dsteinschneider

When Dave Chesavage (OB Dave) stopped manufacturing his excellent midi drawbar unit he was left with lots of left over slide knobs: http://oceanbeachdigital.com/index.html Funny story is I bought them from an ebay listing not knowing the seller was OB Dave. When I messaged him about all the interest (on the Cantabile forum) he told me the story of why he has them. Here's the link. https://www.ebay.com/itm/283601577521?hash=item4207f8a631:g:tEUAAOSwj85YMmBX I actually routed them out slightly to fit the Axiom:

My solution was to start with an On-Stage KS7150. I then bought their Universal Second Tier and modified it Here is a detailed explanation on the Cantabile "Show Me Your Rig" thread of how I modifed it. https://community.cantabilesoftware.com/t/show-me-your-cantabile-rig/633/313?u=dsteinschneider

I finished my Android/XBoard project. The back plate was scavenged from 2007 TV. I used 3M 30lb double sided tape to attach it plus 3 screws. I cut little 1/4" by 1 1/2" plates and epoxied them to the inside, then drilled a 5/16" hole and used self tapping screws. When I screwed in I held the little plate with a pliers. dcs_xboard_phone_mount_back_plate_2 by dsteinschneider, on Flickr The 4mm thumbscrews are from PC's. The metal brackets were 1/16 thick corner braces. These also will hold a Dell 11" 2 in 1 laptop. That's why the slotted bracket on the right sticks out - the laptop is narrower than the NanoKontrol2. I'm holding the USB C cable to the plate with a neodymium magnet scavenged from a hard drive. You would think that would somehow impair the USB C OTG connection but I've played this for hours with no noticeable issue. The phone isn't in place because I needed it to take these photos The cable tie down just below the USB C OTG connector is just to keep the USB C connection straight. dcs_xboard_phone_mount by dsteinschneider, on Flickr Here is a photo of the underside of the Xboard 49 top. The threaded nut plates are for surfboard fins. The are attached with 3M 30lb double sided tape. dcs_xboard_surf_fin_plates by dsteinschneider, on Flickr I have assigned the top row of the NanoKontrol2 buttons to the Vibrato and Percussion Tablets. The knobs control Volume, Drive, KeyClick, Bass, Treble and Reverb - the right most one controls drawbar 9. Thanks to Max Tempia for inspiring this build

I didn't jump on the $350 offer but might next time he offers it. I see recorded courses (usually 1-2 times the cost of a private lesson) as worth it because I usually pick up a few things. Lachy's course is substantially more. I haven't found a teacher yet here in southwestern CT.

Lachy is offering the course for $350 temporarily. I'm guessing OP didn't sign up. This thread was helpful. I should probably finish working my way through Brian Charette's book but I know from my past progress in guitar and bass that learning Hammond licks and tricks would be helpful now.

Here's the tin prototype of the plate I'm going to Velcro on: dcs_vbm3_mount by dsteinschneider, on Flickr

Thanks for the heads up on the ilectric upgrades. I did read the Play store reviews but having someone here confirm helps, there can be so many nonsense reviews. That one Rhodes is sufficient for my battery operated rig. I would love to map my XBoard knobs to the effects controls but it doesn't look like that's supported. BTW, if the upgrade for $10 worked is it just one extra instrument or all of them?

At open mics I visit, a portable, phone based VB3 will increase the amount of times I can particpate. I bought an E-MU XBoard 49 on ebay for $65. It needed one of the keybed cables resoldered to the contact strip board but otherwise is in great shape. It can be powered by 3 AA batteries, I noticed my Pixel 4a barely draws when the XBoard batteries are in. I mounted a 3.5mm TRS to 1/4 females and the OTG to the XBoard by using 3M clear double sided tape to hold small plastic zip tie holders. This was very usable but the XBoard only has rotary knobs so when I came across this thread and saw Max Tempia using the NanoKontrol I changed course. I have a NanoKontrol2 and a small switchable 4 port USB 3 hub. I'm going out through the phone OTG to the hub. Then the hub is connected to the NanoKontrol2 and the phone. I mapped all the knobs, switches and sliders on the NanoKontrol2 to the defaults in VB3m. It's working well and the NanoKontrol2 doesn't seem to add any battery drain. Right now I'm fabricating a 32cm wide by 16cm "shelf" for the NanoKontrol2 that is folded in the middle at a 45 degree angle where the phone and the USB switch will mount on the upper part. I will post photos tomorrow when I'm done. I'm also using the free version IK iLectric, it has one model called the Suitcase EP. iLectric listens on all MIDI channels so I have to close VB3m and open iLectric. When iLectric opens it doesn't work until I "USB cycle" the keyboard so the switch on the USB hub makes that somewhat painless. I have VB3 1.4, VB3 II, B5 and B3-X but often use VB3 1.4, it sounds right for rock classics. I'm really happy Guido released VB3m.

Coming back with just about a year of experience. I ended up buying JBL Eon 610's. They sound very good for rehearsal but for practice they worked but weren't optimal for two reasons. 1. They have a white noise that you dont' hear with other players in the room but it's very noticeable when you're by yourself 2. They are pretty large so have to be back at least a foot behind the keyboard to get the nearfield triangle placement correct So, they were a great choice for rehearsal and not so great for practice. A few weeks ago a friend gave me a pair of AudioEngine 5+ powered speakers. Though the target customer for them is computer and home theater they do a great job for the keyboard. The lesson here is that powered nearfields will be better for practice and something JBL Eon's (QSC K8.2's if you've got the budge) are what you need for rehearsal and small venues.

I PianoMan51 is right. I'm going to find some affordable FRFR's

Thanks, I'll check out the JBL 305p's The practice room is 15x15 ft with an 8' ceiling. The drums are edrums going through TS115a's so volume is fairly easy to control although things get fairly loud sometimes. Guitar, bass, keys and drums playing typical rock covers. Keyboard parts are piano and B3 mostly. I know it's hard to estimate but do you think the 6" would do the job for the above situation at ideal volume (not loud enough to feel like I should put my Etymotic ER-15's in)? Maybe I shouldn't be trying to cover these two different use scenarios with near fields. I probably should get something even bigger.

I was tired of using headphones for practice so I took a pair of passive 4" Micca desktop speakers and a Lepai 20W amp I had sitting around and hooked it up to my keyboard rig. It sounds OK but I would like to get something better. Can anyone recommend 6-8" active speakers that are on the lower end cost wise but sound good for practicing piano, B3 etc. A bonus would be if they are loud enough for a low volume practice. Thanks.