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JamPro

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Posts posted by JamPro

    Turn a Tablet into a Music Machine

    in Craig Anderton's Sound, Studio, and Stage

    Posted

    My brother recently gifted me a refurbished HP 11m tablet.  The processor is an Intel Silver N6000 (up to 3.3GHz), with 4 G of RAM, and a 128 GB SSD for storage.  The tablet runs Win 11.

     

    I'm thinking I can use the tablet as a "live rig" sound source.  I own a Roland RD2000, so one USB cable will connect the RD and the tablet, and the RD functions as both ADDA convertor and MIDI interface.  How cool is that!?!

     

    So what do I need to do to make this tablet and its OS ready to make music?

     - optimize Win 11 for music production

    - remove bloatware to free up storage

    - secure the tablet against viruses and malware

    - download the Roland driver so the RD and tablet can communicate

     

    I feel pretty confident I can get the driver, but I am uncertain about the other tasks.  What are the best optimizations for Win 11?  Is there a website with good info about optimizing Win 11 for music production?  Is Win Defender an adequate anti-virus?  What anti-virus is effective and doesn't interfere with computer music making?  If I only visit familiar software selling websites, do I need an anti-virus?  How do I figure out which of the included software I should keep and what I should delete?  (The tablet comes with Win Office installed, but I have to rent it to use it, and I prefer Open Office, and really don't think I need a whole office productivity suite to my purposes - and who knows if MS will even let me delete Win Office?)

     

    And of course: the what thing have I failed to consider as I plan this?

     

    Any advice or suggestions is appreciated.

    The best of times?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    We are certainly living in "peak keyboard".  Digital pianos that sound good and play well and weight under 20 kilos and fit in the back of a car; an entire Synclavier-like synth that fits in your laptop (at a workingman's price); sample instruments that do not require looping of the sustain tail; impulse responses of every major studio and cathedral ever built available on your computer for your production; and so on.

     

    Sadly, if current trends hold, all that low-priced sonic goodness will likely be married to AI and packed into a device the size of a car key-fob that outputs music constantly, and music making and production will become a process not requiring any human involvement.

     

     

    • Like 1

    When was the last time you took a lesson ?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Last time I took a piano lesson was last fall - October if memory serves.

     

    I had hired this teacher (conservatory-trained classical pianist with an interesting in improvisational playing) to help me overcome a persistent feeling of weakness and tension in my LH, and to guide me as I work on Bach.  He was very good at talking about the emotional aspects of a piece of music, and getting me to work on being more expressive in my playing.  He was really bad at teaching the mechanics and physical part of piano playing.  At one point, after I asking him multiple time about what I should be doing to improve my LH, he said to me "I don't know what you need to do to fix that.  That is something you have to figure out for yourself".  I decided that I did not need to pay him to teach me if I was going to have to figure it out for myself.  So I stopped lessons with him.

     

    I have had a couple of really good teachers with whom I was able to make great progress, and a lot of really bad teachers who were no help at all at teaching playing mechanics and technique.  I would love to find a good teacher, but I'm not sure I have any more patience for weeding out all the bad ones.

     

     

    • Like 1

    What Scale is This?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Hello.  I have recently been woodshedding What Is This Thing Called Love.  I chose this song because I want to practice soloing over minor ii-V7-i, and this song provides plenty of opportunity to do that.  The song also forces the soloist to switch between minor and major a lot. 

     

    I have been having trouble at the end of the B section where the song ends the B section with a dominant V: I'm having trouble making the solo lines bring out the dominant V sound and move smoothly back into the minor sound.  Today as I practiced it, what seemed to work best over this part of the song was this scale 1-2-3-4-5-b6-b7-1.

     

    Does this scale have a name?  Mixolydian variant?  Barry Harris dominant?

     

    Can anyone suggest another way to play over that dominant V at the end of the B section in What Is This Thing?  Intellectually, it seems to me that an altered scale should work over that dominant V at the end of the B section.  So far, I can't make it sound right.  Either it doesn't seem to mesh smoothly with the minor that I play in the previous measure (tonic harmonic minor scale), it doesn't sound properly major and dominant, or it doesn't seem to mesh smoothly with the minor that I play as the A section comes around again.

    Need Recommendations for a Vocal Processor

    in Craig Anderton's Sound, Studio, and Stage

    Posted

    "....can you be more specific about what kind of effect you want to achieve? Do you still want people to be able to detect melodies, or be more like effects, or...?"

     

    Ideally, I would like ALL the options: everything from a normal vocal part with an slight sheen to complete robotic destruction of any melody, rhythm, and intelligible words.

     

    The project I am working on right now will have both normal sung vocal phrases interspersed with more characterful mangled sung phrases, or choruses wherein normal vocals sing harmony to a robotic lead (or maybe vice versa).

     

    But mostly right now I want to experiment.  To that end, I appreciate Anderton's suggestions about various available options.

     

    izotope VocalSynth and Nectar are both in the ballpark.  As I understand it: VS has pitch correction and robotic FXs, and Nectar has pitch correction and harmonization.  I would need to buy both to get pitch correction, robotic FX, and harmonization - lol clever marketing on izotope's part!

    Need Recommendations for a Vocal Processor

    in Craig Anderton's Sound, Studio, and Stage

    Posted

    24 minutes ago, Anderton said:

    Just curious...do you need a single plugin "multieffects," or are you willing to do it a la carte for the various functions you want?

    I should have clarified.  It would be cool if I could find one app to do it all, but I'm starting to think there isn't any VST that combines pitch correction, harmonizing, and a vocorder all in one.  I would prefer one, but may have to content myself with multiple apps.  Price guideline: under $250.

    Official NFL Thread 2024-2025

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    1 hour ago, jazzpiano88 said:

     

    I don't know if they're the best, but I use YouTubeTV + Sunday Ticket.   I've never had any issues except the local blackouts and occasional exclusive deal like that one game on the Peacock Network that the YouTube doesn't carry.    I just checked and still have access to all of last years games.    I watch on both desktop web browser and AppleTV on the TV.  Ususally on playback as I don't have the patience or time to sit through a live game.

     

    Thanks JP88 - exactly the kind of thing I need to find out.  I should specify I am hoping to watch on my smartTV (not a phone or mobile device), and I hope to view both regular and post-season games.  I am surprised how difficult it is online to find out what services offers what games.

    Elton John vs Liberace. Who's the better piano player?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    I want to say how cool it is that well-known piano players all sound different from each other: Elton sounds different from Joel; Dr. John sounds different from Elton; Bruce Hornsby sounds different from Dr. John; Herbie sounds different from Hornsby; Emerson sounds different from Herbie; Stevie Wonder sounds different from Keith Emerson; and so on.

     

    While for the most part, I cannot distinguish the playing of Slash, Val Halen, Clapton, Page, Gilmour, Keith Richards, etc.  I can sometimes recognize differences in guitar tone among these players, but not differences in chord or note choices.

    I love my new Krumar D9x, but how to mount it?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    I have used adhesive-backed velco strips to mount effects boxes right on my keyboard.  One side of the velcro goes on the device, the other side of the velcro goes on the keyboard.  The hardware can be separated for travel, and can be velcro-ed together for playing, and will stay in place no matter how aggressive your keyboard glissandos get.

     

    A word of warning: I did this with an old Hammond XB-2; the adhesive glue and the velcro fasteners were so strong, I ended up pulling up the wood veneer that covered the XB-2 when trying to separate the keyboard and FX device.  So be careful if your keyboard or FX device has some kind of veneer on it.  Really, I only needed a small square of velcro to hold the FX to the keyboard.  The long velcro strips I used were not necessary, and were what caused the veneer to pull off the keyboard.

    Keyboard amplification

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    OK.  A mixer is a device that can accept multiple signals of varying strengths (signal levels), and output a signal of a specific strength (line level).  Along with that, a mixer allows the adjusting of these different incoming signals to balance them against each other, and may also include some tonal adjustments as well (bass, treble, etc.).  A mixer can be really useful for a keyboard player with multiple keyboards that need to be heard thru a single speaker unit.  Those Roland KC amps all include a built in mixer.

     

    A preamp is sort of a mixer but with only a single input.  The idea is the same: accept a signal of varying level, boost the signal to line level, and adjust volume and tone.

     

    Both a mixer and a preamp can add gain to a signal to make it louder at the speaker.

     

    I am surprised about your experience with powered speakers being too quiet.  With my Yamaha DXR powered speaker set at unity (no gain), I cannot set my keyboard volumes above 50% - it would kill my hearing.

    Noob Question: Getting the sounds

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Welcome JVLee - don't be discouraged by impolite actors online.

     

    "SO Finally to my question: Do you know of any video or webpage tutorials that focus on this question? It's not very easy to Google this one.

    And maybe there's just no such thing, and the only answer is experience?"

     

    There is no simple answer to your question.  Sometimes you can find a keyboard preset to do the sound you want.  Sometimes you can make small adjustments to a preset to get it to sound they way you want.  Sometimes you have to create a sound from scratch.  Sometimes, it is not possible to mimic a given sound, so you have to accept using a substitute.  It will depend on the sound you want, what keyboard(s) you have, your willingness to spend time to get a given sound, your knowledge of synthesizers and synthesis.

     

    The Kurzweil K2700 has a good deal of programmability, so at least you have not limited yourself by your choice of keyboard.

     

    Some guys will write in to this forum to ask about a particular sound they want or are working on, to get tips and suggestions.  Sometimes forum members are able to share a particular keyboard preset to cover a wanted sound.

     

    As a general suggestion, I will suggest you learn about the basics of subtractive synthesis: what an oscillator is; what a filter is; what an ADSR generator is; etc.

     

    Let us know how it is going.

    • Like 3

    OT: Alternatives to You-Tube

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    15 minutes ago, ProfD said:

    TikTok. Facebook.  Instagram.😎

     

    I guess I should re-phrase the question.  I would like to explore some alternatives to You-Tube that do not involve a large corporation geared towards web monopoly and homogenization - i.e not You-Tube, Facebook, Tik-Tok, or Instagram, and the like.  Open-source would be a plus.

    • Like 2

    Patron Small Talk / Chat

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    I prefer to let them do the talking.  So I ask these kinds of questions:

    Where are you from?  Did it take long to get here?

    Are you here on vacation? 

    (for couples): How long have you been together?

    Tell me about your kids (or grandkids or pets).  How many?  Hold old?  What do they do?  Do you like their music?

    What do you do for a living?  How did you get started in that?

     

    I find people love to talk about themselves to I give them an opportunity to do that, and then prompt them to talk some more about themselves. 

     

    • Like 5
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