dacm

I attended and graduated from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, CT in the early 70's. Tommy Mariano (aka Tommy Mars) was a legendary figure during those years at the conservatory. Once during a concert of John Cage music, he performed one indeterminate Cage work on a solo Fender Rhodes Suitcase 73. When he was done, he reached up to a small Tensor Lamp that stood atop the Rhodes. He proceeded to turn it off in a dimly-lit, large-scale rehearsal hall for effect. Awe inspiring... I have always regretted not attending his formal piano recital where he allegedly played concert literature on grand piano and then on multi-keyboards. He is the pride of Waterbury, CT. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Mars

Last evening I attended a re-release of the film Oppenheimer at the AMC Theater in Plainville, CT. It is highly recommended by me to see and hear this in a theater. The surround sound with added theatrical subwoofers in that setting does justice to the buzz about the film. The soundtrack is almost continuous throughout the 3-hour epic. I am still processing how the film stacks up in my personal list of all-time favorites. But, director Christopher Nolan and composer Ludwig Goransson have made a most creative film with depth and ingenuity. Below is a video link where the composer speaks about one particular cue whose genesis begins simply and then becomes very complicated in a most unique manner. Opposing viewpoints welcome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWvX4M1dXss&list=RDCMUCgRQHK8Ttr1j9xCEpCAlgbQ

OBERHEIM EIGHT-VOICE DUAL MANUAL CON BRIO ADS 200 PPG WAVETERM RMI KEYBOARD COMPUTER EML SYNKEY KORG OASYS 88

It is the Quantec Room Simulator effectively used by master keyboardist and session musician Michael Lehmann Boddicker. See discussion of this in link below: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/two-new-quantec-room-simulator-reverbs.145892/ More on Boddicker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Boddicker

I started my career as a public school music educator as The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald was released. In one middle school I taught as a substitute, they had an ongoing curriculum that used the Pop Hits resource to teach with. On many occasions, the publisher of the curriculum would take a current popular song and gain permission to use it as teaching tool. It was a well-informed resource to have during my six month stint in that town from January to June 1976. Some of the songs that I remember that were used in Pop Hits during that time period were Hurricane by Bob Dylan, Lady by Styx and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It was fun resource to teach with and may be the source that your music teachers used for you in 7th grade.

Keep in mind that the technology to create classical analog reel-to-reel flanging had been developed and tried some years before. It was later in the 70's that rackmount and pedal devices, at first analog and then digital, were then created. In the case of the B. S. and T recording, again it was 1968 and the engineers more than likely used plate reverb and reel-to-reel flanging effects. Please see and read the accompanying link to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanging

I have recently upgraded my organ rig originally consisting of a Korg BX-3, Digital Version, amplified by a Motion Sound PRO 145. I have now added a Lounsberry Organ Grinder Pedal to achieve the tone made famous by Steve Winwood on "Gimme Some Lovin' " by the Spencer Davis Group in 1966. That particular tone is referred to as "frying eggs." Now I am searching for a transcription of the opening Hammond Organ Solo played by Dick Halligan on the seminal eleven minute "Blues - Part II" from Blood, Sweat and Tears, their second album from 1968. This particular solo has elements of proto prog rock, contemporary classical and jazz with its extensive use of open parallel fifths plus octave, parallel fourths and dense chording. It also makes great use of plate reverb and flanging effects created by engineers Fred Catero and Roy Halee. In all, an outstanding example of how the Hammond was treated in this time period. I have been unable to find any information about a transcription of this particular solo and fine work by Halligan. Perhaps the Keyboard Corner Community can offer some suggestions. Here is a link to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood,_Sweat_%26_Tears_(Blood,_Sweat_%26_Tears_album)

Attached here is a much under appreciated TOTO song, Goodbye Elenore. The video appears to be shot mostly live, in rehearsal, with the classic line up of original members and an amazing array of 70's gear surrounding them. What is of interest to me is how Jeff Porcaro counts off the tempo and then proceeds to drive the band to a powerful performance. Watch and listen to his fills and how his sense of time was so strong. The emotion he shows at the end when he gets up and walks off, tells me he not only was an integral member, he was the driving force. As much as I enjoyed Simon Philips as TOTO drummer, Jeff was in a league of his own. I first heard Jeff at the Springfield, MA Civic Center in 1979, if I am correct. Next, was the amazing homecoming gig for the Porcaros in Hartford, CT at the Bushnell in July 1983. Joe Porcaro performed on percussion along with his sons to an audience of 40 CT Porcaro family members and relatives. Most memorable was seeing Steve Lukather run completely around the hall on a wireless guitar during a daring solo. I went most to hear and see Steve Porcaro, but due to a massive old-style stacked PA on stage, he was totally blocked from my view. Update: I have heard the latest incarnation of the band when I purchased a direct to internet, live performance in November 2021. It left much to be desired in my opinion. Example: The famous synth solo by Steve in Rosanna was totally skipped in favor of a tenor sax solo by Warren Ham. Steve is sorely missed... as is David Paitch. Let's hope that they have a more finely tuned performance all these months later when they perform in Hartford, CT on March 4 supporting Journey! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6-2jpl0qZs

I work mostly in the box with virtual instruments of late on film scores with Digital Performer. I own some hardware instruments that might be considered unique, however my centerpiece and master controller would have to be my Korg OASYS 88.

Living as I do in north central CT, it does not take long to drive to my classical summer home, Tanglewood. I have never attended Opening Night with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Conductor, and thought to do so this year. I was enthralled last evening to hear a program with world-musicians playing world-class music at a extremely high-level of musicianship. The program opened with Leonard Bernstein's, Opening Prayer (Benediction), with baritone soloist Jack Canfield to polite applause. Next, Bernstein's The Age of Anxiety, Symphony No. 2, was to be performed by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet with the orchestra. Due to a death in the family, Mr. Thibaudet had to withdraw. In his place, the fabulous and charismatic Yuja Wang performed the Franz Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat, to a rousing and prolific performance. Siting near me were several Asian students that were so enamored and enthralled with her, that they screamed at the sight of her taking the stage. At Intermission, the same students went around the Tanglewood Shed to try to meet Yuja and as they waited on her, they acted as if she was a rock star. Yuja is currently among the best in the world and her unique playing style is reason enough to take notice of her, if you have not already done so. If that was not enough, after Intermission the BSO performed the still radical La Sacre du printemps, The Rite of Spring, by Igor Stravinsky. This work I have listened to for 50 years, but never have I had the pleasure of hearing it in this unique live setting. The piece, from 1913, still lives up to its reputation as a cutting-edge symphonic work that revolutionized the classical world and perhaps single-handedly, ushered us into the 20th century and a new form of contemporary orchestral composition. I will not be able to return tonight for this evenings concert. However, the concert will open with a 2021 work by Carlos Simon, a brilliant composer from Washington, D.C. Carlos and I both attended the 2015 NYU Film Scoring Summer Workshop. He has gone on to have great success and is currently the Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His featured work to be performed this evening is entitled Motherboxx Connection. it was quite a remarkable evening. I will be returning again twice more this summer culminating in a concert on August 20th, John Williams - The Tanglewood 90th Birthday Celebration. http://yujawang.com https://www.bso.org/works/motherboxx-connection https://www.bso.org/events/john-williams-90th https://www.carlossimonmusic.com

I very much agree with the "The In Crowd" by Ramsey Lewis. The original song written in 1964 by Billy Page and sung by Dobie Gray was given an instrumental version by Lewis in 1965 that was recorded live, which was unique for the time. Within a year, the next important soul jazz song was "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" written by Joe Zawinul and performed by Cannonball Adderley. Later in 1967, lyrics were added and It was a Top 40 hit for The Buckinghams. As for Spyro Gyra, I have been following them for 45 years. In the last several weeks I was lucky enough to see them twice here in Connecticut. In and email, I commented to my musician friends the following: "They were not hot... nor red hot...but white hot!! What a fantastic group of extraordinary musicians with truly outstanding musicianship. Do not miss an opportunity to see them live!

In July 1983 at LaSalle Music in West Hartford, CT, it was $3300.00

The video with Mitchell Froom is from 1999 and his analog Korg CX-3 is feeding some type of device where the sound can resemble a ring modulator. It happens again at 3:15. Other than that, he is playing some type of distorted snare drum sound that is syncopated in other parts of the tune if you watch and listen carefully. Note that the drummer has no visible snare drum. It does look like an Electro-Harmonix device and if so, it was/is now called the Frequency Analyzer Pedal. The latest EHX version appears to look different from the one below which resembles the one in the video more closely. See supporting video from 2008 for more info. 51 years ago, when playing in The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jan Hammer made successful and creative use of a Maestro Ring Modulator made by Tom Oberheim on his Fender Rhodes Suitcase EP before getting a Moog Mini Moog.

The centerpiece and master controller in my studio is a KORG OASYS 88. OASYS stands for Open-Architecture Synthesizer System. Originally released in 2005, I purchased mine in 2008 after multiple sale negotiations with nine different music stores until I found one new in an unopened box. This version and a 76-key edition were discontinued in 2009. By 2011, upon the release of the KORG KRONOS, it was thought to be somewhat obsolete. Far from being at its end-of-lifespan, it is a monster machine, still capable of great versatility due to the multi-engine system and RH-3 88-note keybed. A CD/DVD insert tray holdover from the KORG TRITON STUDIO continues of make this a viable instrument today as it reads AKAI S1000 sample libraries, of which I have purchased many at close-out prices since 2008. In 2014 upon retirement as a music educator, I reconfigured my studio to accommodate a career as a film, TV and documentary composer. The OASYS continues to produce fantastic results as a stand-alone instrument, in a multi-keyboard MIDI setup and as an input device for my APPLE iMac that runs MOTU Digital Peformer 10.13. Fro more information, please visit http://www.eclecticstudio.net

Here is my current keyboard-based MIDI project studio which is setup specifically for film scoring. For more on the gear, visit http://www.eclecticstudio.net/equipment.

As the owner of a new KORG BX-3 since 2003, I tried to tweak the tone by editing the organ patches on the product in many different ways. I finally came to realize that it is not going to happen through this method. So, I started to experiment with different amplification products. After many months of trial and error, I settled on purchasing a Motion-Sound PRO 145 that I got from Goff Professional. It has a preamp circuit with a 12-AX7 tube setup by the Goff technician to my standards and has served me well in live performance and in recording. Yes, I have thought about other more recent available gear like the various Neo Instruments Vent products and the Loundsberry series of pedals for keyboards, but have never followed through and tried them out. If I took the chance to experiment once more and invest in adding another product, it would be to get that Steve Winwood, Gimme Some Lovin' tone that is referred to by organists as "frying eggs." https://www.msamps.com/pro-145

Yes, the synth in question may be listed on the album cover that is pictured in the post above, but it has been somewhat cut-off. Being from Connecticut, we were very proud of Electronic Music Laboratories for the array of products that they developed. The EML SynKey is the instrument shown on the album cover. It was brought to the market and was advertised in Contemporary Keyboard Magazine. It was quite a unique instrument in that it used pre-punched plastic cards that were inserted for programming. If you look close at the photo of Herbie instrument, the card can clearly be seen inserted on the left and is about the width of a credit card. See below for some info. borrowed from Wikipedia: Electronic Music Laboratories, commonly abbreviated to EML, was an audio synthesizer company. Founded in 1968 in Vernon, Connecticut by four former engineers, the company manufactured and designed a variety of synthesizers sharing the same basic design but configured in different ways. The SynKey - one of EML's last products. Unique in its storage of patches on plastic punch-cards. Released in both programmable and non-programmable versions. EML also produced a few custom-built units which used their standard modules in new (usually larger) configurations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Music_Laboratories Another resource is below: http://www.vintagesynth.com/eml/synkey.php

In the summer of 1983, I purchased the Oberheim OB-8 Synthesizer. Later acquisitions in that year and the next, saw me getting the Oberheim DX and Stretch Drum Machine and finally, the Oberheim DSX Polyphonic Sequencer. This was all before Oberheim decided to add MIDI to the synth and drum machine as retrofits. However, the System, as it was called, kept me busy creating. It was a popular setup that was more than likely used in many hit recordings. Eventually, I could create full-blown arrangements that included a Yamaha DX-9, Roland D-50, 360 Systems MIDI Bass, Rhodes 73 Stage EP and Hammond B-3 with a Leslie 122. This was my mid 80's -mid-90's rig.

I have installed a new flooring system into my studio from SnapLock Dance Floors. This now gives me easier access when I need wheel around to get to the hardware instruments in my collection. They are the following: Korg BX-3 connected to a Motion Sound Pro 145, Korg OASYS 88, Korg ARP 2600 and Yamaha Motif ES 7. For film composing, I use MOTU Digital Performer and a large collection of sample libraries that can be found at my website. Please visit: www.eclecticstudio.net/photos

I am a retired public school elementary vocal music teacher that is now pursuing a new career. I am in training to be a film, TV and documentary composer. My rig has undergone many changes in the last five years as I made that transition. It is centered around a KORG OASYS 88, Yamaha Motif ES7, KORG BX-3 attached to a Motion Sound Pro 145 and a new KORG ARP 2600 FS. Along with this are two Mac computers and Glyph hard drives with multitude of sample libraries that I use with Digital Performer 10.11. www.eclecticstudio.net

I have recently joined as a new user on this site after being a long-time reader of Keyboard Magazine. In fact, I had copies of issues going back to #1 from 1975 when it was Contemporary Keyboard. This was done up until 2015 when I recycled all of them except for one copy in particular. That was the year when I met composer Mark Snow at a NYU Film Scoring Workshop. I then presented him with a Keyboard issue from the 90's that featured him on the cover with his Synclavier and he was very thankful. As for me, I am a retired public school elementary vocal music teacher currently in training as a film, TV and documentary composer. Please visit my website for information and photos.