Introductions?

[karkarodon]

Hello friends,

 

My name is Marco and I'm an Italian boy (like Marino, who I know "for fame" ) of 21 years old.

I registered myself about 2 years ago but I "speak" only now because my english almost 0.

Now, my english is a liiiittle better, so i decided to post.

I started play piano at 5, even if formal lesson started at 11 (until 18) with a famous italian Pop-Rock pianist. Now I'm studing electronical engineering so I haven't much time for practicing (I'm thinking to leave University to become a pro musician). I love all type of music, from classical, Pop, Rock, Funk, jazz and so on.

I play in a rhythm'&'Blues/funky/Soul band with horn section.

 

This is my equipment:

 

Yamaha S90

Clavia NE2

Roland XV-3080

Emu Proteus 2500

Roland RS-5

Yamaha RS-7000

Edirol SD80

 

A lot of outboards and 3 mixers.

 

Maybe there are a lot of errors in this post, so forgive me!

 

Marco

[Dave Bryce]

Marco, welcome to the forum! Don't worry about your English - you'll be just fine!

 

Andre, welcome to you as well - sorry I missed your initial post a few weeks ago...

 

dB

[Anthony K.]

Hello Everyone:

I'm Anthony K. and am new to the forum. A forum name of Tony "K" would have been too cheezy. My backround includes about about 10 years in the club date/wedding business as a keyboard player. I first "picked up" piano when I was three. Started buying keyboard when they published the mag's with Flexi Disk inserts and Keith Emerson transcriptions.

At the moment I'm constructing a new keyboard rig for myself to use for a project currently in the formative stages. It will reflect the Soul/R&B/Disco Years and possibly very early 80's. The groundwork is being done at the moment and it will be geared to do corporate/private ffunctions and fund raising events within New York State and the surrounding areas.

 

I was so fond of the sound of my old gear when I club dated, that I bought new versions of the gear I used recently to go along with the more current gear that's available.

For instance - I purchased 2 NEW DX7II-D's in the box! In addition, 2 D-50's off Ebay which I restored to like new with new cosmetics. Also, 2 U-220 rackmounts (which I really love)! When I did a recording recently, all I used was a Kurzweil keyboard at the studio for the piano and acoustic bass sounds and and multi tracked the U-220's. I had sounds from the factory cards for French Horn and other orchestration and used the stock U-220 (vocal pad) and was off and running. The U-220 stuff sat really well in the mix - couldn't tell that they were not real instruments....but the parts had to be performed carefully.

I also have a P-150 digital piano at home for practice and have just purchased an XV-2020 to use for sequenced drums with the SRX card.

Other items I'm auditioning for the rig include the following....so let me know what you all think...OK?

 

1) Access Virus KC

 

2) Electro 2 rackmount

 

3) Piano Controller: Trying to score a new

GranTouch (older model - non Diskclavier)

Will link it to a laptop running Ivory

 

4) Don't really want a workstation!

 

BUT a Yamaha ES-8 would be good for alternate electric piano' sounds.

 

Two patches in particular

 

1) Prophet VS (strings) w/ elec. piano combination. Great for 70's soul ballads.

 

2) Rhodes (suitcase)

Sounds like Richard Tee on "Still Crazy After

All These Years".

 

I have found that you can "tell" it's a motiff however on every patch. The sound signature is really specific...very digital! This really put's me off buying it. I'm still waiting to see what the rack will be like.

 

I dislike most workstations in general, but would use this also for it's controller features since Roland A-50/A-70's are hard to find in new condition.

 

Might even use the sampler with those 3rd party piano samples currently being developed by the sound designers who did the Triton/Kurzweil piano sound's.

 

I will need to sequence. I have two MC-50 MII units. One brand new in the box that I really have not used yet - but it's pretty old technology. Since I'm getting the laptop anyway - I might use it for sequencing. Don't trust laptop's live though.

 

4) Organ - New Hammond (1 level) or Yamaha

- HAVE READ ALL THE POST - IT'S A CONFUSING

CHOICE!!! Do not want to use a softsynth for

this if I can get away from it.

 

5) ESI-4000 (have this new already), but cannot

find libraries via Yahoo the support this as a

Native format. Bought most of the EMU library

as a bundle.

 

So, any suggestions would be welcome. Sorry for the long post everyone. But, I am glad to meet you all and looking forward to being a member of the forum!!!!

 

Anthony

[masone81]

Hello everyone,

 

I guess it's about time I've introduced myself. I've been lurking around these forums for about three weeks now. I searched for a long time for a place where people were discussing music and keyboards. This is definitely the best forum I've found with the friendliest and most knowledgable people.

 

My name is Mason. I grew up on a dairy farm in Leitchfield, KY, in Grayson County. Yes, it's the middle of nowhere. It's near Mammoth Cave if any of you know where that is. Anyway, my father loved music and always had music playing in the house. He bought a tiny keyboard (can't remember what it was) when I was about five or six. Before long I was picking out melodies.

 

I began taking classical piano lessons at age seven. This was a good and a bad thing. The good thing is that I became very good at classical music and studied it all through college. The bad news is that my teachers knew nothing else in regards to improvisation, playing "by ear," or even simply running chords together. So the first few years of my music education were very narrow.

 

However, DESPITE years of lessons I finally learned to play when I was about 15. I was sick and tired of not being able to sit down and play the music that was in my head, so a friend of mine showed me the nashville number system and a pentatonic scale and it was all over. I was hooked.

 

I began taking jazz lessons when I was 16 and I studied jazz all through college. I also played pop/rock/gospel styles in church and with a traveling music ministry. I'm now 23 and residing in Pittsburgh where I'm pursuing a full time music career.

 

I have mostly been a piano player, but in the last 6 months I've tried to round out my synth knowledge a bit. I've owned synths but never really understood them, and until a couple of months ago the drawbars on an organ were meaningless to me, although I had played synth organ patches for years. This forum is certainly helping to round out my knowledge of keyboards great and small.

 

You'll be seeing a lot of me around here,

 

Thanks!

 

Mason

[Loulamb]

Hey everybody! I'm Lou from Charlotte, NC and I have been a keyboard enthusiast since I was a kid, but only started playing on stage in '99 at age 40. Started out with an acoustic rock group doing a lot of easy stuff, opening band type gigs, but am now working with a 5-piece group heading toward covers of Steely Dan, Styx, Rush, Genesis, and Yes. Due to budgetary restrictions of recently becoming single again, all I have to work with is a Roland XP80 which is my pride and joy, and a Korg DW8000 which I stole from a guy (not literally!) and haven't even started messing with. So I joined the group here to try and pick up some sage advice on making the most of what I have to work with, and hopefully to contribute what I can. Right now the main thing I am looking for are some examples of XP80 patches that people have created to give me a base to work from.

 

Lou

[Phred]

My "real name" is Peter Krogh and I am 30 years old. I have been playing since I was 14 years old I think, which isn't as long as most of you here.

 

Music is a hobby for me, not a job. It is practically my only hobby.

 

I recently joined a cover band doing RnB, Soul, Blues, Funk style tunes.

 

My gear is pretty simple - Roland VK-7, Roland A33 Kurz ME-1.

[Kirumamoru]

Hi all,

 

I'm expanding my forum stomping grounds from Harmony Central, where I have way too many posts already. Some of you already know me, and those of you who haven't encountered me before may remember my April Fools' joke about Korg discontinuing the Triton series in favor of arranger keyboards, which IIRC The Pro crossposted here. I am finishing my undergraduate degree in Music Composition from Arizona State University this December (if I don't break down and fail all my classes first) and my studio consists of a Yamaha P-250, Motif ES 7, FS1R, and a pair of MSP10's. (I am a Yamaho. )

 

Anyway, that's about it. If you wanna know more (though I don't know why you would), my website (with music) is www.kirumamoru.com , and I'll do my best to provide useful contributions here.

 

Kiru

[Kirumamoru]

Icon check?

 

edit: Hmm... where's my icon....

 

edit edit: Darnit, where is it?

 

edit edit edit: There we go.

 

Kiru

[niacin]

Hey,

I've been checking in on a few forums over the last coupla months and was initially prompted to sign up and post when I saw a guy on harmony central's forum being seriously overquoted for a digital piano by a local dealer. Too many OT:pol posts to wade through there though. So now find myself mainly returning here.

My name is Peter. I live on Tasmania's north island (aka Australia). Started out on organ then got interested in jazz in high school. Covered alot of the theory ground during my years at uni but am only now beginning to find the time to get my chops together. First paying gig was with a jazz outfit doing Nat Cole material in 1988, have since played my way through too many pubs, and paid my way through university subbing for the wallpaper in numerous restaurants and hotels.

Presently cut back to doing the weekend-warrior thang gigging with a 10-piece old-school funk band. Very welcome change. Rediscovered Herbie's Headhunters stuff and now George Duke. So I picked up a KX-5 in fine condition off ebay a month or so ago and in the next few weeks will be programming my newish Evolver to work with an EMU proteus 2k providing Hammond, rhodes, wurly and clav. Looking forward to lugging what I reckon has gotta be close to the smallest keyboard rig I've ever come across. Otherwise I have a Kawai MP9500 for jazz gigs. Hoping Hammond-Suzuki release an XK-3 rack soon please.

In my spare spare time I am trying to finish a PhD in an unrelated field.

I have just posted re wireless midi so if any of you have any experience with the units available comments would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Peter

[Payt]

Hey all

 

Well i'm new! To this forum at least..

 

I've been making music in different shapes and guises for umm.. over 10 years now, and i still feel like a beginner I do know how to program a synth thoug.. does that count as well?

 

Anyway..let's have some fun in here and see what we can learn

[Hammodel AV]

Hi, I'm Brian Lucy. I'm 45 years old and a Database Administrator (DB2) and now live in the Kansas City area (originally from Southern California).

 

I started singing in 2nd grade and started playing the Hammond organ (N-312) in 5th grade. Started with the organ because I was insulted when they told me that I was only eligible for the clarinet for band because of my overbite (my oldest daughter plays it, though)!

 

I stopped playing the organ in college, but started playing keyboards about nine years ago for church events. I then got interested in getting a 'real' tonewheel Hammond and bought a Porta-B and Leslie 45. I was then fortunate enough to trade the organ only for a 1936 Hammond AV and Leslie 21H (which I converted to use a PM speaker and 147 amp after totally restoring the cabinet). I also have a 1959 Hammond A-100 at home.

 

I now sing and play at church with the Hammond AV, a Wurlitzer 200A, and sometimes one of my synths (Kawai K-3, Kawai K1-R, and Roland XP-10). I also play in a Christian blues band, which I have a EMU B-3 and MAudio 61es controller keyboard that I use for live plus one synth.

[BluesKeys]

I guess the time has come to introduce myself. I have been lurking around this forum for the better part of the year. I've been impressed with the content and the professional take on Most posts.

 

I am Jim Weaver also known as Dream Weaver (no I didn't write the song). I have been playing in bands since the late 60's. I once read this quote and I wish I could take credit for this but my memory isn't what it used to be.

 

My gear is currently

Roland RD700

Roland VK8M

Yamaha Motif6

Roland KC500

also stored away is a 70's Rhodes in need of an overhaul and several amps and stomp boxes

 

"If you have to tell people who you have opened for or gigged with then are you really a Player?"

 

So I will not get into that but I have been through the rocky rhodes and whirly days of the past.

 

I am currently playing two of the best bands I have ever been associated with. They are SLOWHAND A TRIBUTE TO ERIC CLAPTON wwww.slowhand.us which is fun and has opened my eyes to some of the great keys players Eric has had.

 

The other band is Trick Bag which is a soul/ R&B band which features 4 part harmony as well as solid R&B players. www.trickbag.net

 

I don't know squat but I do have opinions. Music isn't a full time job but as an independent sales rep for a medical mfg. co. I have the time and funds to pursue my love of performing.

[r33k]

Welcome, Jim. With your live playing experience and knowledge of keyboards both new and classic, you'll be a great addition to our little collective. There are actually several of us from the Triangle; you've probably seen us on the forum over the past year. We all look forward to your contributions and opinions!

 

Best Regards,

[part1sts]

Hello I love you, wont you tell me your name?....

 

My name is Bedros Peter, I will be 36 in 18 years. My experience with music? I was given the oppertunity around the age of 10 for piano lessons because my mother loved the piano. Did I embrace it? No. I hated, I quitted. And about 4 years ago, I truly regretted my decisions. Instead of mourning, I realized that I was able to compose my own music, and ever since then, the piano has been my pastime besides drawing, painting, and sculpting. I own a young chang upright, and an alesis qs7.1. My next addition will likely be a virus and a lightweight piano of some sort for gigging purposes. Thank you guys for all the information you provide on this site, and remember this... (the quote on my signature from Pink Floyd's "HEY YOU" )

[Elvis Bigfoot]

Ok, time for an amateur/hobbyist to speak up. My name is Jeff Johnson (the name you know), I'm 34 years old and I manage a retail store.

 

I played percussion in middle school and high school band. I bought an Atari 520ST computer when I was 15 and a Casio CZ-101 shortly thereafter. I have been messing around with computers and music ever since then. When my Atari stopped working I taught myself to play the keyboard and years later bought a Kawai K1-II with full size keys.

 

After I discovered Chopin and his nocturnes I spent many hours playing and learning a few of them, although I've never been really serious about playing. I sometimes think that I would have loved to have been a concert pianist (or a motocross racer, or a horticulturalist, or a ...etc.)

 

I now have a Korg N5 and need to get rid of my Kawai and my Roland S-10 sampling keyboard and my Fostex DMT-8vl 8 track hard disk recorder.

 

My interest in making music wanes from time to time and I haven't done much musically at all for a while.

 

Most recently I did some Beastie Boys remixes. I bought their criterion collection DVD which contains some acapella tracks . I used Fruity Loops which is a really fun app.

 

I also downloaded Tracktion but it doesn't seem very usable to me yet. Maybe if I mess with it some more it will make sense to me.

 

Oh, also I bought the Klipsch 2.1 speakers after reading Gansu's thread. At Best Buy, had to ask a clerk to get them working and then only one of the satellites worked and it sounded like crap and they tried to charge me $5.00 more than the marked price. Got them home...

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and I love 'em!

 

[resigned]

I've been here a pretty good while but I don't think I ever introduced myself so...

 

My name is Esh and 2005 will be my 35th consecutive year as a professional keyboardist. I've had other jobs on the side but I call those "occupations" and my music is my "pre-occupation" because it has always come first. I am currently a full-time muso again, which I have been most of my life, and I reside in beautiful Hilton Head, SC USA.

 

It would take too long to do a detailed bio but I'm essentially a "natural" pianist and I've always been able to play anything I heard. My parents sent me to private tutors and by the age of 14 I was playing solo and in bands professionally. I was primarily an organist in my early days and was even kicked out of a church gig when they found out I moonlighted with local rock bands. My first synth was a raunchy Moog Satellite which I only had for a week before trading it in on a Minimoog in the mid-70's. I joined the USAF out of college specifically to be trained as a recording engineer and A/V specialist, and I traveled throughout the US and continued to play keyboards while in the service. After a full military tour, in the early 80's I won a prestigious talent competition in Georgia using various synths, drum machines and sequencers - this was pre-MIDI and I'd developed my own circuits for syncing different brands of electronic music devices together. I was noticed and asked to tour with several symphonies that were doing multimedia "Star Wars" concerts. About this time I also became involved with the people at Sequential Circuits who gave me the first prototype of a MIDI interface for the Commodore 64. To my knowledge I was the first person to use MIDI files in live performance. I later toured planetariums and eventually opened my own commercial recording studio in Macon, Georgia. I was featured in Keyboard magazine's October 1984 issue, and again in the "20 Years Later" segment in Keyboard October 2004.

 

After leaving the commercial recording scene I played a lot of Holiday Inns for many years and eventually settled down in my favorite city, Savannah, Georgia to become a music technology specialist for music stores and eventually a computer/IT specialist. Today I live on a resort island just north of Savannah with my wife and have refocused my efforts on live performance and performing along the East Coast.

[gangsu]

Holy Smokes Pro, you're in Keyboard Magazine??! You're some kind of pro!

 

(I might forget. please forgive my argumentative tendancies. in advance. as well as in retrospect. )

 

And Elvis Bigfoot..

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those little speakers are some kind of steal, arent they. They're still working great for me too, on the job and off.

[MattFacingSouth]

My name is, well, Matt and I've been lurking with a few posts for a little more than a month. You guys have a lot of insight and some pretty cool stories; makes for a good read, hopefully I can contribute.

 

I am originally a sax player but dabbled in bass and keys during high school. Played jazz, marching, pep, and concert bands. After HS I still kept with sax, but started playing bass in earnest after seeing Scott Ambush play w/Spyro Gyra. Piano took off somewhere in there due to a lack of jazz players wherever I went. It's my primary instrument now.

 

Moved from Sacramento to Grand Forks in '99

 

Played in the UND jazz ensemble on lead tenor from 2000-2002 and piano in 2003-2004.

 

Joined a well-established acoustic-rock group called Drambuee in 1999 on keys and after many of my bandmates went their separate ways the drummer and I started a soul band. In North Dakota.

 

Groove Union started off well enough, we had a complement of five horns, for which I wrote the arrangements, and a full rhythm section with me on organ. We played everything from Tower of Power to EWF, Steely Dan to Wilson Pickett. In another thread I wrote of the unfortunate demise of this group after nearly three years - short story internal politics combined with a new lead singer, fill in the blanks. But fortunately that event allowed me to go back to my roots, which are firmly in jazz.

 

I have a jazz quartet that plays about 2-3 weekends a month (which is decent for up here!) and again I'm on piano.

 

Occasionally I direct and play piano in musical theater, which is stressful, but very rewarding. I've also taught, but a recent promotion left me with no time to do that anymore . My real job is managing the combo department of a ma-and-pa music store.

 

On the side, I'm a commercial pilot who hasn't flown much lately. I also do a local paintball league in the summer (my team took first least year ). I'm married and we are the proud parents of a Lhasa Apso.

 

My rig consists of:

Alesis DG-8 (IMHO the best digital piano ever made)

Korg Triton Studio 76

Roland VK-8M

Edirol PCR-50

Yamaha PSR-510 (still works!)

Hammond C2 w/ leslie 145 (stays at home)

Fender Standard J-Bass

Selmer Mark VI tenor sax

Computer rig is a PC running Home Studio 2004 with a Tascam US-122 audio interface. An Audix OM-2 mic and a Behringer 1204 rounds it all out.

[Tjibbe]

He guys,

 

my name is Tjibbe, I'm from Groningen, Holland. I've played traditional piano for about 12 years now, and at the moment I'm beginning to 'use' it a bit for some nice projects. In april 2004 we played Jesus Christ Superstar, I played the piano there, that was very cool. Now we're starting up a coverband project, so I'll need some portable gear in the close future. Hopefully I can get some advises around this forum...

[bloodyMary]

hi everyone, I'm a young keyboard player from Israel. As mentioned, I'm VERY young - seventeen only. I've been playing piano for two or three years, then moved to synth (playing synth for three years or so).

 

I play in various local bands in different styles. My current bands are - Desert, an innovative power metal band (we just got the demo CD done, and it's really nice so we're sending it to various labels etc. unfortunately, there are NO metal or hard rock labels in Israel, so we are looking forward to signing a contract somewhere in Italy or Greece).

My second project that's still alive is a kind of fusion of funk/rock/jazz. It's still a 'home project', we've only started it. But it sounds promising.

 

About the gear. Most of the forum members post here neverending lists of super-expencive studio gear, so I will do:

 

A Yamaha S-03

A Peavey KB100

 

that's all. In fact, I dont really need anything better 'cuz it's also gonna be bigger in terms of weight and size (and I gotta be portable) and expensive. The KB100 is already too much for me - it's not really movable. I cant imagine a B3 with a Leslie in my rig - no space for it!

 

A wishlist - stage piano or nord electro.

[zeronyne]

Wow, lots of new folks! Welcome, welcome!

[C.J. Lewis]

Oops -- missed this the first time around...

 

First off, love the forum!

 

I'm C.J. Lewis, currently the U.S. Pro Product Specialist for Kurzweil Music Systems. I also own a sales & marketing firm that represents Kurzweil, Open Labs, and Event Electronics in the Rocky Mountain and SW United States' regions (hopefully more to come next week!)

 

Married to a wonderful wife, three little girls, 8, 6, and 10 weeks. I'm what the jib/jab brothers would call a 'right-wing nut job', as I own almost as many weapons as I do keyboards, and enjoy shooting things. I'm a big hypersports bike fan, sadly, I had to part with my red 2000 Suzuki Hayabusa the middle of last year for financial reasons (as in not enough )

 

Musically, I started playing piano at 3, classical lessons from 5 - 18, college, jazz lessons, etc., etc. I played on a Carnival Cruise ship called the 'Festivale' in the early '90's, the Army Band, and with a few 'sorta famous' people. I released a solo album entitled 'Guesswork' in May of 2003, a collection of improvisatory piano pieces.

 

Currently, I'm co-producing and engineering an album for a country artist named Randy Gunn, and working on a Vineyard Music International project, due for release later in 2005.

 

I spent 10 years in music retail, the first 3 selling pianos in a mall in Texas (tough gig), then moved to Guitar Center/GCPro for the better part of 6 years, with a year break in '99/'00 to be an Ultimate Support Systems rep.

 

Gear?

 

Kurzweil

• Grace 801
   
  
• TC Electronic M3000
   
  
• B.L.U.E. Bottle, U87AI, and others...
   
  

Monitoring systems

• Genelec 1031A's w/7070A subwoofer
  
• Event ASP8s
  
• Genelec 2029Bs
  
• Yamaha NS10M (hate 'em)
  
• Furman HDS6 system
   
  

OK, that's enough bandwidth. Short story, I'm really just understanding the power of Pro Tools and the toys that I have to play with after the few sessions I've done.

Again, love the forum -- from the looks of it, I'll enjoy it as much as I do Sonikmatter! Any questions you guys or gals have on anything on the above list, let me know -- I can help you out or get you the answer!

I hope that covers it -- see you at the show next week!

[Windreaper]

Heck, why not.

 

Hi, I'm Mikko Heikkilä, a 21yr old media student all the way from Finland (10km south from the arctic circle to be exact - I can say hello to the polar bears for you . I do freelance photography for a living alongside my studies and play progressive rock/metal (neo prog?) in a couple of bands on my spare time. I started with piano about 16 years ago and haven't managed to pick up any other instruments along the way (heck, why play bass when the keyboardist can do it with his left hand? . Okay, I intend to.

 

Mandatory Gearlist:

 

Keyboards:

Roland JD-800

Roland JX-10 (w/ PG-800)

Roland XP-50 (w/ Piano & Orchestral exp)

Roland FP-8

 

Modules/Rack Gear/Mixers:

Roland JD-990 (w/ Vintage exp)

Lexicon MPX500

Lexicon Alex

Behringer RX1602

Behringer MX602A

 

Plus naturally a P4 laptop with some free software. I don't feel like stealing from developers and otoh don't feel like paying up 300$ for software that's going to be outdated in couple of years. Luckily there's some very good free stuff out there (I use Kjaerhaus Classic plugins for FX a lot) so kudos to software developers for that.

[Dave Bryce]

 

Gentlemen - thanks for taking the time to tell us about yourselves. Welcome to the forum!

 

dB

[Trilogy]

Hi! My name is Rich and I'm 38 years old, living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I've been playing piano since I was eight and guitar since I was 10. I bought an RD-300s brand new back in '92. I play it as often as I have time for. My favourite song to play is "Trilogy" by ELP. I'm also using the RD-300s to teach my 6-year-old son how to play. I hope he plays better than I can some day. Cheers everyone!

[ephlat]

Wow... i just finished reading about 80% of the 14 pages(!) of introductions, and I am currently deciding if I have the nerve to ever, ever post again, much less introduce myself. What a talented and learned group of people! I are not in Kansas anymore...

 

Well, here goes.

 

My name is Don Green, born and raised in the desert Southwest, US. I am 38 and my wife is expecting our (yes really) 8th child. Yes, I am from Utah, no I am not a Mormon nor a polygamist (serial monogomist perhaps...) The number of kids obviously involves a couple of marriages and a couple of adoptions as well.

 

I wrote my first song at 3 on an upright piano and performed it for my father- a classically trained cellist and pianist, who reacted to my song as though I were the next Mozart. I began piano lessons at 6, and trombone at 11, but always struggled mightily - completely unable to practice (and regrettably therefore never really learned to read music) in favor of making up my own tunes.

 

At age 14, I found myself at a new school with few friends. Started to hang out with a couple of kids who talked about putting a band together. Desperate to fit in, I told them I played keyboards (having never touched anything other than an out-of-tune upright). I managed to cajole my mother into buying a Roland of some sort from a pawn shop. The band sucked, of course, but then so did I. What mattered was that I had friends... sort of.

 

And I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote songs, trying desperately to capture the music in my head and bring it into the world. My lack of musical education was a severe handicap, and my immature efforts at composition brought little encouragement from any except my dad. (Of course, my dad... I could tell him I was running off to join the circus and he'd say, "then you be the best circus performer you can be.")

 

Got married right out of high school, had a kid 2 yrs later and suddenly music was out and reality was in. Sold all the equipment to pay the rent during early lean times, and then basically abandoned songwriting for the next 10 yrs. Oh, I'd bang on a piano whenever one was handy, and I continued to write feverishly - poetry, lyrics, short stories and opinion pieces mostly.

 

My 1st marriage ended after 12 yrs and 4 kids. Suddenly I was a lonely, troubled single guy and managed to scrape a few bucks to buy a small yamaha keyboard - general midi, 4 song memory.

 

Not much but it was a start, and I began writing songs again. Musically, I hadn't grown much from my teens, but at 31, I had a bit more depth of experience to draw from, and perhaps a bit more confidence as well. Anyway, my kids liked my music, and that was enough to keep us connected.

 

A short time later I met and married a fantastic woman with 2 little boys, who I adopted. We also have a son together, and are expecting a daughter any day now (does that all ad up to 8? I think so. You should see us all at Disneyland... HEADCOUNT!)

 

Needless to say, little items like groceries and mortgage payment come before gear, and we are not a wealthy people, though things have improved considerably in the last year or so.

 

I did manage to purchase a Casio wk1630, and was simply astounded at what a slightly better tool could do to assist my composition. Sequencers! Quantizing! EQ effects! Even a bit of bass response! I began to write and record music that began to approach - finally - what I thought my heart was capable of. Played my songs for friends and family, played with a few buddies, and recieved positive feedback from my music for the first time in my life! (Other than from Dad, of course.) I was in heaven!

 

A failed business forced me to sell the Casio, and so I have been without an instrument for a little over a year. I have continued to write lyrics and work out what I can with some notation software. The sad truth is though, in the last 2 yrs I have drunk and smoked enough for a fine studio's worth of gear.

 

Business has improved considerably though, and as of this writing I am 5 days sober and 3 days smoke-free. I will be purchasing an ES7 within the next two wks, and likely Cubase shortly thereafter.

 

My musical goals have changed somewhat as well. I used to dream of rock-god stardom. Today what I hope to do is create music to move people's thoughts and emotions - my own primarily. If at some point a tiny publisher in Buttcrack, Id pays me $100 for a song, I will be a successful musician.

 

In the meantime, I will read voraciously the fine input available here, and hopefully learn.

 

Thanks for having me and (if you made it this far) for reading my life story.

 

Don

[ephlat]

An addendum:

As of yesterday I actually have a gear list (I promised myself I wouldn't cry...)

 

Yamaha Motif ES7

M-Audio MX5 powered monitors

Fostex Multitracker.

 

Holy sh*t I'm a musician again ... um, er...omigod lookit the manual for this thing ...

[midinut]

Been lurking in the background reading through many many posts and figure it's about time I post an intro. I'm Brad from Charlotte, NC. I'm mid 40's and started playing keyboards in the south back in the 70's when Southern Rock was cool! I also play some acoustic and electric guitar as well. Since then I've played in all sorts of bands (blues, country, beach, top 40, etc. - just about everything except jazz - I love it just can't play it). Began writing in the early 80's but never had anything published. I play by ear and cannot read music (except chord charts and Nashville numbers). I've been out of gigging for about 8 years now and can't seem to find an "old fart's band" to kick around with here locally. I teach applications classes at a computer learning center and that's been my day gig for about 7 years now. When I moved to Charlotte 3 years ago from Knoxville, TN I began putting a wish list together so I could get back into my first love - music. Three divorces wiped out all my finances AND equipment. I decided to get in on the ground floor of the "virtual" studio explosion and have a meager Yamaha DGX-500 (great little 88-note board on it's own BTW ao long as you don't have to have true weighted keys) that I'm using as a controller. I picked up Cubase SL and started adding virtual instruments to the point that I really don't know what else I could ever need! I have virtual clones of nearly every keyboard I ever owned. Over the years I've worked in music retail, been a manufacturers rep, been in the Army, and now I'm just sitting at my PC getting older (just had a B-Day) and enjoying my virtual studio. This is one of my favorite forums to lurk around in and I've opened my mouth a few times so I thought I'd better put my intro where my mouth is before someone "called me out" on it. I have learned so much here already that I'm kind of like a previous poster "I can't possibly imagine what I can contribute in a forum filled with such genius". Hopefully, and if I feel like I have something to say that may help, I can share some bits of experience, problem-solving, or just hang out with you guys and try to absorb some more knowledge. I'll shut up now! Sorry for the mega-post!

[Dave Bryce]

Rich, Don and Brad - thanks for taking the time to tell us about yerselves!

 

I'm really glad that this thread stays alive - it's really great to know more about the people who post here!

 

dB

[Steve Force]

As I have posted here I should introduce myself..

 

Steve here--49 yrs old and have been playing musical instruments since 1964 (ish..)

 

Although primarily a bassist--have played bass since 1968(ish)-- I have had synths since the early 1990s, and am quite proficient with MIDI and digital recording.

 

Professional computer type (25 years now), married, 3 kids, 2 granddaughters. BS and MBA degrees. LOVE playing music and now have the time to do it..

 

Currently have an Ensoniq TS-10 synth, an Ensoniq ASR-10 rack sampler/synth (both purchased new in the early-mid 1990's), and just recently purchased a Yamaha Motif-Rack ES.

 

Am eyeing a Yamaha P-200 digital piano that a buddy of mine will be selling (he rents gear to touring musicians and this will be available in a couple of weeks), and am considering some other gear.

 

Life is good.

 

Thanks for letting me hang here--you guys are awesome!

 

Regards.