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Put Up a New Tune Today


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  • 3 weeks later...
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This brief sequence is written on a Casio WK-7500 (it's about 18 months old). Our 19 year old son captured the video of me playing drums and the MOOG, but it's all really the WK-7500. The other instruments are just there for fun. If it sounds like old Tony Banks (from his first solo album [A Curious Feeling] it's because I am really old and locked into that time frame). Gotta do more of these someday when I'm not traveling so much.

Curious to hear suggestions and remarks for future improvement.

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Thanks Steve... I answer to either... Gary or Happyrat, but in here just call me Gary :)

I've always loved soundtrack instrumentals. Actually I think I have some glitch in my sense of hearing that muddies the human voice in vocal pieces, so the clarity of instrumental pieces is what attracts me the most to that genre.

I haven't been big on song lyrics since I was an angst ridden teen listening to dirges like Behind Blue Eyes, Lucky Man, and Working Class Hero and even then I was always more interested in the melodies than the lyrics.

Anyway, I'm happy you "got" what I was shooting for with this and my other pieces.

I'm working on something right now that's sounding sort of promising and will put it up as soon as I've finished it. I keep picking at it and letting it go every couple of days and then come back to it with fresh ears and eyes.

Mostly though, I compose for my own enjoyment. All the great ones say, "Be true to yourself" when it comes to music, writing, art and I try to be own toughest critic.

Whenever I brighten someone else's day though, I burst with glee :D :D :D

Gary

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This brief sequence is written on a Casio WK-7500 (it's about 18 months old). Our 19 year old son captured the video of me playing drums and the MOOG, but it's all really the WK-7500. The other instruments are just there for fun. If it sounds like old Tony Banks (from his first solo album [A Curious Feeling] it's because I am really old and locked into that time frame). Gotta do more of these someday when I'm not traveling so much.

Curious to hear suggestions and remarks for future improvement.

I thought it was a great effort and worthy piece indeed. It sort of reminded me of one of the rock overtures that Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman would have used as a lead piece on a 70's progressive rock album.

And I would never have the guts to show my face on camera. ;) Kudos to you for keeping the dream alive into your maturity.

Looking forward to seeing and hearing more from you.

Gary

PS. If I had only one criticism to make, the piece was too short :) I coulda listened to a 20 minute Tubular Bells spun from that intro :D

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I haven't been big on song lyrics ... I was always more interested in the melodies than the lyrics.

Me too Gary and mostly because I wasn't a singer. Not having vocal chops forced me to focus on the melody and timbre.

Anyway, two years ago my wife allowed me to re-purpose one of our bedrooms into a music studio. So after about 25 years of not playing keyboards, I started up again. As a reborn keyboard buyer, the WK-7500 seemed like the perfect way to get back in without hurting my wallet or my ambition. My goal was to record the music that I composed back in the late 70s & early 80s, but never put to tape (because it was too expensive back then).

I am thankful to Casio for creating such powerful and affordable products. I can see how Casio will be a big part of my future, especially as I near the retirement years.

P.S. - I also have an XW-P1 now. Solo-Synth heaven.

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I added a new piece of hardware to my rig recently. An M-Audio Venom. They've practically been giving them away at Amazon since they were discontinued late last year.

Anyway, I finally got it to play nicely with the rest of my hardware and software so this morning I churned out this bit of ambient electronica in about an hour.

It features all three of my keyboards, the Korg TR, the XW-P1 and the Venom.

Without any further ado... The Identity Matrix... Enjoy...

https://soundcloud.com/happyrat1/the-identity-matrix

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Travst >>> Thanks for the compliment, but all the real work involved was getting all the synths to cooperate with my Linux sequencer. I promise to do better in the future ;)

BTW, I dunno if it's the cheezy generic USB MIDI interface I have to use with the Venom to get it talking to Linux or not, but do you notice a hell of a lot of lag on that keyboard? I find that with many of the multi patches if I try and play more than three or four notes quickly it skips about half of them. I'm already using a low latency kernel and the JACK audio connection kit so I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the probable cause of the lag.

Gary

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Steve >>> Actually I'm not really proud of that piece. I think I may rework it from scratch. To be honest the Venom did all of the heavy lifting in the rhythm and drums department. I was really just experimenting with getting it to talk to the sequencer at the time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Did another one using the TR, the Venom and the XW-P1 today. God arpeggiators make it so easy it feels almost criminal.

This thing literally took me less than a half hour to set up, sequence and record today...

Next time I'll work harder, I promise ;)

Without further ado I give you "One Take Wonder" for your consideration and enjoyment.

https://soundcloud.c...one-take-wonder

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