Boesendorfer piano makers in financial trouble

The 177-year-old Austrian piano makers are in financial trouble and may be sold off by Bawag Bank as it seeks to shed unprofitable companies.

Musicians owning Boesendorfer pianos include Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel.

The company sold 280 pianos last year, compared with about 500 in 2001.

Read the full article: Bawag May Sell Austrian Piano Maker Boesendorfer, Kurier Says

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Kreative Unleashes Weird Noises

Kreativ Sounds has released GNWeird Loops, the second bonus loops pack freely available for all their previous and future customers.

GNWeird stands for GLITCH, NOIZE and WEIRD and that’s exactly what this bonus contains: 8 bit and atari copycats, weird sounds, noisy drums, retro crazy bits and other ‘carefully’ destroyed loops.

Read more at the Kreativ Sounds website (via Synthtopia)

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Synth in a month

ExperimentalistAanonymous.com built an analog modular synthesizer in one month for a school project.

Read the detailed account and see pictures at the website. Very cool.

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Hilton Head International Piano Competition in 11th year

The 2006 Hilton Head International Piano Competition will take place between 6th-12th March 2006 on the beautifal semitropical Hilton Head Island on the southern tip of South Carolina, US.

It’s mission is “to encourage and support excellence in the performance of classical piano by showcasing the talents of young pianists in a competition adjudicated by internationally acclaimed judges, and to offer additional significant performance opportunities.”

There are currently 24 international entrants:

• Carlos Avila
• Minjung Kim
• Ang Li
• Yoonah Oh
• Diyi Tang
• Akiko Tominaga
• Sheng Cai
• Martin Labazevitch
• Xiao-Min Liang
• Samuel Oram
• Tian Tian
• Sha Wang
• Miao Hou
• Sungha Lee
• José Menor
• Jei-Yern Ryu
• Chetan Tierra
• Chia-Lin Yang
• Grace Kim
• Dmitri Levkovich: Winner
• Irina Naumovska
• Daniil Sayamov
• Mana Tokuno
• Wenli Zhou

First prize is US$12,000 plus the chance to perform a concerto with the Hilton Head Orchestra during its 2006-07 season, and a New York recital in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

Second prize is US$8,000 and third prize is US$4,000.

Previous winners have included Di Wu (2005), Andrew Le (2004), Chu-Fang Huang (2003), and Konstantin Soukhovetski (2002).

(Via IslandPacket.com.)

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MIDI keyboard buying tips

A useful article over at tweakheadz: Tips on buying a MIDI keyboard for your home, pro or project studio which explains different types of keyboard/synth and what might be right for you.

You might also be interested in my series of articles: A keyboard is not just for Christmas.

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Any make you like, as long as it’s Yamaha…

How big does a music store have to get before it will showcase an unbiased range of digital pianos?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Yamaha keyboard instruments, and they do have a large share of the market, but they aren’t the only players out there.

In my town, one music dealer has an exclusive deal with Yamaha, and the other probably has a 90% stock of Yamaha gear.

What about Casio, M-Audio, Technics, Roland, Korg?

I’d actually quite like to get my hands on a ProKeys 88 just to see if it really does sound and feel that good, for half the price of a P140, but I can’t.

There are probably massive showrooms in Central London, but it would be nice to have a decent showroom locally.

Yes, we can buy equipment online, and this is great for getting a good financial deal, but there is no substitute for trying out the instrument first. In fact, I won’t buy any keyboard that I haven’t touched.

So come on retailers – let’s have some genuine competition here. A lot of people will still buy Yamaha because they are good, but there are plenty of alternatives and we keyboard players want to try them out!

Anyone else face this? Do guitarists get this problem?

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Nine considerations when buying a digital piano

This post outlines what I think are the most important things to look for when buying a digital piano; they’re on my current checklist.

1. Sound quality

• Sound quality is arguably the most important factor when considering a dedicated digital piano.
• Take a good pair of headphones, or listen to each instrument you try through the same sound source, to ascertain how realistic they sound to you.
• Play a variety of different notes, scales, volumes, with and without pedalling, listening for any obvious sound defects, bad samples, etc.

2. Keyboard feel

• Almost or equally important is the feel of the keyboard.
• Remember that not all acoustic piano keyboards feel the same either.
• This is a very subjective issue – make sure you find a keyboard that feels good to you.

3. Polyphony

• Polyphony dictates how many notes can sound at any one time.
• Lower-end digital pianos tend to have a lower polyphony count.
• Higher polyphony will allow greater flexibility in both complex music and for layering sounds. Lower polyphony can result in notes being cut off abuptly.
• Personally I would not buy a digital piano with less than 64 notes of polyphony.

4. Sound adjustment

• Can the piano sounds be adjusted with effects, brilliance, and so on.
• You should decide if this will be important to you – often it is useful to be able to change the tonal quality of a piano for different types of music.
• How easy is it to change these parameters?

5. Pedalling capabilities

• All digital pianos should offer at least basic damper pedal support.
• Higher-end digital pianos will offer other options, including ’soft’ and ’sostenuto’ pedal support, and half-pedalling capability.
• You may not need or use these immediately, but may regret not having them later if your playing advances.

6. Weight

• ‘Graded Hammer’ and other fully-weighted digital pianos, and those with built-in speakers, are generally heavier.
• Do you need the instrument to be easily portable (i.e. for gigging)?

7. Speakers

• Built-in speakers can be very useful particularly for home use, as they make the instrument self-contained.
• Speakers add weight to the instrument, and smaller speakers don’t always do full justice to the sound.

8. Connections

• Check what additional connections you will require.
• Audio: headphones, audio out
• MIDI/USB for connection to a computer

9. Price

• Ultimately, how much you are willing to pay will dictate what you buy.
• Don’t be afraid to shop around, particularly online, or haggle with your dealer, to get a better deal or extra accessories with your digital piano.
• Beware of expensive manufacturer/showroom-based finance deals – you may be better off using a 0% credit card or a low-rate bank loan if you need to borrow on your purchase.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of factors to consider, but I believe it covers the most important ones when looking for a dedicated digital piano.

Don’t be afraid to look at the detailed specifications for each instrument. Some are written in technical language, but you should be able to find out basic information like the polyphony, sound generation technology, pedalling options, effects, and connections.

Good luck!

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Casio CZ-101 vintage synth

Retrothing has an interesting article about the Casio CZ-101 which was Casio’s debut into the world of ‘professional’ synthesis.

It featured 4 octaves of mini keys (argh), 8 note polyphony, 8 oscillators, 4 parts, MIDI, and even clips for a guitar strap for those super-cool(?) synth solos at front of stage!

It just shows that you can’t dismiss old synths – they still have their fans and their uses, and in fact now sell on eBay for almost double their original US$109 price tag.

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Jamie Cullum begins US tour

An interesting article at The Seattle Times about Jamie Cullum’s upcoming US tour.

It talks about his varying styles, from rock and pop to jazz, and his excellent musicianship.

Read the full article: Jamie Cullum gets a kick mixing it up on the ivories

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Musical network traffic

OK this is just a little odd diversion that you Linux and Mac users might enjoy. Just please don’t use it as the basis for a hit record!

Sound of Traffic is a Java “application” which converts TCP/IP header information into midi notes via the Java Synthesizer. The purpose is to listen in on network traffic in ordered time, via a tempo, rather than realtime, which could be more chaotic. In this sense it becomes closer to music then noise.

Warning: Don’t have your volume too high or the high note setting at its maximum or it will hurt your ears!

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