Irena

I was happy to see Anderson .Paak scoop those two up. Anderson is a skilled producer (not to mention a phenomenal drummer in his own right), and may be able to direct their talent and energy in some interesting new ways.

+1 on the Native Instruments S Series if it's within your budget. Keybed preference is obviously a personal thing, but I've found the S49's action and AT implementation to be the best of the bunch. Great build quality too.

Adding to the suggestions above, your Arturia clav can also do the job with the suggested distortion/wah pedal combo. Even the Arturia stock effects can get pretty close to that vibe when coupled with the right playing technique. Try "Funk AD" for the basic sound, and make sure the stock Overdrive pedal is switched on. Then replace the Autowah stompbox with their Wah pedal, and set up an expression pedal to modulate it. The rest is pedal technique. Try briefly accenting 2 and 4 on the wah pedal to start, and then start mixing up the pedal accents a bit once you're locked into the groove.

I'm also a fan and usually end up buying whatever he puts out. I transcribed his Rhodes solo from Blue Bird a few months ago as a part of my 2022 campaign to become one notch less pathetic with notation software. Happy to share it with anyone--PM me if interested.

I'm no expert on this topic either, but I'd add overall enclosure design to the big list of variables as well--e.g., ports, and even cabinet material. Maybe it's also worth noting that the original impetus for compression horn drivers wasn't so much to direct sound as it was to improve efficiency back in the days that amplification power was heavy and expensive. I don't really know the physics of how a compression driver achieves close to 10X efficiency over a flush-mounted cone, but as someone smart once explained it to me, a driver's ability to make noise at a given input wattage increases with air density in the same way that a canoe paddle delivers more power when pulled through water than when pulled through air. Building on that idea, the narrow throat of a compression driver impedes the air from dissipating as quickly as it would in a surface mounted design (i.e., making the air "thicker" close to the driver), and the driver ends up producing a higher SPL at a given wattage. (Maybe someone with a strong technical understanding can weigh in with a better explanation... ) The widening duct beyond the throat allows sound to be radiated more broadly for sound reinforcement applications. That efficiency comes with some tradeoffs of course, and the lightweight Class D amps we have now have made it more viable to throw thousands of watts at other, less-efficient options.

I have yet to find notation software that works as intuitively as I would expect. Producing nice clean notation is--for me anyway--tedious and laborious no matter the software. I've been struck though over the last few years by how much MuseScore has closed the feature gap relative to the established commercial players. It takes a while to learn, but so do the others, and the user community Q&A almost always addresses whatever arcane notation issue I'm struggling with. MuseScore is unlikely to be love at first sight for you, but I don't think that any notation software clears that bar for most of us. I'd recommend giving it a look alongside the paid solutions like Finale/Sibelius.

With something like the iLouds, you could also consider using their 3/8" thread mounts and source some hardware to attach them to a keyboard stand if it has sufficiently tall and rigid vertical supports. Early pandemic I needed to figure out a way to get iLoud MTM's up to ear level for a makeshift remote studio. (They're slightly larger than the Micros, but mount in the same way.) I ended solving the conundrum with some hardware from Triad-Orbit. Their stuff isn't cheap, but it's well-built and well-documented. My situation wasn't exactly like yours may be. In my case I had my keyboards on a Standtastic wall-mount system, so for me there wasn't anything suitable to clamp to on the keyboard support system itself. I could have gone with simple floor-standing mic stands for the iLouds (5/8"->3/8" adapters are cheap and easy to find), but I wanted something cleaner, so I wall mounted a few poles and used the Triad-Orbit hardware to make it all work. I could have opted instead for a simpler solution using wall-mount hardware with the speaker thread-mounts to put the iLoud's in a fixed position. However in my case I wanted to be able to adjust their height easily for sit/stand purposes, hence the pipe fittings/C-clamp setup. If you found a keyboard stand with vertical struts that went as high as you needed for your monitors, you might consider a variation on this idea.

I've also been looking at that AZ Summit stand. Along the way I've discovered this build-to-order company, which looks to make some similar configs: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SoundesignStudio?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=871333545 While going down the Etsy rabbit hole, I also found this piece: https://www.etsy.com/listing/786695066/the-capriccio-studio-desk-top-for Expensive for what it is, but one of the nicest designs I've run across. I contacted the vendor and he doesn't have time right now to build another one, but for me it's a good point of reference for design possibilities.

I'm also a big fan of the TP/8S action, and it's always been a mystery to me why nobody has built a controller with it as far as I know. (I can confirm the Novation SL boards use a TP/9S action. Not bad, as you say, but lacking that great feel of the TP/8S with its extended pivot point.) These days the TP/8S seems to show up on really big and expensive synths like the Moog One and Waldorf Quantum. Like you it sounds, I'd buy a 61 or 76-key TP/8S controller in a heartbeat.

My use of "sustained /stable" was confusing re: the degree of control I look for in AT, and I agree with the subsequent posts that call it out. Agreed that for anything where real precision is required, an EP, knob or slider is the way to go. The use case I'm thinking of is something like LFO depth during a synth solo, where I might want to trigger "a little" vibrato on one note for a sustained period, and later "a lot" on another. (Ditto for a swell.) The actual AT values are wiggling around a fair bit, but for practical purposes I have a few shades of grey to work with. With the AT on a ~$500/controller (e.g., Novation SL, Arturia Keylab, Nektar P4) I'm able to get the granularity I need, but with some of these less expensive boards, even with slow and deliberate attempts I have a hard time triggering anything other than 0 or 127.

A few years ago I was in the market for something around that price point with the feature set you've described, and had a chance to try a bunch. One thing I was struck by was how difficult the aftertouch is to control on these boards. I was expecting a major step down from pricier AT implementations, but was still surprised by how hard it was for my hands to trigger a sustained and stable AT value anywhere in between 0 and 127. It made me reexamine my AT requirement, for I couldn't see using the AT on these boards much in practice to modulate LFO depth, filter cutoff, etc. where I need something finer than binary control. You may have a better experience and/or may only need simple on/off control, but I ultimately ended up relaxing the AT requirement and found some good non-AT options which to me seemed like better boards overall. I was particularly impressed with the NI A49--no AT, but a solid build quality, and for my fingers a surprisingly good action compared to other boards around its price.

I think your choice of Tribal Tech as an illustrative example is a great way to start the conversation--I took it as such. I would guess the Dregs, Metheny/Mays, the ECM and CTI catalogs, Brecker Brothers, etc., are pretty familiar to most in this group, but it's been great to read how people think about the lineage. As for newer music, I see the most well-known practitioners like Snarky Puppy and the hyped up-and-comers like Domi mentioned on this forum from time to time, but I'm continually astonished by the quality of other jazz-ish material coming out through channels like Bandcamp. A lot seems to be happening in the UK (e.g., Ezra Collective). In some cases it's debatable whether these players are doing much that's new vis a vis what was first explored 40-50 years ago, but in any case I am enjoying some of it. A few are noted below that may not be on your radar, but please don't think I am suggesting these are comparable in significance to the landmark recordings referenced elsewhere on this thread. I'll be surprised if people are talking about many of these in 40 years, but offered in the spirit of what I think you may be asking: Yussef Kamaal- Black Focus JK Group - The Young Ones Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange (eponymous album) Alfa Mist - Runouts Nubiyan Twist - Jungle Run Triorität - Alg0 Soul Supreme - Award Tour (We Gettin' Down) Vels Trio - Celestial Greens (e.g., "McEnroe") A few categories I've neglected that many might consider fair game: i) funk-driven grooves with horns (my list arbitrarily assuming that musical giants like Tower of Power and AWB are not considered jazz fusion for your purposes; if they are, I might add a few recent entrants) ii) deep house club mixes that include prominent jazz elements--i.e., my list assumes four-on-the-floor results in automatic disqualification, 🙂; iii) broken beat--artists like Mark De Clive-Lowe.

Going back to the coining of the term, Tony Williams' "Emergency" is sometimes overlooked as an early fusion landmark that preceded Bitches Brew. Not nearly as well known now of course, but it was pretty influential at the time. A lot of great insights have been written already in this thread to trace the lineage over the next 30 years or so. The OP also poses an interesting question of whether fusion ends with Tribal Tech. At first glance it would seem no. Even just focusing on Tribal Tech itself, the bass player for Dirty Loops (Henrik Linder) has been enormously influenced by Gary Willis. I'm not suggesting Dirty Loops as a successor to Tribal Tech (that would be a hard argument to make for all kinds of reasons ) or even an example of modern fusion, but if you look to their instrumental pieces like "Work Shit Out" from last year, it's not too far away from Tribal Tech in sensibility. Genre labels tend to get worn out, and I don't think many younger artists would self-identify as fusion any more than they would as acid rock. Still, there's am obvious linkage between original fusion supergroups like RTF and today's Snarky Puppy / Ghost-Note / Domi-JD Beck / etc. gang, even if Nu Jazz is the preferred term nowadays. I'd add to that list some less in-your-face players like Kaidi Tatham, whose tasty EP and clav work is hard not to appreciate for anyone weened on Herbie. Beyond the current crop of Nu Jazz heavies, whether other artists over the past 10-20 years deserve mention depends on what's being fused. Jazz + rock seemed to be the original formula that inspired the term, but if we really mean jazz chops + whatever the young people are digging these days, there's a lot out there now. Robert Glasper's vibe is a long way from Mike Stern blowing hard bop lines over jazz changes with a crunch guitar sound, but as Glasper has shifted from a jazz trio format into his current sound with trap grooves and neo soul elements (e.g., his Black Radio albums), he's built on straightahead jazz skills to arrive somewhere new and interesting. Once one opens the door to his sound, there's a lot of genre-obliterating material out there to consider. I'm not sure many people considered Roy Hargrove's "RH Factor" albums from the early 2000's to be fusion, but I don't what else to call that fantastic soup of jazz, funk, hip-hop and even a Q-Tip appearance. Herbie's albums from around the same time (e.g., Future 2 Future) are often overlooked for their role in quietly moving the ball forward on that front--e.g., virtuoso turntableism that goes way beyond the campy Rockit fare, all riding on top of Jack DeJohnette. Speaking of Q-Tip, what about the whole lo-fi sampled jazz situation? That might seem like a big stretch, but artists like a Tribe Called Quest and Dilla have begotten a fertile lo-fi *non-sampled* scene (e.g., skilled Berklee types accompanying an MC) which can be heard performed live without a net in the wee hours at East Village venues these days. That all makes me wonder if the word fusion feels at this point historical and over to many simply because so much has been done to blow up the orderly demarcated genre silos that existed when the term first emerged. If that's the case, I see it as a mark of progress that the term is fading away. But like others I hold the original fusion stalwarts mentioned on this thread (and many others not mentioned) in the highest regard and reach for the term with admiration when referring to those musicians. Over the course of a few decades their artistic vision arguably rendered the term itself obsolete. In other words, mission accomplished.

More good discussion here.

Yep, that's the one. It's a great Arif Mardin arrangement, Ballpark transcription for that turnaround: F/G CMaj7 Bmin7 AMaj7 | Gb/Ab DbMaj7 Bb/C FMaj7 | D/E Now if someone could explain Herbie's lead sound on that track and how to reproduce it...I've never been able to get it with a Mini emulator. Maybe his Clavitar?

I've sold two items in the last year since they simplified (read: raised) their fees. Their current published rate is 5% commission + a 2.7% payment processing fee; ergo, 7.7%. I've not been able to tie their fees on my recent transactions precisely to the stated 7.7%, but I suspect it's related to nuances around sales tax, etc., and it's been close enough that I haven't worried about it. Ditto on using Reverb's shipping service unless you have access to a spectacular negotiated rate with one of the major carriers. They offer a good discount and the process is streamlined.

On the smaller semi-weighted end, I've had the chance to work with and compare three of the premium controllers: the Novation SL MK3, the NI S49/61 MK2, and the Nektar Panorama P Series. They're all strong offerings (as is the higher-end Arturia Keylab, though I have never driven one outside of a music store setting). Action is of course a personal thing, but fwiw the Nektar P seems to arouse the most complaints--many people don't like the feel/weighting of the black keys. I found the Novation SL and the NI S49 to be *very* close in terms of action--they both feel like a Fatar TP/9S to me or thereabouts in balance and quality. The SL key surfaces are a little glossier and more slippery to the touch. I ended up buying the NI S49 for myself. It is by far the weakest as a DAW controller, and as others have noted is designed primarily for use within the NI ecosystem. I have other devices I can use for DAW control, and have enough NI soundware to benefit from the tight integration the S49 affords. And that integration really is pretty great. The generous display and intelligent knob/parameter mappings to NI devices are easy to love, and that experience extends to third-party VST's that play nicely within the NI environment like U-he's plugins. These days the biggest complaint I hear around the NI S boards is around value. Whereas Novation and Arturia offer a generous set of knobs/pads/sliders in a comprehensive package, NI boards at the same price point are pretty spartan in comparison. If it turns out you do need some DAW control down the road, other controllers might be a better all-rounder solution for you. While it sounds like you're looking to upgrade, at the lower ~$200 pricepoint I've found the NI A series has a noticeably better keyboard than anything else out there. Like most boards at that price it lacks AT, and again offers little in the way of DAW control, but they've managed to get a pretty nice-feeling keybed into an entry level offering.

crusty?

As does Bitwig, arguably even moreso than Ableton. Bitwig's hierarchy of instrument level and instrument-preset level mappings is very flexible, and its VST sandboxing makes it a particularly stable VST host for live performance.

RH for me: 123,13,123 starting on C. 3,123,123,1 starting on Db. 13,123, 123 starting on D.

Pianist Robert Glasper often weaves in a trap feel, both in the studio (check out "Laksmi") and in live jazz ensemble situations. Likewise, two-step/drum-&-bass has been appropriated by jazz-influenced sorts as well. James Hardway has been building on those ideas since the late 90's--e.g., much of the album "A Positive Sweat" and a few that followed. I've especially enjoyed watching the cross pollination between jazz and the broken-beat loops originally constructed by and for club kids on an MPC with little harmonic content beyond a sub-bass drone. Each seems to have raised the game of the other. Young virtuoso drummers like JD Beck borrow heavily from it. Yussef Kamaal gives a two-fer in the link below starting around 2:40, coming out of a broken-beat feel into an overt J Dilla groove. In fact, that sparse Dilla "drunk" quintuplet swing which originated in hip-hop may be the best example of all--so often I hear what many would call jazz referencing it these days.

I just contacted them on the keybed question. (I too am a huge fan of the TP-8S). Alas, it's a TP-9S.

I've held onto my hard copy of that "Two-Phisted Phonk" article--it's a great one. On a related note, a few nights ago I worked out the groovy 12-bar keyboard break in Louis Cole's "Live 2019" video starting at 16:12. He often uses that glitchy lo-fi synth clav-ish sound, which I think pairs well with his technique--the most staccato right-hand hits end up almost atonal and work like ghost notes . I don't have it transcribed in staff notation, but I created a Midi file if anyone wants to PM me.

I'm a longtime owner of a KC and still a fan. No doubt some of the options available today can outperform the Virus in many ways given its dated architecture, but its depth continues to handily outstrip my own imagination for sound design. Even today the Virus usually gives me a better result than my VST's. Moreso than the guts, I suspect a lot of it for me is the control surface design--it's the best tactile synth I've ever worked with. And that glorious keybed...the Fatar TP/8S action is seldom used in synths (as far as I know the Moog One is the only other TP/8S synth currently in production), but most people who know that keybed prefer it, and the AT implementation is just right. I too have been curious why we haven't seen an update since the TI2. The point about Kemper having wrung every last bit of sonic goodness out of the archaic Motorola 56000 chipset seems like it must be at least a partial explanation. I've also read articles and interviews with him suggesting that he's been more passionate about developing his amp modeling technology over the past decade, and that he may redirect his attention to the synth market at some point soon. Would I buy a Virus again today? In fact, I just did. I've been splitting my time between two places and needed a decent polysynth in the second location. I was nearly set on the Hydrasynth, as so many veteran forum members whose opinions I respect are big fans, and a new Hydra can be had for about the same $ as a used KC or first version TI. Poly AT, updated technology, easier DAW integration...there's a long list of reasons for me to step into the current decade with a Hydra. And yet when a mint TI popped up on Reverb a few months ago, I couldn't pass it up. I've been on that TI for about 3 months now, and love it even more than my KC. I'd be embarrassing myself by touting the "new features" my circa 2006 TI has introduced over the KC (golly, USB!), but I am happier than ever with it. The Virus Control VST is nice (though props to Mystery Islands for their Virus HC VST which does many of the things Virus Control does as well or better, and works across the entire range of Virus hardware), the TI's added knobs and LED's are exactly what I never realized the KC was missing, and the user-definable CC templates make it a much more capable controller for my VST's. Don't get me wrong: I am sure I would love a Hydra given its rave reviews and likely many others from the current crop, but I think a used KC or TI still deserves a good look for VA buyers where keybed and build quality are a major consideration.

I've had similar feelings around audiophile speakers and have had great experiences using studio monitors for day-to-day listening. As noted, there's that pleasant-vs.-revealing tradeoff to sort out, and sweet spot can be a challenge in anything smaller than an expensive/hefty far-field main. My best results have come from three-way speakers in the large-midfield category--big enough to fill the room without breaking the bank. For many years I have used an old pair of JBL 4410's with a consumer-segment tube amp to warm things up a bit. Sloppy for reference monitoring as you'd guess, but a nice sound for listening. More recently I picked up a pair of used Klein+Hummel O410's on the cheap. I bought them for monitoring, but wondered if they might work for recreational listening given their design (e.g., dome mid-range drivers, which tend to mitigate harshness in my experience). I've been astonished by how nice they sound across the board. I've since hung them in my living/dining area and couldn't be happier.