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kaptainkeys

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Posts posted by kaptainkeys

    Dearth of showroom models

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    My local Guitar Center (aside from having poor ratings on yelp) has always had scarce pickings when it comes to floor models.  Most of the time these days it's a couple Juno DS models and maybe a Yamaha MX49, in addition to a wide array of crap digital pianos in the sub $500 range from the likes of Williams and Alesis.  Whatever they have in terms of used keyboard inventory is there as well, last time I went, there was an S90XS (they were asking $1800 for it, I can get a Kronos for not much more in the local used market) and a Nord Lead 2 (for $1200).  The best 'lineup' they ever had when I was in there was a CP88, MODX8, and an RD88, and the RD88 was not even plugged in.

    Another go with a new all-in one board, or transition to a laptop rig thread.....

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, Aynsley Green said:

    Get a Fantom or a Kronos if you need that kind of firepower. Keep your rig and your life simple.

    Just make sure you get a route your power cord to make sure it doesn't get unplugged, otherwise it'll be a long few songs (especially on the Kronos) watching "Loading Samples" after a drunk patron inevitably trips on the cord right before your epic solo.

    KB Sounds--Too Many Variations on a String

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Can't agree more, especially as someone who has difficulty picking things in general.  What drives me most insane is when they give you 85 synth brass sounds that are all based around the same 4 waveforms, just with different effects and envelopes (I can do that myself, even cheap modern workstations have sliders or knobs to change these parameters), but then leave out other important sounds, like a good Yamaha CP sound (ahem, Roland).  I'm still waiting for someone to come out with a top board that is compact, has comprehensive front panel controls (think Nord Stage), and has a few, high quality and highly tweakable basic presets of all the main bread and butter sounds (I don't need 40 synth brass sounds, just one or two and some easy to reach cutoff, resonance, and ADSR knobs), but is mainly focused around editing the samples given (for acoustic instruments) and an editable organ engine, VA synth, and FM synth.  16 part multitimbrality and comprehensive midi routing are also on the list (basically if a Nord Stage and a Korg Kronos had a child).

    USB Interfaces with more than 16 channels, are there any out there?

    in Recording Magazine - The Forum

    Posted

    43 minutes ago, KuruPrionz said:

    Me too and I don't need it at all. 

    I've got 8 channels and it's plenty for what I do. 

    The only reason I want more than 8 channels is for recording a live band.  By my calculations, I'd probably need somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-22 tracks, in order to have a full mic'ed drum kit (7-8), all the vocal mics (in my case that would be 5) and amp mics (2), and direct channels for bass (1) and keyboards (6, 3 keyboards running in stereo), as well as a spare channel or two for a sax player, some percussion, or an extra keyboard if the song calls for it.

    USB Interfaces with more than 16 channels, are there any out there?

    in Recording Magazine - The Forum

    Posted

    I've been surfing the web and looking for a USB audio interface of some kind that either has 22 to 24 input channels or has the ability to be expanded to 24 channels.  The only interface I've found so far that fits into my criteria is the Steinberg UR824, which has 2 ADAT inputs, so I can buy two older firewire interfaces that have 8 channels and ADAT out and use them as expanders.  Otherwise, I've yet to find anything else that fits this criteria.

    New MacBook Pro M1, macOS Monterey, MainStage 3.6. Good stuff

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, Reezekeys said:

    That's an interesting post you copied - here's what it looks like in my browser!

    er post.jpg

    The text of @EscapeRocks's post from above, just changed the font color:

     

    "Just unboxed a brand new 14” Mac Book M1 Pro

    16gb 1TB SSD

    Turned it on. Did the usual setup, removed things I will never use on this machine. (iMovie, the office type stuff)

    Turned off Siri and block messenger from opening. 

    Then went right to the App Store and downloaded Mainstage 3.6. 

    Waited for it to finish downloading the basic library. 

    Launched Mainstage and selected the other sounds I wanted. 

    Then to see how it looked, I opened up the built in Synths concert. 

    Everything, and I mean everything looked good. 

    The patch list has the proper background color with icons and patch names. 

    The memory bar is correct. 

    Even with Space D active, CPU barely ticks 

    So far so good. 

    I then went to my Arturia account and downloaded the software center. 

    Opened that and activated what I use. V-Collection 8. 

    Then within that activated and installed the specific instruments I use. 

    Tested them stand alone then created channel strips

    Again, Mainstage handled it just fine

    Playing monster chords with sustain on Jup-8 V4, CPU maxed at total 20% This is in the Synth concert so those other things are also active. 

    Then I did the same with PianoTeq. 

    All good. 

    This is with OSX Monterey 12.2.1

    I’m now grabbing my B3X from iK. 

    I expect similar results

    I ran thru this same test on an older non M1 MBP, and I did have a lot of the issues. Patch names not visible, maxed out memory bar, etc. 

     

    My very simple conclusion is 3.6 is optimized for the new machines. 

    A friend also just got a brand new 16” MBP and has the same perfect out of box results 

     

    After B3X installs I will begin building my concerts up and stress testing. 

     

    Update:

    B3X works just fine, stand alone and inside MainStage."

    • Like 1

    OT: Most common vocal range

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    I've never actually measured my vocal range, but I am a high baritone/low tenor.  I can sing fairly low and pretty high in my chest voice, and in falsetto I can go even higher.  When people ask about my range, I generally say that I have a similar range to Steve Lukather of Toto, although I can sing lower than I've ever heard him sing.

    Building a two board rig, what is a good pairing?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    40 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

    Krome is not derived from Kronos. Kronos has nine engines, Krome has one engine... and its one engine (EDS-X) is not any of the nine that are in the Kronos (EDS-X is kind of a scaled down version of the Kronos' HD1 engine, with differences including, I believe, that HD1 uses uncompressed samples and EDS uses compressed samples). However, Krome does have sampled versions of some of the Kronos' modeled EP sounds, and scaled down versions of some of its multi-gigabyte SGX pianos.

    I know that, I had no illusions that I'd be getting the SGX-2 and EP-1 engines from the Kronos.

    19 minutes ago, Old No7 said:

    And... And... And TWO MOVING BLANKETS!!!

    Unironically, I think I have some in my garage from when I last moved, but I'm going to probably pick up some semi-hard SKB or Gator cases for the boards.

    Building a two board rig, what is a good pairing?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    43 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

    Although Kross 2 is a lower end model, it does have some features absent from the Krome (and Krome EX), i.e. the sampling/trigger pads, battery operation, audio input/vocoder. But overall, unless one of those Kross-specific features is really important to you, I'd take the Krome, for the improved pianos/EPs (much larger sample set, based on Kronos sounds), the touchscreen (advantage for overall ease of use and patch selection), and the more capable EDS-X sound engine (vs. EDS-i in the Kross) which gives it more sonic potential (e.g. 8 velocity layers instead of 4, more EQ flexibility).

    The Kross specific features such as battery power and the trigger pads are not that important to me, neither is the vocoder.  I'd rather have the better soundset derived from the Kronos, touchscreen and better sound engine at the expense of a little extra weight (like 4 pounds, which doesn't matter that much to me, since the board is still less than 40 pounds).

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