tenthplanet Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 Ok, lets hear it; what are your nominees for: Best built in factory demo(s) in a keyboard. And of course it's counterpart the worst. Worst manuals for a keyboard as well as the best. And my favorite: most useless built in factory sound or patch. As well as the best. Let's have a little fun with this!!! Michael Q:What do you call a truck with nothing in the bed,nothing on the hitch, and room for more than three people in the cab? A:"A car".... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlsy Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 Best factory-sealed patch: Roland's XP/JV family- PR-C 044 - Symphonic: with string/horn layer through the whole key range, timpani on the left with heavy velocity and more trumpet sound at the right hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbyjoe Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 are we talking keyboard demo's here - as in the ones you push the button and it plays it? the worst i've come across are casio's keylight keyboards - the demos are horrid. they'd actually make a good weapon for attacking osama with. just get a few thousand turbosound floodlight rigs, point them towards remote afganistan, plug in the casio keylight keyboard and hit "DEMO". the thing i hate in keyboard demo's are keyboard guitars. they sound very poxy. though i have heard some good ones. "Consider how much coffee you're drinking - it's probably not enough." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pim Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 Nice thread! - Best demo's: 1. Roland MT32, a.f.a.i.k. the first with a demo; that must be rewarded. 2. Roland W30. At the end of the piece suddenly a female voice appeared singing "this is my song". Back in those days, clients in the store where I work in were really impressed. They thought the W30 could sing anything... 3. Alesis QS series. I heard this demo so many times without getting bored. There must be something good in it, but I still don't know what. (see worst demo's, first part) - Worst demo's: All demo's. I can't stand them. First of all, most of them are archetypes of "music for musicians", I never hear a nice tune! Secondly, they are played by musicians who are able to play "around" the instrument its weakest points. Listen to the demo of the EMU Proformance piano module. The guy who played it, knew exactly when he had to release the keys to achieve an acceptable sound. Everyone else who plays the Proformance sounds horrible. My Music I always wondered what happened after the fade out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbyjoe Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 a good demo? ensoniq's ASR-10 sampler had a really funky hip-hop demo called "Gift o' Gab". i mean samplers would always have good demos though wouldn't they. pray for peace. "Consider how much coffee you're drinking - it's probably not enough." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpel Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 Yeah, the onboard demos I've heard have also been afflicted by the same kinds of problems: 1. Non-musical concerns: they need to represent as many onboard sounds as possible, which is not always conducive to good composing... 2. They tend to sound impressive but sterile, full of sleight of programming, chopsy, but mechanical. They always sound dreadfully over-quanized to my ears--everything locked into a ridiculous perfection. Also, chock full, often indiscriminantly, of cool little "realistic" articulations, slurs and slides and swells they just drive home the point that MIDI is never going to get you all the way there. 3. They are a walking testimonial to why you should more than one sound source for your sequences... That said, the best collection I've heard is the demo CD that came with the QS 8, and I'm not just saying this to curry favor with the Hon. Mr. Bryce. It's a good collection, more focused than most. The 8 or 9 demos on my new Z1 actually have some good bits. The detuned "1st Grade Band" demo is hilarious, and very indicative of the kind crazy sh*t the Z1 is perfect for. The fusion demos on the Z1, however, are unspeakably bad. The Korg NS5R is a module I like alot, but its demos are a clinical illustration of the faults listed above. The 3ms Triwave Picogenerator does not come with demos. John Check out the Sweet Clementines CD at bandcamp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbyjoe Posted November 12, 2001 Share Posted November 12, 2001 when i did my time in retail selling keyboards i would virtually never press the DEMO button hoping that the demo would sell the keyboard. though i would cringe and watch in horror and almost have to cover my eyes and ears, when another staff member was serving a customer who was after a keyboard. they would simply walk up to the keyboard and press the dreaded (often yellow) DEMO button, trying to explain the whole keyboard's functions through a stupid weak demo. but as i understand it, a good salesperson should be able to sell it just like that - hence why i left retail...... "Consider how much coffee you're drinking - it's probably not enough." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VerySoon Posted November 12, 2001 Share Posted November 12, 2001 Best Demo: Kawai XD-5...the demo was on a diskette for the Yamaha MDF-1 format. Worst Demo: anything on a Korg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted November 12, 2001 Share Posted November 12, 2001 Demos I admire: "Worm Hole" for the Roland Dr. Synth DS300 - mind blowing that they could get that kinda sound from a little GM module. "Naruhodo" for theRoland S-550 - wow. Herb Jimmerson's Kurzweil Orchestral demos. ...but the absolute best that I've heard was written and performed by Steven Kay (the KARMA guy) for the Alesis Quadrasynth Plus Piano - it was just amazing. If you've heard it, I'm sure that you know what I mean. dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthguy Posted November 14, 2001 Share Posted November 14, 2001 Keith's Revenge for the Kurzweil synth workstations. It was the first demo that made me jump out of my skin and ache to have a Kurzweil. Now I have two. Also, any of Jordan Rudess' tracks. Supreme! This keyboard solo has obviously been tampered with! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiggum Posted November 14, 2001 Share Posted November 14, 2001 This is a great thread... As for demos... One of the best I can recall was the Korg M1. I've never heard it played from the instrument, but Keyboard released it on a soundpage, and I shit my pants when I heard it. Maybe I was blown away by the patches more than the music, but I couldn't believe that all that sound was coming from one self-contained instrument. The Rudess Kurzweil demos show off great playing, but I don't think they say much about the instruments. Novation takes the cake for the best on-line MP3 demo (the Supernova). It's narrated, but it shows off some crazy capabilities of the instrument, and its a blast to listen to. As for the worst demos, there are far too many to mention. My Roland D20 has some cheesy tunes, with the exception of a Nutcracker rendition, which still sounds pretty incredible today. Pim hit the nail on the head with W30 demo. I remember that track in my nightmares. "This is my song...for you." As for patches... The good: 1) Anything from the Roland JD990 2) The Jupiter string sample from the Roland U20 (found somewhere in Bank 3) - still the best synth pad on the planet 3) Yamaha Motif Piano (tied with Kurz K2600 Piano) 4) Several crossfaded Wavestation patches (Mini Lead, Wide Open Synth, Digital Touch, etc) The bad: 1) Any of these one-finger-band patches with wild arpeggios, drum tracks, and bass lines embedded in the sound (who uses this shit?) 2) Acoustic emulations from the old 4-op DX series 3) Many new Roland patches ("Help, help, I'm drowning in reverb..!") All the best, Wiggum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenthplanet Posted November 14, 2001 Author Share Posted November 14, 2001 Ah yes, Roland demos. Anyone remember techno shaft(I think it was on the u-20 or was that an M-20) not bad, but not good either. The thing that really drives me crazy in demos is using decent samples or simulations of real instruments but then playing in a style not keeping with the instruments (Roland brass sounds on demos and sometimes Yamaha are the main offenders). On the other hand I heard a piano based one on a Yamaha s-80 that really sounded like; music, and was actually nice to listen to. Michael Q:What do you call a truck with nothing in the bed,nothing on the hitch, and room for more than three people in the cab? A:"A car".... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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