SumOne

I think that is tricky to answer as no one has said 'show us your showreel to pay at out venue', but in theory we assume it'd help open new doors. We have no trouble getting local pub gigs but after a couple of years of that we're starting to feel more ambitious: proper music festivals (not just local free entry ones we do), mid sized music venues, supporting bigger bands etc.

This'll be our biggest challenge!

My band has local pub gigs every couple of weeks but we're now trying to up our game a bit and think a decent showreel would help - but we haven't really got a clue how to do it. What have you done? Just record it yourself/friends in the audience on phones and edit it together yourself, or pay someone to do it professionally? Was it worthwhile or a waste of time and money?

I'm glad to report that having sold my MPC Keys and logged out of it all the plugins and laptop software etc. still work on the laptop (now being controlled via a MIDI keyboard), and that inudes the ones that came with it as well as the purchased ones.

This was my problem there:

Cheers all, I've been listening though the recommendations and added to my playlist for deeper digging. This has always been a favourite of mine: Underground Vegetables - Melting Pot

Any Funky Organ music/musicians/lessons/videos etc. you recommend? I'm talking Funky Hammond Organ type stuff rather than church pipe organ*. I find the Hammond an odd one as when done well (e.g. Funk, Reggae, Rock) it can sound great and very cool. But when done badly (e.g. Ballads, Christian rock, and Muzak type cheesy covers) it can sound quite nauseating and decidedly un-cool! I've started a playlist what I consider the cool stuff: *(but add any Julian Clary style 'Big Organ' double entendres if you really must!)

I recently got a new keyboard so have have been re-visiting some Piano and Organ House classics like these to try and play:

Things escalated quickly: 3 weeks since I started this thread I sold my CK-61, MPC Key 37, Boss GX-10, two job lots of vinyl, and with the proceeds I've bought a ES-60 as a home piano and a Viscount Legend One 73 as stage piano/organ. The Legend One is excellent to play and almost every preset sounds great. Editing is all relatively intuitive (haven't needed to open the manual, which is always a good sign). It feels like a solid premium bit of kit, (apart from the knobs all having a bit of sideways give - I assume that's intentional though), it feels like something that'll still be working and relevant in 20 years. Lots of connectivity (disappointing that although it has an in-built audio interface to send MIDI via USB and receive audio via USB, but no option of sending audio out via USB to e.g. record your sounds without needing an external interface. A response I got from Viscount "Currently, there are no plans for an update that would implement your request, but I have forwarded your email to our Research and Development department."). Playing this vs other keyboards I've owned (MPC Keys, CK-61, P-45, ES-60) is a bit like the difference between watching a film on a phone vs cinema: it's kind of the same thing but is an all together better experience. My main negative is: Spot the display.... it's tricky! I understand it's a 1970s sort of look to everything which is great but you know how just about every other stage keyboard has a decent sized screen and main controller in the middle (and many do additional stuff like colour coding the lights)?... Well, it turns out they've all decided to do that for good reason! A piddly little screen over to one side is difficult to see (I am a fan of the OLED monochrome, it is bight and clear, just too small) and due to the small size it doesn't show enough info - it ideally needs to clearly provide quite a lot of information at a glance: Preset name, drawbar positions (when switching presets they could be anywhere), 4x 'sound zones' with names of specific instruments and volume levels, if things are set for split zones or dual keyboards, fx specific types and levels etc. but only limited stuff can be shown at one time and what info is displayed is often difficult to read, and you need to use your right hand to make changes whereas positioned in the middle would give option of whatever hand is free. I would say though, things like the red knobs all being ones you can press and it then opening up the screen to edit that is a good idea - despite the fact they only have a very small screen to show the info. Other small gripes: A 'shift + switch' two hand manoeuvre is required for some things (like changin the drawbar sound zone and fx zone assigns) that I'd prefer they just added an extra couple of switches. Constantly flashing lights for fx zones to tell you the fx is on if you're viewing the others zones is annoying e.g. if you're in 'master fx' view then fx 1 & 2 buttons flash to tell you if those fx are on ...... I know I've set the fx1 to give the 'sound 2 (synth)' custom EQ, I always want it on and I don't need a flashing light to constantly remind me it's on (even when the 'sound 2' section is turned off and I'm just using the Organ). It's like Homer Simpson's 'everything's okay alarm'! Other than those mostly small things I generally think it's great and am really pleased with the sounds and playability. Time will tell, but I think I'll keep it and be happy with it for many years. Here's a quote from someone on the Legend One Facebook group that is much more knowledgeable than me (seems genuine, photos with the keys at gigs n'all). Now for the ever so trickier part - getting good at playing it! Lessons booked from January.

Bas bought a pedal from me and all was good!

One of my favorite BMW tunes: And it is a great album.

I think for the Grades, there is a little bit of me that wants to show off 'I've got Grade 5 Piano'! Zero interest in putting it on my CV or getting UCAS points. About 99% because it will hopefully push me to knuckle down and become a better piano player, a deadline for a formal exam is quite a powerful motivator. I know it is a bit like getting Scout badges and I could also get better without formally being graded but I think it will work to motivate me. I'll look into the Trinity Grades, will discuss it when I meet the teacher.

@bass_dinger you've inspired me to do ABRSM grades....well, at least to have an introductory lesson with a local teacher that is in a great local Jazz/Funk band. I played a bit when I was young (Grade 1) and then have aimlessly played on and off as an adult and not improved much and have probably have picked up some bad habbits. I think some lessons and a formal structure and clear goals will hopefully help. My target is to pass Grade 1 within a few months (as it was so long ago I did it I think it'd be worth doing again) and Grade 2 by the end of 2026. That might be a bit ambitious but is hopefully about the right level of challenge to keep me on my toes and keep me motivated. In my mind right now the longer-term ambition is Grade 3 by end of 2027, Grade 4 by end of 2028, Grade 5 in 2029 (when I turn 50), that'd do me as far as formal learning is concerned - a good level to impressively play pub band type stuff, (I do already play keys in pub band stuff, but I'm just getting away with bashing simple ska/reggae offbeat chords in time, ideally I'd like to bust out the occasional fancy solo).

I'm not certain, but I think you'll be fine along with the Behringer interface as the ES-60 can send out audio (not via USB) to the Behringer and the YouTube audio can also go into the Behringer and get mixed and you listen to both from its output, and the ES-60 can send out midi via USB to the EMU. With a keyboard that has a inbuilt interface with USB audio in and out and USB midi you could potentially do that stuff without the Behringer.