tankgirl73
Joined: 14 Mar 2011
Posts: 1
Location: CA
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 4:25 am Post subject: Keyboard midi software help for a newbie |
 |
|
Hi there, I'm hoping someone can help me out. I'm a professional pianist but I have no expertise in synth/technical electronic keyboard stuff. I'm music director for a local broadway show production which uses 3 keyboards (it's The Wedding Singer) -- uses a lot of stereotypical 80's synth sounds. Hammonds with fast and slow leslies, strings, theremin, square waves, blips, record scratches, rhodes, dx7 metallic sounds... I've learned a TON already in learning what half this stuff even means. Like, a few weeks ago I didn't know what "Rhodes" was! But there's a ton I don't know yet, and what's dangerous is that I probably don't even know what I don't know...
There's a software package available (Real Music Solutions Keyboards) which is supposedly custom-designed for this show. You plug all 3 keyboards via USB into your laptop, and the software merely uses them for the midi input as you play. Then you connect your laptop output to your sound system... All the voices are pre-programmed, you simply hit the bottom key on your keyboard to advance to the next patch. It's absolutely brilliant, you can change to the next patch on the fly with the press of one key, you don't have to spend hours and hours trying to find the 'right' sound and the right keyboard to make the right sound.
However, I'm not happy with some of the sounds and there's currently no option for the user to swap sounds out.
So I'm wondering if there's something similar, that's just an open software for the user to program the patch changes from scratch. But I don't even know what I should be looking for.
So far I've found Independence Pro, which I can tell does a lot, but I don't know if it does what I need. All the info I can find about it seems to assume you already know what it is and just need some spec details... but I can't even figure out if you can use it with a connected keyboard!
Alternatively, how do gigging keyboard players deal with changing voices rapidly on the fly (without software, just using the keyboards)? When I have just an eighth rest to get from square lead with portamento, to harp with cellos split, how do you do it? I know there are some memory buttons on my keyboard, but what if I need 50+ sounds for a particular show? Can't I just program a sequence of this sound -then- that sound -then- first sound again -then- another sound, etc, and just press a button to advance to the next one...
I don't mind putting the time into finding the 'right' sounds for the show, it's mainly... how to actually perform the show. Thanks for any guidance for a neophyte. |
|
