OSP BR Performance Cymbal Pack Review

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(More customer reviews)These cymbals are freakin awesome, the hi-hats have that awesome rock sound that u look 4 in cymbals. The crash sounds amazing and the ride is dark. No complaints. Get 'em. Trust me.

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Barry Manilow 1 Review

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(More customer reviews)As a child I fell in love with Barry Manilow..his music..lyrics..the way he sang a song. Although I'm now an adult and my musical tastes have broadened considerably, I still appreciate all that Barry gave and gives to his music. I've always loved his first three albums, in particular..and this one tops my list for "Could it Be Magic" alone. "One of These Days", "Oh My Lady", "Sweet Life" and "I am Your Child" are among the standouts in my opinion..as much for the heartfelt way Barry sings them as for anything else. This may have been his first album..and produced even earlier than I had realized (1972)..but it is by no means a sad effort. I recently ordered the CD version, having lost my vinyl to a flood years back..and I can't wait to hear it, again. For simple, heartfelt melodies, Barry's your man.

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World Tour Deluxe Keyboard Gig Bag Casio WK200 (WK200) Review

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(More customer reviews)this product was just what i wanted and needed. no need to carry other bags for
all my accesseiers. i hope to use it as long as i can.

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Yamaha PSR-295 Portatone 61-Key Touch-Sensitive Musical Keyboard Review

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(More customer reviews)[Please note that this product is available from Amazon under three packagings: PSR-295 (no adapter) PSR-295AD (includes adapter) and PSR-295MS (includes adapter and stand). I bought the PSR-295MS package.]
I got this full-length keyboard at a great price of $190 with included adapter and keyboard. Both accessories are a must, since this thing is huge.
The product shipped in two days (from PA to MD) with free shipping. I was delighted to find a helpful instructional DVD in the package to get started with the basics, so I didn't have to go through the manual, except for detailed and advanced features.
Also included was a Song Book, with staff music for some popular songs. It's great for someone who knows how to read music - I'm still learning to. There's also software to transfer music between PC and keyboard.
"Portable Grand" is just a one-touch button option to set the keyboard to Grand Piano mode. Of course, this cannot be expected to sound as great or realistic as a high-end digital piano or an expensive wooden one. However, the touch sensitive feature makes it as realistic as possible.
Here are the features I liked:
* Display shows notes and chords being played in three ways - staff notation, note name (ex. E# m7 aug etc.), and graphical (actual keys on a diagram).
* Truly Touch (Force) Sensitive Keys (can be toggled on/off).
* 487 Voices (incl. ~360 XGLite voices).
* 136 Accompaniment Styles to play along.
* Built-in songs which can be practised using Yamaha Education Suite. (Buil-in feature).
* Jog Dial to move between voice/style/song numbers.
* Flash memory to record your songs.
* Direct USB connection (MIDI-USB connecter cable *not* required - that cable would cost around $40).
* Software to transfer songs and voices between PC and keyboard.
* Truly stero output (not just two speakers).
* Phono/Line-Out socket.
* Sustain pedal socket (pedal not included).
Here are some things I didn't like:
* USB cable not included. ($7 extra from Amazon).
* Volume sometime seems a little low. But then, you can always pass output through amps if you really need it that loud.
* No mic or line-in socket.
* Phono out uses 1/4 inch pin. Had to buy a 1/8 to 1/4 converter from RadioShack.
* LCD display is highly "directional", visible only when looking at a particular angle. This is not much of a problem when playing sitting. However, if playing standing, this may be a little inconvenient.
* No sustain toggle switch. If you don't have a sustain pedal, turning sustain on/off manually takes a couple of steps.
Overall, at under $190, free shipping and included adapter and stand, this is a great buy for beginners as well as advanced users.
I had a Yamaha PSS-11 long back. It was a good beginner keyboard but it soon outgrew me, since you couldn't play it with two hands. Overall, I like Yamaha quality and find their keyboards much more professional than Casio ones (maybe I'm wrong). Of course, "real" professionals would use KORG, but that'll be upwards of $1000! :)


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Casio WK-3000 Professional Series 76 Key Digital Recording Studio Styled Keyboard Review

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(More customer reviews)After having being away from playing music for almost three years, I was curious as to what would portable keyboards be up to. As it was my habit (having owned three previous Yamaha Portasound keyboards) I went for the latest release in Yamaha's portable lineup, only to be dissapointed at the lack of versatility and mostly at the lack of power in the keyboard's output. Since I am up for portability (not wanting or being able to hook it up to a whole bunch of external gear to make it sound good), this was a major deal breaker for me... for the first time in my life, I turned Yamaha down.
Then, I turned around (I literally turned around, since I was in a Sam Ash store!) and I glanced at this baby. "A Casio!" -I said to myself... Wasn't thrilled at the prospects, I must admit, because I remember Casio's cheesy-sounding tones of ole. It's almost like I wanted to forget them: oh, how much I hated the tones that the Casio keyboards came with. But I gave it a shot, and today I am happy that I did. This keyboard, even today, almost two months after I bought it, comes with far more options than I think I will ever come up with uses for!
It comes pre-loaded with far more high-quality tones than you will ever need, with a wide array of pianos, electric pianos and organs, opening the line-up. Are you a synthesis freak? No problem! You can play with a bunch of parameters within all the tones and save up as many as 100 of your newly created tones,. and if you want more, you can download more tones and rhythms from the Casio music or elsewhere in the Web, ad nauseam, since you can expand the memory with an standard SmartMedia card.
As for rhythms, there's plenty of those too (you can also make different drum kits play different rhythms than those they're programmed for, for an array of very interesting combinations), and you can save quite a few of your songs for playback, as well as keyboard configurations, or split the keyboard, or mix two sounds to be played, with awesome control over volume of each, etc. I mean, with the Casio WK-3000 Professional Series 76 Key Digital Recording Studio Styled Keyboard by Casio (now, THAT's one deserved mouthful) you really have it all.

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A total of three hundred advanced tones are programmed with DSP tones to make the Casio WK-3000 a rich and powerful sounding keyboard. Advanced tones like stereo piano and tremolo electric piano highlight some of the possibilities beyond the 516 standard tones. You'll also receive fifty realistic drawbar organ tones. If you want even more control over your tones, you can edit the parameters of preset tones and save up to a hundred original tones in user tone memory. Built-in flash memory lets you expand your selection of tones and rhythms by downloading data from the Casio music site, or from other sources. You can also store up to two hundred SMF format music files for playback. The keyboard comes with 140 rhythms. The backlit display shows chord names, tempo setting, keyboard information, and staff notation of notes played. The General MIDI tones of this keyboard let you connect to a personal computer to enjoy desktop music capabilities. This keyboard can be used as a desktop music input device or sound source. The keyboard runs on an AC adaptor or 6 D batteries which will power the keyboard for up to four hours.

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Casio CTK-591 Full-Size 61 Key Keyboard with Song Memory Recording Feature Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently have decided to learn to play the keyboard. As a complete beginner I decided I wouls begin with a keyboard as opposed to a piano to learn, and possibly move up as I gained experience. I must say, after recently purchasing this instrument I am thoroughly pleased.
Upon receiving this, which is the entry level, or lowest priced Casio model to feature btouch sensitive keys, I found there to be to defects in the way that the keyboard functions, and it is free of the low volume problems that are apparant in yamaha's entry level touch sensitive model.
I also learned that, however, the buyer should beware. Not only does this product arrive without an AC power adapter, but it also lacks a sustain pedal, which is essential to anyone who plan to use this keyboard to play at least intermediate music.
The model numbers for the adapter and the sustain pedal are located in the owner's manuel, in case you do decide to purchase this otherwise problem free product. But buyer beware however, that the price listed above is not the final one. Add on approximately, as I know from experience, about 15 dollars for the adapter, and 20 dollars for the "optional" sustain pedal, plus taxes.
Overall, however, besides the additional costs, I have found this product to be of plaesing quality and have no other quibbs about it. The keyboard only possesses 61 keys, however, 27 short of a full 88 key keyboard found on high level digital pianos and acoustic pianos, being 5 octaves plus one key. If 61 keys is not enough, I recommend you look elsewhere.
I may sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not. Some positive features that this keyboard does possess include 100 built in tunes, 50 classical and 50 dubbed "sing along". Examples include Mozart's fantastic "Turkish March", all the way down to "Tne Entertainer", and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". In addtion, an easy to use three step lesson system and stereo controls round out this entry level touch sensitive keyboard.
For the beginner, I do recommend this product, but beware the extra fees.

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Peterson V-SAM Virtual Strobe Audio Metronome Review

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(More customer reviews)I am called on to tune harpsichords, and this is often done using unusual temperaments and pitch standards far from A=440Hz. I formerly used the excellent Korg MT-1200, because it could be programmed to any temperament, and because it allowed a very wide range of pitch standards (I often need to tune to A=411, for example). Korg has discontinued the MT-1200, replacing it with the model OT-12, which has most of the same features but is not programmable. When the MT-1200 that I used went bad (its memory chip failed, so it needed to be re-programmed every time I used it, quite a hassle), I went on a search for something else that would do the job.
After consulting with harpsichord players, builders, and other experts, I learned about the Peterson V-SAM. None of my experts had actually used this tuner, but had heard that it was an amazing new device that was great for harpsichords. I called Peterson (for a very long time known as a venerable manufacturer of stroboscopic tuners) and their sales people confirmed that the V-SAM was excellent for this kind of instrument. I let my experts know what Peterson had told me, and so they independently bought V-SAMs at the same time I bought mine.
About a week after I got my V-SAM, I started getting calls from the others. Nobody could make the V-SAM work with harpsichords. It was unstable, and would frequently not even recognize that a note was being played on the instruments. Suspecting a faulty unit or perhaps a faulty manufacturing run, I checked my V-SAM with some wind instruments. It worked fine. Several calls to Peterson tech support revealed that if I simply added an external microphone, the V-SAM would work great on the harpsichord. I tried hand held mics, clip on mics, and suction-cup mics, and nothing helped. The others had similar experiences.
Finally, I was able to talk to engineering at Peterson, and was advised that the V-SAM was never designed to work with instruments like pianos or harpsichords. They said the tuner was intended to be used with instruments that can sustain their tones, like violins and wind instruments.
I have since returned my V-SAM, as have all my associates. I want to stress that this is not really a fault of the unit...Peterson is a good company with a high quality product. The problem is that this design is not suitable with certain instruments that produce transient tones. Unfortunately, Peterson sales and tech support did not know this and led me astray. Likewise, most retailers simply parrot what Peterson says or implies in their sales capacity, and hence the bad information is kept circulating.
In my opinion the V-SAM is a fine product for most applications, but if you want to use it with instruments that produce tones that decay quickly, look elsewhere.


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