New additions to the Sonic Arsenal.....
So, in the past year or so, I added a few pieces to my collection of musical instruments, collectively known as the "Sonic Arsenal".
November 2013: Found an old Hohner "Piano 27" melodica at a local antiques mall. (Picture of one is here.) It's a cross between a harmonica and keyboard instrument.
November 2013: Picked up a Yamaha WX11 wind synthesizer controller on EBay. Its fingering scheme is similar to that of a saxophone. I would use it to play a sound set up on a MIDI keyboard. Face it, some solos cry out for such an instrument. (Picture of one is here.)
February 2014: Picked up a Novation Launchkey 49 at the local Guitar Center. It has a 4-octave keyboard, but doesn't have any onboard sound generation. But it plugs into computers via a USB cable. And there's software to go with it. (Alas, I can't use Cakewalk Music Creator 2002 with it, as it doesn't know about MIDI via USB. So I'll have to upgrade it soon.)
May 2014: Picked up a Novation Launchpad S at the local Best Buy. You've probably seen the demos by M4Sonic on YouTube. It's a programmable 64-button drum or sound controller.
December 2014: Picked up an Ensoniq SQ80 synth on EBay. It's the successor to the widly popular ESQ-1. It has 5 octaves, MIDI, a floppy disk drive, and a slot for proprietary ROM cartridges. I'm still trying to learn this instrument. I have a PDF of the manual, and need to spend some time with the control panel -- it's all buttons (and 2 slider pots); no knobs.
These join my Gemeinhardt flute, Normandy clarinet, Bundy bass clarinet, Martin alto sax, Native American flute, recorders, assorted noisemakers, and my Minimoog Model D synthesizer.
What else would I like to get? A straight (i.e. not curved) soprano sax, a tenor sax, an alto clarinet, and a Kurzweil K2600S synth workstation. Maybe someday.....
November 2013: Found an old Hohner "Piano 27" melodica at a local antiques mall. (Picture of one is here.) It's a cross between a harmonica and keyboard instrument.
November 2013: Picked up a Yamaha WX11 wind synthesizer controller on EBay. Its fingering scheme is similar to that of a saxophone. I would use it to play a sound set up on a MIDI keyboard. Face it, some solos cry out for such an instrument. (Picture of one is here.)
February 2014: Picked up a Novation Launchkey 49 at the local Guitar Center. It has a 4-octave keyboard, but doesn't have any onboard sound generation. But it plugs into computers via a USB cable. And there's software to go with it. (Alas, I can't use Cakewalk Music Creator 2002 with it, as it doesn't know about MIDI via USB. So I'll have to upgrade it soon.)
May 2014: Picked up a Novation Launchpad S at the local Best Buy. You've probably seen the demos by M4Sonic on YouTube. It's a programmable 64-button drum or sound controller.
December 2014: Picked up an Ensoniq SQ80 synth on EBay. It's the successor to the widly popular ESQ-1. It has 5 octaves, MIDI, a floppy disk drive, and a slot for proprietary ROM cartridges. I'm still trying to learn this instrument. I have a PDF of the manual, and need to spend some time with the control panel -- it's all buttons (and 2 slider pots); no knobs.
These join my Gemeinhardt flute, Normandy clarinet, Bundy bass clarinet, Martin alto sax, Native American flute, recorders, assorted noisemakers, and my Minimoog Model D synthesizer.
What else would I like to get? A straight (i.e. not curved) soprano sax, a tenor sax, an alto clarinet, and a Kurzweil K2600S synth workstation. Maybe someday.....