What Instrument would you like to have that is not a Keyboard?

[ElectricPuppy]

I'm thinking drums. That V-Drum setup looks like fun. No I don't know how to play them, but I'd like to try.

[wesg]

Re-member - if you like the theremin you might also like a ribbon controller.

[pogo97]

 

Originally Posted by wesg

... please tell me she doesn't teach guitar.

 

she doesn't teach guitar

[keybdwizrd]

I'd like to have a Les Paul.

[marino]

Confession time: I love most instruments (except a few.... accordion, Scottish pipes, police siren.... )
The ones I would like to own the most:

Hungarian Cymbalom
Indian Tablas
African/Brazilian Berimbau
Australian Digeridoo
Vibraphone and/or Marimba
A jazz drum set
Various ethnic percussions
Clarinet
Integra-7...

[zzzxtreme]

Drums? I totally recommend them. Started playing them few months ago. We keyboardists can pick up drums quickly

But guitars? Im still struggling, its a veryyyyyy long proccess.

[SeniorBlues]

I traded an old SY-77 for a set of drums a couple months ago.

I thought all keyboard players were frustrated drummers . . . . ..

[wesg]

Learn General midi drums!

Using the octave two below middle C, either select a drumset patch or send on MIDI channel 10. Kick and snare are on low C and E, high-hat is Ab and Bb. Bb is open high hat, Ab is closed. Play both hands fingers 2 & 3. Toms for fills will be near fingers 432 on the right hand, DCB I think. Crash and ride cymbals up around right hand G# or so. For a deeper kick you can play B or A instead of C.

Had fun at the other night while the keyboard part was silence. Drummer was looking around madly, searching for the cow bell...

[Plink Floyd]

 

Originally Posted by zzzxtreme

Drums? I totally recommend them. Started playing them few months ago. We keyboardists can pick up drums quickly

 

I agree. Especially organists. I think druming is lots of fun, but, like bass, I wouldn't like to do it as a main thing. I picked it up in high school from a few drummer buddies, & I think I can hold my own with most pop band drummers I've seen. I would very much like to have a decent set of e-drums or something like a Zendrum. Real drums are like acoustic guitars and pianos: if you want them to sound really good, you have to drop some serious coin.

[Plink Floyd]

 

Originally Posted by wesg

Learn General midi drums!

 

Yeah, but that's so limiting, technique wise. I like flams and tricky half pedaled HH stuff. And I just don't like MPD style pads for doing 'real' drum parts; I know a few people can play amazing live drum stuff on them, but they must have gorilla fingers, I just don't think they're sensitive enough. Zendrum's the best solution imo. Until someone invents a better one, or at least cheaper...

[mnewb1]

Originally Posted by zzzxtreme

mnewb1, could you tell me more about it ?

what size is it? how much do you have to spend on the instrument (including bows , etc.. etc...) ?

It is a normal sized Stradivarius style violin From Dresden, Germany made about 1900. I acquired it at Elderly Instruments in Lansing MI. I actually asked them to pick one of their many used violins for me with the stipulation that I was a beginner but I wanted an instrument that could carry me forward in learning. They choose this, which an instructor, when playing it to tune, was very impressed with it's tonal qualities. I paid about $800 US, the bow I bought is an entry level cheap fiberglass number.

[triton76]

TrapKat XL MIDI percussion controller

[wesg]

Plink - you might want to try a Yamaha DD-65. They fall in that wierd Yamaha grey area where they are priced like a toy, but make some really good noises, are decently durable, and totally playable.

I bought mine on a lark, and use it for a few different things -- a drum machine for practice (I hate metronomes), to beat out a part with sticks into a recording rig, or I can get rid of the sticks entirely and use them as hand drums. It has congas, bongoes, and a variety of kits, some suited to electronica, hip-hop, etc. I have a sneaky feeling it may have a full GM implementation of ~Y2K PSR quality buried in there, too.

If you actually wanted to play one "out", you can throw it on a snare stand and upgrade the pedals if you want. I have even considered throwing mine on top of my Leslie sans pedals and using it for congas at gigs. Would be one way to cover "Carry on Wayward Son", for sure!

[zoink]

1. Tenor (or perhaps alto) saxophone
2. Soprano saxophone
3. A Les Paul

[The Audacity Works]

I'd love an American-made James Tyler Variax. The things you can do with it and the new PODs are crazy, like assigning up to 50 parameters (with high/low and even reverse value ranges per parameter) to the volume and tone knobs, custom guitar tunings per POD preset, and routing the magnetic and modeled guitar sounds through their own signal paths to discrete outputs.

[wesg]

Variax. Full points for the name!

[Re-Member]

 

Originally Posted by wesg

Re-member - if you like the theremin you might also like a ribbon controller.

 

My JP-8000 has a small ribbon controller that's fun to use, though it doesn't do note on/off data. I still aiming to control my Theremin traditionally (hands off) though, instead of the finger sliding techinque. My paper method actually involves taping a small square to the wall behind my theremin as a reference point. From there, I have to "tune" the position of my body till I'm able to see the square touching the right side of my left hand and hear it trigger the key of C. It works really well.

[Gribs]

I would like to have an octave mandolin. I can play mandolin (sort of out of practice but my flat-picking chops when tuned/brushed up for a couple weeks are not too bad) and the octave mandolin sounds absolutely wonderful to me. The tuning is the same as an ordinary mandolin (like a violin and unlike a mandola or a mandocello) but one octave lower (derp). I have played a Weber octave mandolin that was for sale at "Homestead Pickin' Parlor" here in MN and similar to the one pictured below and also heard one played by a member of the Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra in concert and also for me afterwards when I asked her about it.



I also think it would be fun to have a set of really nice bongos and/or congas.

[bruto]

A nice drum kit

[Nismology]

Originally Posted by bruto

A nice drum kit

This, but specifically

A Sonor kit consisting of:

• Massive 20x20 kick drum
• 3 '80s style deep toms

Plus:

• Mapex Black Panther 13" metal shell snare
• Sabian AA 16" Thin Crash
• Meinl Byzance 14" Sand Hats
• Meinl Byzance 18" Thin Crash
• Sabian 20" AAX Stage Ride
• Tama Iron Cobra single kick drum pedal

[Plink Floyd]

Originally Posted by wesg

Plink - you might want to try a Yamaha DD-65.

I have the DD-55C, and I agree it's more than a toy. But they have the same old problem: crappy pedal implementation. I found out the hard way after I bought a Roland FD-7 HH pedal. You just don't get HH continuous control with the lower priced spread. Also, they only have 7 increments of BD intensity. Surprisingly, that's not really much of an issue in pop songs...

I once almost bought a TrapKat, but I couldn't get past the feeling that it looked like a Mickey Mouse hat:

[RPdigital]

 

[midinut]

Originally Posted by The Audacity Works

I'd love an American-made James Tyler Variax. The things you can do with it and the new PODs are crazy, like assigning up to 50 parameters (with high/low and even reverse value ranges per parameter) to the volume and tone knobs, custom guitar tunings per POD preset, and routing the magnetic and modeled guitar sounds through their own signal paths to discrete outputs.

+1 - I have an original Variax 300, and I feel pretty certain the models in both are close if not the same, but the built quality of the Tyler Variax looks much better than mine. Then I'd sell my POD X3 Live and get the new POD HD500 as well. If you add one of their new Tube Amps made by Bogner, you've got what they are caling the "Dream Guitar Rig"

[JeffLearman]

Originally Posted by Meatball Fulton

Some guitars (not just basses or even just electrics) use a "zero fret" to make the open string notes sound like fretted notes...remember an open string is only in contact with the nut, which is seldom metal. The types of vibrato possible on a fretless instrument is different. The playing feel is different and the action can be lower. So there are many reasons to play a fretless bass even if you play without slides.

Many cheap electric guitars were built with a zero fret simply because it was cheaper to manufacture: no need to get the nut position accurate.

I have a National "LPC" (Les Paul copy) dating from the 60's with a zero fret. On that guitar, open strings don't sound like fretted strings.

CR, be sure to try half-rounds: the feel of flat wounds with a tone much more like round wounds. Round wounds are bad for a fretless: they wear out the neck much faster. Another option to consider is round wound coated strings. They tend to sound more like an upright, in my limited experience.

Regarding the OP: In addition to my piano and two digital keyboards, I have 5 guitars and an electric bass, plus a bunch of stuff I don't play particularly well, like harmonicas, a xaphoon (I used to play sax -- the xaphoon was a nice idea but didn't pan out) a kalimba (which I really like), wooden flutes & recorders, and goodness knows how many other odd little bits (like those Chinese flutes -- don't remember what they're called, but if you've heard Chinese music you know what I mean, a bit like an ocarina).

However, of instruments I've always secretly coveted but never had, I'd pick Chapman Stick. The reasons I've never owned one are simple: they're not cheap, and I hardly need yet another instrument to suck at.

I once had an acquaintance who made as a hobby some really gorgeous little banjos. They were originally intended for his kids, but everyone wanted them so he kept making more. They made a great travel instrument, and I'd have loved to have nabbed one. I'd also love to have a mandolin (and learn to play it).

A housemate of mine had a sitar. They're quite a lot of fun to play, and not very hard for a guitarist to pick up.

But of all instruments I don't currently play and might actually get: tenor ukelele. They voice jazz chords so sweetly, it's a treat to play classic old jazz and ragtime era tunes on a good one. Also, it's not a difficult instrument for a guitarist to pick up fairly quickly. One of these days ....

I'd also like an acoustic bass guitar. I got one for my son, a "Dean", for $200, and it's an amazingly good instrument for the price. That was a few years back; price is probably higher now.

[JeffLearman]

Originally Posted by zzzxtreme

Drums? I totally recommend them. Started playing them few months ago. We keyboardists can pick up drums quickly

But guitars? Im still struggling, its a veryyyyyy long proccess.

IMHO, simple guitar playing (think "around the campfire") is easier than piano or keyboards. But good guitar playing is harder -- at least, it certainly is for me. With a keyboard, you just push the key and the instrument plays itself!

But drums -- that would be a huge struggle for me to learn. In fact, I don't think actual humans can do that. Drummers must actually be invaders from some other planet. This despite that I have reasonable hand independence, and can use two or more sustain pedals without giving ever having given it much thought.