Konnector

Never tried one....Actually, I've never seen one in the flesh. I think they're quite old. Like maybe 20 - 30 years old, although it's hard to find information on when they were last manufactured.

"Prog rock" was something different, something new and experimental when it appeared. It also introduced a whole new sound and instrument to the masses - the synthesizer. (Lucky Man, etc.) That can never happen again. Just like the Beatles can never happen again. Is it still breathing? Yes. I think it's actually risen from the depths it sank to. A lot of it exists in the metal domain, but there's all kinds of flavors just like it always had. Bands like Porcupine tree, Dream Theater, etc. have proven that there's still an audience out there for prog rock if it's done well. Is it still relevant? No more or no less relevant than anything else out there today IMO. It's a matter of personal taste. I doubt you'll ever convince FM radio to play some new prog material, but FM radio is pretty dismal these days, so who cares? There's prog radio on the internet, and the people that gravitate towards that type of music can still find it and support it.

A couple of variations from a quick Google:

Ghz speed makes a performance difference for VST and VSTi plugins from what I've always understood. I would consider 2.3Ghz quite slow. You can buy custom laptops these days that run @ 5Ghz. Of course a rackmount/desktop PC will smoke a laptop, but it involves a few extra bits of hardware if you're using one live. (keyboard, mouse, monitor.)

It's a pricey little synth to butcher. If it was a cheap MicroKorg or something along those lines then sure - chop it up. It's not though, so I'd say leave it be and sell it for something that fits your needs better.

if you sit higher than what would be "normal', or have short legs it would probably be ok. I use a couple of different seats when I'm playing my piano at home. One is about 4" higher than the other. (Sort of like a bar stool style office chair) When using that one, I find I put my heel on the chair leg (above where the caster is) and pedaling feels ok because my foot is at a downward angle due to the extra height. Probably puts my heel about 4" above the floor, so it would be similar to wearing women's heels. (I suppose....never tried a pair on...I swear!)

I would make something out of wood that'll provide the required height, angle and that holds it firmly in place. Simple afternoon project if you're a DIY'er. (Easy for me to say though...I typically just build whatever I need....cases, racks, console desks, stands, etc.)

I've seen a lot of great concerts over the years by legendary acts, but the one that blew me away and left the biggest impression on me was ELP in '74 on the Brain Salad Surgery tour. It still resonates to this day. The worst was Led Zeppelin in '77 in the Seattle Kingdome. (the one time they skipped playing Vancouver.) No fault of the band though. The Kingdome was a 60,000 seat concrete toilet bowl that sounded absolutely horrible. If it wasn't for the fact that I was a huge Zep fan, I would have had no idea what they were playing most of the time. It sounded that bad. Not to mention they were tiny specs on stage. Fortunately, I had seen them several times on previous tours in Vancouver, and those were all very good shows.

Can't vote on just one or the other as they both have strengths and weaknesses. I prefer a joystick for bends and vibrato, but a mod wheel is better for certain applications as it will stay put in any position whereas a joystick won't. Both would be nice but that's a rare thing to try and find....or maybe a joystick with a mod wheel or mod ribbon?

I currently use 5 pin DIN MIDI for everything in my studio. 4 ports of MIDI I/O from my DAW to 12 synths. Minimal daisy chaining as I have a couple of MIDI I/O selector boxes which allows me to control anything from any of the 7 keyboards.

I'm still on Komplete 9 + some additional libraries it didn't include at the time. (Razor, Ricky bass, etc) Gave this some thought as upgrading to K14 is cheap, but I don't think I'll bother this time around. I already have loads of plugins, soft synths and 3rd party Kontakt libraries. At some point enough is enough. (for now at least!)

If you can't decide between cooking and playing, you can get one of these.

Well, they could be ultra budget friendly controllers. CK = Crappy Keyboard Hope not!

Adding the AN-X engine along with increased sample memory would be a win. Adding a better aftertouch capable keyboard would be a bonus. I had an AN1X years ago. I liked the capabilities and overall sound but didn't gel with the interface so I parted ways with it. Sadly, the MODX+ will still have the same limited amount of sliders, buttons and knobs so hands-on manipulation of the AN-X engine will still be compromised. I would still welcome it though over the AWM2 synth tones.

Well...based on the crazy prices people are asking for a Fizmo these days, I'd say it's fallen into the collector market as opposed to anything else. I think a Hydrasynth will get you there and cost far less.

I think there's two possible answers: 42 or Nord Lead

The Korg "ChopSix". I like it. Maybe they should've released it as a module. They could punt the pitch/mod wheels and make it fit in a 19" rack. That's something I would consider buying.

IMO Korg blew it big time on the OpSix. Just when FM was getting cool again, they opted to cheap out instead of doing it right. I think it could've been a winner for them if they did a few things better. At the minimum, have the ability to layer two patches...or three or four. This is not an analog machine that requires $$$ of components to be multitimbral. Crappy 3 octave keyboard with no aftertouch. Major fail there. Korg has proven to me over the years that they feel a decent keyboard isn't something a keyboard player even cares about. Heck, you're lucky to get full sized keys on some of their synths. (Yes, I hate mini keys and I blame them for popularizing them.) I dunno, maybe Behringer's instilled fear in these mfrs with their inexpensive offerings. People will still pay a little more for something "done right" though. Maybe they'll drop a new improved version of it eventually.

Very close mic'd sounding. (But that can be an OK thing depending on what you're shooting for.) The note envelope itself doesn't sound right to me in that demo...or at least I don't like it. The decay is too rapid and the sustain is too quiet for my tastes. I guess you could slap a compressor on it to try and compensate for that.

Parted ways with all my old vintage gear years ago, but I still have the complete set of original ARP Odyssey patch overlays & the ARP sustain pedal that came with the Odyssey. (I still use the pedal. Works fine.) Sold the Odyssey years ago. It was getting a little tired and funky after many many gigs way back when.

Can't count the number of times I yelled at the guitar player to turn down. Most times though, it wasn't at a gig, but at band practice. (I would never yell at a band member in a live situation.) I prefer to hear everything comfortably as opposed to duking it out in a volume war, but it happens once in a while. I had ample power available just in case. The stages we played on were usually large enough that the guitarist was far away from me and I'd actually need some guitar fed through the stage monitors to hear him.

Get a good monitor(s) with lotsa power for your onstage monitoring just in case. (Unless of course you go with in-ears.) You want to be able to compete with the drums, bass and guitar(s). Also, some sound guys seem to think that keyboards should never be as loud as everyone else. I used to pack two large 15" two-way monitors with horns and a 500W power amp for my synths and stack them up right beside me. I can remember the odd gig where I had it cracked up to 10 and pretty much couldn't hear myself the whole gig because the onstage volume from the other guys was a wall of thunder. All I heard was my keys echoing off the walls of the hall from the PA. Fortunately, very few gigs were ever like that, but it's good to have the option to crank it up to "guitar" level if there's no other option left to hear yourself. That's also a good reason to have all your parts memorized and nailed down beforehand.

I picked up Xpand!2 about 3 years ago on sale for $1. Can't beat that. It's got a ton of patches and you can layer up to four at once. Sounds are not fully editable, but then again you don't waste hours getting lost in programming. Very fast and easy to program/layer patches. Some sounds are very good, and some not so good. No different than what a typical rompler offers. (It's never crashed on me once either and I've used it a lot.)

Can't leave out the drummer