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A sonic palette....
For years, I've been wanting to purchase a synthesizer or keyboard workstation -- specifically, something in the Kurzweil K2000 family. I briefly had a Kurzweil K2500, but found that I couldn't afford it and had to send it back.
As I've often said, I'm not a guitarist. I simply don't have the chops in the left hand to be an accomplished guitarist. I wouldn't mind learning how to play bass guitar, though. And of course, I have my woodwinds. But nothing fires me up like keyboards.
Why keyboards? Because I can have access to a wide range of sounds. I can't get this from traditional instruments. In a way, it's like painting a picture with a range of colors instead of just a few. With the help of a computer and music composition software (e.g. Cakewalk), I can knock out compositions much quicker than what I can currently accomplish.
What sort of keyboard sounds would I want to include in my palette? Acoustic piano, Rhodes electric piano, pipe organ, Hammond B-3 organ (with drawbars and percussive effects), Farfisa and Vox combo organs, theatre organ, harpsichord, celesta, tack piano. I'd also like to include sounds not typically associated with keyboards -- orchestral instruments, drums/percussion, kalimba (thumb piano), sampled toy piano, vox humana singing the vowel sounds). And that's only the beginning. I also want the ability to sample sounds generated by external sound sources (such as my beloved Minimoog) and play the sounds polyphonically.
We used to have a Rhodes electric piano in my high school. I had a few chances to play it in the jazz ensemble. Under the hood, the Rhodes has felt or rubber hammers that struck metal tines. The late Lloyd Landa used this sound on "The Road To Roswell".
A tack piano is a standard piano with metal thumbtacks placed in the felt hammers. It changes the timbre of the sound. But I'm not about to ruin a piano doing this.
As I've often said, I'm not a guitarist. I simply don't have the chops in the left hand to be an accomplished guitarist. I wouldn't mind learning how to play bass guitar, though. And of course, I have my woodwinds. But nothing fires me up like keyboards.
Why keyboards? Because I can have access to a wide range of sounds. I can't get this from traditional instruments. In a way, it's like painting a picture with a range of colors instead of just a few. With the help of a computer and music composition software (e.g. Cakewalk), I can knock out compositions much quicker than what I can currently accomplish.
What sort of keyboard sounds would I want to include in my palette? Acoustic piano, Rhodes electric piano, pipe organ, Hammond B-3 organ (with drawbars and percussive effects), Farfisa and Vox combo organs, theatre organ, harpsichord, celesta, tack piano. I'd also like to include sounds not typically associated with keyboards -- orchestral instruments, drums/percussion, kalimba (thumb piano), sampled toy piano, vox humana singing the vowel sounds). And that's only the beginning. I also want the ability to sample sounds generated by external sound sources (such as my beloved Minimoog) and play the sounds polyphonically.
We used to have a Rhodes electric piano in my high school. I had a few chances to play it in the jazz ensemble. Under the hood, the Rhodes has felt or rubber hammers that struck metal tines. The late Lloyd Landa used this sound on "The Road To Roswell".
A tack piano is a standard piano with metal thumbtacks placed in the felt hammers. It changes the timbre of the sound. But I'm not about to ruin a piano doing this.