Tusker

Yes, back in the 70s it was fresh. Maybe further back still? Apart from the European prog rock keyboardists, you mention giants steeped in American idioms. (To me, Gaskin is a giant like Tatum heh.) Someone described Jazz as the only new classical music developed in the very American 20th century. It's a rich, diverse language which informs everything from pop to hip hop to bluegrass. JR may live on the East Coast of America but as he says his musical roots are classical. Further east. In an earlier time. Perhaps this is an argument between the 19th century and the 20th century and between two sides of a pond?

I think of it the way Mercedes makes a pricy race car to test out concepts and build brand. We shouldn't look at the profitability of a product in isolation. It will be fun to see music made with an uber-polyphonic like this one. I suspect there are new sweet spots to be discovered though I can't imagine what they are, which is the point. The MS20's filters were not supposed to become a go to method for turning drum loops into gold-dust and yet that is what they became. Congratulations, Korg!

Here's JR, playing in a language with which he is more familiar. When I was a teenager, I thought I could learn all genres of music. Now increasingly I find that the idioms of one language can actually grate against the idioms of another. Some spices do not mix well together.

Korg has outdone themselves!! 😅 👍 👍

I was very uncomfortable also. Whoever said Music is the universal language was completely wrong. There are many languages.

That's a lot of analog hardware. Per Wiki: The unique feature of 48-note polyphony means that each unit has 48 oscillators (technically 12 oscillators and 36 frequency dividers), 48 low-pass filters, 48 envelope generators, and 48 amplifiers. Combining the 3 units, this makes for a total of 144 oscillators (technically 36 oscillators and 108 frequency dividers), 144 filters, 144 envelope generators, and 144 amplifiers. 😅 💪💪

It's an excellent question. I think it helps to consider context. The world of pianos is infinitely large. Our needs may be met by a simple rock sound, as in the Beatles Let it Be. Or an atmospheric upright piano for ethereal underscore. Or a bold Bosendorpher concert hall sound. For many of the pop and rock purposes, a stage piano or workstation piano serves the purpose quite well. For pleasure, I wouldn't compare software or hardware pianos to the Steinway I love, and am fortunate to have in the next room, but an acoustic grand piano is not the standard, nor should it always be. On a busy stage, a trusty old Kurzweil PC88 with its simple sound can do Let it Be just well as many "superior" pianos. For precise recordings, you might rent some time in a studio not because its piano is "superior" but because it's room and microphone cabinet are well organized and you trust the studio engineer more than you trust your recording skills. Personal preference is important and so is context. If you desire to record exposed pianistic material conveniently, software pianos offer a very powerful solution. Perhaps an unbeatable one.

Their pianos have seen a night and day improvement since I got on the bandwagon at version 5. They attract both fans and haters in larger numbers than other products it seems, lol. I don't think their initial attack sound is a beautiful as many of the sampled libraries, but they feel more personal due to their detailed responsiveness. I haven't had a chance try the 8.2 in depth but am looking forward to it!

This thread has a number of software pianos you could consider. Most of them are sampled. To my knowledge, Pianoteq is the only modeled software piano, to give sampled pianos a run for their money. It's not for everyone though as you can tell by other comments in this thread. Best, Jerry

Sure. This and This are two different versions of the song Woke up this morning by the Alabama 3.

Link works for me. Always thought it was a great song, which set the tone for the Sopranos brilliantly. I remember reading an article (In SOS maybe?) which explained the basic recipes: quick envelope + self oscillating filter => kick quick envelope +white noise => hats and snares. Since then, the envelope decay is part of my audition routine for any new VA or analog synth. Still, I feel I am just dipping my toes in the water at the edge of a very big lake. Kinda like a guy who recycles a few pentatonic licks rather than learning real jazz vocabulary. I love this guy's vocabulary and his ability to improvise with it. Just like a good bebop player.

I like the look. Does it have a swell pedal input?

Thanks bro. I appreciate the back story and agree he is a bad ass. Need to get to know some of those bands. Any recommendations for bad assery? As a side note, it takes self confidence to play a Minimoog with those subtle (non-punchy) leads, to complement rather than imitate a guitar. 💪 💪 👏 👏

QFT Most of the time a keyboardist needs a keyboard, maybe a swell pedal, maybe some other interface elements (drawbars, mod wheels) from different keyboarding disciplines. These are for expression. There are what I call add-ons: breath controller, more knobs and switches, track pads. All for expression. In a somewhat different category is what I call rig management. These can include volume sliders, mute buttons, kill switches. The lines between categories can blur but it's still helpful to have the categories. If something belongs in the first category, it's good to rehearse and activate muscle memory. If something belongs in the second category, you hope not to have to tweak it. Reeze has the most comprehensively programmed NanoK I have ever seen. 👏 💪 My Novation Nocturne is now hiding its head in shame in the closet. 😀 😅

Woah! 💪 Nice rig indeed. Very organic sound. Here's a rundown of the rig. He sure knows how to get the most out of it. 👍

Same. Hardware. Everything is mapped and my eyes are hopefully on the audience and my bandmates. I want to stomp something or flick something or press something using muscle memory...

😅

Hey Grey, Hang in there. This place is overrun with progheads 🙋‍♂️so here 11/8 is cool. Prog is cool. Based on what you said above the tune is done.✅ You like what you are hearing but maybe you are looking for some harmonic decorations to proggify the transitions a bit? Did I get that right?

Wait, the keyboard player stole the drummer's girl?

Agree that it's tough for keyboardists to be seen as heavy. As for Billy, it didn't work out so well in metal but I think he's laughing now. 😅

Can you find the Local Off settings on both keyboards? (Probably in Global => MIDI in the Korg, Somewhere in the MIDI menu in the Nord) Then you can run midi cables out-to-in and out-to-in. At least that's I've done it. The problem for me is that I often forget I did these crazy things. Later, I am scratching my head wondering why my keyboard has stopped working, lol. Somebody will probably come by in a bit and give you a better answer.

Until recently, it would have been Moog hands down. Now, I'm not sure. It could be Expressive E or Nonlinear Labs. Or even U-He.

+1000 Love your entire, informative post, and I hope it's ok that I would use this sentence as a jumping off point. MS is great but it can take you away from being the musical contributor you are. For me, each new project (or setlist) is a tech deep dive, but I have to come up for air if I am to add musical value. So it's a rhythm of dive-surface-dive-surface. Don't forget to resurface and to reconnect with your own sense of music. A comment for those who contribute in church: we don't remember what type of harp David played because it's just not that important. 😉

Well deserved indeed. 👍 👍 Yet they were also channeling this weird Spinal Tap sensibility that transistors made the rock-n-roll honest.

One of my favorites is In Motion from the Social Network soundtrack. The whole track is synths...