Dr Mike Metlay

If folks are interested in learning more about the electronic music coffee table books PUSH TURN MOVE, PATCH & TWEAK, and the forthcoming PEDAL CRUSH, please don't hesitate to reach out. I edited the first book and am editing the third, and the author of the second is a dear friend. I am happy to answer any questions I can, and if I have no answer I will find someone who does.

I will share some of mine when I get a chance. There's plenty of room for Internet radio stations like yours and mine, so I'm proud to offer my tracks from our library for your use.

Hello everyone! I'm Mike Metlay, aka Spiral Sands in Second Life. I do regular shows there as part of the RadioSpiral online presence. If folks have questions about streaming to SL and giving effective virtual concerts, please don't hesitate... I've been doing this for a very, very, embarrassingly long time. If you have an avatar in SL, hit me up, I'd love to meet with you.

Wow, right up my alley. I will be in touch via email asap!

Neither the keyboard version nor the module version of the minilogue xd understands aftertouch, even via MIDI. I am aghast and very, very disappointed.

Wonderful video. Thanks, Stephen!

Note that wax buildup varies a lot from person to person. I have been using a Q-Tip in my ear canals (gently) for many years right after showering, and my ENT says my ear canals are always very clean with nearly no buildup. I don't recommend my method for anyone who doesn't have naturally low wax production; if you do it wrong, it will jam the wax against your eardrum, making extraction painful and possibly dangerous.

As someone who has unapologetically played keytar for decades and who's probably owned ten of them at one time or another, I will happily talk about why they're wonderful to anyone who will listen. I am well aware of the fact that they can (and often do) look truly idiotic on stage. That said, I find that they embody an almost entirely different methodology for playing than traditional keyboards do, they require a different approach, and present different rewards. Alas, the currently available crop is pretty thin: The Roland AX-Edge has a lot of the right features but is fabulously expensive for what it does and looks ridiculous (even for a keytar, which is saying something!). Conversely, the Alesis Vortex 2 Wireless is actually a huge bargain as a MIDI controller; as is often the case with keytars, it provides the user with immediate access to a large variety of left-hand expression controls, something which IMO you can never get too much of. Some tips for the OP from a once and possibly future Vortex 2 Wireless owner: 1. The included USB wireless dongle is best thought of as a way to not clothesline yourself when playing on stage, not as a way to walk far away from your rig and get out in front. If you're really serious about mobility, invest in a proper wireless MIDI setup and add it to the keytar; otherwise, stick to wired for safety's sake. Anything beyond 10 feet, you're asking for trouble. 2. As stupid as it sounds, if you want to take it on stage, invest in a guitar stand for it, and try it first to make sure it will actually work without dumping the keytar on the floor! (The one thing that nobody ever seems to think about any more when designing keytars is practicality. While you're cleaning up the beverage that squirted out of your nose while reading that last sentence out loud, let me explain. A keytar doesn't HAVE to have a useless, impractical design in the name of cosmetics. If someone built one that was relatively utilitarian in shape, it would draw a lot fewer laughs. The Yamaha KX1 and KX5, the Casio AZ-1, and the original-original-no-not-the-AX1-do-your-homework-kid Roland AXIS, all had one thing in common. You could set them down on stage without them falling over because they weren't all weird angles and bad balance, and without damaging a cable jack. You shouldn't need a damn guitar stand for a keytar, and that's a huge failing of the Vortex 2 Wireless: it's got a slanted bottom edge and all the damn I/O is down there. Feh! But I digress.) 3. Get a very long strap and wear it as low as you can. You're not playing a Chapman Stick! Get it away from your shoulders so your arms can extend semi-naturally; you'll find it way more comfortable, and as a side benefit, it looks considerably less stupid. 4. Do not dance while using it. Ever. Do not run around on stage with it. Do not even walk over to the guitarist or bassist and grin at him while swaying back and forth in time to the music. Nodding your head is acceptable, barely, as long as you don't headbang. Walking back and forth a few steps around your rig to reach various keyboards that are far apart, or walking across the stage to confer quietly with other band members, is OK... it shows that the keytar has practical value and isn't just silly stage dressing. 5. If you shred on it, don't make the "oh my God I need more fiber in my diet" face. Please. For ALL our sakes.

Argh, this is my life. I've been looking for an Oberheim Xk off and on for years, and one pops up on Ebay and is nabbed while my back is turned. Have fun with it, but watch out for heating issues (they added a voltage regulator later on and bolted it to the back of the case as a heat sink) and for the pitch/mod paddles coming loose (Permatex is your friend).

Just not a posing pouch, PLEASE!

Hello, everyone. I'm Mike Metlay. These days, I work as a consultant and freelance writer and editor, with RECORDING Magazine as one of my clients; I was the Editor-In-Chief there until March 2019, ending a 23-year stint on the masthead. Forty years into my journey as a musician, I have released a bunch of music, much of it interesting, some of it even pretty. Learn more at my website. I am the cofounder and library curator of RadioSpiral, a 24/7 Internet radio station specializing in electronic, ambient, and experimental music. With a staff of ten, it's a vibrant and fast-growing station with an audience that loves to chat online during our hosted shows and our frequent live concerts, as well as a continuing presence in the virtual world of Second Life. I have spent nearly 30 years assembling groups of musicians from all over the world for recording projects, concerts, and festivals. I derive a huge amount of enjoyment from bringing people together to make music and have fun, and love facilitating it even when I can't be a part of it. Tech gets boring; people never do... or as I often like to say, "Some people collect synthesizers. I collect synthesists." I ran the Oberheim Xpander User Group (with an actual quarterly newsletter printed on real paper and everything!), and have been contributing to online knowledge bases since before the World Wide Web was invented. Forty years is a long time to amass information and working experience with music gear, and I am always happy to share what I know. My primary musical interests include alternative controllers both inside and outside the new MIDI Polyphonic Expression standard, iOS as a practical platform for music making, small studio outfitting and design, and the long and tortured history of certain vintage keyboards, especially the Mellotron. I live with my family in northern Colorado, in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, and I'm very glad to meet you all. I can't promise I can answer every question you might have in my areas of expertise, but if I don't know the answer, I'll happily try to find someone who does. To paraphrase one of my favorite heroes: it is my very great honor to meet you, and you may call me "Dr. Mike." PS: Yes, I usually put a Ph.D. after my name, and I know it's a silly affectation. The doctorate is real -- it's in experimental nuclear structure physics -- but I haven't used it professionally in decades, and I don't think it says anything about how smart I am, only how determined. I use it because I earned it and I nearly died getting it, so why not?

Nope. Wasn't me, you can't prove anything. Nope.