Iconoclast Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 How about not anything written by Yamaha? A bit off topic but the OLD Line6 manuals were not only explanatory but hilarious. The old Vetta manual was a classic. For my current gear, I think the DSI manuals are well written and make a couple dry attempts at at least keeping it light, if not funny. The Kurzweil manuals are...at times overly deep and then inexplicably just don't explain a lot of important stuff. You want me to start this song too slow or too fast? Forte7, Nord Stage 3, XK3c, OB-6, Arturia Collection, Mainstage, MotionSound KBR3D. A bunch of MusicMan Guitars, Line6 stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mogut Posted October 25, 2018 Author Share Posted October 25, 2018 How about not anything written by Yamaha? Agree! The motif manual almost seemed incomplete on features -Greg Motif XS8, MOXF8, Hammond XK1c, Vent Rhodes Mark II 88 suitcase, Yamaha P255 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KorgyPorky Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I like the Korg Kronos manuals.. So much information inthere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Kaenel Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I like the K2000 manual quite a bit. Well-written and easy to understand. Arguably, the need for a well-written manual increases proportionally with the feature-set and complexity of the keyboard, but IMHO Kurzweil has historically set the standard for both thoroughness and readability. The docs for their flagship Forte workstation include a 20-page "Getting Started" manual, *plus* a "Musician's Guide" of 440+ pages! All illustrated, no lame computer-generated translations. And it comes printed, with the keyboard. Shout out to the Nord tech writers, too, because they're clearly musicians, not just engineers, and their tone is consistently breezy and helpful -- if often a tad thin on details, for my taste... Legend '70s Compact, Jupiter-Xm, Studiologic Numa X 73 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markyboard Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I'm rather enjoying this One. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Wright Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I'm rather enjoying this One. I can imagine. "I cried when I wrote this song Sue me if I play too long" Walter Becker Donald Fagan 1977 Deacon Blues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyNQ Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 ...this thread surely will fuel negative stereotypes about keyboard players. I'm quite certain the drum/bass/guitar forums don't have a thread about favorite manuals!!! You're right, of course. It will reinforce the stereotype that keyboard players have a functional degree of literacy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiefDanG Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Basil Fawltys Manuel. Professional musician = great source of poverty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Williams Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Basil Fawltys Manuel. On -- those -- trays. -Tom Williams {First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real MC Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Read a story from someone who used to work retail sales many years ago. The store had just received some of the first combo organs from Japan and the salespeople were admiring the new toys. Then the sales manager came running out screaming FOR GOD SAKES DON'T SELL THOSE KEYBOARDS YET. They later learned that the owners manual had instructions to F-ck the legs into the organ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quai34 Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 +1 on the Nord manual, + 1 on the old Roland (D50), + 1 on the old and new Mackie (I bought one of the first CR1604 in France back in the day...). Stage 2, C2, NL2X+TC Pedals, P08+Tetra+H9, P12+TC Chorus D50+PG1000, 2 Matrix 1K, Proteus 2K, TX802, Streichfett, Drumbrute. Guitars:G&L Legacy, Asat X2, Ibanez Artstar AS153.Bass: L2000, SR1200&2605. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quai34 Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 AND +1 on the keys player being the only ones in a band who read the manuals....Even if it's not my gear or the instrument I play I know better about the instruments of the other members.... Stage 2, C2, NL2X+TC Pedals, P08+Tetra+H9, P12+TC Chorus D50+PG1000, 2 Matrix 1K, Proteus 2K, TX802, Streichfett, Drumbrute. Guitars:G&L Legacy, Asat X2, Ibanez Artstar AS153.Bass: L2000, SR1200&2605. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piano39 Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 +1 on the Mackie manuals. My personal favorite was the documentation that came with my PAIA 2720 synth that I built back in 1973. Explained the functions of all the basic modules, and was written in a very friendly, chatty tone (RIP John Simonton). Yamaha Motif XF6, Yamaha AN200, Logic Pro X, Arturia Microbrute, Behringer Model D, Yamaha UX-3 Acoustic Piano, assorted homemade synth modules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdAct Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Another +1 for the Nord manuals. The Nord keyboards have very little menu diving, and the manuals are filled with photos of the controls being discussed. Although the manual is little more than a pamphlet, its all you need to get the gist and be off and running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorayM Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 I dunno the best, but I can tell you the worst: "Sibelius" notation software (at least back in the version 3-5 era when I used it). Commonly made underhanded remarks about compositional workflow that came across as extremely elitist and snooty... and this is coming from someone with composition degree. I dunno, I like the Sibelius manuals. Not read one for a while but the old ones had a great conversation style with a dry sense of humour. The Sibelius 5 manual also contained my favourite passage from any manual, in the introduction to MIDI section: MIDI is that most rare of beasts, a standard set by a number of different manufacturers that is universally implemented and supported. This sounds too good to be true, and it is, because in order to understand exactly how MIDI works, you need to be able to speak Martian. North Haverbrook - Godsticks - SoundCloud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markyboard Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 The original Hammond manuals had a whole bunch of stuff like that as well. I have the manual for my 1961 A100. dB Real Hammonds have the best manuals. (someone had to say it. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mogut Posted October 26, 2018 Author Share Posted October 26, 2018 The original Hammond manuals had a whole bunch of stuff like that as well. I have the manual for my 1961 A100. dB Real Hammonds have the best manuals. (someone had to say it. ) Rimshot! -Greg Motif XS8, MOXF8, Hammond XK1c, Vent Rhodes Mark II 88 suitcase, Yamaha P255 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Best manual I ever remember is the one for the Nord Modular Rack. It covered the unit plus basics of modular synthesis. Second for me is the Emu Command Station manuals. Huge manual with examples of how to accomplish everything the unit would do. This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Dan Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 In the earlier days of MIDI, I thought Roland had the best MIDI implementation sections. They did a good job of describing the messages including headers, address, data, and checksum, along with Hex conversion tables and examples. The entire MIDI implementation was provided and it was fairly easy to do just about anything you wanted via MIDI, including stuff that didn't even have a user interface or control so that you could do some really deep editing if you wanted to. Dan Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Motif Max Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 ...this thread surely will fuel negative stereotypes about keyboard players. I'm quite certain the drum/bass/guitar forums don't have a thread about favorite manuals!!! You're right, of course. It will reinforce the stereotype that keyboard players have a functional degree of literacy. It shows how our gear is so much more capable than theirs...that it takes 1000 pages to cover the basics... Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000 Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Motif Max Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 How about not anything written by Yamaha? Agree! The motif manual almost seemed incomplete on features I think much of their stuff is in the reference manual. 255 pages I think. But I once heard it said that the Motif keyboards won't even be mastered in ten years. So much stuff. Best? Perhaps the Kimball Valencia III manual. Worst? A draw between the Krome and the Yamaha YS-200. JV-1000 isn't that great either. The basic Motif owner's manual isn't too bad for getting you started, that I will say. Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000 Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midinut Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 I give a nod to anything put out by Ensoniq. They were always informative and usually funny as well. Best manuals I ever read! Hardware: Yamaha: MODX7 | Korg: Kronos 88, Wavestate | ASM: Hydrasynth Deluxe | Roland: Jupiter-Xm, Cloud Pro, TD-9K V-Drums | Alesis: StrikePad Pro| Behringer: Crave, Poly D, XR-18, RX1602 | CPS: SpaceStation SSv2 | Controllers: ROLI RISE 49 | Arturia KeyLab Essentials 88, KeyLab 61, MiniLab | M-Audio KeyStation 88 & 49 | Akai EWI USB | Novation LaunchPad Mini, | Guitars & Such: Line 6 Variax, Helix LT, POD X3 Live, Martin Acoustic, DG Strat Copy, LP Sunburst Copy, Natural Tele Copy| Squier Precision 5-String Bass | Mandolin | Banjo | Ukulele Software: Recording: MacBook Pro | Mac Mini | Logic Pro X | Mainstage | Cubase Pro 12 | Ableton Live 11 | Monitors: M-Audio BX8 | Presonus Eris 3.5BT Monitors | Slate Digital VSX Headphones & ML-1 Mic | Behringer XR-18 & RX1602 Mixers | Beyerdynamics DT-770 & DT-240 Arturia: V-Collection 9 | Native Instruments: Komplete 1 Standard | Spectrasonics: Omnisphere 2, Keyscape, Trilian | Korg: Legacy Collection 4 | Roland: Cloud Pro | GForce: Most all of their plugins | u-he: Diva, Hive 2, Repro, Zebra Legacy | AAS: Most of their VSTs | IK Multimedia: SampleTank 4 Max, Sonik Synth, MODO Drums & Bass | Cherry Audio: Most of their VSTs | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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