Julius D Majestic Studios

Once my parents knew for sure that I was interested they got me into lessons... I already had my own keyboard by then and had been playing drums for years. Also in the middle school band. But the guy was trying to teach me to read music and I felt like that wasn't what I wanted to do. I wanted to PLAY. My church alot of the musicians were playing by ear and I wanted to go that route. I took 1 lesson then told my mom that it wasn't what I wanted to learn so I never went back. But I kept playing... Self taught and just watching people copying and using my ear. With that said, now I teach kids. But I offer traditional music lessons but also ear training and theory so they can go either way. Basically based on what the parent wants, what interest the child, and what it seems that they are capable of.

I had a post a few months back on here where we were talking about DIs and their real world use vs other options. I can't find the link though. Once I did it, I'll post it here. It may have some great info in it for you. With that said, I just recently invested in the Radial Pro D8 and the Radial JD6 as part of my live recording and studio set up. Some say a great DI can be a very good tool to have in your rig. Sometimes running in stereo can be a pain for FOH especially when you consider channel count and also the limited benefits of it for the audience when in a larger space (they kinda only get one side of the sound....if that makes sense.) Carrying your own DI is a great thing though... There are some other options. But it helps just in case. You'd think that the engineer may have some but if he's having to carry enough for 6 channels of keyboards, that could get a little weird. Lol. I'll see if I can find that link and post it for you. It may help alot. There were a lot of comments.

If you’ve been on the fence about Nautilus because it has less on board surface control than Kronos…then check out the video, it may change your mind. A conversation point if nothing else…I’m also interested to know if it changes your perspective at all to know that this is available or if it could be useful in a live or programming session. Thanks

Someone needs to make a board with both. The joystick seems more expressive for live playing and you can modulate and bend at the same time based on how you feel. But it also can't modulate and hold without the use of another button. The wheel is the opposite of both of these statements. Both are really needed. A joystick, a bend wheel and a modilari wheel. !!! 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾

Yeah I may just skim over it, but I don't ever even notice them advertising mono vs stereo voices as it relates to polyphony.

Interesting.... "Without the need for layers"

Yeah the voice stealing algorithm is KEY!!! you are right about that! It's weird to me though that although advertised it seems like people aren't getting the numbers that companies state... That's why I'm glad Kronos/Nautilus actually show it to us, so we can see what's happening while we play and adjust accordingly. And if they can make a 400 voice piano... Seems other worldy, but also overkill at the same time. Lol

I'd never heard the Kronos engine categorized like that (subtractive vs additive)... I've heard that the Fantom 0 isn't truly 256 voices too... I haven't tried it myself though. But I've heard people saying that voices run out much quicker than what you'd think with that many advertised voices "available". Again, very interesting to see another person where polyphony limits are a non issue. I've actually had a bit more of these types of responses than I really figured I'd get. 128 is enough. Another guy said 64 was good for him. I've had guys say they are running out after 4 or so voices and really need more. The answers have been very varied enough to make me think that MAYBE the keyboard companies (in their research) have found that considering the target market of their boards that 128 is plenty for enough people to not warrant the extra cost associated with increasing the polyphony numbers too much. But in church it's quite a bit different... Often times layering as much as is allowed... Minimum 3-4 and often playing big 4-6 key chords in one hand and adding 2-3 from the other... Polyphony gets eaten up quickly.

Lmbo.... Thanks. My question was somewhat because I didn't think "many" of the top brands did .... So it was a genuine question as to maybe something I missed. Just thought maybe since he made the statement and left it unsupported that maybe he knew them or at least some. Sorry for posting a question on a post (to generate conversation) in a forum where everyone asks questions 😂😂😂. Maybe there should be a pinned thread with that in the subject line (LMGTFY)? Hahaha.🤷🏾‍♂️

Nice.... A computer person perspective. So your polyphony is based on CPU and processing power vs a concrete number. That makes sure more complicated then right? Because it would vary based on what else is going on. Kinda like the Kronos and Nautilus system.... Very interesting that people are at home with anything over 64 and happy. I would be dead in the water with that amount (at least for main keys) BUT...I could make it work if I had to! Lol @bong session vs orchestrations. but I will ask this, what classifies as called for with stacks? And yes less can be more. You can really cloud a mix vs just making stuff sound big and thick.

Yeah stepping up from those lower numbers... You are probably in heaven with current systems that are available!

For some reason, I think the MODX has 128 for each engine... (Maybe making it 256 total). Don't quote me on that though!

Please list the top quality boards that are 256... 👀

This is the key, but it's FAR from easy. Lol

Here are my answers to the questions: 1. My main keyboard is the Kronos. But I also use the Nautilus, Korg M3, Motif Rack ES, I recently sold a MODX, Roland Integra 7 sound module.... The Korg boards all have dynamically allocated polyphony except the m3. The main engine has 120 voices, but I have an expansion card (Radius) that has it's own 24 voices of polyphony to add... so 144 voices combined. The Integra 7 has 128, and considering the scope of the instrument, I believe it is well under where it should be. They definitely should have made it 256 voices (Like the Jupiter 80). 2. Polyphony is EXTREMELY important to me. 3. Yes well beyond time for an increase, we should be at 256 as standard now. 4. Yes, I always check for that stat. It's always interesting to me to see if the number has been boosted from 128 yet. LOL. 5. I use keyboards more in studio than live... because I play organ at church more than anything at the moment. But I do use keyboards too. I try to set my sounds up so I don't have polyphony issues. 6. I try not to cloud my layers with too many textures but still try to make sure there is a thick sound. 7. When I try to push the limits (just cause), I think 5-6 is around the point that by default, you start seeing issues. In some extreme cases 4-5 sounds. 8. Probably not more sounds, but the sounds I'd choose may change to utilize the increased polyphony. 9. Check the video.

As stated early in this video, I believe that polyphony is one of the single most important stats of a keyboard... especially if it's being considered for live use. It can make or break a deal as far as functionality goes. We've gotten used to 128 voices and have been at this limit for quite a while. Maybe 256 should become the standard now... I think that number would be massive and take us forward for quite a while as far as usability and needs for playing live. While the features shown in this video are specific to Korg flagships (Kronos, Nautilus, etc...) some of the idea and concepts can be applied to other keyboard models too! Questions to consider... (for conversation) What keyboard are you using? and what is the advertised polyphony for it? How important is ALOT of polyphony to you? Do you think it's time (or well beyond past time) for keyboard companies to up the number of voices significantly? Do you check for polyphony stats on a keyboard before you consider buying it? Do you often find yourself running out of polyphony? How many sounds are you generally stacking in your layers? How many sounds do you stack before you start running out of polyphony? Would you stack more sounds if you had more polyphony or do you find the polyphony adequate for your needs? What are some of the programming tips/cheats that you use to help with polyphony issues?

just a question, but why was the gender of the piano teacher irrelevant? or the religion? he's asking a religious specific question and things may vary from organization to organization... making the type somewhat important.... just wondering what made it an issue.

I have been employed professionally by churches as a musician since I was a freshman in college. Over 20 years now. I currently serve at 2 different churches each Sunday. 1 at 8:3) am been there about 5-6 years I think. The second church starts at 11am and I have been there for 8 years, but I'm still a part another previous ministry (a 3rd church). I've been with them basically since 2007 (I don't play anymore there, but I've kinda worked over the technology/media areas of the ministry and also on the admin staff. Current ministry, it's just a drummer and myself. Sometimes a bass player is there, he doesn't play a lot though... and also an older guy that plays harmonica (don't ask me LOL) I play all the songs each Sunday (either organ or keys) We have a choir president we does a lot of the admin work for the choir. I'm the minister of music though so all the music things come (at least) by me. But there is an admin team that handles things as well... Trying to keep my responsibility designated to actual music related things. What is the BL? I don't play secular regularly... but there was a slight hitch when I had to get a long term fill in when I was hired by a secular group as a keyboard tech. rehearsals are once per week or however you guys organize them at the specific ministry. Yes the effort are fulfilling ... sometimes MORE and sometime a lot LESS.... I've been in situations where I've used both my equipment and also equipment that belonged to the church. I prefer to push the church to get their own stuff. I didn't answer some of these questions, because it could get kinda personal. Just didn't want to open all the way up on a forum. lol

Yeah we never had a crash but that noise during sound check was annoying…. Definitely understand it from a stability standpoint too.

When I was touring, we had issues sometimes with computer connected to USB interfaces caused a lot of noise... And DIs would sometimes fix it and sometimes it wouldn't. The only sure fire way we could always get rid of the noise to just use the headphone jack form the computer. Once that USB metal touched that metal inside the connection.... NOISE!!! I wonder if this keyboard as interface solution would have fixed the issue....🧐. We would still probably needed DIs for the secondary outputs though.

Yes there are huge amounts of value in keeping things separate. For recording purposes and also for mixing.... Unless you don't want the FOH engineer to have control over your mix.

I've never seen that box before. It's interesting. A DI for a computer.... So the DI has USB drivers? If so, that's a nice alternative... And still no interface.

Yeah USB capability is great. I was more so meaning the fact of being able to route the audio directly out of the keyboard secondary outputs... The modx doesn't have that...

Hi David. Do you use the outputs from the computer? a dedicated interface? or do you route the audio out of secondary outputs from the keyboard? and why did you select whichever option you chose?

Using your keyboard as an audio interface in a live setting? Beneficial or nah? Leave those interfaces at the house!!! This concept works on USB audio from iPads too….