Late bloomer

[Travst]

I've been getting into keys of late after 40 years playing guitar. Back in the day, keys were so hideously expensive that I never gravitated towards them even though I found them interesting. I read drum scores and am now learning to truly read music. My gear consists of a JX-8P and an Arturia controller with a JV-1080 on the other end. Everything is running into Reaper through a Saffire Pro 24 interface. I've worked with MIDI drum tracks, so I have some familiarity there. On the guitar side, I have a small room full of varied gear.

One observation that I've made after playing with the synths for a bit is that guitarists spend a great deal of money to achieve a slightly different tone. Keyboardists can spend the equivalent of a decent guitar's cost and get a whole palette of tones.

 

[The Y_man]

On the down side, I find keyboards tend to die much quicker than guitars! Internal batteries die, circuitry goes bung, mechanical components die (keys, sensors, buttons...)

My $300 guitar from 30 years ago is still going fine! ... and you can always replace strings, pickups, bridge, nuts, frets.... Much harder to replace components on a keyboard (eg with a brocken oscillator or even a broken key)

The Y-man

 

[YeahDoIt]

I like having a keyboard in the same room with my guitar rig. Sometimes I turn on a keyboard drum track and play guitar along with it, or switch between keyboard and guitar while the drums are playing.

 

[Travst]

Yes, there's no doubt that keys need more maintenance as they age. I'm planning to clean up the JX and work on the aftertouch this weekend. Fortunately, after working on many guitars and amps, I'm comfortable in the world of electronics.

One of my DIY amps:

A '67 Reverberocket II that was brought back to life:

A Tele I build for the TDPRI competition two years back:

My tweed and rattlesnake Tele:

And so on. I love to work on gear. It's much better than yard work or all the other stuff that I could be doing instead.

 

[Becky]

A belated hello and welcome from me!

 

[MikeyParent]

One observation that I've made after playing with the synths for a bit is that guitarists spend a great deal of money to achieve a slightly different tone. Keyboardists can spend the equivalent of a decent guitar's cost and get a whole palette of tones.

And time. I spend WAY more time trying to duplicate tones than I do actually practicing. It saddens me.

 

[Travst]

And time. I spend WAY more time trying to duplicate tones than I do actually practicing. It saddens me.

That's a problem for guitarists as well, particularly if they have a large pedalboard. When I practice, I spend the first ten minutes on warmup, then work on sight reading, then new material, then work on material I already know, then doodle around. I have to resist the temptation to fiddle with knobs and sliders. That's a reward at the end when I know the song.