Heads-up: SpaceStation keyboard amp is apparently back

[cphollis]

Randelph, you need real stereo content in your signals to hear the effect. A stereo leslie, stereo chorus, stereo pan, etc. If L and R are almost identical, there won't be much of an effect.

 

As an example, I did a rehearsal tonight where the SSv3 was absolutely perfect. It was a large living room, and I was in a corner. The SSv3 was maybe 6 feet behind me close to the two walls. Just sitting on the floor, no sub, no stand, nothing. GREAT SOUND. Even the acoustic pianos sounded fantastic without any tweaking.

 

I've realized that -- unless I pay attention to placement and reflections, everyone is going to hear far better sound than I will.

[RandyFF]

Yeah, it was real stereo. I was playing my Nord Stage, and with the organ it was mostly the rotor spinning up and down with some reverb too; with the piano it was reverb and a noticeable delay.

 

I'll give that a try, dial down the side speaker and then back up.

 

I LOVE the sound of stereo, which is what motivated me to buy this speaker.

[MathOfInsects]

Just as a reminder, though it may not be necessary: this speaker is not stereo, at least in the sense that we usually use the word. It's "spatial," or "3D," or "dynamic." But it's not, for example, going to ping-pong a delay L and R; it has no L or R per se. And if your delay is sent equally to L and R in your patch, you won't be activating that side speaker at all with it; that speaker takes only what's different between R and L.

 

Depending on how reflective your room is--and I notice you said it's fairly reverberant anyway--I can certainly conceive of a scenario where you wouldn't notice much difference from a decent PA speaker. After all, the same frequencies are being bounced around the same surfaces, and reverb is happening in the room, either way, regardless of your patch. It might be best to try it in some other rooms or environments, where your Mackie's weaknesses are more apparent...and therefore, the SS3's strengths are as well.

[RandyFF]

Yes, I'm aware it isn't stereo per say but more like 3d. I had am experience once at an outdoor wedding reception with 2 sets of speakers. There was a gentle incline behind the speakers but otherwise the terrain was flat, and the speakers were set up in different spots. The sound was the best I've ever heard, truly 3d, I felt like I was walking thru it, there was no sweet spot, I was "inside" the music.

 

I'm positive the reverb, delay and rotor on my Nord Stage are stereo, and I used the stereo outs and a stereo 1/4" cable.

 

My initial primary application for the SS will be outdoors, so I'm going to try pointing the side speaker down, or use guitar cases in a v around it.

 

 

[MathOfInsects]

P

 

I'm positive the reverb, delay and rotor on my Nord Stage are stereo, and I used the stereo outs and a stereo 1/4" cable.

 

We may be on to something now. What is your signal path? What are you plugging this stereo 1/4th inch into?

[Ledbetter]

The Left and Right outputs of the Nord must each be connected to the corresponding inputs on the SS3. The SS3 will not operate correctly unless both inputs are connected and receiving the program signal.

[NosPup]

Has anyone used this Ultimate amp stand for the SS? It folds up real small.

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AMP150?adpos=1o2&creative=55281441601&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CMvTmKPb8scCFYKPHwodpXMLbw

 

I have an Ultimate keyboard stand that has seen hard usage for about 15 years and is still doing well.

 

I've been using this stand for a few months with SS3 sideways and side speaker facing down. I've had tons of complements in both indoor and outdoor environments.

[junkcar]

Thanks...I thought it would work, gonna order one.

[Dglavko]

Kkk

Has anyone used this Ultimate amp stand for the SS? It folds up real small.

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AMP150?adpos=1o2&creative=55281441601&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CMvTmKPb8scCFYKPHwodpXMLbw

 

I have an Ultimate keyboard stand that has seen hard usage for about 15 years and is still doing well.

 

I've been using this stand for a few months with SS3 sideways and side speaker facing down. I've had tons of complements in both indoor and outdoor environments.

How do you prevent the stand from toppling over as mine did during a sound check?

 

[RandyFF]

P

 

I'm positive the reverb, delay and rotor on my Nord Stage are stereo, and I used the stereo outs and a stereo 1/4" cable.

 

We may be on to something now. What is your signal path? What are you plugging this stereo 1/4th inch into?

 

For the live playing test I went from the Nord directly to the SS. When I recorded the piano and organ parts I went from the Nord to my recorder. For playback I went from the recorder directly to the SS.

[MathOfInsects]

So you ran a stereo 1/4" from the Nord into one of the inputs on the SS3?

[NosPup]

Kkk

Has anyone used this Ultimate amp stand for the SS? It folds up real small.

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AMP150?adpos=1o2&creative=55281441601&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CMvTmKPb8scCFYKPHwodpXMLbw

 

I have an Ultimate keyboard stand that has seen hard usage for about 15 years and is still doing well.

 

I've been using this stand for a few months with SS3 sideways and side speaker facing down. I've had tons of complements in both indoor and outdoor environments.

How do you prevent the stand from toppling over as mine did during a sound check?

 

I think I have the tilt adjusted to kick it back a bit. With the SS3 sideways mine seems very stable with the weight low to the ground. Was your stand physically knocked over or did it just fall down ?

[rickp]

You can also shorten the back leg to increase tilt/stability; remove the rubber tip, cut as needed with a hacksaw, replace tip.

[RandyFF]

So you ran a stereo 1/4" from the Nord into one of the inputs on the SS3?

Stereo out from keys to stereo in of SS.

 

I'll have a chance to play it in a different environment today, outdoors. Aspen said that having it on or Close to the ground increases the bass, which I need, so for my test today I'll set it on plywood on the ground (asphalt) and tilt the side speaker down. Hopefully better/more noticeable results than I had in my living room, as chronicled a few posts up.

[Raymb1]

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Gator/Combo-Amp-Stand.gc

 

I still think this is the best stand for the SS.

[Ledbetter]

Randelph, you used TWO cables or ONE? Did you use an adaptor of any kind? The SS3 has two inputs, neither of them is "stereo" so I am having trouble understanding your posts.

 

A proper way to connect your keyboard to the SS3 would be one 1/4" jack cable from Left keyboard output to Left SS3 input, and one 1/4" jack cable from Right keyboard output to Right SS3 input.

 

To connect the SS3 to a stereo headphone output on a recorder, you would need an adaptor that splits the single cable into separate L and R output cables with 1/4" jacks.

 

Good luck and keep asking until you can get a good, "3D" sound from your stereo source.

[RandyFF]

All I can say is WOW!

 

At first I positioned it upright and didn't hear much except that it sounded better than my Roland cube EX($500, two 8" drivers, 2 tweeters, surprisingly good sounding 20 pounds, 50 watt speaker considering it runs off 8 AA batteries) and my Mackie Freeplay ($400, one 8" woofer and two tweeters, 150 watts rms, again, surprisingly good sounding for its size and weight, 13 pounds, a big boom box). It wasn't unexpected that it sounded better given the SS has more watts and a bigger box to support the sound.

 

But then I layed it on the ground, giving the side speaker a reflective surface, and suddenly I was swimming in an ocean of sound. In fact it felt sloppy, like too much of a good thing, so I turned down the width control and all was right with the world.

 

I had a major hum problem however. I couldn't turn it up enough to be heard without serious hum happening. I was running everything off a car battery and a 400watt inverter. Also plugged into this inverter was my keyboard and a Mackie freeplay speaker (I don't have a small mixer yet, so the Mackie was doing vocals).

 

I was playing with three guitarists and several djembe/conga players outdoors in golden gate park in San Francisco at the Conservatory of Flowers.

 

So add me to the list of enthusiastic, gushing keyboard players that love this box. I was reluctant because of all the fussiness of setting it up that people were reporting, from needing good cables, a mixer, hum problems, a minimum amount of distance to "bloom" and decent reflective surfaces, as well as fine tuning the "tone"controls. But having heard its magic, it's totally worth the few extra steps.

 

So my next step is figuring out the hum problem. Is it dirty power from the inverter, and if so are there"cleaner"inverters out there? Otherwise, perhaps a good hum eliminator that someone can recommend?

 

I also need a super small mixer with at least two mic inputs, fx, 3band eq. Any thoughts?

 

 

[El Lobo]

I also need a super small mixer with at least two mic inputs, fx, 3band eq. Any thoughts?

Yamaha MG82CX 8 Input Stereo Mixer with Digital Effects

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Z7567A/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

 

only drawback: small size is accomplished with wall wart

[Raymb1]

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HumX

 

This device has helped some of us out.

[El Lobo]

Maybe a better one

Mackie ProFX4v2 4-Channel Professional FX Mixer

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VUU702A?psc=1

[RandyFF]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try the hum eliminator.

 

I've got the Yamaha MG82cx, good little mixer, but I need something considerably smaller to Velcro to my Nord Stage. The Mackie mixer looks good, but I really want 3 band eq.

 

[Bosco Adama]

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Gator/Combo-Amp-Stand.gc

 

I still think this is the best stand for the SS.

 

Just what I was looking for. thanks!

[El Lobo]

I've got the Yamaha MG82cx, good little mixer, but I need something considerably smaller to Velcro to my Nord Stage. The Mackie mixer looks good, but I really want 3 band eq.

 

That's a tall or ... er ... small order. Good luck with that.

[RandyFF]

I just ordered the behringer Qx 1002, it shaves a couple inches in both directions.

[Danny Linguini]

I just ordered the behringer Qx 1002, it shaves a couple inches in both directions.

Don't mean to burst your bubble, but I hope it's better than my Xenyx 1002B. Channels have been dropping out one by one from each of the three pairs (3/4, 5/6, 7/8) since about 6 months after I got it; I was down to just 7/8 to run the keys into, and the other day one of those quit. It's less than a couple of years old and has never been out of the house, only used for my practice room. I had heard that Behringer mixers are not the most reliable, but I bought it anyway because it was cheap and just for home. It worked well when it worked, but unfortunately it didn't work for long. Hope you have better luck.

 

I pulled an old Mackie 1402-VLZ Pro out of mothballs that I picked up used quite awhile ago; one channel was dead when I got it, but with 13 more, I can't complain.

[Raymb1]

I've had two older Behringer mixers for a few years now and both are functioning very well. I have models Xenyx 802 and Eurorack UB1202. One stays set up at home and the other in the trunk of my car.

[Jazzmammal]

Anything can have problems. I've had a 8 channel Eurorack for I dunno, 8 years maybe? Both home and gigs, never a problem.

 

Bob

[James M Day]

It's Christmas for me. After reading this tedious (but excellent) forum, my new Spacestation arrives today just in time for a gig. I play 7-10 gigs a week so I will definitely report my findings in a lot of different settings...solo, duo, vocals and a live LOUD band. Will use my 18" sub until I buy the behringer everyone's raving about. Can't wait for the gig!

[Dglavko]

Totally OT but has anybody tried the rolls mx44s?

 

http://www.rolls.com/product.php?pid=MX44s

[MathOfInsects]

I play 7-10 gigs a week

 

That's nothing. I play 9 flaccid and 14 erect, and I can go all night.