Here's a tip: Don't eat fried chicken before playing keyboards

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac'

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

Jake,
Congrats on the new Prophet! I owned an original for a while, but then it became too expensive to maintain! Currently have an original DX7, a Kurzweil K2000, an Ensoniq ESQ-M rack mount and a Farfisa Compact Duo.
For home recording, I run them into a Digidesign 002R 8x8 audio interface and run Pro Tools 9. It has 8 audio ins, 8 outs and stereo S/PDIF. There are plenty of USB interfaces that you can run Mac audio into that will also run Pro Tools 9 now. You may find that for recording, better to get an interface that you can just wire up all your keyboards directly vs. having to have a mixer and then select which synth you’re recording; that way instead of selecting ANALOG 5-6 to record, you select “Prophet” which when you’re trying to be creative is much more intuitive.

Software – I’ve been using Pro Tools now since 2000 and am fairly familiar with it; I’ve also used Performer, Studio Vision Pro (no longer around), Ableton Live, Reason, Logic, and even Garage Band. Garageband is actually pretty good – you get a bunch of good loops, and it’s essentially apple’s Logic “lite.” You can demo a lot of these; Live has a free download demo and they’re worth trying to see which one you like. The only other factor in deciding what software is if you’re collaborating with friends, it’s definitely easier if you all have the same software – sharing songs becomes a lot easier as otherwise you have to “bounce down” all your work to full audio tracks since different software handles MIDI differently. With Pro Tools, I currently use a lot of soft synths and Live as well, which like Reason you can run alongside Pro Tools for the best of both worlds.

On cheezy softsynths – really depends. I’ve been using Native Instruments Pro-53, which is a dead-nuts ringer for a Prophet 5, and the stock sounds are the original stock patches on it. Great thing is with all the buttons and knobs, getting your own sound takes only a few minutes. Same with my NI B4II, which is their Hammond emulator – grab some bars, tweak some settings, and sounds great. Yes, some soft synths are cheezy, but others let you have some great classics and new sounds at your fingertips. Key is, like on regular synths, to find your own sounds or make them.

Monitoring - I've been using a set of active monitors from Event Electronics - they're the Tuned Reference 6, and they sound good. Auralex makes a speaker isolation product called MOPADDs - great as they decouple your speakers from your desk so you get a better picture of the bass levels. Their GRAMMA amp floor isolation product is also a must for home recording - play your amp without everything else in the house rattling like crazy! I own 2 now.

Other musts to get for home recording:
Common Ground – sounds odd, but in homes, sometimes outlets in the same room are on different circuits; connecting synths on one outlet to your recording rig on another outlet will introduce the dreaded ground loop buzz. Usually this can be solved by plugging your power strip into one ground and having everything plugged into that.

UPS – I wouldn’t bother with fancy rack power strips that claim to “filter and clean” your power – just get a UPS, or uninterupptable power supply. I got one from MacMall (APC) and it takes in the house power, regenerates it as a pure sine wave, and then powers my gear. If my power goes out, I now have 5 minutes to save things (nice) but it also dropped the noise floor in the studio.

Ebtech Hum X - Power isolation transformer for when that old amp, keyboard, etc. is buzzing like crazy, even though you've got everything plugged into the same outlet at your home for common ground. Indispensible for gigs with sketchy power as well. They also make their Hum Eliminator, which sometimes, despite everything else, will be needed to get rid of that dreaded buzz.

Good headphones - I really like the AKG K271 - they sound good, but also seal off against leakage into vocal mics when recording vocals. I know this is a surf forum, but some of us do occasionally sing. Also gives you a different reference point than your monitors.

FX - depending on how powerful your Macbook and computer rig is, you may want to have an external effects device to take some of the processing power off your computer; you can get a Lexicon MPX500/550 used and you'll have amazing reverbs that you can process through your S/PDIF. I use this as my instrument reverb still and use McDSP Revolver for vocal reverb. Adding FX to your synths in your software program also means you can tweak them later; record them dry and then add to taste.

Acoustic treatment - even a little behind your computer/monitors can really make a difference. Can make your own or buy. This is an area I need to invest in. I like these guys - http://www.readyacoustics.com/ as their stuff has a high WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) and will give you a free analysis of what your room needs.

Hope this helps!

'65 Fender Tremolux, '74 Princeton; 77 Vibrolux Reverb; '81 Princeton Reverb
'65-66 Hilgen Basso Grande
Dr. Z MAZ 18 Jr. + 1x12 Cab
Various Telecasters and noise-making pedals
Farfisa Compact Duo

No problem! I've been doing MIDI keyboards with guitars since '86, so happy to pass on any tips.

You will want to get an external hard drive if you want to record audio; I have a Glyph external rack mount for Pro Tools, but in a pinch I've used the LaCie Rugged drives.

Avoid any other LaCie drives - they are junk and die quickly.

Have a back up plan where you back up any songs, etc. at least monthly. I've lost more than a few great takes over the years. With cheap drives being cheap, setting one up as a "time machine" on Apple macs is super easy and you'll not even know it's there -- until you need it.

Enjoy the soccer match; i have to get back to breaking in new speakers...

'65 Fender Tremolux, '74 Princeton; 77 Vibrolux Reverb; '81 Princeton Reverb
'65-66 Hilgen Basso Grande
Dr. Z MAZ 18 Jr. + 1x12 Cab
Various Telecasters and noise-making pedals
Farfisa Compact Duo

Here's a tip: Don't eat fried chicken before playing keyboards

..Or at least make sure you're not borrowing someone else's keys when you do this. Boy, was that guy from the Doobie Brothers mad.

--Crispy

And I just got a Doepfer Dark Time: http://www.doepfer.de/Dark_Time_e.htm

I'm starting to get obsessed with analog synth gear... I'd love to get a modular set up...

Oh well, no worries i've been digging in the great gazoole and found a bunch of interesting stuff.

The MicroKorg has some competition, the Novation MiniNova and the M-Audio Venom. I like way the MiniNova so easily spreads an input sample across the keyboard, i'm not sure the MicroKorg could do it so well. The Venom seems to be a highly aggressive dance oriented synth.

While Browsing the net i stumbled upon Ethnic synth keyboards, i wasn't aware such things existed so i'm glad to be able to explore them on youtube. In the lower price range the Casio AT-3 and AT-5 produce a brilliant range of sound and seem very popular.

Here's a youtube i found of some guy from who knows where.. giving 110%, having a real hoot in his living room. I'm sure some of these sounds could be used in surf music.
(Umut Açıkgöz plays a KORG PA 800)

Last edited: Jan 08, 2013 12:29:48

JakeDobner wrote:

No XL when I got mine, I definitely wouldn't buy that one. It isn't as analog synth flavored. More dancy.

I have a M-Audio Venom as well, just because it was $125, it is kind of cool. The software is fun.

There is just a ton of stuff out there that is affordable, I don't know much about any of it.

Wow! Great price for the Venom. That's almost as cheap as a midi controller keyboard. I'll keep lookin' cheers.

DannySnyder wrote:

Here's a tip: Don't eat fried chicken before playing keyboards

I disagree: the grease is where all the FUNK lives...and we all need more funk in this sad funkless world we live in...even the Surfers know this to be true and absolute.

Anyone ever play a Teisco organ? There's one for sale on my local craigslist for $400 obo (been on there for awhile, I wouldn't pay 400) and it's Teisco model "G" 61 key portable with the black bass keys, no expression pedal. I want to start learning 60s organ stuff and this looks pretty cool, but I wonder if it will sound too cheesy? The demos on youtube sound cool but that's youtube, everything sounds different in person. Just want to do some Doors, Animals, garage rock, and get a decent sound that isn't like a Toys R Us keyboard.

Yeah, presets are bad... at least pre-loading them with the instrument. People should be forced to make their own. I also quite like the original Minimoog, where you are forced to do everything manually.