Any Keyboardists in here?

[Trexxen]

Just looking to see if anyone else shares my "other" passion - Keyboarding! Personally, I've been "playing" (more like messing with, lol, I'm not good enough to consider myself as playing it just yet) the keyboard for three years now, and I wish mine didn't suck as bad as it does, lol!

My keyboard is a really old "learner's" keyboard; no advanced functionality, no tone shift (what's that called again? It's kind of like a whammy bar...), only half the keys, and worst of all no good sound styles.

I'm not in a band YET, but I've been trying to get one together - not seriously, mind, because I'm just starting high school and don't have enough time for a true band (and that'll likely hold true through college), but I already have a keyboardist (me), lead vocals (me again ^.^), and a drummer (a friend of mine; he's pretty good...)...but no guitars T.T

My current experience is mostly in recreating guitar tracks on keyboard, and some video game music too. I've done The Trooper (Iron Maiden, everything but the solo - crapboard can't handle the solo's speedy notes =P), One (Again, everything leading up to one bit - in this case, the "Darkness Riff" as it's called in Guitar Hero - can't handle repeated note presses T.T), and a lot of music from the Metroid series of video games. My current project (which I've almost mastered) is the guitar solo in Aerodynamic (http://youtube.com/watch?v=W7-XW8MBrRM&feature=related) by Daft Punk; it's a darned good solo, too...

Anyone got a reccommendation for me? And while we're at it, anyone else play this lovely instrument?

~Trexxen

[dreamtheatervt]

I'm a keyboard player...er I should say used to be before I entered the soul-sucking life of a graduate student.

I have a Yamaha S03. It has most of the functionality you could want, including pitch bending (you called it tone shift), and Yamaha pretty faithfully reproduces all the instruments because every pitch on every instrument was recorded for all Yamaha synths.

The only two drawbacks are the keys aren't weighted, most people including myself prefer weighted keys; and that Yamaha hasn't produced any up to date mixing software, my mixing software isn't Windows XP compatable, and my old computer with windows ME is ka-put.

I haven't played anything other than my Yamaha, but if you wanted to get something serious and not spend a ton of money, you can get a good entry level Yamaha around $600 new.

[Canuk Pepperhead]

on this subject..My cousin has been trying to record from her keyboard to the computer...Im the computer geek of the family and I cant figure out why it wont work..I set her up with the newest fruityloops...she has all the adaptors etc...Im not trying to hi-jack a thread but I read this and maby someone can give 2 cents

[Trexxen]

Do you have a MIDI to USB cord? I've never done it, but I'm pretty sure that with most keyboards using a MIDI to USB cord to run from keyboard to computer will allow you to upload the music as you play it. If you've got one (you probably do =P), then perhaps it is the keyboard itself that is incompatible?

~Trexxen

[Canuk Pepperhead]

yeah its midi to usb with some funky contraption in the middle lol...

[dreamtheatervt]

yeah its midi to usb with some funky contraption in the middle lol...

Tha sounds right, but that's only half the battle. You have to have software that will take the incoming signal and translate it to the computer's MIDI processor as well. Just hooking it up isn't enough.

Thank goodness for hijacked bandwidth and my parent's neighbors lack of security!

[Trexxen]

I think he said he has FruityLoops, though - right? If so, that should do the trick (Me, I've never been able to figure out FL =P)...but it could be the keyboard; do you still have the manual for the thing?

~Trexxen

[chuk hell]

I'm a synthesizer enthusiast, but not really a capable player as far as proper music theory/piano goes.

I've had a Moog Prodigy for over 20 years I learned the "basics" on. My wife and I are also the proud owner of a Korg "Micro Korg" which is a badass little synth that emulates analog sounds really well and has a tone of great sounds. We also have a Yamaha keyboard for "regular" playing.

My wife is taking piano lessons...hopefully she can give me a few tips!