Interesting and hilarious article from Seattle Rex. I say “hilarious” because Apple would rather pay lawyers loads of money for a court session, instead of spending a few hundred dollars on a replacement computer for the consumer.
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Technology
The iPad was always the Apple product I really didn’t want. I saw it strictly as an entertainment device for watching movies, gaming, and video chatting. My whole iPad philosophy has completely changed since the announcement of the new iPad last week. I’ve always wanted a tablet to organize and display all my sheet music. The previous generation iPads did not have a high enough resolution display to accomplish this. With the introduction of the retina display in the new iPad, I really want to get one to replace most of my pop, showtunes, contemporary sheet music library. I would love to show up to a gig with a keyboard, a stand, and an iPad.
The availability of accessories and apps dedicated to this purpose makes things even better. ForScore is an app that acts as a sheet music library that catalogues PDF files. AirTurn makes bluetooth-compatible pedals that can be used to turn pages in ForScore. König & Meyer makes an iPad microphone stand attachment. This is really my dream setup for casual gigs – an iPad with all my sheet music mounted on a microphone stand with a foot controller to turn pages.
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It seems like every other number in The Wedding Singer uses sounds derived from FM synthesis. The most famous FM synthesizer is the Yamaha DX7, and was probably used on every pop record in the 1980′s. It only makes sense that The Wedding Singer, an 80′s pop rock musical, contains many classic DX FM sounds.
“If I Told You” is the big love song in the show, and the Keyboard 1 calls for a FM Rhodes patch for the whole song. FM Rhodes, DX Rhodes, and DX EP are interchangeable terms. Just know that you’re looking for that cheesy FM sound with a generous amount of beautiful digital reverb.
For “If I Told You”, there are two programming choices for the Motif XF. You could simply use the GALAXY DX preset as is, or you can tweak it a little. I personally increased Element 5 a bit to give the sound a slightly more bell-like quality. The resulting voice sounds exactly like the patch used on the Broadway Cast Recording.
Click here to view programming suggestions for the rest of the show!
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It just so happens that all the sounds needed for this number are available as presets on the Yamaha Motif XF. The two necessary patches needed for “Move That Thang” are the following. I placed these voices in a Performance.
- HOUSE PIANO
- DRUMS
For HOUSE PIANO, I decided to layer ROCK PIANO (PRE1 A02) with HOUSE PIANO (PRE1 A08). HOUSE PIANO by itself sounded a tad too aggressive and bright. Layering it with ROCK PIANO gives it more fullness, and it just sounds much better. For my patch, volume levels are at 105 and 115 for ROCK PIANO and HOUSE PIANO, respectively.
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After living with Mainstage 2.1.3 for over a year, I’m finally updating to version 2.2. I’ve been meaning to do it for a while, but kept on putting it off for unknown reasons. Maybe I thought it would be too much of a hassle. That’s the attitude I’ve always had toward updating audio and design software. They all take up so much hard drive space, and I end up thinking it’s just a huge process. It’s really not. Anyway, I’ve just updated to Mainstage 2.2, and I’m currently redownloading and reinstalling all my extra sample content and audio loops just to be safe and sure.
Mainstage is a great piece of software for live performers – keyboardists, guitarists, and bassists included. It used to be part of Logic Studio, but is now available as a standalone app on the Mac App Store for $29. Yeah, it’s a really good deal. Optional content is also available as a free download inside Mainstage.
I’m not completely sure what’s been changed since version 2.1.x, but there haven’t been any mind-blowing features in this version. I’m guessing 2.2 fixes a few bugs, and is now officially a Mac App Store app.
Update: Okay, I found some information on changes for version 2.2. As I suspected, it’s mostly a maintenance update. There are a few updates for hardware controllers, as well as enhanced flexibility with SysEx messages. New auto-assignment support templates are also present. Finally, Mainstage 2.2 can now take advantage of “Macs with four or more processor cores”. Yay! This is great because I suspect my next laptop will be a quad-core MacBook Air (whenever that happens). Just imagine it…a lightning fast MacBook Air with a huge ThunderBolt external hard drive to hold sound libraries.
Mainstage 2.2 release notes can be found here.
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