Members Fancy Fingers Posted April 18, 2004 Members Share Posted April 18, 2004 Ok, that's how my "studio" looks after the latest addition! I'm now the proud owner of 2 P-series Yamaha pianos, so I'm nearly up there with Rintincop. If anybody has any questions about obsolete digital pianos then I'm the man A couple of observations. Although half the weight of my P100 this thing is still a struggle to transport on the bus. Might have to buy a trolley. Stunning piano sounds through headphones. Sounded just as good (during casual listening) as the P90 I was playing in the shop yesterday. Rhodes has the awful velocity switch but to my surprise it was still very enjoyable to play. As was the DX7 piano sound . I'll be using that patch on my blues gigs methinks. Hooked it up to one monitor. Sounded bloody awful, regardless of which output I used. With the other monitor connected (I have a stereo amplifier system) it sounded great again, just so much more full, vibrant and rich. Big negative now. I was hoping to control my Electro with the Yamaha keyboard but this isn't working too well. I just can't get the Nord rhodes to bark and it is not at all expressive. The problem is the Yamaha transmits very low velocity values. I'm seriously annoyed with Yamaha about this, talk about sloppy design/implementation. All in all though it's a joy to play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members C. Martin Posted April 18, 2004 Members Share Posted April 18, 2004 Congratulations on buying the p80. Enjoy! p120dUdE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted April 18, 2004 Members Share Posted April 18, 2004 I bought a P-80. I spent the afternoon playing it. I took it back the next day and traded it for a Roland RS-9. I'm happy I did too. After playing the P80 a couple of hours, my forearms ached. My tendons felt like they had been shredded and my fingers were too stiff and sore to play the guitar. The Roland RS-9 weighs 23 pounds. And I can still use the Yamaha sounds on my MU-90. I'll never regret lugging that old P-80 back to GC. And I have never missed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 18, 2004 Members Share Posted April 18, 2004 Congrats! The P80 was my fav until the p120 but I still think the p80 piano sound has its uses (esp for playing softly which the p120 can't do), beautiful ambient sound. All my piano improvs were done on it... As for velocities over MIDI try changing the touch to soft and also changing the patches on the p80 itself as they seem to alter the curve. I personally didn't get much better velocity though it has to be said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fancy Fingers Posted April 19, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 19, 2004 Ok orange, I'll try changing the patch. Changing sensitivity had little effect. Although with all those fantastic pianos I no longer need my Electro My new favorite sound is Rock Piano layered with EPiano1 (the DX7), this is so FAT and expressive with thundering bass Where is the link to your p80 recordings, ofunk? I can agree that the action is hard work to play. I had to have a rest after an hour.. Regarding the RS9, that's a fine synth I agree, but it's not a digital piano as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 19, 2004 Members Share Posted April 19, 2004 Here they are... http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/users/loughran/music.html I think the tired tendons come from the fact the keyboard needs pounding to get the top velocities rather than the fact its particularly heavy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eminor9 Posted April 19, 2004 Members Share Posted April 19, 2004 Best midi transmission is with setting on soft with the Jazz Organ patch enabled. Makes the Rhodes patch on my S30 bark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fancy Fingers Posted April 19, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 19, 2004 Nice piano playing Ofunk! The piano itself sounds very romantic, rather distant, very nice. HOw did you get to the standard where you are today then? Self study, or did you get lessons from a jazz pianist? How long have you being playing jazz for? Myself I can bash out the chords to a jazz standard and bluff my way though a solo, but I fear I have long to go before I can record any improvised works... I'll try that Jazz Organ velocity trick! HIghly illogical :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 19, 2004 Members Share Posted April 19, 2004 Originally posted by Fancy Fingers Nice piano playing Ofunk! The piano itself sounds very romantic, rather distant, very nice. HOw did you get to the standard where you are today then? Self study, or did you get lessons from a jazz pianist? How long have you being playing jazz for? Thanks! I can honestly say I have no idea why I do what I do. I have had no lessons, but during the period I was unemployed from 1992-97 I studied a lot of CDs and articles from magazines like Keyboard. I have to say that I think listening to music and really trying to understand the feeling and perhaps just trying to lose yourself inmusic rather than be bogged down in thinking about the correct way to write down some #7b9add13 chord which is useful but I think ends up being some kind of intellectual game between players... My influences when I improvise are: People I've met Things that have happened in my life Keith Jarrett - Koln, Tokyo, Lausanne Ryuichi Sakamoto - various solo piano pieces he's done Joachim Kuhn - various improvs Hadley Caliman's pianist Hotep Cecil Barnard on Projecting Oregon - Ralph Towner on LPs like Friends Art Lande on Paul McCandless I probably sound nothing like the above but its what I aspire to! Also some classical music but I'm no expert on that really to say what I like or not... I'm not that great a keyboard player say compared with the majority of pianists here, a lot of it is just losing myself... I amaze myself at times. I think the greatest skill a keyboardist should have is the ability not to care about being uncool... or to make mistakes, to not care that the bass is too loud on a demo mix they did... here is another improv I did recently on the P120 http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/users/loughran/Summer.zip Its a really emotional one for me as its abased on a song/piece I did after I left my girlfriend back in 1997 (which hopefully will be pt1 of the Suite). I basically took some of the chords from the song and played them in a random order in a minimalist style.. I really like the idea of reusing chords and themes and replaying in different ways on recordings... I'm really into Mike Oldfields Incantations in that regard.. I will look for some more improvs I've done recently, I'm sure there are a few around on MDs... Peace Orangefunk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eminor9 Posted April 19, 2004 Members Share Posted April 19, 2004 hey Orangefunk,Just picking up on your influences.Liking Keith Jarret's and Sakamoto's collaborations with Sylvian,can you recommend me Sakamoto's best solo works since he's got so much released... Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 19, 2004 Members Share Posted April 19, 2004 For me I really like pieces from Sakamoto where he's just playing solo piano. I have a CD called Piano One from 1985 where JOachim Kuhn, Eddie Jobson and Sakamoto do some solo piano tracks. Sakamoto does Merry Xmas Mr Lawrence solo piano style and also Last Regrets I love Sakmotos work on Secrets of the Beehive... Orpheus is just magnificent... beautiful My all time fav Sakamoto is this... http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/users/loughran/sak.zip I believe its got the wrong title on the CD as Last Regrets is something else.. PeaceOrangefunk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members C. Martin Posted April 19, 2004 Members Share Posted April 19, 2004 Very nice improvs there, orangefunk. Mellow, relaxing, beatiful, great. p120dUdE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soulpower Posted April 19, 2004 Members Share Posted April 19, 2004 Just to clarify, that velocity problem he was having using the P-80 as a controller, where it only plays 1 - 100, does the P120 do that as well? P90? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rintincop Posted April 20, 2004 Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 Originally posted by marcellis After playing the P80 a couple of hours, my forearms ached. My tendons felt like they had been shredded and my fingers were too stiff and sore to play the guitar. I know the feeling, these P boards have damn overly heavy actions!But they respond so well...especially the P250. It's sad it weighs 72 pounds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rintincop Posted April 20, 2004 Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 Originally posted by orangefunk #7 b9 add13 chord which is useful but I think ends up being some kind of intellectual game between players... Not really, it's simply a usefull and practical means for conveying the chord on a chart, that's all. I played another gig last night where we read numerous jazz charts with altered chords...by the way, I don't know any working jazz pianists that would play or write b9 on a Major 7th chord. They would play and write a b9 on a Dominant 7th chord (the 13th is assumed by jazz pianists and routinely added). Of course there are reasons for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pink floyd cramer Posted April 20, 2004 Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 I think that what Orange was getting at is that you can get so hung up on theory that you play from the head instead of from the heart, gut, spleen etc. I know, I do it all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rintincop Posted April 20, 2004 Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 Practice from the head, play from the heart. Theory and technique are similar for me... practice it then forget about it during performances. If you do it, or think it often enough it will become an effortless or seemingly so part of your performance skills. If your main performance emphasis is the production of flawless technique rather than the delivery of the emotional message, filtered through the technique, your performance will be stilted and unnatural and get in the way of the effective delivery of the message. Acquire these skills through study and rehearsal and little by little you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fancy Fingers Posted April 20, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 I'm also curious if the transmit velocity has been fixed on later models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 20, 2004 Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 Originally posted by rintincop by the way, I don't know any working jazz pianists that would play or write b9 on a Major 7th chord. They would play and write a b9 on a Dominant 7th chord (the 13th is assumed by jazz pianists and routinely added). Of course there are reasons for that. hehe you just proved my point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 20, 2004 Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 Originally posted by pink floyd cramer I think that what Orange was getting at is that you can get so hung up on theory that you play from the head instead of from the heart, gut, spleen etc. I know, I do it all the time. You got it! I remember being in music shops with endless conversations between bass players on all the theory yet they couldn't play a groove or jam... even though they had degrees in music.. Shame.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 20, 2004 Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 Originally posted by Fancy Fingers I'm also curious if the transmit velocity has been fixed on later models. I play tyhe p120 with the MOTIF and I can't get the bite in the rhodes sounds like I can from the MOTIF's own keyboard so I suspect it isn't much better... I have no idea why its like this... I guess with it being marketed as a home piano maybe its not so important? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fancy Fingers Posted April 20, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 Thanks ofunk. Disappointing, especially considering it shouldn't be more difficult or expensive to do it right than it is to do it wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alby1 Posted April 20, 2004 Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 #7 b9 add13 chord which is useful but I think ends up being some kind of intellectual game between players... My 2 cents about music theory. Or Free Improvisation vs Structured Improvisation (like on Standards.) Free Improvisation is great like Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert, but I feel that it is difficult to come up with a consistantly great concert gig after gig. And when inspiration leaves you on a night, you have got nothing. Thats where improvisations on Standards or a written original is great in that you get more consistancy of performance gig after gig. Even the great Keith Jarrett has lately produced albums based on "standards" as opposed to totally improvised concerts. So when you are improvising on Standards, especially in a Trio setting, then understanding chord notations like C Alt, or C 7 #9 become important for most musicians. If you have a great ear like Chet Baker, then you probably never have to understand this notation. But for most of us it helps make up for our less than perfect ears. Sorry to hijack this thread. (And also for ranting on and on.) I like your music, keep it up! Actually, I saw some charts on your P100, so you must be able to read the chord symbols anyway! (The #9ths etc, often in crucial to the tune. For example, take the A train, the second chord is D7b5, the b5 defines what the whole tune is about.) RegardsAlby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eminor9 Posted April 20, 2004 Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 Originally posted by orangefunk You got it!I remember being in music shops with endless conversations between bass players on all the theory yet they couldn't play a groove or jam... even though they had degrees in music..Shame.. This remembers me a couple of jam sessions with an 'educated' bass player who wasn't able to play the 'Papa was a rolling stone' groove ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 20, 2004 Members Share Posted April 20, 2004 Originally posted by eminor9 This remembers me a couple of jam sessions with an 'educated' bass player who wasn't able to play the 'Papa was a rolling stone' groove ! It seems universal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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