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A NEWBAY MEDIAP U B L I C A T I O N

The new S Series combines the sounds of theMotif XS, a handcrafted S6 piano and the ease of use of a stage piano.

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COMMUNITY6 A brand new section devoted to your pictures, anecdotes, questions, gear,

feedback, and anything else you’d like to share with the Keyboard community!

KEYNOTESToday’s hottest artists help you play better and sound better.10 PJ Morton on Six Essential R&B Keyboard Sounds11 The Low Anthem on Recording Antique Reed Organs12 Eric Frederic of Wallpaper on Guerilla Producing13 David Fowler of Echo Movement on “Bubble” Reggae Organ14 Weekend Warriors

MAJORminor16 The Editors’ Playlist: Music Reviews

LESSONS20 Daniel Minsteris on creative Wurly EP comping22 Larry Goldings Hammond B-3 master class26 5 ways to play like McCoy Tyner30 Suzanne Ciani on New-Age Synth

COVER STORY32 ALICIA KEYS talks about her diverse sonic and stylistic influences on her new hit album,

The Element of Freedom, and her new signature virtual piano Alicia’s Keys.

SOLUTIONS42 STEAL THIS SOUND Create the brass swells from Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love.”44 DANCE Make your tracks stand out with Real-World Ambiences.

GEAR18 NEW GEAR at Frankfurt Musikmesse46 Roland V-COMBO VR-70050 Akai MINIAK54 Livid Instruments OHM6460 Native Instruments ALICIA’S KEYS64 Mixosaurus DAW DRUMS KIT A68 MusicLab REALGUITAR 2L

TIME MACHINE74 A look back at samplers that changed how we make music.

CONTENTS

KEYBOARD (ISSN 0730-0158) is published monthly byNewBay Media, LLC 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 125, SanBruno, CA 94066. All material published in KEYBOARDis copyrighted © 2010 by NewBay Media. All rightsreserved. Reproduction of material appearing in KEY-BOARD is forbidden without permission. KEYBOARD isa registered trademark of NewBay Media. PeriodicalsPostage Paid at San Bruno, CA and at additional mailingoffices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to KEY-BOARD 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.

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Cover photo byThierry LeGoues

Get these links and more at keyboardmag.com/june2010

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Audio examples forLessons andSolutions!

Video sneakpeeks at hotnew gear!

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50 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

With over a dozen powerful soft synths, over 38GB of added content, anda suite of other useful apps like MainStage 2.1, all for $500, there’s nothingquite like Apple Logic Studio. Logic Pro 9.1 ups the ante by letting you run itas a 64-bit application. The true benefit is that 64-bit apps don’t bump into the old 4GB-RAM-per-program limit of the 32-bit world. A 64-bit appli-cation can address RAM in amounts that are effectively limitless—about 16.3 billion GB. Now, there aren’t any machines with anywherenear that much RAM, but 32GB systems are certainly in use. With massive sample libraries like those from EastWest/Quantum Leap andNative Instruments reaching into the tens of GB, streaming large amounts of samples from a hard drive can prove difficult at best. Beingable to keep most if not all of a sample library in RAM makes using it much more practical.

There is one catch. Logic can’t run 32-bit plug-ins natively when in 64-bit mode, and most third-party plug-ins on the market are still32-bit. Apple figured out a pretty slick workaround: the AudioUnit Bridge, a separate application to host 32-bit plug-ins that automati-cally launches alongside Logic. One huge benefit of this is that when a 32-bit plug-in misbehaves, it crashes the AUB, not Logic.

From The EditorWelcome to the newKeyboard! Periodicmakeovers are a mustin the magazine world,as we’re always con-cerned to give you moreof what you want, not to

mention be more accessible, inspiring, and fun to read.But the way it all goes down is nothing like what you’dimagine from watching sitcoms like Ugly Betty or JustShoot Me. First of all, you seldom see the people whowork at the fictional magazines on those shows actu-ally, uh, working. Second, we don’t have any designeroffice chairs. Third and most importantly, even if wedid, we wouldn’t be sitting in them around a designertable having a hipper-than-thou contest about whoseideas are more “now.” Keyboard has always been aboutyou— playing better, sounding better, and getting themost out of the instruments and technology productsthat compete for your hard-earned cash. We want tomake that happen with more of your input than everbefore, and one part of this is the Community sectionyou’re reading right now. Here’s the concept: Tell us

what’s on your mind via your preferred medium (seethe “Connect” sidebar at left) and there’s a good chanceit’ll end up here. What are we looking for? Your ownproduct reviews for “You Review It.” Your suggestionsor complaints to the keyboard industry for “Soap-box.” A time you met one of your keyboard heroesfor “Idol Hands.” Pics and descriptions of your week-end gig and keyboard rig for “Dig My Rig.” And otherthings we’ll think of cute names for once you send’em in. But that’s only the beginning. We’ll use yourinput to shape future artist coverage, music lessons,tech clinics, and gear reviews. Feast your eyes on theresults of our first online poll on page 8—more andbigger lessons topped the list. You want it, you gotit. This month’s issue includes four supersize les-sons—piano, Wurly, B-3, and synth—penned by topplayers including organist Larry Goldings and synthlegend Suzanne Ciani. So keep the feedback com-ing, because you’re the reason we do this. Together,we can make Keyboard better than ever.

Tell us what you think, linkto your music, share tipsand techniques, subscribeto the magazine and oure-newsletter, show offyour chops, or just vent!Your forum post, tweet,email, or letter might endup in the magazine!

Disagree with us about a review? Have something to add? Comment on the article on our website, post on the KeyboardCorner forum, or email [email protected], and you just may see your wisdom here—and win prizes!

64-Bit Processing in Logic Pro 9.1by Kevin Anker, Keyboard Corner forum member

CONNECT!

COMMUNITY

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YOU REVIEW IT!

6 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

I was going the direction of “More, more!”—building a rig around Apple MainStage,a Kawai MP4, a Kurzweil PC3-61, a Yamaha VL70m module, and planning onadding a Roland V-Synth and/or VP-770. But as my playing continues to develop,I’ve drastically changed my approach. Less is more. All I use now is my Kawai MP4and Roland AX-Synth. I constrain myself to an acoustic piano patch (MP4 with alittle bell-EP and voice pad for spice) and focus more on the “what” of what I playversus the patches. I’m constantly surprised by the compliments I get on the pianosound from the MP4. GAS [Gear Acquisition Syndrome, an occupational hazardfor keyboard players. —Ed.] has me dying to replace it, but it just sounds so good.I allow myself the luxury of the AX-Synth for strolling out into the crowd,extended synth solos, and the like—but now more than ever, I’m a piano playerfirst and a keyboard player, distant second. Most important is amplification: twoAcme Low B-1 three-way cabinets for warm, transparent, full-range integrity.Timothy Wat, via Facebook

Why, when we have tools to sample, resample,synthesize, and ROMple our way into oblivion;fly MIDI and audio tracks to the moon; and jamwith players halfway around the globe, do thecompanies that produce the current crop ofMIDI keyboard controllers avoid the 76-keyoption? Is 76 keys the new “13th floor” in ourcollective tower of digital audio? I’m beginningto suspect something of that nature is afoot,especially when Akai’s MPK series leapfroggedover 76 keys, going from 61 to 88. And whatof M-Audio, Roland/Cakewalk, and Novation?And are the challenges some face in fully inte-grating the CME UF7, UF70, VX7, and VX70due to some techno-cosmic violation of thisapparent agenda of a malevolent HigherBandwidth? Inquiring minds want to know.Allan Evett, via the Keyboard Corner forum

Some keyboard companies think demandfor 76-key controllers isn’t enough to jus-tify the cost of making yet another size—Yamaha’s recent KX line does the same asAkai’s. Yet there are exceptions. I own andlove a Studiologic VMK-176 Plus. There’sthe Infinite Response VAX-77 we reviewedin April (77 keys, but close enough). Thoughthey’re full instruments, not just controllers,the Nord Stage, Yamaha S70XS, and RolandV-Combo (see page 46) all have 76 keys.And if there is an evil spirit making CMEcontrollers buggy, it’s affecting all sizes. Sowhattaya say, industry? Are 76-key con-trollers a niche item, or the Goldilocks sizethe people really want?Stephen Fortner, Executive Editor

SOAPBOX

Last summer I met Geoff Downes before theAsia/Yes concert in Montclair, New Jersey, and he graciously signed my sheet musicbook from Asia’s first album, which I’ve had since 1982. Geoff asked if I found thebook useful, noting that it wasn’t 100% accurate. I assured him it was very helpful,and that it helped set me in an excellent keyboarding direction in my early teens.

A few years earlier, I met Keith Emerson [shown] after his band played inAnnapolis, Maryland. I asked Keith to sign a transcription I’d made of his solopiano piece “A Cajun Alley,” which he played that night. Keith looked it over andsaid it looked quite good—I was walking on air! Brian O’Sullivan, New Jersey

Keyboard reader Brian O’Sullivanwith Keith Emerson.

IDOL HANDS

DIG

MY

RIG

70 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

8

COMMUNITY

I have subscribed to Keyboard for many years. I play a Yamaha Tyros.I use the one-note setting with my left hand to control the musicstyles. I have the split point set down to the first 13 notes on theleft. Is it possible to transfer the one-note triggering of the chords theaccompaniment styles play, via MIDI, to a 13-note pedalboard (I havea Roland PK-5)? If so, I can control the “backup band” with my feet,freeing up my left hand to play guitars, sax, harp, etc. Ira Thomas

Ira, here’s the skinny directly from our friends at Yamaha:The PK5 can control the chord changes within the Tyros withthe following procedure:1. Set the PK5 for “Bass,” have it transmit on MIDI channel1, and connect it to the Tyros’ MIDI port B input.2. On the Tyros, press “Function” followed by “H” (MIDI).3. Select “C” (Master KBD 1). This will setup the Tyros to

receive on MIDI chan-nel 1 via port B forkeyboard control.

The PK5 will now con-trol the single fingerchord changes whenthe Tyros’ automatic accompa-niment is active. If the userwishes to play left hand parts,he will need to adjust the splitassignment within the Tyros func-tion menu. He’ll need to eitherlower the style split point or raisethe left hand split point.

TWITTER TICKER

Be counted! New polls go live the first and third Tuesdays of each month at keyboardmag.com.

What should weprint more of ineach issue?

Lessons

New gear reviews

How-tos on duplicatingfamous synth sounds

A-list studio and tourplayers coverage

How-to clinics onusing your DAW

Music business advice

Coverage of up andcoming artists

@KeyboardMag: Do keyboards have a placein heavy rock/metal? Why or why not?

I definitely say yes. Wesley Dysart (@wesleydysart): Keys in metal rule when done right. Children of Bodom = great example.

Joseph A. (@

jainy9):Yes, the dark days of m

etal in mino

r keys.Emiko (@

emikom

usic):

Jordan . . . o

f course keys b

elong in m

etal! Mario G

uillermo (@

mariokeyboard):

Very interesting question! Jordan Rudess (@jcrudess):I might say yes!Frank Baker (@bakerfrank):I have to agree with

The

Poll

Know Brainer

Can anyone identify the era of the oscillator board in this MinimoogModel D? I’m particularly interested in finding out what sort of modificationhas been done to it, which is apparent in the close-up photo.Lance Hill, synthgeeks.comSubmit your answer at keyboardmag.com.

ASK THE INDUSTRY

K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

www.vsl.co.at www.ilio.com

VIENNA INSTRUMENTSDVD Collection 25 GB

AU (Mac), RTAS, VST (Mac & PC), stand-alone.

Having redefined the world of virtual orchestration during the pastseveral years, the Vienna Symphonic Library is breaking new ground withthis impressive vocal collection. The voices of VIENNA CHOIR were cast andassembled exclusively for the recording sessions at Vienna’s Silent Stage, witheach singer hand-selected from Austria’s leading choirs. Imbued with passion andemotion, every recorded note and interval is a testament to the artistry of these out-standing soprano, alto, tenor and bass ensembles.

ViennaChoir

Six Studio Secrets for R&B Keyboard Sounds

Miking Acoustic Piano We usually put two mics on a piano,but the music I’m working on right now is kind of retro, so we use onemic—a ribbon. It doesn’t capture as “sophisticated” a sound, and it takesoff some of the piano’s prettiness, which is what I’m going for.

Urban Strings When I’m trying to make the string tones in Logic[soft synths] sound authentic, I roll off the high end. When I’m goingfor more of an urban, synthetic sound, I go with the high end.

Real and Virtual Rhodes When we record the real thing, wego direct out and put two mics on the [Suitcase] speaker so the tremolosounds true-to-life. In EVP88, I mess with the tremolo, tweaking thespeed so it sounds just right. I don’t like the tines too bell-like, so I rollthat off as well. I love playing a real Rhodes, so I adjust the sound closeto what I’m used to.

Virtual B-3 For my demos, I use EVB3. I control it with a YamahaMotif, set my mod wheel to affect Leslie speed, and set the sliders of theMotif to act like drawbars. The way I play organ, I’m changing drawbarsall the time, so it’s good to control that from the keyboard.

Synth Bass There’s a new kind of bass sound on records by artistslike Kanye West. The bottom has a feel like a Roland TR-808 drum machine,but it has pitches. I start with a factory synth bass in EXS24, then add a lotof low end to get the boom—an important thing about the 808 is how longit booms, so you want the release time a little longer. Set it to monophonic,since you don’t want notes to overlap. It’s a very muffled type of bass.

Snakey Lead In the late ’60s, Stevie Wonder had this cool leadthat was sine-y, warm, and high, with some glide. I program my ver-sion of that on Logic’s EFM1. I pick a sine wave that’s close—I’m goingfor warm, so I don’t want a lot of high end. I take the release all the wayoff and set the attack a little late, for a sneaky kind of lead, not one thathits right when you trigger the note. I don’t detune at all, and I put theoctave up and set it to monophonic.

Exclusivevideo tour ofPJ’s studio.

Visit PJ Mortononline.

More Online Get these links and more at keyboardmag.com/june2010

KEYNOTES

Having grown up with the music of New Orleans, Grammy-winner PJ Morton knows good sounds—and how to create signature patches in AppleLogic for such artists as India.Arie and Jermaine Dupri. His own album Walk Alone is available now. Michael Gallant

PJ MORTON

10 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0


Hear samples of the LowAnthem’s pump organs.

Tons of Low Anthem fanphotos.

How to find and maintain anantique pump organ.

More Online

Folk rockers the Low Anthem are currently headlining theirfirst U.S. tour in support of their album Oh My God, Char-lie Darwin, on which they took a unique approach to creat-ing a sonic identity: recording antique, pedal-pumped reedorgans. Their 1915 Estey organ is of special interest, as itwas played by an Army chaplain in France during World WarI. The band has also found organs in Vermont, Indiana, andNorth Carolina. Their organic sound is a joy to experienceand a perfect complement to the voice of keyboardist BenKnox-Miller, who took time out to speak with us about thisunique quest.

Why did you seek out antique pump organs for the record?We weren’t looking for one. We weren’t satisfied with anyof the digital keyboards’ organ sounds. It appealed to usmore that this was actually air moving across reeds and therewas some element of chance, a real physical thing happen-ing, and the beautiful woody resonance.So you never thought you could get the same sound by usingsamples?No. The pump organs are very unpredictable and a lot ofthat has nice charm to it. Who were some of your influences?Neil Young uses a lot of pump organs. We recently saw himplay and he played solo acoustic on the pump organ. TomWaits also uses pump organs on his recordings.On “To Ohio,” which organ was used?The Estey portable pump organ. There’s a nice blend of thetraditional pump organ that sounds kind of like a mockup ofan electric organ sound — kind of corky, naturally woody, andcrackly. On “The Ghosts who Write History Books,” by con-trast, that’s a really clean organ sound. What about on “Cage the Song Bird”? That was the Estey again, the predominant organ werecorded with. We also have a harmonium on stage, anda melodeon we just bought. It’s from 1850. We found it inNewcastle, Indiana. Joanie Fotouhi

THE LOW ANTHEMPumps Up Their Sound with Antique Reed Organs

Think a B-3 is vintage?

One of the Low Anthem’s

vintage reed organs is this

turn-of-the-century model

from Vermont organ builder

Estey, established in 1840.

110 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

KEYNOTES

WALLPAPEREric Frederic on Guerilla ProducingIn Wallpaper’s hit “I Got Soul (I’m So Wasted),” co-creator Eric Frederic becomes lounge lizard RickyReed. His drunken hipster character roasts hot babes and cool dudes alike as irresistible synth pop

bubbles away. As a sendup of obnoxious club slime, it’s pure guilty pleasure, but how seri-ously should we take this writer/producer/synthesist who calls his latest album Doodoo Face?

Very. From the initial percussion on the opening track “Indecent,” Eric brings more thanyour standard loops and honks. “That’s a guy from my Ghanian drumming ensemble at UCBerkeley,” he explains. This is party-pop? At 1:33, an instrumental break channels Steely Dan,Prince, and P-Funk, and—remarkably—renders them fresh. Eric: “I try to find the strongestpoints about the song and make them really big. You’ve got to level the playing field. The strongestpoint could be the entire chorus. Or just the bass line. Find ‘that’ sound and treat it like gold!”

Sometimes making a sound really big means getting obsessive: On his remix of Jay-Z’s“DOA,” Eric turned a tubercular bass part into a monster by doubling it with two bass guitars an octaveapart, a baritone guitar, and a synth patch. On a folkie Josh Ritter remix, he spent hours porting parts inand out of a cassette recorder while he held the pause button halfway down to achieve a warbling effect.On “Celebrity,” Eric recorded a sax part through the entire song, then spent hours pasting individualnotes to create indelibly disturbing sax lines. Richard Leiter

While producing Bone Dry, thenew single from A B & the Sea, Ericheard singer Koley O’Brien’s footpounding out quarter-notes. Trans-forming that sound into a TR-707kick breathed propulsive power intothis otherwise folksy cut.

Your bass not bad enough? Trydoubling two bass guitars, a bari-tone guitar, and this fat analogpatch from Arturia 2600V.

Sometimes you don’t have to doubleyour bass—just use different ones onthe verse and chorus. RememberEric’s Golden Rule: “Producing issubtractive. Take out anything thatisn’t golden.”

Eric Frederic as Ricky Reed with partner-in-

clubslime, drummer Arjen Singh.

12 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

On Reggae Bubble B-3 Organ PlayingDAVID FOWLER

Sound Set your B-3 or clonewheel draw-bars to 80 0000 003. Turn off thevibrato/chorus and harmonic percussion—that pinging sound isn’t what we want forthe bubble. Keep your rotary speed slow.The result is a mellow vibe with a hollow body and a well-definedbottom end.

Rhythm The classic 16-count exercise “One-e-and-a, two-e-and-a,three-e-and-a, four-e-and-a” is crucial, so keep it in your head. The reg-gae rhythm uses tight staccato chords, often referred to as skanks (resultsmay vary if you seek definitions in Google). Your right hand plays theskanks on the “and” upbeats. Guitar and keyboard skanks often share thesame beat, but the organ can complement the chord with inversions anda clean, octave-long stretch.

Technique Your left hand adds quick chord hits about an octave belowyour right. Play the “e” and the “a” from the exercise with your left hand.Add your right hand back in, and the result is a bouncing “left-right-left; left-right-left” occupying all 16th-notes in each beat except thefirst—so the complete bubble phrase is “e-and-a”. Leave plenty ofspace in this motion—since each chord is staccato, the chordsshould be naturally disconnected. Bubbles rely on tone to pushthe feel. Find inversions for the chords to make sure your lefthand stays between the second and third octave.

Variations Played straight, theresulting rhythm has a machine-likedrive. Swing the bubble, and it breatheslife into the song. Once you masterthese two feels, try some variations.One groove-move involves a second drawbar manual set at 008005 000. With your right hand, lay down a legato chord onthe first sixteenth-note of the downbeat of each measure, thenquickly return to the bubble. My favorite variation is to keepthe right hand on a piano or Clav and the bubble in the left hand.

David Fowler plays in Echo Movement, a band at the forefront of the newAmerican reggae/surf-rock scene. They’ve shared stages with the LegendaryWailers and Steel Pulse, and were on the Vans Warped Tour in 2009.

Grab some headphones and give your favorite reggae track a close listen. Under the surface, you’ll hear tightly-woven patterns performed withorganic precision. These propelling rhythms turn simple chops into deep-pocket grooves. Here’s how to nail the classic and often misunderstoodorgan comping technique known as “the bubble.”

130 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M


More Online

David Fowlerteaches youthe reggaebubble organtechnique.

See whereEcho Movement is playing next.

KEYNOTES

DAY GIGS Steve: Director of a state agency that deals with pub-lic bidding. Chris: Sales manager for a large mortgage company. HOW WE GOT STARTED Steve: My then four-year-old daugh-ter began piano lessons 15 years ago. I fell in love with the pianoand decided to play myself. Chris: I took piano lessons in highschool and hated them. I managed to learn a handful of Billy Joelsongs, despite a 20-year hiatus from keys. INFLUENCES Steve: Chuck Leavell and Thelonious Monk.

Chris: Billy Joel, John Jarvis, Johnnie Johnson, Elton John, and RoyBittan. I love the way Elton and Roy fill the space between verses. GEAR Steve: Yamaha S80 through a Roland KC-500 amp. Chris:Yamaha YPG-225 through a Peavey KB-100 amp. After readingKeyboard’s review of the Casio PX-330, that may be next. WHY WE PLAY Steve: It makes me feel good. Chris: Out of all thethings I’ve done, nothing is better than having fans rock out to my band!MORE AT magsrock.com

WEEKEND WARRIORS

MAJORminor

Steve Sutkin and Chris Anderson of the MAGs

Joshua Condon

New Jersey’s MAGs started as a “midlife crisis” of the band members—the acronym stands for Middle Aged Guys. They cover a diverserange of material in the classic rock, soul, and Motown vein: Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, the Beatles, Steely Dan, Led Zeppelin, andSam & Dave. Ed Coury

Joshua Condon has been a working musician since his early teens. “At 15, I began studying

at the Eastman Community Music School—a 200-mile round trip commute—and also began

as a church accompanist and music coordinator,” he says. “Recently, I headlined my own

Christmas show, and also won the David Hochstein Recital Competition in piano. In the fall,

I’ll be performing classical music on Rochester radio station WXXI FM 91.5.”

First memory of jazz piano: Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. His musicintroduced me to jazz, and his vocabulary was pivotal in my own musical development. Age lessons began: At six, I began classical piano, and at ten, began seriouslystudying jazz as well. Favorite pianists: Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Kelly, Red Garland, and Bill Evans. Why piano? It has the most versatile range of sound possibilities: a thunderous orchestra one minute and a weeping violin thenext. The profound scope of textures one can learn to command is greater than on any other instrument I know of. Worst gig nightmare? If I were to mess up a piece of music I had practiced for a very long time. That’d make me feel like I’dwasted days or weeks of my life in preparation. How important is traditional training? While there are successful musicians who have made it without such training, themost skilled musicians are the ones who have studied this system that’s been in place for hundreds of years. Read or play by ear? Both. Reading music is crucial to your ability to teach others, whether in a band or classroom, or just tolearn new music for yourself. However, being able to play by ear lets you grow in how you speak through your instrument—as apart of you. Jon Regen

Chris Anderson

Steve Sutkin

14 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

800.747.4546 exclusive distributors

THE EDITORS’ PLAYLIST

HYPERBUBBLECandy Apple DaydreamsEarly Eurythmics meetsJosie and the Pussycats!

Drum machines and resonant analog squirtsform the basis of this duo’s unapologeticanthems to the golden age of electropop.“Girl Boy Pop Toy” even admonishes “syn-thesizer haters” to come to a gig and beconverted. The vibe is all about having toomuch fun to care if you look like a dork, andif you’re too cool for that, the joke’s on you.(Bubblegum, hyperbubble.net)

EVERYBODY WASIN THE FRENCH RESISTANCE NOW! Fixin’ the Charts, Volume One

Equal measures Austin Powers go-go, BenFolds angst-pop, and Dresden Dolls cabaret,Eddie Argos and Dyan Valdes’ collab justmay be the most musically and socially astuteexpression of being justified in one’s smart-assery that I’ve heard in recent memory. Notto mention that I’ve personally been on themale friend end of the guy-girl conversationin “He’s a Rebel” way too many times. (Cook-ing Vinyl, myspace.com/fixingthecharts)

LANCE HAYESForza Motorsport 3 Original SoundtrackPicture the best momentsof Jan Hammer’s Miami

Vice TV score updated to today’s sonic sen-sibilities, and you get an idea of why this isone of the few video game soundtracks thatstands on its own outside the game. No sur-prise that it’s great for driving, but it’s smoothenough to put on when your date says that,yes, she’ll come up to your place for one lastdrink. (Microsoft, DJDM.com)

WILLIAM FIELDERLove ProgressionReissued just monthsbefore his death in2009, this burning 1985

album is proof that renowned educatorFielder was as fierce a force on the con-cert stage as he was in the classroom.Backed by blazing post-bop pianist Mul-grew Miller, Fielder’s polytonal title track isa lesson in modern jazz harmony. Otherstandout cuts include Miller’s “Brooklyn AtDawn” and Fielder’s own “Validity.” A cel-ebration of a tireless musical champion.(Prescription, ejazzlines.com)

STEFANO BOLLANITRIOStone in the WaterA legend in his nativeItaly, Bollani now shows

this side of the Atlantic what the accoladeshave been all about. A fluent mix of sonori-ties ranges from the tranquil quality of Cae-tano Veloso’s “Dom de Iludir” to Bollani’smetrically shifting “Il Cervello del Pavone.”With its gracious touch, Bollani’s pianis-tic command is impressive not only for itsvirtuosity, but for its musicality. One oftoday’s most original voices in jazz. (ECM, stefanobollani.com)

ISAAC RUSSELLIsaac RussellEver wish you had theguts to say what wasreally on your mind?

Isaac Russell has been speaking his innertruth since his early teens. Signed to Colum-bia while still in high school, the gifted 18-year-old songsmith hits the ground running.On “Lighthouse,” “Made Me a Man,” and“Golden,” he walks the line between sensi-tive troubadour and renegade. Featuring vin-tage keyboard work from Zac Rae, this EPportends great things to come. (Columbia,isaacrussel.com)

MARCOBENEVENTOBetween the Nee-dles and NightfallYou never know what to

expect from pianist and effects experimenterMarco Benevento, but you always know you’rein for a ride. Benevento has spent the last fewyears thinking outside the definition of not justwhat a piano sounds like, but of its place ina band. He’s not really playing jazz per se;the grooves feel more indie rock than any-thing. Indescribable and highly evocative stuff.(Royal Potato Family, marcobenevento.com)

MAURI SANCHISGroovewords Funkmaster Sanchis isthe first Hammond andMoog endorsee out of

Spain, and he does both companies justice.Sanchis enlists a host of deep-groovingfriends to lay down some of the tastiestmusic this side of Segovia, including famedtrumpeter Randy Brecker and a host of tal-ented singers. But it’s Sanchis’ whirringHammond and melodic Moog lines thatstand out amidst the tasteful funk/soul/jazztunes. (BHM, (maurisanchis.com)

BETH THORNLEYWash U CleanSinger/songwriter BethThornley comes into herown on Wash U Clean,

her third and possibly best album yet. Witha seasoned voice and tasteful piano chops,Thornley’s music evokes a variety of flavorssong to song without losing her identityand style. From the retro sax-honk title songto the Beatles-esque “There’s No Way,”Thornley eludes easy classification. WashU Clean had me reaching for the repeatbutton. (beththornley.com)

What’s on your playlist? What should be on ours? Let us know byemail or Twitter, or at forums.musicplayer.com.

Jon Regen Robbie Gennet Stephen Fortner

KEYNOTES

16 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

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KORG’S POWER TRIOKorg (korg.com) released not one but three new keyboard-based synths at Musikmesse,and all of them were extremely hard to put down.

MicroStation This total workstation in amini-keys format packs Enhanced Definition Synthesisderived from the M3 and 480 fully editable factory sounds. Afull-featured 16-track sequencer with loop and grid modes is onboard,and up to five insert effects, plus two master effects and one overall effect, canbe in play at once. It’s the most production power we’ve ever seen packed into akeyboard anywhere near this compact. | $850 list

PS60 Aimed at simplifying live performance, the PS60 is also based on M3 sounds, and is always in a multitimbral mode of up to sixparts: Piano, Electric Piano, Organ, Strings, Brass, and Synth. You turn these parts on and off, choose sounds, and quickly create splitsand layers in the central Easy Setup panel. | $TBA

Monotron This monophonic, real analog palmtopsynth is just fun on a stick, and the ribbon keyboard issurprisingly easy to play accurately. You can get farmore tonal variation than the five knobs might sug-gest—from sine-y rap leads to resonant acid basslines. Last but not least, the price makes it literally animpulse buy. | $85 list

18 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

RADIKAL TECHNOLOGIES ACCELERATORConcept: Eight-voice virtual analog synth.Big deal: Has an iPhone-like accelerometer that sendsassignable MIDI controllers when you tilt the keyboardend-to-end or front-to-back.We think: Okay, the accelerometer is fun, but the realkiller app is the sound: creamy, lush, and very authenti-cally analog. Radikal is officially back on the map.$1,998 | radikaltechnologies.com

HELMTRONIC CHALLENGERConcept: Monster analog monosynth.Big deal: Four oscillators. Two filters. Four envelopes.Two-voice mode makes it a pair of pannable synths with twooscillators each.We think: This unabashed act of Voyager one-upmanshipsounds huge. It’s a prototype, though, so there’s no word yeton commercial availability.$TBA | Website TBA

STUDIOLOGIC NUMA ORGANConcept: All-modelingclonewheel organ. Big deal: Joey DeFrancesco’ssignature is on it, as he was involvedwith its conception. Uses the sametechnology as the Italian KeyB, Joey D’s touring organ.We think: The drawbar and rotary simulation are stunning. Depending on the price, this baby couldeat a lot of clonewheel market share very quickly.$TBA | studiologic.com

EIGENHARP TAU and PICOConcept: More affordable, compact versions of flagship Alpha controller.Big deal: Each button senses velocity, pressure, and X/Y motion like a joystick. All thesesend different MIDI controllers, as can breath, but you don’t have to blow into it to make sound. We think: There’s a learning curve, but these are the most expressive alternative controllerson the market. Tau: Approx. $2,800 | Pico: $590 | eigenlabs.com

FEELTUNE RHIZOMEConcept: Computer meets groovebox.Big deal: Runs Windows Embedded OS and its own sequencer that hostsVST instruments and effects.We think: Our initial skepticism disappeared at first play. The host softwareis so intuitive and responsive, and the hardware controls are so well-implemented,that you really do forget it’s a computer. $3,000 (est.) | feeltune.com

190 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

The Wurlitzer Electronic Piano is loved the world over for its vintagesound. Songs like Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say,” Marvin Gaye’s “I HeardIt Through the Grapevine,” and Beck’s “Where It’s At” are just three ofthe countless Wurly classics.

My rig of choice these days is a Wurlitzer 200A with a MIDI con-troller on top and my MacBook Pro on the side, loaded with AbletonLive and other goodies. I feed my Wurly into the laptop through a MOTUUltraLite interface for realtime processing, sampling, and looping.

The Wurlitzer’s sharp attack and full, barking low end are great forrhythmic, percussive playing that borrows ideas from strummed acousticguitar, bass, and even drums. In Ex. 1, I put a spin on a classic funkyfigure that recalls the Hohner Clavinet as well as slapped electric bass.Notice the beefed-up bottom end and the auto-wah. Extreme articula-tion really makes this figure work, so “spank” the accented beats andbarely touch the ghosted sixteenth-notes for that “muted string” effect.

Ex. 2 is another rhythmic pattern, with “strummy” right-handoctaves and crunchy left-hand power chords. I process the sound with

Albeton’s Saturator overdrive and highpass EQ, and use compressionto bring out the grit and crackle. Work on keeping your right handsteady and relaxed here.

In Ex. 3, I’m playing a gentle 6/8 pattern, atmospherically enhancedby the Grain Delay effect in Live, bandpass EQ, and a touch of slow Lesliespeaker simulation courtesy of Native Instruments B4. Try it yourselfwith different keys and chord progressions, keeping consistent octavesand fifths in the right hand, and basic two-note voicings in the left.

Ex. 4 turns up the groove with a steady eighth-note “hi-hat” and“snare” in the right hand, and a syncopated bounce in the left. Remem-ber that the Wurly is all about articulation and feel. Keep the backbeatstrong, the upbeats laid back, and dig into the bass notes.

The dreamy, percolating sound of Ex. 5 shimmers from timedreverse and filter delays. Turn the tremolo up, roll the right-hand octavesand fifths lightly for waves of texture, and use wide left-hand intervalsto create full, pulsating pads. The trick with a sound like this is to findopen voicings that carry over well into the next chord.

Daniel MintserisON CREATIVE WURLY COMPING

LESSONS

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Mintseris plays MP3examples of these lines.

The inner workings ofthe Wurly.

More on Mintseris’experimental album.

More Online

Daniel Mintseris is known for his work with artists like Marianne Faithfull, PeterCincotti, Martha Wainwright, and Teddy Thompson. He and cellist Dave Eggarjust released Convolutions for Cello, Piano, and Electronics, an experimentalalbum inspired by 20th-century classical music. Jon Regen

Ex. 3

Ex. 4

Ex. 5

210 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

Larry Goldings has injected his signature Hammond organ and multi-keyboardsound across funk, pop, jazz, and alternative music. He has toured and recordedwith Pat Metheny, Maceo Parker, Madeleine Peyroux, and James Taylor, and hissongs have appeared in Space Cowboys, Proof, and The Office. Jon Regen

LARRY GOLDINGS

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1. Go to church.In this Gospel accompaniment idea, I harmonize a melodic line. In the first bar of Ex. 1a, I alternate between a Bb triad and a C minortriad. Note that the inversions change as the line descends. As the idea nears its resolution in bar 2, I pass to the last chord with a dimin-ished chord. Ex. 1b is similar to Ex. 1a, but with rhythmic variation. When I’m playing organ in this style, I typically use a very transpar-ent drawbar setting, such as pulling out only the 8' or 4' drawbar. The Leslie would be fast, with no chorus/vibrato. Using such an airysound really lets you stand out without getting in the way texturally. Hear this kind of playing on my CD Quartet, on the track “Hesitation Blues.”

2. Chord symbols are just suggestions.When given a chord chart, take tasteful liberties that improve on the existing harmonies. In Ex. 2, I’m using clusters in bar 1 (whichsound great on organ) and fourths in bar 2 (also a strong sound), while ascending step-wise with the top note. This provides good voice-leading to resolve on an unexpected F minor/major seventh chord—notice how rich a sound you can achieve with these types of voic-ings. When I’m comping, I typically have the first and third drawbars out, and the second drawbar out halfway. Use the C3 chorus/vibratosetting on your Hammond or clonewheel, with the Leslie effect braked. Check out my CDs Moonbird and As One, especially the songs“Woodstock” and “Mixed Message,” for many related examples.

LESSONS

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Takes Your B-3Playing to theNext Level

22 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

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3. Less is more.When your left hand is busy playing bass lines, your right-hand chords can only have five or six voices. But a big sound with lots ofharmony is possible with just two notes, particularly if one of them is moving. Use this idea to think about moving inner voices. Becauseit sustains, the organ is perfect for this. Notice how the bottom line in the right hand creates dissonance and suspensions in the har-mony. Ex. 3 is particularly useful on a ballad.

4. Comp Freddie Green style.Guitarist Freddie Green played with the legendary Count Basie, and organ players can learn a thing or three from him. His kind ofaccompaniment, shown in the chord sequence in Ex. 4, is all about voice leading, thirds and sevenths, and groove. Comping likethis can also be effective behind a guitar solo, since that instrument is no longer providing the pulse if it’s soloing. If you’re playing inhalf time, this can inject a nice, light swing feel into the music. Don’t rush—lay back, and dig in a bit more on beats 2 and 4.

Ex. 4

Ex. 3

Ex. 2

230 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

5. Add second and third voices to your melody.I often improvised a harmonized, secondary melody in one lower voice, as in Ex. 5a. It could be a sixth below a voice that movesin contrary motion to the melody, or simply a strong second line that implies more harmony, adding shape and color. When your lefthand is playing bass lines, this is a great way to fill up the sound without resorting to block chords, which sometimes sound tooheavy-handed. Ex. 5b adds a third voice, harmonized with the interval of a second. This sounds much less predictable than play-ing block chords. Pull out your first three drawbars, and set percussion to third harmonic, soft, and long decay. Use C3-setting cho-rus. My lower-manual bass setting is typically the first and third drawbars out all the way, and the second drawbar halfway. Again,try a braked Leslie setting. A good example of this is on “I Think it’s Going To Rain Today” from my CD Moonbird.

6. Think shapes.To play “outside” of the harmony, I think less in terms of modes and scales, and more in terms of shapes. In the ii-V-i progression ofEx. 6, I start by outlining the D half-diminished chord to create a clear jumping-off point. Then I alternate between two shapes:fourths and triads. My goal is to land on my feet once I get back to the C minor chord. This wide intervallic sound is great on theorgan, and is all over my playing—listen to “Zoloft” off Moonbird, and “If” from Trio Beyond’s Saudades CD.

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Larry Goldings playsthese examples for you.

Carson-era Tonight Showfootage of Goldings funkingit up with Maceo Parker.

Goldings and SteveGadd play “Chega deSaudade.”

More Online

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24 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

Rich, I think many readers will be happy to see Korg continuing to create new sounds for the SV-1.

Definitely. At the moment we have three sets of sounds; and many of the new sounds are the result of user requests. Using the editor soft-ware, you can compile a custom set of 44 sounds – the 36 sounds on the SOUND TYPE and VARIATION knobs, plus the 8 FAVORITES. All of these new sounds can be downloaded for free from www.korg.com/sv1.

Despite its vintage charms, the SV-1 remains an ideal piano. For the first time, Korg has sampled a brighter Japanese grand piano in addition to the darker European grands. How can players customize the piano sounds to suit their playing style?

There are a couple of things you can do to tailor the piano to your liking. The first and easiest way is to adjust the EQUALIZER and REVERB/DELAY settings.

Next, you might try adjusting the way the keyboard reacts to your playing style. Press the TOUCH button, and then press one of the eight FAVORITES buttons to select one of the eight velocity curves. If you want an easier response for lighter playing, check out numbers 2 and 3. If you want a lot of control over the full dynamic range, try either 6 or 7 instead.

There are also some tuning curves you can explore. Press the FUNC-TION button, and the FAVORITES buttons will blink. Press 1 to select equal temperament, or press 2 or 3 to play using two different Grand Piano Stretch tunings. In general, the stretch tunings are best for solo work and the equal temperament should be used when playing in a band setting, or when blending with other keyboards.

Let’s move back to the vintage side of things. I understand that us-ing the editor opens up new parameters and features for the amp models – including selecting different cabinets and controlling the gain staging with more precision.

Exactly. The DRIVE knob on the SV-1’s front panel is only one part of the equation. It’s like the gain knob on an amp, but without a master volume. The editor gives you that extra volume control so you can add as much tube gain as you want without raising the overall level of the SV-1. In fact, using the editor, you also have a three-band EQ just for the amp, and adjustable Presence. Combine that with a range of select-able cabinets, and you’ve got an impressive palette of control.

In general, the editor lets you go much deeper than the front panel. For critical EQ settings you’ll want to use it, because it offers sweepable control over the mid frequency. Most of the effects will have many more controls, which you can’t access from the keyboard itself. You can also add EQ to the RX noises and layers, which is especially useful with our new alternate sound banks. There’s even a ‘Compare’ function, similar to the one you’ll find in our workstations. While modifying a sound, you can press ‘Compare’ to quickly revisit the saved version of the sound, and press it again to go back to your edits.

This is great stuff, but some of this may be a bit deep for some users. Do you have any simple tricks that you can share?

Sure, using the Editor you can adjust the Touch Curve for each sound individually. Many people find that to be the essential tweak per sound to make the SV-1 their own.

Now, let’s say you’re playing along with a backing track that isn’t quite in tune, and you need to adjust the pitch of the SV-1 to a very small degree. Just press the FUNCTION button, then turn the TREBLE knob to fine-tune.

Here’s another cool trick: if you want to isolate the RX noises or a layered sound, turn on the AMP section, and then turn the DRIVE all the way down. At this point you’ll only be hearing the RX noise or layer. To adjust the level of the RX noise/Layer, press the FUNCTION button, then turn the BASS knob.

KORG Korner

If you have a favorite Korg product you would like to see explored, or a question you would like to see answered, drop an email to [email protected].

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When I was first learning jazz piano, McCoy Tyner’s stylehad a big influence on my playing. Years later, during a set withsaxophonist Gary Bartz at a jazz club in Washington, DC, I wasdoing my best McCoy emulation when McCoy Tyner himselfstrolled right past my piano! After the set, he was extremely com-plimentary of my playing, which made me feel great. Later, Iasked him, “How do you feel that so many pianists have copiedyour style?” He replied, “I consider it a compliment.” Just then,an eavesdropping friend sung her best “air McCoy” impression:“Fifth, fourth . . . fifth, fourth, fourth.” Tyner smiled at her andreplied, “There’s a lot more to it than that!” To play like McCoy,it’s important to understand a few basic building blocks of hisimmediately identifiable piano sound. George Colligan

5 Ways To Play LikeMCCOY TYNER

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1.Fifths in the Left Hand. One of McCoy’s signature sounds is playing fifths in his left hand, usually the root and fifth of whatever the designated chord is. InEx. 1, we’re voicing an F7 chord in this way by simply playing F and C in the left hand. Much of the music Tyner played with JohnColtrane was modal or pedal-point based. Playing the root and fifth in the lower register solidifies the harmony, and can also set upa dialogue with the drummer.

2. Perfect Fourths in the Left Hand. We tend to think of Western harmony in terms of thirds, but during the Middle Ages in Europe, thirds were thought of as dissonant. Inter-vals of fourths and fifths were considered resolutions. An added advantage of playing the perfect fourth in the left hand is that it gives agrounded, “home base” quality to the harmony. In other words, fourths sound solid. Tyner often plays two perfect fourths based on theroot, as in Ex. 2, where an F7 chord is voiced using the notes F, Bb, and Eb), or he might play one with the root on top (for example,F7 as G, C, and F).

LESSONS

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26 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

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3. Augmented and Perfect Fourths in the Left Hand. These voicings have more tension due to their use of the tritone interval: a sharp fourth. Tyner will often shift from this voicing to our pre-vious voicing and back. So, for a Bb7 chord, he might play Ab, D, and G as in Ex. 3a, then he’ll shift to Bb, Eb, and Ab as in Ex. 3b.In “Blues on the Corner,” he plays F, B, and E against a Bb7 chord, (Ex. 3c), which is quite dissonant. Tyner is a master of tension andrelease, and Ex. 3d shows how Tyner combined perfect and augmented voicings on his version of the Antonio Carlos Jobim classic“Wave,” from the album Supertrios.

4.Chromatic Playing and Two-Handed Comping.“Planing” refers to intervals that remain intactas they move around. In Ex. 4a, we’replaning a series of left-hand fourth voicings.Diatonic planing stays in the current har-monic key or mode, as in the Dorian modeof Ex. 4b, and chromatic planing moveswithout regard to the key center, as in Ex.4c. Tyner sometimes keeps the same left-hand voicing intact, moving it relative to ahome key, until he resolves it. Also notice that4b and 4c use combinations of fourths andthirds to make smooth voicings across bothhands. Listen to John Coltrane’s A LoveSupreme for examples in context.

Ex. 4a

Ex. 3a Ex. 3b

Ex. 3c Ex. 3d

Ex. 4b

Ex. 4c

270 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

5. Using the Pentatonic Scale.We often hear five-note or pentatonic scales (Ex. 5a) in Asianand African music. Tyner uses his unique improvisational senseto manipulate them in this example from his song “Blues on theCorner” (Ex. 5b). Often when a chord is dominant, Tyner willplay a minor pentatonic based on the fifth of the chord. But hemight also play a minor pentatonic based on the root of thedominant chord, then go off in another direction (Ex. 5c).

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George Colligan is a pianist and composer who has worked with CassandraWilson, Buster Williams, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, and many others. Mostrecently, he joined drummer Jack DeJohnette’s new quintet. Colligan has appearedon over 100 CDs, 19 of them as a leader. His latest release is Come Togetheron the Sunnyside label. Colligan is Assistant Professor of Jazz Piano at the Uni-versity of Manitoba. Jon Regen

Ex. 5a

Ex. 5b

Ex. 5c


Audio examples of theselessons on our site!

Find out where McCoyTyner’s playing live.

Hear McCoy use thesetechniques on a killer solorendition of “Giant Steps.”

More Online

28 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

Composer and synthesist Suzanne Ciani is a pioneer in electronic music.She has released 15 albums, ten of them on her independent label SeventhWave. A five-time Grammy nominee in New Age music and a winner ofthe Indie Award, her career has also spanned film and TV scoring,notably the “pop and pour” sound for Coca Cola, created on a Buchlamodular synth. Jon Regen

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“Snow Crystals”A lot of my compositions are influenced by the idea of a sequencer, since in the early days I didn’t use a keyboard to play theBuchla synthesizer. Now when I play sequences on a keyboard, I just change the eighth-note figures to easily change meters. I’musing a Celeste-like sound here. The song “Snow Crystals” is all about patterns, and changing from a 5/4 pattern to one in 6/4is very comfortable. You can hear this piece in full on my CD Silver Ship.

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Audio and video ofSuzanne on the Buchlamodular synth.

Three more new agesynth lessons and fullaudio examples.

Suzanne demos synths onvintage Letterman and 3-2-1 Contact.

More Online

SUZANNE CIANI

On New Age Synth

30 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

©2010 Bose Corporation. C_008610

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COVER STORY

“I wanted it to go somewhere new,” reflects Alicia Keys about her hit albumThe Element of Freedom, just minutes before bringing 20,000 hungry fans atNewark, New Jersey’s, Prudential Centre to their feet. “I was listening to a lot ofdifferent music, which is what I tend to do before I start an album. It was aboutsaying, “What am I feeling? And what feels good to me?”

What feels good to Alicia Keys is almost always a barometer of what listenersgravitate to as well. In the decade since she broke out with her 12-times platinum,and five-time Grammy Award-winning debut Songs in A Minor, the prodigiouspianist, singer, songwriter, actress, humanitarian—and now virtual instrumententrepreneur—has sold over 30,000,000 albums worldwide. Make no mistake,though—Keys is a fiercely devoted musician at her core, ready at a moment’snotice to talk shop around a piano about her latest recorded discoveries, keyboardacquisitions, and musical influences. On The Element of Freedom, Keys’ immedi-ately recognizable, piano-centric, R&B-meets-pop panache is bathed in a retroglow. Supple vocals meet analog filter sweeps, and Motown-worthy melodies areupdated with dirty, MPC-like drum grooves. It’s a re-imagining of the soul soundthat has made her one of the most acclaimed artists of the last decade.

ContinuedRA

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330 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

One of the most amazing things

about The Element of Freedom

is what’s not on it. Is it true that

you didn’t use a real piano, that

all the acoustic piano sounds

came from your Alicia’s Keys vir-

tual piano plug-in?

Believe it or not! That sound is soincredible. Basically, we miked upmy piano, a Yamaha C3 Neo, inmy studio. We were able to sam-ple the exact sound of my pianothat I love so much, and really getall the dynamics of the way itfeels; the soft pedal, the reverber-ation when I hold it, the soundwhen I hit it extremely hard,when I hit it soft. . . . It was donein such an incredible fashion thatnow I don’t have to mic my pianoevery time. Obviously, as youknow, miking a piano, it dependson the tone you’re going for, andsometimes you do a great job, butsometimes you’re like, “Uh?”Sometimes it takes 30 minutes,sometimes all afternoon. So to be able to turn it on and have it be justlike I want it? [Smiles.]If you’re a guitar or sax player, you can take your instrument with

you every night. But I find that even if I have the same piano, the hall

or the sound system changes, and I always feel a little bit behind the

8-ball. Do you feel better playing Alicia’s Keys for that reason?

Oh, yeah. Especially on stage, because I tried a lot of different keyboards,and they were okay. But to have the sound that I love? I’m really glad wegot to do it.Was the impetus to create Alicia’s Keys the fact that you wanted to

take the sound of your home piano with you?

Yeah, that’s where it began. Definitely. To take my sound with me,wherever I went. On the road, or while I’m working in the studio, becauseyou go to different studios and that’s a whole other thing. Sometimes,a given studio’s piano sounds great, sometimes it doesn’t. Also, for peo-ple who might not have access to an acoustic piano, they can have thesound of an acoustic piano.

If you’re using Alicia’s Keys on the whole record, you get many dif-

ferent sounds out of it. There are times when it sounds like a Yamaha

CP70 electric grand, and times when it sounds like a full Yamaha S6

or C7 concert grand. There’s a lot of range there.

If you hear a CP70, it’s because we did use a real CP70 on the record. Butthe sound of Alicia’s Keys does have a lot of range to it. We’ll even put effectson it, you know? We’ll put guitar pedals on it, and it will sound totally crazy.So you have that freedom to do many things.The Element of Freedom is an amazing marriage of old and new sounds.

Sometimes an artist will go for an older, retro sound, and it sounds

forced. But this record sounds seamless. Talk a little bit about your con-

ception for the album’s sound design.

At the beginning of making this record, I really wanted to explore someinteresting combinations of sound and style. Take the Police—I listen tothem a lot. Obviously, they have that kind of ska vibe to them, but thenthey definitely still have a soulful thing, but then they still have a pop sen-sibility in terms of where the chord changes and melodies go. So I love that.

COVER STORY


See exclusive video of thisinterview, in which Aliciaperforms songs from TheElement of Freedom!

Alicia discusses Alicia’s Keyswith Native Instruments.

Visit Alicia’s musical directorand keyboardist Onree Gill.

More Online

“I’ve been Alicia’s musical director sincethe beginning,” says Onree Gill. “I startedwith her in 2000, and have worked withher ever since.” Keys, Gill, and AnthonyMiller hold keyboard court behind threedifferent rigs.

“Alicia’s playing a Yamaha C2 grandpiano with MIDI. The C2 drives the Alicia’sKeys virtual piano, which she loves. Theengineer mikes the C2 as well, and decideseach night how much of each signal to use inthe house. Alicia also plays a SuzukiOmnichord and a separate synth rack witha Yamaha Motif ES6 and MinimoogVoyager. She makes sure to have a digitalpiano backstage to warm up—usually aYamaha PF85.”

Anthony Miller plays a Yamaha MotifXS7 and XS8, along with a B-3 organchopped by L.A. supertech Ken Rich. Gillalso has a Motif XS7 and XS8 onstage.Says Gill, “I can bring up different sounds ondifferent Motif faders: a piano here, some strings there. It’s perfect for what I do.” Gillruns some drum and sample tracks on a Roland VS-2480 hard disk recorder. “Isequence in Pro Tools and Logic, then I transfer everything to the 2480. It’s rocksolid for the road.”

ALICIA’S KEYBOARDISTS

Anthony Miller

Onree Gill

34 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

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RULES WERE MEANT TO BE BROKENThe Privia PX-3 breaks all of the rules and more by delivering an extremely lightweight, high performance, 88 note weighted action stage piano and controller at a price that is an absolute steal.

Second, I was really into Genesis, becauseI just loved the darkness of it, and the way theyexperimented with drum machines, but alsowith live drums, and how they crossed betweenthe two. Some songs start out really dark, like“Mama,” but then the choruses would just openup. I really wanted to understand what thatwas about.

Third, I listened to a lot of Fleetwood Mac.That was because one of my closest friendsinvited me to see them for her birthday. Atfirst, I was like, “Sure.” [Rolls her eyes.] Every-body was singing along to every word, andI was the only one who didn’t know thewords. I felt a little embarrassed. But it wascool, because it opened me up to a wholeother sound, and drum style, and group. Ofcourse I knew their big songs—everybody does.But to go deeper in, like the Tusk album . . .

that was the one that I really went back andzoned on.

So, those were the kinds of things I was lis-tening to, and I did start concentrating a lot onthe songwriting style, and that influenced thechords I would use, and the way I wanted thechoruses to be. It was about just opening up theflow. I knew I wanted to experiment, and plus,I was in my studio collecting tons of keyboards.My engineer, Ann Mincieli, is a collection addict.So, she’d be like, “I saw this new. . . .”A little eBay action?

Yes! She gets on eBay and says, “Oh, I saw thisRoland Jupiter-8 you’d think is crazy. You shouldcheck it out.” That was really fly, because I knewI was searching for a new sound. So I was able toexperiment a lot with Moogs, and different oscil-lator-based keyboards, and in terms of the cre-ative flow, it was just fun.And then there’s a kind of Roland TR-808

drum vibe as well. It seems like there was an

amazing willingness to say, “Hey, let’s see

what this sounds like!”

Oh my gosh—it’s so much fun. I think I wasjust able to bring what we started with [2007

album] As I Am to the next level. On As IAm, I’d say we definitely did more with elec-tric pianos—a lot of Wurly and Rhodes. We

even did harpsichords and things like that,but we’d put crazy effects on them, justto take it to a new place. Now, I kind ofpushed that to the next place, going intomore of the vintage keyboard, drummachine style.

You seem pretty fearless when it

comes to different keys. You’re

in Db on one song, then F on

the next, then G. Are you

deliberately starting songs in

certain keys?

That’s cool. Thank you. I’m notso deliberate with that—I think Ikind of find my way into the keymore. Like with “That’s HowStrong My Love Is,” that startedin a different key. And then as I’msinging it, and I’m flowing withit, I go, “Hmm, hmm.” [Sings andraises her pitch.] So I took it up ahalf-step, and I’m like ‘What does

[another] half-step feel like?’And then I’m like, “Hmm.” So

COVER STORY

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a lot of times, the playing is about how it feelswhen I’m singing.So it may not end up where it started.

Usually it won’t end up where it started. Then, bythe time I’m on the road, and I’m doing 30-something songs a night—then I’m like, “Whydid I write that song so high?” Because[laughs], I beat myself up all the time, like,“What were you thinking? All the way upthere? Come down!”Are there some piano players that were instru-

mental to you when you were learning to play

and coming up with your own concept?

Well, Nina Simone has always been a hugeinfluence on me, because I think she’s proba-bly one of the baddest piano players that everexisted, period. Period, end of story! She couldplay probably every dude under the table, in aheartbeat. And I think she’s just special. Shehas this mixture about her, between studyingclassical, and jazz, and also the intensity thatshe has about her—her life, and the very intenseera she lived in, which makes her writing stylevery deep. So I love her a lot.

I listen to Herbie Hancock. He’s incredible,and a very special guy too. He’s been in the busi-ness for so long, and he just loves it. He loves it

COVER STORY

The Element of Freedom featuresKeys’ personal acoustic grand, theYamaha C3 Neo—but in sampledform for her new signature virtualpiano plug-in, Alicia’s Keys. “All theacoustic piano sounds on the albumare from Alicia’s Keys,” she says.“The sound is just incredible.”Featuring nearly 3,000 samples in12 velocity layers, Alicia’s Keys cap-tures the sinewy piano sound thathelped rocket Keys to worldwideacclaim. See our full review onpage 60.

ALICIA’S KEYS

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COVER STORYpurely, and it’s such a beautiful thing to see some-one love it like that. He was also generous enoughto play my plug-in and test it out. He had somegreat comments, and he loved it, too!

Growing up, I really admired Brian McKnight’s

piano playing, too. Because I think that he just hassomething in him as well, and I love the way hismelodies and piano playing were so beautiful.

Donny Hathaway. Like, major, zone, stone-cold, rude, killer!

Of course, there’s Stevie Wonder, becausewe can’t even leave him out. It doesn’t even makesense—the chords he plays! Nobody plays chordslike he plays them, so you probably might aswell just not try!

The concept of every Alicia Keys album is to marry new soundswith old ones. Alicia always wants to be retro-futuristic—she hasan amazing collection of gear, and lets me scour the earth lookingfor new toys.

Between As I Am and The Element of Freedom, we designed hersignature Alicia’s Keys piano plug-in. [See page 60 for our full review.—Ed.] We also built an incredible arsenal of drum samples. I hireddrummers, bought and rented drum kits, and spent days samplingand mapping in NI Battery. I also roamed the world trading produc-ers’ sounds. Almost every drum sample on The Element of Freedomcame from libraries we built and collected. Alicia has bought somevery exotic drum kits throughout the years; this time, we bought a1970 Ludwig red sparkle drum kit, a 1960 Rogers exotic kick drum,four toms, (including a 16" x 16" floor tom with beater), and 6" x 8"bongos.

We also purchased nine rare drum machines, which we sam-pled via Pro Tools and 2" tape. These included a Linn LM-1 (serial#25, made by Roger Linn himself), Roland TR-808, TR-909, CR-78, and CR-8000, a LinnDrum 2, and an Oberheim DMX. You hear

a lot of these on the album, which includes programmed drumsover live ones. Alicia is an incredible producer who can programdrums better than anyone!

The Element of Freedom has a lot of synths: Prophets, Moogs,Roland Junos, the Yamaha CP70 electric grand, and many others. Wealso used a lot of vintage guitars and amps—everything from CarolKaye’s Versatone bass amp, to one of the first 1950s Hofner violinbasses. Alicia owns two from ’56 and ’57—Paul McCartney doesn’teven have those!

Alicia owns her own facility, Oven Studios, and it’s like a candystore of gear! I have about 80 of the most vintage guitar pedals,40 of the rarest guitars, and a huge collection of guitar amps. Weuse the amps and pedals on everything from guitar to keyboardsto vocals.

I’m already preparing for Alicia’s next album. I found an old Rheemkeyboard from 1967 that has a double-octave bass. I’m also making newdrum samples, and reworking her whole virtual synth rig. For the nextalbum, I’m going to take all of the gear we used on this one and hide itaway to push her to try new things!

Ann Mincieli on recording Alicia Keys’ new albumTHE ELEMENT OF GEAR

Alicia Keys’ engineer Ann Mincieli with (left toright) Oberheim OB-8 synth atop Yamaha CP70electric grand piano, rare Hofner bass, andFender Rhodes Piano Bass atop the rare ARPElectric Piano. Her left hand rests on a GibsonEH-150, one of the first guitar amps ever made.

40 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

Who could forget the suit-and-tie clad Robert Palmer surrounded bya “band” of five vapid models obviously only pretending to play? Con-sidering the small fortunes spent on videos then, “Addicted to Love”was cheap, simple, and used the oldest trick in the book: hot girls inslinky dresses. It didn’t hurt that “Addicted” was a seriously catchy

tune featuring big ’n’ brassy synth stabs. This month we’ll create our ownbeefy analog stabs on hardware and software synths: the Alesis Ion andNative Instruments’ Massive. You can make this patch on just about anyanalog or virtual analog synth that has two (or better, three)oscillators. Fol-low the steps and you too will be “Addicted to Love.” Mitchell Sigman

Robert Palmer’s“ADDICTED TO LOVE”

Step 1. Set all available oscillators to pulse waves.

Step 2. Set the oscillators an octave apart; if you have three oscs, put two at the same pitch and the third an octaveup. Detune all oscillators enough to hear some chorusing, but not enough to sound audibly out of tune.

Step 3. For tonal motion, route an envelope generator (usually the one that controls the filter) to control the pulse widthof the oscillator waves. Set attack around 100ms, decay at 300ms, sustain to medium, and release off. These don’t need tobe exact, so don’t worry if your synth doesn’t show times.

Step 4. Using a lowpass filter, set the cutoff frequency relatively low, then turn up the envelope amount knob so thatthe envelope you set in Step 3 controls the cutoff. You may need to experiment, but we want it to sound like a brass section.

Step 5. Set the volume envelope similar to the filter: attack around 100ms, decay at 300ms, sustain full up, and releaseoff. Make sure the attack isn’t too fast, as it takes time to blow air through a real horn.

Step 6. Add a thick, juicy chorus effect eitherfrom the synth itself, or as an insert effect in your DAW’schannel strip.

Steal This Sound

SOLUTIONS

Hear audioexamples andread extendednotes on synthtweaking.

Have NI Massive?Download theauthor’s “Addicted”patch!


42 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

DanceREAL-WORLD AMBIENCES

1. On a Mac, there’s a smattering of real-world ambiences in GarageBand’s sound effects library. Click on the Podcast icon in theloop browser, select a sound from the ambience category, add it to a GB track, and render the result. Another great resource for freeambiences is hollywoodedge.com. From the main page, click on Free Sound Effects in the menu bar (free registration required).

2. Drag this sound effect into a new track in your latest electronic opus, asI’ve done here in Ableton Live. In our online audio, we put the loop over asimple four-on-the-floor kick, so you can hear exactly what’s going on.

3. With your ambience clip and drums in place,begin auditioning one-measure bits of the clip. Eachsingle-bar segment has its own distinct rhythmic char-acter. Spend some time finding one that really revsyour engine, not just audio filler.

4.Once you’ve got a loop that grooves,get creative with tempo-synced effects.Filters and auto-panners are good, asare flangers and phasers. In our audioexample, I added a touch of eighth-noteLFO filtering to give it a bouncy wobble.

5. As an alternative to LFO-based effects, tinker with the volume envelope for the loop.By “gating” the loop rhythmically, you can create syncopated riffs with your ambience thatwould be nearly impossible to achieve any other way.

Killer synth riffs and slammin’ drums are key components of dance tracks, but if you want fans to wonder, “How was that sound created?”you can get a lot of mileage from adding ambiences. Not as in “Brian Eno” washy drones, but Foley-type ambiences like in professional soundeffects libraries. By taking natural sounds like forests and jungles, or industrial sounds like construction sites, you can add a layer of organiccontent that will give your tracks a truly unique sound. Francis Preve

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44 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

Dynamic V.A.S.T. EngineSo powerful, it can combine up to 32 layers

of spectacular samples, KVA Oscillators, and Filters in every preset program.

Cascade ModeEach layer in a program can be routed through the DSP of any other layer, in series or blended together,

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Jason Scott AlexanderElectronic Musician

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What gigging keyboardist doesn’t want it all? The B-3 and Leslie, theRhodes, Wurly, and Clav, the rich grand piano — such is the stuff of rig-related dreams. If such a pile of heavy, expensive goodness isn’t in thecards, check out one of the latest archetypes of today’s keyboards: the all-in-one stage piano-slash-clonewheel organ. Roland’s V-Combo VR-700is a light and powerful 76-key instrument that combines physical organdrawbars with the company’s tonewheel modeling technology, and throwsin strong piano, EP, synth, and other non-organ sounds to boot.

Appearance, Controls, and SoundsRoland went with a simple and classy design—a wise choice, given thewide variety of contexts in which the instrument will no doubt be used.Given its dark earth-tone colors and dashboard layout, the V-Combolooks more like a clean, classy church organ than a spaceship console, avibe that makes it appropriate for nightclubs, wedding receptions in hotelballrooms, and houses of worship alike.

Roland does a great job of making the instrument non-intimidating,simple to learn, and easy to navigate on stage. The crown jewels are itsnine drawbars, which feel like home for anyone familiar with a Ham-mond organ. Push and pull the drawbars, slap on the Rotary Soundcontrols, dial up some reverb, and you’re ready to rock.

It’s very quick and easy to split and layer the keyboard, with up tothree different Organ parts and two different Ensemble (non-organ) parts.Want to lay down some organ pads in the left hand and play piano melodiesin the right? Hit the Split button, set your drawbars, dial up the piano ofyour choice (they’re all expressive and resonant—no surprise, consider-ing they come from Roland’s stellar RD-700 stage piano technology), andyou’re good to go in the time it takes for the applause to die down betweentunes. One cool layering trick involves putting organ and synth brasstogether and using the dedicated red Ensemble Volume drawbar: Pushthe drawbar all the way in, start playing a high organ line, and graduallypull it out as you play for some instant ’80s excitement. Once you’ve got-ten your tones, splits, and layers locked in, it’s easy to assign them to theFavorite buttons for easy recall mid-gig or mid-song.

To expand the V-Combo for a full console organ experience, optionalpedalboards such as Roland’s PK-7A let you kick bass via the dedicatedMIDI pedal in, plus there’s another MIDI in for hooking up a controllerto act as a lower manual. Since there’s only one set of drawbars, you usebuttons in the Harmonic Bar section to switch which part’s sounds you’retweaking: upper, lower, or pedal.

Whether I was jamming on a Wurly EP sound or cranking up the reverbon strings, I found the V-Combo’s Ensemble section, electric pianos in par-ticular, to be varied and inspiring. Nearly each one I played gave me an idea

RolandV-COMBO VR-700 by Michael Gallant

GEAR

46 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

for a melody or groove I wanted to expand on. As the V-Combo is mainly astage keyboard, players used to editing and customizing their sounds may bedisappointed by the limited amount of Ensemble tweaking that’s provided.Other than adjusting the type and intensity of the Reverb and dialing in theamount of one factory-assigned effect per sound (sympathetic resonanceon pianos, for example), you can’t edit the Ensemble tones. The sounds arequite strong to begin with, though, and while you only get two Clavinets,

the Effect Control section can add a cool phaser to one and a “Higher Ground”style auto-wah to the other. Most gigging players won’t need deeper edit-ing, but if you’re the type to build every one of your non-organ patches fromthe oscillators up, you’ll want a more traditional synth or workstation.

In UseTwo minutes out of the box, the V-Combo made me forget that I wasn’tplaying a vintage B-3 through a beer-stained Leslie. Given the immediatetactile satisfaction of tweaking the drawbars, the easily accessible Leslieparameters, and the perky, responsive keyboard, I was able to go deep afterjust a brief “get to know you” phase. Palm-swipe glissandi felt smooth andnatural. Editor Stephen Fortner commented, “Like the Roland VK-8’s key-board, the V-Combo’s is quiet, with a nice deadness as the keys bottomout. If your technique includes pyrotechnics like palm smears or key-slap-ping, the ‘clack factor’ is less than on other clonewheels I’ve played.”

These buttons make the joystick do pitchbend

and modulation, or control organ settings such

as rotary speed.

With optional KS-G8 stand and PK-7A

pedalboard. The PK-7A includes an expression

pedal with left and right toe-kick switches for

switching rotary speeds and other functions.

Editor StephenFortner tries theV-Combo for thefirst time.

Shredding demoperformance fromJordan Rudess.


470 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

For another opinion, I asked former touring rocker and current churchorganist Gary Frank Scaggs to give the V-Combo a try. “My first impres-sion is that it sounds and feels so nice that I want to continue playing, andI haven’t really experienced that with a digital keyboard before,” said Gary,whose vintage B-3 is his primary church instrument. “The drawbars feelgood. Going by feel, I didn’t notice them—that’s a compliment.” Gary alsopointed out how strong the rotary sound of the V-Combo is: “It doesn’tjust sound jiggly,” he said, and I agree. I found the rotary simulation par-ticularly tasty when playing some Chester Thompson-inspired funk.

Roland’s D-Beam shines in the V-Combo. I had a blast turning up thegain on the Rotary Sound control, setting the D-Beam to do ring modula-tion, and theremin-ing it up with my left hand while hammering out tightly-voiced, upper-register chords with my right; the result sounded like awonderfully demented intersection of DJ scratching and percussive organslapping. To add a unique visual aspect to your performance, and stretchwhat an organ can usually do, the D-Beam is a wonderful tool.

While organ is the V-Combo’s highlight, the Ensemble sounds arenothing to sneeze at. I stepped through the acoustic pianos while accom-panying a singer on some Gabriel Fauré art songs and was impressed bythe pianos’ depth and nuance, especially given that they were completelyexposed in this setting. I was also pleasantly surprised by how the key-board reacted to my touch, and how I was able to breathe a good amountof pianistic life and expression into my playing, more so than I’m usedto with other “semi-weighted” (which might as well mean unweighted ifyou’re a serious pianist) keyboards. Building an action that works forboth organ and piano is no easy task, and I commend Roland for strik-ing a workable middle ground.

The only area where I found the V-Combo lacking was gutsy synthleads. As a big fan of Roland’s V-Synth and AX-Synth distorted leads, Iwas hoping to find at least a handful of similar tones in the V-Combo. Ifthe instrument let you run Ensemble sounds through the rotary simula-tor and crank up the drive to add some grit, it could cover the same ter-ritory—but this isn’t the case.

At 35 pounds and change, the V-Combo is a featherweight cham-pion. Setting it up in my studio was a breeze, as was throwing it intomy car. Among other thoughtful additions, Roland makes it easy foryou to tell the rotary speed in the dark, as the Slow/Fast button blinksin sync with it. Finally, call me silly, but I really liked that Roland

included a sturdy wire music stand that you can install in 30 seconds with-out a screwdriver.

ConclusionsIn their quest to design an all-in-one stage keyboard, Roland has slayedthe proverbial dragon. While I’d hesitate to take the V-Combo out on astraight-ahead jazz piano gig, or anything that requires an intenselynuanced piano touch, the V-Combo is currently my top call for rock, pop,R&B, and whatever else requires an authentic organ performance along-side broader tonal variation. Flexibility, portability, and an impressivelyvibrant and versatile organ are the keys here, and for players who needall that, the V-Combo is an excellent choice.

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CONCEPT An all-in-one stage keyboard with a focus on tonewheel (i.e.,Hammond B-3 and Leslie) organ sounds. The clonewheel section is modeled;non-organ sounds are sample-based.POLYPHONY Organ: full, like on most modeled clonewheels. Ensemble(non-organ) sounds: 128 voices.MULTITIMBRAL PARTS Organ: 3 (upper, lower, pedal). Ensemble: 2 atonce, which you can split and layer with organ sounds.KEYBOARD 76 semi-weighted waterfall keys with velocity sensitivity, butno aftertouch. As non-fully-weighted keyboards go, it’s much more playable,responsive, and satisfying than we expected.ORGAN VARIATIONS/EDITING 4 tonewheel models, 5 amp types with“tube” overdrive. Harmonic percussion slow, fast, and “recharge” times. Highand low rotor slow, fast, and speed-up/slow-down times.NON-ORGAN SOUNDS 65 tones, 5 rhythm sets, 256 GM2 tones, 9GM2 rhythm sets.PLAYER SECTION 51 internal rhythm patterns. Playback of WAV, AIFF,MP3, or SMF backing tracks from USB stick.

W x D x H 49-5/8" x 15-9/16" x 5-1/16".WEIGHT 35 lbs., 5 oz.

List: $2,329 Street: Approx. $2,000

rolandus.com

SpecificationsOrgan sounds are vivid, gutsy, and highly playable. Physical drawbars,knobs, and buttons provide an authentic playing experience. Easy tolearn and navigate on the fly. Organ and rotary section are deeply

tweakable. Non-organ sounds, especially acoustic and electric pianos, don’t cutcorners. Lightweight.

Can’t route non-organ sounds through rotary simulator. Ensembletones have limited editing. More aggressive lead synth soundswould be nice.

With a wave of your hand, Roland’s D-Beam affects pitch, filter, or vol-

ume on Ensemble tones. On organ, it can do ring modulation, wheel

break, and simulate kicking a spring reverb.

48 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

At first glance, the Akai MiniAK looks like a compact performancesynth with few frills. Its three-octave velocity-sensitive keyboard, pitchand mod wheels, three assignable knobs, and gooseneck mic for singinginto the onboard vocoder, are just the thing for playing solos, bass lines,pads, and fills at live gigs or in the studio. But appearances can be deceiv-ing. Under the MiniAK’s hood lies a full-blown virtual analog synth that’scapable of producing up to eight voices with three oscillators each. Eachvoice can be its own multitimbral part if you prefer. You get two multi-mode filters, three ADSR envelopes, two LFOs, linear and exponentialFM capabilities, a ring modulator, and stereo effects including a 40-bandvocoder. There’s also a step and pattern sequencer, an arpeggiator, and adrum machine. Oh, and lots of preset sounds—600 of them. This givesyou a lot of musicmaking power in a deceptively small package.

SoundsBass, lead, pad, string, brass, comp, keys, drum, vocoder/special FX . . .the MiniAK’s sounds are organized in nine self-explanatory categories.Though sounds cover all the bases—organs, electric pianos, Clavs, chimes,and yes, synths—there are no samples. Everything is analog modeling.Even its drum sounds are created using analog-like synthesis techniques,so many have a TR-808 or TR-909 feel. A few distortion-enhanced kicksand snares evoke a Nine Inch Nails industrial vibe.

A number of programs have names that keyboard cognoscenti willrecognize: “Seven Days,” “Lucky Porta,” and “WontGetFooled,” for exam-ple, are dead-on covers of sounds from Jan Hammer’s “The First SevenDays,” Keith Emerson’s “Lucky Man” solo, and the pulsing, filtered organof the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

Many of the factory presets have a wonderful ambient tone, thanks tojudiciously applied onboard DSP effects. In addition, the performancecontrols—both mod wheels as well as the three assignable knobs—usu-ally take the sounds in new, expressive directions. For example, by open-ing up the filter cutoff, dialing in resonance, adding vibrato, or giving thetone added grit via overdrive, and so on.

Synth Engine and EffectsThe MiniAK’s voice architecture will be familiar if you’re an Alesis IONor Micron player, as the MiniAK is a direct descendent. As such, its pro-grams are compatible with both Alesis machines. The MiniAK is alsoreminiscent of various classic analog synths: the Minimoog, ARP Odyssey,Prophet-5, and so on. It also incorporates a few useful enhancements.

For example, one of the three envelopes can modulate oscillatorpitch. There’s also a ring modulator between two of the oscillators, andvarious types of frequency modulation. Linear FM does classic FM syn-thesis a la Yamaha DX7, whereas exponential FM modulates the pitch

Akai ProfessionalMINIAK by Dominic Milano

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50 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

of an oscillator and can be used for drastic frequency-shift effects span-ning up to 12 octaves.

Both hard and soft oscillator sync between various combi-nations of the three oscillators are available. Oscillator sync wasmade popular by analog classics such as the Oberheim SEM and theSequential Prophet-5, and famously used by new wave bands such asthe Cars.

Available oscillator waveforms are sine, triangle, sawtooth, and pulse.A waveshaping parameter “bends” those waveforms. This causes sines todeform, triangles to morph into positive- or negative-going sawtoothwaves, and the width of pulse waves to change. There’s even an oscillatordrift parameter to simulate varying degrees of analog instability.

Each of two filters can operate in any of 18 modes, which range fromfour-pole lowpass (for a Moog-like sound) to two-pole lowpass (likethe Oberheim OB series), three-pole lowpass (think Roland TB-303 acidbass lines), to bandpass and highpass variations, as well as three vocalformant filter modes and a comb filter mode. Two modes are uniqueto the MiniAK, including an eight-pole lowpass that yields an extremelydeep cutoff, and a five-band formant filter mode that’s based on an ide-alized human vocal tract.

Two mixers in the signal chain (pre- and post-filter) let you adjustthe relative volume of each oscillator, and you can insert various mod-

You can process external audio

through the MiniAk’s synth engine, either

via the included vocoder mic or the 1/4" balanced

inputs around back.

Download freedemos of Bizune’sMiniAK softwareeditors.

Audio examples ofthe author’sfavorite MiniAKsounds.


Select a parameter with the Data dial, hold it down,

then wiggle whichever of these three knobs you

want to control it.

Pressing keyboard keys while holding down the Data dial

jumps the LCD to often-tweaked parameter groups.

510 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

eled effects, including compression, limiting, tube overdrive, distor-tion, tube amp warmth, or a fuzz pedal effect at the output stage ofthe signal chain.

The MiniAK includes a bevy of pitch, delay, and reverb effects, anytwo of which you can use on a given program. Pitch-based effects includechorus, “theta” flanging (a combination of phasing and flanging), “thru-zero” flanging (emulated classic tape flanging), and a 14-stage phaser thatgives you that vintage analog string machine sound. The time-basedeffects range from mono and stereo delays to hall and plate reverbs.

Then there’s the 40-band vocoder. A number of parameters help youdial in the effect you’re after, including the ability to increase or reducesibilant frequencies to improve the intelligibility of words. This is handywhen the sound you’re after is less Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Expressand more Clockwork Orange.

ProgrammingMy first reaction to programming the MiniAK was that it could reallyuse a software editor. One does exist, as part of the third-party MiniAKMIDI Suite from Bïzune (see above). On the MiniAK itself, a backlit LCDdisplay and a single Data dial, along with the keyboard and three real-time knobs, are the only ways to access its powerful synth engine. TheData dial serves multiple functions—turning it scrolls through programs,sequences, rhythms, and Multis. Pushing it in lets you step through voiceediting settings; push it again to edit the chosen parameter. Making tweaksone at a time in this manner is anything but fast and intuitive.

Fortunately, holding down the Programs button then pressing a whitekey above middle G# lets you jump to often-used parameters while usingthe Data knob to make changes. Better still, if you wiggle one of the assign-able knobs while pressing and holding the Data knob, it maps the assign-able knob to whatever parameter is currently “up” in the LCD. With a bitof practice, you can customize the MiniAK for a bit more on-the-flysound sculpting.

Multis, Sequences, and RhythmsYou wouldn’t think you’d want to layer too many programs across athree-octave keyboard, but it’s surprising how much sound you canpack into 37 notes. Controlling the MiniAK over MIDI opens thingsup, especially when playing sounds that cover more real estate—organsand electric pianos, for example.

Multis can contain programs, rhythms, and sequences, which theMiniAK comes packed with. Most of the built-in rhythms are house, acid,and trance-oriented. The sequences are simple patterns you trigger witha single key press—different keys change the pattern’s musical key. A taptempo button lets you change playback speed on the fly. Usually, the modwheel adds a filter sweep or other appropriate club-music nuance.

The factory Multis take those same dance-flavored sensibilities to anotherlevel by combining rhythms, pattern sequences or arpeggios, and synthsounds. Programming sequences or patterns is like using a step sequencerthat’s always in 4/4. To get odd meters, you treat 4/4 like 1/4. Shuffle andswing feels are produced by dividing the beat into 12 or 24 steps.

ConclusionsThe MiniAK packs a lot of punch into a compact package that’d be athome at a gig or in the studio. DJs will find plenty to like in its acid-housegrooves, while prog rockers will have a blast riffing with the classic synthsounds. The vocoder and formant filters bring vocal articulation to thevirtual analog signal, and of course, let you do those guilty-pleasure robotvoices. Anyone serious about programming their own rhythms and soundsshould check out the MiniAK MIDI Suite software from Bïzune, but ifyou’re looking for a portable, self-contained keyboard to cover all thebases you want to sound “like a synthesizer,” the MiniAK delivers thegoods—and then some.

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CONCEPT Performance synth with modeled analog sound, built-in rhythm pat-terns, sequencer, and vocoder.POLYPHONY 8 voices.OSCILLATORS PER VOICE 3, each with continuously variable waveforms.FILTERS PER VOICE 2, both resonant and multimode.MULTITIMBRAL PARTS Up to 8. HOW ANALOG DOES IT SOUND? Some of the programs are spot-onrecreations of classic synth sounds, others evoke “analog-ness” but coulduse more oscillator drift, which you can add.

W x D x H 22.8" x 10.8" x 3.3".WEIGHT 12 lbs.

List: $699 Street: Approx. $500

akaipro.com

SpecificationsLots of usable sounds. Cool acid-house analog grooves. Compact andlightweight. Manual provides context that explains what features areuseful for.

Programming UI is challenging. Only available software editor isthird-party and PC only. No USB MIDI. Can’t record audio loopsfor automated control of the vocoder.

Bïzune’s Windows-only MiniAK MIDI Suite consists of Minizune (right),

a software editor you can run standalone or as a VST plug-in, and

Groove-Mod (left) for visual control of the MiniAK’s virtual analog drum

machine. The apps are $33 each or $50 as a bundle.

52 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

Grid controllers are taking off. For musicians and DJs who triggeraudio or video clips, a grid of backlit buttons makes more sense than atraditional keyboard. Plus, the blinky lights add to the stage show.

The Yamaha Tenori-On looks like a grid controller, but it’s actually aself-contained musical instrument. Closer to the dreams of experimen-tal electronic musicians is the Monome, a bare box of buttons.

Livid’s Ohm64 aims to go further than the Monome in giving youhands-on control over your music. Its 8 x 8 button grid is supplementedby 16 knobs, eight sliders, a DJ crossfader, and 17 extra “off the grid” but-tons that you can tap to trigger special events. The knobs and sliders feelsolid and move smoothly. Livid also makes the less expensive Block ($399),which pairs an 8 x 8 button grid with eight smaller knobs and onlytwo sliders.

Controlling Your SoftwareThe Ohm64 transmits MIDI data—either note info or controllermessages. What you do with the data is entirely up to you. Unlikemost keyboard-based MIDI controllers, the Ohm64 has no onboardsmarts, not even an LCD or a bank of preset memory locations. Toprogram it, you run the free Ohm64 Editor software (see page 55).This is not a limitation, however, because the Ohm64 will always betethered to a computer by a USB cable—it runs on USB power only,

and doesn’t even have an AC adaptor jack.The best way to take advantage of the Ohm64’s strengths is to use it

with a program such as Ableton Live or Cycling ’74 Max/MSP. By assign-ing each button to trigger a different clip in Live, you gain tactile controlover a whole bank of clips—you’ll want to assign the horizontal slider toLive’s crossfader. With Max or Pd (PureData, an open-source program-ming language popular with electronic music DIYers), you can go much,much further. For instance, you can change the knob and slider assign-ments on the fly while the music plays. If you have Max For Live, so muchthe better.

Livid just released an Ohm64 template for Propellerhead Reason. TheOhm64 is also widely used with NI Traktor and with trackers such asRenoise. Arkaos Grand VJ ships with an Ohm64 template. The LividStepsequencer for Max For Live is available as a free download from Livid’swebsite.

When you buy an Ohm64, you get a free copy of Livid’s Cell DNAvideo software, which otherwise sells for $149. For live shows, you mayfind this extremely useful, as it lets you trigger video clips directly fromthe Ohm. Installing the Ohm64 in my Windows 7 system was a no-brainer.The Ohm64 is USB class-compliant on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux,which means there’s no driver—I plugged it in, Windows recognized it,and I was ready to go.

54 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

Livid InstrumentsOHM64 by Jim Aikin

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55

Buttons and SlidersWhat’s not to like about a big bank of buttons? Well, maybe one or twothings. The limitation of the Ohm64’s buttons is that they don’t sense fin-ger velocity. Hitting a button transmits a note-on with a velocity of 64,and releasing the button sends a note-off. There’s no toggle mode in whichtapping a button once sends a note-on and tapping it again sends the cor-responding note-off. The absence of velocity sensing is no big deal if youprimarily trigger clips in Live, but drum machine programmers may findit less desirable.

If you’re running Max or Pd, you can easily set up a patch in whichone of the Ohm’s sliders changes the velocities of subsequent notes. Atoggle mode would be almost as easy to program, as would more com-plex logic. For instance, you could set up a row of buttons so that sevenof them send note-ons when pressed, but never send note-offs, while theeighth button does send note-offs for the other seven.

It’d be impossible for the Livid crew to imagine all the things usersmay want to do with the Ohm, so it makes sense that they leave it up toyou to design your own software. But I can’t help wishing the button gridhad a bit more onboard smarts—for example, if you want a button to lightup, you have to send it a MIDI message from the computer.

The good news is, the Ohm doesn’t enforce any sort of rigid correla-tion between your fingers and the lights. You could set up a Max patchthat would light a given button automatically to indicate that the buttonis armed and ready for a finger-tap. Or you could have the lightsstep across the rows in time with a multi-row step sequencer, with

each row moving at a different speed. The bad news is, extra program-ming will usually be needed to get the buttons to light up. One exceptionis that if you’ve assigned buttons to trigger clips in Ableton Live, Live willtransmit the corresponding MIDI notes back to the Ohm automatically,to show which clips are playing.

All the hardware controls transmit on the same MIDI channel. If you

0 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

The sliders are long-throw,

with about 2.25" of travel.


Wiki with everything youneed to know about Lividcontrollers.

Use Reason? Downloadthe Ohm64 template.

Video tutorials fromLividTV.

More Online

The knobs aren’t endless; they “pin” at five and seven o’clock. None of

the knobs or sliders has a center detent, which makes them great for

smooth moves like filter sweeps but less so for things with a “home”

value, like pitchbend.

The Ohm64 Editor (Mac/PC) lets you assign each button outgoing and

incoming MIDI messages: either notes or controllers. The pop-up edit

window follows you around when you click on a graphic object, or trig-

ger that object on the Ohm64 itself.

want to set up split or layered zones and transmit on several channels,you’ll need some kind of software to process the Ohm’s MIDI output—or to simply handle your channelizing and zoning on the receiving end,which most DAWs and multitimbral soft synths do these days.

Speaking of MIDI, the Ohm64 also has MIDI in and out jacks. Youcan use the Ohm as a MIDI interface to your computer, or control hard-ware modules directly from its panel.

ProgrammingIn the Ohm64 Editor you choose either a note or controller message foreach button; for knobs and sliders, you choose a controller or pitchbend.The MIDI inputs that light the buttons are normally the same as the out-puts, but they don’t have to be. By switching off Safe Assign mode, youcan assign any number of buttons to the same MIDI note if you want. Aminor bug in version 1.07 causes the drop-down menu for each button’soutput to always display “note,” even after you’ve switched that buttonto “controller.”

Other Editor commands let you view incoming MIDI messages, viewa list of all current MIDI assignments, send the current state of the Editorto the Ohm, store it in the Ohm’s flash memory, and so on. For complexreconfiguration of the Ohm in performance, you can delve into its MIDIsys-ex implementation, which is documented on the Ohm64 Wiki atwiki.lividinstruments.com. No printed manual is shipped with the Ohm.

You can easily save and load various preset configurations usingthe software, but only one preset can reside in the Ohm64 at a given

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CONCEPT Highly programmable MIDI controller meant for DJs, VJs, and elec-tronic/experimental music performers.CONNECTIONS USB plus 5-pin MIDI in and out jacks.POWER SUPPLY USB only.

W x D x H 17.5" x 10.5" x 2".WEIGHT 6.5 lbs.

List: $599

lividinstruments.com

SpecificationsCombines a button grid with knobs and sliders. Horizontal crossfadeslider. Attractive wooden body.

Buttons aren’t velocity sensitive, so use as drum pads is limited.No onboard preset memory. Slider and knob MIDI output is 7-bit,not 14-bit.

56 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

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time; to switch presets, you need the Editorsoftware. In Windows, this is a problem, asit’s not possible to run the Editor at the sametime as your DAW. You have to program theOhm first, then quit the Editor and launchthe DAW. In Mac OS X, the two programs canboth run at once.

ConclusionsThe Ohm64 will appeal to you if you performwith Max/MSP, Live, Grand VJ, or other inter-active software—and especially if you’re solidlyin the DIY camp of customizing your setup byprogramming your own control assignments.Thanks to the knobs and sliders, it’s far morecapable than buttons-only grid controllers, andfar more flexible than controllers whose func-tionality is married to a particular app such asLive. It’s well-constructed, the price is reason-able, and the bright blue lights are bound to looksexy onstage. Before I send back the review unit,I’ll try programming some realtime interactivealgorithms using QuteCsound. There may besome interesting possibilities there. . . .

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The main competition for the Ohm64 comes from the Novation Launchpad and the AkaiAPC20 and APC40. The APC40 (reviewed Sept. ’09) is in the same price range as theOhm64. What these devices do that the Ohm64 doesn’t is automatically light up thebuttons that correspond to loaded clips. The Ohm lights buttons when clips are playing,but doesn’t use different colors to show you which slots have loaded clips, and won’tpage across from one bank of slots to another.

The Launchpad’s backlit buttons have three colors and three brightness levels each,but the Launchpad has no knobs or sliders. Columns of buttons can act as “faders” inMixer mode, but of course you only get eight levels from full-on to full-off. The Launch-pad sends and receives standard MIDI note-ons and -offs, and these are documented,so it can easily be used with other software.

The APC20 and APC40 are dedicated to Ableton Live. Though they send MIDI mes-sages that, in theory, let you use them with other software, these messages are neitherdocumented nor user-configurable. The APC20’s grid of clip launch buttons is only 8 x5, but it can page through a larger Live set, as can the APC40.

Sadly, you can’t play Scrabble on any of them.

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The sound of Alicia Keys’ piano, which is by turns lush and assertive,is all over her hit records. Working closely with renowned keyboardsoundware developer Thomas Skarbye (better known as Scarbee),not to mention Alicia Keys herself, Native Instruments has capturedthe magic of that sound in Alicia’s Keys. Being that it’s one piano lovedby one artist, this new sampled grand isn’t perfect for every style ofmusic, but it has some strong features and a great tone, not to men-tion a modest price. It uses NI’s Kontakt Player 4 plug-in software,which is included.

The piano in Keys’ studio is a Yamaha C3 in the limited edition Neo cab-inetry. A C3 is a six-foot grand, so the low register is less full and deep thanon a nine-foot concert grand. Also, Yamaha pianos are known for theirbright, in-your-face sound, a characteristic that’s preserved here, althoughthe hammers are somewhat subdued compared to those on my own C3 (nota Neo) in my living room. My piano also has slightly stronger bass frequen-cies, but that may be because it’s sitting on a carpet rather than on arecording studio’s hardwood floor, so more highs are getting absorbed.

The realistic features of the Alicia’s Keys piano are stunning. The velocityresponse (reported to be 12 layers deep) makes it extremely playable. I neverfelt that isolated notes were jumping out at me or getting buried. Also, everyrange of the keyboard responds just as it should. The samples seem to befull-length and streamed from disk—the instrument occupies almost 7GBon my hard drive, though only 365MB of RAM—so there are no loopingartifacts in the bass register, and the decay envelopes taper perfectly.

If you hold a few keys without the sustain pedal down, then strikehigher or lower keys staccato, you’ll hear sympathetic resonance. Press thesustain pedal while holding a note or chord, and you’ll hear the dampersopen up. (In fact, you’ll hear them open up very quietly if you pressthe sustain pedal while no notes are being held, just as you would ona real piano.) The duplex strings, which are one of a grand piano’stwo systems of acoustic “reverb,” seem to have been sampled sepa-rately, and you can control how long they’ll ring before dying away.They’re less prominent than the duplex strings on my C3, however,and their loudness is not controllable.

Native InstrumentsALICIA’S KEYS by Jim Aikin

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60 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

A convolution reverb is built in, with impulse responses for an audi-torium, a concert hall, and a studio. The editable parameters are limitedto output level and room size—don’t look for niceties like pre-delay. There’salso a standard DSP reverb, which you may prefer if you’re running aslower computer. On my fast new Intel i5-equipped PC, the reverb didn’teat up too much of the dual-core 2.67GHz CPU.

Even without any reverb, the piano’s natural ambience is gorgeous.The meticulous tuning contributes to the effect: Each of the unisons hasexactly the right amount of microscopic detuning, so the the tone cho-ruses almost imperceptibly, just like on a real piano.

As noted, Alicia’s Keys isn’t perfect. At first, on some keys at some veloc-ities, I heard key-release samples that were too loud and too long—but seebelow. This initially made it all but impossible to employ staccato chords.Though there is a knob for key release decay time, there isn’t one thatreduces the volumes of the release segments. If you have a full version ofNI’s Kontakt 4 soft sampler, though, you’ll be able to edit the levels of therelease samples to taste. I checked whether the release segments respondedto MIDI note release velocity, as on a real piano, and found that they don’t.This is not surprising, since few MIDI controller keyboards transmit avariable release velocity—and even if yours does, Native Instruments rec-ommends that you don’t use release velocity with Alicia’s Keys.

When I reported these issues to Native Instruments, they explainedthat Alicia Keys wanted the sound of her unique instrument capturedaccurately, imperfections and all. But when I followed up by sending theman MP3 audio clip that highlighted the inconsistent release times, sounddesigner Thomas Skarbye responded immediately by updating the pre-set, and sending me a beta version of a new NKI file (a Kontakt Playerpreset) to check out for myself. This version did indeed have more uni-form release segments, and it should be available by the time you readthis. The releases in the bass register are still longer than I’d prefer, butthere’s no longer any problem playing staccato in the mid and upper reg-isters—and at any rate, the uniqueness of Alicia’s piano is part of the point.

For uptempo jazz comping or a crisp Latin piano montuno, I mightuse a different virtual piano. But for a pop ballad, Alicia’s Keys would bemy first choice. It sounds both richer and more up-front than the Yamaha

C7 or the German Steinway in Synthogy Ivory version 1.64. Executiveeditor Stephen Fortner also got a copy, and added, “I’ve tried all the ‘char-acter’ virtual pianos—where the selling point is the provenance of someparticular piano that was sampled. Alicia’s Keys is by far the most invit-ing to play and the most flexible of these. I’m reaching for it a lot morethan I thought I would.”

Ordinarily I’m skeptical of the idea that there’s magic in the sound ofany particular instrument, but Alicia’s Keys really does invite an emo-tional response. If you’re that kind of composer or songwriter, the inspi-ration factor alone—especially for the price—is more than enough to earnit a home on your hard drive.

Alicia Keys talksabout Alicia’sKeys on video.

Original audioexamples on oursite.


The pop-up Settings

box has five pages of

control governing

piano details such as

pedal behavior and

sympathetic resonance.

CONCEPT Kontakt Player-based virtual grand piano sampled from Alicia Keys’personal Yamaha C3 Neo. FORMATS Mac or PC. AU, VST, RTAS, and standalone.SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Mac: OS 10.5, Intel processor. PC: Windows XP Service Pack 2, Vista, or 7 (32- or 64-bit). Both: 1GB RAM, DVD drive for installation, 7GB hard disk space.

List: $119

native-instruments.com

SpecificationsGorgeous piano sound. Many realistic features, including sympatheticresonance and damper pedal response. True sostenuto support.Concert hall reverb included.

Key release samples are too long on some notes.

610 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

Compared to the beautiful graphics of recent virtual drum plug-ins,the Kontakt Player interface of Mixosaurus DAW Drums Kit A seems allbusiness. But what a business! In my opinion, “Mixo” is potentially thebest-sounding, most realistic, and supremely detailed virtual drum instru-ment available. However, your experience will depend on your computer’sbrawn and the degree to which you’re able to master Mixo’s remarkableprogramming options. That said, even if you don’t take advantage of allthe power Mixo offers, you’re still likely to get fantastic drum tracks.

Mixo gives you one kit with seven cymbals in one rather dry room, buta dizzying inventory of sonic variations: alternating samples, mic options,echo chamber send, stick or beater choices, drum muffling, flexible MIDIperformance processing, effects, and most significantly, highly musical,meticulous multisampling. Its 122GB of 24-bit uncompressed WAV filescomes pre-installed on its own hard drive. With the latest updates installed,I found Kontakt Player 2 to be rock solid and trouble-free, both stand-alone and as a plug-in within Apple Logic Pro 9 and MOTU DP6.

Loading full kits and large programs takes a few minutes. A sensibleselection of memory-conserving programs includes stereo versions andkits with some articulations and/or mic options removed, some program-ming limited, or a combination of these.

The biggest kit includes four toms, a kick with inside and outside micsand four beaters, a snare with three degrees of muffling and top and bot-tom mics, stick and sidestick samples, hi-hat with close and distant mics,three crashes, two rides, one splash, and one China cymbal. Each of thesein turn has various articulations (center, off-center, rim, bell, etc.) and a

Mixosaurus DAW DRUMS KIT A by Ernie Rideout

Video tutorials onMixosaurus’articulations.

Tons of audioexamples!


GEAR

64 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

ridiculous number of multisamples for each articulation—enough tomake for the smoothest, most musical progression from delicately softto headbanging I’ve ever heard in a library.

For each instrument, additional programs provide two to seven alter-nating samples on every stroke and velocity layer. That’s a lot of samples.No programming required: Just load an instrument that has alternates,and Mixo triggers them in order, giving even the most boring drum loopa lifelike sound.

This is where a powerful computer comes in handy. Even with 8GBof RAM, I was unable to load all four programs of the seven-alternateshi-hat, even with no other programs loaded. I was able to load the seven-alternates snare and kick, plus the three-alternates hi-hat. Memory andCPU issues are not trivial: At any given moment, Mixo can be playing100 to 200 samples—a huge job for any computer. I was using the exter-nal hard drive version, connected alternately via USB2 (which workedsurprisingly well) and FW800. I didn’t get to test the forthcoming solid-state drive version, but given how SSDs work in general, it’s a safe bet it’llmake less demands of your RAM.

I created a funky, New Orleans-flavored track using mostly thekick and the open snare. Snare hits include center hit, off-center, nearthe rim, and several degrees of rim shot—all of which I used fully.After several takes using the pads and keys of an M-Audio AxiomPro, I had a four-bar loop with a lot of spunk and variety. But uponrepeated listening, it still sounded like a loop. I loaded in a seven-alternates program for the open snare, and I was amazed at how thetrack sprang to life.

The powerful tools Mixo offers to tweak your MIDI performance andchange your sound aren’t difficult to master, but they’re not boneheadsimple. I liked the Dynamics controls in particular, which let you com-press, expand, and raise and lower incoming MIDI velocities. With theMuscle control, I could raise or lower the overall level of the snare whilepreserving its dynamic range, from whisper-soft to beating-the-crap-out-of-it. It’s easy to assign MIDI controllers to multiple parameters, so I setup a knob on my keyboard to raise the Muscle on the snare, kick, and hi-hat simultaneously. Voilà—instant dynamic variations for song sections,without having to edit MIDI data!

Another favorite was the Delay section. On a rim shot, I adjusted theTime Factor to get a gradual slowing down of the delayed hits. The resultwas a rallentando right out of the bayou. I also came up with completevariations of grooves, simply by adding delay at various rhythmic levelsand adjusting the Time Factor. Since the delays aren’t just echoes, but

newly triggered samples, you can get very dynamic variations.I found the Envelope section invaluable. Increasing the snare attack

by about 28ms smoothed rolls right out. Duration and Release controlshelped for creating all kinds of gate effects, from abrupt to subtle.

There’s a lot going on in Mixosaurus, and we’ve only scratched the sur-face. When you put in the time to learn it, the payoff is significant: MIDIdrum tracks that sound like they were played by a real drummer on anacoustic kit.

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CONCEPT High-end virtual drum kit that comes on its own hard drive.MAJOR CONTROLS

LEVELS The relative levels of a given instrument in the various mic channels. DYNAMICS Changes the dynamics of an existing MIDI track; the hi-hat even has its own pedal pressure setting.DELAY MIDI, not audio. It lets you create variations easily.ENVELOPE Very useful for controlling tone and smoothing rolls.FILTER Low-, high-, or bandpass, with resonance.DISTORTION Tube, solid-state, and turbo.

FORMATS Mac: standalone, AU, RTAS, VST. PC: standalone, DXi, RTAS, VST.DRIVE OPTIONS External: FW400 or 800, eSATA, USB2.0. Bare drivefor installation: SATA I/II. Solid-state: FW400 or 800, USB2.0.

External drive: $1,249.99 Bare drive: $999.99 Solid-state drive: $TBA

mixosaurus.com U.S. dist. by mvproaudio.com

SpecificationsInsane attention to detail. Excellent sound quality. Can add tons ofmusicality and realism even to average MIDI drum parts, without youediting MIDI data. Flexible memory-saving options.

Takes time and effort to master. Higher levels of expressionrequire higher levels of computer power.

Every direct mic/room mic pair has itsown mixer channel in Kontakt Player 2,which gives you a lot of mixing powerright off the bat.

66 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

Many keyboard-based composers I know pay significant moolah tosession guitarists because absolutely nothing propels a track like an acousticguitar rhythm part. It’s an expensive indulgence and it can slow downyour process to schedule and record someone. So if you’re like me, you’vegone to great lengths to become a virtual guitarist—and found that noth-ing quite works.

Until now. RealGuitar 2L lets you create original, authentic-soundingacoustic guitar parts from an array of uncannily realistic steel- and nylon-string models. Installation is uneventful and the first step is obvious: Selecta fingered or picked six- or 12-string guitar. All the choices sound like high-priced axes miked through a top-end preamp. The utterly ear-fooling “StereoSteel” has quickly become the go-to solo guitar in my studio. If RG didnothing but this, it’d still be worth the price. But wait, there’s more. . . .

Wonderful Little Noises Part of what makes a sampled guitar sound real is the assortment ofnon-pitched sounds a guitarist makes: the scratching of the fingers as

they press the strings against the frets, the squeak of the strings as they’rereleased, the smack of the hand against wood, the dull chunk of a pickplucking a muted string. RG2 lets you dial in the level of each noise, thenkey-switch through every articulation.

What’s more, any good guitar player has tricks appropriate to eachstyle. You simply cannot play blues without bending notes, and Ameri-cana styles sound pretty dull without judicious hammer-ons and slides.RG2 lets you assign bends, slides, and mutes to adjustable velocity lay-ers. Hit a note softly, and you get pure guitar. Smack it, and bam: You’reMuddy Waters.

MusicLabREALGUITAR 2L by Richard Leiter

Stunning per-formance demowith Jeff “RoadPig” Abbot.

Free audio/videodownloads anddemo software.


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You instantly see notes you’re playing on the virtual guitar neck.RealGuitar will only play voicings that a real guitarist would.

68 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

VOL. 36, NO. 6 #411 JUNE 2010

eyboardEXECUTIVE EDITOR: Stephen FortnerMANAGING EDITOR: Debbie GreenbergEDITORS AT LARGE: Craig Anderton, Jon Regen SENIOR CORRESPONDENTS: Jim Aikin, TomBrislin, Ed Coury, Michael Gallant, Robbie Gennet,Scott Healy, Peter Kirn, Mike McKnight, DominicMilano, Franics Preve, Ernie Rideout, Mitchell Sigman

ART DIRECTOR: Patrick WongMUSIC COPYIST: Elizabeth Ledgerwood

GROUP PUBLISHER: Joe [email protected], 770.343.9978ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, NORTHWEST,NORTHEAST, CANADA, & NEW BUSINESSDEV.: Greg Sutton [email protected], 925.425.9967 ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, MIDWEST, MID-ATLANTIC, & SOUTHEAST:Jessica [email protected], 661.255.2719ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, SOUTHWEST:Albert [email protected], 949.582.2753SPECIALTY SALES ASSOCIATE, NORTH:Reggie [email protected], 650.238.0296SPECIALTY SALES ASSOCIATE, SOUTH:Will [email protected], 650.238.0325PRODUCTION MANAGER: Amy Santana

MUSIC PLAYER NETWORKVICE PRESIDENT: John PledgerEDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Michael MolendaSENIOR FINANCIAL ANALYST: Bob JenkinsPRODUCTION DEPARTMENT MANAGER:Beatrice KimDIRECTOR OF SALES OPERATIONS:Lauren GerberWEB DIRECTOR: Max SidmanMOTION GRAPHICS DESIGNER: Tim TsurudaMARKETING DESIGNER: Joelle KatcherSYSTEMS ENGINEER: John MenesesASSOCIATE CONSUMER MARKETINGDIRECTOR: Christopher Dyson

NEWBAY MEDIA CORPORATEPRESIDENT & CEO: Steve PalmCHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER: Paul MastronardiVP WEB DEVELOPMENT: Joe FerrickCIRCULATION DIRECTOR: Denise RobbinsHR MANAGER: Ray VollmerIT DIRECTOR: Greg Topf

DIRECTOR OF PUBLISHING OPERATIONS

AND STRATEGIC PLANNING: Bill AmstutzCONTROLLER: Jack Liedke

SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS?800-289-9919 (in the U.S. only) [email protected] Magazine, Box 9158, Lowell, MA 01853

Find a back issue

800-289-9919 or 978-667-0364

[email protected]

Publisher assumes no responsibility for return ofunsolicited manuscripts, photos, or artwork.

Follow Keyboard online at:

690 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

The Art of the StrumYou can play RG2 like a keyboard and record happily ever after, but you’llonly scratch the surface. The real joy is in the strum, and there’s a defi-nite learning curve, but the basics are simple: In Solo mode, notes E1–B4correspond to notes on the guitar. The notes directly above becomestrumming notes. White keys are quick strums and black keys aremuted strums. Plus, keys C1–D#1 become assignable variations: palmmutes, slides, and more. You can immediately create workable patternsthrough experimentation.

Harmony mode adds one note to your played note at six specific inter-vals, and gives playable access to slides; it’s good for power chords. Thereal fun comes when you get to Chords mode, which builds guitar-cor-rect chords out of very few notes and automatically places them in a fretposition of your choosing. (The notes are instantly displayed on the vir-tual guitar neck.) This is the mode you can get lost in for hours trying tofool the built-in harmony maven, but it’s wonderfully musical, and onceyou’ve mastered the internal rules, you can lay down convincing strums.You may have to sequence and quantize a little, but you’ll get the resultsyou’re after.

Bass and Chord mode lets you play root-and-fifth bass parts withstrums, and will bring out your inner flamenco god. Bass and Pick modelays out the right-hand switching keys string by string, so you can createvery convincing arpeggiated parts. Left-hand key-switches and assigna-ble pedal effects quintuple the variations you can apply in each mode,

and while pitchbend, modulation, and aftertouch are always available,you can change their functions. Heck, you can even set the strum speedsand release times. None of these controls are gratuitous.

Those are the basic rules, but in actual use, you’ll want to lock your-self in your studio for a week to pursue all the inspirations you discover.

Manage Your PatternsWhile RealGuitar 2 doesn’t have presets based on musical styles, for $100more, RealGuitar 2L comes with 1,250 strum patterns housed intuitivelyin a separate Pattern Manager window. Just as in many virtual druminstruments, you can audition each strum with a mouse click—or drag-and-drop patterns into your sequencer in any length and order you desire.It’s effortless, but I like to get my hands dirtier. With virtual drums, I’drather record an original part than use a prefab MIDI file, and I feel thesame about guitar patterns. That said, I auditioned factory patterns, thenripped off—I mean “adapted”—the best ones. Essentially, the patternsteach you how to play RealGuitar 2L.

ConclusionsWe keyboard composer/performers have craved something like this foryears, and at $259 for the deluxe model, it’s a no-brainer for anyone work-ing in a pop format. For its absolutely authentic acoustic guitar sounds,intuitive performance system, and overall musicality, we recommendRealGuitar 2L to you with a Key Buy award.

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CONCEPT Sample-based virtual guitar plug-in that, with a littlepractice, lets you not just sound like a guitar on the keyboard, butplay like an actual guitarist.FORMATS Mac or PC; AU, VST, or standalone. MINIMUM SYSTEM Mac: OS 10.3.9 or later, G4/G5800MHz or faster. PC: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, XP2 Service Pack 2 orVista, 1GHz Pentium 3.

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM Mac: OS 10.5, Intel processor.PC: 2GHz Pentium 4 or faster.

RealGuitar 2: $159 RealGuitar 2L: $259

musiclab.com

SpecificationsTotally authentic acoustic guitars. Uncanny strumming. Intuitive systemof performance articulations. Highly nuanced library of scratches,squeaks, and other guitar noises.

It takes a while to get the hang of strumming. Tech supportlocated in Russia.

Choose yourguitar here.

Pattern Manager lets you select, audition, drag’n’ drop, and learn over 1,250 strums.

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PRODU CT SPOTL IG HT

To advertise in this section contact: Will Sheng at 650-238-0325 or [email protected]

Special Advertising Section

ASC Quick Sound FieldAcoustic Sciences Corp

Now AvailableQSF takes the room out of the micand puts the talent in the mix. It's afree standing live room, where you'lllove the mics you used to hate.

SRP: $3,245 for set of 8 traps.

www.asc-studio-acoustics.com/qsf.htm1-800-ASC-TUBE (272-8823)

Radial ProD2 Phase Accurate Compact Stereo DI Radial Engineering

Now AvailableFrom the DI pro’s at Radial, a stereo Direct Box that’s perfect for keyboards. The ProD2’s custom audio transformers are engineered for high signallevel, linearity and the phase accuracy so importantfor solid bottom.

USD SRP: $160

www.radialeng.com604-942-1001

Action Drums: Cinematic EditionNine Volt Audio

Now Available Recorded in a concert hall, Action Drums:Cinematic Edition brings epic percussionto the REX, Stylus RMX, ACID Wav andApple Loop formats.

SRP: $99.99

www.NineVoltAudio.com

Amp Modeler ProStudio Devil

Now AvailableStudio Devil AMP combines breakthroughtube amp realism, cabinet impulsemodeling, tone-shaping EQ, and studioeffects into one, straight ahead ampmodeling plug-in. Dial in the professionalguitar tone you expect into your nextrecording project without the fuss. Demoversions available online for guitar and bass.

SRP: $149

[email protected]

72 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

CLASS IF IEDS

Pianos & Organs

Sounds, Sequences, &

Software

Talent and Employement

Education & Tutorial

Acoustic Products & Services

Mixing and Mastering

Studio Furnishings

Categories

Acoustic Products & Services www.b3hammond.com. Buy/Sell MINT Hammonds, Leslies. Wordwide sales.

(701) 400-2933, [email protected]

Pianos & Organs

Education & Tutorial

Finger Fitness Exercises improveHAND strength, coordination and speed.

Exercise anytime anyplace. New DVD combo now shipping!www.HandHealth.com

P.O. Box 13359 Hamilton OH.888-868-HAND (4263)

Learn Piano Tuning, Repairing, And Regulating,taught by Craftsman technicians. Completecorrespondence course includes written and videotape training material, Apprentice TrainingManual, much more. Licensed by DepartmentofEducation. www.pianotuning.com. Randy Potter School of Piano Technology, 61592 Orion Dr., Bend, OR 97702. (541) 382-5411.

Learn jazz piano on the internet at

www.JazzPianoOnline.com

Free LessonsBeginner to Advanced

www.piano-keyboard-lessons.com

Sounds, Sequences & Software

BAND-IN-A-BOX IMPROVEMENT PRODUCTS * Put A Better Band In Your Box * Norton Music

(since 1990) * www.nortonmusic.com

www.VintageKeyboardSounds.com Authentic

MELLOTRON, B3, and COMBO ORGAN

SAMPLES. All Formats Supported. 562-856-9333

Studio Furniture

Mixing and Mastering

Talent & Employment

www.MusiciansContact.com. Paying jobs online.

Thousands of satisfied members since 1969.

(818) 888-7879

Buying or selling instruments through our Classified Ads

offers you convenience, a big marketplace, and a

wide range of instruments and prices. However, buying

mail-order does have its drawbacks, too. Keyboard

Magazine suggests the following guidelines to help the

buyer and the seller in these transactions: 1) Get a

written description of the instrument, which should

include the serial number. 2) Get front and back

photos of the instrument. 3) Get a written purchase

agreement, with a 24-hour approval clause allowing

the buyer to return the instrument for a full refund if

it does not meet his/her reasonable expectations.

www.B3GUYS.comHAMMOND Organs & LESLIE Speakers

Sales - Service - Parts - Rental 615-438-8997

For more information, check out our website atwww.keyboardmag.com

730 6 . 2 0 1 0 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

MELLOTRON MK.IUsing analog tape, it and the Cham-berlin were the first keyboards to playrecorded sounds of real instruments.

COMPUTER MUSICMELODIANBased on a DEC PDP-8 computer,it had then-unheard-of 12-bit/22kHzresolution.

FAIRLIGHT CMIFirst sampling workstation. Created sig-nature sounds for Kate Bush (shown),Thomas Dolby, and many others.

E-MU EMULATORFirst “affordable” ($8,000) sampler youcould easily throw on a keyboard stand.

LINN 9000First integrated drum machine/sequencer/sampler. Ancestor of AkaiMPC series.

ENSONIQ MIRAGEFirst actually affordable (approx.$1,500) sampler for the weekend-gigging masses.

AKAI S900First affordable, mass-produced sam-pler to up audio resolution to 12 bits.

E-MU SP1200Its crunchy, grimy sound and oddballswing/shuffle propelled countlessrap tracks.

AKAI MPC60Designed by Roger Linn. Arguably thesingle most important beatbox afterthe Roland TR-808.

BITHEADZ UNITY DS-1First soft sampler to offer many of thefeatures of today’s plug-ins.

NEMESYS GIGASAMPLER First soft sampler to stream samplesdirectly from hard disk.

ABLETON LIVE First clip-oriented soft sampler youcould truly play like an instrument.

TIME MACHINE

SAMPLER EVOLUTIONby Francis Preve

1963

1976

1987

1988

1989

1998

2001

1986

1985

1984

1979

1981

74 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 6 . 2 0 1 0

Get a new perspective on controlling LogicWe worked with Logic’s developers to ensure that SL Mk II’s 56 knobs, faders and

buttons, control the things you need in Logic. As well as full transport and mixer control,

Logic’s own instruments and FX plug-ins are automatically mapped to SL MkII.

So you get instant hands on control.

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keyboard.magazine.june.2010

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