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Thread: Show Us Your Keyboards!

  1. #1

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    Default Show Us Your Keyboards!

    No, not ones that you're typing your posts out here in Drum Chat.....the other ones, lol. Seeing that there's a thread already for drummers who double up on guitars, I hadn't seen one dedicated to those who double up on pianos, synths and other keyboards. And yes, anyone who plays keyboard mallet percussion....marimba, vibraphone, xylo's and so forth, you're most welcome. That's part of the reason why I've been spending time on piano of late....to keep that theory going when I play keyboard percussion.

    Anyway, over a short while I've been collecting a small lot of old and not so old synths and keyboards. Was quite chuffed when I managed to get my hands on an old Ensoniq ESQ-1 Digital Synth....of late I've been exploring and mucking around with it's sounds and this definitely the warmest sounding synth I've owned so far, due to the fact that it's filters work like an old analogue synth....this one was made around 1986, and I picked it up for AU$470 earlier last month. A mate of mine, Kenny, said that when he was engineering sound back in the UK, he used to hear keyboardists loving Ensoniq gear. What I like with this one is it's really easy to sequence all sorts of bass lines, simple drum patterns and keyboard stuff.....yes, I've been hands on with drum machine programming for years too, so I had no problems with the synth's onboard sequencer, so much easier than the ones on a couple of my other synths.

    So anyway, thought I might share a video. A cover of the old Giorgio Moroder tune "Chase" from the movie "Midnight Express"....if you know anything about EDM (electronic dance music) Giorgio was not only a pioneer of it, but a damn good producer as well (David Bowie, Donna Summer, Japan, Sparks, Kenny Loggins, Blondie, etc). Not a perfect performance, but was a practice run...been doing it of late to see how to balance and select the right sounds for various keyboards that I got, as well as seeing what's the right placement of volume and sustain pedals, what on board effects work right with the mixer and so on. Plus, more importantly, finger placement and getting the chords and melodies right. Bear in mind I always call myself a drummer and percussionist first and a keyboardist a distant last.....it's more a hobby for me at the moment, but I'm getting right into it.

    Enjoy!



    For those that want specs:

    Synths:
    Ensoniq ESQ-1
    Korg X5D
    Korg Micro-Station
    Casio CZ-101
    Micro Korg

    Roland Handsonic HPD-10
    Yamaha MG82cx mixer
    "...it's the Paradigm Of The Cosmos!" Stewart Copeland on Youtube

    668: The Number Of The Guy Next Door To The Beast.

    "A random act of kindness; it keeps my heart in shape!" - Late8

  2. #2

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    I've got a Korg M3 keyboard workstation/synthesizer. I just play WITH it more than I can play it! But it's really cool to have around. I have a pair of KRK Rokit 8 powered monitors and a KRK RP10 (I think that's the model) subwoofer for sound for the M3. Pictures tonight when I get home.

    Drumble: Very cool playing! I see you have a Roland percussion pad. I never thought much of them until I saw Vinnie Coliauta play a Wavedrum on the Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scott's DVD. Wouldn't mind having one to add to the insane amount of 'stuff' I already have!
    Last edited by cabasner; 03-05-2014 at 07:20 AM.
    Now, just a tiny bit less than an absolute drum newbie
    DW Collectors Cherry kit, Ludwig Black Beauty Snare, DW SuperSolid Oak/Cherry Snare, DW Sabian Vault Edge Snare

  3. #3

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    Nice one Cabasner, an M3! Great keyboard, I love the piano sounds on those for sure. What I like about the X5D and the Micro Station especially is the pretty convincing acoustic guitar sounds. I'm starting to find certain brands they have certain sounds that are better than another one.

    I don't mind 'soft' synths either....you know, using software and a keyboard controller, but I'd rather let friends of mine who know that stuff well do that....me, I'm a bit in two minds about it. We did a bit of that when I did my Diploma years back, and there are certain advantages....carting less synths would be a big advantage....however, according to some that I've spoken to, you can still be at the mercy of computer glitches when performing live. The other thing is this, and I know it's going to sound weird, but like some, I'd rather find a unique sound done by going by some guidelines to tweaking a preset and whatever onboard effects that a 'hardware' keyboard has, rather than try and find an easily available software sound, because there's the satisfaction of wrestling a unique sound and setting out from that keyboard and then hopefully it's some use to an idea you're writing. Which is really old-school, but then again it's how the synth masters of the past decades became so good, because you're working with some limitations, instead of being blinded by too many choices. You really have to become hands on with hardware keyboards, the more I'm realising.

    In fact it's the exact same approach with the Roland Handsonic. Having owned it for a quite while and gigged and done a little bit of recording with it, it's been taking on it's own personality for me now that I've been mucking around with its onboard sounds. It has a real good bank of onboard effects too.....reverbs, tape echoes, filters, delays, distortion, you name it. So it's been a field day for me experimenting with sounds, figuring out all the various sound parameters.....kind of like a drummer's version of a synth it is.

    This sort of tweaking, changing pitches and all sorts of percussive experimenting I've been doing ever since I did my earlier experiments with my Roland R-70 drum machine over a decade and half ago, where I'd manipulate it's drum, percussion and bass sounds (it has four types of bass sounds which, if experimented with, I could synthesize into guitar and keyboard sounds). Mind you, not for the impatient, but once you know the rule book, the fun starts when you throw away the rule book! I just now finished watching a documentary on electronica, where they visited the guy who founded Roland Corp in Japan, Ikutaro Kakehashi, and he says after all these years he still gets knocked out and pleasantly surprised about how people can create a lot of stuff using even the basic sounds on a lot of his products, and people will write to him giving their feedback, samples of what they've done and so on.

    If you really then start to dig into it and watch a couple of great documentaries on Youtube, I can recommend 'Synth Brittania' & 'Inventor Of The Synthesizer Documentary-Moog'. There was also one about the guys who worked with Stevie Wonder in the days when he was doing albums like "Talking Book" & "Innervisions", and they had this huge....like really huge synth, what you call a modular synth, one made of several devices patched together with leads (and waaayyy before MIDI). Search it under "Stevie's Wonder Men".
    "...it's the Paradigm Of The Cosmos!" Stewart Copeland on Youtube

    668: The Number Of The Guy Next Door To The Beast.

    "A random act of kindness; it keeps my heart in shape!" - Late8

  4. #4

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    - Zack

  5. #5

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    Here are some pictures...not the best, as they were taken when I was thinking of trying to sell the M3. Glad I didn't, now! This keyboard has some amazing sounds! One of the things it does really well is percussion. Before I started playing drums, I thought that having the keyboard to make drum sounds would be cool, but I never learned to do anything with it. The built in combinations are amazing, love just using the big buttons to play different chords with the huge sounds that it makes! The screen is neat..it's a touchscreen that you can use to manipulate the sounds by dragging your fingers in various patterns. Not as advanced as the latest Korg Kronos...but way more than enough for me!

    Now, if I can learn how to make the keyboard loop, I could use the songs it plays to play the drums against!




    Last edited by cabasner; 03-05-2014 at 08:16 PM.
    Now, just a tiny bit less than an absolute drum newbie
    DW Collectors Cherry kit, Ludwig Black Beauty Snare, DW SuperSolid Oak/Cherry Snare, DW Sabian Vault Edge Snare

  6. #6

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    A number of years ago, I bought a used Roland G-800 Workstation/Arranger. It's an older keyboard, my best guess is that it's from about 1996. I don't play well, but it has gotten used on occasion by better keyboard players, and I noddle on it from time to time. It has also helped me in understanding music theory. I also worked out the flute solo for Nights in White Satin using this keyboard, and it's flute voice.


    Quoting gonefishin: Just have some bacon with ya when you go pick her up..........youre an instant chick magnet.





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  7. #7

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    Don't have pictures but we've got a few keyboards lying around. My dad uses a Korg M50. there's also a cheap Yamaha practice keyboard set up, and there's a Kawai and a couple of Roland keyboards in storage.
    - Zack

  8. #8

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    Now did I get a bargain or what yesterday?

    I picked up a Roland JP-8000 second hand, which had never gigged by it's previous owner. Said it was bought but never left his bedroom studio (he's a music teacher and cover band musician), had a custom road case made for it, taken out and played a number of times and then just stored in its case. It's in immaculate condition.....not a scratch on it. This keyboard would date from around 1997 or so....it's digital, but somehow recreates the sounds of old classic analogue synthesizers and it pretty much was one of the synths which helped pioneer the sound of trance music. I scored this keyboard plus the case for just under $700. Not a bad score at all.



    "...it's the Paradigm Of The Cosmos!" Stewart Copeland on Youtube

    668: The Number Of The Guy Next Door To The Beast.

    "A random act of kindness; it keeps my heart in shape!" - Late8

  9. #9

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    I'm craving a B3
    “I did not trip and fall. I attacked the floor and I believe I am winning.”

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Drumbledore View Post
    Now did I get a bargain or what yesterday?

    I picked up a Roland JP-8000 second hand, which had never gigged by it's previous owner. Said it was bought but never left his bedroom studio (he's a music teacher and cover band musician), had a custom road case made for it, taken out and played a number of times and then just stored in its case. It's in immaculate condition.....not a scratch on it. This keyboard would date from around 1997 or so....it's digital, but somehow recreates the sounds of old classic analogue synthesizers and it pretty much was one of the synths which helped pioneer the sound of trance music. I scored this keyboard plus the case for just under $700. Not a bad score at all.



    Nice score Drumbledore!
    Quoting gonefishin: Just have some bacon with ya when you go pick her up..........youre an instant chick magnet.





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    Buy Gifts for Drummers. And don't miss the free Drum Lessons!

  11. #11

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    Oooo.....

    Ooh, now here's something different. Trawling through ads, I'd seen a number of some pretty old keyboards like the Yamaha YC25 and even older ones made by defunct companies like Elka from Italy, as I'd been looking around for some vintage and totally analogue sounds to keep adding to the others I got (came this close to getting my hands on one a month ago but......got beaten by someone else within an hour or so! Oh well....). Anyway, as I watched a few Youtube videos, one was on how to connect a Yamaha YC 25 into a particular Boss pedal, the ME20 Multiple Effects Pedal, which came out a number of years ago and has since been replaced by other similar models....however from what I found out, a number of guitarists who have used the newer pedals like the ME-70 were regretting getting rid of their older ME-20's, as the old pedal still has a simplicity and ease of use. And to my luck, there was a guitarist who was getting rid of his ME-20...in fact with all the years of owning it, he said he had only brought it out on a couple of gigs and that was it....otherwise it was in brand new condition, not bad for a seven year old pedal. Built like a tank with it's mostly metal construction, this has three switches, the first one for all manner of distortions and a compressor, the second for various modifications like phaser, flanger, chorus and so on, a third for two types of delay and reverb, and the large right pedal doubles as a volume as well as a wah-wah pedal. Paid $200 for it, and way better than carrying a bunch of stomp-boxes for effects. And so, with the use of the rotary effects, a bit of delay and the volume/wah-wah pedal, I can now transform the twee lil' electric organ preset on my Casio CZ-101 keyboard into this!



    Last edited by Drumbledore; 08-12-2014 at 08:27 PM.
    "...it's the Paradigm Of The Cosmos!" Stewart Copeland on Youtube

    668: The Number Of The Guy Next Door To The Beast.

    "A random act of kindness; it keeps my heart in shape!" - Late8

  12. #12

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    Mine comes with a peanut eating but creative (sometimes a little to creative!)
    keyboard player and a serious nutty ol' lady!



    A couple extra pics from the last 4th of July party here.





  13. #13

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    ^Nice kit Ray!

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by late8 View Post
    ^Nice kit Ray!
    From a man who is all about nice kits...Thanks Rich!

    Last edited by Ray on the Drums; 08-20-2014 at 07:08 AM.

  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ray on the Drums View Post
    Mine comes with a peanut eating but creative (sometimes a little to creative!)
    keyboard player and a serious nutty ol' lady!

    They're not a bad sorta keyboard those, the Roland XP-80. One went for sale the same time as the JP-8000 that I scored. It has a great inbuilt sequencer apparently.
    "...it's the Paradigm Of The Cosmos!" Stewart Copeland on Youtube

    668: The Number Of The Guy Next Door To The Beast.

    "A random act of kindness; it keeps my heart in shape!" - Late8

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