Keyboard April 2014
Transcript of Keyboard April 2014
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04.2014 | $5.99A MUSIC PLAYER PUBLICATION
ROLAND FA-06Back in the Workstation Game
YAMAHA MOXFHard-Hitting Studio and
Gig Machine
SYNTHMASTERSof Synth Sleeper Hit
HK LUCAS NANO Your PA for Small Gigs?
WAYS TO PLAY LIKEBENMONT TENCH
BOLD HARMONICMOTION FORJAZZ PLAYERS
CLICK TRACKWORKOUT FORRUSSIAN DRAGONS
REVIEWS
CHICK
COREAKeeping a Vigil on Your Musical Voice
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NEW!
OSCILLATE! Nord Lead 4 is a virtual analog synthesizer with 2
oscillators per voice and 4 slots. New features include Wavetables with
formants, Hard/Soft Sync, Noise-generator with dedicated filter and a true
Unison-mode for meaty leads!
MODULATE! 2 LFOs and a Modulation Envelope can control
anything from filters to effects and even offer very flexible triggering options.
FILTER! Nord Lead 4 features 7 filter types including an extremely steep
48 dB low-pass filter, two amazing simulations of the legendary transistor
and diode ladder-filters and a powerful drive for distorting the sound
internally in the filter.
MUTILATE! Color your sounds with simulated tube amp distortion,
sample-rate reduction, comb-filtering, a talk box-effect and a compressor.
Each slot also features a tweakable delay with analog-mode plus reverb.
SYNCHRONIZE! Arpegg iators, LFOs and delays can all besynchronized to the internal Master Clock or an external sequencer.
IMPROVISE! The flexible Morph functionality offers unprecedented
control over your sound while playing. Change multiple parameters at once
- gradually with the mod wheel or velocity - or instantaneously with the
powerful new Impulse Morph buttons.
Listen to sound demos:nordkeyboards.com/nordlead4
Handmade in Sweden by Clavia DMI AB
With innovative new live features, advanced layering and synchronization options,
new filter simulations and powerful effects, the new Nord Lead 4 is a flexible synth
that’s just as brilliant on stage as in your studio.
Nord Lead 4R - Rack mountable table-top version
Nord Lead 4 - 49-key synth version
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For more information contact
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MicroBrute is the tiny analog synth with
vast possibilities. The MicroBrute puts all the
essential building blocks of an analog classic
into a package that’s pure hands-on fun. If
you’re new to synths, you’re looking at one
of the most unique sounding synthesizers we
think money can buy. And if you’re a synth
“The MicroBrute is a pure analoguesynth, and it sounds like one. TheMicroBrute will become a signicantsuccess in its own right.”
Sound on Sound, 02/2014
veteran, MicroBrute is also a seriously capable
semi-modular sequence-able beast. Wait till
you hear how it sounds
Tiny in size, tiny in price, huge in sound, and
vast in potential. We’ve had so much fun with
MicroBrute: Now it’s your turn.www.arturia.com
Looks tiny, sounds massive
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APRIL 2014CONTENTS
12 In our monster eight-page report, we go hands-on with the latestand greatest gear to make its debut at the biggest musical
instrument and pro audio expo in the western hemisphere.
50 WORKSTATION
Roland FA Series
54 WORKSTATION
Yamaha MOXF and Karma-
Lab KARMA Motif software
58 SOFT SYNTH
KV331 Audio SynthMaster
62 PA
HK Audio Lucas Nano 300
64 APP
Master Record
66 Five things in-demand sideman Henry Hey has
learned about Playing Soft Synths Live.
KEYBOARD (ISSN 0730-0158) is published monthly by NewBay Media, LLC 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 125, San Bruno,
CA 94066. All material published in KEYBOARD is copyrighted © 2013 by NewBay Media. All rights reserved. Re-
production of material appearing in KEYBOARD is forbidden without permission. KEYBOARD is a registered trade-
mark of NewBay Media. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Bruno, CA and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to KEYBOARD P.O. Box 9158, Lowell, MA 01853. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement
#40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.
NEW GEAR
TALK
22 LEGENDS
Jazz fusion and multi-keyboard pioneer Chick Corea
returns with new compositions and a new band, the
Vigil. Get his advice for keeping a vigil on your own
musical development in this candid interview.
26 SONG STORIES
Hear straight from songwriter Marc Cohn about the
transformative trip that busted his writer’s block and
led to the iconic hit “Walking in Memphis.”
30 TALENT SCOUT
With a jazz-infused technique and fearless senseof musical exploration, Ariadna Castellanos is
making amenco hot again.
32 PLAYLIST
What we’re listening to this month.
10 Voices from the Keyboard community.
34 LATINFive ways to play like Heartbreaker
Benmont Tench.
38 JAZZ
George Colligan on harmonic motion.
40 TECHNIQUE
Kimmel keysman Jeff Babko on playing to a click.
44 THE ART OF
SYNTH SOLOING
Two-handed techniques
inspired by Chick Corea.
46 BEYOND THE MANUAL
Music production wizard Craig Anderton serves up advanced tips
and tricks for working with MIDI
tracks in part 2 of MIDI Reloaded.
48 DANCE
Create the square wave synth
bass predicted to be the dance oor
sound of 2014.
Online Now!
keyboardmag.com/april2014
Web-only special: Great
pianists check out high-end
grand pianos at NAMM!
HEAR
SPECIAL REPORT: THE LATEST FROM NAMM 2014
PLAY
REVIEW
KNOW
CODA
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Designed and built in California Visit davesmithinstruments.com
Dave Smith
Instrument DesignerCo-Creator of MIDI
Grammy® Winner
Over the past 40 years,Dave Smith has designed more ground-breaking synthesizers than anyone, ever.
Dave Smith Instruments has the largestline of analog and digital/analog hybrids y n t h s i n t h e w o r l d . T o p t o b o t t o m ,D a v e S m i t h I n s t r u m e n t s ’ a w a r d -winni ng, A merican-made productl ine inc lude s a synthe s ize r fore ve ry ne e d and budge t , f romthe flagship Prophet 12 to theaffordable and ultra-port ableMopho product family.
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VOL. 40, NO. 04 #456 APRIL 2014
Follow us on
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VOICES FROM THE KEYBOARD COMMUNITYTALK
10 Keyboard 04.2014 10
Recently, a parenting blog piece called “Te High
Cost of Music” showed up in my Facebook feed.
It wasn’t terribly recent itself, but I’ve seen many
forms of the complaint it expressed: $60 per
hour—the going rate in the author’s affluent
suburb of Boston and places like it—is too much
to pay for music lessons for kids.
Te author quotes U.S. labor stats showing that
several ostensibly tougher jobs pay less. She then
argues that assuming roughly 40 hours per week, a
piano teacher makes $120,000 per year. Assuming
$60 per hour is an accurate median (debatable), the
error here is that most music teachers don’t book
anywhere near 40 hours of lessons each week. Why
not? Kids have school most of the year, making for
a brief late afternoon window for other activities.
Seriously, if you’re pulling $120K a year teaching,
let me know and I’ll hang out a shingle myself.
Not that you shouldn’t be. Countless stud-
ies have shown that music education improves
academic performance and social skills, so I’m
always indignant when folks who would never
haggle with a car mechanic or hairstylist have no
shame about doing so with a music professional.
At the time of this writing, the piece seems
to have been pulled from the host site, Parenting
Squad, so I don’t want to throw mud. Kids have a
myriad of different needs, all of which must be bud-
geted for, and that ain’t easy. Tat said, I believe thatmusic is fundamental—and our kids are worth it.
Te original Korg Kaossilator has a cool rhythmic quirk you can recreate with almost any sampleror audio editor: If you record a loop on the Kaossilator and then increase the tempo, the instru-
ment chops samples off the end of the loop to make it t the shorter duration. (Te typical way to
t a loop to a faster tempo is to time-stretch it or raise its pitch.) By dialing in the right tempo on
the Kaossilator, you can chop off eighth-notes or entire beats, turning a 4/4 groove into 6/8, 3/4, or
other feels. You could also chop beats manually in your DAW for fresh variations. Hear an example
at keyboardmag.com/april2014. David Battino
THE POLL
Q: IS THE
NAMM SHOW
STILL A
RELEVANT
SOURCE OFGEAR INFO
FOR YOU?
Polls rotate every two weeks, and can be found at the bottom of our homepage.
Key Secrets Crop and Roll
Stephen Fortner
Editor
Connect
Comment directly at
keyboardmag.com
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keyboardmag
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SoundCloud.com
KeyboardMag
Keyboard Corner
forums.musicplayer.com
email
Editor’s Note
NO
16%
THE WHAT?
6%
YES
78%
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1104.2014 Keyboard
The Emphase is a “concept car” synth under development at Non-
Linear Labs, the brainchild of Native Instruments’ Stefan Schmitt.
The concept? A custom keyboard sending high-resolution (not MIDI)
controller data to a DSP engine based on NI Reaktor. No computer
is required, and for gigging, the keyboard works detached from
the control panel; the latter accepts overlay labels for its myriad of
assignable buttons. Aesthetically, it reminds us of the Synclavier II, but
is sure to be far more powerful and not involve a second mortgage.
Follow the Emphase’s progress at nonlinear-labs.de
My First _______________. David Rosenthal“I began playing piano when I was seven,” recalls multi-keyboard master and Billy Joelmusic director David Rosenthal, “but my first experience with a synth came at age 15
when I went to music camp at Glassboro State College.” While attending, Rosenthal
heard Isao Tomita’s synth-fueled reinvention of Pictures at an Exhibition and was floored.
“It gave me goose bumps,” he recalls. Luckily, the camp had a Moog Modular on site
and Rosenthal jumped at the chance to dig in. “The teachers gave me a little class
and I tried to figure out signal paths as I went,” he says. “Between that experience and
hearing the Tomita album, I knew—this is what I wanted to do, no question.” So inspired,
Rosenthal worked two summers to earn enough cash for a Roland SH-1000, on which he
reproduced the sounds of his favorite Tomita records, and emulated the stylings of Yes,
ELP, and Chick Corea. “I used that first synth to help one of my high school bands win
the Garden State Arts Center talent show playing ELP’s ‘Hoedown,’” he says, laughing.
“Today, I still have it in the original case.” Keep up with David at davidrosenthal.com. | Michael Gallant
_______________iano w en I was seven ” recaSynthesizer
NEXT TECH >>THEULTIMATE HYBRID?
30 YEARSAGO
TODAYOur April 1984 cover fea-
tured Joe Sample of the
Crusaders, who has recently been touring with Wayne Henderson
and Wilton Felder of the original Jazz Crusaders lineup. April has
long been our NAMM report issue, and keyboards spied at that
year’s expo included prototypes of the Kurzweil K250 and Rhodes
Mark V (with MIDI out), as well as Casio’s dual-manual monster,
the Symphonytron 8000. Also, Eddie Van Halen talked about play-
ing synths on the album (wait for it) 1984.
+
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Keyboard 04.2014 12
NEW GEAR
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1304.2014 Keyboard
MOOG MUSIC SUB 37
The Sub 37 is the first more-than-monophonic Moogin 30 years, with a duo mode that squeezes out two
voices of polyphony. Technically it’s paraphonic,
meaning that the oscillators feed a common filter and
amp, but “paraphony” would sound like we’re talking
about Milli Vanilli. Expanding on the Sub Phatty
with more presets, loopable envelopes for filter and
volume, and an arpeggiator, it provides everything
Moog purists want while also taking off in a more
experiment-inspiring direction. In fact, we think it has
the sweetest features-to-price balance of any Moog
synthesizer currently made.
$1,579 list | $1,499 street | moogmusic.com
See even more gear in our monster
video report from NAMM 2014.
NEW SYNTHS
G MUSIC SUB 37MO
Sub 37 is the rst more-than-monophonic Moogeyears, with a duo mode that squeezes out two3
es o po yp ony. Technical y it’soic parap onic,
ning that the oscillators eed a common lter andea
, but “paraphony” would sound like we’re talkingmp
t Milli Vanilli. Expanding on the Sub Phattyo
more resets, oo a e enve o es or ter an it
me, and an arpeggiator, it provides everythingolu
urists want while also takin o in a morMoo
riment-inspiring direction. In act, we think it hasxp
weetest eatures-to-price balance o any Mooge
hesizer currently made.ynt
9 list | $1,499 street | moogmusic.com$1,5
See even more gear in our monster
video report from NAMM 2014.
NEW SY HS
BY STEPHEN FORTNER, FRANCIS PRÈVE, AND THE KEYBOARD CONTRIBUTORS
Our Favorites from
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Keyboard 04.2014 14
CLAVIA NORD LEAD A1
With real analog having made such a huge comeback in
recent years, why go with a virtual analog hardware synth?
Polyphony for the price, signal routing flexibility, and moredigital-sounding timbral options when you want ’em are three
reasons. Where the Nord Lead 4 (reviewed Dec. ’13) was the
successor to the Wave, the Swedes intend the Lead A1 to
replace the Lead 2X in their more-affordable slot. Compared
to the 2X, you get more polyphony, more waveforms, MIDI
over USB (finally), an effects section including reverb, and
comprehensive sync-to-host-tempo options.
$2,099 list | $1,799 street | nordkeyboards.com
KORG MS-20 KIT
Not to be confused with last year’s MS-20 Mini, this limited
release is a full size analog replica of the original MS-20.
You assemble it yourself, but a soldering iron is thankfully
not among the tools required. Notably, Korg has included
both the earlier (aggressive and self-oscillating) and later
(creamier) filter designs from the originals, letting you switch
between the two. You still can get all the same sounds from
the MS-20 Mini, which also makes more sense if your other
analog gear uses 1/8” patch cables. But if you’re a collectorand/or would prefer a 1/4” patch bay, snap one up, as Korg is
only making around 1,500 units.
$1,599 list | $1,399 street | korg.com
ELEKTRON ANALOG RYTM
Elektron’s MachineDrum has become a favorite among
hardware-loving producers, thanks to its tweakable dedicated
synth engines for each percussion element. This new remix of
the MachineDrum formula boasts eight hybrid drum voiceswith both sampling and analog tone generation options, with
a built-in analog compressor and distortion for good measure.
Add 12 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads, throw in a
16-step sequencer, toss with some decidedly digital reverb
and delay, and you’ve got a drum machine that covers all
the bases and then some. The price point places it squarely
between Korg’s Volca Beats and Smith and Linn’s Tempest.
$1,549 list | $1,499 street | elektron.se
Wave Your Hands in the Air . . .The Theremin is a haunting, mesmerizing, and infamously difficult instrument. Moog Music aims to change
that with the Theremini, which we had to tear ourselves away from to see the rest of the NAMM Show. It’s
based on the Animoog synth engine, and can give various forms of assistance including visual feedback
about your hand position, programmable lowest and highest possible
notes, even scaling that won’t let you play a bad note. For
the $299 street price, anyone can rock more like Clara—
and with the EDM crowd always looking for the next
rush, we bet it finds its way into a few DJ rigs.
. .difficult instrument. Moog Music aims to change
ay from to see the rest of the NAMM Show. It’s
orms o assistance including visual eedback
st possible
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1504.2014 Keyboard
ROLANDRD-800
Often, a
keyboard’sspecs don’t
scream
anything special. Far less often, we play said keyboard and go,
“Oh, there it is!” Such a keyboard is the RD-800. “SuperNatural”
programming; four zones that you can quickly split, layer, and
mix on the fly; lots of knobs for tweaking the sound in real time; a
Tone Color knob that macro-adjusts the sound (e.g., stereo spread
on a grand piano or tine-like quality on a Rhodes); high-end
weighted action; blah, blah, blah. Here’s what that doesn’t convey:
The RD-800 sounds so fantastic across the board, and its action
has such exquisite finger-to-music connection, that it’s getting
early raves from everyone who touched it at NAMM—including us.
Forget everything you know about the RD series—this is different.
$2,999 list | $2,499 street | rolandus.com
STUDIOLOGIC NUMA CONCERT
Studiologic
is the in-
house brandof world-
dominating
keybed maker
Fatar, and the latest of their Numa stage pianos aims to
incorporate many of the features of higher-end offerings
from competitors, such as triple velocity sensors per key
and modeling of acoustic nuances including sympathetic
resonance. Upon first play, we thought it indeed sounded
richer and fuller than previous Numa pianos. It certainly got
on our gotta-review-it radar, so stay tuned.
$2,199 list | $1,999 street | studiologic-music.com
KAWAI MP11
We actually
didn’t see
the MP11 at
NAMM, as
it launched
February 17.From what we do know, the MP11 ups the game from Kawai’s
former flagship, the MP10 (reviewed Mar. ’11) in the areas of
sampling, action, and a user interface that sports more gig-
useful tone adjustments. As on the MP10, three separate
panel areas cover sound selection and control: acoustic piano,
electric piano (which includes Clavs), and “sub” for everything
else (pads, strings, mallets, etc.). A small but big thing is that
the onboard XLR outs have a ground lift switch, or as we like
to say, the good kind of buzzkill.
$3,299 list | $2,800 street | kawaius.com
A keytar is like a fedora: Donning one makes you either look bad-ass (e.g.,
Jordan Rudess, Polysics, or George Duke) or like a dorkus maximus (e.g.,
a certain magazine editor), with intentional irony as the only possiblemiddle ground. For those who dare, the fun factor is undeniable, and Korg
and Alesis ramped it up this year.
KORG RK-100S
Billed as a redux of their
RK-100 from the ’80s, the
RK-100S is in fact much
nicer. The hardwood
body has to be seen and
held to be appreciated,
with a fit and finish you
might expect from some
far smaller company’s
boutique instrument.
The three-quarter size
keys are surprisingly
comfortable for soloing,
and you get one ribbon
controller on the neckand another running the
length of the keyboard.
Inside is a MicroKorg XL+ engine, which can do virtual analog
synthesis, intentionally digital tones, and vocoder effects (via
an optional headset mic). Battery power and a programmable
arpeggiator round out the feature set.
$899.99 list | $699.99 street | korg.com
ALESIS VORTEX WIRELESS
Last year, the Alesis Vortex controller turned
heads for bringing aftertouch, velocity sensitive
pads, and a MIDI-mappable tilt sensor to almost
an impulse-buy price. Because it could run
on four AA batteries, the big question was,
“But does it do wireless MIDI?” The Vortex
Wireless does, via a built-in transmitter and
USB receiver dongle you plug into your sound
source. A custom soft synth from Sonivox is
included, featuring patches programmed forthe Vortex’s control capabilities.
$299 list | $199 street | alesis.com
We’ll be reviewing both the RK-100S and Vortex Wire-
less in depth, but our initial feeling is that while the
Korg’s craftsmanship and built-in synth make it highly
desirable, its price point puts it in the “because you
can” le whereas the Alesis is more “because how can
you not?”
STAGE PIANOS KEYTAR HEROES
t
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Keyboard 04.2014 16
Roland’s Aira (pronounced “eye-rah”) series was the stuff of speculation at NAMM
time, and not exhibited on the show floor. Common to all the Airae is a technology
Roland calls Analog Circuit Behavior. Their engineers studied vintage TR-808 and
909 drum machines, the TB-303 Bassline, SH-101, Jupiter, Juno, and System 100 and
700 modular synths, and VP-330 vocoder, paying careful attention to how all the
original components actually interact. We got to play with them at a secret, invite-only hotel suite. Our first impression is that they sound great and are wickedly fun
to use. Roland has also taken a “chicken in every pot” stance with the pricing.
Roland bills the System-1 as a “plug-out” synth, because it can run emulations of
classic analog synths that you program patches for on your computer, then pipe
into the System-1, take to the gig, and play using the standalone hardware. The
first such emulation is the SH-101. It also has a native two-oscillator subtractive
architecture. Currently, the hardware is in two-octave form only, but we hope for
a “System-61” with a full keyboard and maybe even more knobs and sliders. The
version we played was a very early prototype—the rest of the Aira line being much
more fully baked as of NAMM—but the sound was in-your-face yet lush, not unlike a
Jupiter-8. Design features include a video-style jog wheel for pitch-bend, which can
also do glitchy breadkdown effects Roland calls “Scatter.” Street price: $599.
The TR-8 Rhythm Performer is what’s generating the big buzz. Note the contrast
with Roland’s historic term for a drum machine, “rhythm composer,” and hence the
implication of live use. It emulates the sounds of the TR-808 and 909 perfectly, and
simultaneously recaptures and improves upon the experience of entering drum hits
as the sequence runs via volume faders and tone-sculpting knobs for such things astuning and decay. The Scatter function is on hand as well. Street Price: $499 at the
end.
The TB-3 Touch Bassline is a bass synth and sequencer in the style of the TB-303,
the most obvious cue that it’s from the future being its backlit touch membrane in
place of the original’s piano-key buttons. It emulates all the sounds of the TB-303,
adds new bass, lead, and FX patches, and the touchpad can act as a keyboard or
X/Y controller for playing with continuous pitch or creating modulation. Street
price: $299.
The thing about the VT-3 Vocal Transformer is that you get a great sounding Darth
Punk machine for $199. We think we’ve seen some of these vocoder chops before,
such as in the Vocal Designer mode on the V-Synth XT, but never has the price of
admission been this low.
TR-8 Rhythm Performer
TB-3 Touch Bassline
VT-3 Vocal Transformer
AIRA 51
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ANALOG OUTFITTERS
ORGANIC
We reported on these
in February’s New Gearcolumn, but having
played them at NAMM,
mention bears repeating.
They’re MIDI controllers
for playing software
clonewheel organs, and
the feel is impeccable—we didn’t think a tactile experience
could make an emulation sound more real, but now we’re not
so sure. Contact the manufacturer for pricing on the dual-manual, single-manual, and 44-key Mini models.
analogoutfitters.com
ARTURIA BEATSTEP
This has to be the
runaway bang-for-
buck hit of NAMM
2014. Cleverly
disguised as just a
pad controller, it’s alsoa hardware sequencer that can drive software instruments
via USB, hardware via MIDI (a five-pin adaptor is included),
or analog synths via its CV/gate outs. We saw one flawlessly
playing a vintage Oberheim SEM. The pads are both pressure
and velocity sensitive. So whether you need drum machine-
style groove entry or a primary sequencer for your modular
synth rig, you’re covered. For peanuts.
$129 list | $99 street | arturia.com
M-AUDIO TRIGGER FINGER PRO
Speaking of drum pads
and step sequencers,
M-Audio has revived
their Trigger Finger
controller with a Pro
version that really lives up
to its name. Housed in a sexy
aluminum case with multicolored
backlit pads, a gorgeous four-lineLCD display, hardware step sequencer,
and transport controls, the Trigger Finger
Pro is a huge leap beyond the original. It also
includes its own plug-in host environment, Arsenal, that can
itself be hosted as a plug-in or operate standalone. Throw in
samples and loops from Toolroom Records, plus AIR Drums
and the Hybrid 3 soft synth (remember when that was a
Digidesign thing?), and you have all the makings of your
next dance floor hit. Of all of the portable controllers we sawat NAMM, the TFP seems most poised to find its way into
countless gig bags, and the price is certainly right.
$449 list | $399 street | m-audio.com
BEHRINGER
MOTÖR 61
We haven’t seen
motorized faderson a MIDI controller keyboard since CME’s VX series back in
2007. The Behringer’s faders are also touch-sensitive. For both
ergonomic and space-use reasons, it could make a lot of sense
to combine your black ’n’ whites and DAW control surface into
one slab that occupies that prime desk real estate between
your monitor speakers. The rest of the feature set—endless
rotaries, velocity-sensitive drum pads, and Mackie Control
protocol—is robust, the price is hard to argue with, and there’s
no extra charge for the umlaut.
$449.99 list | $299.99 street | behringer.com
KORG TRITON TAKTILE
Billed as a controller
augmented by
classic sounds
from the Triton
workstation,
the Triton Taktile
comes in 25 or 49 keys, and focuses on lots of tactile (get it?)control: A Kaoss-style X/Y touchpad that can play riffs in a
user-specified scale, a ribbon that doubles as an increment/
decrement clicker just below that, and velocity-sensitive pads.
The 49er has eight knobs and twice the pads. There are also
soundless siblings answering simply to Taktile, but for an extra
100 bucks, one might as well have the patches onboard.
25 keys: $490 list | $249 street
49 keys: $679 list | $499 street
korg.com
Though MIDI controllers aren’t the first thing most
folks think of when they think of Samson, we love their
Graphite line because the keys feel good and it offers a
lot of controls for the price of dinner for two at a trendy
gastropub. For the space challenged, they’ve now released
25- and 32-note mini-keys versions. In an interesting design
choice, the 25-key model (shown, $79.99 street) actuallypacks in more controls (eight knobs and four drum pads)
whereas the 32 ($69.99 street) is for those who need “just
keys.” Find out more at samsontech.com.
INNOVATIVE MIDI CONTROLLERS
ER PRO
exy
ico ore
four-line
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KORG GADGET
Korg’s Gadget iOS app will
change the way groove-
makers think of their iPads.Gadget delivers 15 soft
synths (including three drum
machines,) each specializing
in a different EDM flavor.
Then, Korg took it further
by adding full-featured
sequencing that’s actually usable in
iOS with few compromises. They added essential effects like
reverb and a limiter—and a track freeze function so you can
actually finish a project. Since this is an iPad app, Korg baked
in all kinds of modern compatibility tools like CoreMIDI and
WIST, as well as in-app sharing via SoundCloud, Dropbox,
Facebook, and Twitter. While we’ve seen quite a few iOS
DAWs, Gadget is the first single app that can go toe-to-toe
with laptops when it comes to electronic music production.
$28.99 at iTunes App Store | korg.com
VIR2 ACOU6TICS
Vir2’s Electri6ity instrument tookelectric guitar emulation to a level of
authenticity that gave real guitarists
yet another reason to be mad at
keyboard players. Acou6tics does
the same for the acoustic guitar. Six
guitars are covered including steel,
nylon, and 12-strings, and with some
practice triggering the articulations,
you can get all Michael Hedges orRichard Thompson pretty quickly.
Seriously, it’s pretty sick.
$399 list | $299 street | vir2.com
VI LABS RAVENSCROFT PIANO
The Ravenscroft is a boutique
concert grand piano handmade
in Arizona. How does it compare
to well-known marques? If a
Ferrari or Porsche is too ordinaryfor you, it’s the McLaren. The
makers of TrueKeys are now
virtualizing it. At press time, it was still under development,
but we do know that it has exhaustive sampling to capture
things like key release, repetition strikes, and four stereo mic
positions—requiring a total of 38GB of disk space. This should
be a doozy.
$199.99 street | vilabsaudio.com
IZOTOPE BREAKTWEAKER
Co-designed by one of
the most influential EDM
artists of the past decade,BT, BreakTweaker puts
Brian Transeau’s nano-scale
approach to groove editing
within reach of mere mortals. BreakTweaker keeps the process
straightforward with six instrument tracks, each offering a
wide array of synthesis tools including sampling, wavetable,
additive, FM, and AM—along with a boatload of filtering,
processing and modulation amenities for zeroing in on really
detailed percussion sounds. From there, iZotope incorporated
micro-editing tools that facilitate BT’s trademark production
techniques, much like their previous collaboration, StutterEdit,
but on a per-track, per-event basis. Thirty-second-note
fills that collapse into audio-rate buzzes? No sweat. Tuned
micro-flams? Got it. Morphing drums that go from massive to
miniscule over the course of a few events? Nailed.
$249 list | $199 street | izotope.com
EDM BUNDLE FOR OMNISPHERE
Comprising all three electronica-orientedpatch collections for Spectrasonics’
Omnisphere soft synth— Ascension, EDM
Ignition, and EDM Fire—this caught our
attention for rising above the button-
pushing loop-jockey stereotype that
trained keyboardists might associate
with electronic dance music. It does all
the expected affectations and much
more, but in a way that’s eminentlyplayable and musical. If you don’t make EDM, you’re still
sure to find inspiration for film/TV work and synth-driven
songwriting.
$59.97 list | $49 street | ilio.com
WAVES METAFILTER
Though Waves is best known
for high-end audio processing
plug-ins for engineers and
record producers, MetaFilteris best thought of as a virtual
version of a synth filter that
you just had to have for
your Eurorack modular rig
because it was made by some
mad scientist in a garage. Its
cutoff, resonance, and delay
can be modulated by three sources: an LFO, an envelope
follower, and the onboard 16-step sequencer. It’s also fullyMIDI-controllable.
$200 | $99 introductory price | waves.com
VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS AND PLUG-INS
STUDIO AND LIVE ESSENTIALS
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MOTU 828X
FireWire has left the building—and PCIe cards won’t be farbehind if Apple gets their way. Now, it’s all about Thunderbolt
if you have it and USB2/3 if you don’t. That’s why MOTU
chose their most popular box, the 828 series, to inaugurate
what’s sure to become a trend in computer audio interfaces:
both types of connectivity. On the USB side, they’ve opted
for USB2 over 3 for maximum compatibility, as USB2 devices
work fine on USB3 ports but not the other way around.
Otherwise, it’s the 828 Mk. 3 we all know and love.
$999 list | $849 street | motu.com
UNIVERSAL AUDIO APOLLO TWIN
This 192kHz beauty packs the benefits of
UA’s Key Buy-winning Apollo interface
into a desktop wedge. As in that piece,
“powered plug-ins” (which include many
excellent emulations of classic recording
gear) run on their own DSP, and because
the DSP lives in the audio interface,
you can opt to track through plug-ins as though they werehardware. This is especially relevant given UA’s new Unison
mic preamp modeling, which is frankly the best technology
of its kind we’ve yet seen. Single- and dual-DSP versions are
available, and an optical port lets you hook up an eight-channel
lightpipe preamp to expand the inputs. The price is right, too,
but since the Apollo Twin is Thunderbolt-only and Mac-only,
you’ll need a pretty recent Mac to use it.
Solo: $879.99 list | $699 street
Duo: $1,129.99 list | $899 street | uaudio.com
MANLEY CORE
Manley? Isn’t their stuff
for A-list engineers
and producers who
can throw thousands
at their recording front end? Maybe, but the Core puts much
of what those A-listers love into an all-in-one channel strip, at
a price targeted at committed home studio dwellers. You get a
transformer-matched tube preamp that can take mic, line, andguitar-level signals; ELOP compressor with fixed 3:1 ratio; three-
band EQ with sweepable mids; and brick-wall limiter. Uniquely,
the compressor operates upstream of the mic pre, making
clipping all but impossible. If you’re ready and able to add that
one deadly serious channel strip to your recording rig, this is it.
$2,250 list | $2,000 street | manleylabs.com
FOCUSRITE ITRACK DOCK
This very nice iPad dock and
audio/MIDI interface is, for
starters, the one to get if
your iPad is of the Lightning
variety. Its Lightning
connector slides into one
of two positions so that either an iPad Air/fourth-gen or a
Mini can sit centered and snugly. You get two of the super-
clean mic preamps Focusrite is known for, and a USB type A
port as a MIDI input, letting you piggyback a keyboard or padcontroller to play your iOS soft synths.
$249.99 list | $199 street | focusrite.com
QSC TOUCHMIX
QSC matures the concept of
touchscreen live mixing in a way
that’s easy for musicians who
run their own sound to grasp, yet
familiar to engineers accustomed
to reaching for a fader. Versions
exist with eight or 16 preamps on
XLR inputs, each with two stereo line-level pairs in addition.
What was most striking to us was that you get everything
you’d expect from a larger digital console in terms of I/O,
routing, and effects, in the footprint of a drum machine. It’ll
record multitrack mixes directly to an attached hard drive
(letting you turn that great gig into the band’s demo), has
a lot of “wizards” to help novices get set up and sounding
good quickly, and has an advanced mode for more seasonedsoundfolk who want to get their hands on every parameter.
TouchMix 8: $1,199.99 list | $899.99 street
TouchMix 16: $1,799.99 list | $1,299.99 street
qscaudio.com
MACKIE VLZ4
The original MS-1202 put Mackie
on the map because it sounded
decent, was tiny, and had enough
inputs to be the live or studio
traffic cop for multi-keyboard
rigs in the late ’80s and early
’90s. Coming in all sizes from
the tiny 402 to a 32-channel
console, the VLZ4 generation
adds Mackie’s Onyx mic preamps to all XLR-equipped input
channels, lower noise and higher headroom all around, and
bright color-coding for easy operation in the dark.
Prices vary based on size | mackie.com
SOFTUBE CONSOLE 1
Until now, we’ve associated Softube with guitar amp and
cabinet modeling—of the extremely excellent variety. Console 1
applies those coding chops to mixing, combining emulations
of channel strips from coveted
large-format recording consoles
with a dedicated hardware control
surface. The inaugural channel tobe modeled is from the SSL 4000E.
$1,149 (est.) |
softube.com
g consoles
ware control
l channel tohe SSL 4000E.
STUDIO AND LIVE ESSENTIALS
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Though Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum-
selling Gavin DeGraw was raised in a prison town
two hours north of New York City, and had seen
harsh reality from an early age, the hippie vibe
of nearby Woodstock lingered in the air, offering
a feeling of limitless possibility and freedom.
“Music was definitely part of our family culture. Mygranddad played music. My granddad’s brothers
played music. They were basically like a bunch of farm
kids who played music,” DeGraw says. “My dad plays
guitar and he’s a great singer. He wasn’t a piano player,
but he could figure it out and say, ‘Here, check this out.’”
DeGraw says his exposure to live music at an early
age helped him build a passion for learning to play.
His brother already had a three-year jump on playing
guitar, so DeGraw gravitated toward the piano.
“My family was unusually supportive about playing
music because they just loved music. So when I told
them I wanted to play rock and roll, they were like,
‘Cool, yeah, go do that. Good idea.’ It was weird
how there was no way to be rebellious about it.”
DeGraw’s songwriting reflects that freedom,
incorporating aspects of several different popular
music genres into one album, from stripped-down
Americana and analog synthesizer sounds to hi-tech
electronic dance sounds.
Read the entire interview and see the keys toGavin’s sounds at guitarcenter.com/gavin-degraw
NEW ALBUM
MAKE A MOVE
Available on iTunes
GAVINDEGRAW.COM
YAMAHA ARIUS DIGITALPIANO IN POLISHED EB0NY
(VDPC71PE)LIST: $2499.00
$1499.99
SPARKING KEYS TO CREATIVITYGAVIN DEGRAW
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LEGENDS » SONG STORIES » TALENT SCOUT » PLAYLISTHEAR
BY JON REGEN
CHICK COREA KEEPING A VIGIL
Continuous growth has been a mainstay of Corea’s career since its inception. Fromearly landmark outings like Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, to his work alongside
Miles Davis, to his acoustic and electronic explorations with Return to Forever and
the Elektric Band, the only thing you can predict about Chick Corea is that you just
don’t know where he’s headed next.
On The Vigil , he returns with a captivating set of compositions and a ferocious band
with which to bring them to life. “Galaxy 32 Star 4” brims with ensemble interplay
and electric piano prestidigitation. “Planet Chia” pits Corea’s signature Spanish-
tinged piano work against shifting harmonic and rhythmic tides. On “Portals to For-
ever,” Corea’s revered Rhodes sound—custom-sampled into his Yamaha Motif XF—
anchors a trance-inducing stew of guitar, horns, and percussion. At 72 years young,
Corea has never sounded more energized on record. He took time to speak to us
about the project, and about keeping a vigil on your own musical identity.
“I WANTED TO GIVE A NAME TO THIS BAND THAT HAD A SPECIALNESS TO IT,”
legendary pianist and composer Chick Corea says of his nimble new group, the Vigil.
“I haven’t had my own band where I write the music, hire the musicians, and oversee
the project, for over ten years. I missed the sense of musical community that hap-
pens in a band—the kind of environment where things are constantly growing.”
A R N E
R O S T A D
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What was the impetus to put this new bandtogether?
In this day and age with the nature of live work,
I can’t expect even a young, upcoming musician
to hang with me if I’m going to take a break. He
or she has got to do other gigs. So I thought that
this time, I’d put together a band where the con-
cept will continue to be the same thing. I gave it
a moniker, the Vigil, and then whoever’s going to
be in it will be in it. And so far, everybody from
the first group I put together is still here, except
that the bass position has changed a little bit.
Te name “Vigil” is about me wanting to stay
connected to the music I grew up with and love—
the lineage of Black American jazz music. As I
learned more about the music of the world, I con-
nected with Spanish-speaking communities: South American music, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Tose are
my personal, musical roots and communities by
choice. So I want to keep a “vigil” on that.
It’s also about how there are always invita-
tions from presenters of music such as record
companies and promoters. Te businessman’s
idea of how to make something a success is by
observing what kind of music “brings people out”
and then doing more of the same. I understand
that way of thinking—it’s “business sense.” But
it’s an invitation to an artist to compromise. So an-
other part of the Vigil was to not make that com-
promise, which I’ve never really done, but it gets
harder and harder to
avoid. For example,
we “stretch out” and
play rhythms that
are grooving to me,
but sometimes theaudience doesn’t
pick up on them
because they’re so
subtle. Tese are
almost the exact
opposite of the ele-
ments that make
music easily reach-
able by audiences,
like vocals and nice
steady rhythms.
But I want to keep
that sense of ad-
venture in music. Otherwise I’m gonna die! I
need unknowns in the music I’m playing with my
friends—enough improvisation and spontaneity
to keep me interested.
How did you choose the particular membersof the band?
I knew I needed to get musicians who were young
enough in their musical careers that the gig
would be good for them. Tere’s a point where
musicians need to start forming their own bands
and doing their own thing. For instance, I worked
with [bassist] Christian McBride and [drum-
mer] Brian Blade, who are two of my favorites.
Christian had agreed to do the first summer tour
with this band. But he couldn’t do the recording
because our schedules conflicted. With young
musicians, the exchange between what they give
me and what I can give back to them is nice and
even. I give them gigs and some adventurous
music to play, and they give me their time and
their devotion to come on the road and stay inthe band. Tat’s how I found [guitarist] Charles
Altura, who’s an amazing musician and quite a
sensitive concert pianist as well. Stanley Clarke
recommended him to me.
I’ve known [drummer] Marcus Gilmore since
he was a kid, because he’s Roy Haynes’ grandson.
Roy brought him by the Blue Note when he was 14
and told me, “Listen to my grandson play.” Marcus
got up and we played my tune “Windows,” and he
just knocked me out. I thought, “Tank God there’s
a guy that age who can play with that rhythm feel.”
Carlitos del Puerto on bass was also recommended
to me by Stanley Clarke. He’s having a blast.
Were you thinking of
this band in particular
when you wrote the
music for the album?
It would be a fairy storyto say I wrote all of this
music for this project,
because the practical
side was that when I
made the decision to put
the new band together, I
didn’t want to take two
years to make it happen.
I wanted us to go out on
tour the next season.
In order to do that, I
needed to make a record
quickly. So I pulled com-
positions that I had been writing. I had written
“Galaxy 32 Star 4” for the 2011 Return to Forever
reunion, but we never got around to playing new
music, so I had that composition sitting there.
“Planet Chia” I wrote for an experiment that
Stanley Clarke and I did at the Blue Note in early2012. “Portals to Forever” was actually the only
piece I wrote specifically for this band.
What about the song “Royalty”? Tat one
has a great piano intro. . . .
Roy Haynes invited me to play on his record-
ing about a year and a half ago. I admire Roy so
much and we’ve been friends for so long that I
wanted to write a song and dedicate it to him. So
I wrote a song in 3/4 time and called it “Roy-L.”
I brought it to the date, but it didn’t fit. He liked
it, but he wanted to do more of an improvisation
with piano and drums on a couple of tracks. We
didn’t use it, so I had the song.
"When you playthat phrase orwrite that song,how are yougoing to knowwhen it’s good?When someone
else tells you?Wrong."
You didn’t announce any song titles when you You’re also using the Minimoog Voyager on the idea of “the Vigil”—to have that hour or two
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You didn t announce any song titles when you
played at the Blue Note. Was that intentional?
When we rst started touring, for months I was
announcing every tune. I was trying to make
it entertaining, and everybody in the band an-
nounced different tunes so that the audience
got a touch of their personalities. It seemed likeit was going over well, but it became a strain to
keep switching hats, from making the music to
being an announcer. So recently on the Asian
tour, I thought, “Tey can nd out the name of
the song anyway, so I’ll just play and keep things
seamless.” Te musical ow just kept going that
way, and it allowed almost a rest period in be-
tween tunes where I’d play a little soliloquy.
Tere’s a goal I have that I think everybody in
the band shares as well, which is that we all wantto get across to an audience. We want to please
them in some kind of way. We don’t want to pan-
der to them, but we want to include them. Tere’s
no rote way to do that. You don’t have to smile
and bow all the time, or tell a joke or announce
song titles. Or , you can if you feel like it. But if
the intention is there to include the audience,
that’s the most important thing.
When I heard you play your own Rhodes
sound on the Yamaha Motif XF8, I felt like Iwas sitting in front of an actual Rhodes.
Tat’s a sample I did of my vintage, beautiful,
tweaked-over-decades Rhodes Mark V. Every time
I’d come back from a tour, my technician Brian
Alexander out in Los Angeles would tweak it up
and improve things on it. By the time we sampled
it around ve years ago, it was really in beautiful
shape. Later Yamaha gured out a way to take
these huge samples we’d created, and allow them
to be placed in Flash memory and played on the
Motif XF. It’s a good illusion. It works for me, plus
I don’t have to repair my Rhodes every time it
spends ten hours bouncing around in a truck on
the way to the gig.
You re also using the Minimoog Voyager on
this project?
Yeah. It has a sound that sails over the ensemble.
What piano are you playing on the road
these days?
Yamaha has a new concert grand called the CFX,which is my favorite piano of all time. Tat same
technology is also used in their seven-foot grand,
the CF6, which I wanted so that I could t the
percussionist on the stage. I’m enjoying playing
that piano so much. I’ve played Yamaha pianos
since the 1960s.
Why Yamaha over other pianos?
Tey’re nice people! [Laughs.] Really, they are.
What happened, though, was that each new itera-tion of their concert grand became better and
better. By the early 1980s, I actually preferred the
Yamaha concert grand to the Steinway. Now with
the CFX, it ’s absolutely my favorite. Plus, Yamaha’s
R&D department is quite active and intelligent.
Tey’re always improving their instruments. Te
Motif XF is beautiful. I’d like to get deeper into the
sonics and synth engine inside of it.
When I saw you live at the Blue Note, there
was an almost continuous evolution to eachsong. How do you stay so seemingly excited
at every turn?
Well, if I’m not interested in what I’m doing,
how can I get anyone else interested? It’s just a
matter of pulling elements together. Life keeps
changing, the world changes, promoters change,
audiences change. For an artist, the changes that
are happening in our society aren’t always in an
“up” direction. But I consider the challenges part
of the adventure. For example, just to travel and
be on tour these days is really hard, compared to
ten or 20 years ago. Now it’s stressful, so I have to
tell myself, “If I’m gonna play music and present
it to audiences, I have to travel.” It gets back to
the idea of the Vigil to have that hour or two
onstage that’s unencumbered and problem-free
enough that we can get into the matter at hand,
which is just making music.
What words of advice do you have for aspiring
artists who hope to have a career like yours? All of the musicians that I know and admire
had one simple intention: Tey wanted to lead
a creative life and create something they really
loved. It gives me great pleasure to see others,
especially young guys and girls who are coming
up, want to make music. I know they might need
some encouragement, because they might not
be getting it in their homes. Teir parents or
their teachers might be saying to them, “Hey, you
should do something more predictable,” or, “Youneed to have something to fall back on.” But I like
to encourage others into the arts, and one of the
things I tell them is that it’s a great life. Te rea-
son why is because you’ve found something that
you love to do. Ten, in addition to that, you not
only get to enjoy the feeling of doing what you
love to do, but you also get to see someone else
receive pleasure from it. So it’s a good life, and it’s
something that people everywhere really need.It’s what keeps us alive.
If I were to offer one concept or piece of advice,
it would be this: Tink for yourself . Because what
happens when you study music is that all of this
information is coming in at you. You read books,
your teachers tell you things, you look at Youube,
you see musicians play live, and so on. It’s like a ow
that comes into you, but in order to be a musician,
you now have to do something that directs that ow
outward. You have to play your instrument. So when
you play that phrase or write that song, how are
you going to know when it’s good? When someone
else tells you? Wrong. You’re going to know it’s good
when you know it’s good. You have to be your own
judge. Tere’s a kind of integrity and ethics about it.
You have to take on the responsibility of your own
tastes and say, “No, that wasn’t as good as I wanted
it to be.” So if you say that, you must have some
concept of how you want it to be. Tat’s good. Sonow make it how you want it to be! Tink for your-
self. Tat’s my whole philosophy.
Chick Corea and the
Vigil live in 2013.
Sampling Chick’s
Rhodes for the
Yamaha Motif
keyboardmag.com/april2014
S A K U R A I T O S H I
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HEAR E EN DS S N ST RIES TALENT S UT P LAY LI T
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HEAR HEAR
The Songwriter’s Predicament Around that same time, I was reading an interview
with James aylor. Te interviewer asked James
what his antidote for writer’s block was. James
responded, “I do a geographic,” meaning that he’d
attempt to reawaken his sensibilities just by being
someplace unfamiliar. He said, “I’ll take my guitar
and put it in the trunk of my car, or I’ll get on a plane
and go somewhere I’ve never been, hoping to nd
some idea I wouldn’t get just by sitting at home.” I
thought I’d try that as well. Memphis was the rst
place I decided to go in my search for inspiration.
Beyond just trying to cure writer’s block, the
trip was also about nding my songwriting voice.
By that time I’d already been a songwriter for many
years. I’d struggled in Los Angeles, playing all the
clubs, but had never been signed. Later when I came
to New York City, I started having success as a ses-
sion singer, but I still didn’t get a record deal. One
night while listening to all of my demos, I came to
the realization that I shouldn’t be signed, because I
didn’t have any great songs yet. My voice was good
and the demos were interesting, but the songs were
only just okay. I was 28 years old and not in love
with my songs. James aylor had written “Fire and
Rain” when he was 18, and Jackson Browne wrote
“Tese Days” when he was only 17. I thought, “I’m
already ten years older than these geniuses. It’s
never going to happen for me.” So it was a pretty
desperate time, and I went to Memphis with that
struggle at the forefront of my mind.
I did all the touristy things you’re supposed to
do. I went to Graceland, and I saw Elvis Presley’s
tomb and his airplanes. I also went to the Rendez-
vous restaurant for ribs. But a friend told me there
were two things in particular that I had to do, thingsthat would forever change me. Tey would later
become the centerpieces of “Walking in Memphis.”
Transcendent ExperiencesTe rst thing was go to the Full Gospel aberna-
cle Church on a Sunday morning to hear the Rev-
erend Al Green preach. I’ll admit that I didn’t go
for religious purposes—I went to hear one of my
favorite singers sing. But it didn’t take long until
I had chills running up and down my spine. Te
service was so deeply moving that I found myself
with sweat running down my face and tears in my
eyes, totally enveloped by everything I was see-
ing and hearing. Tere was something incredibly
I FIRST WENT TO MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE IN 1985. I ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS A
place I had to visit because so much of my favorite music came from there. From
Al Green, Ann Peebles, and everything on Hi Records, to Elvis Presley, Isaac Hayes,
David Porter, and the Stax catalog, an almost endless stream of brilliance and soul
came out of Memphis. I was aware early on that just like Detroit and the music of
Motown, there was something going on in Memphis that was utterly inexplicable. It
was part of what me want to be a musician in the first place.
Walking inBY MARC COHN, AS TOLD TO JON REGEN
E R I K
V A L I N D
MYRI AM SANT O S
KA
YDA
Fig. 3. Cohn with
h i l f h
Fig. 2. The legal pad
hi h h
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powerful about Al Green’s voice in that context.
Even after three hours of continuous singing,
his voice only got stronger and his band only got
better. I sat there crying in the church, aware of
the irony of how I used to cry in Synagogue in
Cleveland as a kid—but because I wanted to get
the heck out of there! Al Green’s service was one
of the great experiences of my life.
Te second thing was to go to the Hollywood
Café in Robinsonville, Mississippi, about 40 minutes
outside of Memphis, and hear Muriel Davis Wilkins
sing. I’d never heard of Muriel before, but I took myfriend’s advice and went anyway. Te Hollywood
Café had supposedly once been a slave commissary,
but it was now a lovely little restaurant that served
fried pickles and catsh. Muriel was a schoolteacher
who on weekends made extra money playing mu-
sic. When I arrived, Muriel, who at the time was in
her 60s, was onstage playing a beat-up old upright
piano and singing Gospel standards like “Te Glory
of Love” and “Nearer My God to Tee.” I felt an im-
mediate connection to her voice, her spirit, her face,
and her smile. I was totally transxed by her music.
While many of the patrons were busy eatingand not paying close attention to Muriel, I couldn’t
take my eyes off her. During her breaks, the two
of us would talk. Muriel asked me why I was there,
and I told her I was a songwriter trying to nd in-
spiration. I also told her a little bit about my child-
hood—how when I was two and a half years old,
my mom had passed away very unexpectedly, and
about ten years later, my dad had passed away and
I’d been raised by a stepmother. My mother’s death
was a central event in my life, and I’d been writinga lot about it over the years, both in songs and in
journals. I think a part of me felt stuck in time,
like I’d never quite been able to work through that
loss. Muriel was as sweet as could be, and she was
Memphis
the “Muriel” of the
song, pianist Muriel
Davis Wilkins.
on which Marc Cohn
first started working
out the lyrics.
MARC COHN ON THE GENESIS OF HIS 1991 PIANO HIT
Fig. 1. The first line of the lyrics to “Walking in Memphis” over its signature
opening piano arpeggio.
really funny, too. I remember that she asked how I
ll d l t Wh I t ld h h li d
nal lyrics yet (see Figure 2 on page 27). I was still
ki th “ h t f El i ” d th
ply trying to write songs that sounded complete with
j t d i dI’d dth ith littl
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28 Keyboard 04.2014 28
spelled my last name. When I told her, she replied,
“You mean, like corn?” We had a lot of laughs.
By midnight, the Hollywood was still packed,
and Muriel asked me to join her onstage. We soon
realized that there wasn’t a song in the universe that
both of us knew in common. A quick thinker, Murielstarted feeding me lyrics to Gospel songs so that I
could catch up in time to sing somewhat in rhythm
with her and make up my own version of the melody.
Some songs I was vaguely familiar with, and some I
didn’t know at all. Te very last song we sang togeth-
er that night was “Amazing Grace.” After we nished
and people were applauding, Muriel leaned over and
whispered in my ear, “Child, you can let go now.” It
was an incredibly maternal thing for her to say to me.
Just like sitting in Reverend Al Green’s church, I wasagain transformed. It was almost as if my mother was
whispering in my ear. From the time I left Memphis
and went back home to New York City, I knew I had a
song in me about my experience there.
Pen on Paper
Tere have been countless songs about Memphis,
so I knew if I was going to go down that road, it
needed to be deeply personal. Within a few days ofcoming home, I began to write the song on guitar.
I think I already had the opening line, “Put on my
blue suede shoes and I boarded the plane.” I start-
ed playing an arpeggiated gure that I liked, but
it didn’t take long for me to realize that I couldn’t
play it very well on guitar. So I went to the piano,
where that kind of rolling rhythm was easier for
me to play. Ten I added that rst line to the piano
riff (see Figure 1 on page 27) and I was off to the
races.Te music for “Walking in Memphis,” except for
the bridge, is really just the same thing over and over
again. It’s an attempt to keep things simple so that
the narrative is what the listener focuses on. Te
story keeps changing; it goes from one scenario to
another, all following the thread of my elation, de-
scribed in the lyric “Walking with my feet ten feet off
of Beale.” What’s being expressed is my love of music
and the spiritual transformation I’ve always feltthrough it. Te line, “ell me are you a Christian child,
and I said ‘Ma’am I am tonight’” . . . even in the mo-
ment I wrote it down, I knew I was getting closer to
nding my songwriting voice. o this day, people still
ask me if I am a Christian. While I have to admit that
I enjoy the confusion the lyric brings, the thing that
makes that line work is the fact that I’m a Jew. So
many great artists over the years needed to hide the
fact that they were Jewish to protect themselves and
their families from anti-Semitism, so I’m proud of thefact that I could come right out and practically an-
nounce my religion on the rst song I ever released.
I kept writing and rewriting the lyrics. Even
in some of the later drafts, I still didn’t have the
working on the “ghosts of Elvis” verse, and there
were still some things that weren’t in place yet.
When I nished the song, I felt like I had com-
pleted a jigsaw puzzle. I wasn’t sure if it was a “hit,”
because I was still years away from being signed
to Atlantic Records. Six months later, after I wrotemany of the songs that would later comprise my
album Marc Cohn, I went back to the Hollywood
Café to play them all for Muriel (see Figure 3 on
page 27). After I nished, Muriel said to me, “You
know the one where you mention me at the end?
Tat’s the best one you got!”
Later in 1986, my engineer and co-producer Ben
Wisch and I made a piano/vocal demo of “Walking in
Memphis” in a studio in New York City. At that point,
I wasn’t thinking about how my songs would workwith a band or on record. I wasn’t thinking about a
groove or what a guitar player might play. I was sim-
just me and a piano, and I’d record them with a little
Sony Walkman. Years later, after I signed with At-
lantic and it came time to turn that demo into some-
thing they thought would work on the radio, I barely
knew where to start. After many different versions of
it with just as many different musicians, I went to Pe-ter Koepke, the guy who signed me, and said, “Maybe
this just needs to be a piano/vocal track. Or maybe it
shouldn’t be on the record at all.” He replied, “If it’s
not on the record, I’m not sure we’re going to make a
record! So you better go gure this out, because we
think this just may get on the radio.” Later, I went
back to the label and said, “I’d like a shot at producing
this record with Ben Wisch, who I made the demos
with in the rst place. He got a great sound on my
voice and on the piano, and that’s at least half of whatthis is all about.” Atlantic ultimately agreed, and the
rest, I guess, is history.
“Marc was basically signed to Atlantic Records because of ‘Walking in
Memphis,’ co-producer Ben Wisch says. “We probably recorded it five
different times in different configurations. On one version, we actually had
Steve Gadd playing drums in the studio. It was after midnight and we wereall frustrated because the recording wasn’t going well. And Steve said, ‘Let’s
all switch instruments!’ That version didn’t work out, but I’ll never forget
Steve’s devotion to getting the song right. Eventually, we settled on a band
that featured John Leventhal on bass, Denny McDermott on drums, and Chris
Palmaro on Hammond organ. Everything was based around Marc’s singing and
piano playing. We recorded live to 24-track tape at Quad Recording Studios in
New York, with any editing done between entire takes of the song. The piano
sound is very in-your-face, not unlike Bruce Hornsby’s sound of a few years
prior. We used the old Steinway grand at Quad Studios, and I miked it with a
pair of AKG C451 condensers. Those are bright mics, and I put a fair amount of
compression on them. For vocals, Marc sang through a vintage Neumann U67
tube condenser microphone through a Teletronix LA-2A compressor and then
into an SSL console with outboard API EQ.”
BEN WISCHON RECORDING“WALKING IN
MEMPHIS”
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process. The brilliant sound, feel, and styleof Korg’s SP-280 Digital Piano will remind
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HEAR LEGENDS » SONG STORIES » TALENT SCOUT » PLAYLIST
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AriadnaCastellanos
HOMETOWN: Madrid, Spain.
INSTRUMENTS PLAYED: Piano, violin,
harp, and drums.
DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND: “Flamenco mu-
sic mixed with a classical background, plus jazz
harmonies and improvisation.”
MUSICAL TRAINING: “I studied classical piano
at the Guildhall School of Music in London, aswell as the Berklee College of Music in Boston. But
amenco music is really learned from people in the
street—from guitarists and singers in Spain—and
from many, many records.”
FIRST GIGS: “Classical concert halls when I
was six years old. My rst amenco shows were
in Spanish tablaos in Madrid.” [Tablaos are cafés,
nightclubs, and less formal venues where amencois performed. —Ed.]
MUSICAL INFLUENCES: “Paco de Lucia,
omatito, Jerez, Debussy, Ravel, and Calle 13.”
FAVORITE KEYBOARDS: “I’m a fan of
acoustic pianos, especially Bösendorfer.”
WHAT I’M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW:
“Silence. I use music to change my state of mind,so when I’m feeling down, I play energetic mu-
sic. When I feel sad I play aggressive music to
give me strength, and when I’m extremely happy
I allow myself a soft, romantic song.”
BIG BREAK: “Meeting Javier Limón, the eight-
time Grammy award winner who has recordedmany famous amenco, jazz, and modern artists
such as Paco de Lucia, Alejandro Sanz, Wynton
Marsalis, and Bebo Valdés. He recorded my rst
album Flamenco en Black and White. Tis year he
was nominated for the Latin Grammy as Producer
of the Year for my album. Another big break would
be winning the Presidential Scholarship at Berklee,
as I’m the only Spanish musician to ever receive it.
I’ll always be extremely thankful to them for allow-ing me to come to the United States and open my
mind and music up to a whole new world.”
WHAT’S NEXT: “I’ll tour Spain in March
2014. I’m also recording a new album entitled
Flamencool with producer Javier Limón.”
ADVICE: “Always be
humble, yet never let
anybody pull you down.Nobody knows everything,
yet we’re all special. Also,
always love the music more
than yourself onstage.”
FLAMENCO-MEETS-JAZZ PIANIST AND COMPOSER ARIADNA CASTELLANOS
has been wowing audiences around the globe with what has been called “a brutal
technique and a wild intuition” on the piano. Find out more at ariadnacastellanos.com.
BY JON REGEN
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Call 800-217-5207 | musiciansfriend.com
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HEAR LEGENDS » SONG STORIES » TALENT SCOUT » PLAYLIST
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HERBIE HANCOCK
The Complete Columbia Album Collection 1972-1988
This 34-CD compendium celebrates the legendary keyboardist and composer’s recorded output for the
storied label, including eight albums never before released in the United States. Covering everything from
his electrified outings like Sextant and Head Hunters, to acoustic works like his V.S.O.P quartet/quintet and
his soundtrack to the film ’Round Midnight , the collection is further proof of Hancock’s enduring artistic
legacy. Key track: “4 AM.” | herbiehancock.com
MARC CARY FOCUS TRIO
Four Directions
Jazzer Marc Cary has been crafting an alluring vision since anchoring the piano chair in vocalist Abbey
Lincoln’s band. Cary’s latest offers a myriad of keyboard sonorities, from the synth-laden, Indian
explorations of “Todi Blues” to the backbeat-infused acoustic adventures of “Tanktified.” (Cary also shines
on Rhodes electric piano on a number of cuts.) With nods to everything from R&B to smoldering straight-
ahead jazz, Four Corners is worth a spin. Key track: “Spectrum.” | marccary.com
STACEY KENTThe Changing Lights
While vocalist Stacey Kent has been a veritable institution in Europe for the last decade plus, it’s only
recently that her well-deserved acclaim has migrated stateside. Her new album The Changing Lights
should help speed up the process, with a near perfect blend of bossa nova-tinged soul and buoyant band
interplay. Kudos to pianist Graham Harvey for framing Kent’s vocals with artful accompaniment. Key track:
“This Happy Madness.” | staceykent.com
KOREL TUNADOR
The Early Mournings EP
Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Korel Tunador (Katy Perry, Goo Goo Dolls) surprises on his sophomore
solo release The Early Mourning EP , which marries sonic tricks with killer song licks. From the synth
shimmer of “You Dropped a Bomb,” to the funk strut of “Bringing You Back Down,” Tunador proves he isn’t
afraid to take center stage and tell his own side of the story. Key track: “My, My, My.” | koreltunador.com
HELEN SUNG
Anthem for a New Day
Jazz pianist and composer Helen Sung’s Anthem for a New Day is a hard grooving aural affair. From post-
Bop burners like her original “Brother Thelonious,” to a classically-cadenced take on Duke Ellington’s“It Don’t Mean a Thing,” Sung soars alongside bandmates Reuben Rogers on bass and Obed Calvaire
on drums. When clarinet master Paquito D’Rivera guests on her rendition of Chick Corea’s “Armando’s
Rhumba,” Sung proves she’s more than up to the task. Key track: “Chaos Theory.” | helensung.com
BENMONT TENCH
You Should Be So Lucky
Long regarded as the pinnacle of rock keyboard tastefulness, Benmont Tench delivers a
knockout punch with his debut as a bandleader, on the Blue Note label. Four over four
decades, Tench has anchored Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with his signature swirl of
Hammond, Wurlitzer, and piano. But on his first solo outing, Tench surprises with a captivating
collection of original songs. Recorded entirely to tape by legendary producer Glyn Johns
(Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, the Who), the album features cameos by Petty, Ringo Starr, and
alt-country crooner Ryan Adams. But the real star here is Tench, whose songs sear with
heartbreak (“Today I Took Your Picture Down”), humor (“Blonde Girl, Blue Dress”), and piano
perfection (“Wobbles”). We all knew he could kill on the keyboards, but YSBSL proves thatTench is a devastatingly great singer and songwriter. Key track: “Hannah.” | bluenote.com
BY JON REGEN
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POP/ROCK » JAZZ » TECHNIQUEPLAY
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34 Keyboard 04.2014 34
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
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Piano
B3
1. Blending Tones
Finding the right part is alwaysimportant, but picking what
sounds you use can be just as
vital. Some big staples of Ben-
mont’s sound are the Hammond
B-3 organ, acoustic piano, and
Wurlitzer electric piano. Benmont
even finds ways to blend these
sounds into a tasteful combina-
tion of their own. Ex. 1 demon-
strates this, starting with piano
only and then adding in an unfor-
gettable B-3 riff that announces
the song in the best way possible.
Benmont played a part similar
to this on the om Petty and the
Heartbreakers song “Don’t Do Me
Like Tat.”
IN THE LEXICON OF ROCK KEYBOARDISTS,
one doesn’t go far before coming across the one
and only Benmont Tench. Known primarily as the
ever-so-tasty keyboardist for Tom Petty and the
Heartbreakers, Benmont is a consummate song
player. Every note he plays is for the betterment
of the song. He can often be found playing an
affecting Hammond B-3 organ solo, or finding a
keyboard part that blends so perfectly in a song
that it would literally cease to be the same song
without it. There is no way that anyone could dis-
till Benmont’s taste, feel, sounds, and parts into
only five elements, but we’ll give it our best shot!
Ex. 1.
PLAY
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5 WAYS TO PLAY LIKE BenmontTenchBY MATT BECK
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2. Breaking StylisticBoundariesJust because a song has a defined
Ex. 2.
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3504.2014 Keyboard
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Just because a song has a defined
musical style doesn’t mean you can’t
infuse different sections with other
alluring sounds. ake Ex. 2, a honky-
tonk piano part dropped smack into
the bridge of an otherwise driving
rock tune. Tat’s the genius of Ben-
mont ench—he’s always crafting
parts that serve the music and make
it soar. Tis example is in the style
of a part Benmont played with the
Heartbreakers on the classic song
“American Girl.”
Ex. 4.
Ex. 3.3. T Is for TasteHow do you define taste? Te answer
is, you just know it when you hear
it. Benmont is revered among fellow
musicians for his ability to make the
music shine without ever “show-
boating.” Ex. 3 illustrates a typical
Benmont piano part in the chorus of
a song. Notice how he delineates the
chord changes by creating an infec-
tious piano melody out of them in
octaves. Listen to his playing on the
om Petty tune “Here Comes My Girl”
for further examples of his sympa-
thetic sonics.
4. UnexpectedInstrumentsBenmont is always open to finding
unexpected sound sources to lift asong higher. While primarily known
as a master of acoustic and electro-
mechanical instruments like piano,
electric piano, and Hammond organ,
Benmont often works wonders on
synths as well, even though they
might seem unlikely in a rock context
such as the Heartbreakers. Ex. 4
shows how he might weave his magic
on an analog synth patch.
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TOM PETTY AND THE
HEARTBREAKERS
Damn the Torpedoes
RYAN ADAMS
Ashes & F