Keyboard Player is the longest-running keyboard magazine
on the UK market, having been published monthly since 1979. Appealing
mainly to the home enthusiast and semi-pro player, the magazine covers
all types of keyboard instruments including portables, workstations, synthesizers,
pianos and organs, plus amplification/speaker systems, computer music
software and ancillary equipment. As well as product news and in-depth
reviews, Keyboard Player publishes expert playing advice, tuition plus
sheet music including exclusive music arrangements, along with interviews
and profiles, prize competitions and reviews of CDs, DVDs and books.
Welcome
to the September issue
of Keyboard Player which is now available to purchase
and download.
When Andrew Gilbert went along to Bonners Music in Eastbourne
to look at the new flagship digital piano from Roland,
the HP-307
his expectations were high. He wasn’t to be disappointed.
Read his 5 page in-depth review in this issue in which he
praises this superb piano with its great sounds, wonderful
action and classic good looks.
Having
impressed with their ‘organ only’ keyboards Nord,
manufactured in Sweden by Clavia
and distributed in the UK by Sound Technology, have turned
their attention to a ‘piano only’ keyboard, the
Nord
88 Piano. John Bates finds this stage piano to be rather
unique and well worth testing out for those looking for a
piano with character and samples that are true to their source.
Read his 3 page review in this issue.
A few weeks ago I was watching one of this year’s
Promenade Concerts, broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall,
and part of the programme was Dvorak’s ‘New
World Symphony’ a particularly rousing rendition by
the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and I wondered
if this inspired John Bates to devote this months Classnotes
to the Largo movement from Dvorak’s ever popular work.
John uses this sublime piece of music in all three sections
of his feature concluding with his arrangement of the complete
movement. He also includes a few facts that not many people
know about Mr. Dvorak. Cracking stuff!
In Computer
Music, Andrew Gilbert discovers value for money from
the budget notation program Notion SLE at just under £68
and celebrates some superb sounds on the XpansionTank 2
multisamples, OmniSynth 2 and SymphonyStrings 2 for the
SampleTank 2 workstation.
Derek
Sherinian is the keyboardist with new ‘supergroup’
Back Country Communion and having played with Kiss, Dream
Theatre, Billy Idol and Alice Cooper he certainly seems
to live up to his reputation of being the man to call if
you’re looking for a hard-rock keys man. He talks
with Douglas McPherson about his career but plays down his
wilder side having been dubbed by Alice Cooper as the ‘Caligula
of Keyboards’.
This then is our September issue which we hope you will
enjoy. See you next time!
Issue & Web Site Update - July
2010
Welcome
to the July
issue of Keyboard Player which is now available to purchase
and download.
Firstly let me apologise for the late publication of this
issue. Our distribution company went into receivership at
the end of May, just as we were publishing the June issue
and we have only recently resolved the problems that this
caused. Subscribers should receive their printed copy during
the next seven days.
Due to this delay it has been decided to date the July issue
July/August making this the first joint issue for some seven
years. Subscribers and members will receive their full allocation
of issues as these are determined by issue number not issue
date. Hopefully we can get back to the normal monthly publishing
cycle with issue 351 which will be dated September.
OK back
to the issue – we start this month with Yamaha’s
Clavinova CVP-501, the baby of the new range. A couple
of months ago Andrew Gilbert looked at the top model, the
CVP-509
and found it stunning. With this model his 4 page in-depth
review would suggest that those of you looking to enter the
arranger piano field should consider this model seriously.
Next we
have the Roland
V-Combo VR-700 which tries to be all things to all men
and goes some way to pulling it off. Whether you want a synth,
a variety of pianos or even a tone-wheel organ, the V-Combo
delivers and John Bates finds its versatility highly appealing.
Read his full 4 page review in this issue.
Elsewhere
we look at the Line
6 MIDI Mobilizer, a MIDI recorder for the i-Phone age
and at £50 John Bates believes we should all own one.
A trio of
virtual guitars are our software feature this issue and Tony
Cliff tries out MusicLab’s
Real Guitar 6L, Realstrat and Real LPC (the LP stands
for Les Paul). Guitar sounds have always been notoriously
difficult to reproduce for keyboards but these virtual guitars
produce some pretty realistic acoustic and electric sounds.
Gary
Wright is our key person this month. Best remembered
for his seminal 1975 album ‘The Dream Weaver’
he is currently on tour with Ringo Starr’s All Starr
Band and here talks about returning to his roots with his
new album ‘Connected’
Finally in Classnotes
this month we take the well known tune of ‘Early
One Morning’ and rearrange it into a variety of styles
and moods.
Anyway, better late than never, I hope you’ll agree,
enjoy our July/August
issue. See you next time.
Issue & Web Site Update - June
2010
Welcome
to the June 2010 edition
of Keyboard Player which is now available to purchase
and download.
Andrew Gilbert waxes lyrical in his review of Korg’s
SV1 Stage Vintage Piano and highly recommends this to
those who love those vintage sounds from the 50s onwards and
want them all in one great keyboard. Read his in-depth review
in this issue
Last
month we reviewed the mid-range Casio
AP-420 Celviano piano. This month Andrew Gilbert looks
at the top-of-the-range AP-620.
With around 250 sounds this impressive ‘arranger’
keyboard is well worth a look as it still falls firmly in
budget territory.
Alicia’s
Keys is, as the title suggests, is a virtual instrument
sampled in the recording studio of this multi-platinum selling
artiste and is used on all the tracks of her latest album
‘The Element Of Freedom’ so I guess it must be
good. Tony Cliff certainly thinks so in his review in this
issue.
Computer
Music gets to grips with IK Multi-media’s ‘Amplitube
3’ a virtual guitar amp and FX modelling software
and finds this incredibly versatile and wide-ranging software
highly desirable. Congratulations to Andrew on this, his
100th article for Keyboard Player.
Both The Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ and Pink Floyd’s
‘Dark Side of the Moon’, two of the greatest
albums of all time owe their sound and texture in some part
to Alan
Parsons, recording engineer on both recordings. In Key
People this month he talks about his work with many famous
artistes, his own creation, The Alan Parsons Project formed
in 1976 and his current venture, a seven hour compilation
series ‘The Art & Science of Sound Recording’.
