I’ve have great success the last couple months creating my backup band bass and drum patterns on the DR-880 drum machine.   I record them using Sonar and save them as midi files which I load onto the USB stick I plug into the FP-7F.    Bascially I’ve eliminated the need to take a drum machine with me on a gig .. well if I ever gig that is.    I created a You Tube video showing this process and what it looks like on the FP-7F.  Also I did a video showing what one can do with the Looper feature.

I’m just starting on a new project to create a  booklet titled  “First Stride”.    It is not going to be a detailed all encompassing manual by any means .. just a brief starter guide with some easy beginner practice routines.   But I do want to work to get it published .. so I can say I’m a published author!  

Also in 2012 I hope to find a sax player and practice to perfection a set of a couple dozen  boogie woogie blues songs.    I’ve recorded snipets of the song set and have my backup tracks for the sax player to practice with.      I’ve been working on getting a small mixer rack ready and have speakers  enough I’ve believe to fill smaller venues.    Of course the kind of music I’m playing is basic and surely non-pop .. so I’m not so sure if I’d find an audience.   But we .. shall see!  

Roland FP-7F

 My search for a next keyboard took several weeks but I finally decided on a Roland FP-7F that has the new PA III ivory feel escapement 88 key bed.   I’m not going to do a review on it here but I do want to mention one of the big selling points for me.      The built in song player on it will display lyrics.    So that means I can record my Boss DR-880 patterns into Sonar, add chord notations and then play them on the FP-7F.       This is something I really wanted to be able to do.    I’ll be creating a detailed video slide show on Youtube about how I manage to port my DR-880 patterns over to the FP-7F.

FP-7F showing chords

M-Audio Venom

At Sweetwater Gearfest 2011 in June I got some hands on time on the new M-Audio Venom and attended an hour demo there on it.   It’s a new product,   under $450,  and comes with a lovely computer based program editor to help setup user presets, sound and arp beats on it.    But a warning … the Venom is not for someone looking for a keyboard to learn piano with as it doesn’t even have piano voices on it.   Instead it is loaded with aggressive synth sounds and arps.     Definitely not my type of music but I want to expand my horizons and thus I went for it.   

In a user setup  you can layer and or split the keyboard  with as many as 4 sounds.    Each sound is associated with an arpeggio so you could get 4 arps playing at once.      Buttons on the keyboard allow you to control the 4 sounds during a live performance.      So that’s the skinny on the M-Audio Venom.    Watch for a Youtube of me using it later this fall.

1.   I purchased a 48″ x 8″ long shelf from the hardware store.  Cut a slot in both ends and added it underneath the table stand.   I have a power strip on it and place the AC/DC adapters there on it also for the stage and drum machine.   The surplus cordage is gathered in with velcro wire tie straps.  I’m using velcro to keep the power adapters in position.   

Rig power shelf

2.  Though a bit hard to find in the picture I have a second table stand with a smaller 36″ shelf right next to the Juno Stage.   That stand has my mixer,  computer and VK-8M on top.   The shelf board  also has a power strip on it  which the power strip under the Stage plugs into.    I also mounted a third power strip under the long table I have along the wall there.    The results is I have no cables except for my foot switches on the floor.  

Overall it is just pleasant to look at and a neat image compared to the spaghetti ball of cables that was there previously.   I’m working on a third board now for the traveling rig I’m putting together.   On that one I’m adding some extra holes to strap down power supplies and I’ll sew up a padded bag for transporting it.

Yamaha RY-9

The second drummer I got was an Roland MC-303.   There have been several Roland MC-### models made over the period of like the last 25 years.     The MC-303 is way more than a drum mahcine,  Roland calls it a Groovebox.    The presets are mainly techno  trance beats.   I was surprised that it contains several rhythm sets as well as a bunch of tones and a bunch of specialty sounds in preset banks as well.     I’m still learning how to program beats on it as there are tons of options.    The display is neat and bright and the kinda keyboard buttons on it along with all the little led lights .. well it’s cool to

Roland MC-303

just look at when it’s beating.      After fiddling with this girl a few hours I now love the EZ-Composer feature on my Roland Boss DR-880 drum machine even more.      The EZ-Composer is just such a big time saver as it lets you quickly preview a bunch of different combinations very quickly to come up with a good matching drum beat and bass line for a song.     With the MC-303 you need to have what you are looking for in your head first .. then you can program it and go wild with effects.      I’m looking forward to spending some serious time with this little girl.

I can capture myself playing and at the same time screen capture the keyboard keys playing.    I then take those two video and align them pretty closely as the audio is all in the screen capture video.    I build the final video in Adobe Premiere Elements 9 which can upload directly to my YouTube account.     I plan to build several of these learn how to play a song video in an attempt to attract subscribers on YouTube.

The solution I came up with was to drill two 1/4″ holes in the riser tier arms and put in 6″ long 1/4″ long bolts which I slipped  1/4″ inside diameter fuel hose over for padding.     I placed on the bolt arms  a 22″ monitor.  When I have paper music the 6″ arms are longer enough to add on a piece of cardboard to protect the screen then the top of a music stand to hold the paper music sheets.     An unseen benefit was this moved the music a few inches closer which I’ve found is more in tune with my eye glasses.    

BoogieBeau's Rig Jan 2011

The computer keyboard is a wireless Adesso which has a touch pad on the right side of it.   On the upper left there are left and right mouse buttons.     The touch pad has a scroll feature where moving two fingers up or down it does the scroll wheel thing.      The computer keyboard itself sets on a 1/4″ x 15″ x 18″ plywood board that slides between the top of the stand and Juno.  It just happens the OnStage table stand is bent in the middle and there is a gap there and that worked out like perfect making it easy to slide the plywood around to position the computer keyboard just where I need it.  Being wireless I can easily remove the computer keyboard in a second if I get bugged by it.  But so far I’ve found it isn’t in the way at all.   I’ve switched to a chair that has side arms on it that allow me to rest my elbows on when I’m using the keyboard.       

With this new setup working I signed up with a popular online music lesson site http://www.jazzpianolessons.com/.      Most of the practice lesson sheet music is in PDF format and being able to view it on the monitor in perfect position is really nice.    Previously I was always printing sheet music out which was a real pain to keep track of and costly in paper and ink.   The next few months I aslo plan to spend time experimenting with my DAW software Sonar 8.5 LE before I produce my 3rd CD in  December 2011.   The monitor and keyboard are talking to a lower end HP Z200 mini tower computer.  It’s not a 3D gamer computer as it comes with a standard graphics and audio support but it should be fine for what I need it for.    It’s running Windows 7 64bit Pro so at least I’m up to date OS wise .. or at least until Windows 8 comes out.

I’m happy to announce the digital release of my second CD titled “Bluer Than My New Blue Jeans”  on December 24th 2010.    

 Physical  CDs will be available January 25th 2011 at CDBABY.com.     This is a ten song album with near an hour of music tracks on it.  The ideas for the songs I jotted down over the last few months when ever one popped into my head.    However all the composing, lyric writing and recording I did over a two week period in early December.     The lyrics are a bit corny as usual and my singing goes haywire every few measures but hey it’s all me again!     I feel great that I was able to lay down some piano tracks that show what I’ve been practicing on the keyboard this last year.   I’m starting to be able to play those blues and pentatonic scales with some feeling in them.  

Here is the song list:

1 – Bluer Than My New Blue Jeans – 5:53
2 – Shake That Thing – 5:10
3 – LOL Blues – 5:43
4 – Shut The Curtains – 5:06
5 – Marching Saints – 5:28
6 – Sing The Blues – 5:09
7 – Study Hall Blues – 5:32
8 – It’s Saturday – 5:34
9 – Lunch Time Baby – 5:39
10 – Baby Blues – 3:18

You can  preview the songs at CDbaby.com and other digital distributors.    Any  relatives, friends or windsurfing friends that are interested in hearing my songs send me an email at boogiebeau@boogiebeau.com .   

Press photos available on my About Me   page.

Also  I keep getting smarter at using Sonar.    I’m now using the Lyrics feature in Sonar Staff view  to match words up to the lead melody notes.    Previously I would  transfer the midi track over into the composer program Finale SongWriter and create lyrics there.      

A rig problem I really wanted to solve I have.   The loud hum issue in my recording rig that occurs when I plug my USB MIDI connections from my drum machine and keyboard is gone.  YIPEE YAHOO !!!!!    I purchased from Sweetwater.com  a Cakewalk UM-3G box which  takes up to three MIDI in/out connects and converts them to one MIDI USB connect to the laptop.    While making my first CD I was always plugging and unplugging the USB cables  which was a real pain.   That nasty hum also got into my  instruments audio tracks so I’m very pleased to have it gone.

Cakewalk UM 3G

A nice side feature of Sonar LE  is  “The Publisher”.    With it you can upload  mp3 tracks to your Web site.     It gives you three options of Shockwave Flash players.    I’ve been using a WordPress Plugin to play MP3 files and I am hopeful this Sonar Publisher utility is going to be a time saver.   Unfortunately the interface is perhaps not quite all there yet for developers and thus it’s a bit easy to mess up your saved publishing settings I’ve found.

We had seats in row three close up and really enjoyed watching the guys play.   On many songs their left hands were  just a blur as they walked bass lines.     A couple things I did notice is on most all songs all they really concentrate and their eyes never leave the keyboard.    Also I noticed their hands are really playing far apart much of the time with the right hand doing a bunch of work in the last couple octaves.       Bob Seeley was a friend of Mead Lux Luis and apparently visited him many times.   Bob had a piano stool there he showed us along with a picture of Mead setting on it.   I’ve seen that same picture in a couple books and on the internet so it was kinda neat to actually see that stool that support Mead’s frame which was big.  

Seeing them play live was good inspiration for me .. I got to work on getting my left hand moving.   I think alot of the tunes they played had to be moving along at 146 bpm .. maybe faster.