New Toys!
Just picked up a couple of new toys to add to the collection. An Apex 205 ribbon microphone and M-Audio’s Axiom 25 midi controller. I love new toys! Here’s the visual:
I’ve been doing some reading about the 205, and it turns out that if you are handy with a soldering iron, you can replace the transformer inside to upgrade it to rather nicer quality microphone, for minimal $. After I get used to how it sounds out of the box, I plan to do this mod and I’ll definitely be posting pics and comments, and before/after soundclips.
The keyboard just looks cool and it has drum pads which are WAY easier to use for programming drum patterns than the keys. I do have to gripe here, though. Why on earth could this little unit not have presets that actually work properly with the software it purports to be pre-configured to work with? Seriously. It’s got presets for Reason, it shipped with Ableton Live, and supports a number of vsti’s as well. But as near as I can tell, none of these “presets” are complete or intuitive for the apps they are supposed to work with. Example: the included documentation suggests that in any of the 4 or 5 Reason module setups (different modules have their own presets on the Axiom), the pads should always be setup to trigger Redrum’s sounds. Only a few of them actually work! Why? I’ve read this elsewhere too, so it’s not just me and my dumbness. Surely it’d be easier to set these all up so they work properly without me having to get tangled up in MIDI CC assignments and stuff…. Aside from that, it’s a sweet little keyboard that has sexy blue lighting, a bunch of assignable knobs for zooming your synth parameters around live with, and the build quality is quite decent. Oh, almost forgot, it’s USB powered, so you are truly mobile with this little box. Laptop warriors take note!
In any case, more good news is that you do get a working version of Ableton Live, though it’s limited in number of tracks and a few other features. However, you also get a pretty nice $200 discount on buying a full version. Considering that the unit only put me back $185, I’d say that’s good math!
Comments
Hey I noticed you had a C.E. Byrne cabinet grand. This was my childhood piano and still resides at my folks’ house in San Francisco. How do you like yours? You keep it tuned regularly and does your tuner ever make comments about the quality? Just curious. Serious lack of info about this maker on the web. Take care, Aaron
Hey Aaron,
I love it. Plain and simple. I’m a studying tuner/technician, so I’ve only had it professionally tuned once. I think it sounds great. It needs a little love on soundboard and ribs, but it plays nicely and sounds fantastic when freshly tuned. I’ve recorded with it a number of times. I own 3 other pianos, much smaller console-type pianos and they suck in comparisson.
And yah, almost zero info on this piano anywhere. Meh…just adds to the mystery.
I don’t think it stood among the top pianos of it’s day, but I’ve worked on much, much worse instruments too.
Cheers,
Rob
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