well trad loonies,
Just wonderin is there any piano players on this site?
Just ordered a Korg SP300 on the web.
Should have it by next week.
I got a loan of the same model durin the fleadh and I thought the action on it was great, and I didn't have to plug it into an amp to make it heard in a packed session.
I've been meanin to get one for ages so can't wait.
Took up the box in the mean time so lookin fwd to givin some attention back to the piano.
Just wonerin does anyone have the same model, or others, and how they find it?
Sound
Yamaha S90 & Wicked! - all 88 weighted keys worth of it - - -
- and a few extras, sweet, great action, and I sometimes just get lost in it all, especially with the headphones we've got for it...but also the powered speakers...
I got my girl an upright of reasonable quality, but it needs frequent tuning. I wish I'd listened to my intuition which said go for a Korg, which has Steinway Grand Piano samples, for about one 20th the price of a Steinway!
Glad to hear "the whore" has got good sense when it cames to keyboards, even if her monicker is not so tasteful
I used to think real pianos were better than keyboards, even really good ones, no matter what...until I played at sessions with pianos that were in terrible condition and tune. (According to Marty Fahey's lovely liner notes for Music at the House, they call the one at the Abbey Pub in Chicago "The Crown of Thorns" for the condition of the keys and what they do to the player's fingers.) So now I think that a keyboard is better than a badly maintained piano.
I have a ROLAND EP-75. Very simple, has key weight sensors and dampening and sustain pedals which are very effective. It's got acouple of different piano samples, but overall just simple and sounds REALLY great! They;re a great investment (especially if you buy it used off the conservatory like me ) and they're portable, aaaaannnndd...volume can be controlled or put into headphones. It can be tuned and can be fitted with all the midi crap one might want. nothing will ever sound and feel like the real thing, but it's pretty damn close! Go git' one if you have the chance
I like my Roland F90. Got it because I live in an apartment and don't want people banging on the walls. I don't play it enough at present, but have done and will again. I'm too busy with my fiddle and work right now.
Last year a classical pianist friend and I rehearsed on it, and I thought it sounded ALMOST like the real thing. But always in tune, that's the best thing.
I don't do much gadgetting like midis and such, so haven't looked at that side of things. It's mainly for keeping what little technique I have and some fun wehen I have time.
The string sound is crap, so's the harpsichord. But the organ sound pretty realistic, but I'm not a big organ fan anyway.
Ick, ick, ick. I used to play classical piano (an still try) so give me a real one any day. There's nothing like the feel of Ivory and the thunk of the hammers. Everything else is pure function of form.... and the best musical instruments are both.
**shakes out his umbrella in prep for tomatoes, etc.**
I've been using Korg Keyboards for the best part of 20 years and they've always been good to my mind. For piano sounds I have a Kurtweil PC88 for both quailty and selction of accoustic piano sounds and the action of the weighted keyboard. If its worth a mention I still have a Korg keyboard with a 16 track sequencer. I've had it (and really used it) for about 14 years and its still as good as the day I bought it! Good luck!
I chose my Roland EP760 (which may be a version of Mike's EP75, I'm not sure, same midi connectivity etc), because it was the lightest of the semi weighted ones with onboard speakers available at that time, and I'm a pathetic weak person! The downside is that the onboard speakers are not really powerful enough by themselves for me to be heard when playing with more than about five musicians, but it does amplify well through a sound system. I also really like the Roland sound as against Yamaha, or Kurtzweil, but that's just me.
If I had been a very strong person, however, I would have got the Korg (can't remember its reference number) without the onboard speakers because I think it has the most sensational sound, action etc, everything about it was as near to a real piano as I could imagine. However, I couldn't even lift it along its stand in the shop, never mind moving it to transport it - and I would have had to buy and always use (and carry) amplifiers too, so I reluctantly gave it a miss. I am very satisfied with my Roland, though.
I would always prefer to use a real piano, but the likelihood of having a recently- tuned piano in the sort of places I might play is very small indeed, and not worth relying on.
I still love the bulk of a piano, better to hide behind than a its accordion counterpart, but not dinky uprights, which because of their usual string length and construction, especially the cheap stuff, are nothing but an aggravation, something to lose things down. If you go with an upright, pay the bucks for a decent one and a single piece cast frame. Used is OK for a plant box, but really old cases, more than say 30-50 years old, are dead wood, good for kindling, and that includes baby grands and grands. But, you can't dissuade folks for their want of a bit of musical furniture. I much prefer a musical instrument to a coffee table.
There are some really good feeling weighted keyboards out there for those of you who are 'purists', with multi-layered samples that rock - as long as you don't cheat on what you plug it into, like a good three way pair of speakers or decent headphones, with the boom given as much respect as the tinkling and the overtones.
But, I've heard some very talented folk make cheap electric keyboards do some amazing things, but it does help to have some decent sounds. My all around favourite ever keyboard wasn't a piano or electric, I had to pump it. It was an old reed organ, and I get goose bumps just thinking about it. There were all these knobs, and the reeds were in tune and aside from occassional leaks, they kept in tune, like the HGV/Peterbilt of concertinas or accordions. It was just so sweet, and I liked the accompaniment you could pull out of it. But like all such things, it wasn't portable. I have since tried those Indian boxes, where you operate the belows with one hand and keys with the other, but it doesn't do it. I keep wanting to chant Hare Krishna. This old church organ actually had punch and a quick touch, surprisingly so. I loved it and miss it...
BTW Rab,
Whoreinthenettles is the unofficial name of a well known tune.
Just in case u didn't know.
I'm not really the 'tasteful' kind so I'm very proud of it.
Thanx for the GLUCK tho'!
The full name is "the whore in the nettles roarin' ".
Fans of Pat Shortt and Sean McGinley will know what I'm on about...
...had the privilage of hearin Sean McGinley playin it on the whistle in a pub in Riverstown Sligo durin the summer...
...mighty craic might I add, love the place...
Sorry, 'nuff bull...still waitin for the Korg so can't wait.
And I won't have to rely on the dilapidated, untuned crap that publicans are so proud to call pianos.
That said, I used to play one on me holidays in Dingle that was a full half step down it was so out of tune. Gave me good practice playin in keys with a lot o sharps. So thanks to that aul lad in Dingle who kept poking me with his stick and saying 'PLAY!! PLAY!!' when everyone else was tellin me that the piano was bollo*ed!
Or ya know those pianos where every note is grand cept for that low D that ya keep forgettin isn't there?
Or the ones where yer in a pub ya don't know and as soon as ya hit the sustain pedal it falls off? (The trick is to balance it in the hole so it looks like its still fine. Chewin gum makes it stick better tho...til the next eejit comes along to play it...)
Or the pub where u sit on the piano stool and the top falls off and you try to retain your dignity by drinking copious amounts of alcohol to make you paly like Tchaikovsky on crack but it still doesn't work because now ya can't even SEE the piano stool...or the piano...
Ar aon nos, thanks for all the good wishes...I'll compare notes with all ye piano-ists when I get it ;O)
And the one that had a kind of odd squishy noise and stank - and when I opened the lid I saw why - evidently more than once, someone chose this opening to be sick down. There were things growing in it. What did I say about a plant box? It's also great for mushrooms, a dark dank place in this case, with plenty of regurgitated pub grub compost... That experience, and those damned dirty or missing ivories, and mildewed seats - well, if you can be a 'whore in the nettles', the ability for your passion to get the better of you is way ahead of me. I just can't manage that anymore, though I love well made nettle soup... I sit as far away from any present upright in a pub as I can, as most players are on their way to the floor and only pause there for a 'tinkle' before their final descent...
OUCH! - I just remembered your liking 'S & M parties' as mentioned in your 'details'... I quite like leather, bellows and otherwise, but it ends there, no cat of nines for me...
I noticed that a one-man-band chap had his electric guitar routed through a midi device that reads chords. On the screen of this gismo was "P. G", anyone know what it means
digital pianos
digital pianos
well trad loonies,
Just wonderin is there any piano players on this site?
Just ordered a Korg SP300 on the web.
Should have it by next week.
I got a loan of the same model durin the fleadh and I thought the action on it was great, and I didn't have to plug it into an amp to make it heard in a packed session.
I've been meanin to get one for ages so can't wait.
Took up the box in the mean time so lookin fwd to givin some attention back to the piano.
Just wonerin does anyone have the same model, or others, and how they find it?
Sound
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by anniejryan
Yamaha S90 & Wicked! - all 88 weighted keys worth of it - - -
- and a few extras, sweet, great action, and I sometimes just get lost in it all, especially with the headphones we've got for it...but also the powered speakers...
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by ceolachan
Re: digital pianos
Even better than the real thing...?
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by anniejryan
Re: digital pianos
nothing's better than a real piano, in which the whole thing can literally shake with the beautiful nots pouring from your fingers...
however, it can be better for some things.
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by sifudave54
Re: digital pianos
I got my girl an upright of reasonable quality, but it needs frequent tuning. I wish I'd listened to my intuition which said go for a Korg, which has Steinway Grand Piano samples, for about one 20th the price of a Steinway!
Glad to hear "the whore" has got good sense when it cames to keyboards, even if her monicker is not so tasteful
:~}
G'luck wi' it gurl!
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by Rudall the time
Re: digital pianos
I used to think real pianos were better than keyboards, even really good ones, no matter what...until I played at sessions with pianos that were in terrible condition and tune. (According to Marty Fahey's lovely liner notes for Music at the House, they call the one at the Abbey Pub in Chicago "The Crown of Thorns" for the condition of the keys and what they do to the player's fingers.) So now I think that a keyboard is better than a badly maintained piano.
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: digital pianos
I have a ROLAND EP-75. Very simple, has key weight sensors and dampening and sustain pedals which are very effective. It's got acouple of different piano samples, but overall just simple and sounds REALLY great! They;re a great investment (especially if you buy it used off the conservatory like me
) and they're portable, aaaaannnndd...volume can be controlled or put into headphones. It can be tuned and can be fitted with all the midi crap one might want. nothing will ever sound and feel like the real thing, but it's pretty damn close! Go git' one if you have the chance 
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by c_ya
Re: digital pianos
I like my Roland F90. Got it because I live in an apartment and don't want people banging on the walls. I don't play it enough at present, but have done and will again. I'm too busy with my fiddle and work right now.
Last year a classical pianist friend and I rehearsed on it, and I thought it sounded ALMOST like the real thing. But always in tune, that's the best thing.
I don't do much gadgetting like midis and such, so haven't looked at that side of things. It's mainly for keeping what little technique I have and some fun wehen I have time.
The string sound is crap, so's the harpsichord. But the organ sound pretty realistic, but I'm not a big organ fan anyway.
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by fiddlefingers
Re: digital pianos
Ick, ick, ick. I used to play classical piano (an still try) so give me a real one any day. There's nothing like the feel of Ivory and the thunk of the hammers. Everything else is pure function of form.... and the best musical instruments are both.
**shakes out his umbrella in prep for tomatoes, etc.**
-Pádraig
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by Pádraig
Re: digital pianos
I've been using Korg Keyboards for the best part of 20 years and they've always been good to my mind. For piano sounds I have a Kurtweil PC88 for both quailty and selction of accoustic piano sounds and the action of the weighted keyboard. If its worth a mention I still have a Korg keyboard with a 16 track sequencer. I've had it (and really used it) for about 14 years and its still as good as the day I bought it! Good luck!
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by PNBarratt
Re: digital pianos
I chose my Roland EP760 (which may be a version of Mike's EP75, I'm not sure, same midi connectivity etc), because it was the lightest of the semi weighted ones with onboard speakers available at that time, and I'm a pathetic weak person! The downside is that the onboard speakers are not really powerful enough by themselves for me to be heard when playing with more than about five musicians, but it does amplify well through a sound system. I also really like the Roland sound as against Yamaha, or Kurtzweil, but that's just me.
If I had been a very strong person, however, I would have got the Korg (can't remember its reference number) without the onboard speakers because I think it has the most sensational sound, action etc, everything about it was as near to a real piano as I could imagine. However, I couldn't even lift it along its stand in the shop, never mind moving it to transport it - and I would have had to buy and always use (and carry) amplifiers too, so I reluctantly gave it a miss. I am very satisfied with my Roland, though.
I would always prefer to use a real piano, but the likelihood of having a recently- tuned piano in the sort of places I might play is very small indeed, and not worth relying on.
Jane R
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by LW
Real as opposed to Reel?
I still love the bulk of a piano, better to hide behind than a its accordion counterpart, but not dinky uprights, which because of their usual string length and construction, especially the cheap stuff, are nothing but an aggravation, something to lose things down. If you go with an upright, pay the bucks for a decent one and a single piece cast frame. Used is OK for a plant box, but really old cases, more than say 30-50 years old, are dead wood, good for kindling, and that includes baby grands and grands. But, you can't dissuade folks for their want of a bit of musical furniture. I much prefer a musical instrument to a coffee table.
There are some really good feeling weighted keyboards out there for those of you who are 'purists', with multi-layered samples that rock - as long as you don't cheat on what you plug it into, like a good three way pair of speakers or decent headphones, with the boom given as much respect as the tinkling and the overtones.
But, I've heard some very talented folk make cheap electric keyboards do some amazing things, but it does help to have some decent sounds. My all around favourite ever keyboard wasn't a piano or electric, I had to pump it. It was an old reed organ, and I get goose bumps just thinking about it. There were all these knobs, and the reeds were in tune and aside from occassional leaks, they kept in tune, like the HGV/Peterbilt of concertinas or accordions. It was just so sweet, and I liked the accompaniment you could pull out of it. But like all such things, it wasn't portable. I have since tried those Indian boxes, where you operate the belows with one hand and keys with the other, but it doesn't do it. I keep wanting to chant Hare Krishna. This old church organ actually had punch and a quick touch, surprisingly so. I loved it and miss it...
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by ceolachan
Rantings of a mad nettle farmer...
BTW Rab,
Whoreinthenettles is the unofficial name of a well known tune.
Just in case u didn't know.
I'm not really the 'tasteful' kind so I'm very proud of it.
Thanx for the GLUCK tho'!
The full name is "the whore in the nettles roarin' ".
Fans of Pat Shortt and Sean McGinley will know what I'm on about...
...had the privilage of hearin Sean McGinley playin it on the whistle in a pub in Riverstown Sligo durin the summer...
...mighty craic might I add, love the place...
Sorry, 'nuff bull...still waitin for the Korg so can't wait.
And I won't have to rely on the dilapidated, untuned crap that publicans are so proud to call pianos.
That said, I used to play one on me holidays in Dingle that was a full half step down it was so out of tune. Gave me good practice playin in keys with a lot o sharps. So thanks to that aul lad in Dingle who kept poking me with his stick and saying 'PLAY!! PLAY!!' when everyone else was tellin me that the piano was bollo*ed!
Or ya know those pianos where every note is grand cept for that low D that ya keep forgettin isn't there?
Or the ones where yer in a pub ya don't know and as soon as ya hit the sustain pedal it falls off? (The trick is to balance it in the hole so it looks like its still fine. Chewin gum makes it stick better tho...til the next eejit comes along to play it...)
Or the pub where u sit on the piano stool and the top falls off and you try to retain your dignity by drinking copious amounts of alcohol to make you paly like Tchaikovsky on crack but it still doesn't work because now ya can't even SEE the piano stool...or the piano...
Ar aon nos, thanks for all the good wishes...I'll compare notes with all ye piano-ists when I get it ;O)
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by anniejryan
Upright or laying down - - -
And the one that had a kind of odd squishy noise and stank - and when I opened the lid I saw why - evidently more than once, someone chose this opening to be sick down. There were things growing in it. What did I say about a plant box? It's also great for mushrooms, a dark dank place in this case, with plenty of regurgitated pub grub compost... That experience, and those damned dirty or missing ivories, and mildewed seats - well, if you can be a 'whore in the nettles', the ability for your passion to get the better of you is way ahead of me. I just can't manage that anymore, though I love well made nettle soup... I sit as far away from any present upright in a pub as I can, as most players are on their way to the floor and only pause there for a 'tinkle' before their final descent...
# Posted on November 20th 2004 by ceolachan
OUCH! - I just remembered your liking 'S & M parties' as mentioned in your 'details'... I quite like leather, bellows and otherwise, but it ends there, no cat of nines for me...
# Posted on November 20th 2004 by ceolachan
Re: Guitar being routed through midi "gismo"
I noticed that a one-man-band chap had his electric guitar routed through a midi device that reads chords. On the screen of this gismo was "P. G", anyone know what it means
# Posted on June 29th 2009 by O'Riabhaigh