Bobby Simons

Keeping costs down? It seems outrageous that they don't include a sustain pedal like the little FC5 with the board. I happen to have plenty of all varieties but c'mon, it's a effin' piano. It's not like some people won't feel they need one. Also, I like to have a music rest, both for sheet music and for the iPad I'll use with it. It's 100 bucks for not much more than a piece of plastic! That is indefensible, lol. I'll pay it, but not without some complaining. Also, since I decided I'll eventually want a FC3A continuous sustain for half pedaling and can't find one around here, my CK has gone from 1450 to almost 1600. I think Yammie has just picked my pocket. OK, I feel a little better now.

I can't really disagree with this, other than: I find the Hammond falling short, as do others. They could have done better, and could have given more controls (Leslie speed ramps, key click, etc.) I knew this going in - and if I find myself in a position that demands a better B3, I have one on my phone. Still can't get over that. 😛 But some of the other patches sound great to me. You can layer together beautiful string sections; I always test that with Barber's Adagio for Strings because his voicing forces you to play in the proper manner. It was killing me last night, just lovely and aching. The pipe organs are positively massive. I tried Wakeman's Close to the Edge spot where he goes about as big as he can go, and dug up my transcription of Emerson's Clotho. These are the organs that destroyed the world, and the CK does them justice. I was jonesin' for some bass pedals. I could use some a couple of these brass patches, one sax section choice sounds fine. I don't know how old these samples are but they seem serviceable. This old man put on headphones and went down the rabbit hole last night, stayed up way past his bedtime.

Found it. I had Menu : General : Midi : Midi Control in it's default 'OFF' setting. Dummy.

No luck getting Mainstage, or my iPad, to see the CK's drawbars. I bought this thing fully expecting it to function as a controller - not a big ask in this day and age. Sees the mod wheels and sustain pedal just fine, so there's no explanation. I'm very disappointed.

Thanks, I saw that and tried it - no luck. I'll try again when I'm more awake.

I hooked up my iPad so I could run VB3m - the CK triggers the notes but I can't figure out how to get it to see the drawbars. Has anyone done this? Please help this old fool. Oh, and the mod wheel works Leslie speed, but the swell pedal at the same time!

SO, I picked up a CK88 today at Chuck Levin's. Got the last one, he said they are selling very well. I've been playing it for a couple of hours; it's no more or less than I expected. I'm very happy to have a very decent sounding board I can throw in the car and head out to a jam or a rehearsal or a vacation. Not particularly bothered by the lights. Next up: see how it serves as a Mainstage controller. OK, back to it. . .

Air not good here in northern Maryland.

Stick to your guns, unless you have the utmost faith in the guy behind the board. It became a moot point long ago for me when I went full Mainstage. One left and one right was all there was.

Which case did you get, is there a model number?

So. . . we moved from NY (Long Island) to northern Maryland (Finksburg) about a year and a half ago. Today I finally made the hour+ ride to Chuck Levin's. Couldn't believe my eyes, every square inch of the back of the store crammed with keys. They had everything I was remotely interested in playing. I've been thinking about a second digital piano, wanted to check out a couple of the high-end Rolands. They had 'em, and more. Including a VPC-1, which ruined everything else for me. It was my first time laying my hands on one, and now I think I need to have it. It was wonderful. I think maybe the only keyboard of note that I didn't see was a mellotron, though I might have missed it, lol. I also couldn't find a SL88 Grand. They even had not one but two Viscount Legend B3 clones w/ the matching wood stands on the floor. Overkill, lol.

Sounds like questions for Dave Weiser.

Having maintained my Pianoteq ownership though P8, this is an entirely free ride for me. Believe me when I say I would have been more than willing to throw them some more money - this feels like Christmas in May. To have a flawlessly working Pianoteq in my pocket is a thrill.

I have a great transcription of that for solo piano by Thomas Mueller, an ELP specialist. I play it regularly, it puts me in a good mood.

Took the words right out of my mouth. I had mine stolen at a gig many moons ago, have aways missed it.

I went to a wedding a few months ago that served Troegs Perpetual IPA and kept 'em coming. I grew pretty fond of it. At least, I think I did.

I'm an unashamed hazy guy. Most IPA's from Treehouse make me very happy. I had a connection when I lived on Long Island, but I'm in Maryland for a year and haven't come across one yet. Other Half has some great ones and they're also in DC now. I'm slowly finding interesting more-or-less-local microbreweries. A couple of mass-produced brews will do when on tap at a restaurant - Sierra Nevada's and Voodoo Ranger's come to mind. I should add that I'm not really a fan of the predisposition for +8.5% 16 oz. 4-pack, it is truly too much of a good thing.

The Zalwinul-ish thing she goes into at 4:30 is too cool.

I seem to recall that Guido had to be begged and prodded to get VB3 II together for Mac - ages after the Windows version, and always scoffed at anything to do with iOS. So. . . this is progress.

Absolutely agree. I think success is inevitable... eventually.

Yeah, I'm just not hearing it. Too bad, I wanna love it.

Just drove home from there this morning. (Actually from a couple of blocks down the road at Dewey Beach.) Yesterday was brutally hot.

Keith's ultra-concise solo at the end of A Time and A Place. A couple dozen just right notes and the organ sounds fabulous.

LOL, you would think so. Their northeast rep could not find me a Studiologic SL88 Grand back when I was interested. I still was in New York at the time, on Long Island, less than an hour from NYC. Nothing. Nada. Nearest possibility was Baltimore, which coincidently, I'm now about an hour from.

Cool song segment, by the way.