SUBSIM Radio Room Forums



SUBSIM: The Web's #1 resource for all submarine & naval simulations since 1997

Go Back   SUBSIM Radio Room Forums > General > General Topics
Forget password? Reset here

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-05-22, 10:42 AM   #31
Skybird
Soaring
 
Skybird's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: the mental asylum named Germany
Posts: 40,340
Downloads: 9
Uploads: 0


Default

Thats a relief. If need be because I need that (height-adjustable secondary) table, I can store the piano away indeed. I was not sure that it was flat enough. It is - just so.




Yes, the doorhandle I had to change. But that door never gets closed anyway.
__________________
If you feel nuts, consult an expert.
Skybird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-05-22, 11:54 AM   #32
Onkel Neal
Born to Run Silent
 
Onkel Neal's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 1997
Location: Cougar Trap, Texas
Posts: 21,276
Downloads: 534
Uploads: 224


Default

Very cool. Is it a synthesizer or just a piano? I have been toying with the idea of getting a cheap synthesizer to play around with, make some original tracks for my videos, etc. I can read music but I never got far on the keyboard instruments.

PS: I know what you mean about losing interest in old hobbies/needing new stimulus. It's really distracting.
__________________
SUBSIM - 26 Years on the Web
Onkel Neal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-05-22, 04:34 PM   #33
Skybird
Soaring
 
Skybird's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: the mental asylum named Germany
Posts: 40,340
Downloads: 9
Uploads: 0


Default

Every e-piano is a synthesizer!

The difference between a keyboard and an e-piano: keyboards mostly have smaller keys, piano-keys are wider.

A good piano-action has a weighted hammer action and in case of Rolands even cheap models already: also escapement. Together that means that hitting the keys feels not like a home organ or keyboard, but an accoustic piano. Keyboards usually have keys that are "on or off", and feel completely different from those on a piano, they offer no dynamic. I would always go with an epiano, therefore. You can switch the keys to keyboard action, if you want (no dynamics, just on and off).

The sound characteristic of an e-piano's piano voices can be completely tuned and manipulated as if you where tuning a real accoustic piano to the demands of a professional pianist. At least the Rolands.

Roland is market leader for e-pianos, if you go for one, check them first. Roland also is THE great name in electronic music creation, they are market leader and pioneer. There is no way around them.

E-pianos can be set to "synthesizer" sounds as well, e-pianos, different accoustic pianos, natural sounds, effects, and so forth. The one I use has 370 voices! However, I stick to pianos, I am a beginner, cannot virtuously play a musical orgy on that thing. But its also nice to know there are a good jazzy bass when playing with split keys (bass on letf hand, piano on right hand...), or nice mellow sounds to combine one keystorke with two vopices: say a typical 80s e-piano and some mellow strings, giving you that typical Whitney Houston music style. And the French akkordeon makes me melting away in bitter-sweet melancholy...

I posted some videos above introducing the instrument I got. I am EXTREMELY HAPPY with it, have only good things to say about it. And the keyboard action is sensational, I cannot differentiate it from a piano. Onboard sound via speakers is 2x11W, that is marking above its price range.

However, I post another video on Roland, so that you know why you do not want to miss them out. The prices for their FP keyboards I find very fair.

I would ALWAYS opt for a model giving you blutooth MIDI for sound input and for data (that is two things). It nicely combines with a tablet, for notes, for software of any kind. I can, however, also use a Midi cable. Blutooth is the exception from the rule in this price range below 1000 coins.

If you are more new than experienced, two more features I found very worthwhile to make use of: the metronome is easy to start, because when practicing as a beginner, my tempi are all over the place. And the record and replay feature, very useful. when you learn a piece, you usually learn left hand first, then right hand, and then you put it together somehow. You can record one hand and then practice the other hand to the sound of the first. Easy to use, very useful.

Incredible bang for the buck:
https://www.roland.com/global/products/fp-30x/

A word on headphones. They need to match the power output of the source. Phones with high Ohms will not get loud if being used on a small MP-3 player. Phones with low Ohms will explode if being connected to a stage amplifier. For the keyboard I use, anything in the range of 35-45 Ohms should work allright. And the difference between consumer and studio/monitor headphones. The latter are being used for production, and there you have a need to not add anything to the sound of the given instrument in recording, nor take away anything from it. You want a neutral and realistic sound, only then the sound engineer who mixes the sounds can assess how good the used settings are. Thats means these headphones, moiitors/studio, sound very flat and thin when you listen to a full orchestra, I do not like their sound at all, its terrible - BUT: when using such a phone on a single keyboard only, it is brilliant! Thats why I have two headphones now: one for the keyboard, a monitor for 35 Euros, again by Roland, and a fuller, complexer phone for actually listening to music from orchestra. The differences can be extremely immense, do not underestimate them. I am happy with the Roland RH-5, its specs seem to match the keyboard's output well. Phones with more Ohms than this seem to not make every keyboard player happy, I read.

On Roland company and why its e-pianos are so good. They do some important details differently... The moderator obviously is a salesman, but he hits valid markings. The E-piano of my parents is a Yamaha, it has a better key action than home organ or a keyboard synthesizer, but it feels not as real as mine. The smaples used also are n ot as good. So, there are differences even within the same price segment.



Via app I can also use many effects and accoustic background noises, from natural sounds like flowing water and wind to machinery, explosions, rotors, weapons, etc. Even laughter. I like the applaus. The library has around 370 entries, only 56 of these can be accessed directly from the keyboard, for the rest you need an app.
__________________
If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

Last edited by Skybird; 07-06-22 at 12:07 AM.
Skybird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-05-22, 05:10 PM   #34
mapuc
Fleet Admiral
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Denmark
Posts: 17,716
Downloads: 37
Uploads: 0


Default

How could I forget. Many years ago I had a synthesizer who I bought from my nephew. I tried to learn playing on it..only with my right hand..I really tried to learn to play with both....but my left hand did the same as my right hand.

Secondly when I got Tinnitus and more Hyperacusis I could not play on it anymore.

Can't remember what happened with it.

Markus
__________________

My little lovely female cat
mapuc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-22, 08:59 AM   #35
Skybird
Soaring
 
Skybird's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: the mental asylum named Germany
Posts: 40,340
Downloads: 9
Uploads: 0


Default

Of no use to me, but it is stunning how simple it is these days to set up your own virtual band - with nothing more additional to your piano than just a device smaller than a musical notebook. Technology can be a marvel.

Android has stuff like that app, too, but thery are not as enriched in features, I playfully fooled around with one of them some weeks ago. Handling these apps is more like a game than a working app.

For pro musicians the to-go-to tablet is iOS, not Android.


It must not be that exact e-piano. Any keybopard allowing MIDI connection should work.

__________________
If you feel nuts, consult an expert.
Skybird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-22, 10:51 AM   #36
Aktungbby
Gefallen Engel U-666
 
Aktungbby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: On a tilted, overheated, overpopulated spinning mudball on Collision course with Andromeda Galaxy
Posts: 27,709
Downloads: 22
Uploads: 0


Default

Quote:
Of no use to me, but it is stunning how simple it is these days to set up your own virtual band - with nothing more additional to your piano than just a device smaller than a musical notebook. Technology can be a marvel.
Jeeze! U could start your own band: the Misanthrope Mozart Miscreant Mambos
__________________

"Only two things are infinite; The Universe and human squirrelyness; and I'm not too sure about the Universe"
Aktungbby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-22, 12:32 PM   #37
Skybird
Soaring
 
Skybird's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: the mental asylum named Germany
Posts: 40,340
Downloads: 9
Uploads: 0


Default

The Keyhackers Suicide Squad! The Tinnitussis! The The Noisy Perforators!
__________________
If you feel nuts, consult an expert.
Skybird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-22, 01:54 PM   #38
Moonlight
Admiral
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Fookhall Copse
Posts: 2,108
Downloads: 184
Uploads: 0


Default

If you practice a lot over the next year or two Skybird you might get an invite from Alice to come and play with her and her sister, it would be a dream come true for you to play the piano with those two talented ladies.



__________________
Moonlight is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-22, 02:22 PM   #39
Skybird
Soaring
 
Skybird's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: the mental asylum named Germany
Posts: 40,340
Downloads: 9
Uploads: 0


Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moonlight View Post
If you practice a lot over the next year or two Skybird you might get an invite from Alice to come and play with her and her sister, it would be a dream come true for you to play the piano with those two talented ladies.

And here we see very, very, VERY broken brains that are completely out of order!

I mean they pose with their tricks under ideal circumstances, but the question really is whether they could also do this while wearing mittens and being cooked in a big boiler by African cannibals?

They can't...?

You see what I mean. Braggerts, all of them!

And if I had such an expensive piano, I could play like that as well! Its all about money.




Serious, she is a marvellous pianist. It takes all life to get to that level. Tragic to know she suffers from MS. The Pavane is one of my favourites in classical music, but I did not know her version - its probably and easily the best version I have ever heard, an excellent and emotionally engaging perofmance that nevertheless is not even close to the risk of getting overly expressive and by that: kitschy. Superb! Thanks for posting it!
__________________
If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

Last edited by Skybird; 07-07-22 at 02:44 PM.
Skybird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-21-22, 05:19 AM   #40
Skybird
Soaring
 
Skybird's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: the mental asylum named Germany
Posts: 40,340
Downloads: 9
Uploads: 0


Default

I'm still at it, hacking the keys every day 2 or 3 times, every time 40-50 minutes or so. Things, timetables now have become more routine, but also more difficult, the old brain of mine finds it heavier than in past years to learn and memorize new stuff, think I need twice as long as before... First implementation of attempts at rythm, and improvising simpe slow melodies with simple triad chords and sevenths add the needed change from the more technical monotonous training needs and excercises I run every day. And sometimes, for half a minute or so, things fall all into their right places, and for a couple of - improvised - bars things suddenly sound great and beautiful and I wonder "Wowh, was that really me?" I think it is also important to fool around with just random "improvsations", just so that the brain can map the sound of chords to certain parts of the keyboard, hopefully later finding them again more intuitively, right now I must often break and think whether this or that combination might be closer to the chord sound I have on mind. Sometimes the left hand starts to move all by itself and finds the right chords that match what I do with the right hand, all without thinking, but after a few chords it all collapses again, like a house of cards,. and I sit there, clueless, and needing to resort my mind again. But these moments are rare, still, but are an immense motivation boost. And every playing of mine of course is at very slow pace. I sometimes combine grand piano sound with soft pad sounds, that adds a volume with pressed sustain pedal that deceives me into believing there is more substance and complexity in what I do than there actually is. I am VERY satisfied with the instrument I chosed, the keyboard action feels fantastic. Just five years ago or so this keyboard action was used only in their high priced models.

So, having my fun, and definitely staying engaged, but it is difficult.

Also following the course material I got, slowly, as I said earlier, it pulls me through, is good stuff. And no "Für Elise" anywhere, what a damn relief!
__________________
If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

Last edited by Skybird; 07-21-22 at 05:27 AM.
Skybird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-17-22, 09:08 AM   #41
Skybird
Soaring
 
Skybird's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: the mental asylum named Germany
Posts: 40,340
Downloads: 9
Uploads: 0


Default

Slowly progressing, and I am nearing completion of book one of nine. Were the past 7 weeks or so more a success or more a failure? Well, when I lived with my parents as a boy and teen, there was always a piano in the household (fun fact: my e-piano today sounds a lot better...), and sometimes I just spent some time fooling around with it a bit, even had one or two small pieces of simple melody in my "repertoire". Thats was nothing, just fooling around. After this time spent now I can say that the course I use makes a tremendous difference. It has led a basis for the later books to come, focussing on basic rythms, chords, simple triads, and kind of prioritizing triads over melody. That is not helpful if you want to learn more classical piano - and very helpful if you want to aim more at the ability to improvise. You would be surprised how many profesisonally trained pianists admit that despite their technical skill they find it hard to play without notes, playing free improvisations. My mum too simpyl cannot play without sheets, she gets stuck with whatever she tries after a few bars. Mind blockade, and lacking experience with free improvising chords - she cna only play with sheets. Its two VERY different worlds. The course, Piano for all, lends itself perfectly to the one world, and not too well to the other.

A basis has been laid on which to improve. Its difficult because my brain is not as fast anymore, but the pace nevertheless is right for me, and repetitions over time make any exercise I try easier and more automatic over time. I practice almost evey day, and on most days two or three times, 30-50 minutes. And i like whats going on. What keeps me engaged is that from week to week I see not giant, but undeniable progress. Piano is a very complex affair to get engaged with, and maybe best advise is to not think about reaching a final goal, but to understand that the way is the goal - and that this way can (and must?) be walked a whole life long, and certainly so at my advanced age.

With mistakes a lot, and at slow pace, and sometimes needing to take a second of break to think out my next "move", I can do simple, meditative impovisations already, simple melodic frames with the one hand, and matching triads with the other. I mmust nio longer randonly press keys to find the next amtchign sound, but start to have a feeling for where the next matching sound is located, and I hammer the key(s), and it sounds nice. The hands and muscles seem to get a memory of their own that keep information where this and that sound is to be found on the keyboard's landsacape, maybe a bit like in sports (muscle meory), I dont know, but maybe it indeed is just brain stuff getting rewired. The number of mismatching chords or notes that break the melodic bow, has started to drop, I produce less "garbage" and less "random" notes, it more often than five weeks ago results in something you can actually listen to without getting ear cancer. Simple, lovely, uncomplex tunes, improvised, maybe a bit naive and somewhat childiush, but hey, I am an absolute beginner, every time I play them they sound different, but there is less disharmonic error and more harmonic order in it all now despite that I improvise it every time I play. That is a tremendous motivation to stay engaged! Not the great art, but pleasing.



Where I struggle, is quick repositioning of the hands on the keyboard and so missing the next correct keys, also my tempi are all over the place and the wish to add rythmic structure collides with my need to be slow and even pause for a second at times to find the next matching triad and sevenths or a pleasing continuation of the melody I improvise. That is to be expected, I suppose, I am a beginner, and I can only cure this problem with practice, practice, practice.

The material I practice with, was the best choice I could make, I tried Skoove and Flowkeys meanwhile, and did not get along with them too well, maybe in a year or two, but for a beginner, it is not the right thing, at least not for me. I felt being turned into a robot. It killed the joy and the motivation. PianoForAll so far has not left me in need for a real teacher, because I had no questions. And I can recognise my faults myself, and know where I struggle especially. The teacher of it is a professional player, and he does some things differently - and better - than other piano computer courses. And as I see it, that difference is for best effect in the student. I absolutely intend to complete the full course. One book almost done, 8 more to follow, more diffcult than what I had so far. See you by the end of next year at the earliest.

My initial doubts have been answered, I think, after seven weeks I dare say so: whether this shot into the blue would be just a brief episode, or will turn into a long-time hobby. Well, the answer is: the latter. I love it, and a day I did not get to the keyboard starts to feel kind of incomplete. Anbd I ove the instrument I have chosen, it sounds and feels so very nice - even more so for that price. My father bought a cheaper one with less sophisticated keyboard and plain, smooth pastic keys, and he complains about the keys now in the heat feeling greasy from his fingertips sweat. A problem I do not share, mine, also plastic, feel like a piano, and feel like keys made of wood with a wooden (or as they say: ivory) surface. Sweating is a complete non-problem.


Interested to start your own thing? : For 40 coins, this is a steal, you cannot go wrong, you just cannot.

https://oldtimemusic.com/piano-for-all-review/

https://www.digitalpianoreviewguide....no-via-ebooks/
__________________
If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

Last edited by Skybird; 08-17-22 at 09:30 AM.
Skybird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-17-22, 09:34 AM   #42
mapuc
Fleet Admiral
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Denmark
Posts: 17,716
Downloads: 37
Uploads: 0


Default

Looking forward to see you post some beautiful piano music in our Music thread

Markus
__________________

My little lovely female cat
mapuc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-17-22, 09:46 AM   #43
Skybird
Soaring
 
Skybird's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: the mental asylum named Germany
Posts: 40,340
Downloads: 9
Uploads: 0


Default

Dream on.
__________________
If you feel nuts, consult an expert.
Skybird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-17-22, 10:19 AM   #44
Aktungbby
Gefallen Engel U-666
 
Aktungbby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: On a tilted, overheated, overpopulated spinning mudball on Collision course with Andromeda Galaxy
Posts: 27,709
Downloads: 22
Uploads: 0


Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird View Post
Dream on.
...and a little Igor Levit inspiration fer ya!
__________________

"Only two things are infinite; The Universe and human squirrelyness; and I'm not too sure about the Universe"
Aktungbby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-17-22, 10:41 AM   #45
Skybird
Soaring
 
Skybird's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: the mental asylum named Germany
Posts: 40,340
Downloads: 9
Uploads: 0


Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aktungbby View Post
..

I eyed to perform that for next christmas' Germans got talent show, but then decided to postpone it until my next life if then I can't get myself some Japanese war drums first.
__________________
If you feel nuts, consult an expert.
Skybird is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:34 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 1995- 2024 Subsim®
"Subsim" is a registered trademark, all rights reserved.