Dissappointed in recent Keyboard mag issues . . .

[D_dup3]

Originally posted by mildbill:

i have to disagree with some of you tho - i thought freff sucked.

Well, he didn't so much suck as he was just quite precious, as though few others ever thought about things as deeply as he...but I tired of him, too. He was good for a while but overstayed his effectiveness.

 

All periodicals go through phases of quality, not the least colored by a reader's time spent reading them (& I mean in the long term, not just time per issue). You like it better when it's a new resource; less as you become familiar with the territory.

Now Fortner's got everyone wondering what's gonna be up February!

[D_dup3]

Originally posted by David R:

I've noticed that in the past year or so, editorial standards in Keyboard have gone down the tubes. I've found pretty glaring typos, mispellings of rather famous musicians' names (along the lines of the classic Jimmy Hendrix in the Bernie Worrell master class a few years back), and other such things that weren't quite as prevalent a few years ago.

This is something that is noticable in all paper media nowadays, from local newspapers to expensive new books.

I think it has to do with the reliance on spell-check programs on word processors...but it's still annoying & kinda hints at low-awareness levels.

[Phait]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

Since the US$ is so low,

What the hell does this mean? I never understood it.. isnt' $1 simply $1 no more no less?!

[Ben One]

Originally posted by Phait:

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

Since the US$ is so low,

What the hell does this mean? I never understood it.. isnt' $1 simply $1 no more no less?!

To get a two year Keyboard subscription delivered to Europe, it costs $95 in US money. But since Dave lives in the Netherlands, he uses Euros--not US dollars--to buy things. And one thing you can buy with Euros is the US dollar. Currently, it only costs 69 Euros to get $95 in US money. In May, it would have cost Dave more money--79 Euros--to pay for the $95 US subscription...In other words, a Euro buys more US dollar than it did 6 months ago. Every day, each currency of a nation (or group of nations) rises or falls in relation to the others, due to daily activity in the global economy and world trade.

 

Another consequence of the weak US dollar (as Dave Bryce has previously pointed out on the forum) will be that synths from Europe will be more expensive (or at least not any cheaper) to those of us in the US until the dollar gets stronger again.

 

Does this help?

 

Ben

[MikeT156]

The weak US dollar is partly because our economy sucks, deficit spending, Bush's war in Iraq, poor balance of trade, you name it. Its not working here anymore. I'll buy all my equipment here and move to Europe. Whoops, they'll hit me with a VAT if I do, won't they?

 

All the talk about KB magazine, I wish the hell they'd send mine, whatever it is they're sending. I usually get it by the middle of the month, and I haven't gotten anything yet. Damn.

 

Mike T.

[mildbill]

i'm an economic dummy.

 

a question:

 

with a weak dollar, does it make foreign made synths more expensive to buy here?

 

for instance, to get an alesis board (even tho it's made in taiwan), versus an access virus - which is the better value in USD?

 

or does it mean that other countries can buy american made stuff cheaper than we can?

 

or is it something completely different than that?

[MikeT156]

Mildbill, it depends upon the "exchange rate" of one country to another country's currency. There are a number of web sites that can give you the comparison of different countries currency against another. Here's one:

 

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

 

An example, Candian dollar has less value than the US Dollar. 1.00 CAD Canada Dollars=0.832189 USD. 1 CAD=0.832189 USD 1 USD = 1.20165 CAD

 

So a Canadian that wants to buy an ION priced at 699.00 USD he/she would need 839.95 Canadian to buy it. They also have a value added tax they tack on to import it to Canada.

 

Conversely, if an American wants to buy a Nord product that sells for 1000 Euro's would cost 1,356.45 USD to buy it.

 

(1.00 EUR Euro = 1.35645 USD

United States Dollars

1 EUR = 1.35645 USD 1 USD = 0.737220 EUR)

 

Mike T.

[Ben One]

I can definitely say that European companies (like Novation, Access, Nord, etc.) will be hard pressed (at least in early 2005) to lower the prices of their products for US consumers, since the Euro has risen. I'm guessing they will try very hard to keep their US prices the same, rather than raise them in the coming year.

 

But there's an interesting twist--the prices of products coming from most Asian countries are not likely to change very much.

 

China ties its exchange rate to the US dollar, so that if the dollar goes down, the yuan goes down as well. China does this so that it can continue to export its products to the US at attractive prices.

 

Other Asian nations (including Taiwan) tie their currency to the dollar, but more loosely in some cases.

 

Japan's exchange rate with the US doesn't seem to have changed very much over the last year, so the prices of Japanese products may remain stable too.

 

But there are benefits, so they say, to a weak dollar--for example, US products--such as Keyboard magazine, are cheaper to consumers in Europe--so the magazine has a real opportunity to increase its circulation numbers abroad in the next year (I had to try to bring the discussion back to Keyboard somehow!)

 

Disclaimer: I'm not an economist--I just base much of this information from what I hear on the public radio program "Marketplace" (I can more expertly tell you that their theme song is in 5/4) :-)

 

Ben

[fisheye]

Originally posted by MikeT156:

I'll buy all my equipment here and move to Europe. Whoops, they'll hit me with a VAT if I do, won't they?

Customs duty for musical equipment is about 11% (!). Normal VAT when buying new stuff is 19%. [so that's 30% VAT total for importing from US]

[burningbusch]

Originally posted by fisheye:

Originally posted by MikeT156:

I'll buy all my equipment here and move to Europe. Whoops, they'll hit me with a VAT if I do, won't they?

Customs duty for musical equipment is about 11% (!). Normal VAT when buying new stuff is 19%. [so that's 30% VAT total for importing from US]

I don't believe we have to pay the VAT for items shipped to the USA. I never paid it.

 

Busch.

[Phait]

I understand now, thanks... it's about exchange rates.

[nursers]

Originally posted by Phait:

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

Since the US$ is so low,

What the hell does this mean? I never understood it.. isnt' $1 simply $1 no more no less?!

You need to do some travelling phait

 

I just renewed a little early because the US dollar is travelling badly against the aussie dollar.

[Phait]

Well I knew that $1 USD was different in other countries, but I never understood this crap on the news about "the dollar is low, the dollar is high!" until now. Either way hearing about it still annoys me.

[shniggens]

Originally posted by Phait:

"the dollar is low, the dollar is high!" until now.

The dollar has a drug problem.

[Dave Horne]

US goods are _very_ attractive to Europeans because our Euros can buy many more US dollars then before. For those in the US, the prices are the same, but for other currencies, things are getting even cheaper. Many US companies are doing great business because of foreign demand for their products.

 

There is, of course, a down side to all of this. The US has tremendous debt and that debt is financed with the help of Japanese and the Chinese buying US Treasury Bonds. At the moment they are taking a beating - those bonds are worth less than before. If they wanted to pull the rug out from the US economy, they could sell their holdings at even a greater loss and ruin our economy. They, of course, won't do that as they have more of a long term view on these matters than our own short sighted President. (I see this from both sides as I have US investments and a US pension. I see first hand how little my US money can buy in Europe.) If the US had not rushed to war, the US economy would be in excellent shape. We waste incredible amounts of money just to finance this debt. Interest rates in the US should start going up pretty soon.

[Dave Horne]

Originally posted by Phait:

Well I knew that $1 USD was different in other countries, but I never understood this crap on the news about "the dollar is low, the dollar is high!" until now. Either way hearing about it still annoys me.

Spoken like a real American.

[shniggens]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

Spoken like a real American.

Spoken like a real arrogant prick!

 

Whoops, did I say that out loud!!?!??!?!

 

(Hey, it's MY thread, and it went off topic anyway!)

[Dave Horne]

Originally posted by shniggens:

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

Spoken like a real American.

Spoken like a real arrogant prick!

 

Whoops, did I say that out loud!!?!??!?!

 

(Hey, it's MY thread, and it went off topic anyway!)

Happy New Year!

[fisheye]

I don't know Keyboard magazine, but I looked at the website and it's immediately clear it's much more aggressively advertising than SOS.

 

Now sorry to go off topic again shniggens.

 

Originally posted by burningbusch:

I don't believe we have to pay the VAT for items shipped to the USA. I never paid it.

Prices in European shops usually includes the VAT already, without explicit notice.

 

Thinking about it, I don't know if Americans pay VAT for Euro stuff. Ah well, I never liked economics anyway.

[Ben One]

Originally posted by fisheye:

I don't know Keyboard magazine, but I looked at the website and it's immediately clear it's much more aggressively advertising than SOS.

 

Now sorry to go off topic again shniggens.

 

If Keyboard wants to truly get competitive with SOS and Electronic Musician (I don't buy that those magazines are serving distinct niches, by the way), they need to put resources into archiving their past issues online. Even PDF files would work for me.

 

Imagine being able to access an article on McCoy Tyner's technique by having a paid subscription to an online version of the magazine? That would be great.

 

Ben

[Ben One]

Originally posted by BenOne:

Originally posted by fisheye:

[qb]I don't know Keyboard magazine, but I looked at the website and it's immediately clear it's much more aggressively advertising than SOS.

If Keyboard wants to truly get competitive with SOS and Electronic Musician (I don't buy that those magazines are serving different niches, by the way), they need to put resources into archiving their past issues online. Even PDF files would work for me.

 

Imagine being able to access an article on McCoy Tyner's technique by having a paid subscription to an online version of the magazine? That would be great.

 

Ben

[Ed Coury]

I like the ads in Keyboard -- nothing better than to see the stuff from the manufacturers, and the retailers as well.

 

As for keeping up with mags devoted to 'electronic' music -- I'm glad Keyboard is finally backing off of what seemed to me to be an overload of the electronic stuff...(despite the columnist who drones on about 'programming' Madonna's next show, a couple of months after after complaining that music lacks real musicians!).

 

Isn't KEYBOARD for It's for keyboard PLAYERS?.....if your only talent is being able to boot a laptop and plug samples into a rythym pattern, you should seek a mag devoted to those 'arts' ;-)

[Ben One]

Originally posted by Ed Coury:

I'm glad Keyboard is finally backing off of what seemed to me to be an overload of the electronic stuff...(despite the columnist who drones on about 'programming' Madonna's next show, a couple of months after complaining that music lacks real musicians!).

Actually, I find Mike McKnight's column fascinating--but not for the reasons that one might expect. I do not aspire to become a music director for the largest shows out there. But as someone who struggles to prevent technical problems in the smallest-scale gigs, I find it informative to learn about the techniques that he uses for the big shows--his general approaches for how to prevent problems are helpful even for the little guy like me. And I'll never find myself in his shoes--hobnobbing with star musicians--yet his accounts of the day-to-day, week-to-week grind of gigging on a major tour shatter the fantasies of being in a big rock band and make me grateful for what I have!...Frankly, I'm surprised that he's able to divulge as much as he does!

 

Isn't KEYBOARD for keyboard PLAYERS?.....if your only talent is being able to boot a laptop and plug samples into a rythym pattern, you should seek a mag devoted to those 'arts' ;-)

This has been the magazine's dilemma ever since it started 30 years ago---the balance between technology and technique. The challenge for them has not changed. I agree that they should shift the balance somewhat to cover a bit more technique, though many of us certainly use the technological toys that are described in their pages. Still, I hope that they stop devoting full reviews to yearly updates of major software platforms, and maybe write a little more about keyboard music.

 

Ben

[yannis D]

Let me contribute my humble oppinion to this discussion

As a former editor in chief in one of leading Grece's music magazine (over 60.000 copies per mothn in it's glory day) I can understand the nessecity of ads in a magazine. Ih our days, ads are half the profit a magazines makes - the other half is circulation, but in most of the "specialized" magazines -as KM is-, circulation is not enouph to pay editors and contributors (wich are expected to give their soul to theis texts). The same is for radio stations. Ads is a common problem one has to face if he/she wants to stay in the business...

As an active musician i believe that KM should give some more attention to "peoples stories" - not just gear (wich is always interesting), not just new and inventive machines, BUT a combination of gear AND machines AND a life story that goes together with those tech. issues.

IMHO life stories are always interesting to read. How one achieved his/her dreams. How he/she made it. They carry a magical aura and hace to be the core of a music magazine's articles. Give us more interviews, more life stories of idols, more profiles of newcomers. I know that I ask for gold - but KM can achieve all those of my (our) needs

Regards

Yannis

[clusterchord]

Even though there are specialized recording magazines, i think KM should also pay more attention to actual recording/mixing and production tehniques involved to bring all those synths to be heard as they're supposed to.

 

When reading KM reviews and articles, I always have a feeling like they are talking exclusively to home studio enthusiasts - it's like , buy synth X, audio card Y and some DAW software and that is all to it. instant hit. Everone knows it takes a lot more than that to make the synth sound like it does on recordings. they are oversimplifying and misinformating public this way - of course , the result is that everybody rushes out and buys synth X, audio card Y etc. The hidden message seems to be: "BUYING solves everything, not know-how." ok, i understand how the manufacturer/publisher circle works, and i do accept the necessity of ads and entry-level mandatory crap togehter with last month's MTV hero worship, but give as something else too.

 

couldn't we have more articles not-geared at entry-level and 'hype' stuff. how many more articles do i have to see explaining what a bloddy envelope is. why not some advanced production tehniques?

 

same goes for harmony/composition classes - but other have tackled the issue on that one already..

 

for the record, i'm a subscriber for 21 years, and mag isn't what it used to be. let's see what happens in February..

[MikeT156]

Its got to be a big challenge in the crystal ball dept at KB magazine to strike a content balance that will please everyone. That being said, I always find more than one thing interesting to read in every month's issue, even though I have no interest in a number of things they put in it, like soft synths. Some years back, I experimented with sequencing software on a MAC, and all the associated toys to make it run and thought it was too time consuming to get everything to work together and playback what I put in. Once it was all working, latency was a problem. I realize that you need a fairly powerful PC to run multiple hardware products on a PC and have it playback without problems, but it seems the cure was worse than the disease. A friend of mine uses a controller, sound card, and soft synths on a PC and frankly, he can have it. It CAN'T be fun if you enjoy playing music. Having to make music that way would put me in a rubber room. So I ignore the soft synth sections and suck up hardware reviews, updates, interviews with groups, what equipment they have and how they use it. I would like more "how too" articles, licks, and tips on technique. I've occasionally picked up a lick or two reading KB, and that alone is worth the price of the subscription.

 

As far as the magazine being geared to the home studio hobbyist, I believe they have the lion's share of the market for a lot of entry level KB's and soft synths. KB is probably just addressing this market because they're in the majority.

 

I don't have a problem with the ads, I kinda like them. It keeps me informed of what's out there, and if not for the ads, the subscription price would be double or triple. I can live with the ads.

 

Mike T.

[RABid]

I thought the magazine was doing much better this summer, but thinking back, the only thing I really bothered to look at in the last few issues was the B3 article. Even that article did not have anything new.

 

The reviews are the most disappointing. This may not be the magazines fault. I've grown accustom to going to a good forum and asking for opinions when I am considering hardware or software. I'll take the combined opinions of a dozen users that paid for an item over a single reviewer any day.

 

Robert

[RABid]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

Originally posted by Phait:

Well I knew that $1 USD was different in other countries, but I never understood this crap on the news about "the dollar is low, the dollar is high!" until now. Either way hearing about it still annoys me.

Spoken like a real American.

Oh come on Dave. You love Americans. Otherwise you would not hang around here so much. You would be at the SoS forums where the more civilized British congregate.

 

Robert

[Ed Coury]

...like I've said before, I love the ads in Keyboard. And I understand that the business they are in is ADVERTSING. I'm a broadcast journalist, and my company makes money on selling ads, when it comes down to it.

 

But you have to laugh sometimes at Keyboard's "jusicious" reviews of advertisers' products. No, they don't go crazy. It's subtle. But honestly, if the company that sells that thousand dollar motorized keyboard stand didn't buy ads, wouldn't we have read a more sarcastic (probably humorous) review? I mean, come on!

[cnegrad]

Originally posted by clusterchord:

 

couldn't we have more articles not-geared at entry-level and 'hype' stuff. how many more articles do i have to see explaining what a bloddy envelope is. why not some advanced production tehniques?

AGREED! More advanced level techniques! Less beginner info please...

Even though there are specialized recording magazines, i think KM should also pay more attention to actual recording/mixing and production tehniques involved to bring all those synths to be heard as they're supposed to.

Oh, please no! There are SO MANY other sources to get this info from. Please let's not waste valuable page space on this. There are a bazillion books and magazines dedicated to recording technique. This is why I stopped subscribing to Electronic Musician and Music Tech. IMHO, Keyboard Magazine should stick to keyboard musicianship and innovative keyboard-related products. The how-to articles are extremely valuable, but not when they're at a beginner level. Additionally, I'm not terribly interested in the life of an artist unless it has a direct relation to their creative process. I personally think that Keyboard Magazine should make it mandatory that every article on a featured artist have at least one how-to example in it. For example, I learned virtually nothing musically from the Alicia Keys piece. On the other hand, Chick Corea has written a book on the creative process, as is shown on his website. Now THAT is something that I'd like to see articles about.

for the record, i'm a subscriber for 21 years, and mag isn't what it used to be. let's see what happens in February..

Same here. I've been a subscriber for almost as long as Keyboard Magazine has been in existance. I hope that 2005 brings KM back to it's former glory.....