axe

Your AXE !!  your board, your instrument, your SYNTH !!

You know what I mean.
That thing with keys you swing around and pound on that gets the music
OUTA you and INTO the speakers.

Ok, how do you know which synth is right for YOU ??

Well, start with the one you've got.
Or your friend has?  Church has?  School has?
Or, ok, hit Guitar Center.  Yeah, they have keyboards, too.

But, you MUST actually TRY OUT something WAYYY before you buy something.
And you MUST know that you WILL make mistakes when you buy your first few synths

I'm tellin you.  You will.  But at least you'll learn what you need...
My synth graveyard is at the end of this page for your amusement...:)
________________________________________________________________________________

Okay, a synth is actually TWO things:
- a keyboard controller (input device that makes midi)



- a sound module (output engine that turns midi into audio)



Some synths come with both of these.
Some are specialized for just keyboard input (controller).
Some are specialized for just sound output (sound module).
(see my synth graveyard at end of page for examples:)

These 2 parts actually have many sub-parts.
________________________________________________________________________________

And what's midi?

Hoo boy.  I knew you'd ask that...:/
A full Midi descrip can take a while.  But in summary:
   it's all the notes and controls that a keyboard controller can send to
   a sound module over a wire (the midi cable).

Anything you can DO on the keyboard controller, midi can do, too.
                                          (well, can encode, too)
when you pick a sound,      a little teeny message goes across the midi cable.
when you press a key down,  a little teeny message goes across the midi cable.
when you release a key,     well,  you get the idea...

for notes, midi sends:
   down or up?
   which one?                  (octave/note)
   how hard pressed/released?  (called the "velocity" a value from 1 to 127)
   which "channel" - explained later, but it assoc's the note with a sound

for "controls", midi sends:
   which one?    (holdPedal, keyboardPressure, modWheel, programChange, etc...)
   set to what?  (usually some number in the range of 0-127)

These little messages are sent along a midi cable and are instructions
FROM a midi controller TO a midi sound module.

A midi cable let's you seperate the keyboard controller from the sound module.

This way you don't need a keyboard controller on EVERY synth.
     and you don't need a sound module on EVERY synth.

Want ALL the info on midi ??  Don't say I didn't warn ya, but it's at
midi.org
and
Jeff Glatt's
________________________________________________________________________________

The keyboard controller part usually has:

   - the keys
     how many?  are they weighted?  do they feel JUST like an acoustic piano's?
     you NEED at least 76 for some songs.  Might as well get 88 if you can.
     you'll probably want weighted keys to reduce tension when you play.
     On light keys, you have to HOLD your fingers up.
     You can't rest them on the keyboard like you can with weighted keys.
     Weighted keys are better than the light touch ones according to most.
     Organists will disagree sometimes.  Sometimes they'll agree.
     It's up to you.  But =I= like weighted better and I've tried both.
     Also, there are quite a few different feels to weighted keys.
     Some just use springs.  Some use elaborate wooden hammers and lead weights.
     It's a tough call...  You =must= try em out :)

   - keyboard pressure ("channel" pressure - mono aftertouch)
     leaning on the keys while held down can modify the sound

   - note pressure (poly aftertouch)
     leaning on a PARTICULAR key can change the sound of that ONE note.
     Or set of notes.
     Very cool, but can overwhelm midi throughput.
     And it's not often used a ton.
     I haven't had the pleasure of using it yet :(

   - pitchbend wheel
     a wheel that always springs back to the center.
     "bends" the note's frequency down/up a step or halfstep.
     Gives you SORT OF a guitar-ish sound when they bend strings.
     Often cheesy sounding, but, well, I still want to be able to MAKE those
     cheesy sounds !!  They're often seriously cool, too.

   - modulation wheel
     stays where you put it - changes the sound somehow.
     More about sound changing later.

   - jack for hold pedal
     foot controlled note sustain switch
     You'll probably have to buy this seperate from the keyboard.
     Sometimes glommed together with a volume pedal.

   - jack for volume pedal
     volume or "expression" continuous adjustment via foot

   - program change buttons
     let's you pick a number (from 0 to 127, sometimes more, sometimes less)
     for choosing a sound.  Just the number is sent over midi, not a string
     that says which exact sound name you want.
     The number is of the sound on the RECIEVING sound module.

   - master volume slider, master balance slider, effects amount sliders,
     and other sound tweaking sliders, knobs, buttons, pedals, etc, etc.
     Rather non standard and you don't really know if it'll go across midi
     or not unless you actually try it out...

   - sheet music stand - is it well placed and wide?
     you will be staring at it A LOT and may want 3-5 pages side by side


So a keyboard's main job is to generate midi.
   (or to drive it's internal sound module directly)
________________________________________________________________________________

Midi output happens on a "channel".
What's a channel??  AGAIN WITH THE MIDI QUESTIONS !!

A channel number is associated with all the midi events for one "dude playin".
All the key presses and controller messages he does.
Channel numbers are always 0-15 (shown on screen as 1-16 usually).
So a given midi cable can only handle 16 "guys".
You want more?  Get more midi ports.
My audigy sound module has 2 ports so it'll listen to and play 32 channels :)

A keyboard usually sends out ONE channel of notes/controls.
It can send out 2 or more if you config your keyboard to split one side of the
keyboard to one channel and the other side to another channel.
But usually, it's sending out on one channel.

Another keyboard could send on a different channel number.

These 2 keyboards could both feed into one sound module that plays a different
sound for each channel.

Or you can have one keyboard send two channels out and go to 2 sound modules.

That's where midi get's tricky.  Especially when there's a midi sequencer
(computer program) in the mix.

So what =I= do is limit myself to
   - play one keyboard live with it's internal sounds.  (no midi cables)
   - play the keyboard feeding the computer's midi sequencer feeding a
     sound card midi sound module
     (only one midi cable needed - keyboard's midiout to pc's midiin)
   - have the computer play the keyboard's internal sounds
     (midi cable from pc to keyboard - ANOTHER one, the other way:
      pc's midiout to keyboard[used as soundmodule]'s midiin)

Trust me.  I remember the olden days.  Midi cabling can get UGLY.

These days, most keyboards have a USB port to use instead of midi interfaces.
Handy since you don't need 2 midi cables (one for each direction) between your
synth and PC.
These will occasionally cause audio interference or latency.  But rarely.

Hey, less wires is better.  Keep it simple !!
________________________________________________________________________________

A sound module's main qualities are:

   - does it have enough GOOD sounds?
     go through the sounds and see if you'll want to USE them in a song.
     sometimes there a bunch of wonderful sounds, but you just won't use em.
     is there a GOOD metronome sound in the drum sounds that you can stand
     hearing OVER and OVER again ??

   - are these sounds dynamic?
     synth stands for synthesiser.  The sounds should be dynamic !!
     They should change (in a musically useful way) when you change the
     modulation wheel, expression pedal, keyboard pressure, etc, etc.
     When you play the keys hard, the sound should RING.
     When you play softly, the sound should be muted (filtered).

   - how many notes can it do max?  (polyphony)
     Usually, not a big worry.  Unless you're doing classical music and really
     care about the hold pedal keeping more than 32 notes going at once.
     Remember that stereo requires a polyphony of 2 - left sound n right one.
     Layering sounds is taking 2 sounds and playing em at the same time.
     Sounds good :)  Eats polyphony :(

   - can it load in new samples for me to create new sounds with?
     Used to be you had to buy a "sampler".
     An expensive synth with a cheap jack for an expensive microphone.
     To get new sounds into your synth.
     Now adaze, we usually leave THAT to professional audio gurus.
     And simply take their beautiful .WAV files and pop em in.
     Some sound modules can only play the samples that come from the factory
     in ROM (read only memory).  called ROMplers by some.

   - is it easy to tweak the sounds the way YOU want them to react?
     Maybe you hate to use the expression pedal.
     You want to use the modulation wheel instead.
     Maybe you think the sound needs to be filtered (toned down or muted) a bit.
     Maybe you need a crazy whacko freaky sound !!
     Sometimes that takes diving into the sound module's "sound architecture".
     Read the manual.  Is there one?  It's IMPORTANT !!
     Check the manufacturer's website and google.
     Or maybe you don't care about tweaking sounds.
     You're a player, not a creatin' composer.
     Trust me, you will WANT to dive into sound synthesis some day :)

   - can it listen to all 16 midi channels?  more than one port?
     As mentioned, a sound module usually has 16 midi channels.
     (16 sounds max at any given instant,
      but channels can change their sound whenEVER they want.)
     Extra ports mean 32 or 48 channels !!
     well, channel 10 is reserved for drums - more on that later.
     Imagine a band with 45 distinct instruments!  plus 3 full drum rigs!
     It'd probably sound terrible, but imagine the sheer power :)

   - zero latency?
     running a poorly written software sound module
     on an ooold pc can put an undesirable delay between
     your keypress start time and your note sounding starting time.
     That lag is called latency - it's bad.
     Make sure your hardware and software are fast enough so there's none of it.
     It WILL drive you insane.


Well, in the 80s there were tons of external hardware midi sound modules.
And they still make em i guess.
But the PC has come along and put MOST of em out of business.
A pc's midiin + a sound card (and their drivers) MAKE a sound module.
You've already got your keyboard hooked to your pc to use a decent midi
sequencer (like ditty:), right?

Why glom on a second piece of hardware when the pc can usually BLOW AWAY any
sound module you will EVER FIND ??

I use a Creative Audigy card for mine.  It's cheap.  It's pretty powerful.
You can add new sounds to it that you download (for FREE) on the web !!
(called soundfonts - .SF2 files)
Wayyyyy nicer than in the 80s - trust me :)

Or you can go the softsynth route - wierd little glitzy pc apps that hang off
one of the "big boy" sequencers (or a softsynth "host" of SOME sort).

I'm still not enlightened on these.  Got reading to do.
In the mean time, my Audigy works just fine.  (NO latency)
Enlightening me would be great if you don't mind :)

We'll talk more about sound module stuff in the "rig" page.


Soooooooooooooooooooo, hopefully you'll know what to ask the sales dudes at
Guitar Center (or wherever).

Chances are they won't know.  "Duuude !!  What IS poly aftertouch ??"

But at least you will.

And remember, after you buy whatever you buy, you WILL have regrets.
Gear Lust.
Get used to it...:)
________________________________________________________________________________

Here's my synth graveyard:



Kawaii KC 10 Spectra.
GREAT starter keyboard.  I still LOVE the way it looks.
But it's only 5 octaves, keys aren't weighted n the keys are a teeny bit narrow.
It's the first bit of sound hardware I ever bought and it sits in the closet
waiting for me to put it on a second tier.  I love that thing but it's in the...

graveyard



Yamaha TG 33 sound module.
This was my first sound module after I got sick of the Kawaii's sounds.
(Which were really pretty nice for that class of keyboard.)
Tried it at the store - loooved it.  Bought it.  Brought it home.
Found out that you could only tweak sounds, not add new samples.
It sucked.
Sold it fast.



Peavey DPM V3 sound module.
THIS was a great sound module.
You could upload 16 bit samples to this thing over midi.
It took foreeeeeeever, but worked.
GREAT effects on it.  WONDERFUL sound architecture.
It hit the graveyard when I got my Live/Audigy



Peavey SX sample recorder.
Bought this to sample sounds.  It sent samples to the V3.
Bought a mike.
But, well, sampling is A PAIN IN THE BUTT !!
Don't even try it unless you've got endless time, patience and brainpower.
(And a room with amazing acoustics, etc, etc.)



Creative Audigy 2 Notebook.
Thought I'd get this baby for my laptop.
Latency city.  Laptop cards aren't NEARLY as fast as desktop cards.
DON'T BUY ONE !!
Well, unless you have no desktop and don't mind latency :(



Latest casualty.  It's great.  But it's not great enough.
Wonderful all in one synth for a beginner (or pro for that matter).
But I wanted all 88 keys and WAY more controllers.
Sigh...  I miss it...  But not too much when I play my cp33 and pcr800:)