from the sounds of some of your postings, you use VSTs for practical applications - gigs, etc.
Can you describe your setup and how you apply them? i'm interested in your hardware controller, your choice for bread and butter sounds, your favorite vst's. i am interested in your setup regardless of the receptor. that is, hardware modules, laptop, whatever.
it just seems like a lot of your findings and recommendations are relevant to my interests.
also, what kind of music and lineup do you perform using this gear?
thanks
Question to Phil Aiken
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- KVRist
- 209 posts since 25 Jun, 2004 from New England
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- KVRian
- 1116 posts since 22 Apr, 2005 from Nashville, TN USA
Ditto. You opinions are highly valued Phil!Watto wrote:Phil,
I reckon it would be something a lot of people are interested in, so post it here!
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- KVRist
- 387 posts since 24 Aug, 2004
Well.....Here's the email I sent to Soft Junkie with some editing....
Mostly for live use I'm just going for what would be considered bread and butter sounds - piano,organ,Rhodes, Wurly, the occcasional mellotron/Chamberlain or analog synth.
Here's my basic live setup:
Yamaha P250
Hammond XK-3 or Voce V5
Receptor
THe XK-3 sits directly on top of the P250, and either goes through a Speakeasy pre into a Leslie, or sometimes just into Rotosphere.
If I only bring one board, the Voce V5 serves as a drawbar controller for B4 on the Receptor.
THe lowest row of performance presets on the P250 call up the Scarbee electric pianos and VKFX, Sometimes Mr. Ray, B4, Minimogue,and a Kontakt multi with a bunch of mellotrony stuff.
For band use the P250 handles the piano. For solo use I'm on the verge of using Ivory, and have used White Grand Jr. on the Receptor.
If I don't bring my rack, the V5 will also just be the sound source for organ sometimes.
If I have the XK-3 I have a preset so that the P250 is a lower manual.
There is a Midi Solutions Event Processor Plus that helps me turn the P250 (and the V5) into a more capable controller, and a MOTU AV that acts as a merger/router/filter.
The P250 performances and Receptor are set up as follows:
Track 1. Rhodes (Scarbee or Mr. Ray) ->Scarbee VKFX
Track 2. B4II
Track 3. Wurly (Scarbee or Mr.Tramp)->Scarbee VKFX
Track 4: Minimogue
track 5. Empty (Passes midi through as lower manual for XK3)
Track 6: Multi with 3 sets of 2 mellotron sounds each, choosable by mod wheel
Track 7. P250 piano mellow
Track 8. P250 Piano bright
This all sounds more complicated than it is. Basically I have these presets that I call up, and that's it.
As to what I play...
I play as a sideman with a bunch of folks, some stuff that would be considered Roots Rock or Americana, some modern Pop-rock (Pop in the sense of Beatles/Big Star/Elvis Costello etc.) Some classic Rock sounding stuff, the sporadic jazz standards gig, and solo shows as a songwriter/singer/piano guy. So some extremely loud situations, and some less so. Some small places, some huge places. Literally ranging from a 75 capacity bar to Fenway Park. As such, I try to have my main core gig, and scale it up or down as appropriate.
I do more gigging as a player than on my own, since I'm not really a front man kinda guy (or kinda singer)....I record myself at home and do indie releases. Here's my myspace page with some recent pretty low-key stuff.....very piano-centric roots-pop I guess.
Http://www.myspace.com/PhilAiken
The piano is my 6 ft. Young Chang grand, the Hammond Leslie sounds are all real, and the Rhodes is Scarbee, but before I had the VKFX, so the stereo vibrato is another plug.
If you've gotten this far you could also just google "Phil Aiken keyboards"
Mostly for live use I'm just going for what would be considered bread and butter sounds - piano,organ,Rhodes, Wurly, the occcasional mellotron/Chamberlain or analog synth.
Here's my basic live setup:
Yamaha P250
Hammond XK-3 or Voce V5
Receptor
THe XK-3 sits directly on top of the P250, and either goes through a Speakeasy pre into a Leslie, or sometimes just into Rotosphere.
If I only bring one board, the Voce V5 serves as a drawbar controller for B4 on the Receptor.
THe lowest row of performance presets on the P250 call up the Scarbee electric pianos and VKFX, Sometimes Mr. Ray, B4, Minimogue,and a Kontakt multi with a bunch of mellotrony stuff.
For band use the P250 handles the piano. For solo use I'm on the verge of using Ivory, and have used White Grand Jr. on the Receptor.
If I don't bring my rack, the V5 will also just be the sound source for organ sometimes.
If I have the XK-3 I have a preset so that the P250 is a lower manual.
There is a Midi Solutions Event Processor Plus that helps me turn the P250 (and the V5) into a more capable controller, and a MOTU AV that acts as a merger/router/filter.
The P250 performances and Receptor are set up as follows:
Track 1. Rhodes (Scarbee or Mr. Ray) ->Scarbee VKFX
Track 2. B4II
Track 3. Wurly (Scarbee or Mr.Tramp)->Scarbee VKFX
Track 4: Minimogue
track 5. Empty (Passes midi through as lower manual for XK3)
Track 6: Multi with 3 sets of 2 mellotron sounds each, choosable by mod wheel
Track 7. P250 piano mellow
Track 8. P250 Piano bright
This all sounds more complicated than it is. Basically I have these presets that I call up, and that's it.
As to what I play...
I play as a sideman with a bunch of folks, some stuff that would be considered Roots Rock or Americana, some modern Pop-rock (Pop in the sense of Beatles/Big Star/Elvis Costello etc.) Some classic Rock sounding stuff, the sporadic jazz standards gig, and solo shows as a songwriter/singer/piano guy. So some extremely loud situations, and some less so. Some small places, some huge places. Literally ranging from a 75 capacity bar to Fenway Park. As such, I try to have my main core gig, and scale it up or down as appropriate.
I do more gigging as a player than on my own, since I'm not really a front man kinda guy (or kinda singer)....I record myself at home and do indie releases. Here's my myspace page with some recent pretty low-key stuff.....very piano-centric roots-pop I guess.
Http://www.myspace.com/PhilAiken
The piano is my 6 ft. Young Chang grand, the Hammond Leslie sounds are all real, and the Rhodes is Scarbee, but before I had the VKFX, so the stereo vibrato is another plug.
If you've gotten this far you could also just google "Phil Aiken keyboards"
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- KVRAF
- 3971 posts since 19 Apr, 2005 from Brissie
Thanks, Phil!
For me, personally, I'm a piano player, I guess, so I only like to use one keyboard - I'm not into playing string or synth lines on one keyboard, etc...
I'm going to be trading in my Korg Triton LE and getting the new Studiologic 76 fully weighted keyboard (finally!), and using that with the Receptor. Pretty light and powerful rig!
For me, personally, I'm a piano player, I guess, so I only like to use one keyboard - I'm not into playing string or synth lines on one keyboard, etc...
I'm going to be trading in my Korg Triton LE and getting the new Studiologic 76 fully weighted keyboard (finally!), and using that with the Receptor. Pretty light and powerful rig!
I've joined Lurkers Anonymous.
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- KVRist
- 387 posts since 24 Aug, 2004
I'm eying that Studiologic weighted 76 contoller also. Not available yet, at least not around here. I'd love to have the Nord Stage 76 for rehearsals and small gigs, but adding the Studiologic to the Receptor would be much cheaper.
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- KVRAF
- 3971 posts since 19 Apr, 2005 from Brissie
Yeah, I can't believe how long it's taken for a 76 fully weighted keyboard to emerge!! Ridiculous!
I thought about the Stage, too (we must have similar tastes), but the Receptor is more flexible.
I thought about the Stage, too (we must have similar tastes), but the Receptor is more flexible.
I've joined Lurkers Anonymous.