Introductions?

[Infusion]

My name is Frank. I live in NYC. I'm an anesthesiologist and a hard core music lover and keyboardist. I grew up in Detroit, so my musical roots are very diverse.

 

I would say that my heart and soul remains firmly planted in the Fusion/Smooth Jazz/Acid Jazz styles.

 

I grew up listening to The Blackbirds, EWF, Caldera, Seawind, George Duke, Rufus and Chaka, Spyro Gyra, Yellow Jackets, RTF and lots of modern Brazilian.

I would say that my style is probably most influenced by the very early Jeff Lorber Fusion. (that's when Kenny G was a young Kenny Gorelick)

 

I've gone through quite a few keybaords, but lately, I keep the setup slim and trim.

SGProX

Voce V5

JV-90

6'3" Grand

It's time for a mjaor upgrade and I'm eyeing the Motif 8 and Fantom.

 

This is a very exciting time for me. I'm 4 months away form building my dream DAW/Studio in my home. 24 bit/96K baby with all the trimmings!!!!

 

I'm going to take a little bit of time and carefully read ever single introduction and maybe I'll reply to a few of yours...................... Keyboard players are the shit.

[Dave Bryce]

I love this thread. Every time it gets bumped, I'm really glad it got started.

 

Thanks to everyone who has put up recent intros - it's always interesting to get a glimpse into the worlds of the folks who post here.

 

Thanks also to my friend Soapbox for curating this particular thread. Geoff has kind of evolved into the forum's official "greeter", and he does a darn fine job of it.

 

dB

[RudyS]

Well if you love it so much, i will post here for you.

 

I am Rudy. An 18 year old student from the netherlands. I am playing synths for about 3 years now, but church organ for about 9 years.

 

Because my finacial situation is not that great as a student i don't have much gear, but i own a Korg n5 and a Korg Poly 61.

I am planning to get a used jv-1080 really soon.

 

I love all kinds of music from classical to prog.

 

Well that's me!!

 

Rudy

[soapbox]

This is my first trip to the forums today; and I've gotta say, "WOW, what a response!"

 

---

 

J nas, what a diverse list of influences you have! I love fusion and funk too.

 

Both my sister and a good friend of mine have tinnitus as well. From what they've told me, they would agree that you are lucky about the frequency shifts. This is a serious malady. My friend almost decided to kill himself before he found a moderately successful treatment! I hope that your situation is tolerable.

 

How do you like your OB-Xa? I used to have an OB-8 myself, and I sometimes regret having sold it.

 

---

 

Scott, it's good to know this extra dimension of you. Reading how you need to hear someone pushing the envelope musically, I now understand better why the safe picks in the NFL survivor pool bugged you!

 

Personally, I love to hear the envelope pushed as well. I love progressive rock and jazz-fusion, but I also like pop. It's the middle ground between the two extremes that it took me awhile to warm up to.

 

---

 

Frank, I love Earth, Wind, and Fire. I saw them live while touring their All 'N All release in 1977. I'm into a lot of the other artists you mentioned as well. It's cool that you're about to build your dream DAW/Studio. Have you decided on the gear? If not, you know where to post your questions.

 

---

 

Dave, thanks for the kind words, my friend. Not too surprisingly, I love this thread as well! Thanks for starting it!

 

---

 

Rudy, you're off to a good start gearwise. I didn't buy my first synth until I was 21 and I did okay. While the JV-1080 isn't a bad choice, there are a lot of options, even in that price range. Feel free to start a thread asking for help if you need assistance.

 

---

 

I've been an unabashed booster of this community for almost two years, and it makes me happy to see so many of you posting here. I look forward to "seeing" all of you online.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[Jazzman]

Infusion..........my way of thinking with the artists.

 

I grew up on Jazz, Soul, R&B and Funk.

 

CalTjader, Jazz Crusaders, George Duke, Cannonball Adderley, Yellow Jackets, Temtations, Four Tops, Santana, Dave Brubeck, Grand Funk Railroad, George Shearing, Blackbyrds, Kenny G, James Brown, Pieces of a Dream, Chuck Magione, Bob James, Rodney Franklin, Deon Warrwick(sp), Marvin Gay, Spyro Gyra, Bill Withers, Bonney James, Booker-T, Con-Funk Shun, Jimmy Smith, Les McCann, Roy Ayers, Stanley Clark, Gill Scott Heron, Tom Scott, Ronie Laws, Loni Liston Smith, McKoy Tyner, Jean-Luc Ponty, The Supremes, Grover Washington, on and on.....

 

Peace my friend...........

 

Jazzman

[Griffinator]

Geoff - After swinging to the extremes of what could be loosely defined as music (Throbbing Gristle, for example), I will say that I've really begun to appreciate the songsmithing in and of itself over the execution. Nowadays my regular listening rotation consists not only of bits like FZ/Mothers, King Crimson, Dream Theater, Mr. Bungle, and Chrome, but also more mainstream stuff like early Radiohead, first-lineup Uriah Heep, and even some of the more modern tongue-in-cheek fun like Weezer and Ben Folds Five...

[soapbox]

Scott - good stuff! I've run much of the same gambit myself.

[DeeSquare]

I'm glad this got bumped as well, I meant to post a long time ago, but ....

 

Let me start off by saying I love this forum; it's indespensible. Kudos to all who post and a special thanks to our moderator for keeping environment here professional and friendly.

 

Anyway, I'm 37 married with three young boys (4 1/2 yrs., 2 yrs. and 3 months). So for those of you with children you can guess how much free time I have available.

 

I guess I've been playing keyboards for about 10 years now, although sometimes I think I play as if it has only been 10 months. I started out back in high school as a guitar player and every now and then it gets to see the light of day. I'm entirely self taught and I read music at such a pace that I prefer to tell people I just don't read music. I've played out a fair amount in the past with several rock and jazz groups, but gigging, having a young family and a day job just don't mix.

 

My primary instrument is a 1965 Hammond A100 with a Leslie 145, man I love that thing. My wife got it for me just before our first son was born - she's great. I also have a Yamaha S80, a Kurzweil K2500RS, a Washburn acoustic (wish it was a Taylor), and a '94 PRS electric guitar.

 

As of late my sole outlet for performance is playing the Hammmond in our church. To some of you that may not sound like much, but I regularly get the chance to let that Hammond scream - too much fun.

 

As far as influences/favorite bands here are some of them in no particular order.

 

Medeski, Martin and Wood, Galactic, Phish, Primus, Jellyfish, Yes, Rush, Joey DeFrancesco, Queen, The Jam, Bauhaus, Ben FOlds Five, J.S. Bach, ELP, King Crimson, the list goes on.

 

I'll stop for now, thanks again!

[Steve LeBlanc]

I always enjoy reading the new intros on this thread too...welcome to the new people and "nice to know more of ya" to those who waited to introduce themselves.

[FrankieP]

Originally posted by Infusion:

My name is Frank. I live in NYC. I'm an anesthesiologist and a hard core music lover and keyboardist...

he...he...

Frank, I have almost the same intro as you! But mine goes like this...

 

My name is (also) Frank. I live in NYC (actually Long Island NY). I'm a Nurse Practitioner and also a keyboardist... i'm 31 years old.

My parents forced me to learn the piano at a very young age of 12. I played "Popeye The Sailor Man" on my first piano recital, right after a guy playing the theme from Star Wars on a synth. I quit after a year.

I was also a DJ way back in the 80's which probably influenced my love for electronic music. My first synth was a Yamaha DX7... last year my wife got me a Yamaha Motif7 for christmas. It has been my main axe/controller in my li'l home studio equipt with 2 racks full of synth modules and samplers with a Soundchaser Nuendo DAW as my main sequencer. I dabble and do dance remixes for a couple of people here in NY. But all that has taken a backseat after me and my wife were blessed with twins 3 months ago. Can't wait for these boys to grow bigger and be able to hold the bottle on their own so maybe I could at least free up my left hand when playing keys!

 

This is a great thread and it's nice to know all of you!!!

[daBowsa]

Hello all! My name is Ben Schomp (aka "dabowsa" or "D.J. Benom") and I live just south of Providence, RI. At 26, I consider keys the instrument at which I am the least proficient, yet enjoy it the most and am making much progress!

 

Since switching from guitar to keys, I played in a band called The Atlantic Caravan for almost two years (recently dissolved), and Badfish (a Sublime tribute band) which is still going strong. Very strong, actually! I must say, it has fulfilled all of my rock and roll fantasies: riding a Winnebago to-and-from cities like New York and Boston, and playing for as many as 450 very intense fans. I've actually been flashed several times for the t-shirt I bring out to promote the merch table during the set break!

 

As an accessory member, I play about 2/3 of the songs, but on some I get to play trumpet with one hand and organ or sax parts on my QS6.1 with the other! I also have a bunch of samples on the Alesis that I trigger while playing (turntable scratches, etc.)

 

For my latest excursion, I'm putting myself out on a limb by organizing a key-groove-driven group with bass, drums and a sax player. I'm hoping I'll have enough ideas to avoid bringing in a guitar player! Never, ever underestimate the importance of a good bass player - they make or break your band.

 

Gear: Alesis QS6.1 / Roland A-33 / Standtasic 2-Tier / Fender Pro-185 / Dunlop CryBaby, Boss DS-1, DD-5, and CE-1.

 

Wish List: Voce V5 / Motion Sound KBR-M / Nord Electro2 / Yamaha S80 / Invisible Stand

 

If you visit those websites, check out the solo in "Fortune Man" or the Flash-intro to the Badfish site...I'm responsible for both!

 

Oh yeah, I work a mind-numbing job in a soul-sucking cube as a "Computer Scientist" during the day. If anyone knows of any jobs where I can combine my proficiency with computers and love for music, PLEASE let me know. I'm a detail-oriented perfectionist with an upbeat demenour and uncanny ability to simplify the complex - I'll move anywhere in the world to make music my career!

 

It was great to meet you, thanks for listening!

 

--Ben, www.benschomp.com, ben@benschomp.com

[soapbox]

DeeSquare, it's great that you still have a chance to perform regularly. Considering your day job, wife, and kids, it sounds as if you're very lucky all the way around!

 

--

 

DeafMix, I remember when Liam and Mark were born . Have you slept yet?

 

Also, how is that Motif working out? It's my favorite of the current crop of keyboard workstations.

 

--

 

Ben, it sounds like you're having a lot of fun in the club scene. I was your age at the peak of my bar band days as well. It was a great time in my life.

 

Now, I'm in the studio scene. If you want to combine your love of computers with a music gig, one option might be for you to become a certified Pro Tools expert or operator for studio or post work. For more info, click on the link below:

 

Digidesign Training and Education Site

 

Another possibility might be to help design some of the software we use to create music with. Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) is about an hour's drive from you. They make one of the best DAWs available, Digital Performer. The link I gave in this paragraph takes you straight to their Job Openings page.

 

Good luck.

 

--

 

Thank you all for sharing. I enjoyed reading about your lives.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[soapbox]

BuMp!!!

[Dave Bryce]

We've had a bunch of new posters here lately, and so (with gentle prodding from Rabid) I thought it might be a good idea to bring this thread to the top so anyone who feels inclined to do so can introduce themselves.

 

dB

[mzk4life]

Thank you Dave for bringing the intro thread back for the likes of me. Now I see what Robert meant by "where's your intro thread". I'm about a day old in this forum. I partially gave my intro on the PADS thread. I guess you could say I've been an intermittent semi-pro for close to 20 yrs and very sporadic, with many barren years at that. Partial classical training as a lad, much playing by ear. I'm 38 and I still wish I could make my living musically - in some fashion. For the past year, I've been jamming weekly with a cover band (occasional gig, trying to get more now). I support my young family working for a software company (nothing to do with music:(). Like many I'm sure, I have so many questions about synth usage, so little time, so little money. Thanks again!

[eric]

I thought this thread would be good to resurrect since there are several new folks around. Let's hear from you!

 

Regards,

Eric

[Steve LeBlanc]

haha...I just read my introduction again...silly...can't believe that was nearly 3 years ago.

[Dave Bryce]

Originally posted by eric:

I thought this thread would be good to resurrect since there are several new folks around. Let's hear from you!

I was thinking the same thing, only I hadn't gotten to it yet...thank, Eric!

 

dB

[phlash]

OK - I really am new. This is my fourth post to this forum.

 

I'm 46 years old and my travels and hobbies and vocations have been varied over the years - but the one thing I have to keep coming back to is music. It's the one thing I cannot live without. (well, besides air . . . and water . . . and food I guess.)

 

I've played a ton of instruments over the years - attended the University of Kansas as a Music Education / Music Therapy major - played in minor bands, usually jazz/rock oriented. I always had a blast in the marching bands.

 

I love Keyboard magazine! It's my source for how people feel about music, new music to explore and new tidbits to try out on the keyboard.

 

I work in the high tech industry. I provide tier two technical support and technical support internally. I also produce marketing materials. In the past I've worked for medical instrument manufacturers and environmental engineering companies, among others.

 

The most amazing time I've ever had was traveling to Albania shortly after their dictator of 50 years, Enver Hoja (sp?) died. It was a wild, wild thing to do, but it was also one of the best things I've ever done.

 

I love all kinds of music, as long as it's performed well. About the only things I don't care for are screaming vocals with no sense of musicality and whiny, dippy country tunes. I'm a big fan of Zappa after he pulled his head out and Mozart would also have to be right up there. Of today's bands/musicians I really enjoy what Fishbone has been up to lately and I seem to have a techno streak going lately with Deep Sky and Groove Armada commanding most of my attention.

 

Gear? What gear? I dont need no stinking gear! Well, OK. I have a WinTel, a Macintosh and a Linux machine I like them all. I have a couple of minor keyboards and a small piano, a couple of guitars, one electric (sold my bass) and one acoustic, an alto sax, two trumpets, two flutes, a snare drum with a bell set and various other musical thingies (recorders, harmonicas, rhythm instruments) I love to play around on them all!

 

If youre ever in Lawrence Kansas on a Friday night, head for the Free State Brewery where you can catch the live jazz quartet from seven to ten in the beer hall. If you can figure out who I am Ill buy the beer!

 

/David C.

[David R]

I'm new too... I just sort of barged into a few conversations without ever introducing myself. So I'll rectify that now.

 

My name's David (like so many others on this board!), and I AM CANADIAN... err, yeah. I'm a Torontonian born and raised but I'm now in Montreal studying jazz piano performance. I've been playing piano since I was 6, focussing on jazz since I was 9 (after hearing Dave Brubeck's Time Out) and I'm about to turn 18. Even though I'm studying jazz (and it is my primary passion), I'm into all kinds of music and one of my big projects right now is playing keyboards in an original funk-soul-jamband.

 

I use a QS8 through a Yorkville amp on those gigs where I have to bring my own gear; usually I'm at the mercy of whatever piano is at the club or school. I might start using the bandleader's Wurlitzer on the funk gigs in the future, in addition to the QS.

 

I posted my influences in the other thread, but I'll post some of the biggies here: Miles, Herbie, Chick Corea, Bruce Hornsby, Keith Jarrett, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, MMW... and the list goes on and on.

 

This forum, in just over 2 weeks, has already proved to be a huge resource! And this thread just reminded me how many years it's been since I first met dB... yikes.

 

David

[beatnix]

Great Tread!!!

 

I have been lurking around for the past month, thought this would the time in jump in the mix.

 

My Name is Sean Nix, im 34 and I live in the Washington D.C. area. I started my music path at the age of 8 (school band - trumpet). I start play keys a few years later. Played in a jazz/ prog. rock group in high school, that was a blast.

 

After high school head to Boston to attend Berklee college of Music. Had a great time there, met some great musician, learned alot, got to play and write alot (Graduated the same year as Paula Cole and Layla Hathaway). After graduating from the Film Scoring Dept. I stayed in Boston an tried get my music career of the gound, alot gigs - Back up band for Rap / Boy Band group , Hatian world beat band (Alot of fun), music teacher, MIDI studio engineer, wedding pianist, dance class pianist, various GB bands, studio stuff, film scoring, arranging, whatever to keep money coming in.

 

By the mid 90's i got kind of burnt out, started working office jobs. Sold my equipment. Met my lovely wife and her son around that time, got married little over 5 years ago. Had two boys in those 5 years (A father of 3 in 5 years). Im currently working as an IT person (databases, web stuff, networking). Very little music in that time .

 

Moved back to DC for Boston 2 years ago ( The cost of living is crazy in Boston, not that DC is great). My wife encourage me to start doing some music stuff about a year ago. Bought a Kurzweil SP88, an amp, and little Korg O5Wr. By luck got hooked up with well know Singer/Guitarist in the area ( www.jimsteed.com ) doing some nice pop gigs (opening for Eddie Money this weekend - remember that guy . Im also teaching a couple of private students. Its been fun to play again.

 

I have been studying the whole digital recording think, checking out a bunch of DAW (which is why I started coming here). Exciting stuff.

 

Im glad that there are forums like this, I enjoy learning from you guy, hope to be able to contribute soon. Thanks.

 

Sean

[Dave Bryce]

Excellent!

 

Thanks for taking the time to introduce yourselves, gentlemen!

 

Welcome aboard!

 

dB

[Dan Steinberg]

Well, better late than never I say. Hi there everyone!

 

My name is Dan Steinberg, I am a 29 year old recording engineer turned audio product manager. Ive been reading this forum (and some of the other EQ ones) for ages but dont post very often.

 

I worked in L.A. for a while, fresh out of college, freelancing at some different recording studios and my own small home facility, working on record albums, audio for video, assisting film composers, music editing, etc. That was a fun period and I got to learn a lot of great analog and digital recording techniques from a lot of great engineers. Somehow I even managed to scrape together a living, oh the good old salad days!

 

About three years ago, I moved down to San Diego and started working as a test engineer/product manager/tech support guy for the (now out of business) company Timeline Vista. We were the ones that made the Lynx synchronizers that sync up the big old 2 tape machines. We also made the MMR-8 and MX-2424 recorders for Tascam (at which place I got to meet some fine folks like Jeff the Wandering Weasel).

 

Finally, for the past few months I have been working as a product manager up in Woodinville, Washington at Mackie Designs. Its been a really fun and challenging gig and everyone here is a great bunch of folks. Since I got here in January and had lived in Southern California for many years, the rain took a little getting used to..

 

I enjoy writing music and recording, and playing different instruments including bass, guitar, and piano. I probably need to practice my technique more on all of them, but that's not important!

 

Well, thats my story, fascinating Im sure!

[yannis dimitriadis]

Hi

My name is Yannis, from Athens Greece. I'm 34 years old, working profesionaly as a radio producer in a world-music station (Kosmos 93.6), a journalist writing about music and a giggin musician. I play piano and keyboards over 25 years. Actually, i studied classical piano in Athens and in Paris (Ecole Normale de Musique, for 2 years). I play jazz piano and keyboards and i have a big love for hammond organ, rhodes and piano. I actually play in two bands. the first is called "Oh!My Garden", a funky-reggae group of seven (keys, drums, guitar, bass, trumpet, sax, percussions - we already have 2 cd's in the market) and my own project "The Happy Dog Project" (keys, sax, guitar, bass, drums, turntables - we're recording our first Cd). I devide my day in journalisma-radio and my bands. I live with my girlfriend and i'm happy she just can take it. I have many friends who face personal problems due to their commitment in music. I play 4-6 live giggs a month and play and record with other artists as well. But it's a hard time to make a living with (only) music, so...

As you can see, this is a full live. My rig contains a Nord Lead 2, Nord Electro 61, Hammond L-120 + Leslie, Rhodes suitcase, Korg Univox and Korg CX-3. I carry all my instruments alone (bad for the back)but mainly the beloved Nords and the Korg CX3. I try to work my technique, though i believe -as i grow older- that technique is the last thing needed in music. I'm a big fan of Medeski Martin & Wood, Cinematic Orchestra, Red Snapper and a superb greek group called Mode Plagal (ckeck out www.modeplagal.gr). It's difficault to put a life of 35 years in some paragraphs, but that's all for the moment.

If you want, you can drop a line in yannidim@email.com.

Best wishes

Yannis

p.s. Sorry for my english....

[Jeff Irok]

I'm a newbie tobee (har har!). I've been on-line since on or about '86', and have been playing keys for over 20 years, though. The bands I've been in were mostly classic rock, although I was in an all-original band in the eighties where we wrote mostly progressive-type stuff. (We're using the low-cost modern technology that was unavailable back then to record many of these tunes. Early results are encouraging! I'll keep you posted.)

 

My current rig consists of only an S-80, an Emu B3 and a DX-7. (I'm soon adding a EMu Vintage Pro Rom). Until recently, I sported 3 keyboards & 2 modulars, but retired most of that, at least temporarily, as the headbangers I play with don't need much more than pianos & oragns. At home, I have: Ensoniq Mirage, Casio CZ-101, Yamaha DX-21, Xasio AZ-1, Yamaha CP-10, EMu XL-1, Paia Fat Man, Kurzweil PX-1000.... that's all I can remember right now...

 

I solo occasionally, and am thinking about pursuing that more...I'm also writing stuff at home & hope to release an Indie album in the next year or so...

 

Married...two kids (8 & 9 right now)....Gig a few times a month...I exercise.....work for the governement....bored enough yet?

 

[Basketcase]

Hello,

I'm new here. Actually I've been lurking around these forums for a long while, this is a valuable resource.

 

I'm a Windows bases Logic user....I'm going to have to make a switch soon but as long as Logic keeps working for me its going to be hard to move away from this platform. (Can't afford a Mac either).

 

I've got a few keyboards a K2500XS (that Mike Martin sold me years ago when he worked at Sound Ideas), an Ensoniq MR76, then a few racks including a Motif Rack that I got earlier this year and just bought FS1R which is the coolest piece I've heard in a while.

 

Anyway, thanks everyone!

 

Mark

[Dave Bryce]

Way cool!

 

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to "step up to the mic" and say hi...we're glad to have you here!

 

dB

[Misnomer]

A long, long time ago, I subscribed to Musician magazine. I subscribed for many years (I still have several "A Little on the CD Side" compilations...anyone else remember those??). After a while Musician folded, and subscription terms were filled by Gig magazine. So I subscribed to Gig for a while. Recently Gig folded, and those subscription terms are being filled by Keyboard magazine. I just received my second issue today, and learned about these forums. This is my very first post here.

 

 

(Please, please forgive me if I've just repeated a frequently-shared story: I confess to not having the patience to read through this entire thread, and even thought it's bad netiquette I only looked at the posts on the first page before composing this introduction. I'm sure I'm not the only Keyboard reader who started out with Musician. )

 

As my profile says, I live near Washington D.C. (in Northern Virginia, to be more specific). I turn 32 next month, have been playing piano since I was 7, and have been singing for as long as I can remember. When I place or answer ads for projects, I'm looking to sing: I'm a decent piano player, and even made a little money in college doing wine-and-cheese receptions, but I'd rather just play for myself. Which works out, because my voice is much more portable.

 

I have a Kurzweil PC88 that I still love as much as the day I brought it home five years ago, but nothing else in the way of equipment (I had a guitar amp for a little while, but sold it when I realized it was horrible for a keyboard). Until a few months ago I lived in apartments and only played the PC88 with headphones: right now it's hooked up to a bookshelf stereo, but I have a set of Yamaha MS101II speakers on my equipment wish list (along with one of those nifty MusicPad Pro digital music stands).

 

I've read through a few of the threads here, and have been impressed by several of the posts/people. I look forward to learning a lot, participating in some great discussions, and maybe even being useful!

[Markyboard]

Welcome Misnomer. Where in the N. VA are you? I'm in Springfield VA.

 

Belated welcome to Beatnix. Where in the DC area are you?

 

Notice a pattern here? (hint: I'm only welcoming DC area people).

[Misnomer]

Markyboard wrote:

Welcome Misnomer. Where in the N. VA are you?

Thanks for the welcome! I'm in Reston.