This a photo of my current workspace, complete with a stack of 1099s.

Open house with Band of Gold. Used a stripped down rig, since my man John Clark was on keyboards too.

Nerding out.

Really digging the NI Scarbee Mark I….

The rig:

Yamaha YPG 365
Kurzweil KME 61
Akai SynthStation 25

So I show up to a gig, only to realize that I’d left my keyboard stand at a gig from a few days ago. Luckily I found some scaffolds in the kitchen of the venue….

The rig for the latest Spotty Lads gig:

Yamaha P200
M-Audio ES88
Korg Prophecy
Yamaha CP70

Another software addition to the rig was Pro-SoloVst by AM Music Technology, a great emulator of the ARP Pro Soloist. Fitting for a Genesis band!

The last couple of months have yielded several new rig treasures, a couple of which are worthy of mention.

The first is an M-Audio Pro Keys 88, which I got for $50. It had several issues, namely four stuck keys, and some of the functions didn’t work. I was able to fix the broken keys, and I haven’t missed not having the layering feature work. I got it strictly to be a controller in the studio, which it is sufficient for. The sounds are pretty unimpressive, and I find that I’m not fond of the action. Still, no complaints; it gets the job done!

My next big steal was a Korg Prophecy, which I found for a stunning $40. Though noticeably dated by today’s standards, the Prophecy has an impressive collection of fairly usable lead sounds, and is really fun to play! A monophonic digital synth, the Prophecy was released in 1995 as among the first spate of virtual analog synths that became popular at the time. It features a number of real-time controls, including four assignable knobs, a pitch ribbon, and a third modulation controller, similar to a pitch bender.

I next found a Yamaha P200 in a nearby town for $110, including a pretty nice stand. The P200 has great piano samples, is incredibly easy to use, and has fantastic action. This particular one had seen some life in its day, and has a few minor issues: the pitch bender is a bit wonky, there’s a short in the internal speakers so they cut in and out a bit, and the reverb doesn’t seem to work. Still, all in all, it’s proven to be very reliable so far, as I’ve gigged with it extensively over the last month and a half. I’d been looking for a board to replace my PC88, and this has done a great job. It helps that it has a flat top, which has room for a second controller.

The new standard gigging rig is now the P200 and the M-Audio ES88 (pictured).

I had the honor and privilege of getting to record at the infamous Muscle Shoals back in July. The rig included the B3 used on Layla, a Wurlitzer and a Korg MS2000B.

A great show at the Sunrise in Ft. Pierce! A modest but thoroughly energetic crowd that earned two encores!

The staff was amazing, and the catering was perfect! The only complaint I have is that I wasn’t there the night before when Glen Campbell played.

I introduced a new soft synth into the race: u-he’s freeware Tyrell6. It’s featured prominently now for sawtooth mono synth lead lines, and it’s got a great ARP Solina preset! Can’t wait to use it for more stuff in the future.