issue13

EMUSIC-L Digest                                      Volume 46, Issue 13

This issue's topics:
	
	finding a keyboard
	Help to buy a keyboard
	synth vs. sampler

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Date:         Thu, 12 Nov 1992 13:58:15 EST
From:         Mara E Klein 
Subject:      finding a keyboard

hi!  i'm looking for a particular kind of keyboard.  can someone give me
ideas for a good one that has these characteristics, or at least, most
of them?
1--pitch-bender
2--ability to record outside sounds and incorporate them at any picth
3--pedals
4--drum pad (or i can get one separately)
5--full-sized, weighted keys
6--realistic instrument sounds (lots of sounds)

well that's it, i think.  oh.  and does anyone know of a good computer
program that notates what is played on a keyboard?
please send replies to mklein@s850.mwc.edu

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Date:         Wed, 4 Nov 1992 19:21:15 GMT
From:         "(Kiernan Holland)" 
Subject:      Re: Help to buy a keyboard

In article <199210280341.AA11255@tohi.DMI.USherb.CA> Dudy
 writes:
>I've seen a few models that seems to be ok. (I've seen a Kawai FS-750
>which is touch sensitive and midi for 400$can.)
>
>I don't know much about keyboards and I'd like to know if there is
>something important to check out.  I've heard about those
>upload and download between the computer and the keyboard, what's this?
>I'd like to know what I can and what I can't expect from a 500$ keyboard.

I suggest getting a MIDI-board (a dummy keyboard that has no internal
sound processing) and a Rack-mount MIDI module. In my setup I have a
Akai AX-73 which I use as a MIDI-board and a Roland MT-32 as the
MIDI-module. You could get a kayboard with the sound processing on-board
but usually some companies will stick as many buttons on the keyboard
as there is stuff in the keyboard. If you plan to perform... you'll
probably need those buttons if you want to tweak while you play...
If not... you should probably just try to get a MIDI-board and a MIDI-module
with as many features as possible. For instance, a MT-32 costs about 300
dollars now... and they have 32 voices.. a drum section and are
multi-timbre upto 8 parts. The MT-32's have some problems and
you will probably not want one but Roland has been known to
produce synths with lots and lots of goodies.

Oh ya... MT-32 has on-board reverb effects and 128 programmable patches.
The module has been around for more than 3 years and the librarians
are all over the place. And some PC games support the MT-32 directly.

Roland does have a module that has about 64 voices and it costs about
500 dollars and much more samples. A D-10/20 are good choices
too. They are a bit of performance keyboards but they have some
of the original MT-32/D-50 stuff in them. The MT-32 presets
are really only good for Orchestral arrangements and a few funky
songs... but you'll need some way of modifying the sounds before you can get
any really good synthy sounds out of it.

My Akai is a Analog synth and has only 6 voices and very few parameters
but it is really good for MIDI-boarding (since it has 73 velocity-sensitive
keys) and fat-bass, string-pads and funky-organ sounds.
The only problem is it was created before there was such a thing
as Sys-ex data... (Just joking... akai left it out in the cold).
You don't need Sys-ex data if you are just MIDI-boarding. And
you don't need after-touch capabilities becuase that takes more MIDI
bits than you need to tie your MIDI down with.

Comeone should post the definitions of the Quasi-MIDI modulation
data types... Like Mod-controller 7 is volume, 10 is panning (I think),
and 63 is the sustain pedal (I think). I have been without a
MIDI sequencer for a year so I can't really remember what all the
types were. I still use MIDI but not through use of a sequencer...
I will get one later... but now I'm seeing how well I can do
without. ;-)

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Date:         Mon, 9 Nov 1992 15:27:00 +0100
From:         JL0104@HDC.HHA.DK
Subject:      Re: synth vs. sampler

Hi
Has anyone heard about the new PC soundcards, SoundBlaster Pro 16 and Audio
 Spectrum Pro 16?
How many voices do they have?
Can you use the sampling facility from a sequencer program (Catwalk /WIN)?

JL0104@hdc.hha.dk

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