Friday, May 22, 2020
Hello Again, Hello
Hi. It's been a while. How are things? I hope you're well.
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- Acoustic Set
- You're Scaring Me To Death (Love Theme from the Motion Picture "Summer Rage")
- Midnight Matinee
- Invitation
- Love Is A Dying Art
- There Must Be Some Way Out
- Tonight You Cried
- How Can You Go On Loving That Man?
- Ghost Of A Bridge
- I Can't Believe I Fell In Love With You
- DISCOGRAPHY
KERIQUE (1988) Songs: What Could It Hurt?, Things You Know, Invitation, Need, Always Start Again, Sweet Little Jennifer, Yes Girl, Let Go (Of The Love You Lost), Nightwish.
EXILE BY DEGREES (1989) Songs: Introduction/I Can't Believe I Fell In Love With You, Good Morning (Welcome To The Dream), Destination, My Baby Blue, There Must Be Some Way Out, Agony, Too Late For You, Short Story, My Heart Won't Do You No Harm, Hello Its Me.
INSTRUMENTALS (1989, unreleased) Songs: Texture 1, Texture 2 (the Train), Texture 3, Texture 4.
FROM THE ST. GEORGE SESSIONS (compilation, remixes) (1989) Songs: What Could It Hurt?, Too Late For You, Destination, Agony, Texture 2 (the Train), Let Go (Of The Love You Lost), Nightwish, Introduction/I Can't Believe I Fell In Love With You, Invitation, Gloralyn, Things You Know, There Must Be Some Way Out, Texture 3, Yes Girl, Always Start Again, My Heart Won't Do You No Harm.
THE IDES OF MARCH DEMOS (1996, unreleased) Songs: It's Coming Through, Love Is A Dying Art, Midnight Matinee, Destination, I'm Gonna Think It Over, Time Has Taken Everything From Me, The Raindancer, And When I Fall, The Woman Tells A Lie, Call Of The Wild
Original Score, CLTP Production of THE RAINMAKER (2003)
- LOCAL BANDS AND MUSICIANS
- KARIS' MUSICIAN FRIENDS
- Chris Cox
- Gigi Love
- Michael DeGreve
- I've been very fortunate to meet and know so many talented people. Check out their websites and hear what they have to offer!
- I've known Chris since high school. We trashed a hotel room together on a speech and debate trip. And got away with it. Very rock and roll. Now he's an internationally respected deejay and remix producer. And he's great at it. He also used to play a mean guitar back in the day...
- I met Gigi in college. She has a tremendous voice and was already a force to be reckoned with. She's even better now.
- Michael is somewhat of a local legend. I recorded a series of demos with him in the late nineties (many of the songs that will appear eventually on my forthcoming album), and he was always friendly and encouraging.
- MY GUITAR RIG:
- Takamine Limited Edition Custom EF451DLX
- Acoustic Guitar with Spruce Top, Rosewood Back and Sides, Maple Neck, Ebony Fingerboard, and Onboard Pickup system.
- Gibson Les Paul Custom Black Beauty
- This was the guitar I bought that felt like a lifestyle upgrade. In a way, I felt I had earned it for having played guitar for over thirty years. And by saying that, I'm not claiming to be great at it, but I can play well enough to accompany myself and even toss off an occasional solo.
- Fender Roland-Ready Stratocaster
- Purchased in the late '90's, this guitar allows me to access the impressive modeling technology from Roland.
- J. B. Player Strat copy
- My first electric. Purchased from an elderly clerk at Maytan's Music Center in Carson City, Nevada about two months before he dropped dead in the store. An inexpensive beginning guitar, it nontheless has a very funky feel that makes playing it a lot of fun. I hot-rodded it by adding a Roland GK-2A pickup and a set of EMG pickups with active electronics. Maybe the coolest $300 guitar on the planet.
- Fender American Vintage 1962 Precision Bass
- The same model James Jamerson played on all of those great Motown recordings. Sounds great plugged directly into the board. For me, the bottom end begins and ends here.
- Godin LGXT Black Pearl
- An upgrade from my Roland-Ready Stratocaster.
- Epiphone Explorer
- I always wanted a white Explorer just like Bill Spooner of The Tubes. Gibson wasn't making them for the longest time, so I bought the Epiphone.
- Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus 2x12" 120-watt Stereo Combo Amp
- Roland's JC-120 amplifier is legendary for its clean, sparkling sound and true-stereo swirling chorus.
- Bose L1 Model II with B2 Bass Module and T4S ToneMatch Mixer
- This is what I bring to my acoustic gigs.
- Dunlop Fuzz Face
- A reproduction of the Dallas Arbiter fuzz from the 1960's, with the warmth of germanium transistors. A great little fuzz pedal.
- Sovtek Big Muff Pi
- This Russian-built fuzz pedal was the first stomp-box I ever bought. I didn't really like the sound of it at first, but in retrospect I realize that I probably wasn't liking the sound of the crappy little Gorilla practice amp that I was playing it through. Listening to it now, it sounds great and offers a great alternative to the Fuzz Face.
- SR&D Rockman Distortion Generator
- Somewhat limited in what it does, what this rack-mount unit lacks in versatility it makes up for in tone. You can't make it sound bad.
- Ibanez Limited Edition Hand-Wired Tube Screamer
- Phenomenal little blues pedal. Tasteful, musical distortion.
- ProCo Rat II
- A great, all-purpose distortion pedal that is built like a tank and is loaded with tone.
- Dunlop Slash Crybaby Wah
- I bought a regular wah pedal about twenty years ago and was disappointed with the narrow frequency response. I just couldn't get a satisfying sound out of it, and ended up giving it away. This pedal gives me the wah-wah sound that I was looking for.
- Analog Man Bi-Chorus
- I can't even begin to tell you how many chorus pedals I checked out before deciding to go with this one. No regrets. Best chorus I've heard, and when I use the stereo option, the result is a rich and creamy tone. Works great in conjunction with some distortion.
- MXR Phase 100
- Nice 1970's spacey tones are available, but this pedal contains broad range of tones to play with.
- Dunlop Uni-Vibe
- Nice, trippy little modulation pedal offering the classic sounds of some of rock and roll's first astronauts.
- Electro-Harmonix Memory Man Deluxe
- State-of-the-art analog delay pedal that puts cold and sterile digital delays to shame.
- Keeley Compressor
- Definitely helps to make the most of clean tone, but I find myself using it on almost everything.
- Chicago Iron Octavian
- Coupled with some great fuzz, this little pedal has become one of the key elements to my sound. Not as shrill at most of the other octave pedals I tried, this one has a warmth that works great with some wah and doesn't sound as brittle as some of the classic octave pedals.
- MXR EVH Flanger
- Great airplane-taking-off modulation that helps to punctuate solos, and subtler sounds that can be used throughout an entire song.
- SR&D Rockman Guitar Compressor
- Honestly, this came with the SR&D Distortion that I bought. I don't really like it, I never use it, I think it's defective, and I probably shouldn't even include it on this list. The Keeley Compressor does everything I need a compressor to do.
- Roland VG-8
- Amazing device that uses modeling synthesis to create an incredible variety of sounds. A Swiss Army Knife of tonal possibilities, with fantastic features like alternate guitar tunings available at the push of a button. This is the only device I've ever carried with me to a live performance - so far.
- Roland GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer
- Still learning this one. I like to stack sounds from this with the VG-8.
- Roland GI-10
- I plug my guitar into this, and I can control my keyboards and synthesizers. Pretty cool. Also has the best guitar tuner I've ever used. Requires some effort to get it up to speed, as pitch-tracking technology has a reputation for being problematic, but I've been pretty lucky with mine. It does what Roland claimed it would do.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWoWeosU7qyihRFCyiU2h1T9JRaxQZuRXCRPP1WBBMQD5CXnSc6yvB7k91SQiC1A0D0cJEQhzXXBhkDbA3Plpy8B15N33rVlV5ZUxOsT_mzGKzjV4yPVV1F-LYwE5BYbD5-FJXq8W4fhT/s1600/plasma2.JPG")
- Gamechanger Audio Plasma Pedal High Voltage Distortion Pedal
- Holy crap. Technically a guitar pedal, but for me this really shines on synths. Speaking of synths...
- MY KEYBOARD RIG:
- RHODES VK-1000
- My first serious keyboard. I always loved the jazzy, metropolitan sound of the Fender Rhodes keyboard. It's that mid-1970's keyboard sound that you can hear on "Still Crazy After All These Years," "How Deep Is Your Love," "Takin' It To The Streets," "Babe," "Rich Girl," and almost all of Steely Dan's stuff. And now you'll be able to hear it on my stuff, too. It contains a tonewheel organ emulator, with features including 76 weighted keys, drawbars for realtime control of the organ tones, and additional patches that includ other piano/synth tones and Rhodes sounds.
- One of the first synthesizers I ever knew about. When Moog did a reissue, I had to have one. Pure Analog. The Minimoog is probably most famous for its excellent analog sound and arguably the best filters in a portable synth, and is responsible for some of the warmest and best analog synth bass, lead and whistle sounds ever. Its control panel can lay flat or propped up perpendicular to the keyboard. It also has a great wood casing. Very rugged. A very versatile synth, useful in all styles of music.
- Roland JD-800
- The JD-800 was Roland's answer to half a decade of hard-to-program synthesizers. Covered in sliders that act as dedicated editors just like a classic analog synth, the JD-800 is an extremely programmable and hands-on digital synthesizer. It is also an interesting and great sounding digital synth with incredible flexibility and control. Interesting story behind this one. I went to my local Roland dealer to ask about this keyboard, and they had never heard of it. Yes, a certified Roland dealer had never heard of the keyboard that, at that exact moment, was the flagship keyboard of their entire product line. Once they saw the price tag for the item (in a catalog), they started telling me how important it would be for me to buy it through a local dealer. Their reasoning, and I quote, was that "for a complicated keyboard like the JD800, it would be important for me to have a local resource for technical support." Just how valuable do you suppose the technical support would be for an item that they had never even heard of until I asked about it? Shmucks. Anyways, it's a great all-purpose digital synth with analog controls, and has been Paul Shaffer's main axe ever since it was first released.
- Roland VK-7
- My main keyboard. The VK-7 is a combo organ from Roland which uses proprietary "Virtual ToneWheel" sound generation technology to emulate the vintage organ sounds of the '60s and '70s—complete with drawbars, rotary speaker simulation and amp overdrive effects. Roland applied its modeling synthesis to classic rock's most formidable warhorse - the Hammond Organ. Key clicks. Drawbars. Harmonic leakage. Leslie speaker. Green Onions. Chest Fever. Gimme Some Lovin'. Whiter Shade of Pale. I can't even tell you how much I love this thing. Expect to hear a lot of it on my new stuff.
- Yamaha KX-5
- The portable. The KX5 is a 37-note remote MIDI controller with velocity and aftertouch sensitivity. A ribbon controller is used for pitch and mod effects. There's also unison, sustain, portamento buttons and a breath controller input. No onboard sounds, but it can control any of the sounds from any of my keyboards and synths. Lightweight, functional, convenient, and now it has a sort of cool, retro nerdy 80's feel. Strap one on and feel like Howard Jones. Hey, Howard Jones friggin' rules.
- AKAI Z8
- The Z8 Sampler from Akai Professional was released in 2002 with a ground breaking set of specs. For the first time a hardware sampler offered 24 bit/96 khz resolution and a removable front panel LCD screen to make editing a lot easier. Hardware samplers are considered somewhat obsolete now that software samplers are doing the same thing, but software samplers can tax the memory of the computer they run on, especially if that computer is also running digital recording software. Call me old school, but I prefer to have a standalone box that allows my computer to focus on the recording process, and this monster is so powerful that I can run huge sample programs with the highest audio quality and sample variability.
- AKAI CD-3000
- My first sampler, the one that allowed me to access vast sound libraries on CD-ROM, and thus a vast variety of instruments, including rare and obscure, from all over the world. The Akai CD3000 was the first and only sampler to include a built in CDROM drive. Not only can it load sounds from CDROM in a variety of formats, it can also sample directly from audio CDs entirely in the digital domain.
- YAMAHA TX816
- An analog behemoth. Takes the most versatile synthesizer of the 1980's, multiplies it by eight, and puts them in a rack. One of the most popular digital synths ever was the DX7 from Yamaha, released in 1983. It featured a whole new type of synthesis called FM (Frequency Modulation). It certainly is not analog and it is difficult to program but can result in some excellent sounds! The TX816 is a monster of DX and FM digital synthesis. It is a unique system in that it is a rack unit that could take up to eight TF1 modules. A TF1 module is basically a DX7 condensed down to a single circuit board with almost no front panel controls. Definitely designed for use with external hardware and software controllers the TX816 allows you to easily carry around up to eight DX7s!
- ROLAND JP-8080
- The blue box. Different synthesizer manufacturers seem to create different sounds, not unlike how different electric guitars have unique sonic properties in spite of the fact that all of them stretch strings across wood. The JP-8080 Analog Modeling Synthesizer Module offers an advanced Analog Modeling sound engine with 10-note polyphony, powerful External Audio Synthesis unlike anything on the market today, a unique built-in Voice Modulator, and Smartmedia storage capability--all in a cool, retro-styled 6U rack-mount module with tons of knobs and sliders for easy sound shaping. Incredibly powerful synthesizer.
- ROLAND MKS-7 SUPER QUARTET
- The MKS-7 Super Quartet is a multitimbral synth module with dedicated sections. The Melody section: 2 voice polyphony, 100 presets; Chord section: 4 voice polyphony, 100 presets; Bass section: monophonic, 20 presets; Rhythm section: 11 PCM sounds. The sound and architecture of the Melody, Chord and Bass sections are the same as the Juno 106 synthesizer. The Rhythm section offers up a few basic electronic rock drum sounds borrowed from the TR-707. The beauty of using this sound module is that all 4 sections are available at once. Drums, bass, leads and pads can all play independent parts and patches together making this a very nice all-in one vintage Roland tone module. It all started with this one. When, way back in 1986, I heard a couple of employees at Bizarre Guitar in Reno, Nevada wringing this baby out to see what it could do, I realized that I could put together my own songs with this device and the right software. Pioneering in it's day, the Super Quartet's polyphonic capabilities and built in drum samples were considered incredibly powerful, and pointed the way for almost every MIDI expander module that followed. This baby convinced me that I could do it.
- KORG WAVESTATION SR
- Another powerful synthesizer, this one from Korg. The Wavestation SR is a repackaged Wavestation designed to provide you with all the Wavestation sounds you could ever ask for in a more compact and less expensive MIDI Module. It is a 1-unit rackmount tone module that has all the raw power and sounds of the famous WavestationEX and A/D synths!
- Another Korg, from the M Series. Released after the Korg M1, the M3R is a stripped-down budget version of Korg's most popular synthesizer at the time. It uses the same AI synthesis data, but the patch structure is different.
- ROLAND U-220
- Early 90's Roland synthesis with its own unique feel. The Roland U-220 is a rack-mount version of the U-20, a digital synthesizer that uses ROM samples of pianos, brass, strings, bass, drums, etc.
- OBERHEIM MATRIX 1000
- The Matrix 6 was one of the last few synthesizers from Oberheim to come out during the mid-eighties following the classic OB-series. The Matrix 6 utilized high-tech but less expensive digital and midi features and still retained a totally analog sound. It did this by using DCOs (digitally controlled oscillators) to provide stability, programmability and more. All the Matrix synthesizers featured Matrix Modulation which allows for extremely wild virtual patching for almost unlimited range of sounds and modulation capabilities! The analog Matrix 1000 is essentially 1,000 Matrix 6 patches in a single-space compact rackmount MIDI module. An amazing synth from now-defunct Oberheim. Thick, fat sounds. I tell you, I love this synth.
- The TG33 is a digital synthesizer that employs frequency modulation (FM) synthesis combined with low-fi (12-bit) AWM ROM samples. However, this machine is not low quality (especially for the electronica-oriented musician). Its preset sounds are a bit thin, however using the joystick controller you can manipulate and combine the 12-bit samples with the any of the 256 FM vector voices. This gives it a range of tone and sound that is as dynamic and mysterious as other vector synths such as the Korg Wavestation and ProphetVS. Vector synthesis in a nice, tabletop module. Great for gritty, lo-fi sounds.
- The Odyssey essentially gives you a simplified hard-wired ARP 2600 in a much smaller and affordable package. The Odyssey is a 2-oscillator analog synth (with duo-phonic capability) and it sounds really nice. The Odyssey comes well equipped with all the tweakable features and analog goodness you'd expect: a resonant low pass filter, ADSR envelopes, sine or square wave LFO, and a sample-and-hold function. Oh, my.
- True Analog 12-Voice Polyphonic Desktop Synthesizer with 4 FX Engines, 2 OSCs and LFOs per Voice, 3 ADSR Generators, 8-Channel Modulation Matrix, 32-Step Control Sequencer, Tablet Remote Control and Built-In Wifi! Nice.
- The Prophet-6 is Dave Smith's tribute to the poly synth that started it all - the Sequential Prophet-5. But it's not simply a reissue of a classic. The Prophet-6 takes the best qualities of the original Prophet-5 - true voltage-controlled oscillators, filters, and amplifiers - and adds enhancements such as studio-quality effects, a polyphonic step sequencer, an arpeggiator, and more. Yeah, baby.
- The sound engine for the OB-6 draws inspiration from Tom Oberheim's original SEM, which is what made his 4-voice and 8-voice synths so popular. The OB-6 has two discrete VCOs along with a sub-oscillator per voice. The 2-pole, state-variable, resonant filter is definitely inspired by classic Oberheim designs while the all-analog signal path is completed by VCAs. Jealous yet?
- The TR-8 is a performance rhythm machine that melds the legendary sound and vibe of the TR-808 and TR-909 with features and functions for the modern age. Genre-defining sounds, classic effects, unprecedented live pattern manipulation, and solid, intuitive performance controls. Blip Blorp.
- One of the very best drum machines ever. It has excellent sounds which can be expanded by adding additional sound cards (808 and 909 cards). Great rock, electronic, ethnic and industrial style drumkits! Bang.
- The Fusebox is a compact synth playground, offering much of the fun, flexibility and sound of a suitcase modular, but with the convenience and relative accessibility of an all‑in‑one synth. The overall character has a Oberheim SEM feel, with echoes of other Analogue Solutions synths like the Nyborg. It is unmistakably analogue, always having a slightly untamed edge. Raw and gritty, but with a sweet spot.
- Behringer's Neutron is a semi-modular synth, which means it features a normalled signal path that will produce sound without any patching. But when you're ready to roll up your sleeves and get serious, start throwing patches and let the creativity begin. Where most semi-modulars offer some degree of patchability, Neutron's 56-point patchbay offers flexibility on par with many fully modular synthesizers. In essence, you're wiring up the signal paths of your synth, overriding the manufacturer's choices with patch cords that can connect to patch points within the instrument, or externally to other gear. I bought two.
- An almost perfect Sequential Circuits Pro-One replica with patch points for the Eurorack format. Yup.
- A MIDI-enabled reproduction of the classic Korg synthesizer, the semi-modular MS-20. (see below)
- A faithful reproduction of the cult classic vintage analog English monosynth.
- An analog desktop synthesizer inspired by the Octave Cat synthesizer, using the same SRM II circuitry with matched transistors and JFETs.
- The Moog Mother-32 is an intuitive and expandable semi-modular synthesizer that adds raw analog sound, powerful sequencing and extensive interconnectivity to any creative, electronic or modular ecosystem. I have four of them. DFAM presents an expressive hands-on approach to percussive pattern creation. I picked up two of them.
- Sirin, "The Analog Messenger Of Joy" is a limited-production analog synthesizer module based on the legendary Moog Taurus Bass sound engine. I grabbed two of them.
- The Minitaur is an inconspicuously compact, subharmonic bass machine designed to effortlessly integrate into any performance and computer-based music solution. The Minitaur effortlessly does one thing above all others… wall splitting analog BASS.
- The Korg MS-20 Mini keeps things compact with a semi-modular synth that recreates the original monophonic synthesizer from 1978. Although it is 86% of the original size it retains the iconic look and Korg also made sure that the circuitry inside is as close as possible to the original. The Mini has two oscillators with ring modulation, envelope generators with hold and delay as well as a VCA that stays true to the original, but with less noise.
- MiniBrute 2S unites the experimental nature of modular gear with the expressive, vital sound of a contemporary analog synth to create a truly awe-inspiring hybrid.
- An analog bass line synthesizer that's essentially a clone of Roland's TB-303 from 1982.
- The blue Behringer MS-1-BU is a faithful recreation of the monophonic Roland SH-101.
- The Vocoder VC340 is a clone of the classic Roland VP-330 paraphonic 10 band vocoder and string machine, a unit no longer manufactured that currently costs up to $4000 on the used market.
- The Behringer Model D Analog Synthesizer is for the most part a dead ringer for the original 1970s Minimoog, but with some extra features.
- The RD‑8 is a true analogue recreation of Roland's classic TR-808 drum machine.
- The Proteus 1 is an economical one-space module consisting of your basic rock and pop sounds. It has 4 MB of sounds from the Emulator III library such as samples of pianos, organs, strings, horns, guitars, basses, drums, Latin percussion, and more all at your fingertips.
- Proteus 2 is identical to the Proteus 1 in most every way except that it has 4 MB of purely orchestral sounds - which also happen to come from the Emulator III library.
- The Proteus 3 is identical to the previous Proteus models except that it features an ethnic World set of sounds. It's full of 16-bit samples (4 MB expandable to 8 MB via an XR upgrade) of shofars, flutes, celtic harps, tablas, tamburas, banjos, didjeridoos, bagpipes, etc.
- The Procussion is a Proteus-era drum & percussion MIDI sound module released in 1991. It's a 32 voice multi-timbral sample based synthesizer with 4 MB of 16-bit percussion samples, selected from the Emulator III sound library and stored in ROM. There are hundreds of drums, percussion, mallets, vibes, etc. and they are all fully editable!
- The PROFORMANCE/1 comes standard with 15 different preset piano sounds: grand piano, acoustic and electric basses, two electric pianos, tone-wheel organ, and vibes. In addition, it has a user-definable keyboard split point, which is used to access two different sounds at once.
- The Vintage Keys sound module features classic analog synths and keyboards ranging from Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, Hammond B3 organs, Prophet, Minimoog D, Oberheim and ARP analog synthesizers, including Mellotron strings, choir and winds, drum samples, and also classic first generation Fairlight and Yamaha instruments.
- The E-MU UltraProteus is a Z-plane synthesizer with 16MB of ROM samples comprised of five preset banks.
- The FB-01 is simply an inexpensive, 8 part multitimbral digital FM synth module.
- A module with sounds like the popular D-50. It uses the same basic LAS type digital synthesis to create its sounds. And it has some rhythm presets that sound like the TR-626 rhythm machine.
- The VL70-m Virtual Acoustic Tone Generator is a unique bit of gear released by Yamaha in 1996. The basic idea behind this module is that it uses computer-based physical modeling technology in order to produce a high-quality monophonic voice. The technique simulates not just the complex vibrations and resonances, but also reflections and other acoustic phenomena that impact the sounds of real wind or string instruments.
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