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Thread: Synthesizer Gear Porn ;-)

  1. #276
    I still use my old Alesis QS8 for the weighted-action work. Not flawless, but it works

  2. #277
    Member Gizmotron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    I still use my old Alesis QS8 for the weighted-action work. Not flawless, but it works
    I do prefer a weighted action myself. But having a second full-size controller with non-weighted action is very convenient.

    Speaking of controllers, what is your latest feedback on the Linnstrument?
    Do you play mostly monophonic lines on it or get multiple fingers going?

  3. #278
    Member hFx's Avatar
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    Linnstrument seems to be very expressive... Monophonic demo:

    My Progressive Workshop at http://soundcloud.com/hfxx

  4. #279
    Member hFx's Avatar
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    I use the QuNexus controller - not as versatile as the Linnstrument but at 1/10 of the price. Individual key tilt (i.e. for guitar like vibrato) and poly-AT provides for expressiveness. And the built-in CV-functions should be very usefull for the people with those very expensive machines that go "ping" too

    My Progressive Workshop at http://soundcloud.com/hfxx

  5. #280
    Quote Originally Posted by Gizmotron View Post
    I do prefer a weighted action myself. But having a second full-size controller with non-weighted action is very convenient.

    Speaking of controllers, what is your latest feedback on the Linnstrument?
    Do you play mostly monophonic lines on it or get multiple fingers going?
    I do both, but am still very much a novice. A device like instrument needs a LOT of finger control, much more than normal piano/keyboard playing requires. It also requires tweaking both the Linnstrument settings and whatever device/soft synth I'm using to best match my personal feel.

    For example: with a traditional piano keyboard you're going left to right, and any press of the key will play the note as expected. So naturally, if you want to move from, say, an E to G#, your finger will likely slide *up* the E white key a bit to make the reach for the G#. Additionally, if you're going for a stretched chord (say C4 to E5), you might naturally slide a bit to the edge of the lower key to make the stretch easier. Since the Linnstrument is setup mostly like a fretboard, you are often moving up/down as well as left or right. And unlike a piano key, if you hit the Linnstrument pad at the top or bottom, or to the left or right, the sound is NOT the same.

    I have an Arturia Jupiter soft synth setup where the up/down (Y axis) on the Linnstrument controls the filter cutoff of a basic sawtooth pad. In the soft synth, I had to limit the range for the cutoff to be between MIDI 40 and 90 because otherwise it was just too erratic a response.

    But again...that's because I'm a novice AND not experienced with a fretboard-style layout. It'll take some time (in between other things like rehearsing with normal keyboards for gigs, etc.), but I think it'll likely end up being something really awesome for certain types of leads and pads
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

  6. #281
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    The only synth I've ever owned:


  7. #282
    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    Being slightly more of an 80's nut, this shot of Vangelis's studio circa Direct makes my pants feel a bit funny:
    I love Direct. It was the first album of his that I bought as a brand new release. There's a small pic of him eating an apple while he's sitting in that rig. This large Van-less pic affirms that real synth overlords box themselves in with no fewer than 12 keyboards. (There's one towards the bottom that is almost completely obscured!)

  8. #283
    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    All jesting aside...this was to my knowledge his composing rig, not necessarily his live one. For example, the Emu Emulator II (the slightly funky looking one in the upper left corner with a 5 1/4" disk drive sticking out of the top) had some very interesting/specific sounds but also took a LONG time to load up from disks (I know because we had one in the music lab in college). It wasn't something I'd want to use onstage.
    Chris Franke made those Emulators famous via a few tours. The Emulator II was at the center of his stage rig for years. I remember how much we looked forward to seeing the Emulator III in Chris' rig on the Optical Race tour — before we found he was no longer with TD.

    Back in December '88, we went to see what Private Music dubbed "An Evening of New Music" at the Wiltern Theatre in L.A. It was a Yanni & Patrick O'Hearn double-headliner, with David van Tieghem opening (he had a couple albums on Private, too). Before anyone laughs, it was a seriously rockin' night. This was before Yanni sold out. His "band" was three keyboardists (that included Joyce Imbesi and some guy called John Tesh) and his longtime drummer, Charlie Adams. Chops galore. It was electronic prog, all the way. Y played that one accordion patch, too, though, and while it sounded good on his albums, it was PIERCING as hell since we were right in front of his rig in the third row. But he also showed off quite a bit on acoustic piano with a percussive accompaniment. O'Hearn Band's set was much more atmo, but grooved like nobody's business. He had a drummer and a guy on electronic percussion, and full-time keys and guitar.

    But getting back to Emulators, before we headed to the Wiltern, we detoured to West L.A. Music. And, of course, we marched right into the synth room. Right away, I saw it. "Look! It's the Emulator III." I walked right up to it (amazingly, nobody was playing with it), pushed the volume slider up and hit a random key. From that beautiful machine emerged a GINORMOUS sound. Yuge!

    And then the nearest associate walked directly over to me and told me to turn it down.

  9. #284
    I know Franke used the Emulator lots from Le Parc forward...but sadly, by that point I was starting to question how much of the live TD was, you know...live

    I remember playing around with the EII in the school lab and pulling up a few of "those" sounds and going "oh holy shiat, I can totally remake the soundtrack to Legend right here and now!!"

    And actually...I also saw Yanni, mid-90's post his Acropolis thingy. Wasn't by choice, the parents of a friend got me tickets because they thought I'd love him because I also play keyboards (sigh). Anyway, he was terrible (they kept focusing on his fingers while he played but good god his technique was poor) but his band was absolutely amazing. So despite my disinterest in his music at that point I enjoyed the show quite a bit.
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

  10. #285
    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    I know Franke used the Emulator lots from Le Parc forward...but sadly, by that point I was starting to question how much of the live TD was, you know...live
    Beginning in the mid-'80s, when Johannes left and Paul joined, I'm pretty sure the only actual live parts were the guitars, Paul's piano lines and select bits. If you watch the Poland show, you can see a fair amount of live stuff going on, by way of Chris triggering notes, but Johannes is the main guy to watch. He loves his pitch bends.

    I knew a guy way back then (he joined PE a few years ago, not sure if he's still here) who said he met one of the sound guys at a venue TD played on the '88 tour. He claimed Ed had a DAT that was essentially "the concert" and he wanted the guy to set it up. He refused, so the player was added to Ed's rig and he triggered it. Now, that's hearsay, of course, because I've not heard of that anywhere else. But we saw them in San Diego in '88, and during the second encore (we screamed so long they actually came back out and started into the title track of OR), the sound completely cut out after just under a minute. Edgar, Ralf and Paul all looked at each other in disbelief. Ralf literally spread his arms out in a very Seinfeld-esque motion and emoted "Aw, rats!"

    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    And actually...I also saw Yanni, mid-90's post his Acropolis thingy. Wasn't by choice, the parents of a friend got me tickets because they thought I'd love him because I also play keyboards (sigh). Anyway, he was terrible (they kept focusing on his fingers while he played but good god his technique was poor) but his band was absolutely amazing. So despite my disinterest in his music at that point I enjoyed the show quite a bit.
    I saw the official video of Live at the Acropolis when it was new. My buddy was like "This is hot! Come over and watch it." Wow, was I underwhelmed. He had become Yawni. The guy was somewhere between Geoff Downes and Rick Wakeman when I saw him in '88. 10 years later and he's not doing crap. His whole shtick turned into "I'm gonna fart around while the two violinists duel each other." I looked around on YT for some '80s footage, but there is nada.

    Do check out his first solo album Optimystique (1984, reissued in '89). For me, it's aged better than Geoff Downes' The Light Program (I can only hang with the first suite) and a few of Wakey's 80s records.

  11. #286
    Member Gizmotron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    I do both, but am still very much a novice. A device like instrument needs a LOT of finger control, much more than normal piano/keyboard playing requires. It also requires tweaking both the Linnstrument settings and whatever device/soft synth I'm using to best match my personal feel.

    For example: with a traditional piano keyboard you're going left to right, and any press of the key will play the note as expected. So naturally, if you want to move from, say, an E to G#, your finger will likely slide *up* the E white key a bit to make the reach for the G#. Additionally, if you're going for a stretched chord (say C4 to E5), you might naturally slide a bit to the edge of the lower key to make the stretch easier. Since the Linnstrument is setup mostly like a fretboard, you are often moving up/down as well as left or right. And unlike a piano key, if you hit the Linnstrument pad at the top or bottom, or to the left or right, the sound is NOT the same.

    I have an Arturia Jupiter soft synth setup where the up/down (Y axis) on the Linnstrument controls the filter cutoff of a basic sawtooth pad. In the soft synth, I had to limit the range for the cutoff to be between MIDI 40 and 90 because otherwise it was just too erratic a response.

    But again...that's because I'm a novice AND not experienced with a fretboard-style layout. It'll take some time (in between other things like rehearsing with normal keyboards for gigs, etc.), but I think it'll likely end up being something really awesome for certain types of leads and pads
    This is very helpful. Thank you!
    And thank you hFx for the QuNexus video. I have one but haven't had enough time to explore it sufficiently.

  12. #287
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    The only synth I've ever owned:

    Plus you could balance your checkbook with it!

  13. #288
    Quote Originally Posted by dropforge View Post
    Beginning in the mid-'80s, when Johannes left and Paul joined, I'm pretty sure the only actual live parts were the guitars, Paul's piano lines and select bits. If you watch the Poland show, you can see a fair amount of live stuff going on, by way of Chris triggering notes, but Johannes is the main guy to watch. He loves his pitch bends.

    I knew a guy way back then (he joined PE a few years ago, not sure if he's still here) who said he met one of the sound guys at a venue TD played on the '88 tour. He claimed Ed had a DAT that was essentially "the concert" and he wanted the guy to set it up. He refused, so the player was added to Ed's rig and he triggered it. Now, that's hearsay, of course, because I've not heard of that anywhere else. But we saw them in San Diego in '88, and during the second encore (we screamed so long they actually came back out and started into the title track of OR), the sound completely cut out after just under a minute. Edgar, Ralf and Paul all looked at each other in disbelief. Ralf literally spread his arms out in a very Seinfeld-esque motion and emoted "Aw, rats!"



    I saw the official video of Live at the Acropolis when it was new. My buddy was like "This is hot! Come over and watch it." Wow, was I underwhelmed. He had become Yawni. The guy was somewhere between Geoff Downes and Rick Wakeman when I saw him in '88. 10 years later and he's not doing crap. His whole shtick turned into "I'm gonna fart around while the two violinists duel each other." I looked around on YT for some '80s footage, but there is nada.

    Do check out his first solo album Optimystique (1984, reissued in '89). For me, it's aged better than Geoff Downes' The Light Program (I can only hang with the first suite) and a few of Wakey's 80s records.
    Yeah, I have his earliest ones around the house somewhere (they were given to me by a friend). They aren't bad but not the first things I reach for when it comes to the early 80's synth stuff.

    As for TD...when I hear the boots from the '81 tour, that excerpt from Force Majeure is clearly from a recording.

    I still love 'em though.
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

  14. #289
    Quote Originally Posted by Gizmotron View Post
    This is very helpful. Thank you!
    And thank you hFx for the QuNexus video. I have one but haven't had enough time to explore it sufficiently.
    Keith McMillan (maker of QuNexus) has a new upcoming device called a Kboard Pro 4 which looks like a direct competitor to a Roli. Only, the video demos seem to indicate a far better response to playing. I am debating a preorder on one but am torn because I would likely neglect the Linnstrument at that point in favor of a more keyboard-oriented MPE controller. Decisions, decisions...
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

  15. #290
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    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    Keith McMillan (maker of QuNexus) has a new upcoming device called a Kboard Pro 4 which looks like a direct competitor to a Roli. Only, the video demos seem to indicate a far better response to playing. I am debating a preorder on one but am torn because I would likely neglect the Linnstrument at that point in favor of a more keyboard-oriented MPE controller. Decisions, decisions...
    Color me interested.

  16. #291
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gizmotron View Post
    And thank you hFx for the QuNexus video. I have one but haven't had enough time to explore it sufficiently.
    When I first got the QuNexus, I tried it on a sampled choir, poly-AT on level and tilt to pitch - instant Ligeti Takes some time to get used to the feel of fixed rubbet leys though...
    My Progressive Workshop at http://soundcloud.com/hfxx

  17. #292
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    Quote Originally Posted by hFx View Post
    When I first got the QuNexus, I tried it on a sampled choir, poly-AT on level and tilt to pitch - instant Ligeti Takes some time to get used to the feel of fixed rubbet leys though...
    Takk!
    I love how they get so many expressive capibilities into the finger movements. But as you imply, it is up to the user to set it up properly and tailor the voice module's settings.

  18. #293
    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gizmotron View Post
    I didn't even own a car until I was 29...all my ducats went into sound (and my bicycles).
    Who needs a car when you gots feets?!

  19. #294
    You need a car to transport all these awesome lovelies to gigs and back!!
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

  20. #295
    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    That's what your girlfriend/roadie/caterer is for.

  21. #296
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    Quote Originally Posted by dropforge View Post
    That's what your girlfriend/roadie/caterer is for.
    Yup. Girlfriends.
    I remember the day I had finally saved enough for my KX-88 controller. I called her up and she drove me so we could pick it up. While I had used a bicycle to get my Korg DW-6000 home, that shop was relatively close by. The Yamaha shop was 6 miles away and if I recall correctly the controller weighs 63 pounds.

  22. #297
    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    I always knew Vangelis was a true talent, Rene

    All jesting aside...this was to my knowledge his composing rig, not necessarily his live one. For example, the Emu Emulator II (the slightly funky looking one in the upper left corner with a 5 1/4" disk drive sticking out of the top) had some very interesting/specific sounds but also took a LONG time to load up from disks (I know because we had one in the music lab in college). It wasn't something I'd want to use onstage..
    Interesting, I remember reading an article on Jeff Lorber in the August 84 issue of Keyboard magazine, where he talked about how he had modified one of his sequencers, I think, so that it could use a floppy drive to load sequences, instead of the stock cassette interface. Apparently, it would take about 2 minutes to load sounds via the cassette interface, whereas the the floppy would take only about 9 seconds (but there was a typo in the article as printed, apparently whoever was inputting the written piece into the word processor hit the "0" key instead of the "-" key, so instead of "1-9 seconds", it read "109 seconds" which I think upset the guy who designed and rigged the mod, as he soon afterwards wrote in to correct them).

    But I imagine samples and such would take longer to load than sequences, which I imagine is a simpler form of data (and therefore takes less memory).

    I wonder how Tony Banks managed the Emulator II on the Invisible Touch tour, in that regard. Maybe that's why Phil had to launch into some of those monologues to introduce the songs: to give Tony time to load stuff on the Emulator.

    I recall reading an article about someone, I think it was Vince Clarke, when he was still in Yaz(oo), where he said when they played live he used two Fairlights: one that he was using at any given time, and the other was loading the next song in the set. I remember Gregg Hawkes saying that he took four Roland sequencers on the Cars Heartbeat City tour, because each only could only hold about two or three songs at a time (and he had two of everything else, including the Synclavier, for backup purposes).

  23. #298
    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    KS apparently preferred to sit on the floor. I look at those shots and my knees and ankles start aching at the very thought of it
    At some point he started standing or sitting on a chair. I've seen photos where he has his keyboards on actual stands.

    Actually, come ot think of it, I think there's some photos from the mid 70's, he was standing, as well. I think you can see it in one of the La Vie Electonique CD packages, where he's got the big modular, a Farfisa organ, a white face ARP Odyssey and the EMS Synthi A. But then at some point, he started sitting cross legged, I think usually on a riser, I've seen photos from circa 77-78 where you see that, and there's that one video of him performing on a German TV show.

    Anyway, Intellijel has finally released the Springray II, so I think that's going to be the next module I get for my modular.

  24. #299
    Member hFx's Avatar
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    The infamous Yamaha Tx16W could be expanded to 6MB and therefore popular as you could load all the sounds needed for a set. However it was very slow loading floppys (pre Typhoon). At one show with an almost famous fusion band I saw, a roadie had accidentally cut the power to the keyboard rig after soundcheck so the keyboard player had to reload the samples while the audience entered the venue and yet a good 20 minutes more... He reverted to his Emax after that show
    My Progressive Workshop at http://soundcloud.com/hfxx

  25. #300
    Quote Originally Posted by hFx View Post
    The infamous Yamaha Tx16W could be expanded to 6MB and therefore popular as you could load all the sounds needed for a set. However it was very slow loading floppys (pre Typhoon). At one show with an almost famous fusion band I saw, a roadie had accidentally cut the power to the keyboard rig after soundcheck so the keyboard player had to reload the samples while the audience entered the venue and yet a good 20 minutes more... He reverted to his Emax after that show
    I would like to hear what the keyboardplayer said to the roadie after the show.

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