Sounds like a heck of a lot of fun man! I dig it. Cheers!!!!

I've not slaved it up to my synth rack yet , but its more then capable..I got ALOT of keyboard for not too much money... apparently the first gen of this keyboard bed had issues with counterweight (hammers) with the hammer cracking and the weight falling off . The second gen keybed was corrected .. and I've got second gen..I also checked to see if parts are still available and yes they are!

I asked the previous owner if he ever had problems with the keyboard bed or had keys or hammers replaced and it's never been opened..
(I know digital keyboards don't have hammers, I just don't know the term for the mechanism). There's a key and this weighted swing arm..

Anyhow, wife has left for work , youngest is in studio b ... (bedroom) oldest is at work .. so more keyboarding for me!!! This doesn't happen often Inoue house

Not sure if it was this thread or another, but someone (I think Donny) was talking about Jan Hammers' song Crocketts' Theme and the DX7???...

Anyway I had to share this...Its an artist from Finland called Kebu...who only uses analog synths and drum machines...and has a pretty cool set-up.

My rack of modules gets less and less use. I still use them occasionally when I open old projects. However, I now have my kinds of sounds on vest's that are better than the old modules. They still have some great sounds, that vest's don't have but I just don't use them much.

However - my music machine didn't travel well on a recent long trip and I had to re-install windows, BUT I didn't have all the stuff with me to do it. One of my samplers was unavailable because I stupidly used a different email address to register it and I couldn't work out which it was. The nice folks at Garritan sorted it for me, but as I have so many - I still have an incomplete set - with one sampler and one synth I like missing because I can't find the damn discs!

Sean G, post: 435518, member: 49362 wrote: Not sure if it was this thread or another, but someone (I think Donny) was talking about Jan Hammers' song Crocketts' Theme and the DX7???...

Anyway I had to share this...Its an artist from Finland called Kebu...who only uses analog synths and drum machines...and has a pretty cool set-up.

WOW, looks like ALOT of work to me!

Guelph_Guy, post: 435159, member: 47293 wrote: who has migrated to vst solutions and has abandoned hardware synth all together...?

Love hardware more than VSTi.

Sean G, post: 435181, member: 49362 wrote: I'm using both, but it depends if I'm recording an electronic style of music then I'll lean towards the vsti's...mainly because I'm spoilt for choice with the sample libraries I have aquired and theres literally thousands of sounds to choose from compared to what I have with the Korg synth.
Sometimes it a combination of the two, it really depends on the style and what the track calls for.

but ya, pretty much on par with Sean here

Sean G, post: 435181, member: 49362 wrote: I do like the full size keys with the Korg synth as opposed to the smaller keys on my midi controller as well, sometimes I just use the Korg as my midi controller.

I use a Korg Kronos and love it. I also use Nord Leads. The Nord Lead 4 is really solid as a controller.
PCIe interfacing with midi is as fast as the old days. As of this post, its the only way to go for me. Once again, PCIe is another reason why I use that over all other interfaces.DAW runs better too.

Because of that, I tend to use less and less VSTi, however, the MPC Renaissance is awesome for drums. Amazing sound and, lightning fast.

I've held onto my Proteus, Alesis and Korg rack -mount Tone Mods for the same reason - if I can't find the sound I want through VSTi's, I can midi-up to those, and open a few more doors.

That being said, I can't recall the last time I actually did that.

DonnyThompson, post: 435565, member: 46114 wrote: I've held onto my Proteus, Alesis and Korg rack -mount Tone Mods for the same reason - if I can't find the sound I want through VSTi's, I can midi-up to those, and open a few more doors.

That being said, I can't recall the last time I actually did that.

DonnyThompson, post: 435565, member: 46114 wrote: I've held onto my Proteus, Alesis and Korg rack -mount Tone Mods for the same reason - if I can't find the sound I want through VSTi's, I can midi-up to those, and open a few more doors.

That being said, I can't recall the last time I actually did that.

Well, I've noticed I'm doing more in the box then in the rack synth wise. But I still program up my novation basstation rack for bass lines ...and the Proteus is getting used for strings. My other gear has been in limbo...

I’ve been looking into editors/librarians for my sy99. I want something that works smooth bug free and can edit parameters as simple as a vst.

I was told midiquest is good. Would you recommend it for the sy99? their website says they support yamaha sy99, I just don’t know if it’s worth the money? I don’t mind spending, but if there are better options that are just the same do you know of any?

Thank you

Alan, post: 454276, member: 50968 wrote: I’ve been looking into editors/librarians for my sy99. I want something that works smooth bug free and can edit parameters as simple as a vst.

I was told midiquest is good. Would you recommend it for the sy99? their website says they support yamaha sy99, I just don’t know if it’s worth the money? I don’t mind spending, but if there are better options that are just the same do you know of any?

Thank you

I haven't used midiquest in years ... that doesn't mean it's not good, I just don't use midi library progs like those much anymore. As long as it lets you edit the patches/presets the way the real keyboard would, and that's the biggest thing for me (or was at one time).
Though... you might be able to find a Sy99 full sample library of great quality from a VSTi manufacturer; I think I'd do a search of other VSTi libraries for the SY before I pulled the trigger on the MQ. You may want to start with the most popular first - Native Instruments (NI) to see if they have the SY, either on its own or inside a collection of synths; the thing about "collections" is that you may end up with other cool synth sample libraries as well. NI isn't cheap, though... but their samples and control settings are always first rate and authentic to the original HW. I use their B4 ( which is their emulation of a Hammond B3) and I LOVE it. Provides draw bars, Leslie speed, reverb, overdrive .. every thing you'd expect a B3 to have. I also have their EP collection - several different Rhodes, Wurli's, etc and it also sounds great to my ears, having come up in the days of using the real deals, I've always been impressed by their various collections and soft synth sims.
LOL... and no, I don't work for NI... I'm just a satisfied customer. ;)
FWIW
-d.

I use MIDIQuest 11.3 and love it. It has quirks, but is an impressive piece of software. I use it with an Ensoniq ESQm, a Yamaha TX81Z, and my Korg Wavestation original and SR as a librarian and editor (though moving sounds around in the Wavestations is not easy - you need to write down the locations where it wants to see its patches - this may be fixed in an upcoming version). I use it as a librarian for my Lexicon LXP-5 (it can do some editing, too).

The author is very helpful always if you run into problems. If you have specific questions before you buy about the SY99, ask at the forums - he usually gets back to you with a response very quickly.

Terry

I make less and less use of hardware synths these days. I use mostly Massive from Native Instruments. And then some synths from Ableton itself Sampling is easy in Ableton, and I use Ableton Push 2 for it. This piece of controller makes life so easy with sampling, drum programming, playing notes and mixing......

The only two synths in my studio are two Korgs; a N1 from the last century and a R3 which has an onboard vocoder.

Total recall is the keyword why I use Massive a lot, and it sounds beautifull too.

miyaru, post: 454281, member: 49780 wrote: I make less and less use of hardware synths these days. I use mostly Massive from Native Instruments. And then some synths from Ableton itself Sampling is easy in Ableton, and I use Ableton Push 2 for it. This piece of controller makes life so easy with sampling, drum programming, playing notes and mixing......

The only two synths in my studio are two Korgs; a N1 from the last century and a R3 which has an onboard vocoder.

Total recall is the keyword why I use Massive a lot, and it sounds beautifull too.

I was so astonished at how good the TX81Z and ESQm sounded when finally passed through high-end reverbs that I returned to using them. :-)

Plus, I do heavily layered live shows, and so having four hardware synths all sporting their own CPU's was a very nice addition to my capabilities live!

Anyway, I wouldn't have even attempted using them if it hadn't been for MIDIQuest to browse all my sound libraries and set up patch collections. For me, the VST instruments the Pro version creates work very well, allowing me to do edits even within the DAW or Cantabile 3.

Terry

Indeed! high end reverbs make everything sound more lush, real, impressive etc. (y)

If you have the keyboards - the real ones, I mean - and you prefer using them as opposed to internal "soft synths, then I think you absolutely should. There's not anything wrong with that workflow, as long as you remember that there are sometimes some little "quirks" that you have to deal with when using external midi devices; such as when working with MTC, (Midi Time Code) and remembering to insert a full measure of no data before the song starts, so you don't chop off the first few notes of midi based instruments... And, remembering to zero/null all controllers when you hit the "stop button", those sort of little things...but those aren't hard to do, you just have to remember to do them. ;)

Bottom line...if your external synths are giving you sounds you like, or that you like better than their VSTi/software versions, then of course you should use them!!
FWIW
-D.

looking back on the video clip I wonder how he plays chords when it goes back to the main theme the second time? I used to have one of the mono/poly synths, and still have the vsti version which stays in tune!

paulears, post: 454290, member: 47782 wrote: looking back on the video clip I wonder how he plays chords when it goes back to the main theme the second time? I used to have one of the mono/poly synths, and still have the vsti version which stays in tune!

I would presume that he's got the whole song sequenced, from start to finish, which allows him to solo on different synths at different times, so the first pass, he was playing the chords manually; and as the sequence continues, he's pre programmed/sequenced it to have the synth play the chords on the second pass, while he's soloing on the Korg. Speaking of which, I'm almost sure he has a Pro Co Rat (or BlackJack?) distortion pedal mounted on the Korg that he's using to play the "guitar" parts. ;)

Kind of all for show then really? Surround yourself with synths and then hide a sequencer - although quite a few of them didn't have MIDI - the Mono/Poly didn't!

paulears, post: 454332, member: 47782 wrote: Kind of all for show then really? Surround yourself with synths and then hide a sequencer - although quite a few of them didn't have MIDI - the Mono/Poly didn't!

Well, to be fair, it's not like he can't play.. lol.
Yea, Paul, there's a sequencer in there somewhere, even if it was on board one of the synths, or drum machine, but my guess is that it was probably a Yamaha QY. And, if he was using a non midi synth to solo with, it wouldn't necessarily have to be a midi device.
It's also possible that he had the non-midi keys retrofit for midi or even S-Midi. Also, some non midi keyboards still had arpeg key-ins.
And... There's also a good chance that he had equipment options open to him from the manufacturers that typical consumers did not...after all, he's Jan Hammer. ;)

I built a magazine CV from MIDI interface back in the early 80s - and it was horrible. Managed to make noises but never the ones you got when playing live.

On the sequencing front - thinking about it - it's quite conceivable he could do this nowadays with a looper pedal - especially as those early Miami Vice things were very short repeating loops of sounds and percussion. It would be interesting to see if you could set this up to do this song?

paulears, post: 454348, member: 47782 wrote: I built a magazine CV from MIDI interface back in the early 80s - and it was horrible. Managed to make noises but never the ones you got when playing live.

On the sequencing front - thinking about it - it's quite conceivable he could do this nowadays with a looper pedal - especially as those early Miami Vice things were very short repeating loops of sounds and percussion. It would be interesting to see if you could set this up to do this song?

I think you probably could. It would take some patience, though, I think. Sequencing the entire piece and then soloing on top of it would be infinitely easier, IMO. But sure, if you worked at it, I think you could probably loop sections, though I think you would need a few looping devices for the key/section changes.
I remember when the actual TV theme song ( 3 min or so in length) was on the charts; in interviews, Hammer said he used an Oberheim OB 8, a Yamaha Dx7, and a drum machine ( don't recall which one now, though...might have been a Linn, or one of the early Yamaha models). I was working music retail at that time ('85, maybe '86?) who was a Yamaha dealer, and we couldn't keep enough DX7's in stock to meet the demand. We were ordering 20-30 of them a month, and they'd go right back out the door the minute we got them from Yamaha. I wasn't even working the keyboard department, I was in Recording, but I sold many of them as part of studio packages that I put together for my customers, and I bet I sold 20 of them myself between 1985-86... I'm sure the actual keyboard sales guy did very well on commissions just on the DX7 alone. We didn't deal Oberheim, but I'm willing to bet that those retailers who did made a killing as well. I wouldn't go so far as to say that Hammer's Miami Vice theme was responsible for all those DX7 sales, but I'm sure it was responsible for a pretty big chunk of them.
As a personal side note, I never really liked the DX7 that much. I thought it sounded thin, lacking the balls and warmth of analog synths like the Prophet and Jupiter... and as samplers came into the scene (Ensoniq Mirage, Emu EMax, etc,,), I became very interested in that technology I guess I just wasn't as much of a fan of the digital FM synthesis as others were... ( I loathed the DX7 "Rhodes".. and I still do LOL)...But I must have been the odd man out with that, because every keyboard player I worked with in the 80's had one...and there's no doubt that thousands of them were sold. ;)