Things are busy in JR land.
I’ve been buzzing about many things here on my break and very busy with my musical endeavors.
The Keyboard Magazine Webcast went very well the other day. It was exciting to do as it was a very new thing for all of us. My host was Tom Brislin who also accompanied me on some of my various riffs! Have you guys heard his band Spiraling? You should. http://www.myspace.com/spiraling. Very melodic rock that just feels good!
Even thought the LTE shows are not until June, all the programming for that needs be be completed in the next week or so before I leave on a family vacation followed by the last leg of the Dream Theater tour. That kind of work is pretty intensive and I really need to get it done in my own studio at home.
For these concerts I have decided to use a Roland Fantom G. I am probably the first guy to get into programming this instrument for a concert situation outside of the trade shows so it has been really interesting. The ROM on this instrument is so large and putting layers and splits together is really pretty fun because there is so much to choose from. The Fantom G is still a different beast then my Oasys, which I still adore! I miss all the effects on my Oasys and the control I have to really get in there and do whatever I want but at the same time there is a smoothness about orchestrating my sounds on the G that I really like as well!
I’ve done about 6 of the big LTE songs now. Actually just finished When the Water Breaks earlier today and moved on to Universal Mind. In the middle of all this madness I had a really nice meeting with Dot Bustello from Apple the other day in NYC. She introduced me to LOGIC 8 which kinda blew me away. I have been really interested to start using this program and whenever I am not pressing buttons on the Fantom I have been checking out a LOGIC instructional video that I bought off of macprovideos.com. Great stuff!!!
My fingers have also been pretty busy learning some interesting things we may do for the LTE show. I dare not divulge! Also – just in case we change our minds – my lips are sealed.
But I have been at the piano a lot working on same cool stuff! I sat down at the piano last night and positioned my camera and have uploaded my latest “Piano Diary” piece. Its totally improvised (as usual) with no pre conceived plan at all. I think it is shareable though!
Click the mute button on the right side of the navigation bar.
Back to work for me folks!
Musically,
