Keyboard.magazine.february.2011

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FEBRUARY 2011

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F U T U R E

C L A S S I C

Visit us at NAMM booth 5900

F U T U R E

C L A S S I CThe Poly Evolver Keyboard is a nearly-knob-per-function knockout that sounds unlike any

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COMMUNITY10 Your pictures, anecdotes, questions, tips, gear, and feedback!

KEYNOTESHot players, news, and reviews from the keyboard world.12 Red Young on the B-3 Organ as Orchestra14 The Editors’ Playlist

LESSONS18 5 Ways To Play Like Thomas Dolby22 The Bill Evans Re-Fingering School

COVER STORY26 THOMAS DOLBY: Blinding Us With Substance

His irresistible synth pop may have set the tone for the ’80s, buthis larger body of work is one of the most original, influential, and eclectic on this planet and several others. We get the story behind A Map of the Floating City, his first new studio album inalmost two decades.

ARTISTS34 Pomplamoose

Partners in music and in life, Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn have YouTubed their way to cultural icon status and a fan base of millions—without a record label.

SOLUTIONS40 DANCE Ethereal Vocoding 42 SYNTH WORKSHOP Modular Synthesis on your Desktop?46 PRODUCERS’ ROUNDTABLE Alan Wilder, Wolfgang

Gartner, Dan Kurtz, James Cayzer, Josh Harris, and Boom Jinx on the Ultimate Drum Mix

GEAR16 NEW GEAR48 AMPED UP, Part 2: Nearly a year of use and abuse by two real-

world gig warriors went into this roundup of 11 powered stage monitors suitable for use as keyboard amps.

58 EastWest THE DARK SIDE

TIME MACHINE66 Thomas Dolby recalls the PPG 340/380

digital synthesizer system.

CONTENTS

KEYBOARD (ISSN 0730-0158) is published monthly byNewBay Media, LLC 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 125, SanBruno, CA 94066. All material published in KEYBOARDis copyrighted © 2010 by NewBay Media. All rightsreserved. Reproduction of material appearing in KEY-BOARD is forbidden without permission. KEYBOARD isa registered trademark of NewBay Media. PeriodicalsPostage Paid at San Bruno, CA and at additional mailingoffices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to KEY-BOARD P.O. Box 9158, Lowell, MA 01853.

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keyboardmag.com/february2011

Electronic musicpanels at SanFranciscoMusicTech Summit.

Wes Styles ofCoheed andCambria interviewed.

Sylvain Gagnon,musical directorof equestrian/acrobatic opusCavalia.

More Online!

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Pomplamoose, page 34

Cover photo by Bruce Atherton and

Jana Chiellino.

VOL. 37, NO. 2 #419 FEBRUARY 2011

eyboardEDITOR: Stephen FortnerMANAGING EDITOR: Debbie GreenbergEDITORS AT LARGE: Craig Anderton, Jon Regen SENIOR CORRESPONDENTS: Jim Aikin, TomBrislin, Ed Coury, Michael Gallant, Robbie Gennet,Scott Healy, Peter Kirn, Mike McKnight, DominicMilano, Franics Preve, Ernie Rideout, Mitchell Sigman

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I’m forever chasing that classic ’80s sound. The Roland D-50 is myfirst love. It’s best for sparkling ethereal patches, ’80s strings, haunt-ing pads—glassy, almost liquid sounds are its specialty. My RolandAlpha Juno-1 gives me classic Juno-60 sounds, although not as warmand big. I program basses, electric guitar leads (adding distortionwith a pedal), and strings on the Juno. The Yamaha DX-9 is my FMbass machine; I also use it for organs, tines, and anything metallic. Isample my other synths into my E-mu Emax SE, then modify themwith the Emax’s spectrum synthesis and transform multiplicationmodules, creating awesome sonic mutations. On the Roland JV-880,the alto sax lead and “EP+Exp” tines patch are pure ’80s bliss. TheKorg Electribe EMX-1 is a versatile drum machine with great Linnand Simmons emulations as well. The Casio CZ-5000 phase distor-tion synth is good for FM-ish sounds, its keys are great for fast leads,and the pitchbend assembly is responsive and accurate. Finally, theYamaha QX3 is an awesome MIDI sequencer from 1987—16 tracks,61 editing features, and multiple ppq resolutions. It’s gold in my stu-dio. Danielle Morales, via Facebook

From the EditorI usually don’twrite those editor’sletters where saideditor gets all fan-boy about an artistbeing in the mag-azine that month.Thismonth, though,I might have to

indulge in just a bit of that. As a kid, the world of coolpeople making cool sounds with cool synths was some-thing I only read about in Keyboard. While learningabout Keith Emerson and T. Lavitz made me want toplay fast, Stevie Wonder made me want to be funky,and Booker T. Jones made me want a Hammond, itwas Thomas Dolby who opened my ears to the trueraison d’être of synthesizers: They’re supposed to beable to sound like anything you might imagine, and

making those sounds a reality should inspire to youcompose better music.

Here’s what hasn’t been said nearly enough:Thomas Dolby is one of the most underrated song-writers of our time. The one-hit-wonder status themainstream media accords him due to “Science” is araw deal—though it’s a good thing if it makes anyonecheck out his larger catalog. I encourage you to if youhaven’t already. You’ll discover a sense of melody, har-mony, and phrasing that has more in common withtroubadours like McCartney and Bowie than it doeswith technocrats like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream.Dolby always makes the latter aesthetic serve the for-mer, and that’s what makes him a true original.

10 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

Tell us what you think, linkto your music, share tipsand techniques, subscribeto the magazine and oure-newsletter, show offyour chops, or just vent!Your forum post, tweet,email, or letter might endup in the magazine!

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DIG MY RIG!

See Danielle’s synth videos atyoutube.com/user/TheSynthFreq.

We at the German online magazine and forum community amazona.de ran a one-year survey, and together with our readers, designed this con-cept for a dream synth, which we call the Tyrell Nexus after Blade Runner. Its features include eight true analog voices with two oscillators, hardsync, FM, ring modulation, pulse modulation, continuously variable waveforms from sine to saw, noise, a multimode filter, and a bandpass fil-ter. There’s also an arpeggiator, two ADSR envelopes, three LFOs, and CV in and out. The photo is a 3D rendering, and Urs Heckmann of U-he(designer of Zebra) is working on a plug-in version, called the N6. However, we’re seeking a company to help us realize the hardware version. Peter Grandl of amazona.de, via email

As the replicant leader Roy Batty said, “Gosh, you’ve got some nice toys here!” It’s interesting—almost everyone I’ve ever talked to who’s designed a synth or programmed factory sounds forone has given a shout-out to Blade Runner in some patch name or other. It seems to be in theperpetual top five movies list of every synth player I know—something I actually got to tellDaryl Hannah once, who replied that it was her favorite movie she’d been in. Whattaya say,hardware manufacturers? Who wants to build this really cool synth? Stephen Fortner

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SOAPBOX: CROWDSOURCING SYNTH DESIGN

What otherinstrumentdo you playbesideskeyboards?

Acoustic or electric guitar

Bass, electric or upright

Woodwind (sax, clarinet, etc.)

None

Drum kit or Latin percussion

Brass (trumpet, trombone, etc.)

Violin, cello, or otherbowed strings

Harp, dulcimer, or othernon-guitar plucked strings

The

Poll

Be counted! New polls go live the first andthird Tuesdays of each monthat keyboardmag.com.

The PreSonus StudioLive mixing seminar at MarinSchool of the Arts was a great chance for high schoolstudents to learn the basics of mixing and signal flow,and we were delighted with the warm reception wereceived. The StudioLive mixer, with its analog-likecontrol surface, proved to be an excellent instructionaltool, and we hope the students learn a lot and make aton of music on the unit we donated. We at PreSonusthank the faculty, students, administration, and coor-dinators at Marin School of the Arts; our instructor,John Hood, of The Farm; and Stephen Fortner andTim Tsuruda of Keyboard.Steve Oppenheimer, PreSonus Marketing Director

Marin School of the Arts junior Sam Forester using the StudioLive mixerdonated by PreSonus. For more information on this unique public schoolprogram, visit marinschoolofthearts.com.

PRESONUS GOES TO HIGH SCHOOL

On the B-3 Organ as Orchestra

KEYNOTES

When you first hear Red Young play, you think, “Where has this guybeen all my life?” The truth is, you’ve been hearing him on TV and theradio for decades. Though his piano work, writing, arranging, and singingare first-rate, it’s his highly original B-3 playing that’s going to make youhit “Download Now.”

Red sounds like an amalgam of B-3 greats. You hear bits of JimmySmith, Joey DeFrancesco, Jack McDuff, and Groove Holmes. What setshim apart, though, is his impulse to push the B-3 further out of its com-fort zone than we’ve heard before. His support for soloists has a uniqueorchestral style, and his soloing takes him to unusual chromatic andmelodic places. On a gospel-flavored tune, for example, Red started offcomping softly and five minutes later was improvising a soulful four-linefugue with hands and feet flying. It doesn’t come off as contrived or toocerebral, either—it flows out of him with the sort of inevitability thatproves he plays entirely from the heart.

Red’s orchestral inclinations began as a boy. Studying classical piano inFort Worth, he mastered three piano concerti before the age of 14, follow-ing closely in the footsteps of fellow Texas wunderkind Van Cliburn. It wasimpossible to grow up in Fort Worth without being influenced by the leg-endary local blues and jazz scene. Like so many Texas jazzers, Red attendedNorth Texas State. Later, he would hit the road with luminaries such asJoan Armatrading, Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, and Eric Burdon.

“I started to tour with Sonny and Cher,” says Red, “and found myselfwith a new axe. Sonny had bought one of the new Oberheim Four-Voicesynthesizers, and I fell in love. Within a year I was surrounded on stageby keyboards: The Oberheim, Rhodes, acoustic grand, Hammond B-3,Minimoog, and ARP String Ensemble. This was before MIDI, so youactually needed to touch the keys on everything!

“But it wasn’t all technology,” he continues. “For her first TV special,Cher did a five-minute performance of West Side Story—in which sheplayed and sang all 12 characters! Working from the Leonard Bernsteinscore, I wrote and arranged everything for her unusual voice.” This knackfor working with singers, honed by years on the road, made Red the per-fect fit for a dream gig: a two-year stint as keyboardist, vocal arranger,and singer with Linda Ronstadt and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra duringtheir What’s New? tour.

Red’s voice warms when he talks about Ronstadt: “Wonderful per-son. Truly great singer. And not afraid to try anything!” At first, he wasdazzled to be working with Nelson Riddle who had arranged albums forElla Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, and Frank Sinatra. Red was soon con-tributing arrangements to the band and absorbing the tricks and tech-niques of modern-day master Riddle.

Along the way he’s fronted a lively assortment of projects. See workslike Red & the Red Hots’ album The Boogie Man. Don’t miss the piano soloon Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca,” for which Red also wrote lyrics. Then, checkout The Organizer at cdbaby.com or redyoung.com. He’s currently promot-ing the brand new album of Austin-based trio Black Red Black featuringAustin trumpet sensation Ephraim Owens (who you can catch on tourwith Sheryl Crow) and drumming juggernaut Brannen Temple, who’s theperfect, funky complement to these formidable players. Richard Leiter

RED YOUNG

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More Online! keyboardmag.com/february2011

Performance Video:Red’s new Trio, BlackRed Black.

Red’s various projectson cdbaby.com.

Can’t kick pedal bass? Play the bass line with your lefthand on the lower manual and lightly tap a pedal—the rootnote of the song’s key works best—in unison with your left-hand notes. The keyboard will sing the pitch, and the foot-tap will provide a ghost note that adds a lot of fat.

Using individual fingers on those little drawbars can beslow. Instead, try smearing the drawbars by placing theheel of your hand against their fronts and curling your fin-gers over the top. You’ll be able to shape curves like on agraphic EQ, getting smooth harmonic changes.

THE RED ZONE Red Young’s Tips for B-3 Comping

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When changing chords, change the minimum number of notes necessary, moving your fingers to the closest keys that makesense (Ex. 1). This voice-leading will make your harmonies more compelling. You’ll find yourself adding rich color tonesyou may not have otherwise stumbled upon.

Think orchestrally: You can play the same old piano chords (Ex. 2) or create a strong, independent line thatmight be played by French horns (Ex. 3) or strings (Ex. 4).

Ex. 1

Ex. 2

Ex. 3

Ex. 4

Examples transcribed by Matt Beck.

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KEYNOTES

T. LAVITZElectricEver listen to the epicfusion of the Dregs andthink, “The only way this

could be better is if it were all keyboards”?Here you go. The late, great T. Lavitz tradessolos with himself throughout, alternatingbetween crunchy B-3 and snappy Minimoogon such burners as “Proper Slang.” His senseof phrasing, even in the middle of the mostblazing solo, is always impeccably melodic.T.’s unintentional swan song is what mod-ern multi-keyboard prowess sounds like.(tlavitz.net)

BEATS ANTIQUEBlind ThresholdWow—just wow. Arabicmotifs, klezmer, and adash of Americana nego-

tiate a sonic three-state solution over dubstepand psy-trance beats and bass synths. Hooksare played by a large complement of realstrings, horns, and even stutter-edited kalimba.Though you really should see Beats Antique’sbellydance-meets-steampunk aesthetic live,don’t let that stop you from just grabbing therecord and getting drunk on this unlikely, ele-gant, original, and delicious musical cocktail.(beatsantique.com)

DEADMAU54 x 4 = 12The long-awaited artistalbum from the most ana-log synth-happy guy in

electronic dance music has arrived, and there’splenty to love even if you’d never adulterateyour liquor with Red Bull. High pointsinclude the Tangerine Dreamlike intro andtriplet feel of “Right This Second” and thequacking sync synth that defines the Wolf-gang Gartner collab “Animal Rights.”Throughout, Deadmau5’s mastery of evolv-ing timbres is practically the Platonic formof Eno’s ethos that “repetition is a form ofchange.” (Ultra | deadmau5.com)

THE TRIO OF OZThe Trio of OzWhat makes a song a “stan-dard”? Post-modern jazzerRachel Z. and company

ponder that question on this surprising newalbum. Here, Rachel, drum legend Omar Hakim,and bassist Maeve Royce rework iconic poptracks into inspired, improvisational fare. Notconvinced yet? Check out the Trio’s re-imag-ined version of Death Cab For Cutie’s “I WillPossess Your Heart,” with a harmonic interludestraight out of Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay.”Recommended. (Ozmosis | thetrioofoz.com)

COREA,CLARKE, AND WHITEForeverThree quarters of fusion

pioneers Return To Forever return with thisdouble-disc collection of acoustic and electrichighlights from their recent travels. There’ssomething for everyone on Forever, from trad-jazz chestnuts like “On Green Dolphin Street”and “Waltz for Debby,” to fierce, Rhodes-ladentracks like “Captain Marvel” and “After theCosmic Rain.” Corea has been at the forefrontof modern improvised music for nearly fivedecades. Listen to this and you’ll understandwhy. (Concord | ccwtrio.chickcorea.com)

BENITO GONZALEZCirclesVenezuelan piano power-house Benito Gonzalez

holds his own amidst a formidable cast of jazzheavyweights on Circles, his second releaseas a leader. Gonzalez shines here as both fire-fingered soloist (listen to his virtuosic soloon the title track) and inquisitive composeralike (check out his plaintive ballad Elise).Backed by the hurricane-inducing rhythmsection of Christian McBride and Jeff “Tain”Watts, Gonzalez proves he can handle justabout anything thrown his musical way.(Furthermore | benitogonzalez.com)

THE EDITORS’ PLAYLIST

Stephen FortnerLIL WAYNEI Am Not a Human Being Discount Lil Wayne atyour own risk. His new

album is chock full of wicked riffs and trulyclever lyrical wordplay. Amidst the requi-site talk of sex, drugs, and gangsta life,Wayne’s producers and beat makers havelaid down some enormous synths to matchhis otherworldly style. Literally every songis packed with keyboard melodies. Whetheror not you’re a hip-hop fan, Lil Wayne’smusic will give you a ton of keyboard inspi-ration for your own jams! (Young Money | lilwayne-online.com)

SECOND SUN The Lost Weekend The electronic duo’s newrecord strikes a nerve onthe party circuit, fitting

comfortably in the realm of LMFAO and LCDSoundsystem, with dance-ready beats and tonsof wicked synths. Written and recorded in theparty town of Miami, the album includes theDevo-like “A Girl Like You,” the Juno-106-fueled “Fire and Water,” and the crushing synthbass lines of “Howl at the Moon.” Far from atypical club act, Second Sun plays live insteadof DJing. (Ultra | secondsun.info)

EISLEY The Valley It has been four long yearssince the family Eisleyreleased an album. The

three sisters in the band each endured abreakup in the interim, and have mined theiremotions for catharsis, producing a beauti-ful collection of heartfelt songs. Singer/key-boardist Stacy DuPree shines on songs like“Watch It Die” and “Oxygen Mask,” layingdown some lovely piano work and harmonyvocals on some of the band’s best songwrit-ing yet. The Valley is sure to please longtimefans and entice quite a few new ones.(Equal Vision | eisley.com)

Robbie Gennet Jon Regen

The Power of Ten.

© 2010 Samson | samsontech.com

The All New Expedition 510i.Delivering roadworthy sound in a unique, pack-and-go design, Expedition features a 10-channel, 500-watt Class D mixer with digital effects and an iPod dock. Its vented enclosures use 10-inch woofers and 1-inch titanium tweeters for rich bass and crystal clear highs. With Expedition, portable perfection is easier than ever.

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NEW GEARby Stephen Fortner

MOOG SLIM PHATTYConcept: All the sound of the Little Phatty in a tabletop or rack module.

Big deal: Totally analog audio path. Arpeggiator and LFO sync to tap tempoor MIDI. Control voltage outs for volume, filter, pitch, and keyboard gate.We think: It’s the most affordable way to get the Moog sound into your rig.To see it in action, read our modular tutorial on page 42.List: $849 | Approx. street: $800 | moogmusic.com

DPA 4099-PConcept: Tiny ultra-premium mics designed for acoustic piano.Big deal: Micro-shotgun design maximizes off-axis rejec-tion. Magnetic bases let you place mics anywhere on the piano’sharp. God uses DPA mics.Coming soon: We’ll test their resistance to feedbackwhen you close the piano lid, as you’d do in a loud rock band.List: $1,199 per pair | dpamicrophones.com

ROLAND OCTA-CAPTUREConcept: High-speed USB2 audio interface with Class A circuit design.Big deal: Mic preamps can automatically set gain based on incoming signal. XLR combo jacks on all eight inputs.Low-latency streaming lets you pair two units on one USB bus. Circuits are laid out so as to eliminate noise.We think: Class A at this price? We can’t wait to review it.List: $699 | Approx street: $600 | rolandus.com

Back panel view:

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UNIVERSAL AUDIO STUDER A800Concept: The warmth and saturation of the storied 24-track, 2" studio recorder, in virtual form for your UAD-2 card.Big deal: Simulates tonal qualities of 7.5, 15, and 30ipstape speeds. Four tape formulation models and calibration lev-els. Simulates A800’s input, sync, and repro signal paths.We think: For audiophiles mixing inside the box, this is asgeektastic as it gets.$349 direct | uaudio.com

QSC GX7Concept: Vulgar amounts of power in a 15.5 pound package.Big deal: A cool thousand watts into four ohms; 725 watts intoeight ohms. XLR, 1/4" TRS, and RCA inputs. Speakon and bindingpost outputs. Built-in subwoofer/satellite crossover.We think: Anyone who’s lugged a shin-busting amp rack fromthe van will think this is too good to be true. It’s not. List: $699 | Approx. street: $600 |qscaudio.com

NATIVE INSTRUMENTSTHE MOUTHConcept: Vocoder and talkbox style processing with awarped edge, from electronic artist Tim Exile.Big deal: Separate Pitch and Beats modes for working itsformant-shifting morphoolery on any kind of musical input.Separate harmony and effects sections.We think: At this price, why not add this unique sonic colorto your palette?$79 | native-instruments.com

KEITH McMILLEN SOFTSTEPConcept: Multi-touch USB-powered MIDI foot controller.Big deal: Each key senses X and Y position, clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, and pressure. Includedsoftware lets you program different note or controller tasks for each of these on each key. OSC support. We think: The company calls it a “mouse for your feet.” More like an OctaPad that thinks it’s a JazzMutantLemur. That’s a good thing.List: $289 | MIDI Expander: $49.95 | keithmcmilleninstruments.com

See new gear press releases as soon as we get them at keyboardmag.com/news.

LESSONS

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5 Ways To Play LikeTHOMAS DOLBY

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2. “Hyperactive!” Bass LineDolby and The Flat Earth’s bassist Matthew Seligman created the bass part to “Hyperactive!” by sampling Seligman into a Fairlight CMI.Then, notes were played from the Fairlight’s keyboard. Dial up an exaggerated slap bass sound and play Ex. 2 with repeats as marked.

1. “She Blinded Me with Science” Synth SoloEx. 1 is Thomas Dolby’s whimsical synth solo from “She Blinded Me with Science” from The Golden Age of Wireless.

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by Jon Regen

Transcriptions and pianoarrangement by Gil Goldstein.

All music © 1981-2011Thomas Dolby and Lost ToyPeople, Inc. All rightsreserved. Used by permission.

Thomas Dolby has injected his signature sonorities intomore than three decades of timeless pop music. See thismonth’s cover story on page 26 for more on his new albumA Map of the Floating City. Here, we delve into five of hisclassic tracks for insight into the acclaimed storyteller’s har-monic and melodic sensibilities, all adapted from MIDI filesand lead sheets Mr. Dolby was kind enough to send to uspersonally. Find out more at thomasdolby.com.

190 2 . 2 0 1 1 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

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œœœœ## ™™™™ wwww### wwww#4. “I Love You Goodbye” Piano Solo“I Love You Goodbye” from Dolby’s 1992 album Astronauts & Heretics features a Cajun-inspired accordion and fiddle intro,and the Americana-tinged piano solo in Ex. 4.

3. “Budapest by Blimp” Piano IntroIn Ex. 3, the plaintive electric piano intro to “Budapest byBlimp” (from 1988’s Aliens Ate My Buick) showcases Dolby’spenchant for Bill Evans-like cluster voicings.


Audio examples.YouTube playlist ofThomas Dolby videos.

20 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

introG¨6#11 B¨7 G¨6#11 B¨9

bass entersG¨maj7 B¨maj9 G¨maj7(#11) B¨maj9 Gmin95

vocal enters

G¨maj7 B¨maj9 G¨maj7 B¨maj9 Gmin9 G¨maj7 B¨maj Gmin99

G¨maj7 B¨maj7/F G¨maj7 B¨maj Gmin9 G¨maj E¨min15

F7 /E¨ B¨min G¨maj7 G¨6 F7 /E¨ B¨min/D¨ E¨7 /D¨ A¨min/B20

D¨min E¨maj Bmaj7/F#Emaj7 F#maj9G#min9 Emin924

Gmaj7 Bmaj7 Gmaj7 Bmaj7 G#min29

Gmaj7 Bmaj7 G#min Gmaj7 Bmaj7/F#33

Gmaj6 Bmaj7 G#min Fmaj7 Amin /G Dmin E7 /D Amin /G37

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5. “Simone” Piano ReductionDolby’s latest EP Oceanea includes the masterfully modulating bossa ballad “Simone.” Ex. 5 is a piano reduction adapted from Dolby’s owncharts, as well as the recording itself. The song is based around three tonal centers: Gb starting at bar 1, G starting at bar 29, and E starting at bar 60.

LESSONS

210 2 . 2 0 1 1 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

Fmaj7 Bmin7¨5 E7 /D C6 D7 /C Gmin/B¨ Cmin D7 Gmin E¨maj7 Fmaj42

A7 /G Dmin11/F G7 /F Cmin Fmin G7 E¨maj7/B¨ A¨maj7 B¨648

G7 Fmin G7 Fmin G7 Fmin G7 Fmin53

Dmin¨5 Cmin B¨ A¨maj A¨maj/G F- Emaj6 A¨maj7 Emaj6 A¨maj7 Fmin57

Emaj6 A¨maj7 Fmin Emaj6 A¨maj7/E¨64

C#min7 A¨maj7/E¨ Fmin Amaj7

saxophone solo

F©min /E Bmin968

C©7 /B F©min/A Dmaj Emaj C©7 /B F©min/A B7 /A Emin/G72

Amin /G B7/F# Emin Cmaj Dmaj F#7 /E Bmin/D E7 /D C676

Dmin E7 Amin/G Fmaj7 Gmaj Amin9 Fmaj7 Gmaj81

Amin9 Fmaj7 Gmaj Amin9 Fmaj7 Gmaj Dmin7¨5/F86

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22 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

LESSONS

THE BILL EVANS RE-FINGERING SCHOOL by Gil Goldstein

One of the most intricate problems of playing piano is fingering. Crossing the thumb under (the way our piano teachers taught us) canfeel awkward and make the hand look like a crab crawling across the keyboard. The first time I saw Bill Evans play, I was struck by how henever seemed to cross his thumb. His hands seemed to float at the ends of his arms in a relaxed position. Having had the good fortune tospeak to Bill in person, and investigating his playing over the years, I’ve isolated some concepts that can help solve some of the stickiest fin-gering issues.

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1. Rhythmic DisplacementEx. 1 illustrates Evans’ improvisational approach of finding, developing, and rhythmically displacing musical ideas. Bill often fin-gered short two- and three-note ideas symmetrically, lifting his hand to place the thumb on the first note of each phrase. The thing is,the thumb doesn’t cross under the hand. The hand simply moves to where the next notes will be played.

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2 1‰ œj œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œb œb œ ˙

Multi-instrumentalist and arranger GilGoldstein has performed and arrangedfor artists such as Jim Hall, David San-born, and Esperanza Spalding. Findout more at gilgoldstein.us. Jon Regen

©2010 CASIO AMERICA, INC.

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24 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

LESSONS

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œb œ œ œn œb œ œ œn œ œb œ œb œn œ œn œb Œ ‰ œ œ œb œ œ œb œ œb œ œ œbJ ‰ Œ Ó

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Audio examplesrecorded by the author.

5. Land and ReplaceEx. 5 shows how to land on one finger, then replace that finger with another. In measure 4, it’s natural to land on the E with thethird finger, but after, the jump to the Eb above is difficult. While the E key is still down, simply replace the third finger with thethumb, making the stretch upward easier.

4. Pinky PracticeEvans extended the reach of his fifth finger by playing two notes in a row with the pinky. In Ex. 4, you can play the last phrase ofsix notes with a flat hand (instead of crossing the thumb) by simply lifting the pinky to play an extra note.

3. Thumb WorkoutAnother fingering trick is lifting the thumb to play two notes in a row. Bill had no fear of placing his thumb on a black note, reducingthe number of finger crosses his hand had to perform. Play Ex. 3 using the fingering 1, 1, 5, 4, 3, 1.

2. Moving the Whole HandPlay the first five notes in Ex. 2 with the hand flat, fingered 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You now appear to be out of fingers. Evans would sim-ply reposition his hand to play the next three notes in bar 2 as a separate statement. The trick is lifting your whole hand after theC to get the A.

For more information and audio demos go to www.soundsonline.com/Hollywood-Strings

COVER STORYP

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26 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

For an artist known for pioneering synth sounds, your new tracks soundanything but tech-heavy. Some listeners might find this surprising. Well, I need to be working in a context that’s challenging, stimulating,and fresh to me. I think that what’s different after a break of 20 years orso is that because of the availability of all this new technology, there’sthousands of guys around the world who have access to the same stuff.So it’s less interesting to me now. It’s sort of like the difference betweenDoctor Livingston exploring Africa, and going on a safari today wherethere are Land Rovers left, right, and center. [Laughs.]The sounds you created years ago, for your own music and for bands likeForeigner, had never been heard before. There were no presets. . . . That’s right—they weren’t available, and your ear wasn’t accustomed tothem, so that meant they jumped out. You can go back and listen to themnow and think, “For 1981, that was pretty cool!” But in this day and age,we’ve become accustomed to hearing “cutting edge” sounds on recordsand remixes on a daily basis. And, because now it’s okay to make a recordwith just a groove and one lick—which is perfectly fine and valid—we’vebecome somewhat numbed to the impact of an original and differentsound. So, I don’t want to push in that direction.

What I don’t hear a lot of is classic songwriting, with lyrics andmelody, with chord sequences and arrangements. Some artists are allud-ing to that, like Amy Winehouse doing a retro thing. So there’s a cer-tain yearning to get back to that simple authenticity that things appeared

to have in the past, but there are very few people that actually writesongs like that anymore. So that appeals to me, because I can do that,I think. My motto for this album has been, “Only do what only youcan do.”Why release three EPs on their own, with a different concept for each,before the full album comes out?Well, it didn’t start out that way. The album is called A Map of the Float-ing City, and it’s been called that for about 15 years! I haven’t been work-ing on it that long, but I knew 15 years ago that my next album would becalled that. The way I work is, I start with the mental image of an emptyspotlight on a stage. And it’s like, a guy walks into the spotlight and startsplaying a song. What does it sound like? I work backwards from thatmoment, when the audience hears it. I put myself in their seat and ask,“What would that guy have to sing to blow me away?”How did you go from having a title to knowing how you would fleshout the album?I had a few songs, or lyrical ideas that I would hum to myself in the shower,or walking on the beach, or driving in my car. But I didn’t flesh them out,really, until I was in a position to make a record. So when my tech businessinvolvement in Silicon Valley got to the point that I could step back from itand make some music, I knew I had to get in front of an audience and playto get my chops back. So I focused on the old material and did the SoleInhabitant solo tour and a live album and DVD as well. [Dolby pioneered

270 2 . 2 0 1 1 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M

“It’s always been about the songs,” says famed keyboardist and songwriter Thomas Dolby. The storied synthesist whose ’80s hits like “SheBlinded Me with Science” and “Hyperactive!” defined the pop sound of a generation, has gone relatively unplugged, eschewing racks of musical gearfor a compact recording rig in his back yard. “When I started out, synthesizers were the future. They had sounds that few people had heard or evenimagined. Now, because of the accessibility of technology to the mass market, that sense of pioneering is null. So it’s no longer somewhere I want togo. I don’t want to be part of the throng. I always want to use an idiom that’s fresh to me.”

“Fresh” means releasing his first collection of new music in nearly two decades, with a series of three digital EPs that collectively form hisupcoming full-length album A Map of the Floating City. Two of them—Amerikana and Oceanea—are available now, and they find Dolby at thepeak of his sonic and storytelling powers. From the alt-country swagger of “Road to Reno” and “The Toadlickers” to the nuevo bossa nova of“Simone” and the fiddle- and Celtic guitar-laden “17 Hills,” each track is a triumph of texture over technology, with Dolby spinning timelesstales of humor and heartbreak.

On the eve of his new EP’s release, Dolby invited me aboard his British lifeboat studio, the Nutmeg of Consolation, to talk sound and songwriting shop.

by Jon Regen

interactive web audio and cell phone ring tone technology with his companiesBeatnik and Headspace. —Ed.]

When I started working on the actual songs for the new album,there were genres that I wanted to play with. I’m most excitable whenworking in territory I’m not familiar with. So for example, “Simone”has a sort of bossa nova, Joao Gilberto groove to it. Now, I’ve neverplayed anything in that style—the closest would be “I Scare Myself ”from The Flat Earth. I never went through a period in my career whereI was playing standards and such, so I had absolutely zero familiaritywith that. But I heard it in my mind—I heard the melody, and I couldsense the chord voicings that needed to go behind it, but I had no ideahow to find them. In fact, every time I sat at the piano and tried towork it out, I’d end up in a different key and I’d forget what key I startedin. Eventually, I booked a recording date in London with some greatCentral and South American musicians, led by Colombian bassist Chu-cho Merchan. Knowing it was two weeks away and that I was underthe gun to learn the song, I ended up running a click—the first andonly time I’ve ever done that—and I sang a sort of “ooh, ah” melodyalong with it, a capella. Then I played that track back and I worked outthe voicings.It’s almost like a Steely Dan tune in the sense that, just behind thegroove, there’s a lot of harmonic shifting.

Yeah, there’s a lot of shifting going on. There are three verses, each in adifferent key. It’s like, “I don’t know how we got here, but here we are!”Did you do a lot of the production work on these songs here inyour studio?It was always my intention to do the bulk of the work right here on theNutmeg. But it’s a bit cramped for a full band, so I went to a couple ofsmall studios in London to record the ground tracks. Then I came backhere with the Pro Tools sessions, and I’d use big building blocks, ratherthan program a note at a time. I’d take a whole verse that I liked, andwould cut and paste that whole verse with four instruments, and movebits around and restructure songs. For all these tracks, the quickest partwas actually recording them. I spent 20 times that amount of time here,messing around with them.Your studio on the Nutmeg is unique because it runs on wind and solarpower. Has that always been a priority to you?You want your footprint to be as small as possible. I like the fact that, for

28 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

COVER STORY


Video tour of Dolby’sstudio onboard theNutmeg.

Video of Dolby’s SoleInhabitant touring rig.

Thomas Dolby’s backyard studio, the Nutmeg of Consolation, isboth retro and revolutionary. It started life as a ship’s lifeboat on theBritish merchant vessel Queen Ann stationed in the South Seas.Now, it’s dry-docked behind Dolby’s seaside home on Britain’s northcoast. “I wasn’t able to have the proverbial garden shed with a stu-dio in it, like at my house in California,” Dolby tells me, “so I came upwith the idea of having a boat here. Our property used to house justsuch a lifeboat when this was a fishing village. I spent months look-ing for an appropriate boat, and eventually found this one on eBay.”

On board, Dolby’s studio is decidedly stripped down, espe-cially considering his gear-heavy past. “I don’t take a lot of care

with the synth sounds,” he explains. “It’s really thefirst thing that works, basically. I just have no patiencefor it. I don’t want to spend my time messing with allthat stuff, just in order to keep up with the Joneses.”

Housed in the Nutmeg’s wheelhouse, the studio isbased on Avid Pro Tools LE, running on a Mac G5tower. An original Digidesign Mbox serves as Dolby’sfront end interface. “I’m using Pro Tools 8, which I likea lot,” Dolby continues. “I do a lot of my MIDI sequenc-ing in [Apple] Logic Studio, which is very powerful andaffordable. But Pro Tools really evolved out of imitatingan analog multitrack studio, so it’s comfortable andmakes sense for me.”

Other gear in Dolby’s digital den includes a NordLead 3, Casio, Access Virus TI Polar synth, CMEUF series keyboard controllers, a pair of MillenniaOrigin channel strips, and an AKG C414 micro-phone. “The CME is really my main keyboard forpiano and stuff when I’m playing live,” he says. “If Ineed to lay down a piano part here, it tends to be

what I use because it’s got the nicest keyboard on it.”Noticeably and commendably absent from the Nutmeg is any

type of carbon-emitting energy. “If you look up the ship’s mast,you’ll see a wind turbine which generates 450 watts,” he tells me.“On the roof of the vessel are two solar panels, which provideabout 200 watts of additional power—although it’s not very sunnyin Britain! Between the two of them, I can get enough power ona windy and/or sunny day that I can continue working for severalhours at night. On a very windy and sunny day, I can work ten to12 hours a night on batteries, which charge up from the turbineand solar panels.”

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© 2011 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice. Avid, the Avid logo, M-Audio, the M-Audio logo, Mbox, Pro Tools M-Powered, and Venom are trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

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example, if you’re on a laptop and you have a power outage, you can keepworking on battery power. I very much liked the idea of doing this onrenewable energy. My initial idea was to have a boat that sailed aroundthe world using renewable energy, and I’d make an album on the boat.Occasionally, I could sail up the Hudson, or the Thames, or the Seine,and do a concert from the deck. Well, that would have taken a sponsor,and no sponsor was forthcoming. So I settled on this idea, hence thename, the Nutmeg of Consolation, which is actually the title of a PatrickO’Brian novel about the British Navy in the 19th century, and a skipperwhose ship is wrecked in the Pacific, but he makes it home in a little Dutchbarque called the Nutmeg.Maritime themes have played a recurring role in your lyrics. Whatdoes the sea do for you creatively? The sea is a force that’s greater than us. That’s what makes it spiritual. It’snever still, and constantly in flux. We don’t own it—we’ve never tamed itthe way we have the land. So being close the sea—or on it, even in it—is likea spiritual communion for me, as it is for sailors, surfers, and fishermen.

From my wheelhouse I watch the subtle changes in the sea. I studythe North Sea container ships, through antique binoculars or sometimesmy periscope, and I follow online almanacs to track their arrivals anddepartures from a nearby port. During the course of this album I’ve alsowitnessed the construction of a 56-turbine wind farm off this coast, andall the weird vessels that come and go to service them. When I wrote“Windpower” in 1980, it felt like science fiction. I had no idea it wouldbecome reality in my lifetime.From The Golden Age of Wireless cover art to your retro aviator lookon the Sole Inhabitant tour, your visuals have always suggested thiswandering master of technology—sort of Nikola Tesla meets DoctorWho. How much of the real you is in that character?I’m not sure anyone ever masters technology. Even Tesla, a brilliant scien-tist who was way ahead of his time and who revolutionized domestic andindustrial electricity, never settled into the mundane. He had no time for

consumer products. He left thatto the businessmen, while heexplored ideas like a global wire-less energy network, anti-gravity,even radio messages from Venus.He poo-pooed Einstein, and letothers like Marconi steal his ideas.He cut up his schematics and sentfragments to multiple govern-ments, so no single one could usehis inventions to make weapons.He was obsessed with the num-ber three. Was he a nut case? Prob-ably. More power to him, and toDoctor Who and mad scientistslike them! If any of that hasrubbed off on me, it’s because I’mas much a victim of technology asa master. I’m its plaything—thesorcerer’s apprentice.How do you see that aesthetic injuxtaposition to your currentcreative imperative not to be “thesynth guy”?

“Hi, I’m Thomas, and I’m a recovering synth guy!” [Laughs.] Seriously,there are several stereotypes in rock ’n’ roll: the guitar hero, the coiffed popstar, the bearded protest singer, and so on. I sort of defined a new stereo-type, because I was the bespectacled nerd who got funky after hours whenthe lab was closed. Of course my “axe” was a synth. In the ’80s, that becamean easy way to pigeonhole me. In a way, “She Blinded Me with Science”—the song and the video—was a spoof of that image. But it was a very catchysound and look, so it distracted people from the fact that actually, my musicwas never all that synth-heavy. Not compared to the people I tend to getlumped in with, like Gary Numan, Kraftwerk, the Human League, and soon. Not even compared to New Order or the Pet Shop Boys. The rest ofmy music was something you could sit down at the piano and play like asinger-songwriter, with progressions and melody and harmony. I’m notputting down electronic music—far from it—but it wasn’t a category I feltI really belonged in, and of course I have only myself to blame for that! Itwould’ve taken a lot of media effort and record company clout to supplantthat image with something closer to my heart that was equally strong. Butthe label at the time (Capitol/EMI) was uncooperative. They’d say, “Weall really love ‘Screen Kiss.’ Everybody in the building is humming it. Sowhere’s the next single?” What they meant was, where’s “Science Part 2?”Are there any artists right now who you think are elevating the soundof synths above the stereotypical?Will Gregory of Goldfrapp comes to mind. I admit I don’t listen to muchmusic. I tend to find groove-based, post-modern music very stifling andconstrained. Again, it’s all about the songs. The backing can be a Balkanfolk ensemble, a Brazilian percussion section, two acoustic guitars, or an

30 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1


Download ThomasDolby’s firstiPhone app!

For blogs, music,and info, go tothomasdolby.com.

COVER STORY

Thomas Dolby in the wheelhouse of the Nutmeg,a former lifeboat which now houses his studio.

indie rock group—I like it all and hate it allunless there’s a soul to it that speaks to me. Atrare moments, something has leapt out at mesonically—William Orbit or Björk, for exam-ple—but it’s never been because of the soundsin isolation. It’s always because of the context.I hope that doesn’t make me sound like a snob.The reality is, because I’m just not a huge musicfan, I make my own records to fill the hole.Judging by the loyalty and diversity of yourfans, your songs clearly fill a similar void fora great many others.

I don’t consider myself a commercial ormainstream artist, but I know now—thanksin part to the Internet being a true feedbackloop between artist and fan—that the emo-tion I feel when I pick a particular chordchange or sound or lyric actually does con-vey to a group of real people out there, thatit makes them feel the way I feel. Knowingthat, I don’t really perceive the differencebetween 10,000 versus 10,000,000 listeners.Life’s too short to be losing sleep over thenumeral zero!

COVER STORY

Embedded somewhere in themusic of Oceanea is a secretmessage in Morse code. Thefirst 20 Keyboard readers tocorrectly decode this 16-char-acter message and email it [email protected] receive an individually num-bered CD of Oceanea, auto-graphed by Thomas Dolby. ThisCD is not commercially avail-able, so it’s sure to become acollector’s item! You can down-load Oceanea in MP3 format for$2.99 at thomasdolby.com.

WWIINN aann aauuttooggrraapphheedd CCDD ooff TThhoommaass DDoollbbyy’’ss EEPP

OOcceeaanneeaa!!

32 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

Sound Forge Pro 10Professional Digital Audio Production Suite

A Perfect 10Perfection is elusive. But when achieved, things come together perfectly. What’s true in life is also true in audio production software. Introducing Sound Forge™ Pro 10 software, the 10th version of the legendary audio editing and mastering application. This one scores a perfect 10.

Long the professional standard for analyzing, recording, editing, producing, converting and resampling audio, Sound Forge Pro 10 makes a great thing even better with these new features: event-based editing, integrated disc-at-once CD burning, élastique Pro timestrech and pitch shift plug-in, plus the Mastering Effects Bundle 2 powered by iZotope™ —valued at over $200, and more.

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Copyright ©2010. Sony Creative Software Inc. All rights reserved. “SONY” and “make.believe” are trademarks of Sony Corporation.

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Thousands of musicians upload videos to YouTube every month, of course,and most of them haven’t a prayer of getting noticed. What makes Pom-plamoose special is a chemistry brewed from three key ingredients. First,they’re solid pop musicians. Their arrangements are catchy and their soundis rootsy, not gimmicky, with lots of acoustic piano and Wurly, not tomention Nataly’s clear, wistful voice. Second, about half of their YouTubevideos are fresh arrangements of well-known songs by pop stars such asBeyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Michael Jackson. Fans of those artists who cruiseYouTube for videos are quite likely to discover Pomplamoose. Their coverof Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” has been viewed more than five million times.

Third—and this is the unique factor—Pomplamoose doesn’t do musicvideos in the conventional sense. There’s no lip-syncing and no hokeystoryline. The videos are shot in their home studio while the tracks arebeing recorded, and they have two rules: If you see it, you’re hearing it;and if you hear it, at some point you’ll see it. They call the results “videosongs,” and the rules are important.

The videos, which Nataly edits when she’s not playing bass or singing,are eye-catching, with fast cuts and multiple frames. “As I’m watching it,”she says, “I’m thinking, ‘How do I make this more visually stimulating?’I try to make it so that it’s not just,” in a dull monotone, “And here’s thepiano. And here’s the voice. And here’s the guitar.”

Jack’s keyboards include an Adam Schaaf upright grand, a Wurlitzer200 electric piano, a Hammond Aurora organ (a solid-state model, nota tonewheel), and a portable Casio M-100. “The Schaaf upright was builtin the 1890s,” he says. “It’s almost six feet tall. I love the sound of thatpiano. For a while I wove some felt in and out of the strings, so it soundedlike a plunk—almost a pizzicato sound.

“I love the Wurlitzer,” he goes on. “Such a classic sound, and so ver-satile. I can run it through my whole guitar rig—all of my distortions andreverbs and delays and weird Electro-Harmonix effects. That makes fora great sound, especially when you record it out of an amp instead ofgoing through a direct box. I have a Fender Twin, also from 1972, and Irun the Wurly through that. The Twin has two huge speakers, but it’sgreat with the Wurly, because the Wurly is like a bass instrument. It reallywoofs through the Twin.

“I usually mic the Fender Twin with my NeumannTLM-103. Sometimes I’ll put the mic right up againstthe cabinet. I usually put it to the right, so it’s not quiteon the center of the cone. If you put it in the center ofthe cone, you get a more round, open tone. If you putit toward the edge of the speaker, you get a little moreof the attack and the brighter side of the tone. Some-times I put the mic back ten feet, or face it away fromthe amp toward the wall if I want more of a roomy,washy sound.”

Both Jack and Nataly come from musical families.“My dad is a jazz piano player,” Jack tells us, “and my momis a jazz singer. I grew up with their music in the house.They’d play together.” He started playing piano at age six,and picked up the guitar in college. “After that it snow-balled into all the other random instruments, which Idon’t really play—I just hack my way through. Any drum-

ming I’m doing is very recent and after a lot of practice. I don’t have greatdrummer’s time. In the last ten or 12 video songs I’ve been doing live drums,but I do still sometimes sample the various elements of the kit, then con-struct beats based on those samples.”

Two more pianos have lately found their way into Pomplamoose—a Bösendorfer Imperial grand, which Jack’s father gave them, and aHeintzman & Company baby grand, built in 1928, which will be inNataly’s studio.

“My parents always wanted me to play an instrument,” Nataly explains.“My dad is a pastor, and my mom directed music at church. Most of thetime she was playing piano and directing the choir. So they started meon piano at a pretty young age, and I was really resistant. Eventually theygave up on piano, and I picked up the guitar. About five years ago, I beggedthem to get me a bass. When I compose, I mainly hear bass lines. I don’tknow how to explain them, because I’m not trained from a technicalstandpoint. But they got me a bass, and that was the best investment theycould ever have made.”

As ubiquitous as their covers have become, Pomplamoose’s originalsongs are quirky and distinctive. “Usually one of us will come up with ariff or a melody line,” Jack says, “or Nataly will sing some words or some-thing, or I’ll play a keyboard part and say, ‘Go!’ then Nataly will sing amelody over it. Once we have this founding idea—a combination of amelody and a keyboard riff, or a groove and a lyric—then we sit downtogether and work our way through the melody and the form of the song.”

“What usually happens after that,” Nataly elaborates, “is that Jack willengineer the drum part so that we have something to play onto. He worksfor a few hours on the drums, and I spend that time working on lyrics.Then we come back together and discuss the lyrics and move thingsaround. So even that is a collaboration.”

“We start recording right away,” Jack reports. “We don’t, like, orches-trate the song first and then go back and film and re-record everything.”

“As soon as we like an idea,” Nataly confirms, “we say, ‘Let’s record it.’Sometimes you like a different idea more as you keep going, so you redosomething. It’s very organic, I guess.”

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A genuinely new way to attract legions of fans doesn’t come along often, but Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn have found one. Their duo,Pomplamoose, is being courted by major labels, and you’ve probably seen and heard them on this past holiday season’s TV commercials for Hyundaiautomobiles. At press time, they were booked to open for the Dresden Dolls on New Year’s Eve in San Francisco. The magic ingredient is YouTube.“If you ask how YouTube has impacted our career,” Jack says, “I’d tell you that YouTube is our career. It’d be impossible without YouTube.”

Pomplamoose’s Hyundai commercials feature the same eye-catchingcuts and multiple frames as the homespun video songs that made themYouTube superstars.

They record the video clips as they go. “It’s just like you would recorda normal song,” Jack explains, “except that whenever you track some-thing, you also press Record on the video camera.” The process of edit-ing is complex, however. The video is captured into a separate program,and then has to be manually aligned with the audio by dragging and drop-ping. “For video, we’ve been recording onto a little Canon home cam-corder,” he goes on. “However, recently we’ve been recording directly ontothe computer through QuickTime, so that we can skip the whole processof downloading the footage from the camera to the computer.”

Since lip-syncing would violate the video song rules, how do theymake sure they’re using the right video when there are multiple takes?“When we were recording with our old camera system,” Jack explains,“we’d do what we called ‘greening’ a take.”

“I don’t think that’s a term in the industry,” Nataly laughs.“We’d record maybe ten takes,” Jack continues, “and the last one would

be the one we’d like, so the next thing that we’d do is take a piece of greenpaper and hold it right in front of the camera and hit Record. That way, whenwe were looking through hundreds of thumbnails of takes, we’d find thegreen box, and we’d know that the take before it was the good take.” Nowthat they’re recording video directly to the computer, the process is easier:They simply name the good takes and drag them to a “Good Takes” folder.

Now, about those cover tunes: “Covering songs used to be somethingthat pop bands just did,” Jack says. “I don’t know why pop bands don’t dothat anymore.”

“Even the Beatles’ first album had covers,” Nataly chimes in.

“I like taking a melody and ditching everything else,” Jack goes on.“Ditching the chords, ditching the drums, just taking that melody andbuilding something completely different around it. The way we pick oursongs is, we gotta love that melody.”

“Earlier on,” Nataly explains, “we were covering songs that we likedfrom an artistic standpoint. Then we realized, we want to be making orig-inals. So if we’re gonna do covers, they need to serve a purpose in thesense that they allow us to make more originals.”

“Which isn’t to say we’re ditching our artistic attachment to the melody,”Jack adds. “If the melody doesn’t inspire us, we’re not gonna cover it.”

Even without the cover songs, Pomplamoose would have a strongvideo presence. “Music without packaging is like any product withoutpackaging,” Jack insists. “It won’t sell. You can have the best product inthe world, and if nobody knows about it, you’re not gonna sell it. So theway we package our music is in video form through YouTube. For us,that’s been very successful.

“Short-form content has gotten a huge boost in the last five yearsbecause of YouTube. The way for us to attach music to short-form videois through these ‘video songs.’ The thing about our videos is that they’re

ARTISTS


Watch the video songseveryone’s beenbuzzing about.

Watch Pomplamoose’sHyundai TV ads.

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36 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

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not amazing, expensive, creative videos. They’re boring shots of us record-ing in the studio. It’s not like we’re making amazing videos and terriblemusic. I think it’s probably more the opposite. We’re making cool musicand boring videos.”

Nataly, the video editor, interrupts, laughing, “Hey!”“There are a bunch of people making video songs now,” Jack goes on,

“and some of them are getting serious about it. But what I’d like to see is a‘real’ band, a signed band, start to take advantage of the power of YouTube.Because signed bands aren’t selling that many records right now. If thesebands were to shoot video while recording an album, then post YouTubevideos once a week for six months, they’d sell way more records! I don’t knowwhy they haven’t done that. I think the labels don’t get it. Everybody stillthinks YouTube is this amateur platform for babies’ butts and cute animals.

“It’s not any burden to put a camera in the studio,” he points out.“When I track something, instead of pressing one Record button, I presstwo. That’s it. The camera is non-existent. I don’t think about it. I mean,yeah, I line up the shot. But I’m not thinking, ‘I want to put this in thebackground and get a flashy . . . ’ or anything like that.”

Nataly has a different view, possibly because she’s the lead singer. “Ihave a different relationship with the camera,” she says. “There’s a littlebit of acting in the video singing process. People don’t realize that if theysee Mariah Carey singing in her video, like, she’s in the sound booth infront of the mic. Instead, they think, ‘That’s what people look like whenthey’re singing.’ But people generally look really stupid when they’resinging! I mean, if you’re trying to focus on pitch and enunciation and

all those things, and trying to sing with emotion, it takes a tremendousamount of focus. People will watch me singing, and they’ll be, like, ‘You’reso flat and you don’t have any expressions.’ That’s because I’m singing it!I can’t be acting it with my face. So occasionally I try to act present. I tryto give the camera a little look so that I’m like, ‘I know you’re watchingme, I know you’re there.’

“I think girls are more aware of the camera,” she smiles. “We do wantto look good, you know.”

“It’s all about the audio for me,” Jack replies. “My philosophy is thatif I’m concentrating on the music, the video will be an honest depictionof the truth. Then again, I’m ugly, and no possible lighting can make melook pretty, so I’ve given up. [Laughs.] Nataly is different. She’s gorgeous,and the lights make her look more gorgeous.”

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38 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

BUY THESOFTWAREYOU USE

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In the March 2010 issue, I covered using vocoders for unique filter sweeps. As any fan of vocoders will tell you, they’re capable ofastonishing and otherworldly effects when not being used for making robot voices that say, “rock your body.”

This month, we’ll go deeper into an exotic trick I call “ethereal vocoding,” a mainstay in remixes by legendary DJ and producer Sasha.This technique is easily accomplished using Apple Logic’s or Ableton Live’s stock vocoder, as the essence is simply to create as many vocoderbands as possible, then make the range of each band extremely narrow. The result is a haunting, metallic sound that’s great for everythingfrom drum loops to voices.

Here are three easy-to-implement examples of this effect at work. Francis Preve

ETHEREAL VOCODINGDance

SOLUTIONS

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Bell DrumsHere, we use a drum loop from Loopmasters’ Joey Youngman library as both carrier and modulator in a narrow-band vocoder. Theresult is a bell-like rhythm with the groove of the source material. Often the kick drum in a loop will create too much low-frequencyinformation, so slap on a highpass filter somewhere in the chain. Add a touch of delay for more rhythmic complexity.

Ethereal SweepsApply a slow sine or triangle wave LFO to the pitch of an oscilla-tor that’s generating a sawtooth wave. Square waves work well,too—just be sure the waveform has a ton of harmonics. If you usethe result as both the modulator and the carrier for the vocoder,the result will be a metallic, formant-swept undulation that’s diffi-cult to achieve any other way.

Ghostly Metallic VocalsThis example is based on an excerpt of an interview I did forDavid Battino’s “Digital Media Insider” podcast. We use astandard sawtooth pad as the carrier, but again, with our nar-row-band vocoder. The result is much like the classic vocodereffect, but with a distinct metalloid texture. For an example ofthis trick in context, check out Sasha’s “Involver” remix ofGrand National’s “Talk Amongst Yourselves.” More Online! keyboardmag.com/february2011

Audio examples forthis tutorial.

Author Francis Preveinterviewed atoreilly.net.

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Work. The Wasted Time Between Gigs.

SOLUTIONS

For most keyboardists, the word “modular” conjures up images of Keith Emerson, Hans Zimmer, and Wendy Carlos, all surrounded bymiles of patch cables. Modular synths have traditionally consisted of analog exotica in racks that fill entire walls—in which just one boutiqueoscillator or filter can cost as much as a capable modern keyboard synth. Nowadays, with a bit of cash and ingenuity, you can build a modularsynth out of stuff that fits more easily into your home studio, or to put it another way, you can use your studio as a modular synth. Even on asub-$1,000 budget, you can quickly turn the whole enchilada into a warm, fat, dirty mess of oscillating voltages that will deliver results farbeyond even the most detailed analog emulations—because it is analog. Francis Preve

Synth Workshop

MODULAR SYNTHESIS ON YOUR DESKTOP?

42 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

Moog Slim Phatty Profiled in this month’s New Gear section on page 16,Moog Music’s latest gives you that famously juicy soundat a fraction of the price of a Voyager. At well under agrand, we’re kind of blown away, as it includes USBMIDI, filter and pitch CV inputs, keyboard gate inputs,and most importantly, an external audio input.

Tom Oberheim SEM Tom Oberheim’s comeback synth (reviewed Mar. ’10) comes in three flavors: MIDI-controlled, voltage-controlled, and a hybrid of the two. All are on-point reproduc-tions of the legendary Synthesizer Expander Module, with its multimode, state-variablefilters and super-fat oscillators. Here, we recommend the voltage-controlled model,especially if you’re picking up a Dark Energy as well. We’ve had no problems driv-ing the SEM from the Dark Energy’s CV and gate outputs—and the combination ofthe two is about as close to modular heaven as you’ll get for a total of under $1,500 streetprice. As with the Dark Energy, you can route external audio into the SEM’s engine.

Doepfer Dark Energy For a list price of $625, the Dark Energy (reviewed Feb. ’10) is a greatest hits packageof entry-level modular goodness. Its lowpass filter is among the warmest we’ve heardon a modern analog synth, and its LFOs are capable of audio-rate modulation for grittyFM effects. It’s even got MIDI over USB, so driving it from your computer or controllerkeyboard is as painless as it gets. What makes the Dark Energy the perfect starter mod-ular, though, is the external audio input, which feeds any signal into its morass of pro-cessing options. This lets you enrich the signal of ROMplers, workstations, softwaresynths, ’90s-era digital synths you may have lying around—you name it.

Core SynthsThe first thing you’ll need is an analog synth with external audio inputs and at least one or two control voltage (CV) ins and outs. Have less than$1,000 to spend? Here are our top picks for that role.


Our review of theDoepfer Dark Energy.

Our review of TomOberheim’s SEM.

Our review of MOTU Volta.

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Moogerfooger PedalsWith models that cover everything from ring modulation to 12-stage phasers to analogdelays, the Moogerfoogers are the hottest thing in analog effects. Our faves? The MF-104ZAnalog Delay (shown) and CP-251 Control Voltage Processor. Adding those two to oneof the synths on the previous page will propel you further down the modular rabbit hole.A great option for those on a budget is the MF-101 Lowpass Filter, an authentic Moog fil-ter with CV inputs for cutoff, resonance, mix, and envelope follow amount. If you can’tquite afford any of the Phatties, this pedal imparts a good chunk of Moog sound to yourother synths. Run your crusty ROMpler through the MF-101 with the input drive all theway up, and you’ll be treated to a sound that’s light years thicker than you may have thoughtwas possible from the aging beast.

Expanding the RigOnce you’ve got one or more of the above synths, you’re ready to roll. If you’ve still gotsome cash left over, consider the following expansion possibilities:

MOTU Volta For analog buffs, Volta (reviewed Aug. ’09) is the coolest software imaginable, asit converts MIDI note and controller data from your DAW—as well as hostautomation data—into the control voltages that drive analog synths. A couple ofcaveats: It’s Mac-only, and you’ll need an audio interface with DC-coupled out-puts (such as almost anything MOTU makes) to send the control voltages to yoursynth(s). Pair Volta with the CV version of a Tom Oberheim SEM, and you havea 21st century version of a classic modular, with a fraction of the fuss. If you havea couple of vintage classics, Volta is happy to command them. I had no problemsusing it with a 27-year-old Roland SH-101, which I then fed into the Dark Energyfor further processing.

Korg MonotronWhile the Monotron (reviewed Nov. ’10) doesn’t have CV insor outs, it does feature a fully analog recreation of the filterfrom Korg’s MS-20 synth, a filter LFO that extends well intothe audio range for grimy analog FM, and that all-impor-tant input for external audio. For a measly 60 bucks, it’sthe cheapest way to squeeze some real analog filteringinto your rig.

Continued on page 44.

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SOLUTIONSThe Dark Energy (left) isn’t justa standalone synth—with itsUSB port and CV outs, it canbridge your computer and ana-log worlds. Patch cords arecolor-coded as follows.

USB cable: MacBook Pro/Able-ton MIDI to Dark Energy.Blue: Dark Energy gate out to SEMgate in.Red: Dark Energy CV out to SEMpitch CV in on VCO 1.Orange: Dark Energy audio outto Moogerfooger Analog Delayaudio in. Green: Moogerfooger audio out toSEM audio in.Yellow: Dark Energy LFO CV outto Moogerfooger delay time CV in.Black: SEM audio out to MacBookPro audio in.

Basic. The most cost-effective way to get your feet wet is to grab aDark Energy, plug it into your USB hub, and treat it like an effectsprocessor—albeit one that doubles as a warm and punchy bass andlead synth. If you’ve also sprung for the Korg Monotron, then you’llalso have the option of patching the output of the Dark Energy intothe external input of the Monotron for a longer effects chain. Then,when you feed another synth into the Dark Energy, you’ll have twofilters to choose from as you process it. By blending both filters,you’ll get results impossible from either alone.

Intermediate. You can use the Dark Energy’s gate and CV outputsto “play” the SEM, and simultaneously feed the Dark Energy’s outputinto the SEM’s audio input. To hear the Dark Energy alone, open theSEM’s lowpass filter all the way and switch its VCA on so that the sig-nal bypasses the SEM’s envelopes. Since the SEM has two audio inputs,you can dedicate its second input to any other keyboard or moduleyou might have and process that as well.

Things get really interesting when you start patching the DarkEnergy’s various CV modulation outputs into the SEM. For example,you can get crunchy, Daft Punk-style vocaloid effects by patching theDark Energy’s audio-rate LFO 1 CV out into the SEM’s filter CV input,then raising the SEM’s resonance and sweeping its cutoff frequencymanually. This type of setup was the cornerstone of my rig for the bet-ter part of 2010 and the results have been astonishing.

Advanced. Moog’s brand cachet aside, savvy producers have knownfor years that Moogerfooger pedals are magic for tracks that ooze char-acter. Once you get bitten by the modular bug, these pedals become

more valuable thanks to their CV inputs, which allow tricks like LFO-modulated delay or envelope-modulated phasers.

Adding the CP-251 to our “intermediate” rig gives it a boatloadmore flexibility by letting you modify the control voltages passingbetween the SEM and Dark Energy. In addition, you get to a fourthLFO, lag processor (often used for portamento and waveshaping),mixer, noise source, and sample-and-hold effects. Then, adding anMF-104Z delay between the Dark Energy and the SEM (or vice versa)lets you create integrated chorus/flanger effects that truly are impos-sible to do otherwise.

On the topic of Moog, their CV Output Modification for the Lit-tle Phatty adds voltage outputs for gate, pitch CV, volume envelope,filter envelope, and modulation bus. With this, you could easily use aPhatty (instead of a Dark Energy) as the SEM’s control synth in theprevious two configurations, telling an envious world, “My modularis a Moog/Oberheim hybrid!”

Master Class. Adding MOTU’s Volta plug-in transforms the audioouts of any DC-coupled audio interface into computer-controlled volt-age outputs that deliver ultra-precise LFOs, sequencers, envelopes, andautomation for total modular “pwnage.” What’s more, you can calibratethe oscillator CV inputs for your analog synths to be perfectly in tune—a nifty trick. With Volta, you can even forego the USB connectors onthe Dark Energy or Moog Phatty and control those synths directly fromthe plug-in via your audio interface’s outputs, with connections to sparefor control of any parameter with a CV input—all of it synced to thetempo of your host project.

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Wiring It Up

Producers’ Roundtable

THE ULTIMATE DRUM MIXWhether it’s dance, rock or pop, your drum sound is going to make or break your overall mix. From parallel compression to adding atouch of distortion, this month’s tips from our world-class producers are a treasure trove of useful info. Francis Preve

SOLUTIONS

46 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

Alan Wilder(Recoil, Depeche Mode | recoil.co.uk)Often, one needs to trigger a sampled or electronic kick from a real kick drum performance (ensuring it retainsdynamics and is tight) to get proper depth and punch. Pitch-shifting of snares sampled and mixed in with theunshifted version can be great—no flams allowed. The dynamic differences between each hit should be retainedunless you’re going for something very robotic, which I usually find dull. When mixing, I go for sounds with theirown ambience built in, rather than adding much reverb. Quite often, a heavily compressed track of overhead micssitting behind the main drums brings the sound alive.

Wolfgang Gartner (myspace.com/DJwolfganggartner)I like parallel compression on my drums to make them breathe without losing their character. I create a return trackand put two or three compressors on it, completely smashing the hell out of the signal in different ways. Sometimes Ithrow a little reverb between the compressors to give it more flavor. When this is all mixed back in subtly with thedry drums, it has a way of making a basic drum pattern sound ten times bigger.

Dan Kurtz (Dragonette | dragonette.com)We layer a lot of snares and kicks over our real kit, which I think is pretty common. We make sure to have a fewdistortion options, such as a room mic that’s gone to tape pretty hard, the Scream device in Reason, SansAmpin Pro Tools, or Bitcrusher in Logic. Also, I’m really getting into the Decimator plug-in from SoundToys forthis purpose.

James Cayzer (Jaytech | jaytechmusic.com)Bus all kick sounds together, then all non-kick drum sounds together. Don’t be afraid to use hefty compression ratioson the drum bus. If things start to sound too compressed, I omit some of the higher-pitched hats from the bus toretain the overall crispness in the treble. Avoid any excessive stereo widening on the main percussive elements sothey’ll shine through on anemic systems such as laptop speakers.

Josh Harris (myspace.com/seirenproductions)I usually layer several snares to get the fat sound I want and make them anchor the groove. With kicks, there’s a fineline between a strong kick and one that dominates the track too much. I spend a lot of time auditioning drumsounds. People forget that drums are pitched instruments, so it’s really important to make sure that they blend wellwith each other, and with the rest of the track. I also make sure that the hi-hats aren’t too sibilant, dialing back alittle bit of 12kHz on an open hat if it’s piercing through the track too much. The same goes for crash cymbals.

Boom Jinx (boomjinx.com)A common mistake is to mix drums (or individual hits) too low or high. When I revisit productions I did two yearsago, I notice my entire drum mix is a dB or two too loud. Drums are a bit like bass that way: at first, the more themerrier. Now, I think there’s nothing worse than drums sitting on top of the mix instead of in the mix. So these days,I often use group compression to glue the drums together. My best way to avoid mixing drums too loud is to audi-tion my mix on a big sound system that can take a beating. If you don’t have access to such a system, buy a pair ofheadphones with an exaggerated bass response. Finally, mentally switching your focus away from bass and drumsoften reveals more than expensive speakers do.

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48 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

Most touring weekend warriors bring their own monitors to gigs so as to maintain a consistent and predictable onstage keyboard mix. Thereare loads of options these days—everything from combo amps (see last month’s issue for four of the latest from Barbetta, Bose, Motion Sound, andRoland), to self-contained mini-P.A. systems, to the subject of this roundup: powered stage monitors.

AMP UP PART 2The Powered Stage Monitor as Keyboard Amp

GEAR

by Eric Lawson and Tony Orant

Being P.A. speakers first and foremost, they’re meant to reproduce anytype of sound with minimal coloration—that’s a lot like what we key-boardists are called upon to do with our workstations, clonewheel organs,and synths. Seeking the perfect balance of volume and fidelity for thesediverse sound sources, while keeping things portable, is a tall order. For-tunately, it’s one that more products than ever have risen to fill.

My good friend and über-weekend warrior Tony Orant and I [EricLawson] joined forces to put a total of ten powered speakers throughtheir paces onstage, at rehearsals, and at home. In alphabetical order,these were the Bag End PTA-1200R; Behringer B412DSP; JBL Eon 515;Mackie SRM450v2; M-Audio GSR12; QSC K8, K10, and K12; and YamahaDSR-112 and MSR-250. On page 50, Tom Brislin, who’s toured with Yes,Meat Loaf, Renaissance, and his own band Spiraling, tries out a high-endentry from Italian maker FBT. Which ones came closest to the ultimatekeyboard monitor? Let’s dive in and see.

The Schlep FactorMany of our gigs—and yours, probably—involve bad weather, dark hall-ways, late nights, and some kind of ramp or elevator only if we’re lucky.Thus, weight and ease of transport are a key virtue of any gear. There wasa three-way tie for welterweight champ between the JBL Eon 515, YamahaMSR250, and QSC K10, all of which weigh under 32 pounds. I’ll give theedge to the JBL, considering it houses a 15" woofer and still keeps theweight down. Tony Orant, on the other hand, didn’t like the Eon’s oddshape. “Some of my gigs require an involved rig, so I try to minimize tripsin and out,” he explained. “The JBL’s bean-like shape mandates that it stayface down on any stack of gear you’re rolling on a cart, or else it may wob-ble off. I usually end up taking it on a last trip by hand.”

The Behringer B412DSP was a beast to move at 65 pounds. Bag Endwins the “most likely to withstand a tornado” award with the PTA-1200R,a small package that’s built like a tank. At just under 50 pounds, you knowyou’re carrying gear, but the size and simple square shape make it car-friendly. The M-Audio GSR12 is compact and light, with great lines and

easy-to-grab handles on the top and sides. The overall rectangular shape,as contrasted to the rounded corners on the Mackie, Behringer, and JBL,makes it “compress” into your vehicle more easily

Weight is largely a factor of the materials that make the enclosure. Formost of these speakers, that’s lightweight molded plastic. The Bag End PTA-1200R and Yamaha DSR-112 use wood and steel, conveying biker-like road-worthiness. “Don’t underestimate the durability of plastics,” chimed inKeyboard editor Stephen Fortner. “I’ve beat the crap out of my old-modelMackie SRM450 for years, sometimes literally throwing it into the vanbecause I was tired and impatient after a gig. It’s gotten ugly, but it still works.”

Physical DesignAll the speakers are shaped such that you can place them verticallyor on the floor as wedges, except for the Bag End PTA-1200R, a rec-tangular box that really wants to be on top of a gear rack or speakerpole at ear level. The Bag End is dripping with boutique, hand-builtquality: solid wood construction, a heavy speaker grill, and a nicespring-loaded handle on top. While heavier than it looks, it’s not thatdifficult to maneuver. Bag End does make an electronically identicalversion in a wedge shape, called the PTA-1200RF. So, you get one orthe other.

The QSC K series and Yamaha DSR-112 are, in our opinion, the classi-est looking speakers, both presenting a stealthy appearance onstage andcreating the perfect angle to project sound directly at you. Looking likethe love child of R2-D2 and a European kitchen appliance, the JBL Eon515 has the most sci-fi contours. It’s great for wedge placement, but Tonynoted that “it’s unstable if placed vertically on top of a ribbed rack box,such as those made by SKB.”

On Eric’s Gigs I [Eric Lawson] used several of these speakers on gigs with my workingcover band SoulerCoaster. I really enjoyed the fact that the BehringerB412DSP has a built-in two-channel mixer with separate volume knobs.

Initially, I didn’t realize that the dual inputs were XLR only, so I was luckyto have direct boxes on hand to convert my 1/4" keyboard cables to XLR.It would be great if all powered monitors had XLR and 1/4" inputs, butthough I wasn’t packing a compact mixer, many keyboardists with multi-synth rigs do, and many such mixers have XLR outs.

The Behringer was impressive for volume and bass. It had all the head-room I needed to hear my ROMpler (a Yamaha S70XS) and clonewheel(a Nord Electro 3). While adjusting the EQ and volume knobs, I foundmyself scratching my arm on the cooling fins, which are the largest,sharpest, and most exposed of any of the speakers I tested. The Behringerhad a more bass-heavy sound overall, not quite as defined and crisp asother speakers I used. It is only $300 street.

The B412DSP compared quite closely to the Mackie SRM450v2, inboth its physical design and its tight, compressed projection of sound.The Mackie was crisper and less boomy, not to mention easier to carryat 40 pounds. Mackie’s fit and finish was better than the Behringer’s, whichis to be expected given the higher street price of $599. The Mackie takesonly XLR cables and has just one input. Again, this is fine if you’re usinga submixer with XLR outs.

Yamaha’s DSR-112 and QSC’s K10 and K12 had the rest of thespeakers beat for power. These speakers sounded similar to oneanother, with a very well balanced blend of high, mid, and low—almost like hearing a perfectly mixed concert from a single speaker.I personally preferred the QSC, as it was easier to carry and had anincredibly quiet noise floor. The Yamaha had ever so slightly moreaudible background hiss. It has both XLR and 1/4" line inputs for itssingle channel.

The Bag End PTA-1200R’s monstrous output was quite a pleasant sur-prise, especially given its small size. This tight little package kicks outsome major sound across the entire spectrum. Moog bass, drum loops,

treble-range synth pads, and Wurly electric piano sounds were all punchy,crystal clear, and in-your-face. A pair of these could easily serve as a smallP.A. system for a whole band.

The JBL Eon 515 also packs a surprising wallop for its small size. Ipumped a heavy drum-and-bass groove through it and could feel the airemanating from its ports, as if I was standing inches in front of a real kickdrum—cool. It bears repeating that though JBL is the only speaker in thisroundup with a 15" woofer (most of the others are 12"), its weight is amongthe lightest. It also boasts enough submixing to be a borderline comboamp, with three channels: a single XLR input (mic or line switchable)plus two 1/4" inputs. The JBL projects similarly to the Mackie SRM450v2,but has a broader spread with deeper low end. By contrast, the Mackiehas a more focused sound at the cost of capturing slightly narrower band-width on the low end.

Though M-Audio sent me two GSR12s, initially I evaluated just oneas a mono monitor, since that’s what I’d done for the other speakers. Inthis context, it had the least headroom of the speakers tested, presum-ably due to its lower power specs. At lower volumes, though, its soundquality rivaled the Mackie. Given that the GSR12 is nine pounds lighterand typically $100 less out the door, that’s saying something.

When I broke out the second GSR12 to get a stereo mix going, myopinion improved further. I do several solo gigs a year for my office andneighborhood, and the M-Audio sounded very hi-fi in these settings, i.e.where I wasn’t competing with loud guitars and drums.

The GSR12 boasts a knob that selects four optimized EQ curves:live instruments, CD/iPod, DJ (increased low end) or microphoneP.A. The differences are subtle, but it was cool to have this versatil-ity. In particular, the DJ setting opened up the low end of the YamahaS70XS bass and drum sounds, which I use as backing tracks for soloperformance. These are also the perfect speakers for DJing a party fromyour iPod.

49K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

Dual combo inputs (one of which can take a mic), RCA ins,separate unity-gain outputs, and a “post fader” mix out makethe QSC K series flexible. The K8, K10, and K12 all have thisrear panel in common.

The Mackie SRM450v2’s panel is bare-bones, but the XLRin does have sufficient gain to plug a mic straight in.

50 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

GEAR

On Tony’s GigsI [Tony Orant] play with a number of different bands. I used Yamaha’sMSR250, one of the least powerful speakers in this roundup—at least bythe numbers—over a six-month span for a recurring gig at a casino witha fairly tame rock band. The load-in at this venue is equivalent to fourcity blocks, and ends with 50 yards of travel across the gaming floor. Itapped into a monitor send and ran a full mix and my keyboards throughthe MSR250. With both 1/4" and XLR inputs, a mic/line switch, and two

channels with independent level, bass, and treble controls, I was coveredfor any scenario. Vocals were clean and crisp, the acoustic guitar had anice body, and my Yamaha S90ES piano patch sounded fantastic. It’s nota loud gig, but I still have to compete with a drum kit, bass rig, and twosmall guitar amps. Even though the MSR250 specs at just 250 watts, Inever needed more of anything. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfectsetup for that gig, especially at load-out.

My tribute band Pink Freud plays with much more “rock” vol-ume, so it demanded a higher-powered system; not surprisingly,this gig also involves the most elaborate of my keyboard rigs. I alter-nately used the QSC K10 and K12 (those model numbers corre-spond to woofer size), and Yamaha’s DSR-112 here. I really lovedthe QSC K12. Its tight but big low end, smooth highs, and welldefined midrange make it one of the nicest sounding amps I’ve everhad. My Hammond XK1 organ (run through a Neo Instruments Ven-tilator rotary pedal) was mellow when needed and screamed whennecessary, and yet my S90ES piano sounded fantastic through thesame speaker, even at high volume when organ and piano wereplayed together.

When I’d occasionally thump a Moog Taurus bass synth sound, theK12 easily supported the low end for the whole band while our bassistwas picking the “tick-tock” at the beginning of Pink Floyd’s “Time.” Ieventually (and at first, reluctantly) tried QSC’s smaller K10 in its place—and was completely won over. All my patches sounded killer through it,including my piano, and even the Taurus didn’t have that familiar flatu-lent sound of asking a woofer for more bass than it has to offer.

Though all three QSC models (K8, K10, and K12) have a 1,000-watt power rating and 1.75" compression tweeter in common, the K10became the mainstay of my Pink Freud rig thanks to its smaller sizeand nine-pound difference. It sits floor-monitor style atop a pair of

FBT HiMaxx 40aMade in Italy, the FBT HiMaxx 40a is housed in molded polypropylene, with a verypowerful amp. Skeptics about how much bass and punch a 12" woofer can deliver willbe floored at the tight, clear sound, which stays clean and grunge-free even at soundpressure levels that might run afoul of OSHA.

I used a pair of HiMaxxes as stage monitors at a theater concert for an audience ofabout 1,000. I dedicated the HiMaxx speakers to my synth setup, and set them behindme in wedge position. The program was music by the Who. Needless to say, drum-mers, guitarists, and bassists love to rise to the occasion of duplicating the sonic bom-bast of the epic rockers. No problem—my synths cut through the other instrumentsand stage noise loudly and clearly. Best of all, they sounded warm while never gettingclose to clipping.

Sure—loud is great, but what about fidelity at lower volumes? The HiMaxx 40aprovided clean sound in intimate settings as well, and I wouldn’t hesitate to take it toa jazz gig. The three-band EQ helps if the room has problem acoustics, but I barelyneeded to touch it. Overall, the HiMaxx 40a gives you a completely uncolored repro-duction of what you put into it, with seem-ingly endless headroom to spare. In fact,the HiMaxx calls to mind lofty pro tour-ing monitors, more so than it does the typ-ical “music store” powered wedge. Yes, it’ssomewhat more expensive than the latter,but won’t set you back nearly as much asthe former. Tom Brislin

Yamaha’s DSR-112 panel is similar to the Mackie, but witha 1/4" input next to the XLR jack.

Products on command, knowledge on cue.

bhproaudio.com

bhproaudio.comA wealth of options at the tip of your finger. Find exactly what you need through advanced search filters and Live Help. With in-depth product demos, podcasts, and customer reviews, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting. Knowledge is expansive. Get more of it at B&H.

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GEARstacked SKB racks, and fills the whole stage—which hosts a drum kit,bass rig, and vintage Marshall 50-watt half stack that the guitarist leavesat 10—with keyboards. Minimoog and ARP String Ensemble emula-tions sound fantastic, and even my thick pads and washes from Spec-trasonics Atmosphere are enormous . . . in mono, no less. After I switchedto the K10 for keyboards, my drummer and I bought a pair of QSCpowered subwoofers, and now use these along with the K12s as theband P.A. We do some gigs without the subs, using only the K12s upfront, and they hold up amazingly well.

I also play with a variety rock band covering everything from TomPetty to Lady Gaga. That band runs only vocals through their P.A., so mykeyboard amp needs to fill the room. I take the supposed runt of the QSClitter, the K8, running just one cable from my S90ES, and I have plentyof power. Using a speaker stand, I elevate the K8 just over my head so asnot to blister my ears, and every once in a while, I’ll be asked to turndown “a hair.” Like the K10 and 12, it boasts 1,000 watts, but I wouldn’tpunish its 8" woofer with Taurus pedals at high volume. Everything else,including my benchmark S90ES piano sound, kills through it.

Bag EndPTA-1200R

BehringerB412DSP

FBT HiMaxx 40a

JBLEon 515

MackieSRM450v2

*All speakers in this roundup use a compression driver design for their tweeters.

53K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

When the Yamaha DSR-112 arrived, I put it to use with Pink Freudand an ’80s “hair band” I play with. It performed spectacularly, easilyfilling the whole stage. The piano’s low end sounds great through it,and even running dense pads with high-gain effects won’t push itinto clipping—I tried! That’s not surprising given the Yamaha’s 1,300watts, 2" titanium tweeter, and 12" bass driver that seems to think it’sa 15". At 47 pounds, it’s a little heavy to lift to the top of an ear-levelspeaker stand or gear rack, but projected well when I placed it on myrack wedge style. Against not one but two guitarists playing ’80s rock

through Marshall half stacks, the DSR can easily put the hurt on thoseguys. As the saying goes, “You don’t get tone on a diet,” and the DSR-112 doesn’t disappoint.

I used the JBL Eon 515 for some of those gigs as well. I love itssound, but in a difference of opinion with my co-author Eric Lawson,my ears say it’s a bit underpowered for its size. It has great low end,and very pleasing mids and highs, but for me, it just never got quiteloud enough. It’s built-in mixer makes it very flexible, and the threeEQ Curves are useful for working in different rooms, though I found

M-AudioGSR12

YamahaDSR-112 MSR-250K8

QSCK10 K12

“flat” to work best most of the time. However, while I could “cheat”and get away with only a cable between my S90ES and the QSC K8, Ihad to insert a line mixer before the Eon for extra gain, and even then,I still wished for a little more headroom. I do use the JBL at home forband rehearsals (no Marshalls!), and with a mixer in front, vocals, key-boards, and guitars all sound great through it.

I used the M-Audio GSR12s with yet another band. Doing mainly late’60s and ’70s rock covers, this is the loudest band I play with, so I put apair on poles. The GSR12s did a good job with Wurly electric pianos withsome grit on them, and handled most everything I gave them, but reallyshined with my Hammond XK1/Ventilator rig—they really seemed tosuite the frequencies of the organ. I still ran in mono, but having twospeakers gave me plenty of power—in this band, one wouldn’t have beenenough. Since they weigh about 30 pounds each, carrying one in eachhand is no problem.

For me, the QSC K10 and Yamaha DSR-112 are the cream of this

crop. Eric and I agree that they’re the most pleasing cosmetically,they’re the most roadworthy, and they sound amazing. You’ll appre-ciate the K10’s light weight at the end of the night. But if you need justa bit more brute power to punish a guitarist or two, the DSR-112 orQSC K12 might be your weapon of choice. Either model will do thejob and do it right.

The brand-new JBL Eon 515XT packs a real mini-mixer. Thestandard Eon 515’s panel is similar, except with a three-position EQ (flat, boost, and cut) in place of the XT’s bassand treble knobs.

GEAR

Late-Breaking NewsHere’s a Murphy’s Law of the magazine biz: The bigger the roundup, the morelikely something new will show up right when we go to press. JBL’s Eon 515XT(see ad on page 6) just hit at Winter NAMM 2011, so we couldn’t get units intime for a real-world workout. JBL says, “This enhanced Eon has increased inputgain and new speaker voicing, and the SPL rating goes up from 129 to132dB.This probably addresses any volume concerns the reviewers had.” JBL is also sending us the PRX612M (shown), a 1,000-watt, 35-poundspeaker that competes more directly with the QSC K12 and sells for about $700 street price.

We also just learned that Behringer discontinued the B412DSP, but the B415DSP (the same thing with a 15" woofer) is still made at presstime. We intend to check out the B812 Neo, which boasts 1,200 watts and streets around $550. Closer (lower, in fact) to the B412DSP’s priceis Samson’s Auro D412A at approximately $250.

We’ll append reviews of these new offerings to the web version of this roundup at keyboardmag.com/gear. To know the minute we postthem, follow us at twitter.com/KeyboardMag or facebook.com/KeyboardMagazine. Stephen Fortner

54 K E Y B O A R D M A G . C O M 0 2 . 2 0 1 1

Behringer’s B412DSP doubles up on inputs, and both havemic-level gain if cranked up.

K is for Keys.Hearing what you want from your keyboard amp?

Still not a believer? Try it for yourself. We’ll even send you a limited edition “K is for Keys” T-Shirt just for comparing what you’re using today with any K Series loudspeaker.

See details at www.qscaudio.com/keys

Great sound shouldn’t end at the studio door. Play out. Be heard. Be happy.

©2010 QSC Audio Products, LLC. All rights reserved. QSC and the QSC logo are registered trademarks of QSC Audio Products, LLC in the U.S. Patent and Trademark offi ce and othercountries. DEEP, Intrinsic Correction and GuardRail are trademarks of QSC Audio Products, LLC.

K SERIES The New Standard

Ed RothBombastic Meatbats, Ronnie Montrose, Chad Smith, Sophie B. HawkinsAbout his K12’s:“K Series lets your keyboards sound like they were made to sound. Sexy, rich and full, with enough power to be heard without being piercing or harsh. They make you sound . . . . expensive.”

Salo LoyoLuis Miguel, No-Pals

“Until I heard my acoustic piano samples through K Series I thought they were kind of uninspiring sounding. Now I’m hearing what they really sound like and loving it. Really natural and clear. Way better sounding to me than in-ear monitors.”

Matt RollingsMark Knopfl er, Lyle Lovett, Larry Carlton, Johnny Cash and a shmillion others“For working everyday in my studio I set my K10’s on normal/fl at. But when I want to really blow somebody away I engage the DEEP circuit and crank it up. We call it the “love listen.”

Wayne LinseyTonight Show Band 2010, American Idol Band, Jennifer Hudson, Maze“I fi rst heard K Series when I shared the American Idol stage with Hall & Oats and recommended them the next day to the Tonight Show. Now I get to listen to my keys through K10’s fi ve days a week.”

GEARConclusionsPowered speaker choices are abundant, with this article covering onlya targeted selection. We favor the lighter-weight models—the QSCK10 in particular has a standout performance-to-pounds ratio. TheYamaha DSR-112 makes up for its greater weight with more punch still.The M-Audio GSR12 delivers hi-fi sound and bang-for-buck, but you’llneed two to compete in loud rock contexts. There were many similari-ties between the JBL Eon, Mackie, and M-Audio speakers, with Eric’s nodgoing to the JBL based on how it moved air.

New rule: Anything that might be used by keyboard players and thathas XLR outs should have a ground lift switch built in. Except for theFBT HiMaxx, none of these speakers have one. The assumption seemsto be that if you get ground buzz, you’ll lift the ground elsewhere—butit’d be nice not to have to carry direct boxes or those little XLR barrel liftsjust for this purpose.

Speaker tone is perhaps second only to keyboard action for causingdifferences of opinion, so we recommend using this roundup as only oneguide in your quest for the right powered stage monitor. The other twoguides are your ears, and any speaker that made it into this article deservesto spend some quality time withthem in the iso room of a musicstore. Then, take advantage of a goodretailer’s trial period and try yourtop candidates on your gigs.


The new JBL Eon515XT and PRX612M. Behringer B812 Neo.

Samson Auro series.

The M-Audio GSR12 has four preset EQ curves: Normal(flat), Hi-Fi, DJ, and Voice.

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EastWest have kept their finger on the pulse of current trends in musicproduction, resulting in some of the most creative and inspiring sam-ple collections of the last 20 years. One of the latest examples is TheDark Side, which utilizes the company’s dedicated “Play” soundengine. It specializes in the kind of mangled, distorted, and abusedtextures found on many records from producer David Fridmann,known for his work with MGMT, OK Go, and the Flaming Lips,

to name a few.Relying largely on outboard audio processing, team Dark Side

applied multiple stages of filth-ification to arrive at these instrumentsand effects. While wild sound design is exciting, the question withstylized libraries such as this has always been, “Is it musically usefulor just noise?” As I discovered, The Dark Side is indeed a deep wellof sonic inspiration.

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EastWestTHE DARK SIDE by John Krogh

GEAR

OverviewWeighing in at just over 40GB, The Dark Side is organized into seven cat-egories: Drums, Basses, Guitars, Keys and Strings, Ethnic and Choirs,Instruments with FX, and Misc/Percussion. In each category you’ll findone to two dozen instruments—a good number of which are variationsof a single recorded instrument. For example, the “Chameleon” drum kithas ten variations, so you could be forgiven for thinking that these arejust the same basic preset with different built-in effects, but there’s moregoing on here.

Each variation represents a different sonic experiment—for example,a trashy room mic run through a fuzz box into a filter, then routed backout to a guitar amp and re-recorded with direct and ambient mics. It’sthis kind of mad-scientist approach that infused the raw sample contentwith the sound Fridmann is famous for. This makes it easy to achieveproduction-ready sounds that smack of attitude and ugly, without hav-ing to spend the hours of experimentation it often takes to get musicallyuseful results.

The Play engine provides a fairly basic but solid set of synth and effectparameters: a resonant filter, envelope, delay, quite a few good reverbs,and a stereo doubler, but no LFOs. Separate from this, and unique to East-West, is the Artificial Double Tracking (ADT) effect we first encoun-tered—and loved—in Fab Four (reviewed Feb. ’08).

As for the programming, a handful of key-switched presets are pro-vided, which access an instrument’s variations when you hit specific keyson your MIDI controller. This makes it easy to audition each variationquickly. The modulation wheel is used throughout, primarily to controlfilter cutoff; in some cases, it morphs between different textures or tones—crispy to fat, for example.

HighlightsOne of The Dark Side’s fortés is its collection of drum kits, all of whichare eminently playable and loaded with character. The aforementioned“Chameleon” kit features an open, ringing kick and low-tuned snare sam-pled with added tom resonance. Different mics and distortion deviceswere employed, resulting in presets that range from dark, brooding, andbombastic to fried, flappy, and positively alt-pop. There’s even a presetthat uses velocity-switching to morph between two extremes. By con-trast, “Bone Crunch” serves up a punchy kick, higher-pitched snare, anda set of ringing toms—all heated up just to the point where the soundstarts to break up and poke out of the speakers.

The “Verb Kit” offers several hits that combine the kick with differ-ent cymbal crashes. These hits sound far more believable compared toeffect you often get when combining separate kick and crash samples ina MIDI drum part.

Out of 12 different basses, three offer multiple playing techniques:sustain, slide up/down, legato, and so on. Remember, these basses aren’tabout sounding “real.” Instead, filthy gems such as “Destroyer” featuretoasted harmonics and an almost FM-like quality that works well forindustrial tracks. Similarly sinister, “Nuclear Bass” has an initialbite that helps it cut through a mix.

Guitar standouts include “Ghost,” which has been brutalized beyond

recognition—think recent Nine Inch Nails. “Insanity” is a fidgety, fuzzed-out tone that works well to build tension during a transition, whereas“Organic” blends nicely in a track to give the illusion of distorted guitarswithout being obvious.

Keyboards go from quirky (“Bent Funeral Organ” and “Broken JawHarp”) to downright rude (“Chaos” and “Brain Damage”). Similarly, choirsand string sections are anything but pristine. I suspect these instrumentsoriginated in EastWest’s orchestral and voice libraries, but whatever tor-ture they were put through here, they sound like a possessed Mellotron.That’s a good thing.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the excellent “Misc and Perc” folder.To creep yourself out, take a spin through these wonderfully weird bedsand aural events. If you’re composing cues for a sci-fi/horror/psychothriller, you’ll find plenty of fodder here.

ConclusionsThe Dark Side represents a high level of creativity and musicianship. Toinject a rough, rude vibe into a track, TDS is a good first call. Much of itscharacter is “baked in” to the samples themselves, which is something tobe aware of if you prefer a deeper synth-tweaking approach to rollingyour own ear-bending sounds. But for instant creepy, angry, or nasty atti-tude, it’s the most engaging “concept” library we’ve heard in quite sometime, and I found it inspiring. If you’re a busy musician or composer, youwant the sound, and you want it now, do not underestimate the power ofThe Dark Side.

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CONCEPT Play-based sample library of distorted, heavily treated instrumentsand effects by producers Doug Rogers and David Fridmann.FORMATS Mac or PC. AU, VST, RTAS, and standalone.SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Mac: OS 10.5 or later, Intel Core 2 duoprocessor 2.1GHz or faster. PC: Windows XP SP2, Vista, or 7, Intel Core 2Duo, or AMD dual-core 2.1GHz or faster. Both: 2GB or more RAM, 7,200rpm or faster hard drive, 40GB free disk space, iLok dongle.

List: $395Approx. street: $355

soundsonline.com/The-Dark-Side

SpecificationsCreative, musical sound design. Fantastic drum kits, textures, and effects.Produced with a modern alt/indie rock aesthetic that’s applicablebeyond the genre.

Fairly basic tweaking of sounds after the fact.


Audio demos with lists ofsounds used.

PRODU CT SPOTL IG HT

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TIME MACHINE

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THOMAS DOLBY’S PPG SYSTEM

When asked in our August 1983 cover story which model of the PPGWave he was using, Thomas Dolby replied, “It’s actually a prototype thatpredated the Wave by several years. It was originally designed to runlight shows for Tangerine Dream. When PPG started experimentingwith wave computers, they found they could sequence things using thisdevice that had been designed for turning lights on and off. By assign-ing every sound a group number and a voltage, they could convert theon/off information to pitch.”

He’s talking about the incredibly rare PPG 340/380 system, which com-prised a bank of digital oscillators (the 340A), a minicomputer with cassettestorage interface (the 340B), and a multitrack sequencer called the EventGenerator (the 380). A five-octave keyboard was included, but the sounds

and sequencer were programmed from a text-only monochrome video ter-minal. Dolby used the system for its own sounds, to trigger other soundsources, and to control virtually every audio-visual aspect of his stage show.

“The drums on ‘Windpower,’ for example, were the PPG triggering aSimmons kit, plus me playing extra parts with my fingers,” he recentlytold me. “What’s probably more iconic is the bass part, which used thePPG’s sounds. That wavetable was so glitchy it had a rhythm to it! PPGwere apologetic, but I said, ‘No, leave it.’ I think that sound inspired thewhole song!”

See a PPG 340/380 restoration in progress at ppg340380reanimation.blogspot.com.

by Stephen Fortner

Dolby onstage in 1981, playing a Roland Jupiter-8. To hisleft is the video terminal for the PPG model 340 WaveComputer and 380 Event Generator.

Close-up of the rackmount guts of the PPG 340/380system, introduced in 1979—well before the morepopular Wave synthesizer.

© 2010 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice. Avid, the Avid logo, and M-Audio are trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

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Keyboard.magazine.february.2011