Kanthos

When you're more healed, is there anything else you'd have to do to lessen/reduce the effects? I'm just asking because by not playing much, I'm more-or-less healed at this point, but don't want to push for too much and relapse.

You must've hit a wrong note then, because the only difference between an A major scale and other major scales (besides the exact notes that you play, obviously), is the subtle tone coloring that generally differentiates sharp keys from flat keys.

Doug, are you aware of any good resources for how to deal with tendonitis? Obviously, not playing is a good option, but do you know of any ways to lessen its effects? I've played a lot less over the last 10 years than I'd like because of it. Piano and keyboards: I've been playing for 21 years. I started with classical, got up to grade 9 with the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada, quit that and got into jazz in high school, with a bit of rock and pop that I'd play at church. Now, I'm focusing on using other keyboard instruments (Rhodes, Wurlitzer, B3, that kind of thing) in my playing. Clarinet: My chosen band instrument in grade 7. Haven't played one in probably 6 years. Sax: I discovered jazz in grade 10 and promptly dropped clarinet to pick up sax. I own an alto, but haven't played in maybe 5 months; my focus is keys right now. Bass: I play at church when we're short a bass player. Drums: I play at church when we're short a drummer.

You can probably spend the same amount and get a better-quality controller with no sounds (although you won't be able to perform live with it unless you haul your computer around too, which isn't a big deal if you have a laptop; I do that every couple weeks). It's quite easy to get better sounds than a cheap, low-end keyboard with free or inexpensive plugins.

Tensei's being intentionally sarcastic, I think, basically saying, it's a great idea that you play around with your piano without understanding what you're doing and why it's like that.

Yes, it still is. Send me a PM and we can discuss it.

I don't pay that much attention to music at wedding dances, but I've been to probably 3 weddings a year for the past 5 years, so I can remember a few songs and can probably come up with more if I think long enough. Kool and the Gang - Celebrate, Funky Stuff Commodores - Brick House Jackson Five - I Want You Back, ABC Sister Sledge - We Are Family Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music

I may have misinterpreted his request. What I said is necessary if you want your soundfont audio to be processed with effects from the KB37. If, on the other hand, you just want to play on the keyboard and record clean audio, or use software effects, than what you said is correct. I have yet to do it, since I usually play live instead of recording, but I've got the setup to use my PodXT for external effects on a MIDI track, like I described. If I were doing that, I'd probably want to record both the MIDI from the keyboard, audio from the Pod, and possibly MIDI automation from the Pod, much like recording a dry and wet signal for a guitar, so that you can change the effects later. Anyway, Diemer, the KB37 should work as a MIDI interface, so any DAW or other recording program that can record MIDI data and use it to drive a soundfont should work with it. I think the PodXT does more, and the Pod X3 almost certainly does. All depends what you want, really, in terms of effects and whether you want them in hardware or software. Edit: I took a look at the KB37 page, and here are some things you should know. 1) It does not appear to have any effects done in hardware, although I'm not certain on that (check the manual here to make sure). Effects are done through the Gearbox software, if not through hardware. 2) The version of Gearbox that comes with the software is standalone. To use Gearbox within another host, including the bundled Ableton Live Lite, you'll probably need to purchase the Gearbox plugin for $100. 3) The KB37 doesn't have any MIDI inputs or outputs, so if you have any other MIDI gear, other than expression pedals, you're out of luck. I'd say that this product is only good if you want a simple MIDI keyboard and audio interface that does effects in some way, you're fine. If you're a keyboard player, you'll want something with more than 37 keys. If you just want an audio interface, there are cheaper alternatives (because they won't have a keyboard included). I'd say this product hits a very small niche; make sure it's what you want before you spend money on it, because there are other good alternatives.

Or possibly your instrument was out of tune?

You could possibly use that with soundfonts, but you'd have to have a second way to record audio, probably a good, low-latency soundcard. You'd do something like this: you'd record MIDI (or play it live), sending the MIDI data to the soundfont player. The soundfont would play, sending its signal to your soundcard's output. You run a cable from your soundcard's output to the Toneport KB37's input, and then get your DAW to record the input from the KB37. You might be better off buying a larger MIDI controller and a Line6 Pod or other multi-effects processor though (or, if you're a guitarist, even consider a Line6 amp with the Pod functionality built in). I'd bet the KB37 is limited in terms of the effects it has compared to other Line6 products, and if you want to play keyboard as well, 37 keys isn't a big range unless all you're doing is single-hand lead lines.

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't read the PDF linked on WikiLeaks, but it strikes me that any official sources other than this say nothing about searching hard drives, cell phones, and MP3 players for illegal audio. Of course, that may be because they're keeping this more-or-less secret, but I'm not immediately assuming they're going to scan my hard drive to determine if any of my 5 thousand audio files are pirated. The link to the US government site read to me that this is more about stopping the entry of physical materials into foreign countries; things like some asian markets selling illegal reproductions of DVDs for a fraction of the cost. Of course, it can encompass both physical and electronic media, but at least from what I've seen, there's nothing to indicate clearly that it's one or the other.

I'm almost 27 (3 months away). In transit (2 hours a day of time spent sitting on a train), I spend about 40% of my time playing PSP or DS and the other 60% doing non-gaming activities. At home, I'm almost exclusively PC with my gaming; once in a while, I'll get into a Wii game (most of them retro) and play for hours at a time, but usually it's World of Warcraft or Guild Wars at home, or I'll continue playing whatever I was playing on the train.

Welcome back to having a life! disclaimer: participants must have had a life in the first place for the previous statement to have any meaning Seriously, as someone who's only a listener at the moment, thanks for all your hard work.

Congrats, both of you!

You can't EQ a MIDI track. EQing is an audio effect, not a MIDI effect. You'll have either one of two setups (assuming Cubase 4, the version I'm familiar with; previous versions shouldn't be that different). I'm at work and don't have Cubase or my dongle handy, so I may not have it quite right, and I've been working on live setup and creating sounds now so I've been working in Kore, not Cubase over the last few months, but hopefully this at least points you in the right direction if I'm not quite right. 1) You have a MIDI track feeding into a VSTi loaded through the VSTs window. In this case, you can add the effect to the VSTi. On the very left side of the screen, to the left of the track list where you see properties about the currently selected track, there will be a Sends section. Add your EQ and any other effects there. 2) You have an Instrument track (a combination of a MIDI track and a VSTi): Same deal as #1; you add the EQ to the Sends section of the instrument track. I think you can also add effects on the Sends section of a channel in the Mixer window. If you want to use the same set of effects for multiple channels (say you've recorded several lead guitar tracks over top of each other to do a harmonized lead), you can make an effects channel that can be shared between multiple tracks.

Sam's great, and I've seen all the videos he currently has up, but it's not really what I'm looking for. My focus is more how to fit into a mainly rock band that occasionally travels into other genres, and while he obviously can play with others (his recently posted OCRemix being a great example), there's not a lot I can get from him that'll help me with what I need. Thanks though

Joey's a great example of how I'll never be able to play. I'm already keeping an eye out for him the next time he comes to Canada. I also am condensing everyone's suggestions (I'm getting some from a few other sources as well) into a list on my blog.

Nice find then. A Nord is on my list of "things to buy were I to be given an exorbitant amount of money" list, so I'm not in the market for one anytime soon, but I'll probably keep my eyes open to see if I can score a good deal like that.

4GB will still make a big difference for remixing, if you can afford it. Your DAW and plugins can use up to 2GB if you're using a 32-bit edition of XP; not having to share that with the OS and other running processes will be nice.

All over the Black Mages; I have their first two albums and have heard the third. Haven't heard any Dream Theatre yet, but Jordan Rudess is on my radar (from an ad I saw on KVR, oddly enough). All other suggestions noted. Any specific songs you guys can recommend (other than the few youtube videos you've posted)?

How'd you pull that off? Is it the original version instead of the Lead 2 or 2x? I've poked around eBay and a couple local music shops and haven't found any Nord keyboards for anywhere near that price.

Thanks for the suggestions. I do have those remixes downloaded. I should mention that I'm specifically *not* looking for remixes, both because I have a ton from this site and because the uses of synthesizers in particular tends to be less from the perspective of a keyboard player in a rock band. And also, songs need not be Christian. I play outside of church too, and an example of good playing is an example of good playing, lyrical content aside.

I'm sure I'm the one missing something basic, namely a full understanding of how panning works, although I think I've got it now. And I think that unless I'm missing something else, all the inputs to the amp are mono and the one output is mono (and furthermore, the amp probably mixes in mono, judging by a commeint in the manual that says that the Aux input is converted to mono), so by panning an instrument hard left in Kore and then converting to mono, I undo the effect of panning. So really, I'm not "faking" anything at all, I'm just using a single stereo bus as two mono buses, and since my gear expects mono inputs, all is fine. Thanks for the help.

Hmm, I'd thought I'd mentioned the amp already. It's a Roland KC-150 4-channel mixing amp. Inputs 2-4 are -20dbu 1/4" inputs, and input 1 can either be a -50dbu or -20dbu 1/4" input or an xlr. The only output is a 1/4" +4dbu. When I had it set up this past Sunday, I went into the PA system through a DI box.

*drools over the Nord Lead* I'd kill for one of those, or more ideally, the 88-key Nord Stage.