Other Keyboard

Besides drummers, the touring keyboardist is one that is most plagued with logistical problems, such as equipment transport. More often than not, a keyboardist would like to have a mount for his own keyboards instead of relying on on-site equipment which offer no guarantee. The Quik Lok Z-70 is one collapsible option for the keyboard player on the go that helps put a dent on those logistical nightmares.  

Sampling and additional sound options are not exclusive to the realm of the stationary keyboard instruments. Responding to feedback from V-Accordion enthusiasts, the Roland FR-7x and FR-7xb exhibit features that expand what the accordionist can do.  

Some people cannot hold themselves from trying to do where many others have failed. Not giving up on the challenges of the high-brow conservative elite, Yamaha brings to Summer NAMM 2009 the Yamaha AvantGard N2 to disprove the claim that you can't fully learn real piano playing from an electronic instrument.  

Playing recently to a packed house at Chicago's House of Blues, Bajofondo is a contemporary Latin band that defies a single description. One traditional but rocking element is Martín Ferrés' Alfred Arnold Bandoneon, an instrument that brings the roots of tango into the 21st century.

Martín discusses what makes a quality bandoneon, as well as how to use a pair of Audio-Technica ATM35 tom-mics to amplify it when you're playing with an electric guitar - which is definitely not from the roots of tango.

 

This is the NanoPad from Korg, a compact controller that delivers the feel of an MPC for the amount of money you get from a bag of bottle returns (sorry . . . Michigan joke).  

If the combis are half as cool as the graphics for Karma-Lab Catalyst Volume 1 -- Creativity Xplosion!, Korg OASYS owners are in for a real treat. It's like that one Cranberry's song: "What's in your head? / In your hea-ea-ea-ead? / COMBI! COMBI! CO-HOM-BU-HU-BU-HU-BU-HU-BU-HU!"  

Over mankind's illustrious history, the species has invented a lot of things that fold: chairs, the Trapper-Keeper, cell phones, Polio vaccine . . . now revel in man's latest folding accomplishment, the Infinite Response VAX77 MIDI Controller Keyboard!  

Gearwire stops by Deltronics repair service in Chicago to check out a Fender Rhodes that's undergoing some minor surgery. Our guide and technician John has been at Deltronics so long he can now identify thirteen different species of salamandridae.  

The TC Helicon VoinceTone Harmony-M was designed to track your keyboard playing via MIDI, and generate vocal harmonies based on what you were playing. Except, it didn't track chords that well. Now it does. Awesome!  

Like Dani Filth, the most piercing frontman of any extreme metal band, the Farfisa Compact Combo is the most piercing transistorized organ in its class. Furthermore, if you're lucky, you can find one for little more than the price of a compact combo meal at your restaurant of choice.  

Back with Bob Fossaluzza -- organ master extraordinare for Louisville's The Ladybirds -- we're given a demonstration / comparison between a later, solid-state Leslie, and a pair of mid-50s tube-powered Leslies.  

Jon Vomit moved to New York to have more musical opportunity and to get away from Stephen King.  

New York City-based Soundpool talk about the gear they use in their shoegaze, dance, pop sound.  

Singer / songwriter / accordionist Jordi Rosen talks to Gearwire about the collection she uses to make her music. Low end keyboards and pawnshop accordions combine to create and eclectic, dreamy sound.  

Yamaha is recalling a handful of TENORI-ON units due to battery problems. If your TENORI-ON is in the affected batch, they're looking to fix it up right quick.  

If you've got a thing for noise and 50s sci-fi, you've got to get yourself a theramin, and if you can't find one, built one! That's what School of the Art Institute of Chicago student Rob Martens did!  

Dengue Fever is maybe the only band around that's resurrecting the 60's Cambodian Pop sound, and one of the key components of the band's sound is keyboardist Ethan Holtzman's vintage Farfisa organ. So how do they bring that sound with them on tour?  

In a previous video [linked within], Tony Monaco told us all about the Hammond XK3c. This time around, he sits back and lays into the organ. Take a listen.  

Tony Monaco is a stellar Hammond player as well as a lifelong organ student and natural teacher. Tony teaches us about the new XK3c model Hammond organ, which really highlights the closes in the gap between the B-3 and organs that attempt to recreate it.  

Just look at that guy: Ray-Bans, torn jeans, John-Edwards-caliber haircut, rock pose straight out of the Ted Nugent handbook. I guess the Roland V-Accordion inspires the player to truly push the dorky/cool envelope.  

CME releases the VX series of controllers that are all packed with at least 64 controllers and at least 49 keys. That's more control than you can shake a stick at, unless you are really good at stick shaking.  

If you're a Novation Nova, Supernova I, or Supernova II synth user looking for some new sound programs, it might be smart to commit the name of the Mig Music Nova & Supernova Basses, Synths & Pads Sound Collection to memory.

Mike Conroy is a Chicago musician in the surf punk band Fiendo and a multi-instrumentalist. Sometimes, Mike needs to play instruments that are simultaneously amalgamated like the Musiconic Guitorgan, a guitar and organ...  

The Magnus Chord Organ sounds a lot more powerful than it really is. In actuality, it was a popular home instrument in the 60s that was very akin to an accordion that had grown legs. Mike Conroy talks about this half-toy,...  

Karmanauts, a goth outfit based in Sheffield, England, are the brainchild of a sound engineer known only as "Ryk." He has taken his experience working on the live sound of other bands and applied it yo his own music....  

The Most Serene Republic is a Canadian band formed on the Arts and Crafts label -- best known for Broken Social Scene--and by extension Feist. But don't compare them to those performers and don't compare them to Yes,...  

Now available in the USA, CME's M-Key is a simplified version of their U-Key Mobiltone, a piece of hardware actually dedicated to composing cell phone ringtones. With all of the ring-tone download commercials, the proliferation...  

Surf rockers of the world, prepare to have your boogie-boards flipped by a MIDI accordion performance of Dick Dale's "Misirlou." Also, Rob Cruz lets us in on the pros and cons of using a MIDI accordion versus an acoustic...  

When you take a look at the Roland FR-3 V-Accordion, the keyboard part of it may look familiar, but the rest is completely foreign to many musicians. That's why Rob Cruz walks us through a bit of what the accordion can...  

Trentalange is the solo project of Barbara Trentalange (ex-Crooked Fingers). Based out of Seattle, Trentalange is on tour with nobody except Barbara and touring drummer Faith Stankevich (as well as a sizable amount of...