Mighty Motif Max

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-libraries/nord-piano-library/grand-pianos/soft-grand “Soft Grand is a modern compact size grand piano equipped with extra soft hammers giving a very soft, yet dynamic, response. With its warm, mellow and gentle sound, the Soft Grand adds a unique new character to the Nord Piano Library. Note: The Soft Grand requires the latest OS update and is compatible with Nord Stage 4/3/2 EX/2, Nord Electro 6/5, Nord Piano 5/4/3 and Nord Grand.”

I believe there’s actually a patch loosely based on that already in the SKpro - check out F216 Rattle Pad.

There were a bunch of fixes in the previous update from October that are worth mentioning too. I'm still running one of the previous older ones due to gigging a lot but I have a break in gigs right now so it's probably a good time to do the updates. This is the list of changes in the last OS update. I've put a few important ones in bold.

Something I would be curious about is whether people doing these comparisons are picking the correct instrument "profile" on the UB-Xa (there's an OB-8 profile, for example), or if they're just going with the default settings fresh out of the box. That could be a factor we aren't considering. I do think this would be getting wider interest had Behringer put a decent effects section in there - seems to me that a lot of the synth sounds that I associate with the Oberheims in general were processed through numerous effects back in the day as well - chorus and delay in particular. That sound's not going to come from anything raw. I do appreciate the comparisons being dry, to take that out of the loop. But I often find I don't care for either sound dry...

This always depends on the budget though, even on the composing side - hiring an orchestra can be very expensive, or even a solo wind player who plays at the level you need for your piece. If we're not realistic and want to hire a ton of live studio musicians, then we end up basically trying to offer flute players and saxophonists a bunch of those $50 gigs from that other recent thread . Or for live shows you get stuck with a bunch of tracks. I'd rather have a keyboardist cover brass and strings in a band than just have tracks and no keys player at all. Broadway pit productions are a good example of this - it's more and more common to have a smaller group of woodwinds and acoustic instruments supplemented with multiple keyboardists than to have a full orchestra. If the budget doesn't allow, it doesn't allow.

Respectfully, I’d say just move the gear off in-between. You have a light rig. Maybe bring it all on a cart instead so it’s just one trip. I’ve done this type of load-in in the past for “Battle of the Bands” types of events and often the stages are small enough that there isn’t enough space to just move everything back to the rear of the stage. So I’ve ended up taking down and re-setting up a much bigger/heavier rig than your Electro. It’s totally doable! Don’t sweat it and good luck!

Sweet tune! Would love to know if this will be available on streaming services like Spotify, or for purchase on Apple Music. Those are what I use and I'd love to get this album into the rotation when it's out.

Super cool. Not sure why but I actually found that the sound/progression of the song kind of makes sense to me as it goes. Maybe I'm just hearing the whole thing as a minor version of the overall harmonic relationships in the original and so it "works" well enough, not unlike a reharmonization perhaps.

Hello all, I came across this thread over on the Nord forum and noticed that it looks like someone (possibly @erik_nie?) has successfully replaced the Fatar TP8 keybed in a Kurzweil PC3 variant with another model of Fatar keybed from a Studiologic controller. As many of you may recall, few years ago I got a PC3-76 and it apparently sustained some damage in shipping or such, and now that I've finally gotten it back from the repair shop (where it sat for over two years and wasn't touched due to the owner's personal circumstances), I am trying my hand at fixing it up. In addition to replacing the pitch and mod pots, I need to replace the current TP8 keybed assembly - it seems to have issues with flexing despite the aluminum case being tightened properly and continues to have triggering issues with midi notes. Plus I've always disliked the feel and the lighter spring kit isn't available anymore. I'm thinking that since I'm going to have to go through that process, I had might as well swap it out with something I actually like playing. Now, I realize this is a tall order - not exactly an everyday keys project. However, I am willing to invest a decent amount of time into this project - the PC4 is not going to be around much longer but I would like a source of the Kurzweil orchestral sounds. The PC3 is already disassembled since I need to replace the pitch/mod pots as well, so I figure I'd might as well try to fix everything in one go. Otherwise it's a boat anchor since I can't get much use out of it with its keybed issue and other problems, and it's not worth selling in its current condition. Things I know so far: - The PC3-76 has two wood bars underneath the keybed to raise it up. My understanding is that a taller keybed may work if that piece (just a bar of wood with some screw holes) is replaced or cut to size. I'm considering replacing those parts with metal bars to help with the flexing issue anyways. - Length of the keybed may be a concern - I'm not sure what keybed is suitable for this, as that's not specified in the Nord forum post. FATAR is very sparse with available specifications. I know the TP/9 is shorter. - I can source a 76-key Nord HP (TP/100) or a 76-key Nord HA (TP/40) - not cheap but I am willing to make the investment. The question is whether of those would even work. Obviously the TP/40 would be preferable. Any info or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you, Max

Nothing too crazy this year...lots of things I'd like, but they're lots of things that my wallet isn't fat enough for this time around. Might be the first Black Friday in years that I haven't spent a minimum of $600 or so. Pre-paid for several digital music releases for my band through CDbaby since they're having a 50% off sale - 4 singles and an album. Otherwise, just some band merch (a cape!) from Nightwish for stage use, and Korg Collection 4.

If you're wanting a nice sounding studio monitor setup, I'm a fan of the JBL LSR305p MKII's. You can get a pair for around USD 300...or cheaper with sales. Nice sounding for pretty much everything, not just good for mixing. As far as what's happening with your monitors, maybe they're being overloaded? I see they're active and not passive, but maybe there's some sort of SPL limit involved. The other thing that came to mind is whether what you're actually hearing is a buffer issue with your audio interface - that can cause audio dropouts, fades, and all sorts of weird things. In that case it would be your computer settings that would need to be adjusted, rather than the speakers (and a new set of speakers wouldn't change anything). You mentioned things work fine when you're connected via headphones to the Macbook itself. How do you have the speakers hooked up?

Since Sonoma is now the new kid on the block, I'm wondering if anyone is aware of any remaining issues with Ventura. I'm considering updating my 2019 i9 MBP for the first time since purchase (other than incremental and security patches of course). It's still on Catalina 10.15.7 and is rock solid. I'm all-in on Cubase and have a lot of third-party instruments, programs, and plugins, and would like to keep as much of it working as possible. In the past with my previous computer I would upgrade to the most recent update of the prior OS version once a new major version was released. However I haven't necessarily been impressed with the post-OSX operating systems. Yet Catalina is getting pretty old and is dropping off the supported OS list for newer software and plugins. So I'm just wondering if there are any remaining issues I should be aware of. Thanks all!

Super unfortunate to hear of this...I only recently got into the Variax world with the acquisition of a nice blue 1st-gen Variax 600 - and I love it and the concept; it's become one of the most useful tools in my arsenal. I was under the impression at the time that a lot of the accessories (like the special DI/PSU) were hugely backordered but were expected to arrive in the US late this year. Glad the one I got came with the DI unit and PSU. I always thought the Variax tech sounded much better than the Roland COSM technology (I have a GR-55 unit I use with a strat with a GK-3 pickup) - I can't stand how that sounds for guitar models, much less the acoustic ones. That was one area that I thought the Variax tech was really pretty good at - acoustic simulation, like the Dobros.

Nice video explaining some new system features and changes that are easily overlooked with the upgrade promotional highlights.

New from Roland - seems to be their own version of an EastWest Opus type of multitimbral host, but focused on vintage Roland gear, based on the Roland Cloud plugins. Seems to me Roland used to have something like this years ago - Concerto was maybe the name? https://www.roland.com/us/products/rc_galaxias/

My new auxillary keys rig (mainly church use). Hammond SKpro 73 on the bottom for B3 duties, Yamaha MODX7 up top for everything else (pads, strings, synths, etc). Lots of fun. (Yes, it's a 2-tier x-stand, but this is a fairly lightweight rig so I'm not as worried about that).

As a happy owner of a Fantom 7, this is a great upgrade that I'll be purchasing soon. I would still like some better wurli's, rhodes, and guitars, and better polyphony implementation, but the Fantom is certainly closer to my ideal all-in-one keyboard now (where I don't need an 88), so long as super organic pianos aren't a requirement. For now my MODX7 is my do-it-all keyboard, but the Fantom is getting closer sound-wise now. I think it's nice that now with the Montage M7 we now have two really good <40lb 76-key options with good actions that can cover pretty much all bases. The Fantom is still better with playing all 16 parts from the internal keybed.

Just ran into this recently - some songs really need more parts than a single keys guy can pull off live, and there isn't always another person to go around. In my case, we didn't do tracks, but you could tell something was missing. Specifically this is true for songs with multiple overdubbed parts - such as the pop tune Rather Be, where the signature piano riff in the chorus is in fact two two-handed piano parts overdubbed against each other. So it's either pick one or try to cop snippets of both, but never sounds quite right. I would have not minded having one of the two parts on tracks but we're a fully live group at my college, so that wasn't an option. I've seen several bands recently live that used tracks for keys when they had no keys player; I would certainly have preferred a live keyboardist, but then again, if you're basically playing mainstream modern heavily-produced hard rock/metal, there's not always a ton of interesting stuff for the keys player to do anyways. One band I saw did have a keyboardist but she was also the lead singer and preferred to sing out front for some tunes without the piano, so the keys parts were on tracks for those tunes. That works IMO. What I really need are four hands and enough synths to play every part in these modern pop tunes live lol.

Fantom EX Upgrade: https://www.roland.com/us/products/rc_fantom_ex_upgrade/ Adds 2 pianos (SuperNatural Acoustic Piano 3, German Concert V-Piano), ACB synthesis, JD-800 model, the previously-released n-zyme model, and new Shimmer and Mod reverb effects. $199 - wish it was cheaper but IIRC that's cheaper than the n-zyme was on its own.

They won't ship K&M over to the US anymore. Which means I'm done buying K&M products in general since they're marked up so much here in the US.

This is my recommendation. If you want an easier folding/more compact option, the K&M 18950 is great.

NewImprov’s post above reminded me. For me, those ideas I hear are usually full arrangements - but usually there’s some space in the timing of the parts so not too much is overlapping - think more funk/jazz and less classic rock. I can “zoom in” like you would on a DAW and listen to parts more carefully, but when it’s all going at once I seem to hit a sort of mental polyphony limit in terms of hearing all details of every part concurrently without focusing on each one individually. Maybe that’s an interesting philosophical-musical question - is there a polyphony limit to the mental DAW? Lol.

I’ve always had that I guess. I “hear” musical ideas and phrases all day long, and when I’m actually playing (aside from straight sheet music verbatim), I always hear what I’m going to play before I play it. The job of my hands is to make what I am hearing in my head come out. My head is usually a bit further along than my technique, so as my technique progresses, so does the complexity of what I hear, and the cycle repeats. Some folks like to say that music “flows” from the mind. I’d say that’s true for me - my mind and ear are very interlinked. Edit: NewImprov’s post below reminded me. For me, those ideas I hear are usually full arrangements - but usually there’s some space in the timing of the parts so not too much is overlapping - think more funk/jazz and less classic rock. I can “zoom in” like you would on a DAW and listen to parts more carefully, but when it’s all going at once I seem to hit a sort of mental polyphony limit in terms of hearing all details of every part concurrently without focusing on each one individually.

Following this thread...while I don't have a CP88, I'm still currently gigging Yamaha boards with the CFX sample, and recently lost my trusty old MSR-100 speaker to a gig casualty, so I'm down to a single EV ELX200-10p. I'm undecided if I want to get a second of those and call it good, or move to a different model since I'm still not totally in love with the mid-focused sound of the ELX as much. It's a fantastic live monitor - just not sure it's the way I want to go with my sound system for solo piano gigs.

I spent my Friday night at GC tonight and took a few minutes while I was there to compare two of the boards you’ve been looking at. They happened to have both an old Keystation 49e and a current Keystation 49es on the floor. The Keystation 49e above was a rather chunky unit both in weight and ergonomics. Definitely well above your desired 5lb weight range, and clunky to hold in one hand as well. I’d estimate maybe 10lbs. The Keystation 49es pictured above was at least half the weight of the 49e, if not more like 2/3 less. It could be held in one hand while playing reasonably easily, with the consideration that it’s a little weird for weight distribution being long. The keybed also was noticeably better, although the 49e was definitely older and may have been stiffer with age or such.