How does he do this?

[Jeremykeys]

I just love this guy's playing!
Hope you enjoy this too!

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of Jordan Rudess. I've met him a couple of times and he has been a perfect gentleman and really just the nicest guy on the planet. One thing that I've wanted to ask him though is, when he does a solo show, where do his backing tracks play back from? I know he can have them loaded up into his Korg Kronos but I'm not entirely sure that this is how he does it.

Does anybody have any idea?

Sorry for not having been around here for a little while but I recently moved. WE decided that since Christmas and New Years aren't stressful enough we'd move in between the 2 days. Yee Haw! Fun all 'round!

 

[CowboyNQ]

Rudess is a wonderful player. I don't know the answer to your question (there's so many ways he could potentially be doing it), but thanks for sharing the video in any case. I'll need to block out a spare 90 minutes to watch it all now!

The truth is that with the way tech is these days, triggering backing tracks is pretty darn easy!

 

[Becky]

He is exceptionally good! Thanks so much for sharing that video, I must find time to watch it all.

WE decided that since Christmas and New Years aren't stressful enough we'd move in between the 2 days.

Eek, sounds stressful! Hope it all went well and that you're settling in to your new home.

 

[Biggles]

He is a keyboard God.

 

[happyrat1]

I prefer his work with the Liquid Tension Experiment...

Gary

 

[Jeremykeys]

I;ve seen Dream Theater numerous times and he never failed to amaze me.
A few years ago her had a Masterclass up at Cosmo Music. I didn't get to take the piano lessons, Boo Hoo! but I did get to catch his show and ask a few questions. I don't know why I never thought to ask how he does his backing tracks.

 

[happyrat1]

General consensus from the scuttlebutt I've seen in the comments sections of his youtube videos pretty much says he programs the changes as setups in his Kronos and activates and steps thru them withh pedal presses.

But as cowboy said earlier, in an age of iPads and computer hookups there's literally dozens of ways he could approach this and make it work.

Gary

 

[Jeremykeys]

Hi Gary! I'm quite familiar with program changes being done with a foot pedal. I also have a Korg Kronos and this feature is one of the coolest. In fact, any held over notes still retain all of the effects even though the new played keys have the effects for the new sound. Korg calls it "Smooth Sound Transition". You can call up a screen on the touch screen called "Set List". The screen now has anywhere from 4 to 16 blocks in which you can have whatever sound you want. When you use your foot switch, it just advances to the next block which is a new sound.
Say for example you have an organ sound up. You can hold a chord, tap the footswitch and now the keyboard plays the new sound. Say a lead sound for example. But the organ chord is still playing as long as you hold the keys. You can even change the Leslie speed on it.
It's very cool!
Still trying to get my studio and home together.

 

[happyrat1]

My Kurzweil PC3K8 can pretty much do the same things. It just doesn't have the fancy schmancy touchscreen or the 2.5 minute bootup time

Gary

 

[Jeremykeys]

Cool!

 

[Rayblewit]

I prefer his work with the Liquid Tension Experiment...

FANTASTIC! AWESOME MUSIC!
First time I have ever seen it.
Thanks Gary.
Loved the Roland on the swivel.
Cheers ray

 

[Jeremykeys]

You're very welcome!
Glad you enjoyed it!