Quote:
Originally posted by Bluezplayer:
Robert,

Although my post followed yours, it was more a reply ( albeit late ) to Kingfrog about the idea of incorporating an M3 to go along with his current setup. I find it to be a worthwhile addition to my setup, and pretty much like every other board or software I've ever had, it isn't the end all solution or tool for every situation either, just the right tool for me in a lot of them.

It has to do with the kind of stuff I like to play and write, much of which is based around synth driven sounds. I'm no "analog elitist" either, and while I still love many of the vintage boards, I'm also glad I don't have to try to repair them ( Vsti's are a great thing, even if they aren't always exact replications ). I'm very much into the digital driven modern soundscapes that the old boards weren't necessarily that good for. My musical heroes are guys like Rick Wright, Rick Wakeman, Emerson, etc. Today I can add Tim Conrardy to that list. Not because of what he can play ( he can play ), but because of the soundscapes and patches he has made for so many hardware and software synths. He comes up with patches I could never dream of doing on my own

I still love the blues, hence the moniker, and I like jazz fusion and prog rock ala King Crimson, Yes, Pink Floyd etc, along with Some folk, but these days I'm also into playing and making electronica and ambient music. The T2 and my PA80 both make ok starting points for an idea, but for most of my preferred genres neither is a particularly good choice for much beyond that. They are here mainly because I also play out live (solo) on occasion, though not as much as I once did. Hence the upgrades to PA800 and T3 ( from T2 ) weren't a priority for me, but I'm sure for those who use an arranger more than I do, they would be a fair consideration. I actually considered moving to the PA800 or PA2. In fact, while I was at the store giving the PA800 a serious workout, right next to it sat the M3, and the rest as they say was history. Sure a lot of T2 owners would go to the T3 if it were a free crossgrade. I would.. Unfortunately that's not reality is it ?

As for the Les Paul.. me too... I bought one. Very much apples and oranges vs a keyboard no ? More like night and day to me. My problem is that I'm a mediocre guitar player. That said, in most situations I'd rather take the time to learn a piece on it that I need in a song than spend the time trying to replicate it in software and samples. I can do the latter pretty convincingly btw, not because I'm so talented but simply because it's possible with today's technology. But.. SA voices, Sample sets, Real Guitar / Real Strat or what have you, it is never quite the same, not without a lot of fiddling around. Probably doesn't matter to a lot of folks, hence the arranger or sample set works, but you don't capture all the nuances with a single keyboard performances, even in today's world.

Here's a challenge to those that say they can.. Pick any Nick Drake song. If you're at all familiar with him it's pretty simple stuff right ? No drums, no bass.. just Nick singing and playing his Guild M20 / Martin D28. Recreate one of his songs in one take on any sample set, keyboard, whatever you want. Heck take a few takes.. I doubt anyone ever gets close. I've tried. I can hit every note at exactly the right time, and it still isn't really close to the same. I'd need many more hours to get every picking sound, every scrape, every body tap, every pull off into the sequencer. Is that being picky ? Sure it is, but it is what it is. A lot of the beauty in that type of music is that the starkness of it allows you to hear every nuance of the guitar he plays. It's simple music but the guitar work is very intricate. I'd rather spend the time to learn to play the real thing when possible. Fortunately for me, most of my music isn't driven by intricate guitar work. If it was, I'd grudgingly have to go the sample / SA voice route more often until ( and if ) I could get better on guitar.

Lack of true real time controls was always a concern of mine on most of my past and present arrangers, and is still why to this day I have an affinity for the Casio MZ2000 ( it has sliders ). The factory styles aren't particularly good in it, and some ( not all ) of the acoustic sounds are well.. very Casio like, but the good news is that many of the synth sounds are too, but more in the vintage casio synth way and that's a really good thing for me. It's real time synth editing tools available rival those of the better workstations of the same era, while style creation vs my other two arrangers is a breeze by comparison, with every tool I need right onboard, including a midi to style converter that works quite well.

I used to post a lot more here, but the constant bickering got to be a bit much for me. Not that I walk above others, because I can find myself getting right into the mix too. Plus I tend to be very long winded when I do post ( like this.. lol ). In hindsight though it was a blessing in disguise, as I realized it was consuming time that I could better spend learning and developing new musical ideas along with actually making music.

Cheers,

AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 02-06-2009).]



I think the skilled musicians who belong to this board are a wonderful resource for those of us that are much further behind on the learning curve (like moi!).

Hearing your experiences, suggestions, recommendations, and overall thoughts is invaluable to those of us who haven't touched a lot of different boards or other instruments.

So my suggestion is to ignore the flames, and continue to share for the benefit of us who wish to learn and improve.

Like you my fingers are much more suited to keys than stretching great distances on a guitar fretboard. Gibson (and let's avoid the flames here) has yielded to the pressure for corporate profits and is cookie-cutting their Les Paul in the "flavor of the month" and quality has deteriorated greatly in the view of many axemen. They don't sound as pure as their older siblings, and the fit/finish well, it's just not "all that" on every unit. You have to hunt through a stack at music stores to find one that's 'right' for you.

Given that most of us have X amount of time to devote to producing music, one must make some hard choices or lose oneself in a morass of time-consuming technique/practice time.

The purist musician will laud the endless practice times (they call it paying your dues) and that's not wrong if you're 18 or 20, but when you're a senior citizen, one is closer to the end of band practice than the beginning, one must optimize one's free time (IMHO).

Thus I feel I can get better "guitar" out of my Tyros 3 than I can with my semi-arthritic fingers off a bad-action guitar!

So, my motto is whatever floats the boat!

Cheers,
robert