NKD: New Keyboard Day!! Korg Krome 61-Key Workstation

Well, last Friday I said hello to a new Korg Krome and goodbye on Tuesday to the Roland Juno-Gi after it sold on ebay within 12 hours of listing it!

I made the decision very quickly to switch up the keyboard equipment after we took the Roland Juno-Gi on vacation for Corey, my 14 year old step-daughter, to practice and for us both to play while there. It just proved to be very complicated to program, record and explain how to do all of the above. The screen is too small, too many layers of menus that are named strange things that don't seem logical. It's the Roland way, apparently. Every Roland I've ever owned has been hard to program and, well, to just simply make a preference change!! I will miss the simplicity of the 8-track audio recorder though.

So I know I should have looked around a bit more, seeing how I have had a lack of confidence in Korg with my SV-1 and the lack of support they have provided. I said I'd not buy another Korg product... :o

I should have researched but I played one at Guitar Center and liked the feel of the keys, the large touch screen and the sounds are amazing and clear sounding. The arps and drums are easy to use and I can jam instantly in most sounds with just the flick of a button! Programming it will be a bit harder but it will just take time to wrap my head around how it works.

I hope I made the right choice. Time will tell. I did get 15% off the $999 price tag which I hope will help compensate a few years from now when I sell, if I sell. I could have purchased a used one but by paying $150 more, I got a 2 year manufacturer warranty for buying new!

"My future is comin' on, it's comin' on. My future..."

This week, while my Lexicon I-Onix U22 interface was at the factory being repaired, I decided now was the time to upgrade to a new, larger input interface. I had my eye on a few but then I saw the M-Audio Fast Track C600 in a magazine. I had not seen or heard about it before, even though it has been around since 2010. I gave it a try.

It arrived last Thursday. It was smaller than I thought it would be from online pics. The knobs are kinda on the tiny side. And it's mostly made of plastic, unlike my I-Onix that was made of mostly metal and felt rather Pro. The shiny plastic on the top is very "tender". Even with a soft micro fiber cloth it scratches up easily. But all aesthetics aside, the thing works really well!

It fits more of what I wanted than anything else out there, so a few negatives were okay as long as it works. Having transport controls, two headphone outs, three monitor options, 4 inputs with 2 Hi Z on the front making it easy to plug in a guitar.

I've been able to record multiple sources at the same time. Create separate headphone mixes using the software mixer driver that's included. The aforementioned software mixer is a bit on the complicated side. I'm still trying to figure it out and don't expect much in the manual to explain it. It's a very sparse manual.

M-Audio/Avid's customer service leaves something to be desired as well. It was my one hesitation in purchasing this product. You can't get any contact with these people unless you "buy" (or are granted by registering your product) support "Codes" from them. Pretty ridiculous.

I purchased it through Sweetwater and thanks to my rep there, Derek Senestaro, I hope to get some kind of feedback from them about the scratching.

I immediately had some major noise problems after hooking it up, something I had not faced with the I-Onix. But it turned out NOT to be the C600, but operator error in my setup. My USB cable running to my SV-1 was creating a ground loop. I lifted the ground on the SV-1 and removed the cable to use only when I'm updating via the software editor or using it to lay down some midi tracks. Problem fixed and my system is quiet as church mouse now!

One other thing I did was purchase a Vocal Reflection Screen. I had wanted one but thought they all cost too much. But Guitar Center had one made by Primacoustic Voxguard on sale for $85. It's not a "pro" unit but it will work well enough for a while. I don't think it would put up with the abuse in a "real" studio. All that said, don't get me wrong, I really like this unit. It's well made and the newest model includes some "slits" in the back left and right sides to allow some frequency to go through from the vocalist. I find that it's helpful to have some sound absorption behind your vocalist as well and to make sure you keep the mic in the "sweet spot". I'd say one of the best things about using any vocal screen like this is the feeling you get. It's like blinders on a race horse, helps you focus, helps you get in the zone.
All and all a very good purchase and the company really responds quickly to questions being very helpful, even if it's not a product they sell! Bravo! If only M-Audio/Avid could actually answer their phones at all!

So this weekend, Corey and I got in the "studio" and started experimenting with vocals! She's finally getting to see that she can sing! It's so exciting! More about this later and hopefully, soon, some audio tracks to share!

Adventures in Recording at Home, or Did I really spend this much on my hobby?

Now, I'm not usually one to brag too much (no, really, I'm not!). And I'm also not usually so eager to show my personal belongings to the mass populous. (I know, 3 people read this including my Mom!) But I'm really proud of my little music room at home that is slowly becoming my little home studio, as well.

G.A.S. Report — ACQUIRED: Roland Juno-Gi

Well, I sold the Juno-G due to it being really really complicated to use and my fear that the LCD screen would die and it would be expensive to replace. The Gi was a good solution for me. Is it the best? Well...No, but it's faithfully reproducing roland and other sounds that I like. The onboard 8track recorder is nice and the drum patterns work pretty good too. It's a far cry better for me than the G. The only thing that keeps me from having buyers remorse is that I got it in new condition for exactly HALF PRICE!! Thanks to buying it used from someone on Ebay! :)