Jump to content


Nowarezman

Member
  • Posts

    497
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About Nowarezman

  • Birthday 08/19/1953

Converted

  • occupation
    various & sundry
  • Location
    Tejas

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. So what's next, going to concerts to watch a box write a song? nat
  2. I played a Studiologic SL88 for a long, long, time. The action was heavy, sure, but when I dug in, it followed nicely, I sold the SL88 and bought an Arturia Mk II 88 keys board. Well, the old SL88 was sloppy and funky, where the Arturia is heavy and accurate. The Arturia is bringing out a lot of subtle touches in my playing that the SL88 just bulldozed over, no question. But it is a heavy action. I use a MIDI compressor to help me play within a certain velocity range - makes things much easier. When I play on a, say, real acoustic Yammi C7, I can just fly as the action on the acoustic piano is much easier than on the MIDI controller. The thing is to find a keyboard that lets you FUNK with the fingers you got. Cost is not an issue - feel is all there is to go on about. nat
  3. I kinda like the yellowed keys - could perhaps help a tiny bit with locating key positions when playing changes that involve larger skips - especially when improvising. nat
  4. I didn't list the System 8 because it's digital. But I have to say, it sounds so good and accesses so much Roland magic from their vintage analogs, that it's kind of slaked my thirst for the biggest, baddest analog poly. I have a the 4-voice Poly Evolver rack and a Mono Evolver Keyboard, so I've got a 5-voice analog/digital Dave Smith hybrid, a very unique synth, seemingly best of both worlds. But since I got the System 8, I just keep gravitating to it daily and blissing out, month after month, on the 106, the Jup8, and the System-8 synth itself. nat
  5. I try to just leave the doctoring up to my docs. But I do read up - I find the websites for the Mayo Clinic and the NHS to be pretty reliable. The NHS seems to give more "try this at home" advice, which, since they have their heads screwed on right, can be helpful. Misinformation about medical stuff is now a real threat to public health, especially for pop-med topics like diet, immune systems, and the sketchy world of alt medicines and trendy potions/herbs/vitamins/powders/pills and other various cures that range from "won't help but can't hurt" to "you just shortened your lifespan taking that stupid stuff!". What happened to societal progress in a discernible, albeit slow and wandering, direction?? nat
  6. Hey you're right. I always forget that when I'm on the GForce website. Looks like the GB pound is coming off it's big low against the USD..... nat
  7. What's easy to believe is that the VSM IV is worth the price. The GForce website has demos, and the current price posted is just $69.99. I'm sure this price is just for a limited time. nat
  8. Prophet 10 I guess. I have digital synths that have multi-verses worth of options and routings and endless mod matrices and all that. For that one analog, I'll take the classic Sequential beast. nat
  9. Wow, thx many tons, all. I'm going to check out all suggestions. nat
  10. Abercrombie with Dan Wall on B-3. See JA's albums While We're Young, Speak of the Devil, Tactics, Open Land. nat
  11. I snagged a Mojo dual-manual off Reverb. Shoulda done this ages ago! I've been playing keys, 95% self-taught, for a long, long time. Like most self-taught folks, I have huge gaps in my training. I'd like to brush up on and advance my skills on organ - been a Jimmy Smith fan since the 60s, especially his collabs with Kenny Burrell. Also like Medeski et al, Booker T, and the other assorted Jimmys and Lonnies on the Hammond. I've been looking at Tony Monaco's Youtube channel. Thinking about trying his $14 per month Hammond class. Anyone here taken his classes? Or any others to recommend? I don't need to start from scratch, but I don't mind revisiting the basics as long as there's more advanced material to challenge me and move me along. My goal - oh, besides playing parts for my self-recorded songs and such, I would like to, if possible, get to the level that I could hold my own in a local B-3 trio or quartet. Nothing too out there, not looking to book Carnegie Hall - just some Home Cookin' as it were - jazzy blues and standards mostly for the locals. nat
  12. I have a mild case of Raynaud's disease. Doc says we'll just watch it, no action needed so far. At times, grabbing something cold (say, under 50 degrees) gives me a sensation close to pain, sort of in-between cold and pain. And my fingertips turn whitish at times - that's the small arteries shrinking up in a sort of faux/minor shock-like response. I get by fine - I warm up my hands running warm water over them or heating up a bean-bag to hold. I have good circulation in general and have been a regular exerciser since about age 15. Just one of those things - I got a bunch, not just one of those things, believe me! Best of luck - yeah, just pay close attention to your symptoms, maybe make some notes on your phone, then tell your doc, especially if there are changes in severity or your condition starts to hinder your daily activities. nat
  13. Are you tempted to leave the 145 at home and use the sim, playing out? nat
  14. Been a big Metheny fan since I heard Yolanda You Learn on a transatlantic flight on headphones in the 80s. Got back home, I bought First Circle and over time, just about everything else. But I never dug into Metheny's backstory much - I knew he was with Gary Burton as a very young dude, that's about it. So now I've been digging - bunch of great YTs from Oslo in the 70s with Burton, Swallow, PM, various drummers. And in PM's interview with Beato, he mentions how important Swallow's tune Falling Grace was to him (and a lot of other people, apparently.) And Burton's Duster album (1967! hard to believe!) with Coryell, Swallow, and Haynes. One link leads to another - so in this age of access to so much video and audio, I'm just super pumped to be learning about and listening/watching the very seeds and roots of what would become the Metheny thing. My birthdate is within months of Metheny's and my birthplace was just over the Missouri border in Illinois. So I get his vibe to some extent from similarities in background. What's going on with Corea, Jarrett, et al, in the same time frame is another encyclopedia entirely....later, if I live that long. Wot larks nat
  15. Yeah, I'm shopping for one of the bigger uprights. Kawai has prices I can live with. If the YT I watched had it right, Kawai has drawn even with Yamaha now in worldwide sales. And the quality of Kawai is right up there with Yamaha. I prefer a darker voicing, and a "humanish" sort of tone, especially in the upper mids where so much melodic expression needed. Kawais in general have a somewhat darker tone than Yamahas, but of course you can find a particular Kawai that's brighter than a particular Yamaha. I'm thinking of the Kawai K-500 upright. Enough quality and specs to allow pro-level nuance and tone at a pretty fantastic price. At least that's where my shopping has me at the moment.... nat
×
×
  • Create New...