The Instrument Has no Magic Fairy Dust

[Docbop]

17 minutes ago, ProfD said:

they are willing to carry the great equalizer (firearm) and unafraid to use it,

 

I remember working with guitar and bass player from Texas and loading up noticing a handguns stuck to the magnets of their speakers.      Then the movie about Motown's legendary band The Funk Brothers.   They were playing gig at a local club and one of the guy known for being a heavy drinker ran up his bar tab so big it overflowed into the band money.     When came time to get paid the club owner said he was deducting all the money from the bands pay.   Then the one guy from the Funk Brother gives the bar owner a hard looks and says.... I have a family I need my money,  then pulls out a gun from his coat and sets in on the table,  one by one all the Funk Brother pull guns from their coats and sets them on the table.   The club owner says...  what kind of f*&King band did I hire???     Then the club owner all rattled paid the band every cent and didn't even take out the money for the one guys bar tab.  <grin>   

[JoJoB3]

On 7/15/2024 at 12:11 PM, Reezekeys said:

When I'm deeply affected by a piece of music, the last thing on my mind is regarding the tools used to make or present it. Actually that's never on my mind.

 

Nothing wrong with discussing those bits and pieces on forums like this of course - lots of valuable info and insights here. We have lots of toys to choose from now. Once that choice is made, it's time for the rubber to meet the road and make some music that nobody cares how it was made! 🙂 

Yep! 

[jerrythek]

35 minutes ago, AROIOS said:

Yup, 99% of the "tone" of his guitars are just a few pieces of electro-magnets (active circuits aside) costing less than $30. The rest is just $100 worth of carpentry and tons of fairy dust and make-believe.

Amps (and pedals/racks) are vitally important to their sound, but they are just as susceptible to mental inflation as guitars. $5000 for a tube amp? That's audiophile level snake oil.

Wow, that's a bit strong of a statement. The strings he uses, how his guitar is set up, and most importantly, his hands/touch make up a lot of the tone of a player. I think that stands for more than 1% of the resulting tone...

[ProfD]

2 hours ago, Stokely said:

Yeah lots of examples of this.   Corey Henry playing an inexpensive King Korg on Lingus, with the audacity to not play a real rhodes with his left hand!

Excellent example.

 

Cory's "Lingus" synth solo is probably one of if not the best recorded in modern history.

 

Don't take my word for it. Check the video. Look at the faces of the musicians who were in the room as Cory set the gotd8mn thing on fire.😁

 

To date,  KingKORG VA synths aren't in higher demand as a result of Cory Henry's magic fairy dust or ashes.

 

In fact, Cory burned that KingKORG up so badly that nobody else wants to play it behind him.🤣😎

[AROIOS]

22 minutes ago, jerrythek said:

Wow, that's a bit strong of a statement. The strings he uses, how his guitar is set up, and most importantly, his hands/touch make up a lot of the tone of a player. I think that stands for more than 1% of the resulting tone...

Agree 100%. By "tone", I was referring to the sonic characteristics of the instrument, not "articulation" as people usually refer to as being "in the fingers".

[MathOfInsects]

17 minutes ago, ProfD said:

 

Cory's "Lingus" synth solo

 

Or as it's permanently called inside my head, "Why do I even bother...?!"

[CHarrell]

4 hours ago, ProfD said:

Excellent example.

 

Cory's "Lingus" synth solo is probably one of if not the best recorded in modern history.

 

Don't take my word for it. Check the video. Look at the faces of the musicians who were in the room as Cory set the gotd8mn thing on fire.😁

 

To date,  KingKORG VA synths aren't in higher demand as a result of Cory Henry's magic fairy dust or ashes.

 

In fact, Cory burned that KingKORG up so badly that nobody else wants to play it behind him.🤣😎

 

I know your point, but I do actually know a number of musicians (not myself of course, I'm a contrarian above gear acquisition) who have wanted the KingKorg after hearing what it could be capable of in that performance! 

[GovernorSilver]

Skunk Baxter  played the guitar solo on Donna Summer's hit Hot Stuff... on a Burns Bison guitar that he bought for $25 and a six pack of Bud

 

So if I met him one day and he offered to sell me that Burns Bison, sure I'd think about it for at least a minute.   Its the Hot Stuff guitar!  With Fairy Magic Dust conferred by pop music history!  Depends on the asking price though.  $25,000... probably not.  $25 and a six pack of whatever beer he likes these days, sure!

[David Emm]

5 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

Or as it's permanently called inside my head, "Why do I even bother...?!"

 

Heh, wellll... you do it for its own sake, of course, but I play an ongoing game in MY head called "How close to ___'s shoe tops can you come?" Its not a win-lose thing, but more a game of increments, like Risk, or a good marriage. If you can get 2% closer to Cory's level, that's an accomplishment comparable to your dog playing Del Shannon's "Runaway" and not wrecking Max Crook's keyboard break.

[David Emm]

5 hours ago, ProfD said:

To date,  KingKORG VA synths aren't in higher demand as a result of Cory Henry's magic fairy dust or ashes.

In fact, Cory burned that KingKORG up so badly that nobody else wants to play it behind him.🤣😎

 

New KC office pool: synths of recent history whose keybeds contain so much Suck, the manual should plainly suggest using an outside controller.    

[ProfD]

2 hours ago, David Emm said:

New KC office pool: synths of recent history whose keybeds contain so much Suck, the manual should plainly suggest using an outside controller.    

I'm beginning to think those KBs with sucky keybeds are tone generators with keys attached in order to audition sounds or play them in a pinch.😁😎

[J.F.N.]

10 hours ago, ProfD said:

Excellent example.

 

Cory's "Lingus" synth solo is probably one of if not the best recorded in modern history.

 

Don't take my word for it. Check the video. Look at the faces of the musicians who were in the room as Cory set the gotd8mn thing on fire.😁

 

To date,  KingKORG VA synths aren't in higher demand as a result of Cory Henry's magic fairy dust or ashes.

 

In fact, Cory burned that KingKORG up so badly that nobody else wants to play it behind him.🤣😎

 

It's a mystery to me that the KingKORG isn't more sought after, have had one for many years now and it ain't going anywhere. I see it as my bread and butter analogue modeling synth, it does that job really well.

[ProfD]

9 hours ago, J.F.N. said:

It's a mystery to me that the KingKORG isn't more sought after, have had one for many years now and it ain't going anywhere. I see it as my bread and butter analogue modeling synth, it does that job really well.

Well, don't go looking a gift horse in the mouth.  Enjoy playing the KingKORG for now. 😁

 

In a few years or decades, whenever the KingKORG becomes a collectors item selling for $15k or better...cash out if necessary to pad the retirement fund.🤣😎

[David Emm]

I'm suitably impressed by the KingKORG NEO, which comes with only 3 octaves, but feels like an excellent module-with-keys synth. I appreciate the added beef. It certainly isn't lacking in sound quality.

 

My best Magic Dust came with a Korg 01Wfd. I had a comfy playing spot for it, so I seriously dug into sequencing for the first time. The soundset and voice count were quite generous, well over what I had known until then. I was dazzled and half-married to it. You know the drill. 😛 I labored over it for months, because the few restrictions were more about housekeeping than composing. I still have a few nightmares about floppy disks chasing me like I was Tippi Hedren in "The Birds." 😬

 

You kids huddle in close and Grandpa MIDI will tell you about the first time he got it to run four outboard synths in R/T and nothing choked!

[J.F.N.]

Softube trying to peddle me their Mastering suite "FLOW" by referring to Mastering Engineers working with world famous names, I wonder, if i grab some kitchenware, same brand and models as some really great Michelin Chef, using this logic I would then cook amazing food, right!

[J.F.N.]

1 hour ago, J.F.N. said:

Softube trying to peddle me their Mastering suite "FLOW" by referring to Mastering Engineers working with world famous names, I wonder, if i grab some kitchenware, same brand and models as some really great Michelin Chef, using this logic I would then cook amazing food, right!

 

Quoting myself.. haha!

 

I am a big fan of Chef´s Table and other cooking shows, love these food & travel lifestyle series, I'm sure I could find some decent product series of kitchenware based on some of the chefs in the shows I watch!

 

[David Emm]

9 hours ago, J.F.N. said:

Softube trying to peddle me their Mastering suite "FLOW" by referring to Mastering Engineers working with world famous names, I wonder, if i grab some kitchenware, same brand and models as some really great Michelin Chef, using this logic I would then cook amazing food, right!

 

I hear you. I use Master Plan and enjoy the results, but its a subtle thing. Holding one of those up to a seasoned mastering engineer is like contrasting a Moog Rogue with a full IIIC modular. The substantial compromise removes a lot of the distinctive and sometimes vital fine tuning. Its inevitable, since human engineers are far more expensive and becoming more rare. For me, its added incentive to massage my tracks more carefully. I remain tickled that I can ride EQ curves by hand, automate them and casually pan them into place. Its some serious magic.