SHEPITOLOGY (www.myspace.com/shepitologist)

An open answer to psw about Korg Nanokey durability.

2008-11-22T12:30:00.000Z

Following my previous post psw asks-
“Dammit, this is just what I was worried about with the NanoKey...ever since seeing the official product images where you can see that the keys aren't aligned perfectly...

Do the keys easily pop back into place at least, or is it a catastrophic failure?

I want the black set of these Nano controllers so bad I'll probably get them all anyway and just not use the keyboard one much...how dumb is that?

Also why in the hell didn't they put a USB port on each of these and include short little cables so they could be daisy-chained? They would eat up all the USB ports on a laptop and having them running off an external hub seems to defeat the whole aesthetic of the cool little controllers, to me at least...”

As for the popping keys- it happened twice quite easily (don’t believe Ruddess who’s playing the Nano with sticks…- give me a break!).
The key just popped out.
Now, I figured out the hard way that there’s a way of putting these back as they were. However on your trial and error endeavours, you may find that you already broke it.
Another point is that you may pull out the nano from your bag to find that some bits are left in your bag…
The rubber contact just rests under the key and therefore may get lost pretty easily.

The concept is definitely good but I’m sure Yamaha would have done it much better.
As for your question why didn’t they put another USB socket at the other end of the unit, I guess they just assume that by the time you’ve plugged the other unit, the NanoKey would already be broken!

Nanokey review

2008-11-16T17:19:00.000Z

Well Korg has done it again. Another flimsy piece of shit.
It took about two extra minutes of playing after the video from last week was taken before 2 keys popped out.
As you can see, I’m not exactly bashing the keys, and still the keyboard couldn’t take it.
I guess the difference between my Nano and Jordan Rudess’ is that he can pull out another one out of his drawer.
Fortunately the Nano in my video was borrowed. I’m still looking for a tiny, no frills keyboard to plug in to my laptop. There’s something in the pipeline. Will let you know next week.
Until then here’s another deceiving video of the Nano’s durability.
Jordan over to you.

New Shepitology video- Korg nanoKey

2008-11-09T16:43:00.002Z

Me making a quick loop in FLstudio with the Korg nanoKey.
Using FPC for drums, V-Station for bass, Sytrus for arp’ed pad and SQ8L for Moog lead. Octave shifts and pitch bends are also done with little guy.
My overall impressions are quite good. It does miss the odd key press if you don’t hit it exactly at the center. Also make sure you put it on a flat surface for better control.
For the size it is incredible.

Shepitology Scoop! Korg Nano controllers also available in black

2008-10-31T08:41:00.003Z

I’m not sure which one's nicer- the black or the white. Maybe one of each…?

To be available later this year.

Customized Korg poly800II

2008-10-29T20:04:00.004Z

Found this a while back.

Someone chopped a Korg poly800II and made a questionable new midi module out of it.

"Serious mod done as you can see to convert it to a stand alone desktop MIDI contolled synth module and finished in a shocking bright orange. 2 extra pots on the front for the "moog slayer" filter cut and resonance speaker blowing ear bleeding mod. This is a serious mod and should be used with extreme caution when uping the resonance setting in the presets"

Looked good until I got to the plastic tape bit.

"Had a few questions about the case. This is not the standard case. It has been made from the original full size case, cut down and joined in the middle. Bottom has a piece of tape covering the end where there is a gap but this cant be seen and is just for cosmetics and is not holding it together"

It sold for £93.70

Jordan Rudess rockin' hard on the nanoKEY

2008-10-29T19:45:00.003Z

It’s just been my birthday for which I got a Behringer UMA25S.
It took me less than 24 hours to send it back. While it is very robust to the level of stiffness actually, the pitch bend wheel would go only up to 50% of what it should. Now while you could reprogram every midi device you got to work with this, why bother? I much prefer waiting for the Nanokey. I was concerned about playability but this video cut the deal for me. It also costs half the price of the Behringer.

New MIDI keyboard controller from “Fame”(?)

2008-10-04T15:11:00.003Z

I found out about the KX61C on the internet and couldn’t find much to read about it, other than a bit in German. Doesn’t look exciting by any means, but we love discovering new makes, don’t we?

Kaossilator Japanese commercial

2008-10-04T15:02:00.004Z

I don't have much to add, but to say that I got one of these for the special needs school I work for, and it's fantastic for disabled people. Saying that, other than the gimmick, I can't find much interest in it...

Rhodes?

2008-09-07T09:40:00.005Z

No signs for the new Rhodes.
Will it ever come out?
It’s interesting because exactly 10 years ago I decided that I’d like to have one but then found out that they’re going to relaunch a newer, sexier Rhodes any time soon. 10 years later there’s only hype videos every NAMM show but no piano.
Until then you could go for this refurb if you have £2600-

How much would you pay for an 88 controller?

2008-09-07T09:28:00.000Z

You probably noticed that Shepitology has been idle recently (for the passing last year…). Where are the glory days of July 06 where I’d post twice a day. Well I’m busy and also ran a bit out of things to say. But I still try to water this blog every once in a while. So keep on checking, yes?
Here’s another interesting ‘bay scenario.
You advertise at the right section, give the right details and check out once it’s finished how the item has faired, only to find that your CHEETAH 88 Note Midi Semi Weighted Controller Keyboard Sold for £1.24!!!
Will use reserve next time…

Was this guy joking????

2008-08-03T11:57:00.003Z

Found this on eBay and among the titles I came up with as optional for this post were “WTF?” and “the craziest eBay auction”.
This is a kid’s mini keyboard (a fore-father of the upcoming Korg nanoKeys…?)
It seems cute and crap sounding…
All is well until you notice that he wanted £2000 for it!
I’d think that the fate of this auction is quite clear.

Some nice Moogfest 2007 video coverage

2008-08-03T11:47:00.001Z

I don’t know if anyone is aware of this bunch of videos from Electronic Musician website, but these 3 clips are quite interesting.
They cover interviews with the musicians, gear-talk and some performances of Neil Alexander and Nail, Herb Deutsch, Erik Norlander, Jordan Rudess, and Thomas Dolby.
I’ve recently purchased in HMV the Moogfest 2006 DVD which made me happy as I had to miss that concert (being in the UK with work duties). I thought that that specific concert should have been particularly good as some of my ex-heroes were playing there (Keith Emerson and Jan Hammer) and some others I wouldn’t mind watching (Jordan Rudess).
In reality it seems like it was a loooong evening with some very lame performances from the Cure's incompetent Roger O'Donnell and surprisingly from Bernie Worrell who played a single 15 mins track that contained no music (and was played on a Kurzweil not Moog!).
There’s some good bits as well though- mainly Jan Hammer and Rudess.
For £10 it was okay. For £750 (inc. flight tickets and accommodation..) It could have pissed me off a bit…

New Shepitology video- Jamming in C on the Prophet '08

2008-07-06T10:58:00.001Z

Here’s the next video in my Prophet ’08 series. This was just your average, scale-running jam on the keys. The original jam was longer but for some reason when I imported it to the crap-worthy Windows Movie Maker, some of it wasn’t there.
Nothing much to add. The background loop in C is from the mictoX and the P08 runs through the Korg miniKP for some reverb and LFO based phaser effect.
Enjoy!

New Shepitology video- Africa on the Prophet’08.

2008-06-29T09:58:00.003Z

Turnkey closed down and it really broke my heart, not because I care about their business or their useless sales people, but just like everybody else, for me this was the place to check new keyboards thoroughly without being pestered by a frustrated seller. Same can be said about the deceased Soundcontrol which was an expensive shop where all items I bought from were always returned as they were faulty. It was great though as the biggest synth show room in London, though.

Anyway I happened to be rehearsing around the corner from Turnkey when they had their big sale and I scored a Korg MicroX and a DSI Prophet ’08 for ridiculous prices (…it still wasn’t as cheap as I wanted).
So here we are a month later with a short video of me playing Toto’s Africa on a brass patch. Not sure why I did it, but you guys really seem to enjoy synth porn (me to but it’s always too much work to make it).
My overall impressions? Well it sounds good and is fun to twiddle with. The keyboard is a bit stiff but has got a very good aftertouch response.
There’s another video on its way (already done- so no empty promises here) but more details in next week’s post.
Enjoy!

And speaking of Yamaha

2008-06-01T17:06:00.002Z

Another worthless gem from the trenches of the 80’s, here’s a complete Yamaha CX5m system which includes the following-

YK-10 Music Keyboard
SFG-05 II FM unit with Box and Manual
SFG-01 original FM Sound Synthesizer Unit
YRM-102 FM Voicing Program (x2)
YRM-103 DX7 Voicing Cartridge
YRM-501 FM Music Composer II
D.M.S.1 Real-Time Recorder Cartridge with Box and User Guide.
D.M.S.1 MK2 16 Track Midi Sound Recorder with Box, no Manual.
NP55140 Power Supply

This system is not as attractive as it may initially seem as the midi module inside could not be played through a MIDI keyboard (although the computer has a Midi In port for sysex transmission…!) and anyway it’s basically an equivalent of the awful DX9.

Yummy (Yammi?) set-up

2008-06-01T16:45:00.003Z

I found this bunch of pictures on Flickr a while back, and though most times I’m not into picture-based gear fetish, this one really does it for me...!
This set contains some of my favorite gear from Yamaha in my favorite condition and even the quality of the pics is great!
Click this link for a full slide show.

Talkbox play by YAMAHA QY70 micro synth

2008-05-18T10:10:00.000Z

This is the kind of video you’d expect from yours truly only that I don’t have a talk-box…

Anybody there?

2008-05-18T10:01:00.002Z

In honesty, it’s not like I’ve been that occupied with studies that I couldn’t post the odd YouTube, but when I had some time off I didn’t really feel like posting. Anyway with all university obligations behind me, I can now entertain you guys with some more useless information about keyboards that probably only I wouldn’t mind allowing into my house.

During the past months I’ve done some purchases which as always had to be bargains and here’s a little rundown-

1. Well back in October I felt like I really needed a proper workstation and I decided to go for a new end-of-line Yamaha Motif ES 6. What I liked about it was the PLG board expandability and the famous Yamaha build quality. 7 months later I can report that the synth is still working…[although the keys do develop annoying clicks (a known issue with this line of products)] and that the sounds are a bit disappointing (especially pianos) with some obvious loop points (especially pianos again…).

2. Studiologic SL990XP. This is something I didn’t really want to buy, but my piano teacher showed some concerns about my technique. After dismissing the idea of getting an acoustic piano into our small flat and not willing to waste money on a digital one, I found this 88 key master keyboard in almost mint condition for £130. It does the job although I find it difficult to adjust the velocity to somehow respond sensibly to my playing. Overall seem like a good purchase.

3. Now for some toys. I bought a circuit-bent Yamaha PSS170 which is basically identical to my precious (yet dead) PSS270, minus one speaker, a few keys and the redundant Stereo Symphonic effect. The FM based PSS keyboards have usually got one useful set which I think really turns it into a new (if somewhat unpredictable) synth. More details of this bending with sound samples here.

4. I also got the most advanced PSS of them all- the 51. it would take less time to write what it hasn’t got but here I go anyway-
• AWM sampled sounds
• Vector synth
• Drum pads
• 8 track sequencer
• Midi
• 61 midsize keys
• Dog breath (only checking if you’re awake…)
Overall it’s a positive keyboard (and cost me a ridiculous £17) but the keyboard action (yeah, yeah I know. WTF?) is WAAAAAAAAY to light which means you mustn’t breathe next to it if you don’t want it to trigger extra notes. Also another annoying problem is that Yamaha were trying so hard to make it M1-like, that the processor just can’t handle the burden. This means that when you play a whole backing arrangement you really get sloppy timing...
(ugly carpet not ours).

5. A new stylophone. Don’t really like it but maybe I should give it some time and effects…

I’m very happy with my purchases and now that I got some time to fiddle with them, expect (though not with baited breath) some videos.
Next week- the items I didn’t keep…

What's up

2008-04-27T17:25:00.001Z

Hi!
Sorry! I know I've been neglecting my loyal readers big time recently and it's all because of my recent end-of-year Uni obligations. In two weeks it'll be over and then I'll be back with the usual stories.
See you soon,
G

A new Wurli?

2008-03-16T10:34:00.003Z

Recently I noticed some ads on eBay selling mint/new keyboards that you’d most likely expect to look like a tip. There was a DX7IID in as new condition with the original box which sold for about 400GBP.
However this item is by far the most remarkable-

" This auction is for a Stunning vintage Wurlitzer Electic Piano model 206A ( same as the 200 and 200A model ) in rare cream colour … This Wurlitzer is in absolutley MINT condition , It's like new !!!! The action is fantastic and feels brand new , it's a real pleasure to play. The keys are like new with no flaws or chips , they are totally level and uniform over all the octaves and there is no slack in the play at all , the feel is wonderfull. The cabinet and lid are in superb condition with hardly a mark on it , it must have been wrapped in cotton wool since new and hardly used , the insides are also like new , it also comes with the original music stand . This model has built in vibrato , sustain pedal and sits on it's original 2 x 10 inch speaker cabinet which sounds much better than the standard smaller lid mounted speakers . Audio output is on a 1/4 inch jack. The keyboard was originally a 110 volt version but I had my technician convert it to 240 volts so there is no need for a transformer , it plugs straight into the UK mains. The sound is fantasic with no hum or unwanted noise and it has been totally checked over prior to listing. The vibrato is working as it should and sounds wonderful . It is in tune and ready to use. If you are looking at this I guess you know all about the legandary sound of the Wurlitzer and this is probably one of the best example you are likely to find anywhere..”

Now enjoy the pictures (it had a BIN of 1200 GBP, but not for too long...)-

Looping on the Yamaha vss30

2008-03-16T10:13:00.003Z

I mentioned before that I managed to get hold of a Yamaha VSS30 sampler for 10 GBP which is a steal. I haven’t been using it much though, I guess due to lack of time.
This video made me realise some of the stuff possible with the little guy. I should try it soon. Something for my ‘to do’ list…

Jeff Lorber

2008-02-19T23:50:00.001Z

There’s a lot to be said about Jeff Lorber’s music but why bother? ;0)
I like it although it is a bit over accurate at times and hence can be cheesy (think a mid 90’s Korg demo…).
I recently found this very nice and rare video on youtube where Jeff and co provides fantastic playing and awful hairdos! With Chad Wackerman (of Zappa’s legacy) on drums and some great Kawai EP308 electric grand action.
I believe that the keyboard on top is a Yamaha KX1 MIDI’d to a DX7.
Hope you like it.

Imitation (sampling) is the biggest form of flattery

2008-02-19T23:37:00.002Z

I made this video about 18 months ago at the heydays of my first dx7

and recently someone posted this as a response-

I feel violated…

Blackstreet Dx100 + talkbox solo

2008-02-03T11:17:00.000Z

I was waiting for this video to show up for a while. Apparently I just didn’t search for it properly.
An okay track but with very nice live Yamaha DX100 + talkbox action (and there are also 4 keyboard players!...).
And the question for the week is who ripped off whom?
Was this track first made by Blacksteet

or 2pac?

Answer here-

Another Family Guy classic moment.

2008-02-03T11:08:00.000Z

It’s not like this blog has turned into everything Family Guy but this is another funny piece and the song itself is great…

So here you have it. Back to synthology.

Brian Griffin plays the SHS10

2008-01-20T12:46:00.000Z

I talked before about the overrated Yamaha SHS10 keytar (here and also here). These things just sell for ridiculous amounts of money on eBay (100-150+ GBP). Saying that, I just realized one of the most famous users of this keyboard and this changed my whole view of it- Brian Griffin (playing a Rick Astley classic, no less…)

DIY MIDI module

2008-01-06T12:23:00.000Z

Here’s a neat idea. Get an old Yamaha PSS51 (which is already MIDI’d and got a little vector synth) get rid of the keyboard, stick the rest on a piece of wood and sell it for double the price.

This little guy fetched almost 70 GBP on eBay recently.

The thing is that while this post started in a sarcastic tone I just realised that I wouldn’t mind one...

Fortnightly brief

2008-01-06T12:14:00.000Z

Well I got the DX7 and that Supermax expansion is just fantastic! It’s much better than the E! nonsense card which mainly tries to turn one of the first MIDI keyboards into a cutting edge MIDI mother (unsuccessfully).
The Supermax basically turns the DX7 into a new synth with arpeggio, MIDI delay and layering. Another great feature is the ability to morph (in an 80’s kind of way) between up to 4 programs using the wheels, touch or just randomly.
The result? Like a really musical circuit bending.
In general the keyboard looked mint to me, both cosmetically and operationally but the touch and aftertouch weren’t that great. When I opened the key chassis this is what I found...

Anyways now it’s cleaned and sorted I’ll post a video soon.
…just need to finish that uni assignment.

George Duke

2007-12-25T13:40:00.000Z

The Guru.
Unfortunately there aren’t many quality videos of him on youtube. But this one is really good.
He’s playing here Brazilian Love Affair and Zappa’s Echidna's Arf with a very nice lineup inc. Gordon Campbell on drums and Robert Brookins on keys.
I saw him (and met him) with this lineup a few years ago at the Jazz Café and the gig was incredible.
Don’t miss it.

DX7. Again?!

2007-12-25T13:21:00.000Z

Season's greetings everyone.
Now I need to confess- I’ve been bad. Really bad (in a nerdy kind of way).
I really missed my old yet famous DX7 and everybody (i.e. me) knew that it’ll make a comeback at some point (just like the Spice Girls).
It all started when I bought recently the fantastic book- The Complete DX7, by Howard Massey. For no practical reason. After all I don’t even have a DX7 anymore.
But I knew it’s a bit like browsing in a baby clothing shop. It’s never without a reason…
Then I couldn’t resist an ad I saw for a DX7 mark1 with the rare Supermax upgrade+ case+ 5 cartridges (never mind the price…).
Now I don’t want to start hyping about it before I have it (thoroughly checked), but considering all is well I’ll elaborate and obviously Youtube the marvel.

Ho, DX7, DX7. God only knows why I’m so enchanted by you (and your pathetic siblings), but this video of Kris Pooley showing around his gear for the Gwen Stefani tour certainly didn’t help.
(I can’t link directly so just browse through).

New Shepitology video- Yamaha DX100 Jam (The Best Mini Keys of All Time- part 2)

2007-12-09T12:46:00.000Z

A new Shep video was due and as part of my “The Best Mini Keys of All Time” chart, I decided to dedicate an entry to my trustworthy DX100.
I bought mine about 10 years ago, when the idea of expanding one’s arsenal of sounds for free was unperceivable (i.e cracked VSTi’s…). Someone was selling it for peanuts and I thought this would be great- an FM synth, portable, could be also used as a MIDI controller- I can’t go wrong. I ended up paying double for repairing the faulty bugger.
Since then I gigged a lot with this keyboard and recorded it and it never failed me. However I have a love-hate relationship with this synth because sometimes listening to the 4-op, uninspiring, dry sounds can be a real joy killer. However, as long as you’ve got even a tiny source of other sound such as drums, another synth etc. it can be very fresh and lovely.
In this video I’m doing my usual drill- a drum loop + bass and EP sounds provided by the DX100. Then I’m just flicking through mainly my own programs that I created along the years. I also do some on the fly programming- who said FM programming was a nightmare? No fancy audio processing. I ran the DX through the Korg mini KP for reverb and at the end of the video for manual gating FX.
Hope you enjoy it. I think it’s quite good, but what do I know…

yet another commercial

2007-12-02T17:36:00.000Z

Yamaha were advertising this home studio setup back in the 80’s (the X`ART100). This rig includes the DX100 synth, RX21 drum machine, QX21 sequencer, CMX1 multitrack recorder and KS10 monitors.
I don’t get the point of the DX demo- this synth has never produced these piano tones.

The Best Mini Keys of All Time- part 1

2007-12-02T17:21:00.000Z

Hey all.
Sorry for the long absence- a mixture of uni project and seasonal illness.
Anyways I decided to run here a little chart of my own of the best mini keyboards and first on my list is a keyboard I don’t actually own.
It’s the Casio PT7. The best demo for this bastard can be viewed here-

Sounds good, eh?
Amazingly this particular model fetches ridiculous amount of money on eBay (I saw 2 separate ones that sold for more than $250 each!). Not sure how playable the membrane keyboard is, though.

Casio CZ101 TV commercial

2007-11-04T12:29:00.000Z

I posted in the past TV commercials off youtube for the Yamaha DX100 and Casio SK1. I just found this one for the Casio CZ101 with someone that looks like the same twat from the MT100 ad.

I had a CZ101 in the past and it sounded great but I wasn’t happy with its condition so I got rid of it. Maybe one day…

The New England Synthesizer Museum videos

2007-11-04T11:32:00.000Z

This is a really nice bunch of videos from Brainwashed through Matrixsynth- a visit at the New England Synth Museum. It’s interesting, got some rare vintage items in it with some amusing stories from the guy who “runs the place”. On the other hand, however, I could really see this happening to me- travelling for hours to see some exhibits in the only US synth museum, just to find a pile of junk under a leaking roof, 3.74 items plugged in and a guide who looks like he's going to pounce at me any minute.
…I think it’s safer and cheaper to watch this instead.

Roland Fantom-X video

2007-10-28T12:24:00.001Z

This is a nice demo of the Fantom.
What's good about it is the quality of results this guy gets from the keyboard.
...And he's a good musician.

Hohner- what were they thinking

2007-10-28T11:55:00.000Z

I metioned in the past the re-badged Casio keyboards under the Hohner moniker as in this example and this one.

But I mean this keyboard is a bit too ridiculous to re-badge...

Electric pianos you (probably) never heard of (II)

2007-10-28T10:48:00.000Z

Here we are with part 2 of my keyboards you never heard of (and justifiably so…).
In this post I’ve got a few keyboards that are not pianos per se but still are quite limited with their sounds and appeal.
First up is the Kostler Harmophon which is an electric powered key instrument with one sound. A fan blows air through the instrument and apparently it is very audible. I’d say the main difference between this and the cheaper, more common Bontempi keyboards, is that this one was aimed at professional musicians.

Next up is an instrument that a lot of us have thought at some point “someone should invent this”- an electronic melodica. The Hohner-made Electra Melodica was manufactured in 1967. This is a 3 octave, monophonic instrument with two oscillators, a variable filter, an EG and a vibrato with delay. Its volume is breath-controlled and it can also be transposed over 9 octaves.

Last for today is the late '60s Hohner Electra-Piano. It’s got a tube amp and four speakers mounted inside. Internally, the ElectraPiano strikes a vibrating reed to create the sound (like the Wurli). It was heavily used by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.

...and one more thing

2007-10-14T15:22:00.000Z

Check out Tim Kaiser's fantastic self-made instruments. He's apparently an experimental musician who has also got great talent for creating musical gear out of nothing.

For example this one-
"The HL-1958 Synth is a 20 key synth with envelope filter, 1 second looping delay (that also does flange, double, echo, etc.) and a dual-voice brain. Contols for sustain and pitch warp. And of course a classic analog meter to go with the classic analog sound. Now out in Los Angeles..."Click the link for a lot more including sounds samples.

Electric pianos you (probably) never heard of (I)

2007-10-14T15:09:00.000Z

I went on a gig last Sunday to watch a few disposable groups. The music was pointless for the most part but one of the keyboard players came on stage with a tiny suitcase, put it on a stand, plugged in just an amp, and there it was- electric piano sound that was something between a Wurli and a Rhodes. That was the last time I heard the guy. As soon as the others started playing his sound was gone. It was a Hohner Pianet T.
This brings me to this post. I collected along time information about electric pianos which are NOT a Wurlitzer, Rhodes or Hohner and that I didn’t know exist or just heard about them vaguely.

Here are some of them.
First is the Crumar electric baby grand.

It features 12 different(analog?) preset sounds
…which can be tweaked using the built in tremolo, filter, treble , bass, keyboard sensitivity, detune (chorus) and volume.
There’s a sustain pedal input.
The legs are removable
It has built in speaker and a choice of outputs for external amplification.

Our next model is the Bentley EP-6 Electric Piano (electro- mechanical?)

This instrument is 49" wide, 39" tall and 20" deep.
It has 73 full size keys.
The control panel has slider controls for volume, tone and bass volume.
Switches between bass/piano and piano/harpsichord/honky-tonk sounds.
Control panel also houses the power on/off switch and a 1/4" socket for headphones.
This instrument can be moved by one person.

Last is Kawai Electric Grand EP608 which is an amplified electric/acoustic piano

Has a built in tremolo effect and a 3 tone selector (seems to be 3 mode EQ)
Has built in piezzo pickup and amplification.
Only one string per note

Here’s a video of the KAWAI EP705 which is the same thing in different cabinet.

you may also be interested in...

2007-10-01T18:27:00.000Z

Jordan Rudess is endorsing yet another keyboard. This time it’s the Roland VP550 or as he puts it “Watch as Jordan demonstrates various possibilities using the Roland VP-550 synthesizer.”(Click the pic for the link)

Here’s a studio tour with ATB, which in case you haven’t heard of, you have definitely been violated by his music (I chose on purpose the most annoying rendition I could find…then again it doesn’t sound that far-off). It’s in German but there are subtitles.

gear news

2007-10-01T18:21:00.000Z

Hi guys

I know I neglected you recently but I was busy back at work and just got back to uni today.

I sold last night the sy77 with the backlight uninstalled for 200GBP so yet again I had a lil’ profit after all the heart ache with this one. I got a mint boxed VSS30 for 10.50GBP and it’s quite better than the VSS200 I used to have. You can make very nice ambient sounds and you can use the sampling parameters on the built in sounds for a bit of a synthesis. A video is coming your way soon.

I uploaded my old DX7 sounds to the DX200 and it’s almost fully compatible, only adding a few “embellishments” on the way…

Here are 2 videos I found quite a while ago for the AN200 (which I sold) and the DX200 and I think they give you quite a good idea (and sound quality) of what these machines are capable of.

Scoop! The new stylophone is coming!

2007-09-18T22:45:00.000Z

Remember some people doubted me when I told about the new sylophone? Well guess what, it’s out in October and will cost 14.95GBP.
You can pre-order it here.
Next time learn to believe to Shepit.

My current setup

2007-09-08T15:14:00.000Z

Here are my recent rig’s pictures.
I sold a few things recently-
• The Alesis QS6.1 (replaced by the X-Station61)
• The Yamaha AN200 (replaced by the DX200, which also going to cover the…)
• Yamaha SY77. Yes, I’m going to sell it because I didn’t manage to get it to the state I wanted. I may replace it one day with the TG77, but not yet.
• I sold my Korg NX5R and replaced it with a Wavestation SR, which I love. While in NY I was considering getting the Korg Legacy Digital Collection to have those Wavestation sounds. I managed to find it for as cheap as 75 GBP, but then realized it’s a waste of money because they’re using the dreaded USB dongle and I knew that I much prefer having something more tangible. Then I found this one for 100 GBP, which I think is a much better investment.
So here’s my collection. I’ve got a few other bits in the wardrobe but nothing important. I may do another post for that…

Personal notes

2007-09-08T11:58:00.000Z

I got back to work this week and found it quite exciting. I’ve got a few new students (in case you don’t know I’m a special needs music teacher and a Jazz degree student).
I got for our students a Yamaha EZ-AG which is a self teach guitar (by Yamaha’s definition) and a digital MIDI guitar (by my definition). I thought it’s great for some of my less-able students as they’d be able to strum without worrying about the chords (these can be programmed in advance). It arrived yesterday and seems interesting, although I didn’t have much time with it.

My MySpace page is picking up slowly (although I didn’t do anything to advertise it anywhere, but here), but I got a few nice comments from people who read this blog so here’s an opportunity to answer to everyone in one go.

In the last few years I haven’t considered seriously issuing an album of my own music because I wouldn’t do it if I can’t gig with the music and have time to promote it. Now, I think that realistically it’s not like my stuff is going to sell by the truckload, especially with my lack of knowledge of how to push it. It’s more likely that I’ll start my own band (soon, I hope) and sell some stuff on our gigs and also make it available on the internet or something.
Unfortunately I don’t create music as much as I should (?) for a few reasons-

1. First and foremost I consider myself a player and not a composer. I think there’s an unconscious expectancy that if one has high-tech equipment he must create tracks with it instead of just tinker with it, which I love doing.
2. Some sort of laziness/boredom/lack of time/inspiration.
3. Unlike some people I know, I don’t like forcing out meaningless tracks just to have a bigger catalogue of crap.
4. Like most people, I’ve got tons of half-baked tracks on my hard drive that when I get back to them, they seem too boring to be developed.

I’m sure most of you can relate to what I’m saying, but saying all of the above, I do have creative phases every now and then, where I churn out much more stuff than my usual quota.

I’m on myspace

2007-09-02T17:56:00.000Z

Now I’m officially part of the community. I had to join initially just because otherwise I couldn’t access some of the content on the website.
Then I decided to facilitate it as a business card if needed. Also some people asked me for a link where they can listen to my stuff. So here it is.

For now there are only 2 track segments of mine.
First one “Sunshine” is a track I created based around the vocal track of Lil' Flip and Lea, baring the same name. I created there everything else.
The other track is “Grondo- TV theme version” and it’s an original piece of mine which was written for a non-existent 70’s police TV show. Maybe this is the place to tell you that Grondo is a meaningless word that I just used as a temporary name for this track and never bothered to change it. Since then I’ve been using it as my user name as well.
I’ll add some more stuff soon and keep you guys posted on any news in this regard.
Here’s the link. Feel free to drop me a line with your feedback.

New SY77 Video. 48 patches in 5 minutes.

2007-08-24T14:29:00.000Z

Here’s the promised video of some sounds of the SY77.

These are off the “Best of DX” floppy, which I really like.

There’s not much to say, other that the fact that I managed to run through 48 patches in 5 minutes. I ran it through the miniKP for reverb, accompanied by a drum loop just to give it some structure.

I’d say in general that this synth is much clearer and punchier than the DX7 and I haven’t even covered what the SY77 can add to the party (effects, filters, PCM, etc.).

Hope you’ll enjoy it.

Interesting recent eBay finds

2007-08-24T13:53:00.000Z

Here are a few things I bumped into recently on eBay.
I think all 3 look great, but aren't doing this great on the auditory side.

The first one is the Hohner ADAM which looks a bit like one of those keyboards the world may have missed a’ la Hartmann (who incidentally designed this keyboard too) but from what I read it’s a slice of crap.
Second one is another lavish keyboard, this time a 3 manual Wurlitzer organ (630TA). Would look cool in Liberace’s living room.

Third keyboard is the vintagest. It looks cool and makes no sound. It’s a rare Victorian mahogany practise piano keyboard by Chappell & Co of London.

None of the keyboards did sell BTW.

The SY77 diaries

2007-08-13T00:46:00.000Z

In case you’ve wondered how’s it going with my SY77 refurbish project, I’m afraid to say that not as good as I expected (hey, I never claimed to be a technician).

I opened it 2 weeks ago and started taking it apart. Now there are quite a few boards inside and a huge pile of spaghetti. I got down to the LCD board, pulled it out and soldered the new backlight strip in place. In trembling hands I connected everything back and…lo and behold everything worked... other than the backlight.

I asked over in some forums and they said that I needed to remove the old solder before soldering the light strip, so I opened the synth again got the LCD out. Removed the old remnants of solder and redid everything. Everything worked perfectly but the backlight.

I decided I would just pull the new strip out and close back the synth. I disassembled the synth yet again and removed the light strip. Closed it back, turned it on and I got this really annoying, TV-like whine. I said to myself I might as well remove the power lead that goes to the display as than it may stop. You know the drill…assembled everything back, the whine had stopped but so’s the display!

Opened it again put everything back, accepting the fact that it will whine from now on, turned on the keyboard, it didn’t work at all.

I thought I’ve had it. In order to entertain this blog, I’ve ruined a 200GBP synth. I opened it one more time and reconstructed everything. Now it was fine (still whining, though).

I contacted the seller of the light strip to ask if I could check the strip with a battery and then she asked me-“did you make sure that the pink side of the strip is facing the front?”...

…by this you understand that I soldered it twice the wrong way around, but now I can’t be bothered to open the synth again!

Tidbits part 2

2007-08-13T00:12:00.000Z

Here’s another batch of things that aren’t worth having their own individual posts, but some of you may find interesting.

1. The music gadgets blog is another blog that recycles news you can read everywhere else and most of it isn’t about synths, but still there’s some nice pictures every now and then.

2. The Zenriffer is a new grotesque keytar that claims to have an 88 key range on a two octave keyboard (“wow”…) and a wireless transmitter, but most importantly it looks “cool”…(give me a break…). They’ve got quite a lot of endorsees including the new Geoff Downes (i.e. he would endorse basically anything as long as he can have one for free), Mr. Jordan Rudess.
How much? A mere $3900 just for the fucking keyboard. Next!

3. Someone was selling recently on ebay a mint Yamaha CS50 for 475 GBP and by these pics it looks like quite a bargain. Then again I don’t know much about this keyboard pricing.

I’m sorry about the sarcastic tone of this post.
…well, not really….

Another surprising drum solo

2007-08-07T23:31:00.000Z

...And speaking of drum solos, here’s a rare drum performance by Mr. Morris. It’s quite good by itself and AMAZING if you consider everything else he can do…

Don’t be deterred by the annoying message. I tried to embed it but to no avail. Go and watch it on youtube and see you soon (the pic is link).

OT- really young drummers

2007-08-05T19:04:00.000Z

2 videos of young drummers. One is 2 and the other one is 4. It’s nice to see that they’ve got natural groove, as their lack of ability makes them play laid-back.
Unfortunately I played with less able drummers in my life…way too many times (and this is not a joke).

TOTO

2007-08-05T18:23:00.000Z

I’m back from NY and that was a good and humid trip.
For a start I’d say that I watched a gig every night and some were really good while others were just okay. Nothing was crap. The Radio City’s Anita Baker concert was disappointing as I couldn’t hear very well, sitting at the right side of the hall. All I heard were some barks and muffled music. Unfortunately the Prince experience was a bit the same, as the echo in the O2 was unbearable. But more of that maybe in a later post.
By far the best gig I’ve seen recently was the TOTO one at the B B King Blues Club.
Disappointingly these days it’s very difficult to spot any original TOTO members in their concerts and the current missing members were Mike Porcaro (who’s injured his hand) and David Paich (which apparently retired from live work). Their duties were taken by Lee Sklar and Greg Phillinganes, respectively. I was lucky enough to be rude (successfully) and cut through the long queues and watch the gig sitting by a table, really close to stage.
They played most of their hits and unashamedly plugged their newer stuff. Predictably, most members of the audience were musos who had this in-joke with Steve Lukather, where they’d shout “Luke” in a low tone so it would sound as if they’re booing him, and he would play it coy. This guy is BTW very arrogant and has some abusive sense of humor but he’s a gifted musician so it’s easy to forgive him.
There’s a lot of hype about Simon Phillips and I’m not sure why. While he’s a good drummer he sometimes tends to take on solos that are a bit beyond his ability and a lot of rim-shots and cross-sticks can be heard while they shouldn’t.
Greg Pillinganes is a very good player and doesn’t seem to work hard to get all the famous solos right. However as Paich is not there, he sang Africa, and that shouldn’t have happened.
Here’s a picture of his excessive current rig and following that is their performance at the Proms in 2003 playing Hold the Line with a huge orchestra.

Jane Child- have you ever heard of her?

2007-07-22T10:40:00.000Z

In Feb I bought from America a (huge) stash of old Keyboard magazines because as you know by now the 80’s-mid 90’s is my favourite synth era.
In 1990 Jane Child gave an interview to ROBERT L. DOERSCHUK (which you can read here) and annoyed a lot of the readers with her womanising Madonna approach (i.e “want to become a successful woman? Ask me how”).
By looking at her pic on the cover I thought she’s probably another pointless goth to be mocked by Beavis and Butthead (as they probably did) but I checked out her stuff and it’s not that bad.
At least the music got some brain behind it.
So watch this video and if you lose interest there’s a Fairlight solo (which wasn’t really recorded on a Fairlight) played by Jane.
I checked her website and since then she lost the spikes (but also her audience).
Rob you gonna love it- there's some HEAVY Prince influence (to put it mildly...).

EDIT-here's another version of the song, bizarrely performed by a cross-dresser. good impressions, though.

SY77 first impressions

2007-07-22T10:25:00.001Z

Here I am again on the same weekend posting some more. Well that’s because it’s summer time (British weather jokes aside please) and I’ve got some time to dedicate to Shepitology.

Sascha,

My initial impression of the SY77 is that it’s one of the best kept synth secrets around and the reason is- when people saw it back in 1990 they expected it to be a workstation (as in “where’s the piano sample?”). I think Yamaha back then (and that’s a criticism I held against them for a long while) also thought that they’ve got a winner compared to the M1, VFX et al. The samples BTW are awful!

Yamaha was so excited about implementing multisampling for the first time into their pro line that they didn’t emphasized enough that it was in fact their best ever FM machine which also got effects, drums, sequencer and oh…samples too.

Historically this was the point where Yamaha started losing their fans big time and if you think about it they didn’t pick up until they issued the MOTIF series.

Now, a lot of people are getting the SY77 as a cheap way to expand their sound palette but I think that most synth freaks realize fairly soon that this is not a repackaged DX7 but actually the best sounding FM keyboard around (excluding the SY99 that is).

The sounds are crispy but have got some analogish qualities (warmth and fatness). If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know that I can’t stand it when one of my keyboards malfunctions, yet here I got a battered machine but decided to keep it.

I guess that says a lot.

As for programming- it is much easier compared to the DX7 because it’s got a bigger LCD and you’ve also got a filter that will shortcut most of the chores you had to face when balancing the operators (usually unsuccessfully). The other thing is that a lot of the presets kinda’ suck so get hold of some patches and try them out- you won’t believe how varied they are! I checked the Best of DX floppy and while being totally DX authentic it sounded so much better!

I’ll start (and document) my SY refurbishment work in Aug so expect pictures and some more blah from me.

Whatever you do, hold on to it (at least until I posted a video).

Grondo2001

Shepitology is one.

2007-07-21T12:12:00.001Z

A year ago, inspired by the flood of music blogs (some better than others), I decided to create my own keyboard related blog.
15,500 visitors later here we are. I wanted to thank all my readers for your support- it’s always great to read your feedback.
With a new blog format for year 2 and some ideas for online treats, here’s for another Shepitology year full of cheap gear and amateur videos… ;0)

Shepitology news brief.

2007-07-21T12:04:00.000Z

I’m off to NY for a week for a musically-themed holiday. So far I booked tickets to see Anita Baker and TOTO, but I’m planning to watch something every night.
The Steely Dan gig was AWESOME. I was quite surprised because in interviews these two can come through as a bit of arrogant assholes, but they were very friendly and grateful- and the band was tight.
Imagine how exciting it is to hear one-to-one renditions to all those fantastic tracks live.

Now for some shocking news- the DX7 got sold a few months ago, because the E! upgrade didn’t work properly and things went down the hill from there, so I got a refund for the E! card and I sold the DX for quite a profit (with the backlit LCD). I was looking for an FM fix in the forms of the newer DX7 mkII but then I saw the ultimate dx7- that’s the YAMAHA SY77, for sale for 200GBP.
The SY was allegedly in mint condition and comes with a card set and loads of floppies with sounds.
When it came it was thrown in a fucked-up box wrapped in nothing and had some scratches and dents. The seller denied sending it in that condition, and offered me a refund. However although it was in a bad condition and smelled like an ashtray, I fell in love with keyboard- I just love FM! The seller refunded me a few pounds to fix the keyboard (the backlight is dead) but otherwise everything is in good working order.
So my summer project is to turn the SY77 into a Shepit-standard keyboard. I just got a replacement backlight so I’ll look into it once I’m back. Expect updates with pictures soon.
…oh and a video.

Tidbits Part 1

2007-07-15T19:11:00.000Z

Now, I’ve accumulated quite a few tidbits that I haven’t got much to say about but you may still find them somehow worth those 2 minutes you put into them.

So here goes part 1

This keyboard was selling on eBay a few weeks ago. Now this is nothing new- Casio have rebadged their professional 80’s line with a Hohner badge or should I say that Hohner have licensed Casio technology.

Anyway this is the Casio top of the range VZ1 rebadged as HS2. I like the quality of the machine and the pics. It sold for 100 GBP.

This guy here is demoing some D50 patches that supposed to sound like Jean Michel Jarre’s presets. I don’t know Jarre’s stuff but the sound quality is good if you were looking for some D50 sound samples.

And speaking of Casio’s line of synthesizers, there’s this website that gives you a rundown of the synthesis capabilities of the CZ series if you were looking for one...

SCOOP! Could there be a new stylophone?

2007-07-05T20:36:00.000Z

I was flicking through some music catalogue I got for school (I’m not revealing the dealer) and there it was- a new stylophone with 3 different sounds (!) and an MP3 feature- whatever that means.
Couldn’t see anything on their website though.

Edit-
Some assholes on Matrixsynth think this is a hoax and this was my answer to them-
" Thanks for the credit guys!
I don't know about you but I respect my readers and don't put bullshit on my blog.
the reason I'm not revealing the shop is because I don't want to generate any business for them and I'm the same when posting interesting items off ebay.
If I was to put a hoax on my blog I wouldn't put such a lame product as the Stylophone."

polyphonic beat-boxing (well almost)

2007-07-05T20:27:00.001Z

Watch this!

Bent DR110

2007-07-01T21:31:00.000Z

This is another good CB video- this time in French.
The DR110 drum machine is analog but still runs on batteries which allows a lot of nice mods to be added.
This example not only provides tone controls (in a very clean installation) but also midi in and out that provides time sync.
While I don’t understand what they’re saying I agree with every word ;0)

PT80+DS7

2007-07-01T21:12:00.000Z

I mentioned circuit bending on the blog before and I still find it very hard to find something worthwhile. It’s either plane white noise throbbing in an annoying way or pitch shifted bleeps.
Saying that, this video is probably one of the best ones I came across. It’s a circuit-bent Casio PT80 which controls the Coron DS7 which “is a little analog percussion synthesizer from the 80's made by CORON. This drumsynth was dedicated to drummers: the DS7 was fixed on the border of a drum to be played/triggered by hitting the drum”.
You can find more about the Coron DS7 here and there are even schematics how to build your own.

One of my favorite keyboard solos played by the one and only…

2007-06-24T10:48:00.000Z

Tommy Mars.
I’ve been waiting for someone to upload this video for a long time.
From the movie baby snakes, Tommy plays a solo for Pound for a Brown.
Featured on this are the Yamaha CP electric grand, a Minimoog and the Electrocomp EML101.

Quite awesome. I haven’t seen anyone else behaving like that on stage (without getting sacked…).

Huh?

2007-06-24T10:47:00.000Z

I was checking out the Synthfool website for any updates and this is what came up…

Spooky!

The prettiest keytar

2007-06-24T10:44:00.000Z

Was selling recently on ebay. I can’t help but think that even with something like that you’d like an asshole!

I remember a few years ago I was trying to play my DX100 in our living room with the strap on, just to see how it feels.
My wife passed by….she couldn’t stop laughing…

New Shepit synth video

2007-06-17T09:51:00.000Z

It’s been on the cards for a while now- a new Shepitology video.

This is the Yamaha MM6 which I LOVE. Excellent sounds and it’s very well laid out. People (i.e. mostly synth players who CAN’T play) complain that you can’t edit the sounds, but big fu***ng deal- I got rid of so many keyboards that were ‘sound manglers’ heaven’ and sounded absolutely shite! (Alesis Micron anyone?)
I jammed for about 10 minutes and condensed it down to this 7 minutes video. This one shows mainly the keyboard sounds and it’s fed straight into the computer with no extra treatment. Please realize that youtube takes the sound quality to new lows…

Hope it was worth the wait.

Talkboxing II

2007-06-09T18:21:00.000Z

There are a lot of DIY talkbox videos on youtube and most of them are bad (as in crap). This guy though is doing an okay job although it’s about 5 minutes longer that it should.

Now I’m not sure why people feel that to use a talkbox one must use a dx100. Interestingly you could do the same with this keyboard which usually fetches £5.

As usual enjoy.

(There’s a much better talkboxing below…)

Stevie talkboxing

2007-06-09T18:16:00.000Z

Stevie you’re the dog!

I know this guy can make music out of drying paint but each time I see him doing something creative with his stuff I’m amazed anew.

Nothing to be added.

Click picture to watch link.

PIMP mY synTh II

2007-06-01T20:03:00.000Z

For some reason I still love my DX7 and I decided recently to pimp it further.
I got an illuminated display and the Grey Matter Response E! upgrade for it second hand.
I also decided to change the lithium battery as it hasn’t been changed for almost 25 years!!!

So Tuesday was a bit nerve wrecking as I installed all 3 with the assistance of a techy friend. The easiest bit was installing the display which demands attention but no need for soldering.

Then the battery which is soldered to the motherboard and is very annoying to release, but we got that out of the way too.
The main problem was the E! card which takes very delicate soldering, but once we got that out of the way we thought we’re done. Man, were we wrong.

After a lot of head scratching I wasn’t sure why the memory doesn't work properly.
All memory related functions I tried to execute didn't work. I couldn’t save anything to memory as it would turn into garbage both on the display and sound wise. I also couldn't save certain settings (e.g. don't transmit program change). During those very annoying few days I managed to iron out most problems but one- 8 banks of the 10 weren’t usable for the above mentioned reason. After emailing half the world (and being ignored by most of them) I opened the DX and re-fitted the card…That cleared its memory from all the digital rubbish and now it’s perfect.

I’ll post again to tell you what the card does.

BTW don’t bother asking me where they sell these cards, because as far as I know they don’t. Just keep your eyes peeled on eBay and you may get lucky.

DX7 on the road

2007-06-01T19:25:00.001Z

Talking about the DX7, I was watching American Idol for the last few weeks, which is 1000 times better than the X-Factor crap (the English equivalent). Now while the American Idol could be also considered the Cheese Factor at least they’ve got a great band with that big, polished American sound.

Now, I had 2 observations-
1. That a certain contestant looked like a famous animation figures…

2. More importantly, Gwen Stefani’s keyboard player Kristopher Pooley is using the DX7 mk1 (“for those 80's sounds”) on her tour. I noticed that when she sang her 4 In The Morning live. Initially I thought I was imagining but this interview with him confirmed my suspicions.

Yamaha CS01-ii

2007-05-29T12:43:00.000Z

I once borrowed a Yamaha CS01-ii from a guy I knew. This keyboard is surprisingly capable of useful sounds- bass, leads and SFX. Something about non-programmable keyboards just make you more creative with them and this what I liked about this keyboard.

I tried to convince the guy that it’s worthless and that I’d relieve him from this pointless item with a “huge” amount of money (30GBP). It didn’t work but by then I got my microKorg so I felt I didn’t really need it.

In this video you listen to a track made completely with the CS01-ii including the drums- impressive.

In the words of peahix "All the sounds (drums too) are from my old monophonic Yamaha CS01-II, which I had retrofitted with CV/Gate jacks and plugged into a Kenton Pro Solo midi/cv box. I bounced each part from midi to audio one by one in Cubase, mixed with some effects. Maybe I'll develop this into a complete song someday, for now it was just a quick experiment to see what a full arrangement using the CS01-II would sound like."

Shep's Briefing

2007-05-29T12:04:00.000Z

So exams are over and I’ve got a lot to write about.

Ironically I didn’t have much time to play during my studies this year (BA Jazz in case you don’t know). When I came back from my home visit I was so busy writing the f****** essay and research log that I learned all the jazz standards for my performance exam 3 days before the exam. I did okay by the way.

Next year I’m expanding my music teaching hours in the special needs school and I’ll be also working in very interesting musical project in a main stream school for a few hours a week which is great!

I’m going to see Chick Corea and Steely Dan by the end of June and I must admit that I’m regarding the Corea’s concert as something I must watch rather than want to watch. There are certain musicians that I just think I must see before I die but I’m not a huge a fan of- he is one of them.
…Steely Dan however- I just love them!
I’ll obviously share how those went.

Here’s the making of Josie- really worth watching!

Just saying hello

2007-05-13T00:11:00.001Z

Hey guys.
I’m still busy. Performance exam is this week. We need to play 10 jazz standards pulled out of a hat and we need to make an arrangement with arbitrary musicians in 5 minutes.
Now we know what the standards are but it’s still a bit nerve wrecking.
In addition I’ve got a skills test this week where I need to sight read and some other bits and bobs and that’s even before handing in my essay and research log!
I’m also working meanwhile so I’m fully occupied with annoyances, but it’s all for becoming a better musician in my home-made youtube videos.
…I remember I owe you a few.

business as usual

2007-05-13T00:03:00.000Z

BTW I’ve done some more gear changes. Sold some stuff and obviously got some other bits in instead.
I fell a bit like carbon111, but after all that’s the reason why we all meet here, don’t we?
Anyway here goes-

I sold
• 2 VSS200 (which I bought initially just to make some profit (wasn’t profitable as expected…)
• Roland XV2020 (remember the one I got for £26, well I sold it for much more!)
• Going to sell Access Virus KC

I bought
• Creative Prodikeys USB version for £25 (…oh well)
• Yamaha AN200
• And most importantly mint condition Virus TI desktop for £699!!! (this will replace the Virus KC).
Reports are on their way, just let me finish with my obligations and a busy blogging summer is ahead of us ;0)

2007-05-05T00:00:00.000Z

Sesame Street - orange sings Carmen

2007-04-21T23:58:00.000Z

What can I say- a classic.
Notice the electronic sounds which remind me of early Casios, but I'm not really sure.
Any ideas?

rhodes demo

2007-04-21T23:42:00.000Z

Back from another home holiday, which was ok but nothing to write home about...(haha).
Now I'm entering my marathonic month of university exams and assignments, so all gear videos will have to wait a bit more.

On a different note I found this video of the 3 tenors of Rhodes (George Duke, Jeff Lorber and David Benoit) demonstrating at the recent NAMM show the new Rhodes piano.
Here's a rundown of the different pianos they were playing from the Rhodes website.

	Jeff Lorber is playing the 73 Rhodes Mark 7 A (active) with Rhodes Sound Platform. Color: Ebony Two Tone Soft Touch
	David Benoit is playing the Rhodes 61 S (Passive) on Rhodes Telis Stand. Color: Ferrari Red Gloss Finish
	George Duke is playing the Rhodes 88 AM (Active Midi) on Rhodes Telis Stand with a pair of the Rhodes Sound Systems, located on each front side. Color: Pearl White Gloss Finish

Click the pic for the video.

Spring holidays treat from Shepitology (Casio SK1 Commecial)

2007-04-01T08:36:00.000Z

I'm going away for 2 weeks so don't expect too much soon.
I did wait with this gem for a special occasion so enjoy and see you soon,
Shep.

PIMP mY synTh

2007-04-01T08:16:00.000Z

Here's the latest addition to my stable-

Yes I got a mini KP and got rid of my KP2 (no profit or loss).
the reason was that I felt the same as with the Xiosynth- I didn't use it much because it wasn't as fun as I expected.
I got the mini KP because it seemed more fun and exactly what I needed- Something to mount over my DX7 or any other cheap synths that I can use creatively without stretching too much.

it is a great sounding fx unit and I really think it's better than the KP2 (after all it has got the fx of the newer KP3).

Now guys I know I've been naughty- I promised you videos of the MM6 and now the mini KP, but believe it or not, I created a really good one last week- good sound, good image and absolutely horrible sync, so it'll have have to wait a bit longer.

Anyway in the meantime you can marvel at some more recent pics.

What can you do with an old laptop- an update

2007-04-01T08:03:00.000Z

Do you remeber this post?

"...Saying all that, I must admire people who are using old technology and get such nice sounds, like on this video.

As this guy explains-

"I just discovered my old laptop has a chip in it that works like the Yamaha OPL3 chip from the old Sound Blaster cards. It is an FM synthesizer chip which makes some very nice metallic sounds; cymbals, xylophones etc. sound really nice. It can also do some very nice, fat bass sounds.

This also means that Adlib Tracker runs on it, and very nicely too under DOS.

Here, I'm playing a song called "imadick" (lol?) from the Adlib Tracker package of example tunes. Shows you can create some nice chiptunes with the FM chip too. :)

The laptop is a Compaq Armada 1598DT.""

I just got an update from him with some sad news ;¬) (over to you dopefish)

"Hello, I'm the creator of that video - nice blog!

Honoured that you featured it; thanks very much!

Unfortunately, I'm sad to say that the laptop that starred in this video has now died; so no more portable FM-banging for me. :( The screen failed, then it totally died.

I'm now searching for a new-old laptop that has an OPL3 FM chip in it - and in a fun twist, found that you'd posted my video on this blog. Very cool.

Cheers!"

So guys if you want to chuck yours, send dopefish a quick note for more inspiring future videos!

Yamaha DX200

2007-03-24T09:03:00.000Z

Here's a looooong (5.36 minutes actually) demo of the Yamaha DX200.
It shows the different features of this groove box and runs through some sounds and patterns.
This guy was trying to sell his on Ebay and used this video to promote it.
Sounds good for the price.
…maybe one day….
Pic for link.

My 0.0003 seconds of fame

2007-03-24T08:49:00.000Z

I saw this guy at Turnkey a few months ago. He looked bored.
He's from the band Hot Chip and he also smelled like one.
Then again it may have been Turnkey that stunk.
…just thought you may want to know, as my blog is getting too interesting.

Four Hammond B3's playing The Cat

2007-03-24T08:42:00.000Z

Here Paul Shaffer forgets to shut up for this whole video, which could have sounded great if he had put a sock in it.

Some nice solos by Joey DeFrancesco, Doug Riley, and Dr. Lonnie Smith, though. Shaffer's one is probably the crappiest.

Click pic for vid.

How To Play Your Casio Keyboard

2007-03-18T10:59:00.000Z

This is pure cheese from the mid-80's and we can all watch it and patronize it just as our kids will mock dribbling Bert in about 20 (minutes?) years.

The MM6 and what really went on with my coveted Xiosynth.

2007-03-18T10:34:00.000Z

I had a fun first week with the MM6.
This keyboard is very deceiving and believe you me when I tell you do not give it a pass.
Bottom line the MM6 sounds really musical with a great plastic action and most importantly it's one of the keyboards that you open the manual just to see what it can do that you've missed, not how to do it- it is very immediate.
I never had such a rapport with the Xio- you know sometimes it just doesn't click. The keys did however…
It had all the right features but the keyboard had a really shitty action. For people who "play" with one finger it's okay, but otherwise it just felt weird.
Also the fact everything was crammed into such a tiny space meant that I couldn't see the trees for the woods.
The sounds, specs and looks were all there but the fun wasn't.
I didn't use it much and just preferred to use the money for paying for the MM6.
Hey, I got more for it than what I bought it for ;0)

Roland SP 404 Skins

2007-03-18T10:16:00.000Z

I didn't know about it (nor cared) but I thought some of you may find it interesting that you can get different coloured front panels for the Roland SP404 and they cost about 17 euros here.

That makes it probably one of the only digital instruments that can be customised so cheaply.

Okay. Next.

Another take on CB.

2007-03-10T18:37:00.000Z

I think I said here before that in general I find circuit bending a great idea but not a very useful one.
Most of the time you just see someone fiddle with pointless noise for 9 minutes on youtube instead of watching a cheap DIY synth producing wondrous sounds.

Enter this video.
This one is just great.
Such a tiny keyboard, such a few bends, such a great sound.
I'm not joking, he should mass produce them.
I'd pay up to £2 for one ;0)

He He He

2007-03-10T18:16:00.000Z

Well that was quick.
I had a course yesterday in town and afterwards I went to pick one- probably one of the first in the UK.
I made a few (surprisingly) quick sales on Ebay which were quite profitable through the Buy It Now option-

Xiosynth- £200
Sy35 plus ram card- £80

I paid for the MM6 £330 and I just love it.
The sounds are just great and all its shortcomings are compensated by what it has got.
The Keys and Synths categories are amazing but I was also surprised by the usually crap categories such as Guitars and Brass.
Everything is very intuitive and sounds perfect. I think its main letdown is the Strings category, which while they do sound lush, they haven't got that resin scent coming out of them like on the Korg synths.
I do believe that even for the price I paid, it's still a bit overpriced and it would have fared even better for a £100 less.
Saying that, Yamaha guys have definitely got a hit on their hands.
My advice to you chaps is sell a few shitty keyboards you'll never use again and get one of these.
By far the best lapsynth for March 2007.

...video soon.

Post # 100

2007-03-03T18:55:00.000Z

...Just wanted to say that B¬ I
Oh and almost 9500 visitors since I started the Shepitology blog 7 months ago.
So thanks guys for all the support and here's for another 100 (not visitors...).
Grondo 2001

Yamaha MM6

2007-03-03T18:17:00.000Z

I checked out the new Yamaha MM6 and I'm loving it!

When I first read the specs I though this is an underpowered, overpriced PSR style keyboard and it is.

However, it sounds fantastic. It's really weird to hear these sounds coming from a cheap plastic keyboard.

The keyboard weighs only 5 kg and the switches, to my delight, are made of rubber (DX100 style) - both features make this synth less prone to faults and breakage.

It has built in drum grooves, arpeggiator, a clever auto accompaniment section and an 8 track real time sequencer- all of which are excellent, and in general this keyboard feels like a cut-the-crap synth.

There's not too much, but what's there is spot-on.

I decided I should get myself one so I'm going to sell my Xiosynth and a few other bits which I'm not really using or enjoying.

I'll let you know how it goes.

BTW here's the Yamaha crazy demonstrator presenting the MM6.

He is a bit other the top, but worse than that he's recommending the Soundcontrol music shop.

I had only bad experiences with this shop which is by far one of the most expensive with rude sales men and faulty gear. So that's another no-no from me.

The video is good though.

Sounds Expo 2007

2007-03-03T18:14:00.001Z

I just came back from Sounds Expo in Olympia London and man what a rip-off.

I guess it's supposed to be the poor man's equivalent to the NAMM show or something, only that they charge you £10 to see stuff that's mostly available in any music shop.

I've been to this convention for the last few years and each time it got more expensive and less interesting.

This year there was no booth for Yamaha, Roland, Hammond, M- Audio and many others (all of which showed up in previous years).

Alesis shared a booth with Akai and only Korg bothered with a proper booth and new gear presentations (however you couldn't try any of the new synths (R3, M3, OASYS, etc.) because when they weren't used for showcasing they were unplugged.

There was a tiny booth that debuted the new Yamaha MM6 (see separate post) but otherwise it was a waste of time and money.

Next year- avoid!

Old Casio catalogues

2007-02-16T00:33:00.000Z

I love this kind of stuff. On this website there are quite a lot of scans of old Casio keyboard catalogues and while a lot of them are not in English you can still understand the pictures…

This comes from the Casiologie website where you can find a lot of Casio resources such as bends, documents software and pictures of….Casio related (20 year old) instruments.

Shepitology approved.

BT is in love…

2007-02-16T00:20:00.000Z

…with himself. There's a whole hour interview with the guy here and modesty is definitely not one of his virtues.
In this interview BT talks about his recent project "This Binary Universe" and while it's an overall boring interview (I played it in the background while I was cleaning my room) there are still some gems straight from the horse's mouth (literally) along the lines of- "humans developed ears so they could hear if a dinosaur was coming to get them" (I'm not even going to explain what's wrong with this statement…).
There's a lot of crap going on there so you're well advised to keep away.
However, it is synth related (you can see his Monomachine in the background) and he is a hunk, a philosopher and can cook you some great pasta.

Nice piano solo

2007-02-04T13:41:00.000Z

I found this nice piano solo by chance on Drummerworld website.
I don't know who the pianist is but he's playing with featured drummer Eddie Bayers.
Click on the picture to download the video

Yamaha VSS200 video

2007-02-04T13:32:00.000Z

A new video of me looping the Yamaha VSS200 built in sounds. No external effects used.
I'm not a big fan of this keyboard and the sampler is quite crappy but it was still fun reminiscing, while making this video, the ping-pong style arrangements I did in the 80's.

Probably the best clav solo you've ever heard

2007-01-27T11:10:00.000Z

Here's a video by the Mats and Morgan performing "Chicken".
If you haven't heard of them here's some blurb about them from cuneiformrecords website

"Mats Oberg (keyboards) and Morgan Agren (drums) first began playing together 25 years ago (!!) when Mats was 11 and Morgan was 15. Originally very influenced by Frank Zappa, they actually played with Zappa in 1988, but while some of the Zappa influence remains, they have long since found their own voices. In the mid 90's, they began releasing CDs on Morgan's UAE label, eventually forming a stable band, which has been amazing audiences in Europe and the USA since 2001, and which consists of Mats and Robert Elovsson-keyboards, Jimmy Agren-guitar, Tommy Thordsson-bass and Morgan-drums."

You're going to love this story!

2007-01-27T10:52:00.000Z

A few months ago I realised that I need a spare power adaptor for my Roland XV2020 because I started gigging with it and I realized that if anything is going to break, it's this rare breed of AC adaptor.
A new one cost around £26 and a second hand one I found on eBay cost £16, which was still excessive to my taste.
Regardless, out of boredom, I decided to explore the more obscure eBay categories when my eyes noticed this ad-

" This unit receives midi and plays audio from demo sequences, but will not convert midi to audio when in normal performance use. Note/ Unit is missing all peripherals and 3 knobs for front dials. PSU included. Sold as Seen.
________________________________________
On 19-Oct-06 at 14:48:28 BST, seller added the following information:
Sold as Seen.
________________________________________
On 20-Oct-06 at 10:39:06 BST, seller added the following information:
Items only to be sold in the U.K."

The unit was selling for £1 and as it came with a power adaptor I thought- worse case scenario I'll just keep the adaptor and sell the module for spares.
However the description of the fault suggested that there was nothing wrong with it…
I won it for £26 pounds and when I plugged it to my MIDI keyboard…. it didn't play.
No worries, I'll just set the channel knob to one and what do you know, it WORKED!!!
I ordered all 4 knobs from Roland for a fiver including delivery, and here it is now- a £250 shiny unit, bought for £30.

You know the moral of the story, so I'll spare you.

BTW the unit was sold by a leading music retailer, so no, I have got no guilty conscience.
They have a tech department and if those idiots didn't realize such an obvious troubleshooting issue, then they deserve it (moohahahaha).

…And speaking of microKorg.

2007-01-14T14:05:00.001Z

This performance made me want to get the microKorg again after I sold my first one.

Note that DJ playing all these groovy lines on the Korg MS2000B (which is practically identical to the microKorg).

Great stuff- enjoy!

BTW I got the MK 3 months later…

microKorg and Xiosynth Comparison

2007-01-14T13:48:00.000Z

I've been asked to compare the 2 popular micro synths- the microKorg and the Xiosynth, as I own them both.
I'm not going to talk about specs, because you can read that everywhere else.
I'm going to talk more about their actual usability and sound.

I haven't decided which one I like best because other than being small they are quite different.
I think the microKorg sounds a bit warmer- its sound is more raw with basic effects but it works. I also think it's a bit friendlier for programming, but between us how many people program their own synths these days?
The editor that's bundled with it is quite good (especially compared to the non-existent Xio editor).
I don't mind the tiny keys- I quite like them. I owned a microKorg before the one I've got now and the keys were very stiff. It really frustrated me, as the ones in the shops felt much better. I contacted Korg and they denied ever changing the keyboard action on the microKorg.
However, there's an obvious difference between the microKorg and microKontrol action.

The action on the Xio is not great.
While it's semi-weighted it feels cheep and this brings me back again to my mantra which is "don't by specs!"

As for reliability- I believe the Xio is much more durable. I like rubber buttons- they tend to hold for much longer e.g. Alesis QS6.1, Yamaha DX100 etc.

The Xio is more capable sound-wise. It is very polished and accurate but it does feel a bit more synthetic than the microKorg.
I would like to stress the point that I find it an annoying audio interface because you can't use it as a MIDI interface or a synth along with its audio facilities.
The reason is probably the USB 1.1 band which is too narrow, so you can forget about a realistic playable latency.
I think these synths complement each other very well- they are both covering the same areas- bass, leads, pads and arpeggios, but in different ways- the micro is more suitable for funky, 70's sounds while Xio is more dance orientated (remember, this is a blunt generalisation).

To conclude-

microKorg sounds great and not overpowering, feels more analogue and fun.

Xiosynth sounds huge and very capable, feels cheap and promise a lot but not necessarily delivers.

Hope this helps.

p.s
As for the new SH201, I'm not a fan.
It sounds cold and boring, especially compared to other synths and VSTi's you can get today.
I do believe that if you like its sound you'll have a lot of fun fiddling with its abundance of knobs and sliders, but it's a bit expensive for what it offers and I see it as a redundant piece of gear.

Making a 'beat' on a microKorg

2007-01-10T22:04:00.000Z

Right. I promised a new synth video for so long and here it is!
My latest vanilla 'beat' made with the microKorg.
You can read how it's done in the actual video and I really hope it will inspire you to be creative with your own budget keyboards.

On a different note, I find creating these videos quite daunting, as I try to capture the audio from the computer while recording, overdubbing live and capturing the video, all at the same time.
When I'm finally left with a video file and a separate audio file I need to sync them, add titles and hear these pieces of so-called music endlessly, but I'd do anything for you, my loyal readers (not really…).
Anyhow enjoy the film and turn off your mobiles.