CHICK COREA
Keeping a Vigil on Your Musical Voice
WAYS TO PLAY LIKE BENMONT TENCH BOLD HARMONIC MOTIONFOR JAZZ PLAYERS CLICK TRACK WORKOUTFOR RUSSIAN DRAGONS 04.2014 | $5.99 A MUSIC PLAYER PUBLICATION
REVIEWS
ROLAND FA-06 Back in the Workstation Game
YAMAHA MOXF Hard-Hitting Studio and Gig Machine
SYNTHMASTER Sof Synth Sleeper Hit
HK LUCAS NANO Your PA for Small Gigs?
NEW!
With innovative new live features, advanced layering and synchronization options, new filter simulations and powerful effects, the new Nord Lead 4 is a flexible synth that’s just as brilliant on stage as in your studio. OSCILLATE!Nord Lead 4 is a virtual analog synthesizer with 2 oscillators per voice and 4 slots. New features include Wavetables with formants, Hard/Soft Sync, Noise-generator with dedicated filter and a true Unison-mode for meaty leads!
MODULATE!2 LFOs and a Modulation Envelope can control anything from filters to effects and even offer
Nord Lead 4- 49-key synth version
very flexible triggering options.
FILTER!Nord Lead 4 features 7 filter types including an extremely steep 48 dB low-pass filter, two amazing simulations of the legendary transistor and diode ladder -filters and a powerful drive for distorting the soun d internally in the filter.
MUTILATE!Color your sounds with simulated tube amp distortion, sample-rate reduction, comb-filtering, a talk box-effect and a compressor.
Nord Lead 4R-
Rack mountable table-top version
Each slot also features a tweakable delay with analog-mode plus reverb.
SYNCHRONIZE!Arpegg iators, LFOs and delays c an all be synchronized to the internal Master Clock or an external sequencer.
IMPROVISE!The flexible Morph functionality offers unprecedented control over your sound while playing. Change multiple parameters at once - gradually with the mod wheel or velocity - or instantaneously with the powerful new Impulse Morph buttons.
Listen to sound demos: nordkeyboards.com/nordlead4 For more information contact
[email protected]
Handmade in Sweden by Clavia DMI AB
Follow us: facebook.com/nordkeyboards
“The MicroBrute is a pure analogue synth, and it sounds like one. The MicroBrute will become a signicant success in its own right.” Sound on Sound, 02/2014
Looks tiny, sounds massive
MicroBrute is the tiny analog synth with vast possibilities. The MicroBrute puts all the
veteran, MicroBrute is also a seriously capable semi-modular sequence-able beast. Wait till
essential building blocks of an analog classic into a package that’s pure hands-on fun. If you’re new to synths, you’re looking at one of the most unique sounding synthesizers we think money can buy. And if you’re a synth
you hear how it sounds Tiny in size, tiny in price, huge in sound, and vast in potential. We’ve had so much fun with MicroBrute: Now it’s your turn. www.arturia.com
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CONTENTS
APRIL 2014
KNOW
TALK 10
Voices from the
Keyboard community.
44
THE ART OF SYNTH SOLOING Two-handed techniques inspired by Chick Corea.
46
BEYOND THE MANUAL Music production wizard Craig
NEW GEAR 12
SPECIAL REPORT:THE LATEST FROM NAMM 2014 In our monster eight-page report, we go hands-on with the latest
Andertonserves up advanced tips and tricks for working with MIDI tracks in part 2 of MIDI Reloaded .
and greatest gear to make its debut at the biggest musical instrument and pro audio expo in the western hemisphere.
HEAR 22
LEGENDS Chick Corea Jazz fusion and multi-keyboard pioneer returns with new compositions and a new band, the Vigil. Get his advice for keeping a vigil on your own musical development in this candid interview.
26
SONG STORIES Hear straight from songwriter Marc Cohnabout the transformative trip that busted his writer’s block and led to the iconic hit “Walking in Memphis.”
30
32
DANCE Create the square wave synth bass predicted to be the dance oor sound of 2014.
REVIEW 50
WORKSTATION Roland FA Series
54
WORKSTATION Yamaha MOXFand KarmaLab KARMA Motifsoftware
of musicalamenco exploration, is Ariadna Castellanos making hot again.
58
SOFT SYNTH KV331 Audio SynthMaster
PLAYLIST What we’re listening to this month.
62
PA HK Audio Lucas Nano 300
64
APP Master Record
TALENT SCOUT With a jazz-infused technique and fearless sense
PLAY 34
LATIN Five ways to play like Heartbreaker Benmont Tench .
38
JAZZ George Colliganon harmonic motion.
40
48
CODA 66
TECHNIQUE Kimmel keysman Jeff Babkoon playing to a click.
Five things in-demand sideman Henry Heyhas learned about Playing Soft Synths Live .
Online Now! Web-only special: Great
KEYBOARD (ISSN 0730-0158) is published monthly by NewBay Media, LLC 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 125, San Bruno, CA 94066. All material published in KEYBOARD is copyrighted © 2013 by NewBay Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material appearing in KEYBOARD is forbidden without permission. KEYBOARD is a registered trademark of NewBay Media. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Bruno, CA and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to KEYBOARD P.O. Box 9158, Lowell, MA 01853. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.
6
Keyboard04.2014
pianists check out high-end grand pianos at NAMM!
keyboardmag.com/april2014
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Over the past 40 years, Dave Smith has designed more groundbreaking synthesizers than anyone, ever. Dave Smith Instruments has the largest line of analog and digital/analog hybrid synt hs in the world. Top to bottom, Dave Smith Instru ments’ awardwinni ng, A merican-made produ ct line includes a synthesizer for every need and budget, from the flagship Prophet 12 to the affordable and ultra-port Mopho product family.
DesignedandbuiltinCalifornia
able
Dave Smith
Instrument Designer Co-Creator of MIDI Grammy® Winner
Visitdavesmithinstruments.com
VO L. 40, NO . 04 #456
A P RI L 2 0 1 4
Michael Molenda
[email protected] EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Stephen Fortner
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Keyboard04.2014
TALK
VOICES FROM THE
KEYBOARD
COMMUNITY
Connect
Editor’s Note
Comment directly at
keyboardmag.com twitter.com
keyboardmag
Recently, a parenting blog piece called “Te High Cost of Music” showed up in my Facebook feed. It wasn’t terribly recent itself, but I’ve seen many forms of the complaint it expressed: $60 per hour—the going rate in the author’s affluent suburb of Boston and places like it—is too much to pay for music lessons for kids.
error here is that most music teachers don’t book anywhere near 40 hours of lessons each week. Why not? Kids have school most of the year, making for a brief late afternoon window for other activities. Seriously, if you’re pulling $120K a year teaching, let me know and I’ll hang out a shingle myself. Not that you shouldn’t be. Countless stud-
Te author quotes U.S. labor stats showing that ies have shown that music education improves several ostensibly tougher jobs pay less. She then academic performance and social skills, so I’m argues that assuming roughly 40 hours per week, aalways indignant when folks who would never piano teacher makes $120,000 per year. Assuming haggle with a car mechanic or hairstylist have no $60 per hour is an accurate median (debatable), theshame about doing so with a music professional. At the time of this writing, the piece seems to have been pulledfrom the host site,Parenting Squad, so I don’t want to throw mud. Kids have a myriad of different needs, all of which must be budgeted for, and that ain’t easy. Tat said,believe I that music is fundamental—and our kids are worth it.
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Stephen Fortner Editor
Key Secrets
Crop and Roll
Te srcinal Korg Kaossilator has a cool rhythmic quirk you can recreate with almost any sampler or audio editor: If youoff record a loop on the aossilator then increase the tempo, the instrument chops samples the end of the loopKto make it and t the shorter duration. (Te typical way to t a loop to a faster tempo is to time-stretch it or raise its pitch.) By dialing in the right tempo on the Kaossilator, you can chop off eighth-notes or entire beats, turning a 4/4 groove into 6/8, 3/4, or other feels. You could also chop beats manually in your DAW for fresh variations. Hear an example at keyboardmag.com/april2014.David Battino
THE
POLL
IS THE NAMM SHOW STILL A RELEVANT SOURCE OF Q:
NO
16% YES THE WHAT?
6%
78%
GEAR INFO FOR YOU? Polls rotate every two weeks, and can be found at the bottom of our homepage.
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+
30
NEXT TECH >>THE
ULTIMATE HYBRID?
YEARS AGO TODAY Our April 1984 cover featured Joe Sampleof the Crusaders, who has recently been touring with Wayne Henderson
The Emphaseis a “concept car” synth under development at NonLinear Labs, thebrainchild of Native Instruments’ Stefan Schmitt. The concept? A custom keyboard sending high-resolution (not MIDI)
and Felder of the srcinal Jazz Crusaders lineup. has longWilton been our NAMM report issue, and keyboards spiedApril at that year’s expo included prototypes of the Kurzweil K250 and Rhodes Mark V (with MIDI out), as well as Casio’s dual-manual monster, the Symphonytron 8000. Also, Eddie Van Halen talked about playing synths on the album (wait for it) 1984.
controller DSP engine on NI Reaktor. No computer is required,data andto fora gigging, the based keyboard works detached from the control panel; the latter accepts overlay labels for its myriad of assignable buttons. Aesthetically, it reminds us of the Synclavier II, but is sure to be far more powerful and not involve a second mortgage. Follow the Emphase’s progress at nonlinear-labs.de
Synthesizer My First _ _______________. ______________ David Rosenthal “I began playing piano iano w when en I Iwas wasseven seven,” ” reca recalls multi-keyboard master and Billy Joel music director David Rosenthal, “but my first experience with a synth came at age 15 when I went to music camp at Glassboro State College.” While attending, Rosenthal heard Isao Tomita’s synth-fueled reinvention ofPictures at an Exhibition and was floored. “It gave me goose bumps,” he recalls. Luckily, the camp had a Moog Modular on site and Rosenthal jumped at the chance to dig in. “The teachers gave me a little class and I tried to figure out signal paths as I went,” he says. “Between that experience and hearing the Tomita album, I knew—this is what I wanted to do, no question.” So inspired, Rosenthal worked two summers to earn enough cash for a Roland SH-1000, on which he reproduced the sounds of his favorite Tomita records, and emulated the stylings of Yes, ELP, and Chick Corea. “I used that first synth to help one of my high school bands win the Garden State Arts Center talent show playing ELP’s ‘Hoedown,’” he says, laughing. “Today, I still have it in the srcinal case.” Keep up with David at davidrosenthal.com. | Michael Gallant
04.2014 Keyboard
11
NEW GEAR
12
Keyboard04.2014
Our Favorites from BY STEPHEN FORTNER, FRANCIS PRÈVE, AND THE KEYBOARD CONTRIBUTORS
NEW S SYNTHS Y HS
MOOG MO G MUSIC MUSIC SUB SUB 37 37 The e Sub 37 37 is is the the first rst more-than-monophonic more-than-monophonicMoog Moog in 3 30 years, with a duo mode that squeezes out two parap on paraphonic ic, voices oices o of po polyphony. yp ony. Technical Technically y it’s it’s meaning eaning that the the oscillators oscillators feed eed aacommon common filter lter and and amp, mp, but “paraphony” would sound like we’re talking about o t Milli Vanilli. Expanding on the Sub Phatty with it more presets, resets, oo loopable a e enve envelopes o es or for filter ter an and volume, olume, and an arpeggiator, it provides everything Moog purists Moo urists want wantwhile whilealso alsotakin taking o off in in a mor a more experiment-inspiring xp riment-inspiring direction. direction.In In act, fact,we wethink thinkitithas has the e sweetest weetest features-to-price eatures-to-price balance balanceoofany anyMoog Moog synthesizer ynthesizer currently made.
$1,579 $1,5 9 list list || $1,499 $1,499 street street || moogmusic.com moogmusic.com
See even more gear in our monster video report from NAMM 2014.
04.2014 Keyboard
13
CLAVIA NORD LEAD A1 With real analog having made such a huge comeback in recent years, why go with a virtual analog hardware synth? Polyphony for the price, signal routing flexibility, and more digital-sounding timbral options when you want ’em are three reasons. Where the Nord Lead 4 (reviewed Dec. ’13) was the successor to the Wave, the Swedes intend the Lead A1 to replace the Lead 2X in their more-affordable slot. Compared to the 2X, you get more polyphony, more waveforms, MIDI over USB (finally), an effects section including reverb, and comprehensive sync-to-host-tempo options. $2,099 list | $1,799 street | nordkeyboards.com KORG MS-20 KIT Not to be confused with last year’s MS-20 Mini, this limited release is a full size analog replica of the srcinal MS-20. You assemble it yourself, but a soldering iron is thankfully not among the tools required. Notably, Korg has included both the earlier (aggressive and self-oscillating) and later (creamier) filter designs from the srcinals, letting you switch between the two. You still can get all the same sounds from the MS-20 Mini, which also makes more sense if your other analog gear uses 1/8” patch cables. But if you’re a collector and/or would prefer a 1/4” patch bay, snap one up, as Korg is only making around 1,500 units. $1,599 list | $1,399 street | korg.com ELEKTRON ANALOG RYTM Elektron’s MachineDrum has become a favorite among hardware-loving producers, thanks to its tweakable dedicated synth engines for each percussion element. This new remix of the MachineDrum formula boasts eight hybrid drum voices with both sampling and analog tone generation options, with a built-in analog compressor and distortion for good measure. Add 12 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads, throw in a 16-step sequencer, toss with some decidedly digital reverb and delay, and you’ve got a drum machine that covers all the bases and then some. The price point places it squarely between Korg’s Volca Beats and Smith and Linn’s Tempest. $1,549 list | $1,499 street | elektron.se
Wave Your Hands in the Air . .. .. The Theremin is a haunting, mesmerizing, and infamously difficult difficult instrument. instrument. Moog Moog Music Music aims aims toto change change that with the Theremini, which we had to tear ourselves away ay from fromtotosee seethe therest restofofthe theNAMM NAMMShow. Show.It’s It’s based on the Animoog synth engine, and can give variousorms formso of assistance assistance including including visual visual eedback feedback about your hand position, programmable lowest and highest st possible possible notes, even scaling that won’t let you play a bad note. For the $299 street price, anyone can rock more like Clara— and with the EDM crowd always looking for the next rush, we bet it finds its way into a few DJ rigs.
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Keyboard04.2014
STAGEPIANOS
KEYTARHEROES
ROLAND RD-800
A keytar is li ke a fedora: Donning one makes you either look bad-ass (e.g.,
Jordan Rudess, Polysics, or George Duke) or like a dorkus maximus (e.g., Often, a a certain magazine editor), with intentional irony as the only possible keyboard’s middle ground. For those who dare, the fun factor is undeniable, and Korg specs don’t and Alesis ramped it up this year. scream anything special. Far less often, we play said keyboard and go, “Oh, there it is!” Such a keyboard is the RD-800. “SuperNatural”KORG RK-100S programming; four zones that you can quickly split, layer, and Billed as a redux of their mix on the fly; lots of knobs fortweaking the sound in real time; a RK-100 from the ’80s, the e.g.(, stereo spread RK-100S is in fact much Tone Color knob that macro-adjusts the sound nicer. The hardwood on a grand piano ortine-like quality on a Rhodes); high-end body has to be seen and weighted action; blah, blah, blah. Here’s what that doesn’t convey: The RD-800 sounds so fantastic across the board, and its action held to be appreciated, has such exquisite finger-to-music connection, that it’s getting with a fit and finish you expect from some early raves from everyone who touched it at NAMM—including might us. far smaller company’s Forget everything you know about the RD series—this is different. boutique instrument. $2,999 list | $2,499 street | rolandus.com The three-quarter size keys are surprisingly STUDIOLOGIC NUMA CONCERT comfortable for soloing, Studiologic and you get one ribbon is the incontroller on the neck house brand and another running the of worldlength of the keyboard. dominating Inside is a MicroKorg XL+ engine, which can do virtual analog keybed maker synthesis, intentionally digital tones, and vocoder effects (via Fatar, and the latest of their Numa stage pianos aims to an optional headset mic). Battery power and a programmable incorporate many of the features of higher-end offerings arpeggiator round out the feature set. from competitors, such as triple velocity sensors per key and modeling of acoustic nuances including sympathetic resonance. Upon first play, we thought it indeed sounded richer and fuller than previous Numa pianos. It certainly got on our gotta-review-it radar, so stay tuned.
$2,199 list | $1,999 street | studiologic-music.com KAWAI MP11 We actually didn’t see the MP11 at NAMM, as it launched February 17. From what we do know, the MP11 ups the game from Kawai’s former flagship, the MP10 (reviewed Mar. ’11) in the areas of sampling, action, and a user interface that sports more giguseful tone adjustments. As on the MP10, three separate panel areas cover sound selection and control: acoustic piano, electric piano (which includes Clavs), and “sub” for everything else (pads, strings, mallets, etc.). A small but big thing is that the onboard XLR outs have a ground lift switch, or as we like to say, the good kind of buzzkill.
$899.99 list | $699.99 street | korg.com ALESIS VORTEX WIRELESS Last year, the Alesis Vortex controller turned heads for bringing aftertouch, velocity sensitive pads, and a MIDI-mappable tilt sensor to almost t an impulse-buy price. Because it could run on four AA batteries, the big question was, “But does it do wireless MIDI?” The Vortex Wireless does, via a built-in transmitter and USB receiver dongle you plug into your sound source. A custom soft synth from Sonivox is included, featuring patches programmed for the Vortex’s control capabilities.
$299 list | $199 street | alesis.com We’ll be reviewing both the R K-100S and Vortex Wireless in depth, but our initial feeling is that while the Korg’s craftsmanship and built-in synth make it highly desirable, its price point puts it in the “because you can” le whereas the Alesis ismore “because how can you not?”
$3,299 list | $2,800 street | kawaius.com
04.2014 Keyboard
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AIRA 51 Roland’s Aira (pronounced “eye-rah”) series was the stuff of speculation at NAMM time, and not exhibited on the show floor. Common to all the Airae is a technology Roland calls Analog Circuit Behavior. Their engineers studied vintage TR-808 and 909 drum machines, the TB-303 Bassline, SH-101, Jupiter, Juno, and System 100 and 700 modular synths, and VP-330 vocoder, paying careful attention to how all the srcinal components actually interact. We got to play with them at a secret, inviteonly hotel suite. Our first impression is that they sound great and are wickedly fun to use. Roland has also taken a “chicken in every pot” stance with the pricing.
TR-8 Rhythm Performer
TB-3 Touch Bassline
Roland bills the System-1as a “plug-out” synth, because it can run emulations of classic analog synths that you program patches for on your computer, then pipe into the System-1, take to the gig, and play using the standalone hardware. The first such emulation is the SH-101. It also has a native two-oscillator subtractive architecture. Currently, the hardware is in two-octave form only, but we hope for a “System-61” with a full keyboard and maybe even more knobs and sliders. The version we played was a very early prototype—the rest of the Aira line being much more fully baked as of NAMM—but the sound was in-your-face yet lush, not unlike a Jupiter-8. Design features include a video-style jog wheel for pitch-bend, which can also do glitchy breadkdown effects Roland calls “Scatter.” Street price: $599. The TR-8 Rhythm Performeris what’s generating the big buzz. Note the contrast with Roland’s historic term for a drum machine, “rhythm composer,” and hence the implication of live use. It emulates the sounds of the TR-808 and 909 perfectly, and simultaneously recaptures and improves upon the experience of entering drum hits as the sequence runs via volume faders and tone-sculpting knobs for such things as tuning and decay. The Scatter function is on hand as well. Street Price: $499 at the end. The TB-3 Touch Bassline is a bass synth and sequencer in the style of the TB-303, the most obvious cue that it’s from the future being its backlit touch membrane in place of the srcinal’s piano-key buttons. It emulates all the sounds of the TB-303, adds new bass, lead, and FX patches, and the touchpad can act as a keyboard or X/Y controller for playing with continuous pitch or creating modulation. Street price: $299.
VT-3 Vocal Transformer
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The thing about the VT-3 Vocal Transformer is that you get a great sounding Darth Punk machine for $199. We think we’ve seen some of these vocoder chops before, such as in the Vocal Designer mode on the V-Synth XT, but never has the price of admission been this low.
INNOVATIVE MIDI CONTROLLERS ANALOG OUTFITTERS ORGANIC
BEHRINGER MOTÖR 61
We reported on these in February’s New Gear column, but having played them at NAMM, mention bears repeating. They’re MIDI controllers for playing software clonewheel organs, and the feel is impeccable—we didn’t think a tactile experience could make an emulationsound more real, but now we’re not so sure. Contact the manufacturer for pricing on the dualmanual, single-manual, and 44-key Mini models.
We haven’t seen motorized faders on a MIDI controller keyboard since CME’s VX series back in 2007. The Behringer’s faders are also touch-sensitive. For both ergonomic and space-use reasons, it could make a lot ofsense to combine your black ’n’ whites and DAW control surface into one slab that occupies that primedesk real estate between your monitor speakers. The rest ofthe feature set—endless rotaries, velocity-sensiti ve drum pads, and Mackie Control protocol—is robust, the price is hard to argue with, and there’s no extra charge for the umlaut.
$449.99 list | $299.99 street | behringer.com
analogoutfitters.com KORG TRITON TAKTILE ARTURIA BEATSTEP This has to be the runaway bang-forbuck hit of NAMM 2014. Cleverly disguised as just a pad controller, it’s also a hardware sequencer that can drive software instruments via USB, hardware via MIDI (a five-pin adaptor is included), or analog synths via its CV/gate outs. We saw one flawlessly playing a vintage Oberheim SEM. The pads are both pressure and velocity sensitive. So whether you need drum machinestyle groove entry or a primary sequencer for your modular synth rig, you’re covered. For peanuts.
$129 list | $99 street | arturia.com
Billed as a controller augmented by classic sounds from the Triton workstation, the Triton Taktile comes in 25 or 49 keys, and focuses on lots of tactile (get it?) control: A Kaoss-style X/Y touchpad that can play riffs in a user-specified scale, a ribbon that doubles as an increment/ decrement clicker just below that, and velocity-sensitive pads. The 49er has eight knobs and twice the pads. There are also soundless siblings answering simply to Taktile, but for an extra 100 bucks, one might as well have the patches onboard.
25 keys: $490 list | $249 street 49 keys: $679 list | $499 street korg.com
M-AUDIO TRIGGER FINGER ER PRO PRO
Speaking of drum pads and step sequencers, M-Audio has revived their Trigger Finger controller with a Pro version that really lives up to its name. Housed in a sexy exy aluminum case with multicolored ico ore backlit pads, a gorgeous four-line LCD display, hardware step sequencer, and transport controls, the Trigger Finger Pro is a huge leap beyond the srcinal. It also includes its own plug-in host environment, Arsenal, that can itself be hosted as a plug-in or operate standalone. Throw in samples and loops from Toolroom Records, plus AIR Drums and the Hybrid 3 soft synth (remember when that was a Digidesign thing?), and you have all the makings of your next dance floor hit. Of all of the portable controllers we saw at NAMM, the TFP seems most poised to find its way into countless gig bags, and the price is certainly right.
$449 list | $399 street | m-audio.com
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Though MIDI controllers aren’t the first thing most folks think of when they think ofSamson, we love their Graphite line because the keys feel good andit offers a lot of controls for the price of dinner for two at a trendy gastropub. For the space challenged,they’ve now released 25- and 32-note mini-keys versions. Inan interesting design choice, the 25-key model (shown, $79.99 street) actually packs in more controls (eight knobs and fourdrum pads) whereas the 32 ($69.99 street) is for those whoneed “just keys.” Find out more at samsontech.com.
VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS AND PLUG-INS KORG GADGET Korg’s Gadget iOS app will change the way groovemakers think of their iPads. Gadget delivers 15 soft synths (including three drum machines,) each specializing in a different EDM flavor. Then, Korg took it further by adding full-featured sequencing that’s actually usable in iOS with few compromises. They added essential effects like reverb and a limiter—and a track freeze function so you can actually finish a project. Since this is an iPad app, Korg baked in all kinds of modern compatibility tools like CoreMIDI and WIST, as well as in-app sharing via SoundCloud, Dropbox, Facebook, and Twitter. While we’ve seen quite a few iOS DAWs, Gadget is the first single app that can go toe-to-toe with laptops when it comes to electronic music production. $28.99 at iTunes App Store | korg.com
IZOTOPE BREAKTWEAKER Co-designed by one of the most influential EDM artists of the past decade, BT, BreakTweaker puts Brian Transeau’s nano-scale approach to groove editing within reach of mere mortals. BreakTweaker keeps the process straightforward with six instrument tracks, each offering a wide array of synthesis tools including sampling, wavetable, additive, FM, and AM—along with a boatload of filtering, processing and modulation amenities for zeroing in on really detailed percussion sounds. From there, iZotope incorporated micro-editing tools that facilitate BT’s trademark production techniques, much like their previous collaboration, StutterEdit, but on a per-track, per-event basis. Thirty-second-note fills that collapse into audio-rate buzzes? No sweat. Tuned micro-flams? Got it. Morphing drums that go from massive to miniscule over the course of a few events? Nailed. $249 list | $199 street | izotope.com
VIR2 ACOU6TICS Vir2’s Electri6ity instrument took electric guitar emulation to a level of authenticity that gave real guitarists yet another reason to be mad at keyboard players. Acou6tics does the same for the acoustic guitar. Six guitars are covered including steel, nylon, and 12-strings, and with some practice triggering the articulations, you can get all Michael Hedges or
EDM BUNDLE FOR OMNISPHERE Comprising all three electronica-oriented patch collections for Spectrasonics’ Omnisphere soft synth—Ascension, EDM Ignition, and EDM Fire—this caught our attention for rising above the buttonpushing loop-jockey stereotype that trained keyboardists might associate with electronic dance music. It does all the expected affectations and much more, but in a way that’s eminently
Richard Thompson pretty quickly. Seriously, it’s pretty sick. $399 list | $299 street | vir2.com
playable and musical. If you don’t make EDM, you’re still sure to find inspiration for film/TV work and synth-driven songwriting. $59.97 list | $49 street | ilio.com
VI LABS RAVENSCROFT PIANO The Ravenscroft is a boutique concert grand piano handmade in Arizona. How does it compare to well-known marques? If a Ferrari or Porsche is too ordinary for you, it’s the McLaren. The makers of TrueKeys are now virtualizing it. At press time, it was still under development, but we do know that it has exhaustive sampling to capture things like key release, repetition strikes, and four stereo mic positions—requiring a total of 38GB of disk space. This should be a doozy. $199.99 street | vilabsaudio.com
WAVES METAFILTER Though Waves is best known for high-end audio processing plug-ins for engineers and record producers, MetaFilter is best thought of as a virtual version of a synth filter that you just had to have for your Eurorack modular rig because it was made by some mad scientist in a garage. Its cutoff, resonance, and delay can be modulated by three sources: an LFO, an envelope follower, and the onboard 16-step sequencer. It’s also fully MIDI-controllable. $200 | $99 introductory price | waves.com
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STUDIO AND LIVE ESSENTIALS of two positions so that either an iPad Air/fourth-gen or a Mini can sit centered and snugly. You get two of the superMOTU 828X clean mic preamps Focusrite is known for, and a USB type A FireWire has left the building—and PCIe cards won’t be far port as a MIDI input, letting you piggyback a keyboard or pad behind if Apple gets their way. Now, it’s all about Thunderbolt controller to play your iOS soft synths. if you have it and USB2/3 if you don’t. That’s why MOTU $249.99 list | $199 street | focusrite.com chose their most popular box, the 828 series, to inaugurate what’s sure to become a trend in computer audio interfaces: QSC TOUCHMIX both types of connectivity. On the USB side, they’ve opted QSC matures the concept of for USB2 over 3 for maximum compatibility, as USB2 devices touchscreen live mixing in a way work fine on USB3 ports but not the other way around. that’s easy for musicians who Otherwise, it’s the 828 Mk. 3 we all know and love. run their own sound to grasp, yet $999 list | $849 street | motu.com familiar to engineers accustomed UNIVERSAL AUDIO APOLLO TWIN This 192kHz beauty packs the benefits of UA’s Key Buy-winning Apollo interface into a desktop wedge. As in that piece, “powered plug-ins” (which include many excellent emulations of classic recording gear) run on their own DSP, and because the DSP lives in the audiointerface, you can opt to track through plug-insas though they were hardware. This is especially relevant given UA’s new Unison mic preamp modeling, which isfrankly the best technology of its kind we’ve yet seen. Single- and dual-DSP versions are available, and an optical port lets you hookup an eight-channel lightpipe preamp to expand the inputs. The price isright, too, but since the Apollo Twin is Thunderbolt-only and Mac-only, you’ll need a pretty recent Mac to use it. Solo: $879.99 list | $699 street Duo: $1,129.99 list | $899 street | uaudio.com
to reaching for a fader. Versions exist with eight or 16 preamps on XLR inputs, each with two stereo line-level pairs in addition. What was most striking to us was that you geteverything you’d expect from a larger digital console in terms of I/O, routing, and effects, in the footprint of a drum machine. It’ll record multitrack mixes directly to an attached hard drive (letting you turn that great gig into the band’s demo), has a lot of “wizards” to help novices get set up and sounding good quickly, and has an advanced mode for more seasoned soundfolk who want to get their hands on every parameter. TouchMix 8: $1,199.99 list | $899.99 street TouchMix 16: $1,799.99 list | $1,299.99 street qscaudio.com MACKIE VLZ4 The srcinal MS-1202 put Mackie on the map because it sounded decent, was tiny, and had enough
inputs to be the live or studio MANLEY CORE traffic cop for multi-keyboard Manley? Isn’t their stuff rigs in the late ’80s and early for A-list engineers ’90s. Coming in all sizes from and producers who the tiny 402 to a 32-channel can throw thousands console, the VLZ4 generation at their recording front end? Maybe, but the Core puts much adds Mackie’s Onyx mic preamps to all XLR-equipped input of what those A-listers love into an all-in-one channel strip, at channels, lower noise and higher headroom all around, and a price targeted at committed home studio dwellers. You get a bright color-coding for easy operation in the dark. transformer-matched tube preamp that can take mic, line, and Prices vary based on size | mackie.com guitar-level signals; ELOP compressor with fixed 3:1 ratio; threeband EQ with sweepable mids; and brick-wall limiter. Uniquely, SOFTUBE CONSOLE 1 the compressor operates upstream of the mic pre, making Until now, we’ve associated Softube with guitar amp and clipping all but impossible. If you’re ready and able to add that cabinet modeling—of the extremely excellent variety. Console 1 one deadly serious channel strip to your recording rig, this is it. applies those coding chops to mixing, combining emulations $2,250 list | $2,000 street | manleylabs.com of channel strips from coveted FOCUSRITE ITRACK DOCK This very nice iPad dock and audio/MIDI interface is, for starters, the one to get if your iPad is of the Lightning variety. Its Lightning connector slides into one 20
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large-format recording g consoles consoles with a dedicated hardware ware control control surface. The inaugural l channel channeltoto be modeled is from he theSSL SSL4000E. 4000E. $1,149 (est.) | softube.com
GAVIN DEGRAW SPARKING KEYS TO CREATIVITY Though Grammy-nominated and multi-platinumselling Gavin DeGraw was raised in a prison town two hours north of New York City, and had seen harsh reality from an early age, the hippie vibe of nearby Woodstock lingered in the air, offering a feeling of limitless possibility and freedom. “Music was definitely part of our family culture. My granddad played music. My granddad’s brothers played music. They were basically like a bunch of farm kids who played music,” DeGraw says. “My dad plays guitar and he’s a great singer. He wasn’t a piano player, but he could figure it out and say, ‘Here, check this out.’”
His brother already had a three-year jump on playing guitar, so DeGraw gravitated toward the piano. “My family was unusually supportive about playing music because they just loved music. So when I told them I wanted to play rock and roll, they were like, ‘Cool, yeah, go do that. Good idea.’ It was weird how there was no way to be rebellious about it.” DeGraw’s songwriting reflects that freedom, incorporating aspects of several different popular music genres into one album, from stripped-down Americana and analog synthesizer sounds to hi-tech electronic dance sounds.
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DeGraw says his exposure to live music at an early Read the entire interview and see the keys to age helped him build a passion for learning to play. Gavin’s sounds at guitarcenter.com/gavin-degraw
NEW ALBUM
MAKE A MOVE Available on iTunes GAVINDEGRAW.COM
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CHICK COREA
KEEPING A VIGIL
“I WANTED TO GIVE A NAME TO THIS BAND THAT HAD A SPECIALNESS TO IT,” legendary pianist and composer Chick Corea says of his nimble new group, the Vigil. “I haven’t had my own band where I write the music, hire the musicians, and oversee the project, for over ten years. I missed the sense of musical community that happens in a band—the kind of environment where things are constantly growing.”
D A T S O R E N R A
BY JON REGEN
Continuous growth has been a mainstay of Corea’s career since its inception. From early landmark outings likeNow He Sings, Now He Sobs, to his work alongside Miles Davis, to his acoustic and electronic explorations with Return to Forever and the Elektric Band, the only thing you can predict about Chick Corea is that you just don’t know where he’s headed next. On The Vigil, he returns with a captivating set of compositions and a ferocious band with which to bring them to life. “Galaxy 32 Star 4” brims with ensemble interplay and electric piano prestidigitation. “Planet Chia” pits Corea’s signature Spanishtinged piano work against shifting harmonic and rhythmic tides. On “Portals to Forever,” Corea’s revered Rhodes sound—custom-sampled into his Yamaha Motif XF— anchors a trance-inducing stew of guitar, horns, and percussion. At 72 years young, Corea has never sounded more energized on record. He took time to speak to us about the project, and about keeping a vigil on your own musical identity.
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learned more about the music of the world, I con- music to play, and they give me their time and nected with Spanish-speaking communities: South their devotion to come on the road and stay in American music, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Tose are the band. Tat’s how I found [guitarist] Charles Altura, who’s an amazing musician and quite a my personal, musical roots and communities by sensitive concert pianist as well. Stanley Clarke choice. So I want to keep a “vigil” on that. recommended him to me. It’s also about how there are always invitaI’ve known [drummer] Marcus Gilmore since tions from presenters of music such as record he was a kid, because he’s Roy Haynes’ grandson. companies and promoters. Te businessman’s Roy brought him by the Blue Note when he was 14 idea of how to make something a success is by observing what kind of music “brings people out” and told me, “Listento my grandson play.” Marcus and then doing more of the same. I understand got up and we played my tune “Windows,” and he that way of thinking—it’s “business sense.” But it’s an invitation to an artist tocompromise. So another part of the Vigil was to not make that compromise, which I’ve never really done, but it gets harder and harder to avoid. For example, we “stretch out” and play rhythms that are grooving to me, but sometimes the audience doesn’t pick up on them because they’re so subtle. Tese are almost the exact opposite of the elements that make music easily reachable by audiences,
just knocked me out. I thought, “Tank God there’s a guy that age who can play with that rhythm feel.” Carlitos del Puerto on bass was also recommended to me by Stanley Clarke. He’s having a blast.
"When you play that phrase or write that song, how are you going to know when it’s good? When someone else tells you? Wrong."
Were you thinking of this band in particular when you wrote the music for the album? It would be a fairy story to say I wrote all of this music for this project, because the practical side was that when I made the decision to put the new band together, I didn’t want to take two years to make it happen. I wanted us to go out on
like vocals and nice steady rhythms. But I want to keep that sense of adventure in music. Otherwise I’m gonna die! I need unknowns in the music I’m playing with my friends—enough improvisation and spontaneity to keep me interested.
tour the next In order to doseason. that, I needed to make a record quickly. So I pulled compositions that I had been writing. I had written “Galaxy 32 Star 4” for the 2011 Return to Forever reunion, but we never got around to playing new music, so I had that composition sitting there. “Planet Chia” I wrote for an experiment that What was the impetus to put this new bandHow did you choose the particular membersStanley Clarke and I did at the Blue Note in early of the band? 2012. “Portals to Forever” was actually the only together? I knew I needed to get musicians who were young piece I wrote specifically for this band. In this day and age with the nature of live work, I can’t expect even a young, upcoming musician enough in their musical careers that the gig What about the song “Royalty”? Tat one to hang with me if I’m going to take a break. He would be good for them. Tere’s a point where or she has got to do other gigs. So I thought that musicians need to start forming their own bands has a great piano intro. . . . this time, I’d put together a band where the con- and doing their own thing. For instance, I worked Roy Haynes invited me to play on his recording about a year and a half ago. I admire Roy so cept will continue to be the same thing. I gave it with [bassist] Christian McBride and [drummuch and we’ve been friends for so long that I a moniker, the Vigil, and then whoever’s going to mer] Brian Blade, who are two of my favorites. Christian had agreed to do the first summer tour wanted to write a song and dedicate it to him. So be in it will be in it. And so far, everybody from with this band. But he couldn’t do the recording I wrote a song in 3/4 time and called it “Roy-L.” the first group I put together is still here, except that the bass position has changed a little bit. Te name “Vigil” is about me wanting to stay connected to the music I grew up with and love— the lineage of Black American jazz music. As I
because our schedules conflicted. With young musicians, the exchange between what they give me and what I can give back to them is nice and even. I give them gigs and some adventurous
I brought it to the date, but it didn’t fit. He liked it, but he wanted to do more of an improvisation with piano and drums on a couple of tracks. We didn’t use it, so I had the song. 04.2014 Keyboard
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You’re also using the Minimoog Voyager onthe idea of “the Vigil”—to have that hour or two You didn’t announce any song titles when you this project? played at the Blue Note. Was that intentional? onstage that’s unencumbered and problem-free Yeah. It has a sound that sails over the ensemble. enough that we can get into the matter at hand, When we rst startedtouring, for months I was which is just making music. announcing every tune. I was trying to make What piano are you playing on the road it entertaining, and everybody in the band anthese days? What words of advice do you havefor aspiring nounced different tunes so that the audience artists who hope to have a career like yours? Yamaha has a new concert grand called the CFX, got a touch of their personalities. It seemed like it was going over well, but it became a s train to which is my favorite piano of all time. Tat same All of the musicians that I know and admire keep switching hats, from making the music to technology is also used in their seven-foot grand, had one simple intention: Tey wanted to lead a creative life and create something they really being an announcer. So recently on the Asian the CF6, which I wanted so that I could t the loved. It gives me great pleasure to see others, percussionist on the stage. I’m enjoying playing tour, I thought, “Tey can nd out the name of especially young guys and girls who are coming the song anyway, so I’ll just play and keep things that piano so much. I’ve played Yamaha pianos up, want to make music. I know they might need since the 1960s. seamless.” Te musical ow just kept going that some encouragement, because they might not way, and it allowed almost a rest period in beWhy Yamaha over other pianos? be getting it in their homes. Teir parents or tween tunes where I’d play a little soliloquy. their teachers might be saying to them, “Hey, you Tere’s a goal I have that I think ever ybody in Tey’re nice people! [Laughs.] Really, they are.
the band shares as well, which is that we all want to get across to an audience. We want to please them in some kind of way. We don’t want to pander to them, but we want to include them. Tere’s no rote way to do that. You don’t have to smile and bow all the time, or tell a joke or announce song titles. Or, you can if you feel like it. But if the intention is there to include the audience, that’s the most important thing.
What happened, though, was that each new iteration of their concert grand became better and better. By the early 1980s, I actually preferred the Yamaha concert grand to the Steinway. Now with the CFX, it’s absolutely my favorite. Plus,Yamaha’s R&D department is quite active and intelligent. Tey’re always improving their instruments. Te Motif XF is beautiful. I’d like to get deeper into the sonics and synth engine inside of it.
should do something more predictable,” or, “You need to have something to fall back on.” But I like to encourage others into the arts, and one of the things I tell them is that it’s a great life. Te reason why is because you’ve found something that you love to do. Ten, in addition to that, you not only get to enjoy the feeling of doing what you love to do, but you also get to see someone else receive pleasure from it. So it’s a good life, and it’s something that people everywhere really need. It’s what keeps us alive. If I were to offer one concept or piece of advice, it would be this:Tink for yourself . Because what happens when you study music is that all of this information is coming in at you. You read books, your teachers tell you things, you look at Youube, you see musicians play live, and so on. It’s like a ow that comes into you, but in order to be a musician, you now have todo something that directs that ow
outward. to play yourthat instrument. Soare when you play You thathave phrase or write song, how you going to know when it’s good? When someone else tells you? Wrong. You’re going to know it’s good A when you know it’s good. You have to be your own R U judge. Tere’s a kind of integrity and ethics about it. K A You have to take on the responsibility of your own S tastes and say, “No, that wasn’t as good as I wanted When I saw you live at the Blue Note, thereit to be.” So if you say that, you must have some When I heard you play your own Rhodes sound on the Yamaha Motif XF8, I felt like Iwas an almost continuous evolution to eachconcept ofhow you want it to be. Tat’s good. So was sitting in front of an actual Rhodes. song. How do you stay so seemingly excitednow make it how you want it to be! Tink for yourat every turn? self. Tat’s my whole philosophy. Tat’s a sample I did of my vintage, beautiful, tweaked-over-decades Rhodes Mark V. Every time Well, if I’m not interested in what I’m doing, I’d come back from a tour, my technician Brian how can I get anyone else interested? It’s just a matter of pulling elements together. Life keeps Alexander out in Los Angeles would tweak it up and improve things on it. By the time we sampled changing, the world changes, promoters change, Chick Corea and the audiences change. For an artist, the changes that it around ve years ago, it wasreally in beautiful Vigil live in 2013. shape. Later Yamaha gured out a way to take are happening in our society aren’t always in an these huge samples we’d created, and allow them “up” direction. But I consider the challenges part Sampling Chick’s to be placed in Flash memory and played on the of the adventure. For example, just to travel and Rhodes for the I H S O T I
Motif XF. It’s a good illusion. It works for me, plus be on tour these days is really hard, compared to I don’t have to repair my Rhodes ever y time it ten or 20 years ago. Now it’s stressful, so I have to spends ten hours bouncing around in a truck on tell myself, “If I’m gonna play music and present the way to the gig. it to audiences, I have to travel.” It gets back to 24
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Yamaha Motif
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LEGENDS E EN D S » S SCOUT U T » PLAYLIST PL A YL I T SONG N S STORIES T R I E S » TALENT S
D IN L A V IK R E
M Y R IA M S A N T O S K A Y D A
BY MARC COHN, AS TOLD TO JON REGEN
Walking in
I FIRST WENT TO MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE IN 1985. I ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS A place I had to visit because so much of my favorite music came from there. From Al Green, Ann Peebles, and everything on Hi Records, to Elvis Presley, Isaac Hayes, David Porter, and the Stax catalog, an almost endless stream of brilliance and soul came out of Memphis. I was aware early on that just like Detroit and the music of Motown, there was something going on in Memphis that was utterly inexplicable. It was part of what me want to be a musician in the first place.
never going to happen for me.” So it was a pretty desperate time, and I went to Memphis with that struggle at the forefront of my mind. I did all the touristy things you’re supposed to do. I went to Graceland, and I saw Elvis Presley’s tomb and his airplanes. I also went to the Rendezvous restaurant for ribs. But a friend told me there were two things in particular that I had to do, things The Songwriter’s Predicament By that time I’d already been a songwriter for manythat would forever change me. Tey would later Around that same time, I was reading an interview years. I’d struggled in Los Angeles, playing all the become the centerpieces of “Walking in Memphis.” with James aylor. Te interviewer asked James clubs, but had never been signed. Later when I came what his antidote for writer’s block was. James to New York City, I started having success as a ses- Transcendent Experiences responded, “I do ageographic,” meaning that he’d sion singer, but I still didn’t get a record deal. One Te rst thing was go to the Full Gospel abernaattempt to reawaken his sensibilities just by being night while listening to all of my demos, I came to cle Church on a Sunday morning to hear the Revsomeplace unfamiliar. He said, “I’ll take my guitar the realization that I shouldn’t be signed, because Ierend Al Green preach. I’ll admit that I didn’t go and put it in the trunk of mycar, or I’ll get on a plane didn’t have any great songs yet. My voice was good for religious purposes—I went to hear one of my and go somewhere I’ve never been, hoping to nd and the demos were interesting, but the songs werefavorite singers sing. But it didn’t take long until some idea I wouldn’t get just by sitting at home. ”I only just okay. I was 28 years old and not in love I had chills running up and down my spine. Te thought I’d try that aswell. Memphis was the rst place I decided togo in my search forinspiration. Beyond just trying to cure writer’s block, the trip was also about nding my songwriting voice. 26
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with my songs. James aylor had written “Fire andservice was so deeply moving that I found myself Rain” when he was 18, and Jackson Browne wrote with sweat running down my face and tears in my “Tese Days” when he was only 17. I thought, “I’m eyes, totally enveloped by everything I was seealready ten years older than these geniuses. It’s ing and hearing. Tere was something incredibly
Fig. 2. The legal pad on which Marc Cohn first started working out the lyrics.
Fig. 3. Cohn with the “Muriel” of the song, pianist Muriel Davis Wilkins.
MARC COHN ON THE GENESIS OF HIS 1991 PIANO HIT
Memphis
who on weekends made extra money playing music. When I arrived, Muriel, who at the time was in her 60s, was onstage playing a beat-up old upright piano and singing Gospel standards like “Te Glory of Love” and “Nearer My God to Tee.” I felt an immediate connection to her voice, her spirit, her face, and her smile. I was totally trans xed by her music. While many of the patrons were busy eating and not paying close attention to Muriel, I couldn’t Fig. 1. The first line of the lyrics to “Walking in Memphis” over its signature take my eyes off her. During her breaks, the two opening piano arpeggio. of us would talk. Muriel asked me why I was there, and I told her I was a songwriter trying to nd inspiration. I also told her a little bit about my childhood—how when I was two and a half years old, Te second thing was to go to the Hollywood my mom had passed away very unexpectedly, and powerful about Al Green’s voice in that context. about ten years later, my dad had passed away and Even after three hours of continuous singing, Café in Robinsonville, Mississippi, about 40 minutes outside of Memphis, and hear Muriel Davis WilkinsI’d been raised by a stepmother. My mother’s death his voice only gotstronger and his band only got better. I sat there crying in the church, aware of sing. I’d never heard of Muriel before, but I took mywas a central event in my life, and I’d been writing the irony of how I used to cry in Synagogue in Cleveland as a kid—but because I wanted to get the heck out of there! Al Green’s service was one of the great experiences of my life.
friend’s advice and went anyway. Te Hollywood a lot about it over the years, both in songs and in Café had supposedly once been a slave commissary,journals. I think a part of me felt stuck in time, but it was now a lovely little restaurant that servedlike I’d never quite been able to work through that loss. Muriel was as sweet as could be, and she was fried pickles and cat sh. Muriel was a schoolteacher 04.2014 Keyboard
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really funny, too. I remember that she asked how I nal lyrics yet (see Figure 2 on page 27). I was still ply trying to write songsthat sounded complete with spelled my last name. When I told her, she replied, working on the “ghosts of Elvis” verse, and there just me and a piano, and I’d record them with a little were still some things that weren’t in place yet. Sony Walkman. Years later, after I signed with At“You mean, likecorn?” We had a lot of laughs. lantic and it came time to turn that demo into someBy midnight, the Hollywood was still packed, When I nished the song, I felt like I had completed a jigsaw puzzle. I wasn’t sure if it was a “hit,” thing they thought would work on the radio, I barely and Muriel asked me to join her onstage. We soon realized that there wasn’t a song in the universe thatbecause I was still years away from being signed knew where to start. After many different versions of Peboth of us knew in common. A quick thinker, Murielto Atlantic Records. Six months later, after I wrote it with justas many different musicians, I went to “Maybe started feeding me lyrics to Gospel songs so that I many of the songs that would later comprise my ter Koepke, the guy who signed me, and said, album Marc Cohn, I went back to the Hollywood this just needs to bea piano/vocal track. Or maybe it could catch up in time to sing somewhatin rhythm shouldn’t be on therecord at all.” He replied, “If it’s with her and make up my own version of the melody. Café to play them all for Muriel (see Figure 3 on make to a Some songs I was vaguely familiar with, and some I page 27). After I nished, Muriel said to me, “You not on the record, I’m not sure we’re going didn’t know at all. Te verylast song we sang togeth- know the one where you mention me at the end? record! So you better go gure this out, because we Tat’s the best one you got!” think this just may get on the radio.” Later, I went er that night was “Amazing Grace.” After we nished and people were applauding, Muriel leaned over and Later in 1986, my engineer and co-producer Ben back to the label and said, “I’d like a shot at producing “ in this record with Ben Wisch, who I made the demos whispered in my ear, “Child, you can let go now.” ItWisch and I made a piano/vocal demo ofWalking was an incredibly maternal thing for her to say to me. Memphis” in a studio in New York City. At that point,with in the rst place. He got a great sound on my Just like sitting inReverend Al Green’s church, I was I wasn’t thinking about how my songs would work voice and on the piano, and that’s at least half of what ely agreed, and the again transformed. It was almost as if my mother was with a band or on record. I wasn’t thinking about a this is allabout.” Atlantic ultimat whispering in my ear. From the time I left Memphisgroove or what a guitar player might play. I was sim-rest, I guess, is history. and went back home to New York City, I knew I had a song in me about my experience there.
Pen on Paper Tere have been countless songs about Memphis, so I knew if I was going to go down that road, it needed to be deeply personal. Within a few days of coming home, I began to write the song on guitar. I think I already had the opening line, “Put on my blue suede shoes and I boarded the plane.” I started playing an arpeggiated gure that I liked, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that I couldn’t play it very well on guitar. So I went to the piano, where that kind of rolling rhythm was easier for me to play. Ten I added that rst line to the piano riff (see Figure 1 on page 27) and I was off to the
BEN WISCH
races. Te music for “Walking in Memphis, ” except for ON RECORDING “WALKING IN the bridge, is really just the same thing over and over MEMPHIS” again. It’s an attempt to keep things simple that so the narrative is what the listener focuses on. Te story keeps changing; it goes from one scenario to another, all following the thread of my elation, de- “Marc was basically signed to Atlantic Records because of ‘Walking in scribed in the lyric Walking “ with my feet ten feet off Memphis,’ co-producer Ben Wisch says. “We probably recorded it five of Beale.” What’s being expressed is my love of music different times in different configurations. On one version, we actually had and the spiritual transformation I’ve always felt Steve Gadd playing drums in the studio. It was after midnight and we were through it. Te line, “ell me are you a Christian child, all frustrated because the recording wasn’t going well. And Steve said, ‘Let’s and I said ‘Ma’am I am tonight’” . . . even in the mo- all switch instruments!’ That version didn’t work out, but I’ll never forget ment I wrote it down, I knew I was getting closer to Steve’s devotion to getting the song right. Eventually, we settled on a band nding my songwriting voice. o this day, people still that featured John Leventhal on bass, Denny McDermott on drums, and Chris ask me if I am aChristian. While I have to admit that Palmaro on Hammond organ. Everything was based around Marc’s singing and I enjoy the confusion the lyric brings, the thing that piano playing. We recorded live to 24-track tape at Quad Recording Studios in makes that line work is the fact that I’m a Jew. So New York, with any editing done between entire takes of the song. The piano many great artists over the years needed to hide the sound is very in-your-face, not unlike Bruce Hornsby’s sound of a few years fact that they were Jewish toprotect themselves and prior. We used the old Steinway grand at Quad Studios, and I miked it with a their families from anti-Semitism, so I’m proudthe of pair of AKG C451 condensers. Those are bright mics, and I put a fair amount of fact that I could come right out and practically announce my religion on the rst song ever I released. I kept writing and rewriting the lyrics. Even in some of the later drafts, I still didn’t have the 28
Keyboard04.2014
compression on them. For vocals, Marc sang through a vintage Neumann U67 tube condenser microphone through a Teletronix LA-2A compressor and then into an SSL console with outboard API EQ.”
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LEGENDS » SONG STORIES
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Ariadna Castellanos BY JON REGEN
FLAMENCO-MEETS-JAZZ PIANIST ANDCOMPOSER ARIADNA CASTELLANOS
has been wowing audiences around the globe with what has been called “a brutal technique and a wild intuition” on the piano. Find out more at ariadnacastellanos.com. MUSICAL TRAINING: “I studied classical piano BIG BREAK:“Meeting
HOMETOWN:Madrid, Spain. INSTRUMENTS PLAYED: Piano,
violin,
harp, and drums. DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND: “Flamenco
music mixed with a classical background, plus jazz harmonies and improvisation.” 30
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Javier Limón, the eight-
at the School of Music inondon, Lin Boston. as But time winner recorded manyGrammy famous award amenco, jazz,who and has modern artists well asGuildhall the Berklee College of Music amenco music is really learned from people in thesuch as Paco de Lucia, Alejandro Sanz, Wynton street—from guitarists and singers in Spain—and Marsalis, and Bebo Valdés. He recorded my rst from many, many records.” album Flamenco en Black and White . Tis year he was nominated for the Latin Grammy as Producer FIRST GIGS:“Classical concert halls when I of the Year for my album. Another big break would was six years old. My rst amenco shows were be winning the Presidential Scholarship at Berklee, in Spanish tablaos in Madrid.” [Tablaos are cafés, as I’m the only Spanish musician to ever receive it. I’ll always be extremely thankful to them for allownightclubs, and less formal venues where amenco is performed. —Ed.] ing me to come to the United States and open my mind and music up to a whole new world.” MUSICAL INFLUENCES: “Paco de Lucia, omatito, Jerez, Debussy, Ravel, and Calle 13.” WHAT’S NEXT:“I’ll tour Spain in March 2014. I’m also recording a new album entitled Flamencool with producer Javier Limón.” FAVORITE KEYBOARDS: “I’m a fan of acoustic pianos, especially Bösendorfer.” ADVICE: “Always be WHAT I’M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW:humble, yet never let “Silence. I use music to change my state of mind, anybody pull you down. so when I’m feeling down, I play energetic music. When I feel sad I play aggressive music to give me strength, and when I’m extremely happy I allow myself a soft, romantic song.”
Nobody knows everything, yet we’re all special. Also, always love the music more than yourself onstage.”
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LEGENDS
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PLAYLIST
BY JON REGEN
BENMONT TENCH You Should Be So Lucky Long regarded as the pinnacle of rock keyboard tastefulness, Benmont Tench delivers a knockout punch with his debutas a bandleader, on the Blue Note label. Four over four decades, Tench has anchored Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with his signature swirl of Hammond, Wurlitzer, and piano. But on his first solo outing, Tench surprises with a captivating collection of srcinal songs. Recorded entirely to tape by legendary producer Glyn Johns (Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, theWho), the album features cameos by Petty, Ringo Starr , and alt-country crooner Ryan Adams. Butthe real star here is Tench, whose songs sear with heartbreak (“Today I Took Your Picture Down”), humor (“BlondeGirl, Blue Dress”), and piano
YSBSL proves that perfection (“Wobbles”). We all knew he could kill on the keyboards, but Tench is a devastatingly great singer and songwriter. Key track: “Hannah.” | bluenote.com HERBIE HANCOCK The Complete Columbia Album Collection 1972-1988 This 34-CD compendium celebrates the legendary keyboardist and composer’s recorded output for the storied label, including eight albums never before released in the United States. Covering everything from his electrified outings likeSextant and Head Hunters, to acoustic works like his V.S.O.P quartet/quintet and his soundtrack to the film R ’ ound Midnight, the collection is further proof of Hancock’s enduring artistic legacy. Key track: “4 AM.”| herbiehancock.com MARC CARY FOCUS TRIO Four Directions Jazzer Marc Cary has been crafting an alluring vision since anchoring the piano chair in vocalist Abbey Lincoln’s band. Cary’s latest offers a myriad of keyboard sonorities, from the synth-laden, Indian explorations of “Todi Blues” to the backbeat-infused acoustic adventures of “Tanktified.” (Cary also shines on Rhodes electric piano on a number of cuts.) With nods to everything from R&B to smoldering straightahead jazz, Four Corners is worth a spin. Key track: “Spectrum.” | marccary.com STACEY KENT The Changing Lights While vocalist Stacey Kent has been a veritable institution in Europe for the last decade plus, it’s only recently that her well-deserved acclaim has migrated stateside. Her new album The Changing Lights should help speed up the process, with a near perfect blend of bossa nova-tinged soul and buoyant band interplay. Kudos to pianist Graham Harvey for framing Kent’s vocals with artful accompaniment. Key track: “This Happy Madness.” | staceykent.com KOREL TUNADOR The Early Mournings EP Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Korel Tunador (Katy Perry, Goo Goo Dolls) surprises on his sophomore solo release The Early Mourning EP, which marries sonic tricks with killer song licks. From the synth shimmer of “You Dropped a Bomb,” to the funk strut of “Bringing You Back Down,” Tunador proves he isn’t afraid to take center stageand tell his own side of the story. Key track: “My, My, My. ” | koreltunador.com
HELEN SUNG Anthem for a New Day Jazz pianist and composer Helen Sung’sAnthem for a New Day is a hard grooving aural affair. From postBop burners like her srcinal “Brother Thelonious,” to a classically-cadenced take on Duke Ellington’s
“It Don’t Mean a Thing,” Sung soars alongside bandmates Reuben Rogers on bass and Obed Calvaire on drums. When clarinet master Paquito D’Rivera guests on her rendition of Chick Corea’s “Armando’s Rhumba,” Sung proves she’smore than up to the task. Key track: “Chaos Theory.” | helensung.com
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PLAY
POP/ROCK »
JAZZ » TECHNIQUE
5 WAYS TO PLAY LIKE
Benmont Tench BY MATT BECK
IN THE LEXICON OF ROCK KEYBOARDISTS, one doesn’t go far before coming across the one and only Benmont Tench. Known primarily as the ever-so-tasty keyboardist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Benmont is a consummatesong player. Every note he plays is for the betterment of the song. He can often be found playing an affecting Hammond B-3 organ solo, or finding a keyboard part that blends so perfectly in a song that it would literally cease to be the same song without it. There is no way that anyone could distill Benmont’s taste, feel, sounds, and parts into only five elements, but we’ll give it our best shot!
Ex. 1.
F maj7
G
C6
1. Blending Tones
Piano
B3
A min/D
C6
G
F maj7
A min/D
G
3
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Finding thebut right part iswhat always important, picking sounds you use can be just as vital. Some big staples of Benmont’s sound are the Hammond B-3 organ, acoustic piano, and Wurlitzer electric piano. Benmont even finds ways to blend these sounds into a tasteful combination of their own. Ex. 1 demonstrates this, starting with piano only and then adding in an unforgettable B-3 riff that announces the song in the best way possible. Benmont played a part similar to this on the om Petty and the Heartbreakers song “Don’t Do Me Like Tat.”
Ex. 2.
G7
A7
D7
2. Breaking Stylistic Boundaries
G7
A7
Just because a song has a defined musical style doesn’t mean you can’t infuse different sections with other alluring sounds. akeEx. 2, a honkytonk piano part dropped smack into the bridge of an otherwise driving rock tune. Tat’s the genius of Benmont ench—he’s always crafting parts that serve the music and make it soar. Tis example is in the style of a part Benmont played with the Heartbreakers on the classic song “American Girl.”
D7
3. T Is for Taste
Ex. 3. E
A
E
A
3
3
Ex. 4. A min9
A min
D min9
D min
G sus
G
G2
G sus
How do you define taste? Te answer is, you just know it when you hear it. Benmont is revered among fellow musicians for his ability to make the music shine without ever “showboating.” Ex. 3 illustrates a typical Benmont piano part in the chorus of a song. Notice how he delineates the chord changes by creating an infectious piano melody out of them in octaves. Listen to his playing on the om Petty tune “Here Comes My Girl” for further examples of his sympathetic sonics.
4. Unexpected Instruments Benmont is always open to finding
A min
A min9
3
D min9
D min
G sus
3
G
G2
G sus
unexpected to known lift a song higher.sound While sources primarily as a master of acoustic and electromechanical instruments like piano, electric piano, and Hammond organ, Benmont often works wonders on synths as well, even though they might seem unlikely in a rock context such as the Heartbreakers. Ex. 4 shows how he might weave his magic on an analog synth patch.
Ginty’s Favorite Organ Compers TOM PETTY AND THE
RYAN ADAMS
BENMONT TENCH
HEARTBREAKERS
Ashes & Fire
You Should Be So Lucky
Damn the Torpedoes
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E
Ex. 5.
F min
G min
E
5. Benmont = B-3
E
F min
G min
E
Matt Beckplays keyboards and guitar with Matchbox Twenty, Rob Thomas, and Rod Stewart. He also recently joined the musical cast of Beautiful, the new Broadway musical about legendary singer-songwriter Carole King. Beck’s most recent solo outing isAnything Which Gives You Pleasure. Follow him on Twitter @mattymay.
When it comes to rock organ, you can’t do better than Benmont ench. He has such control of all the nuances of the instrument, making constant adjustments to the drawbars, and enhancing phrasing via the speed of the Leslie s peaker. Tis is illustrated in Ex. 5, where he builds a hooky solo out of a song’s chord progression, referencing its melody along the way. He does this often on his new solo release You Should Be So Lucky.
Benmont Tench jams with author Matt Beck and editor-at-large Jon Regen. Hear audio examples from this lesson online.
keyboardmag.com/april2014
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Keyboard04.2014
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POP/ROCK »
JAZZ
» TECHNIQUE
Harmonic Motion FOR THE MODERN JAZZ PIANIST
1. Chord Scales Ex. 1looks at
BY GEORGE COLLIGAN
FRENCH COMPOSER CLAUDE DEBUSSY WAS quoted as saying, “There is no theory. There is only sound.” In many ways, he was right. The
rules of musical harmony are a wonderful thing indeed, but music is a place where it can be safe to break rules. I believe that a combination of foundation and experimentation is the best approach when it comes to musical creativity. Jazz pianists often learn typical chord progressions that can be u sed to play standards, compose tunes, and learn how to i mprovise. But how do we get b eyond these typical progressions to create new sounds of our own?
Ex. 1. D min7
G7
F maj7#11
A min7 6
E min7 9
B min7 5
Dorian Mode
Ex. 2. D min7
G7
C maj7
D min7 5
G7 9
C min+7
D 7sus11 G 7sus11 C 7sus11
chord-scale relationships. Which came first, the chord or the scale? Well, early Greek and Medieval music was based on scales. (Te Greeks called them modes). Harmony occurred only as a byproduct of contrapuntal melodies. It wasn’t until the 17th century that the idea of tonal harmony or “chords” began to develop. From Bach to Mozart to Beethoven to Debussy and then to jazz, we can look at harmony as a “vertical” structure. However, bebop (e.g., Charlie Parker) is often analyzed more “horizontally,” that is, in terms of its scalar melodies. So essentially, a chord is a scale . . . is a chord. You can use the same chord scale with different bass notes. For example, take the D Dorian mode (the minor scale with a natural sixth and flat seventh). If you put D in the bass, your chord is a Dmin7 (voiced with the flat third, sixth, and ninth). But when you put a G in the bass, you get a G7 (or the G Mixolydian mode). If you put an # F Fmaj7an11 inthe theFbass, youmode). get anWith (or Lydian A in the bass, you get an Amin7b6 (or the A Aeolian mode). And so on. So one scale can lead you in many different directions, depending on which bass note you choose.
2. Disguised Progressions
D min+7
G 7 9sus4 C maj7#5
A 7
D 7
C maj7
A maj7#5 D maj7#11 C min7 6
Jazz education spends a lot of time dissecting progressions like the ubiquitous ii-V-I. But we can alter these standard chord movements in many ways by using disguised progressions, like those seen in Ex. 2. ry making the progression minor D ( min7b5, G7b9, then Cmin maj7). Make it suspended (D7sus11, G7sus11, C7sus11). Combine the two (Dmin maj7, G7sus4b9, Cmaj7#5). Use tri-tone substitutions (Ab7, Db7, Cmaj7). Now mix and match all those! Tere are endless possibilities within even the “known” harmonic universe.
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3. Non-Functional Harmony
Ex. 3. C min7 B min7 A min7 G min7 A maj7#11 B maj7#11 D maj7#11
F maj7#11
C 7#9 E 7#9 A 7#9 C 7#9
Want to go even farther into the great unknown? Te rst step is to get away from standard motion like the “cycle of fourths,” chromatic chordal movements, ii-V-I, or common chord substitutions, and try employing nonfunctional harmony like that illustrated in Ex. 3. ry using whole-steps, minor thirds, or major thirds in your progressions. Here, harmony is more about color than function.
4. More with Bass Notes Ex. 4. D /F
A maj7 /E
B maj7 /D
G maj7 /D
D maj7
A maj7
B maj7
G maj7
On my latest albumTe Endless Mysteries, the tune entitled “Her Majesty” begins with the chords Db/F, Amaj7/E, B/D#, and Gmaj7/D. Te bass motion is chromatic, but the chords on top are non-functional, as s een in Ex. 4. You can almost think of these chords as inversions. Note how different the progression sounds when played in a more traditional manner:Dbmaj7, Amaj7, Bmaj7, Gmaj7.
5. Density and Polytonality
Ex. 5. D min7
F min7
E min7
B maj7#11
E maj7
C min+7
B7
B min9
C maj7
B maj7
B maj7
F 69
C
D
E
F min
A sought-after sideman on the international jazz scene for over two decades, George Colligancurrently leads his own groups and tours with renowned drummer Jack DeJohnette. He is also Jazz Area Coordinator at Portland State University in Oregon. Colligan’s latest albumThe Endless Mysteries is out now. Find out more at georgecolligan.com
Before the piano was invented, counterpoint and then harmony was a product of multiple voices or instruments playing different melodic lines. Tese days,that we have incredible access to sounds our musical ancestors couldn’t have dreamed of. So why not explore them? As long as you’re consistent in the types of sounds you use, you can’t go wrong. Many 20th-century European classical composers have also used bitonality or polytonality in their work, illustrated in Ex. 5. (Note: In jazz, polytonality is sometimes confused with “slash chords.” However, there’s a big difference between simply using a different bass note and truly using two keys at once).
Hear George play audio examples from this lesson online.
keyboardmag.com/april2014
04.2014 Keyboard
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PLAY
POP/ROCK » JAZZ »
TECHNIQUE
Your DAW as Practice Partner “In all of these examples, try recording ‘on the grid’ to a click track in Pro Tools, Logic, or your software of choice, without quantizing. (Also, recording actual audio, not just MIDI). Then check yourself, both visually on the grid and by listening. Then, mute your DAW’s click and listen to see if your piano performance alone feels good,” says Jeff Babko . Best known for his longtime spot in the house band on Jimmy BY JEFF LORBER Kimmel Live, he has also recorded with Jason Mraz, VINCE MAGGIO, MY JAZZ PIANO INSTRUCTOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOLSheryl Crow, and Alanis Morrissette. Babko’s of Music (and mentor to Bruce Hornsby), always stressed the importance of “locking in” with a drummer’s ride cymbal. Vince’s lesson still resonates with me every time I record, latest album Crux is out now. Find out more at where one always must lock to a click, drummer, or rhythm section. Truth be told, “time feel” is one element that truly separates the pros from the amateurs. jeffbabko.com. As pianists, we frequently have trouble laying back, and often end up “on top” of the beat, rushing. I’ve attributed this part of this tendency to the fact that unlike other band members, pianists often spend years playing by themselves. When playing solo, the pianist provides his own internal clock, which often (especially in classical music), wavers a bit. 1. Modern Pop/Rock Most bass players and drummers have played with other musicians since early on in their Ballad musical development, and have therefore learned to lock in from the very beginning. Here Ex. 1 is a typical piano part for a are some exercises that may seem simple at first, but will soon show the level of discipline it modern pop/rock ballad. Tis may takes to stick to the click and even play even a little bitbehind it—the importance of leaning seem simple at rst, but in a song on the “back end” of the beat can’t be emphasized enough. like this, the piano’s eighth-notes are
Stick to the Click!
Ex. 1.
often the “clock” of the song. So as the keyboardist, you’re actually the song’s metronome, but you still need to sound human and expressive while providing an even pulse. As this is a ballad, you need to exercise control both dynamically and intensity-wise. When playing parts like this, I’ve found that the biggest trick is not to rush beat 1 of bar 1 on the repeat, as one’s tendency is usually to rush the downbeat.
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2. Pop Ballad
Ex. 2.
Ex. 2 illustrates a moving piano part
for a pop ballad. Here again, you’re providing a pulse, but this time with a line instead of repeated eighth notes. Tis may seem like beginner piano music, but even I realized while playing it that it’s tough to not rush the anticipation as well as the lefthand part that answers it in bar 4. (Alas, another lesson in Zen and the art of ballad piano playing!)
Ex. 3.
3. Steely Victor Oh, the late, great Victor Feldman and his legendary pocket! One of the most revered, unsung session keyboardists of all time, Feldman was also a session percussionist, which perhaps explains his relentless groove. Ex. 3 is in the style of a celebrated Steely Dan track on which Victor was both swinging hard and laying way on the backside of the beat. Pulling off such a sexy and relaxed feel takes a lot of discipline. If this is rushed even slightly, it loses all its vibe.
Ex. 4.
4. Mid-Tempo Rock Ex. 4 is another exercise in puls-
ing eighth-notes, where the piano provides the drive of the song. It’s
Ex. 5.
difficult here to accentthem. the anticipations without rushing Also, on a more rocking song, the piano will most likely be played at a louder volume, and the tendency can be to rush or “push” when playing harder. So lay back, even while laying into it!
5. Sixteenth-Note Ballad In Ex. 5, each sixteenth-note must hopefully “breathe” in feel while still maintaining metronomic time. Te pianist should sound relaxed, but I assure you when the red recording light is on and the spotlight is on you, relaxing and sounding “balladlike” isn’t that easy.
Jeff provides audio examples of leaning behind the beat.
keyboardmag.com/april2014 04.2014 Keyboard
41
KNOW
SYNTH SOLOING
» BEYOND THE MANUAL
» DANCE
THE ART OF SYNTH SOLOING
More Two-Handed Soloing Ideas BY JERRY KOVARSKY
LET’S CONTINUE EXPLORING TWO-HANDED SOLOING TECHNIQUES FROM last month’s column. The inspiration for this technique comes from Chick Corea: you can see him employ it in almost any video you call up. It’s become a natural part of his playing style, on all forms of keyboard.
hand, and then starting with your left hand. Tat’s just to warm up—now let’s make it interesting. Add one other note to your pattern, as shown in Ex. 2. I’m starting with the left hand, so it will always be on the downbeats/main pulses of the Repeated tones by such great players as Brian Auger and Keith Em-beat, while the right hand is playing on the weaker aking some inspiration from the organ technique erson, and it astounds me how fast they can do it. off-beats. It can be the same note, repeated at difcommonly called the “machine gun”—where you But that’s not for us here. As a start I want you to ferent timings, or different notes. Ex. 3 shows the repeat the same note over and over by drumming alternate between the two hands, using the thumbsame concept starting with the right hand, and multiple fingers on the key—let’s explore ways to of each hand, as shown in E x. 1. One hand has to be using different notes. As you try to speed them build up some excitement in your solos. up higher along the key, with the other closer to theup, think of your hands as if they were alternating On organ and piano, you would alternate fin- front edge, so you’re not getting in your own way. drumsticks, as I discussed last month. Tere are so many possible variations of this idea: playing the gers on the same key; many musicians commonly Some players like to use the index finger, as they can use 3-2-1 or 4-3-2-1, although most of the famous “drum” faster and easier. ry each rhythm, playing note groupings as eighths, triplets, sixteenths; using organists actually do it with only two fingers: 3-1 slowly at first, and then speeding up the tempo as different variations of notes etc. so experiment and or sometimes 2-1. I’ve been shown the technique you get comfortable. Practice starting with the right make it your own. Ex. 1a. RH first
1
1 1
1
1 1
1
1
11111
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
11111111 1 1 1
1
1
1
1
Ex. 1a
Ex. 1b. LH first
1
1
1 1
1 1
1 1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1 1
1
1 1 1 1 11111111
1
1
1
Ex. 1b
Ex. 2. LH first
1
1
1
1
Ex. 2
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1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
4
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
4
1
1
KNOW
SYNTH SOLOING
» BEYOND THE MANUAL
» DANCE
Fig. 1. Sony Acid allows inserting markers that change tempo, but you can also specify the type of transition between tempo change markers.
MIDI Reloaded PART 2: MU ST-KNOW TECHNIQUES BY CRAIG ANDERTON
LAST MONTH, PART 1 OF THIS COLUMN RE-ACQUAINTED US WITH THE BASICS players can add vibrato manually, so can you! and benefits of MIDI, such as being able to edit notes, transpose, and change Tat frees up the modulation wheel to do tricks instrumentation in a song without having to re-record digital audio. This month, like changing filter cutoff, altering detuning, we’ll investigate various more advanced techniques that demonstrate some of and the like, many of which have been explored MIDI’s power. “Humanize” with individual timing tweaks. Ignore any menu item called “human-
ization,” because this usually just adds randomness—that’s not what makes timing human (unless the human in question had too much to drink). Instead, alter note timings manually or use a “slide” editing function; note that any “snap” function needs to be turned off, and these changes should be subtle. For example: Jazz drummers often hit a ride cymbal’s bell ahead of the beat (earlier) to “push” a song. Rock drummers frequently hit the snare behind the beat (later) for a “big” sound. For electronic dance music, move doubletime percussion parts (shaker, tambourine, etc.) slightly ahead of the beat for a “faster” feel. With tom fills, delay each subsequent note of the fill a tiny bit more. Tis can make a tom •
•
•
•
fill sound gigantic. If two percussion sounds or staccato harmony lines often hit on the same beat, try sliding one part ahead of or behind the beat to keep •
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Keyboard04.2014
•
in Jerry Kovarksy’s series “Te of Synth Soloing” in this magazine. Also,Art don’t forget the footpedal jack or aftertouch—the more sources of human control, the better.
•
MIDI data-based “compression” and “limiting.”Most DAWs can edit MIDI velocity
the parts from interfering with each other. Move a crash cymbal ahead of the beat to highlight it, or behind the beat to have it mesh more with the track. If a bass note and kick hit on the same beat, delay the bass slightly to emphasize the drum (hence the rhythm), or advance the bass to emphasize melody. Also, try tempo tweaks.Most DAWs have
tempo tracks, or the ability to place markers that change tempo at specific places (see Figure 1). If you’re in the compositional phase and using MIDI (as suggested last month), add moderate tempo tweaks to push the tempo or lay back a bit. Tis can do wonders for expressiveness; play to these changes when you overdub electric or acoustic instruments. Gain a wheel.Break free from using the mod-
ulation wheel to bring in a pitch LFO for vibrato. Instead, use pitch bend for vibrato—if guitar
data, which opens up the possibility of MIDIbased dynamics control. For limiting, add a constant to all velocities and then subtract the same amount to restore the non-limited values. For example suppose a MIDI track’s note velocities range from 70 to 127, and you want a maximum velocity of 95. Add 32 (127 minus 95, the highest desired velocity) to all velocities, and now velocities will range from 102 to 159. However, velocities can’t exceed 127, so any velocities that were 95 or above will now have velocities of 127. Next, subtract 32; all velocities that were at 127 will now be 95, while any velocities that were srcinally under 95 will revert to their srcinal values. You can also compress data. Divide the MIDI data by a constant, which is like a compressor’s
Fig. 2: Ableton Live has several different types of MIDI effects; the Velocity effect can provide compression as well as other types of dynamics control.
Fig. 3. Cakewalk Sonar’s Groove Quantize function applies to audio or MIDI files. The sliders edit how closely time, duration, and velocity
can trigger at a faster or slower rate as you speed up or slow down a MIDI sequence, but you can also re-arrange the MIDI notes to trigger slices at times other than their srcinal timings (see Figure 4). Tis is particularly effective with drum loops, as each slice tends to have a single hit con-
match the groove.
sisting of one or more drums—move these hits around to create a totally different drum pattern. The beauty of soft synth MIDI outs. More
Fig. 4. The loop on the left, in Propellerhead Reason, shows the srcinal MIDI notes that trigger the REX file audio slices. The MIDI notes (orange) in the loop to the right have been edited to trigger some audio slices at different times.
ratio control. Ten add a constant to provide “make-up gain.” For example, suppose a track’s note velocities range from 50 to 120 and you want to compress velocity by a ratio of two to one. Divide the note velocities by two; the values now range from 25 to 60. Add 60 to bring the maximum value back to 120, and the values range from 85 to 120. Some programs include MIDI plug-ins for dynamics control (seeF igure 2), which simplifies this process. “Groove” templates and timing.
Quantizing MIDI notes to precise rhythmic values can sound “mechanical,” which is good for some types of music but not others. Groove templates (see Figure 3) also quantize, but to preset rhythm patterns (or patterns you create)—shuffles, swing, “humanized”
percussive grooves, grooves that “lay back” or “push,” and so on. Why you need more octaves. Many
virtual instruments (FXpansion Geist, Native Instruments Kontakt, EastWest’s Play engine, and many more) use MIDI keys not only to play specific notes but also to trigger articulations or variations on a basic sound. If your main USB MIDI controller doesn’t have enough notes, no worries—add a second USB MIDI controller. Assuming your DAW can select more than one MIDI device per track, it should respond to the outputs from both controllers. MIDI and REX files.REX files chop digital
audio into “slices,” each of which can then be triggered individually by a MIDI note. Slices
and more virtual instruments (especially drum instruments with built-in beats) include a MIDI output option, so you can use whatever MIDI data it generates as another instrument’s MIDI input. One of my favorite applications is loading up Zildjian’s Digital Vault (hosted by FXpansion BFD Eco) with a kit that contains only its wonderful cymbal sounds, but whose grooves can drive other drums as well—then using the MIDI out to drive the drum sounds in a different drum instrument, like XLN Audio Addictive Drums or Native Instruments Battery. The local control “gotcha.” If your MIDI
controller is a synth with a built-in sound generator, keyboard usually data as to well the internalthe sounds (called “localfeeds control”) to the synth’s MIDI out, at the same time. If your DAW echoes the interface’s MIDI in to the interface’s MIDI out, then the MIDI data will re-enter your synth’s MIDI in and cause “double triggering” because both the keyboard and the interface’s MIDI out trigger the same notes. o prevent this, disable the synth’s local control (typically a synth setup or preference option). Or, create a track in your DAW that transmits a value of zero on continuous controller 122, which turns off the synth’s local control. Also note that some DAWs default to sending “local control off” to prevent double triggering. o play your synth, turn on “input echo” for the MIDI channel your synth feeds. How-to guru Craig Anderton is considered one of the founders of the very concept of music technology journalism. His latest adventure involves wearing the mantle of “Chief Magic Officer” at Gibson Brands. 04.2014 Keyboard
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KNOW
SYNTH SOLOING
» BEYOND THE MANUAL
»
DANCE
Hip To Be Square THE
BASS SOUND OF 2014
BY FRANCIS PRÈVE
IT’S OFTEN THE CASE THAT PRODUCERS AND KEYBOARDISTS PICK UP ON A SOUND ONLY AFTER NUMEROUS HI T tracks have popularized it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it has helped spawn genres like dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass— not to mention sell thousands of copies of Native Instruments’ amazing soft synth, Massive. That said, it’s way more fun to get in on the ground floor of a fashionable sound, especially if that sound crosses multiple dance music genres from deep house to techno to progressive. Well, this month, we’ve got that sound, and it’s actually a classic. Starting in the second half of 2013, square-wave bass started creeping into cutting edge tracks in a huge range of styles, and I fully expect it to spread like dandelions by the end of 2014. Best of all, almost any synth can make this sound. Granted, each has its own distinct flavor, but the essence is the same. Here’s how.
Step 1 To avoid phase issues—especially on analog synths—this bass sound works best as a singleoscillator patch. So pick a synth, mute all but one oscillator, and select the square wave. In the upper ranges, it has that classic chip tune vibe. In the lower ranges, it’s surprisingly full. Here, Native Instruments’ additive synth, Razor, generates an ultra-pristine square wave.
Step 2 The real thickening happens many so of try thedifferent upper harmonics with aand, lowpass filter. Again, with this sound when there we areshave many off options, roll-off slopes in the case of full-featured digital synths, filter models. The only thing that counts is that it’s a lowpass filter set at around 50 percent with absolutely zero resonance (otherwise it starts to get TB-303-ish). Arturia’s MiniBrute and MicroBrute analog synths have a unique sound, thanks to their Steiner-Parker filter.
Step 3 The finishing touch comes from applying envelope modulation to the cutoff frequency to give this bass sound some bite. Keep it subtle, though. If you apply too much modulation, it gets too snappy. Too little, and it’s just a muted square wave. The basic settings are simple: immediate attack, medium-short decay, no sustain, and a quick release. There’s some room for tinkering, but use these values as a starting point. Ableton’s Operator has extremely quick envelopes that can be visually edited, making this part, er, a snap.
As for playing, this sound works best with a funky, sparse, staccato playing style. That’s not a hard and fast rule, though. As this sound and the contexts in which it’s used evolve over the course of the year, expect to see lots of variations because it’s so versatile. Who knows? Maybe those variations will come from you. Have fun!
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REVIEW
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SOFT SYNTH
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PA
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AP P
Snap Judgment
ROLAND
FA Series BY DAVID BRYCE
SINCE THE IDEA OF THE ALL-IN-ONE SYNTH/PRODUCTION WORKSTATION CAME into its own decades ago, Roland has cranked out all sorts of formidable, great sounding instruments used for composition, recording and performance by musicians in just about every genre. The Fantom series has been around in a few different incarnations for quite a few years now, and has become a staple in many project and professional studios as well as being an integral part of countless live rigs. Their new FA series is a departure from older Fantom designs, yet the “FA” part of the name alludes that at least some of the lineage has been preserved. What new technological and sonic goodness can be found in Roland’s latest workstation offering? Let’s take it for a drive.
Panel Tour
At 12.6 pounds, our FA-06 review unit is may be the lightest full-function workstation we’ve come across. Its keyboard is an unweighted 6150
Keyboard04.2014
key synth a ction with velocity sensitivity, but (like many other more affordable keyboards these days) no aftertouch. Te action is surprisingly solid and responsive, but may not be the
PROS Excellent sounds in every category. Informative, easy-to-read display with bright, crisp graphics. User interface is not intimidating for novices. Compatible with Roland Axial library. Included 4GB SD card. Deep onboard sequencer can render multitrack audio stems for further work in your DAW.
CONS Display is not a touchscreen. Sampler pads aren’t velocity sensitive. Keys don’t sense aftertouch. Sequencer tracks can't drive external devices. External power supply.
404: FOUND The right side of the FA-06 (and FA-08) is populated with what’s essentially a Roland SP-404SX phrase sampler. Four banks of 16 sounds each are available for instant playback, with no load time. You can roll your own samples using the onboard sounds or external audio inputs, or import AIFF, WAV, or MP3 files from your computer. Mono or stereo, one-shot or tightly looped— full featured high-resolution sample editing is easy on the big display. The downside? The pads aren’t velocity-sensitive, so while they’re suitable for triggering loops and samples, they’re less so for playing in your own drum grooves.
04.2014 Keyboard
51
any combination of the 16 available parts that are and drum sounds, all organized into over 2,000 best choice if you’re planning on playing a lot of piano. If you’re in that category, Roland does set to the same channel can be played simultane- ones (Roland’s term for a single-sound patch). A ously from the keys. Te DAW Control button makes a weighted 88-key version, the FA-08. Preview button lets you hear a phrase played with Editor Stephen Fortner spent some time with the allows the FA to act as a control surface for Logic each one that indicates the way the programmer FA-08 at NAMM and said of its action, “It’s fast Pro, Sonar, and Cubase, which inconjunction with intended the sound to be used. Tis can be really for a weighted keyboard, and feels like it would be its USB audio/MIDI interface capabilities, could interesting to check out, especially after you’ve non-fatiguing on a four-set gig where both piano make it suitable as the nerve center of your studio. explored a sound on your own for a while. and organ/synth type playing is required.” Roland’s D-Beam is also onboard, with individual PCM-based programs can use up to four parOn the surface, the FA’s interface appears more buttons that toggle it between dedicated volume tials, and SuperNatural synth sounds allow up spartan than most of Roland’s previous worksta- control, a handful of assignable parameters, and a to three oscillators per voice. Single-cycle wavetions, but don’t be fooled—there’s a ton of power fun Solo Synth mode that generates noise bursts forms feature a couple of different variations, and under the hood if you really dig in. Access to deeperreminiscent of Keith Emerson roaming the stage the sawtooth wave has Roland’s signature “Super editing functions can be achieved by holding downwith his ribbon controller. Saw” detune option on tap. A choice of two filthe Shift key and pushing another button, includOn the other side of the display, another small ters—two-pole (12dB per octave) and four-pole ing the soft keys under the display to navigate the array of buttons engage the arpeggio and chord (24dB per octave)—are available, each with mulmenus, many of which sport very cool and informa-memory (which can be used at the same time), tiple lowpass, highpass, and bandpass options. tive graphics. Te main program section sports a and select the rhythm pattern control screen, ADSR envelopes for the Filter and Amp sections large color LCD, which is navigated using parent/ with a small numeric display that indicates the (Pitch has a simple attack-decay envelope) and peer buttons to its right side, with values changed current arpeggio/rhythm tempo—kudos to Rotwo LFOs round out the modulators. using a large edit dial or increment/decrement but-land for providing both a dedicated tempo knob Te ones are broken down into 20 categories, and a tap tempo button here. Te remainder of tons. Tere are ten category selection buttons under which can be accessed using the row of ten butthe display, six of which (2–7) do dual duty as soft the right side is taken up by the sequencer trans- tons under the display. Each of these house two keys in many of the editing modes. While using all port controls, and the backlit pads that provide categories (e.g., “A. Piano” and “E. Piano” share the buttons to navigate the display isn’t complicat-access to the phrase sampler (see “404: Found” a button, as do Bass and Synth bass, Strings and ed, it sometimes can take more than a few button on page 51) as well as being able to handle other Orchestra, Synth and Pad, and so on), and the presses to get around, and the FA would certainly be tasks such as muting and soloing sequencer first category is the default when the button is a lot easier to navigate if it had a touchscreen—buttracks and doing numeric keypad-like data entry. pushed. Organ sounds include “SuperNatural” that, of course, would increase the price. patches with individual drawbar control (via the o the left of the display, six Sound Modify Sound Engine screen and/or Sound Modify knobs) and a very knobs handle four rows of commonly tweaked Under the hood is a 128-note polyphonic synth en- respectable Leslie simulation, after the fashion of settings via a Select button that changes their as- gine with full 16-channel multitimbral capability. Roland’s VK and VR series keyboards. signment (more buttons below), and antransposition, additional rowocof Te onboard sound library is culled directly from Keyboard Mode cover Roland’s flagship Integra-7 module, and made up tave shift, and quick split and dual modes. Plus the of the complete sound set of the XV-5080, all of Split and Dual buttons simultaneously, and you the “SuperNatural” synth sounds, and a carefully activate what Roland calls a Studio Set, wherein chosen assortment of the SuperNatural acoustic
As previously mentioned, the FA-06 its ones into Studio Sets, which can beorganizes comprised of up to 16 parts made up of onboard ones or external sounds. Tese can be split and layered across the keys in any combination, and each of the 16
FA CONNECTIVITY The rear panel houses the SDHC card slot,which comes pre-loaded with a 4GB card andcan be used to export sequencer tracks as audio (more on thislater). A pair of balanced 1/4” outputs are supplemented by a third balanced out(marked Sub Out), which can be used to send a click track or individual part that you don’t want in the main mix outs. The Sub Out is unaffected by the main volume slider. An 1/8” input allows monitoring of stereo a playback device, and an unbalanced 1/4” in can route a guitar, bass, or micthrough the FA for monitoring, sampling, or direct routing to a DAW via USB. A dedicated Hold jack is provided for a sustain pedal, and two other jackscan be configured to operate with either a switch or a continuous pedal. A USB2 portallows direct connection to a computer , while a second USB port is available for hooking up a thumb drive for updating the instrument’s operating system or adding a WiFi dongle for enabling iPad control.
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parts can be set to any MIDI channel, so it’s possible to play as many as you want at one time. Te FA-06 does support Favorites: en banks of ten Favorite sounds each can be stored for easy recall using the Category buttons. ones, Splits, Duals or entire Studio Sets can be saved as Favorites.
Sound Modifiers and Effects Tese six knob can do all sorts of things, depending on the setting of the Select button, which toggles them between four different rows. Te rst row sets the knobs to control Cutoff, Resonance, Attack (amp), Release (amp), Pan, and Level for each sound. Te second sets each knob to cut or boost different EQ bands. Te third row is assignable. Te fourth row is all about effects. Te rst knob adds compression, the second knob modi es the overall EQ curve of the instrument—turning left boosts the mids (better for playing in a band) while turning it right boosts the lows and highs (more desirable in solo applications)—knobs 3 and 4 handle system chorus and reverb amounts. Knob 5 selects which otal Effect (FX) is used, while knob 5 controls a preset parameter of the current FX. Speaking of effects, each of the parts in a Studio set can have it’s own multi-effect (MFX), chosen from a list of 67 effects (44 individual and 23 combinations such as Overdrive into Chorus or Distortion into Delay). Vocoder functionality is also available if a mic is plugged in to the rear
can be rendered to an inserted SD memory card not just as stereo mixes or Standard MIDI data (though these options are available, as is the case on many workstations and arranger keyboards), but as full-bandwidthindividual tracks in WAV format. Tis lets you bang out sketches or cues using the FA’s keyboard, knobs, and sampler pads, and then bring all the tracks into your DAW for multitrack mixing and processing—without having to re-record audio or nd appropriate soft synths for MIDI tracks to drive.
to another, you hear anaudible burp—and more often than not, the effects do change. Tis, however, can be avoided in Sequencer or Studio Set mode. In either case, you can scroll up or back to a different part seamlessly. Even the sustain pedal can be used, sustaining the held sound and not affecting the new sound at all until the previous sound is released. “Patch remain” is not supported when switching Studio Sets, though—the previous sound is cut off entirely.
Conclusions In Use
While more and more keyboard players are doing While my deep inner synth geek does enjoy pok- the bulk of their recording and mixing on their ing around under the hood, most of the time I get computers or iOS devices, the need to be able to with keyboard instruments is spent playing them. quickly grab and arrange an idea the moment I think that’s the heart and soul of what makes an inspiration hits means that there will always be a instrument great—whether the sounds in it explace on the market for synth workstations. Te cite, intrigue, and stimulate. A nice keybed feel and FA series takes the best of a bunch of Roland’s enan intuitive interface layout are helpful, of course, gines and libraries, rolls them together with a new but if the sounds are there, most keyboard players ergonomic interface, and wraps it up in a solidly will overlook just about any other shortcoming. In built, attractive package that’s even easy to transthat respect, the FA-06 truly does shine, so much port. If you’re mainly recording using a DAW, it so that it’s hard to call out standout programs can even become an integral part of that work ow without churning out a really long list. It’s an ex- with the touch of a button. Te FA is clearly one of ceptional sounding instrument in just about every Roland’s nest workstations to date, and is worth category, and many of the sounds really do get ex- serious consideration by anyone looking to pick up tra life from the largely velocity-induced nuances a state-of-the-art all-in-one instrument. of the SuperNatural programming. Extra kudos are extended for essentially always being in Studio Set mode. It’s a lot of fun
panel. Comp+EQ effects are to onboard foraddileveling andSix tweaking drum sounds taste. In tion, there are global Chorus and Reverb effects, a Master EQ and total effects (FX), which include things like DJFX and BPM Loopers, Bit Crush, Slicer, Vinyl Sim and R adio uning, and process the entire signal (including all other effects). Tere’s even a dedicated input reverb that can be used while routing an external signal thrugh the FA-06 when tracking or performing.
to be ablesounds, to play some g iant stacked textured manyof ofthe which may not beand ideal for a particular track, but provide inspiration and a clear path to modifying a Studio Set to taste easily. Te fact that Roland only made 64 presets and left 512 blank slots for Studio Sets is a good indicator that’s what they intended. Once it becomes clear that holding the Shift button is the key to unlocking pretty much any section of the FA, it becomes a breeze to move around, with sharp graphics and sub-menus that show up Sequencer in conjunction with the soft buttons indicating a Looking at the front panel, it doesn’t appear that very well laid out and logical work ow. It should also be pointed out that—unlike some other curthe sequencer is terribly exible . . . but in fact it’s very much so. Te onbord 16-track sequencer rently available workstations—realtime edits such as tweaking the cutoff and resonance knobs do not offers real time non-stop looping (with the ability to switch tracks while recording), linear and produce any audible stair-stepping effects. Te instrument does support “patch remain” step-time recording options, track selection via the sampler pads, and full-featured editing—right (being able to change to another program while down to the ability to see events graphically or in sustaining the previous sound without notes cutan edit list (called Microscope). A mixer page pro- ting off), but only under certain circimstances. vides convenient access to pan, volume, reverb and You can change from program to program withchorus sends, as well as mute and solo functions. out having the previous program cut off in Single mode, but if the effects change from one program Te killer app here, though, is that sequences
Bottom Line
A ton of power and sonic flexibility packed into an affordable, easy to operate, lightweight instrument.
FA-06: $1,399 list | $1,199 street FA-08: $2,099 list | $1,899 street www.rolandus.com
See It Now! Video: First look at the Roland FA series. Join the Conversation!
Dicsuss the FA-06 and FA-08 with Keyboard Magazine’s online forum community
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53
REVIEW
WORKSTATION » WORKSTATION » SOFT SYNTH
» PA » AP P
YAMAHA
MOXF BY BY ERIC LAWSON
THE TREND IN KEYBOARDS IS TO CREATE A FLAGSHIP PRODUCT AND THEN trickle down the features into more affordable iterations. This inevitably requires some tradeoffs, but Yamaha’s new MOXF series cuts surprisingly few corners in its achievement of a studio and gig workstation that, size for size, comes in at almost exactly half the price of the top-end Motif XF. How does the MOXF measure up to its heavier and more expensive ancestor? Let’s find out.
Overview I’ve been a longtime user of Yamaha performance and workstation keyboards, dating back to the srcinal S90 and then the Motif XS. So I was immediately familiar with the basic interface and overall work ow of my MOXF8 review unit, as Yamaha has kept the UI very similar. Te MOXF8 has a great-feeling graded action that rivals nearly any dedicated stage piano I’ve played. Even so, it’s surprisingly portable for an 88-noter (just shy of 33 pounds) and has a smaller footprint than many other keyboards in its class, due to the
bate about which placement is more intuitive, but seeing as I play a lot of gigs, I’ll take the smaller dimensions any day. Te MOXF chassis is plastic, which is what makes it so light. Perhaps the steel of the fullblown Motifs is more durable, but the rigid construction of the MOXF8 seems plenty robust enough for the weekend barroom or church musician—I transported it in a soft gig bag and it held up just ne. A minor tradeoff is the use of a wallwart power supply, which helps keep the weight and cost lower. Need to go even lighter still? Te
clever placement of the pitch-bend and modulation wheels on the top left of the front panel above the keyboard, rather than to the left of the keys. Keyboard players have a longstanding de-
61-key MOXF6 is electronically and sonically identical, and weighs in at 15.6 pounds. While I was getting the MOXF8 ready for gigs, I was pleasantly surprised to nd the entire fac-
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Snap Judgment PROS Exceptionally diverse and professional sound set. Light weight and small footprint—especially the 88-note weighted version. Durable. Huge library of inspiring musical phrases and loops onboard. Dedicated transpose and octave shift buttons. Loads user and third party samples into optional Flash memory. Acts as USB audio interface. CONS Interface takes awhile to understand if you’re new to the Motif series. Pitch wheel is sluggish to return to center. Keys don’t sense
aftertouch. Stereo main outs only—no sub outs.
Bottom Line The MOXF serves up the majority of Motif XF features for a far lower price. For live use, the light weight may even make it the better choice.
MOXF6: $1,499 list | $1,199 street MOXF8: $1,999 list | $1,699 street yamaha.com
tory ROM soun sound set set of of tthe e Motif Motif XF XFon on board oar (plus some extra sounds) for a total of 741MB of wave o wave data. ata. Ta Tat’s t’s ser serious ous orsepower. horsepower.ama Yamaha a also kept the 128-voice polyphony as well as the eight-way eig t-way VCM (Virtua (Virtual Circuit Mode Modeling) ing eef-
series eries is known nown for having aving an extensive set of o onboard “arpeggios” that go way beyond the retro up/down up own aaffairs ar s t that at Nick c Rhodes o es ma made e amou famous in n Duran Duran (though the MOXF can certainly do those). MOXF (and Motif) arpeggios are
and audio from its stereo inputs into your com computer—and even eventthe e Motif MotifXF XFdoesn’t doesn’t ave have itsits dedicated e cate fader a er anand LEDeve level meter meter or for DAW playback. p ay ac . Li Like e its itspre predecessors, ecessors, its its knobs no s anandut buttons can act as a DAW control surface for Cubase,
fects, ects,t parts so likewith on the Motif XF,insert you can layerfor up to eight eig wit independent effects each.. Ver eac Verdict: ict: Compare Comparedtotot the e agsagship ip Motif Motif XF, XF, there’s really nothing lost here in terms of sound capability. capa i ity. Te Motif XF does have user sampling, which is not possi possible e on ontthe e MOXF—t MOXF—though oug ititcan can play back audio samples loaded from USB to an optional FFlash optiona as memory memory board. oard. AAlso, so, tthe e MOXF MOXF has as one Flash slot instead of the Motif XF’s two, halving a ving tthe e maximum maximummemory memorytoto1GB. 1GB.Regard Regardless, the vast breadth of less of onboard sounds should keep most anyone happy for a very long time. Beyond this, you can load the Flash memory with third-party wave data and programs from an impressive pantheon of sound designers. It’s a nod to the earlier Motifs’ PLG expansion boards and a great way to keep the instrument fresh.
rhythmic yt turn mic and/or me melodic odic patterns patterns and pphrases rases that the instrument into an and instant jam session. on. Close to 8,000 unique arpeggios range from funky un y ’70s grooves lifted ifted rig rightt out of aaHead Headhuntunters session, to modern EDM and Euro-disco, to more ore acoustic- and guitar-driven phrases that form orm good good background ac ground for forfofolkand and ues blues tunes. tunes. Tese motifs do indeed provide inspiration, and iff you’re loath oat to use factory patterns, patterns, cchanging anging them up a bit still makes for great song starters. I’ve played a ed tthe e MOXF8 MOXF8for for hours ours ononend end and and I I still have yet to explore all of the patterns. Sitting on top of all of this is a deep 16-track sequencer. We’ve covered the Motif series’ song creation work ow in previous reviews, but this much bears repeating: It’s seamless to start with an inspiring pattern, incorporate this into a multitrack sequence, rinse and repeat, and come up with a lot of material quickly before reaching for
Digita Digital Performer, Logic, Logic,and andSonar. Sonar.Given t that at YamahaPerformer, owns Steinberg, integration isGiven tightest with Cu wit Cubase ase AI. AI.
Phrases and Sequencer
“Sound, Inspiration, Integration” is Yamaha’s your computer. catchphrase for the MOXF. I’ve already menOnce you do, the MOXF boasts very useful tioned the great sounds, but let me touch on the computer connectivity. It can function as a USB inspiration and integration aspects. Te Motif audio interface, routing both its own sounds
In Use I set up tthe e MOXF8 MOXF8 for for aa few few bar ar gigs g igswit withmy my eclectic cover band, Flat Elvis. I needed to be able to handle and e tthe e usua usualpia piano, no, R Rhodes, odes, and and Wur Wurly y required for covering classic om Petty, Hall and Oates, ates, an and Bruce BruceSpringsteen; Springsteen;wwhile i e aalso so nai nailing many ’80s sounds for Loverboy, U2, Modern English, En lish and the Cars; Cars; plus lus aa health healthysmatterin smattering
See It Now! • MOXF video demo from NAMM. • Read our reviews of previous MO and Motif keyboards.
keyboardmag.com/april2014 04.2014 Keyboard
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of ’90s material such as Cake and Coldplay. Te MOXF8 did not disappoint, with many variations of each sound and a “Favorites” feature to easily find sounds I’d flagged when prepping for the gig. I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the amazing “Sweet Flute,” a highly realistic flute that perfectly nailed our cover of Men At Work’s “Down Under.” Troughout my gig, the MOXF8 performed like a champ, with its authentic acoustic and electric pianos and soaring, fat synth sounds. I did have
an issue or two navigating the plethora of buttons, look out for: Having dedicated octave and transparticularly on a dark stage. If, like me, you have a pose buttons rocks, but they’re very close to the diverse set that requires lots of splits and layers, I keys (just aboveC3), so wild playing runs the risk recommend getting set up offlineand rehearsing of accidentally hitting one. Also, for mixing layered sound changes no matter what keyboard you use. sounds, I’d prefer a set of faders in place of one of If you’re using a smaller sound set, the category the two rows of four knobs, but given the price of and favorite functions makes playing a basic gig a the MOXF, I’m not complaining. Whilebigger is no-brainer. better when it comes to a keyboard’s display, I was I noticed that the pitch wheel was a bit sluggish perfectly comfortable with the MOXF8’s compact to spring back to center position. Another thing to monochrome screen, as it organizesinformation
GOOD KARMA The uninitiated may wonder, “What the heck is KARMA?” Kay Algorithmic Realtime Music Architecture (so named for developer Stephen Kay) is a unique engine that generates realtime MIDI data to create evolving, percolating patterns and musical effects. It first appeared in the Korg KARMA workstation in 2001 and has since been used in multiple Korg keyboards including the OASYS and M3. The Motif version of KARMA uses a connected Mac or PC to drive Yamaha Motif XS/XF, MOX, and MOXF series instruments. (The Motif classic, ES, and MO are not currently supported.) Given that these synths are already packed with patterns and phrases, what does KARMA add? In a nutshell, greater depth than what can be done within the confines of the stock MOXF—not to mention an inspiring but manageable degree of unpredictability. KARMA offers an eight-track design: two layers of music are playable from zones on the keyboard. Then, six “modules” can apply phrases, arpeggios, strumming, and other musical effects (GE or Generated Effect in KARMA parlance) to internal sounds. It’s like auto-accompaniment with a mind of its own . . . on steroids. Within these performance modules are eight programmable “scenes,” much like different parts of a song. Each scene has a huge amount of user-controllable variation. The swing, complexity, accents, pattern, and time signature (to name a few things) can be dialed in to taste and saved at the scene level. One can get very far away from the srcinal Performance, arriving at something entirely new. After downloading and authorizing the software via an emailed code, I uploaded a data file via USB into the MOXF. My review unit also required a firmware upgrade to version 1.03, but then I was off to the races. Functionally, KARMA Motif is a marriage between the KARMA Performance and the Yamaha’s Song mode. Anything related to MIDI notes and controller data, you edit in the KARMA Motif software. Anything related to the sounds being played, you edit in the keyboard. I found that the MOXF’s DAW control mode worked very well with many aspects of KARMA Motif. Once I created performances I liked I could seamlessly record them into the MOXF’s sequencer. I made my way through the vast landscape of KARMA Performances and found material appropriat e for pretty much every musical genre. It would take hours to explore and tweak each Performance, but there’s truly inspiring material here. A few of my favorites were the mellow R&B groove “Diva’s Delight,” “Trev & Seal,” paying homage to a great ’90s era pop duo, and “1985,” which brings back everything that was great in movie soundtracks of that era. KARMA Motif is a great addition to the MOXF and is well-suited for film and TV work as well as experimental songwriting—not to mention a very fun way to create mesmerizing solo performances. It’s transformative, addictive to use, and adds major firepower to supported Yamaha workstations. You can download KARMA Motif for $199 from karma-lab.com
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Conclusions
This bay can accept an optional 512MB or 1GB card. Though the MOXF doesn’t support user sampling, you can load third party Voices (programs) and Performances —and
Te MOXF8 succeeds on many levels as a performing and recording instrument. It includes every single one of the killer sounds and most of the workstation features from the Motif XF in a lightweight, compact, and affordable form. Te previous “Motif lite” keyboards were the MOX and MO, and the MOXF supersedes these instruments across every major dimension while still being offered at an excellent price. Speaking from a semiprofessional keyboardist’s point of view, none of the design choices Yamaha made to hit this price are deal-breakers. Te MOXF’s computer integration features make it an outstanding entry into studio
their associated samples—designed for the flagship Motif XF.
workstations, and unless you really need multiple outputs onstage, its light weight makes a case for choosing it over the Motif XF or XS as the do-it-all gig machine you throw in the car. Stage and studio use alike are bolstered by the 128-voice polyphony, all the waveform ROM, very similarly to the Motif ES and my S90 perfor- the engineer can mix them separately. Because sound programming, and phrases from the Motif XF, the ecosystem of third-party sounds for the mance synth. the MOXF has only a single pair of main outs, I I occasionally do a gig where the drummer wouldn’t be able to do this, nor send a drummer a optional Flash memory, and (on the MOXF8) the needs to take a couple of breaks. When this hap- click that’s not heard in the house. Most keyboard expressive weighted action. Put it all together, pens, I’ve routed programmed drums from my players won’t miss this, though, so if it kept the and the MOXF hits a very sweet spot, earning our Key Buy Award in the bargain. Motif XS to a separate front-of-house line so that cost low, Yamaha made the right call.
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Fig. 1. Signal routing (upper left), an oscillator in the currently selected layer (lower left), a filter (upper center), and an envelope or LFO (lower right). The buttons at the top of each pane make it display different items.
KV331 AUDIO
SynthMaster BY JIM AIKIN
ONLY TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE ARE LIKELY TO LOVE SYNTHMASTER: INTREPID thing bundle, some of my favorites may not be sound designers who enjoy crafting their own patches, and musicians who just in the version you buy. want to grab a great-sounding factory preset and play some music. If you’re not in either of those categories . . . well, I’m guessing you are. SynthMaster is not the best Oscillators known soft synth, but for sheer power, it belongs near the top of any list of great Four oscillator types are available, and they’re music software. all waveform monsters. SynthMaster supplies
bundle isn’t cheap, but the developers have enAt the highest level, a SynthMaster preset has listed some great sound designers, so if you can two layers, though most sounds need only one. In afford it, you won’t be disappointed. Te preset each layer are two main oscillators, four modula- browser uses a database approach. As a result, tor oscillators, two resonant multimode filters, many of the presets are found in multiple foldeight envelopes, a couple of LFOs, four program- ers (such as Organ and Keys). You can filter the mable key scaling curves, an arpeggiator, and five display using attributes (such as “Arpeggiated” insert effects. Five more effects, four more LFOs, or “Legato”), musical style, or author. and 12 user-definable “easy controls” are availTe preset library is far too large to describe able at the instrument level. Many of the sections in detail. Reasonable electric pianos and Clavi-
several hundred single-cycle waveforms, many of them sampled from vintage instruments. Tese waves can be used for both the carrier and modulator oscillators in the basic, additive, wavescan, and vector modes. (A fifth oscillator mode, “Audio In,” is also in the menu, but its usefulness will depend on how your DAW is set up. As an audio processor, SynthMaster 2.6.9 was not compatible with Image-Line FL Studio 11 on my Windows 7 PC, but it worked fine in Steinberg Cubase 7.0.5.)
have their own Save buttons, allowing you to store and recall often-used configurations. SynthMaster’s three versions differ only in the size of the included preset library. Te Everything
More than 100 longer wave samples are also provided in SFZ format, and you can load your own WAV or AIFF files. However, SynthMaster doesn’t qualify as a full-featured soft sampler:
Overview and Factory Sounds
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nets are supplied, a few drawbar-type organs, lots of synth basses and pads, leads, drums, arpeggiator and step sequencer patterns, choirs, FX, and so on. Because I reviewed the Every-
Fig. 2. “Arpeggiate” mode. The area along the top is for editing velocities; at zero velocity the note becomes a rest. “+1” means “play the next note in the chord I’m holding.” If a step is set to something other than +1, the arpeggiator will look at the nominal lowto-high note order, choose some other note, and then proceed from there.
Fig. 3. The browser (top) and Easy modulation knobs (along the bottom). The knobs can either add to or multiply the base value of the parameter.
It has no facility for mapping multiple samples
you can easily produce PPG-style wave motion.
and analog. Each model has a choice of modes:
across and can no loop editingtofeatures. Tethe fourkeyboard modulators be applied the two carriers in whatever combination you may need, and can do FM, PM, and AM (frequency, phase, and amplitude modulation). FM and PM only work with the single-cycle carrier waves, but AM works ne even with long samples. Te frequencies of both carriers and modulators can track the keyboard fractionally, which is useful for setting up attack transients and equal-tempered microtonal scales. (SynthMaster also loads Scala tuning les.) FM is implemented in an odd way: Te DC Offset knob in the modulator has to be cranked up for it to work. Te basic oscillator mode plays your chosen waveform. In additive mode each oscillator is actually eight separate oscillators, each with its own waveform, tuning, loudness, and panning— all of which can be modulated from an LFO, envelope, or MIDI.
In vector can choosewo fourmodulawaves, again giving mode, each itsyou own tuning. tion inputs can be used for two-dimensional sweeping among the four waves, and you can set their balance graphically with the mouse. You can dial in a slight amount of pitch drift to simulate a real analog synth. Tis drift is continuous rather than being a xed random value that’s different for each note, as in some other digital instruments. SynthMaster’s drift is more realistic, in my opinion. Each oscillator has its own pan knob, so a two-layer sound can have four oscillators panned to different positions for a big stereo spread. Te lters are stereo, too: wo oscillators with different panning can be processed by what is nominally a single lter, and their pan positions will be retained.
lowpass, highpass, band-reject, low or high shelving, peak,bandpass, dual, or multi. In the latter two modes, a single lter turns into two lters in series or parallel. Te digital lter also has a comb lter mode.
In wavescan mode you can choose up to 16 different waveforms, and the oscillator will scan from one to another, crossfading smoothly. By using a stepped LFO shape to sweep the table,
Each layer has two lters, and the layer can be con gured with the lters in series, parallel, or “split” (meaning each oscillator has its own lter). wo lter models are provided: digital
Filters
Snap Judgment PROS Great presets. Lots of sound design tools, including oscillator types, filter modes, multi-segment envelopes, modulation routings, and arpeggiator tricks. CONS Some user interface oddities. Some presets not tuned to standard pitch (though this is easily changed).
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Pre-gain, drive, and waveshaping curves can add overdrive to a lter, and can be positioned either before, after, or within the lter. Oddly, the drive knob is active even when this section is switched off; possibly this is a bug. Adding pregain can easily boost the output into clipping territory. Te digital lter model has a handy limiter to keep the level in check, thus reducing the chance of clipping. Te limiter isn’t active with the analog lter, but a layer can be routed through a compressor in the effects section, which will accomplish much the same thing. With a bit of drive, the analog lter can get quite rambunctious, and that’s a good thing. Te comb lter can also output some tasty nastiness when its damping knob is combined with the feedback
in fact it once crashed Cubase while I was playing with it. I reported a related bug in this area to the manufacturer, so hopefully you won’t encounter the problem. Each layer also has four key scaling tables. A table can have up to 16 mouse-editable steps, and covers the entire 128-note MIDI keyboard range. hese tables are ideal for things like shaping the amount of FM across the keyboard range so as to craft a more playable instrument. he modulation matrix display can be filtered to show only the routings from a specific source or to a specific destination. Doubleclicking on an amount knob resets it to zero, which is highly useful, as the knobs in SynthMaster are sensitive to s mall changes. Modula-
and overdrive controls.
tion amounts are bidirectional.
Modulation
Effects
Just about the only hardwired modulation routings in SynthMaster are the key tracking of the oscillators and filters. For everything else, including amplitude and filter envelopes, you’ll need to use the modulation matrix. Fortunately, there are 64 routings. here’s no provision for modulating the depth of one routing from another, but this is no problem because the important modules (oscillators, LFOs, and envelopes) have their own output level knobs, which can be modulated from the matrix. he LFOs don’t have access to the long list of waveforms; they just do sine, square, triangle, sawtooth, and stepped. A stepped LFO can have up to 32 steps, and each step can either glide to the next step or decay to zero with
he effects routing scheme is one of the more confusing facets of SynthMaster. By default, each layer has five insert effects: distortion (a waveshaper), lo-fi (a bit-crusher), ensemble chorus, phaser, and parametric EQ. hese are found in the Layer edit area. In addition, each Layer can be routed into two effect buses in any amount, and also to the dry output. he bus effects modules are two compressors, chorus, tremolo, echo, reverb, and a vocoder, and these are found on a different edit page. Any of the 17 effects modules can be inserted in either layer or on either bus, up to a maximum of five inserts per layer and per bus. So, for example, if you need to use both phasers on one layer, you can.
atomouse-editable curve. LFOs will sync host clock, so it’s easyhe to set up complex rhythms without even touching the arpeggiator (which we’ll get to shortly). he four ADSR envelopes aren’t fancy, but they have two features you don’t see every day. A bit de pth knob reduces the outp ut anywh ere from 24 bits (smooth) to two bits. he sync button gives the envelope display a beat grid overlay, making it easier to program rhythmically precise sweeps. When sync is active, changing the tempo will also change the envelope lengths. hen, the multi-segment envelopes can have up to 16 stages, and can loop. he loop start and end can be set to any step, and the number of loop repetitions can be up to 32, or infinite. he editing of step lengths is entirely graphic, which makes it a bit f iddly. Even so, these envelopes are nicely implemented. he
he effects arelo-fi generously e ndowed with parameters. he has its own resonant lowpass filter, for instance, with which you can take the edge off a grungy tone. he reverb has ten knobs and also separate EQ for the early and late portions of the reverb image. he compressor has a sidechain input, so you can do tricks like duck a synth sound on Layer 1 from a drum loop on Layer 2. he tremolo is actually a stereo panner; I couldn’t get it to do surf-guitar mono tremolo. he stereo echo has its own distortion/overdrive, which is applied to the wet output but not to the signal entering the feedback path; this has the odd effect of making repeating echoes get cleaner as they die away.
SynthMaster features a hybrid arpeggiator/ sequencer. For each of up to 32 steps, you can
Twelve instances of SynthMaster
two-dimensional envelopes are similar, but have separate outputs for the X and Y axes. he graphic editing of the 2D envelopes is difficult with envelopes that have a lot of segments, and
define the velocity and number of rhythm steps (such as eighth-notes) that a given step will occupy. here’s a global note duration setting, which can be overridden by a hold button
doing an ’80s-style tribute in Cubase 7.
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for each step. If the layer is set to monophonic legato, a slide switch in the arpeggi ator can activate the glide programmed into the voice. Speaking of which, each layer has both its own arpeggiator and its own mono/poly switch, so complex patterns are possible. In Sequencer mode, the arpeggiator is a monophonic step sequencer. he arpeggiator can load a MIDI file and step through it. he MIDI file can combine chords and single notes, and SynthMaster will follow it faithfully, playing the chords and rhythms. In addition to the expected up, down, up/down, as played, and block chord modes, there’s a mode called “Arpeggiate” that can do some exotic things with note order (see Figure 2 on page 59).
Conclusions SynthMaster is so good it’s scary. If you’re new to synth programming, you’ll probably want to stick with playing the presets for a while, both because there are a lot of voicing parameters to wrestle with and because some of them interact in odd ways or are hidden in odd places. But playing the presets won’t disappoint, because they’re excellent. Experienced sound designers will find a great deal here to dig into, from the multimode filters and oscillator modes to the big toolbox of modulation sources and destinations. Once you’ve scoped out the editing, customizing the factory sound set is both simple and fun. o paraphrase Frank Zappa, “Just what the world needs—another great synthesizer.”
Bottom Line A real sleeper of flexibility and power when it comes to analogstyle synthesis.
Basic: $99 street | Standard: $129 street | Everything: $329 street www.synthmaster.com
Hear It Now!
Arpeggiator
keyboardmag.com/april2014
®
Now supports 5 YAMAHA instruments, including the powerful new MOXF! Since 2001,KARMA® has been powering Korg keyboards such as the Kronos, OASYS, M3 and Karma, delivering unrivaled interactive phrase-generation, backing tracks and algorithmic arpeggiation effects. Now, KARMA Developer Stephen Kay has released an even more powerful third-generation KARMA system for a number of Motif-based Yamaha instruments - in software form. KARMA Motif software
gives your Yamaha XF, XS, MOXF, MOX or Rack-XS extensive new interactive groove generation, arpeggiation and arranger-like capabilities. Interweaving cascades of notes, techno arpeggios, chopping and slicing gated effects, drum grooves, dense melodic textures, natural-sounding glissandos, intricate fingerpicking and guitar strumming, stuttering and retriggering and much more! The possibilities are truly infinite.
“...real-time pattern-generating and MIDI-processing muscle that dazzles nearly everyone...” – Electronic Musician
“...one of the deepest and most complex MIDI processing systems ever devised...“ – Keyboard Magazine
KARMA® (Kay Algorithmic Realtime Music Architecture) and the KARMA Logo are registered trademarks of Stephen Kay, www.karma-lab.com. © 2014 by Karma-Lab LLC - All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
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HK AUDIO
Lucas Nano 300 BY TOM BRISLIN
FOR THE KEYBOARDIST WHOSE GIGS FREQUENT THE SOLO, DUO, OR TYPICAL small venue setting, it’s exciting when a new portable sound system arrives on the scene. The HK Audio Lucas Nano 300 promises to be an attractive ultra-portable solution, but does it have the power, frequency range, and clarity to get the job done? Let’s take it to some gigs.
Te Lucas Nano 300 is a subwoofer-plus-satellites lites are fastened to the top of the subwoofer via powered speaker system. Te subwoofer base con- mechanical couplers that also transmit audio. It’s tains the ampli er, mixer, and a locking carry-cradle a clever feature that saves on cables, clutter, and to store the satellites for transport. Pop it in the op-time. For an alternate mono con guration, attach tional roller bag, and you’ve got the whole system in the satellites to a speaker pole (mounted in the one package that weighs less than 25 pounds. We’resubwoofer) and connect the bottom speaker to off to a great start as far as portability goes. the subwoofer via a cable. Out of the box, you can set up the Lucas Nano Speaker poles and cables come in the “Addin its stock mono con guration, where the satelon Package One,” which was supplied with our review unit. Tis lets you s et up the Nano in stereo, which is how I ran it on my rst gig test. Te venue sat around 200 people, on a stage with a modest front-of-house P.A. I used the Nano as my sole monitor system, and my setup included
Snap Judgment Exceptional PROS portability. Powerful amp.
Multiple setups. Expandable. Onboard mixer for mic, line, and stereo inputs.
CONS Can get pricey with add-on package. No master volume control.
Bottom Line Delivers smart design and clear, powerful sound in a super-compact package, but we recommend budgeting for the add-on package to get the best results.
$1,100 list | $700 street | Add-on Package One (speaker poles and cables in soft carry bag): $175 list | $130 street hkaudio.com
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stereo digital piano and synths, a vocal mic and some miked acoustic hand plus percussion. Te system really comes alive in stereo—with each side about four feet away, slightly behind my piano bench, I could easily set the satellites to ear level. I was never at a loss for low end, and got clean, clear sound without pushing the levels over the halfway point. Te second gig test employed the Nano as a keyboard monitor with a mediumvolume full band, in a same sized venue. Using the stock mono setup (and placing the entire system on a tabletop close to earlevel), monitoring was again Te Nano could very well pull off being your clean and clear, if not as warm and pleasing as the sole ampli cation system in a small venue, destereo setup. Note the that Nano has no master vol- pending on how much you need to put through it. ume control, though there is subwoofer a level con- Te stereo setup is where it’s at, so consider that trol. Instead, each input has its own level control andwhen budgeting for the add-on package. While a mysterious “contour” knob (labeled with an eighth- we didn’t have a second system to test, we were note). For line-level signals, turning this knob up will intruiged by the Nano’s ability to link a second boost high and lowfrequencies while reducing midrange. When input 1 is set to mic input, the contour knob adjusts anintegrated lter “for speech.” Tat’ sa bit vague, but any tone tweakability is welcome.
set of satellites to the subwoofer. Tere may be more powerful stage monitors out there for the money, but few can match the portability and gigfriendliness of the Lucas Nano 300.
REVIEW
WORKSTATION » WORKSTATION » SOFT SYNTH » PA »
AP P
Snap Judgment PROS Legit sounding tape emulation. Detailed control over saturation, flutter and noise. Realtime recording and processing of audio. Offline processing of files makes it useful for adding warmth and vintage character to mixed material. CONS Full Audiobus performance requires an iPad 2 or newer.
Bottom Line
Master Record BY FRANCIS PRÈVE
Seriously cool tape effects for ten bucks.
$9.99 audio-mastering-studio.blogspot.com
TAPE EMULATION ISONE OF THE COOLER MASTERING TRICKS IN AN ENGINEER’S brick wall limiter at the end of the chain, which arsenal. With the right tools, good monitors, and an ear for detail, producers can really can be used either subtly or dramatically. My approach to integrating Master Record sweeten a final mix by adding judicious amounts of saturation and, if they’re feeling bold, a touch of hiss. The caveat here is that tape emulation software can be on the expensive into my tracks was simply to select an audio le
in formatthe andtape synceffects it up to my iPad. side. A producer buddy of mine tipped me off to a while back, and after tinkering with it for a couple of months, I have to Master say I’mRecord pretty darn impressed with there, it.WAV I applied (it’s great forFrom sor, even on the srcinal iPad. Master Record is a nifty little app that delivers customizable tape effects with a no-nonsense In my experiments, I found Master Record to be a super-sweet companion to my normal interface that makes it incredibly easy to use. Tere are several ways to approach the app, both studio work ow by using it for offline processing realtime and offline, which makes it quite a bar- of pre-recorded audio. It handily offers compatgain for a mere ten bucks. ibility with WAV, AIFF, MP3, M4A, and even CAF or FLAC audio le formats, making it a real team For starters, you can use Master Record to simply record audio, either via the iPad’s standard player for a variety of applications. Customizing the processing is a breeze, alinputs or via an iOS compatible interface, so at the very least it’s an awesome eld recorder with though the terminology of tape may be a tad arcane for the digital generation. Simply put, you’ve a bunch of handy bells and whistles. Because of its tape-centric approach, editing recorded audio got control over the type and amount of saturais a wee bit ddly, with tape transport style func- tion/drive, two-band shelving EQ, frequency tions like fade in/out tools, though it does sport a response options for emulating several types of tape speed and bias, and even utter controls if nice view of the overall recorded waveform. If you’re using Master Record in an Audiobus you want to mess up your signal a bit. Speaking environment, it can be used in either “effect" or of messing with your recordings, Master Record
nasty, old- school hip-hop overdrive, incidentally) and then hit the “dubbing" button. Tis bounces the audio, keeping the srcinal le and creating a newly processed lewith a different name. From there, I re-imported the audio into my DAW and kept going. I have to admit, this app sounds so good that I’m sorely tempted to take a nished master and apply a touch of emulated tape warmth to the nal les before releasing it on my label or shopping it. We’ll see. . . . As for moving les aroun d, in addition to iunes syncing and Audiobus, there are in-app upload tools for Dropbox, SoundCloud, audio clipboard, and some more exotic WiFi options, so those bases are covered too. All in all, Master Record is a terri c sounding app for a mere ten dollars, and can impart a lot of warmth and even crunchy dirt to audio of
“output” con guration for processing audio on the y, though you’ll need a newer iPad (generation 2 or later) for that functionality. Even so, it works quite nicely as a recorder or offline proces-
all types—whether live or as a post-production process. Even if you simply use it for eld recording on your iPad, it’s worth the cash. Tis one is de nitely staying on my iPad.
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allows you to add a touch of hiss to your output with ve options that include cassette, reel, tube, vinyl crackles, and even the subtle drone of an old-school recording console. Finally, there’s a
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THINGS
5 Playing Soft I’VE LEARNED ABOUT
Henry Heyhas worked with David Bowie, George Michael, Empire of the Sun, Dionne Warwick, and Mika, as well as producers Phil Ramone, Tony Visconti, and Eddie Kramer. He’s also the musical director, BY HENRY HEY conductor, and pianist for George Michael’s Symphonica project. Find out more at henryhey.com. I LOVE KEYBOARDS! WHILE I STARTED PLAYING PIANO AT A VERY YOUNG AGE, my fascination with synths began in my teens and has only increased over the years. This is a good thing, as I’m often called upon to create sounds that shape recordings.what wasn’t. Which plug-ins are the processor hogs? If I had my way, I’d have every classic keyboard on every gig and recording session. Of Which ones play best with others? Finding all this course, that just isn’t a reality. The good news is that software rigs have really come out is crucial work.
Synths Live
into their and I now nearly exclusively for many live gigs. Considering doing the own, same? Here areuse fivethem things you need to know.
4.
Invest in a Good Computer
You’ll need a recent machine to run faces and keyboards. Apple MainStage has no prob-recent software. You’ll also need plenty of RAM lem working with multiple controllers. o replace my and a fast hard drive—preferably a solid-state I started using an all-software rig with my band slew of stompboxes, I opted for the ubiquitous Korgdrive. I’ve seen disastrous results because people Rudder because I was looking for the most sonic NanoKontrol. It was easy to map buttons to “on” came to their gigs with barely enough memory exibility and the easiest physical setup. I wanted and “off” switches on my virtual pedal rig, and to set to load their sounds. Tere are wonderful sounds to be able to switch between drastically different up sliders as parameter changes for those effects. out there from folks like Rob Papen, iZotope, sounds with mapped effects in an instant, and a Spectrasonics, Native Instruments, and others, software rig allows this. However, you won’t get Test Your Rig Before but they aren’t intended to run on “skeleton” the Gig this sort of exibility without spending some systems. If your machine is modest in power, time building your mapping in the computer. ry I’ve had an interest in using software instruments then don’t overdo it. to imagine the sort of textures you’d like to create live since 2000. I started adding software to a hardif equipment were no object. Chances are you ware setup where I knew that I’d have other keyMake It Musical can create a lot of these sounds in software with boards to fall back on if my software failed. Little by I like my software rig because it feels creative stacking and effects routing. little, I learned more about what worked best for the like an instrument. Musicality should always machines and software. In addition, machines haveapply, whether you’re playing the most elaborate Customize Your Control gotten so fast that the ceiling has really been lifted.multitimbral sound stack or an acoustic upright Surfaces However, software rigs can and will fail if they are piano. Just because you can perform near-
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Harness Software’s Flexibility
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5.
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I wanted a software rig that could replace not only not tended to. Before I headed out on the road withinhuman feats with software doesn’t mean that the keyboards I wanted to hear, but my stompboxesa software-only rig in 2009, I experimented with my you should (although once in a while it’s a nice as well. I checked out as many USB control surfaces computer for several months. I stress-tested my rigthing). If musicality is foremost, you’ll always get as I could nd, and experimented with audio inter- over and over and learned what was working and the best results. 66
Keyboard04.2014
