Felix_dup1 Posted October 31, 2002 Posted October 31, 2002 Seems like every piece of gear has some features that nobody really uses. Every once in a while, one of these features is hyped by the manufacturer as a major selling point. My first 2 nominations: Roland's RPS and Korg's RPPN functions - cool functions, but I don't see many people really use them. Roland's D-Beam - big marketing hype, but is anyone really doing anything with their D-Beams?
coyote Posted October 31, 2002 Posted October 31, 2002 I haven't yet purchased anything w/ the Dbeam, but I love it when I play it in a store! I think it's as cool a modulator as any wheel or lever. To me, there are features which are overhyped and waaaay overused - they are called EFFECTS. don't get me wrong here. I love effects, but not the way they often seem to be used. For example: Given that most rooms have their own natural reverb and most sound systems & amps also have reverb, what the heck is reverb doing in a patch? Yet factory presets are awash in reverb. To make them at all useful, one must eliminate it. Stereo pan effects. Most live audiences are hearing an essentially mono representation of your music. The effect ought be configured with that in mind. Stereo sampling. see above. I used to think I was Libertarian. Until I saw their platform; now I know I'm no more Libertarian than I am RepubliCrat or neoCON or Liberal or Socialist. This ain't no track meet; this is football.
coyote Posted October 31, 2002 Posted October 31, 2002 I haven't yet purchased anything w/ the Dbeam, but I love it when I play it in a store! I think it's as cool a modulator as any wheel or lever. To me, there are features which are overhyped and waaaay overused - they are called EFFECTS. don't get me wrong here. I love effects, but not the way they often seem to be used. For example: Given that most rooms have their own natural reverb and most sound systems & amps also have reverb, what the heck is reverb doing in a patch? Yet factory presets are awash in reverb. To make them at all useful, one must eliminate it. Stereo pan effects. Most live audiences are hearing an essentially mono representation of your music. The effect ought be configured with that in mind. Stereo sampling. see above. I used to think I was Libertarian. Until I saw their platform; now I know I'm no more Libertarian than I am RepubliCrat or neoCON or Liberal or Socialist. This ain't no track meet; this is football.
Botch. Posted October 31, 2002 Posted October 31, 2002 Originally posted by coyote: Given that most rooms have their own natural reverb and most sound systems & amps also have reverb, what the heck is reverb doing in a patch? Yet factory presets are awash in reverb. To make them at all useful, one must eliminate it. Stereo pan effects. Most live audiences are hearing an essentially mono representation of your music. The effect ought be configured with that in mind.Coyote, you hit two nails on the head! Reverbs may help sell a synth, particularly if one is auditioning it thru headphones, but it's usually too much in a club. Botch "Eccentric language often is symptomatic of peculiar thinking" - George Will www.puddlestone.net
Superbobus Posted November 1, 2002 Posted November 1, 2002 Roland's D-Beam - big marketing hype, but is anyone really doing anything with their D-Beams? If I would use my VK8 on ROCK gigs I certainly would use it. Especially the ring modulator is faaaaar out! Way overused are factory settings and factory preset effects. The effects can be really cool. For instance I maxed my P120's phaser on the Rhodes but trimmed down the reverb. Totally uninteresting and overhyped (long time ago) for me? Every kind of GM type sound! GM can come in really handy but I hate those fake trumpets and saxophones... Soulstars http://www.bobwijnen.nl Hipness is not a state of mind, it's a fact of life.
Markyboard Posted November 1, 2002 Posted November 1, 2002 I vote for the Main, Aux and Headphone Audio Outputs. With all the keyboards I've bought over the years I've never figured out what to stick in these holes (watch it).
marino Posted November 1, 2002 Posted November 1, 2002 Sad but true: The alternate tunings found on several modern keyboards are almost never used, I'm afraid. About effects; Please leave them in! They are often cheap and overdone, but scaling them down can make them useful for live playing.
soapbox Posted November 1, 2002 Posted November 1, 2002 I don't mind patches with reverb and other effects as long as there's a quick and easy way to defeat or change the settings - I almost never track with reverb or delay enabled. Thankfully, deeply nested effects menus are less common than they used to be. As for me, I can do without arpeggiators, sequencers, and vocoders in my keyboards. I'd much rather use my DAWs for those things. I also wonder how many Korg Karma users scratch the surface of utilizing their keyboard's abilities. Best, Geoff P.S. marino, I too am sad that there is little need for alternate tunings these days. The experimentation of the progressive and avant garde movements seems quite dormant. Forget 7/8 or 5/4, even songs in 3/4 are an endangered species in the current climate! ... Sorry for the mini-rant! Enthusiasm powers the world. Craig Anderton's Archiving Article
steadyb Posted November 1, 2002 Posted November 1, 2002 Keys. 88, 76, 61...I mean what's the point here? It's been done to death. White keys, black keys, blah blah blah...who needs 'em. Give me a keyboard with no keys, but with a D-beam and a reverb. (Maybe just a pair of aux outs, but no main outs or headphone jack) Oh, and it's gotta have an arpeggiator. That's it. What else do you need?
synthetic Posted November 1, 2002 Posted November 1, 2002 The Store and Compare buttons seem to be wasted on most people's synths. Seriously, though - digital outputs? Has anyone ever used these on a synth? I can't see someone tying up an ADAT Input card on an 02R for one synth's output. And the clocking issues seem pretty severe for multiple synths using digital outs. And I can't see much real benefit.
Dan South Posted November 1, 2002 Posted November 1, 2002 - General MIDI: thankfully on its way out - on board sequencers: most people use computers which are far more powerful - Korg's "waveshaping" technology: yeah, right - digital outputs without a corresponding word clock input: as if I'm going to clock my entire studio from a synth or an effects unit - the vast majority of preset and the vast majority of sounds in sample libraries: I'll bet that most soundware gets little use - onboard modulation effects other than chorus: most synth phasers and flangers are too thin and wimpy - mLAN: so far... - mic modeling - clav patches - tube mics - Class A circuitry: misunderstood to be a rating like "Grade A beef" - (for me, anyway) anything having to do with loop slicing and tempo matching: play it yourself, dammit - "textured" condom surfaces: I have yet to hear a woman even MENTION this concept let alone make a comment about how wonderful it feels The Black Knight always triumphs!
Superbobus Posted November 1, 2002 Posted November 1, 2002 clav patches Dude, that "clav wah" patch on my CS6x is NEVER gonna be kicked out! The rest of your list covers it all. http://www.bobwijnen.nl Hipness is not a state of mind, it's a fact of life.
tenthplanet Posted November 1, 2002 Posted November 1, 2002 Well, like most of the respondents here, I too question the D-beam. However I will defend reverb built into patches. Different patches require different amounts of reverb and so reverb built into a patch, used with discretion, can be very effective. In a keyboard capable of doing pianos, strings, choirs, drums what have you you need different amount of reverb. Effects that are built in should be thought as part of a patch. Just think of them as virtual stomp boxes (All your base belong to us) 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"....
Intheether Posted November 1, 2002 Posted November 1, 2002 Keys. 88, 76, 61... I mean what's the point here? It's been done to death. White keys, black keys, blah blah blah...who needs 'em. ....yeah, they're as superfluous as those silly guitar strings. *
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