jobs still there but in my circles those guys are considered the Cobol programmers of the 21st century. But don't knock Cobol, still people making money doing that. But for a developing a standalone, old-fashioned MIDI editor librarian to get your feet wet, I'd use Qt either with C/C++ or Python just to get yourself familiar with basic programming. Since you work with Qt devs, you can get some guidance there. I'm not familiar with Qt style. If I were doing it and someone paid me to crank out an app for Windows, I'd probably use C#/.NET as I'd be fastest to market in this stack. If I wanted to expand my skills and take more time, I'd do a React frontend with some cross platform backend that could do the MIDI stuff directly with the OS. The backend and frontend can run on the same machine. Then package it up with electron as a standalone application and play a bit with docker and run the backend in a docker instance and use some sort of lite NoSql Db for data storage. As these are the tech stacks I'm in the process of trying to master. One thing "I" would worry about with Qt, is how can the UI be broken up into separate components. Thinking about a full featured editor, there may be literally hundreds of widgets on the screen. Throwing these all into one 'Form' class would be pretty daunting and manageability would be an issue. We think better in smaller packets of work instead of dealing with a source file that's thousands of lines long. I see it all the time, people cranking out spaghetti code in multi-thousand long line classes and source files. Its a maintenance nightmare and prone to bugs. So how to break things up into smaller 'components' that can be brought together on a single screen or page. The modern web frameworks React/Angular/Vue are all about breaking down the application into smaller 'bite-size' components. Not sure how you do this in Qt. Also possible in the C# WinForms space, but you need to plan ahead on doing it the right way. That all comes down to the 'software engineering' aspect. How to write clean, maintainable code and perhaps using a unit test framework to develop those skills and habits. To get more theoretical on this, function pre and post conditions should be well known and the parameters to a function should be well thought out, Thinking in terms of class member functions, if a function touches or modifies internal state of the class, it should be deterministic. A common problem I see is long member functions that try and do too much and touch a lot of internal state variables. Good OO programming is about encapsulation and data hiding with well established operations that may modify internal state. On the contrary, I see a lot of sloppy programming that modifies so much internal state in a single operations (i.e. functions) it becomes hard to track down bugs. Writing small functions, that do one thing and do it well and are properly tested is a discipline that leads to more manageable code. But this is not really taught in CS programs or Code Camps. Its learned though experience and by applying certain principles in the way problems are approached. Much different than cranking out a function that can find the longest palindrome in a string in O(N*logN) time. Composing a large scale application from a smaller set of components and classes yields better results with increased maintainability and reduced bugs. I'm a big proponent of SOLID, especially the S part. Don't stress to try and understand these things from the get-go just try to keep your code simple. I try to break down any function that's longer than 30 lines or so, into a simpler set of steps. Yeah, I'm getting into the weeds, but I am passionate about it and I can be bit prolific and a bit of a nut. Anyway, good luck, happy to continue along this thread or for others to pipe in with suggestions and I'll try to not go off on tangents. If you start something, get it up on github and we can follow along and give some suggestions. tl;dr -- Move forward with Qt since you've got some potential help available. I'd look at Python instead of C++ since its a better beginner language and more approachable. If you're looking to develop high paying, marketable skills, modern full-stack development is where its at. But to get your feet wet, I think Python is the best approach. Try to develop good coding skills from the start with small, maintainable classes and components and 'compose' a larger application by 'gluing' these components/classes together.

I'm a professional software developer in the financial industry (helping traders get richer), mostly .NET/C# UI on 'windoze' (as referenced on the other thread) but also ramping up on web UI JavaScript, HTML. I cut my teeth on C/C++ Unix (as we used to call it before in the days before Linux). I'll be frank, taking a few CS courses won't really cut the mustard if you wanted to build a working editor/librarian. What they teach in CS programs is more about basic data structures and algorithms. What they don't teach much of is modern software engineering, the science of constructing usable programs. That's typically left for you to pick up as you start your career as a programmer. Its kind of like someone who's taking piano lessons, but now want to be a keyboard player in a good band using synths and stuff. A totally different skill set that may take a long time to develop i.e. learning to play be ear, learning about synths and sound editing, that sheet music is almost useless for this. As we know, it can take years to transform from playing low level classical sheet music to being a keyboard guy. I don't want to dissuade you and it could be a great learning experience. I can read all the theory I want, but unless I start writing code and applying those skills they don't develop. But if you're pretty green to application development, it will be a daunting task and could take you a long time to develop something usable. Let's leave the MIDI interface API side of this out for now. Do you want to build a graphical UI or would your interface be command line only? What's your target platform? Windows, Mac, Linux or do you want to try cross platform which is way more difficult. What framework would you be using to build your UI? You have to know them and pick one and develop expert level skills in that framework. Part of my job is to pick one of these and excel by reading a lot of documentation, blogs, etc. Starting with a simple application and ramping up to something more complicated. It can take years to master one of these frameworks, so I need to pick wisely as I've seen so many people pick something only to see it become obsolete. There are number of cross platform frameworks for UI development -- https://terminalroot.com/the-7-best-cpp-frameworks-for-creating-graphical-interfaces/ is a simple list I found on the internet. Most of them are C++ based. Qt is very popular for this purpose, I believe that Reason is based on QT although not sure. If you're targeting Windows (windoze) exclusively, .NET/C# with Windows Forms API is fairly accessible. Windows Forms is an API layer for writing UI applications. Its pretty old now, there are some newer ones like WPF or even Xamarin Forms which is supposed to be cross platform. Win32 API has MIDI support and there are a bunch of Nuget (open source) packages available for .NET Midi. Xamarin seems to have support for CoreMidi. This could be done using the new fangled Web technologies, where your UI would be run in the browser or made into a desktop application using something like electron. But the browser can't interface with the MIDI library on the OS to the extent you'd want it to. Yeah, I believe you could play MIDI, but for an editor/librarian you need to actually manipulate the MIDI stream. To do a Web UI effectively, you'd need to build a server application that would interface directly with the OS level MIDI interface. So most of your logic would be on the 'server side' while the UI is just managing the check boxes, drop downs, button clicks, etc. and sending those commands to the back end. On the web side, MS also has ASP.NET which is popular. Its different that straight JavaScript as you primarily code in C# with some HTML. Building off this MS also has Razor and Blazor frameworks which are capable of using WebAssembly to run more code client side, in the browser. Java UI is also possible. I'm not that versant in that tech stack, I believe Java SWING is the choice there. Some of the financial institutions still develop UIs using SWING. My desktop Merill Lynch trading app is Java SWING and it's cross platform. Not sure what MIDI capabilities exist in the Java Framework but can also use JNI (Java Native Interface) to call C code which can better interface with the OS. I used to dabble with Borland Delphi (now supplied by Embarcadero). It's language is Object Pascal but its a very nice environment although these days mostly obsolete. No jobs out there for Delphi programmers. The UI framework of choice would dictate which language you would code this in. Then there's the task of learning how to be proficient in that language. Then there's the task of picking an IDE (Integrated development environment). Each one the platform and UI frameworks would dictate that choice. .NET - MS Visual Studio, Java - Eclipse, NetBeans or IntelliJ IDEA C++ -- Good luck, most people use Vim as an editor and command line for building but MS VSCode (Visual Studio Code) is becoming more popular for this. Web -- most everyone using VSCode these days. Those old school freeware/shareware editor/librarians we used to use were almost exclusively written for Windows using either C++ using MFC/Borland library or Visual Basic. If cross platform, either was entirely using a different coded application that looked like the other or using some special framework like Qt or wxWidgets (which Audacity uses). But all the direct OS code to interface with the MIDI subsystem would need to be specific to the targeted OS. In the C/C++ case of building a monolithic application, it would involve using #ifdef WIN32 all over the place. If you were trying to develop skills for the job market, learning the Web stack is the most marketable these days. Building this in Web Stack would be most complicated but you'd develop really marketable skills. Wrapping your head around the application being split into 2 parts, client and server, might take a bit as we typically think about monolithic programs. I've got a Behringer XR-18, the UI is like this. It can run in the browser and communicates with the server running in the unit. Every setting change sends some command (via a websocket or REST) down to the server. Server sends asynchronous messages back to the UI, for the level meters and general status, etc (typically via a websocket or SSE). To do this effectively, I'd say these steps are necessary Pick a target platform/OS -- MacOS or Windows, sure you can try Linux also. Pick and learn how to use an IDE. If you want to build a UI, choose a UI framework and learn how to use it by building simple applications. Learn the MIDI API for the target OS. Also need to know about Hexadecimal number system and bit shifting. Learn how to code/build/debug repetitively. The software engineering aspect, all the while learning how to write good code which is an art unto itself. Not sure where your skill sets fall, but even if I were to start something, we'd be talking at least a few months to get something very basic working. Again, I don't want to dissuade you, but if the goal is for hobby purposes, its a long road ahead. If you're looking to pick up marketable skills to transition to a career in programming, still a long road ahead but there may be more incentive.

I'm in the northeast, NYC suburbs. This is the first year in a long time that I feel we've had a legitimate spring. For a long time it seems to go straight from winter to summer. This year, its been great weather so far, spring like with lower humidity, though the summer is starting to amp up.

Yeah, it raises my hackles a bit that keyboard dude is added for the purpose to 'bring color' and throw in all those extra instruments. Too many situations asked to join some guitar centered rock cover bar band that wants to do a few Chicago tunes. "You can do those horns on the keys, right?" Umm ... no, you can't expect me to make it sound like the record when they have 3+ fantastic horn players and I'm using a rompler and have to cover other key parts like piano and such. Got recommended for a one-off corporate gig about 10 years back. Nice setlist and one of the tunes was Ambrosia - How Much I Feel. Nice song, good band with 2 keyboard players, a keyboard-centric band if you will. I worked on distilling the song down to cover as a single keyboardist and also charted out the backing vox and learned my part. We do a single rehearsal before the gig and play that tune. BL must have had a hard-on for the song as he wanted to impress some chick and is not happy with how the other band members are handling the backing vox, he wants it to sound like the record. Asks me if I can do "something" with the keys for the backing vox. Yea, I can try to do a little bit even though I'm already super busy carrying this tune, but the keys are not a magic instrument to crank out karaoke with complete tracks and backing vox. It seems like its only us keyboard dudes that get asked to be the jack-of-all trades and fill in all these extraneous parts with obscure instruments. Happy to do it when and if I can, but when that's all your asked to be, then sorry, I've got better things to do with my time.

I have not experienced in a gig, but in other aspects of life, yes. Dry heat is much more comfortable than the Hazy, Hot, Humid weather. When the humidity gets high like that, the body can have issues with fluid management. I tore my calf muscle, the soleus, on my left leg twice in the span of a few years both on crazy humid days. The muscle cramped but I was in the middle of activity, playing paintball with thick coveralls on -- yeah stupid. The soleus muscle goes way down to the Achilles, maybe your cramp was happening in that area as the first time I got that injury, I thought my Achilles tendon had snapped and so did my Physical Therapist sister-in-law. Second time it happened a few years later, on a humid August day in NYC racing to catch a train. Running down the steps and I felt it go, like someone hit me in the ankle with a hammer, same thing, same leg, torn soleus muscle. On humid days, I can feel that area swelling up, so I need to keep that muscle stretched and sometimes wear compression socks. I use an angled plane that some people use for plantar fasciitis to stretch it out and avoid cramps. In our modern AC world, we're not as accustomed to severe elements. There's a reason why South America does siesta in the afternoons. I'm no doctor but could be that even though you were drinking a ton, maybe still dehydrated. I used to travel to Southeast Asia a lot for work. In the summer time, its like that every day, 90+ degrees with 90+% humidity and very seldom that storm that brings relief like in Florida. Walking out of the office for lunch in those extremes, I'd break out into flop sweat after just a few minutes outside. All the locals would be fine, but I'd be dripping in sweat and my shirt drenched after a casual walk. Its no joke. There are small muscles in the hand, they have cramped up also. That moisture in the air retains more heat than the dry air and it messes with your bodies ability to regulate temperature properly mostly by sweating as the sweat loses it ability to cool you off.

Yeah, I'd concur here especially for disco, R&B etc. The drum grooves are usually pretty simple but its the bass player that makes it come alive. Well at least the bass player locking in with the simple drum groove and the sprinkling magic fairy dust that great bass players are capable of. Relating to the other thread about over playing, one of my go to bass cats qualifies for both. He started later in life but he gets a great tone and locks in really well. He's just prone to over playing at times, taking too many fills. When I can get him calmed down, he's fantastic to play with but sometimes he forgets and starts soloing through the whole song. Always a compromise, but he loves to gig, shows up with good gear, doesn't overpower the stage and for the most part has great sensibilities. Most important is that we understand each other when we play. Sometimes a simple look or a head nod is all it takes to convey the message. A meh drummer, I can deal with as long as he can keep steady time. Sometimes an unsure drummer may be better, simpler kit, simpler fills, doesn't overpower the stage like many guys who bring 2 floor toms, giant bass drums and snares that require gun muffs to not damage hearing.

Yeah, IMO the guitarist has nothing to complain about. He gets the chance to rip not one but two of the greatest guitar solos is rock history both contained in a single song. He should just lay out during the B section and let the rhythm section handle it. The dude don't need to be front and center every second of every tune. Sorry, but this kind of stuff just raises my hackles and I'm certainly making assumptions and could be way, way off base. This is one of the reasons why I have no patience anymore playing bar gigs with guitar heroes that bring out 4X12 cabs with dual/triple rectifier amps to a sh*tty club that need to get their "tone" and refuse the share sonic space to make a tune sound great. Sorry, had to get that off my chest. The only place I'd want electric guitar in the B section is if the playing real light and clean to emulate the acoustic strumming or to help accent the bass pickup notes at the beginning of each phrase. That song is very expressive with dynamics, crescendos, etc. Just charging through at full blast wrecks the sprit of the tune, which is what people want to hear. That B section should be gentle, behind the beat. For me, when I've covered that tune, I want the strings to be as 'symphonic' as they can get. I've used Korg triton era strings effectively here. I think a MODX would have all that is necessary to cover this.

One of the best and most versatile pieces of gear I own is the Radial JDI Duplex. Current price is over 400 smackers (Wow inflation!) but for a keyboardist its the swiss army knife and it sounds great. Having that in my bag I always felt confident for any gigging situation I encountered. When I was gigging regularly, I'd typically use my KC-350 (yuck sound, but ok for self monitoring and I'd mix 2-3 keyboards) and take the mixed output to the JDI in stereo. If I was dealing with more professional FOH that wanted direct signal and stereo, 2 keyboards would require 4 DIs. Having the duplex could lessen the burden on FOH. Always got a sigh of relief and a smile from pro-FOH when pulling that out of my bag as it helps relieve their pressure when dealing with crowded stages with a lot of instruments. Dealing with amateur FOH or BL PA, many times they don't understand getting line level, no problem, just hit the pad switch. Or the dreaded, getting a buzz or hum due to grounding, no problem hit the ground lift. Not sure how the mono sum feature works, but I've used it in a pinch where FOH wanted mono and was able to 'mix' 2 keys together. Or if dealing with someone who understands phase issues, no problem with the reverse polarity switch if thats a problem. I used to play a lot of coffee houses and they'd always have these Whirlwind IMP boxes for the acoustic guitar players because they're cheap. Radials are just better. As RealMC points out, if dealing with pickup based electro-mechanicals, matching impedance is important. Its no surprise that a Country Man would be a great choice for those. But for the modern electronic keys putting out line level, the Radials are the best bang for the buck. If you're using one of those new fangled keys, like a MODX that can mix another keyboard, having a JDI duplex is perfect. Can provide a clean stereo signal path and take an out to your self monitoring situation. Need to mix more, KeyLargo looks like a great choice. Just a great bit of gear and as already attested to, they are built like tanks. Mines like 15 years old, clonking around in the gig bag, dragged across stage floors, in the grass and on pavement for outdoor gigs. It doesn't even have a scratch on it. It will outlive me. Part of being a pro or semi-pro is to guarantee your signal to the FOH. In an amateur situation, never know what you might encounter. Having a quality DI like a Radial helps to ensure that your providing the best signal.

Aww, the poor dog. He just needs a hug. Bring him over here, I got a few dead pedals he can chew on.

Yes, you do and so do I. I'd venture to wager that in comparison to Stevie Wonder, we all suck. Now that we got that out of the way, go play the tune the best you can and make some people happy along with some extra cash.

As the show moves into the later 80s, hopefully they skip the Glam/Hair Metal era. Too much good 80s synth pop for the youngins' to rediscover and not be bogged down with the likes of Poison and Motley Crue 😜. Just the other day, my neighbors daughter, 17 or so, was outside listening to Jack & Dianne and singing along, I was joking with her that she was listening to the old folks music. She was so into it.

And yesterday an obit in the NY times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/arts/music/dave-smith-dead.html

Washington Post has an obituary on Dave Smith in today's edition. https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/06/06/dave-smith-dies-keyboard/

I've touted them a number of times on this board, but I would call Alto Music in Middletown, NY. If you're in NYC or LI area it's a bit of a hike, but they really go the extra mile to get a sale. It wouldn't hurt to call them as they might actually have one in stock or even better on the floor. If not they can certainly get one. There was a thread on here a few years back where someone coordinated with Alto to try a bunch of different keyboards. It took a little bit of time for Alto to get all the boards in and if I remember correctly, Alto did want some sort of deposit. But the upshot of that thread was very favorable and he ended up buying one of the boards. I haven't shopped there in a while, but they've been sort of a throwback to the days when a music retailer had showroom inventory. Not like the GC/Sam Ash of today that mostly have junk out. Doesn't hurt to give 'em a call and see if they can help you out.

My church bought one of these back in '88 or so. I was the primary user and I had permission to take it out for my gigs also. Man, that thing was "heavy", well not as heavy as trying to cart around a CP-80 or even a Rhodes. We had a flight case for it which made it even heavier. But I was young, so I didn't think much about it and there wasn't much else if you wanted some kind of Piano sound. It was pretty good for its day, but the action was pretty stiff and heavy. I used to drive a mid-70s Chevy Impala. in those days. That thing, including case, would just fit in the back seat. Ahh, old American cars, FTW. A year or so later, I picked up a Roland U-220 module, controlled by my KX-76, also controlling my M1R. That ended up being a great rig, relatively lightweight and the U-220 had a great piano sound for what it was. Nothing about the SG1D gives me any nostalgia. I was a damn boat anchor and I was happy to move along when I had a chance. Thankfully the church was able to use it as a trade in for a DX7II, which I played a bunch of times during service.

If you are starting fresh, I'd just go with Win11 and be done with it. I've been primarily a windows developer for the last 20+ years, although I still got my Unix chops and work on the side to keep them fresh. As much as MS gets bashed, one thing they do very well is maintaining backward compatibility. Win32 API still very much supported and maintained and they do extensive testing with third party applications for each new major OS release. Personally, I think MS does a much better job at compatibility than Apple. Heck, a lot of Win 3.x stuff will run on Win 11 and I'm pretty sure a large percentage of software written for XP will work without any issues. Sure, MS does a lot of things wrong. Windows 8 was not a good direction but they realized that and pretty quickly rebounded with Windows 10. From what I see about Win 11, its not another Win 8.x. Seems to be more of Windows 10+. My primary workstation, I'm still running Windows 10 just because it's mostly used for remote access to whoever is paying me, so I have to contend with different VPNs, Citrix connections and such. I can't afford the upgrade going south or having one of these remote connections not work, then scrambling for a few days to try and resolve the issue, while not getting paid. I've upgraded to 11 on my laptop and another desktop machine, but I'm planning my upgrade on my daily driver for when I have some downtime. On the flipside, if you're setup is working well, I don't see any need to upgrade. If you keep your system protected, MS is also very good at maintaining support for their older OS. Right now MS is saying Win 10 support will be maintained until 10/2025. But they've been know to extend those timelines, especially if they can't convince the business world to switch.

300mbps FIOS connection From the router: 308.2/341.1 Ping: 7ms On my main PC (windows 10) over wifi with Linksys mesh. My workstation is not central in the house, so Wifi may not be optimal Ookla (Using MS Store Speedtest APP not speedtest.net), 184.29/196.97 Ping: 7ms Verizon Speedtest (web app): 173/252 8ms latency On my mobile - Galaxy S9, standing in the middle of the house Ookla (from the app, not the website): 289/273 Ping: 8ms Verizon: 190/336 17ms latency

Yea, I think its all baked in at this point. Verizon is probably not making any more capital improvements in their network, unless there's an area of new construction.

I thought the marketing term for what Windham Hill produced was 'New Age'. Those George Winston records and Yanni, etc. But these as with anything these genre labels are fluid and defined by marketers. Possibly coined to coincide with the 'New Age' spiritual movement. Windham Hill was cranking out stuff before that term came into vogue. I also recall the 'Private Music' label had a bunch of 'New Age--y' music. Most notable for me was Eddie Jobson's 'Theme of Secrets' as I was a big fan. That record is fine but not very related to his Zinc record.

My current deal with FIOS started a little over 2 years ago after I moved into a new house. So maybe there was some "new" customer deal. Was on Optimum before at my old house, paying like $60/month for 100mbps, FIOS not available so they had me by the short hairs. My experience with optimum was it was very hard to get anywhere close to advertised speeds. I'm in Suffern area, right over the NJ border if that means anything to you.

Dude, I'm in NYC suburbs. I'm paying $40 for FIOS 300mbps up and down. I speed test often and I get that on the router. On the house wifi (mesh but running Wifi 5), I top off about 225.

Akai had those synthstation products out about 10 years ago. The concept was good, maybe the execution, not so much. I bought the ~$100 25 model for my son back then to use with his ipod touch. He was more interested in drums so it didn't get any use. I don't remember if I played with it. The 49 model could hold an iPad. Shame this concept hadn't caught on, since at the time IOS music application was pretty rudimentary. It's gotten much better since then.