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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
After three months with no piano or keyboard of any kind I got my acoustic piano a few weeks ago, and now my electric piano. When it rains it pours! If you aren't familiar, the Vintage Vibe is a "tine piano", like a Fender Rhodes. It's pretty heavy at 64 lbs, but if I understand correctly, Rhodes pianos are even heavier than that. I haven't totally figured out what my plan for doing gigs will be - probably I'll buy a rolling cart to drag the piano and speakers around.
It’s amazing that you can play all these instruments so well in the jazz idiom and even more so when you are self-educated (?) since AFAIK you’re a software engineer! 👏🏻 I’m also a software engineer and a self-educated pianist but could never reach satisfactory Jazz improvisational skills and went back to classical… I envy you 😼
I love these VV pianos although the sound is a bit brighter for my taste but i guess it can easily be EQ-ed.
even more so when you are self-educated (?) since AFAIK you’re a software engineer! 👏🏻
You're correct that I'm a software engineer, but I have to fess up to not being self educated. I actually have a DMA from Manhattan School of Music and took my shot at "making it" as a jazz trumpet player in NYC for a few years. I got some gigs here and there but eventually looked for other ways to make a living and found I liked writing code.
even more so when you are self-educated (?) since AFAIK you’re a software engineer! 👏🏻
You're correct that I'm a software engineer, but I have to fess up to not being self educated. I actually have a DMA from Manhattan School of Music and took my shot at "making it" as a jazz trumpet player in NYC for a few years. I got some gigs here and there but eventually looked for other ways to make a living and found I liked writing code.
Ahh, there’s balance in the universe, otherwise it would be too depressing for people like me 😀 Nevertheless, it’s still amazing that you can play all these instruments so well and then also work as a software engineer! I always appreciate and have deepest respect for people who are polymaths! Bravo 👏🏻 I enjoyed your other videos too, thanks!
Congrats on the new VV, sounds great, enjoyed all the multi-instrument playing too. Very talented.
When you ordered from them, were you able to give them a tonal preference ? As in something like-- I want this to sound to have a darker, jazz sound, similar to Herbie's rhodes in the late '60s/early '70s time period.
Also congrats on the Estonia and VV within a couple weeks.
Yes I had a total of I think it was five different rhodes from around 1974 to the early '90s. I can't believe the places I used to schlep those things. Stairs with the suitcase model were the worst.
My favorite was the first one- the '74 stage. I brought it from STL to LA in '79 when we moved out here. Used it for a few years but got caught up in the LA Eddie Reynolds mod that everyone was doing. I actually hated the sound of it but it seemed you couldn't work unless your rhodes sounded liked that and you had a Prophet synth to put on top.
When the DX7 came out, you couldn't give away any rhodes they had fallen out of favor so much.
2005 NY Steinway D Yamaha AvantGrand N3X, CP88, P-515
Nice playing, all around. It's great that you play so well across multiple instruments!
I have the same question as Dave. That has to be the darkest tuning I've ever heard from a VV EP. Pretty much all of the others have had a very strong "Dyno My Piano" sound to them, which doesn't work well for traditional jazz. I really like that sound.
Congrats on the purchases.
Pramberger PS-157, Roland RD800, Nord Stage 2EX 76HP
That has to be the darkest tuning I've ever heard from a VV EP.
That’s pretty close to how it sounds raw. I applied some generic “vintage keys” EQ that comes with Logic and if I remember correctly it just rolled off the very high and low ends.
To answer an earlier question I did not discuss tone color with them when I ordered. I’m not sure if they have any customizations to offer in that regard.
[snip] the Vintage Vibe is a "tine piano", like a Fender Rhodes. It's pretty heavy at 64 lbs, but if I understand correctly, Rhodes pianos are even heavier than that. I haven't totally figured out what my plan for doing gigs will be - probably I'll buy a rolling cart to drag the piano and speakers around.[snip]
I'm an old timer, and I'd like to chime in: I had a 1974-era Rhodes. It weighed 140 pounds. I had a hand truck that I used to move it from car to stage, and up and down stairs. At various times, my rig included a 130-pound Yamaha speaker cabinet, and before that a Leslie 147 (about 140 pounds, also) and a Hammond M3. The hand truck was indispensable. The Hammond M3 (cut down, but still about 200 pounds), always took two people to move.
Absolutely lovely. I started an order for a VV Deluxe last autumn but had to back out due to the uncertainty of post-brexit exchange rates.
One has come up used that I’m considering getting but with the Rhodes MK8 coming soon (and the factory about 45km from me, I feel I need to wait a bit. If they end up doing an 88-key model then that’ll likely tip the balance.