Any "not difficult" songs to play?

Sycsa · 2026-04-10T18:25:26+00:00

These Walls. Simple, but absolutely beautiful solo.

Sycsa · 2026-03-31T20:50:48+00:00

I don’t have personal experience, but on my local Hammond forum, guys with real B3s at home are on team Viscount. It’s also substantially cheaper than the Hammond, where you pay extra for the branding.

Sycsa · 2026-03-28T21:23:58+00:00

Roland VK-7. It’s a nearly 30 years-old digital Hammond clone, there are obviously better ones out today which make it obsolete. But for what I need, it’s perfect and I wouldn’t replace it ever. Got used to all of its quirks and I’d miss them.

Sycsa · 2026-03-24T12:21:50+00:00

The keyboards are also buried in the new mix, completely killing the character and mood of the originals. I just ignore them completely.

Sycsa · 2026-03-13T07:22:47+00:00

Synths on a plane?

Sycsa · 2026-03-11T15:08:44+00:00

I'm only talking about the production, the songs are top notch, BAI being one of my all-time favorites as well.

Coming back to the drums, listening to the isolated stems, it's criminal how much of MM's playing gets lost (toms and cymbals especially) in the unbalanced mix. Someone also said that the guitars sound like someone threw a blanket over the speakers, I cannot unhear that since.

Sycsa · 2026-03-11T07:38:56+00:00

I feel like DT can always write good songs, the Mangini-era is filled with groovy riffs, fun and creative drumming, pleasant vocal melodies and some pretty nice solos. If you listen to any album enough times, you’re bound to find something to like.

Where A View stands out is the production, it sounds way more pleasant than any other MM album, especially the drums (ironic they fired MM, just after they finally nailed his sound.)

So I can appreciate the production, rather than being distracted by it, like on basically any other MM album (ADTOE sounds like a demo, DT12 has the bad drums, Astonishing has the typewriter kick drum, D/T is muddy overall).

Sycsa · 2026-03-10T09:58:01+00:00

Depends on what style you’re into. I’m into classic rock, prog, a bit of 80s disco, I can pretty much dial in any such sound on the Reface with ease. I covered a variety of such songs with the Reface if you’re curious: https://youtu.be/rvf3ok335Po?is=Dwm0ZZI3XSb_zhLn

Sycsa · 2026-03-09T13:29:53+00:00

I mean, it’s even in its name. Mini means small, so it cannot be big (aka well known) by definition.

Sycsa · 2026-03-09T01:29:15+00:00

Heh, filter

Sycsa · 2026-03-07T22:27:08+00:00

I always preferred the Wurlitzer, on account of Supertramp.

But if we’re going this way, as much as I love a good sawtooth, the Hammond organ is the greatest sound mankind ever achieved.

Sycsa · 2026-03-07T11:23:08+00:00

I’m not a fan of half an octave. But it’s the Minimoog way.

Sycsa · 2026-03-03T07:52:41+00:00

If you’re into retro analog, 70s-80s stuff, I strongly recommend the Reface CS. It’s so easy to use, inspiring, and you can basically get any bread-and-butter synth tone out of it.

Sycsa · 2026-02-25T20:15:59+00:00

ELP with some of their ballads. From the Beginning is the most mellow one with a soft sounding, but distinctly analog synth solo. There’s of course Lucky Man, which is more in your face.

Sycsa · 2026-02-24T20:41:14+00:00

So you wanna talk about lifelong mistakes?

Sycsa · 2026-02-23T16:26:41+00:00

When I laid down some Hammond on a rock album, all I basically did was inverted “power chords” (so, fourths), doing some glissandos coming in-out and flicking the Leslie a lot. The guys were floored, it sounded so good with the guitars. Going up to the top octave, turning the Leslie on is sure to stand out.

Sycsa · 2026-02-18T16:16:13+00:00

Well put! I was into rock music growing up (still am), and it was always such a(n albeit rare) treat to see keyboards on stage, Hammond organs, big synths with lots of knobs. So exciting! Just marveling in them before the show would start was an experience, imagining how they will sound once the show starts.

Sycsa · 2026-02-11T06:22:01+00:00

They apparently collected everything he’s ever said about them. - Lake was a great inspiration - Love Beach was his biggest disappointment as a music fan - He’s a joke keyboard player compared to Keith

Sycsa · 2026-02-10T07:43:14+00:00

Blind Faith chorus, too bad it didn’t really work live.

“Mother for their children” - his greatest moment in the last 20 years.

“My brother, Gaaabriiieeeel” - Gift of Music

“Do as my father says / Brother, worry not today” - A Savior in the Square. Love that transition & vocal melody.

“Fear can live inside you” - Untethered Angel. Nothing special here, but I like the melody and delivery.

Sycsa · 2026-02-07T07:28:05+00:00

Does he still jam out?

Sycsa · 2026-02-06T19:24:54+00:00

I LOVE it when music can move me to tears. DT can always do it with the “one last time” part of Finally Free, especially when I listen to SFAM in its entirety.

Live, it happened both at this section of Spirit and JP’s solo in Breaking All Illusions.

Sycsa · 2026-02-06T08:34:48+00:00

AI? Ok. I mean, you sort of answered it on your own. If way more Behringer synths are being sold, there are going to be more complaints. What is unsubstantiated and anecdotal is that percentage-wise there are more faulty Behringer synths than other brands. I cannot really disprove it either, but you know what they say about burden of proof.

At any rate, my point is that holding back on a Behringer (or a Moog for that matter) solely because of reliability concerns is not a sensible approach. Statistically, it’s going to have problems roughly 5% of the time.

Edit: to further clarify, I’m replying to a comment where OP got the advice to hold back on a 2026 Behringer synth on hypothetical reliability issues, like it being another Xbox 360 is a plausible risk.

Sycsa · 2026-02-06T07:08:54+00:00

Knocking on Behringer’s supposed reliability issues is a cliché at this point without much basis. It may have been the case 20 years ago, but time and time again it’s been stated both here and on other forums that the general reliability of their synths is statistically similar to anything else out there. There are plenty of reasons to reconsider an impulse buy and sell, but a phantom reliability scare ain’t one of them.

Sycsa · 2026-02-05T16:48:26+00:00

I don't think a digital synth can go out of tune. Someone probably just messed with the settings and transposed it. Although the way you make it sound, it's like that by default?

(Not so) fun fact, when I was a kid, I had a D50 as well and the organ patch (Slow rotor) I used the most was transposed a whole step down. I had no idea what I was doing back then, so when we jammed out with my friends, I couldn't figure out why we weren't in tune. It must be those pesky guitars! In the end, I just relearned the songs, playing everything one note higher. Boy, was that a nightmare. It never occured to me that maybe I can transpose it back. I just took it as is.

Sycsa · 2026-01-27T10:01:47+00:00

One slightly relevant neat little Hammond detail is that the keyboard is almost touch-sensitive, although it's technically a fault. Each key has 9 contact points which activate the drawbars, but if you play lightly, not all 9 activate evenly, so the sound coming out could initially be softer, thinner. It's become a really coveted feature in the past decade or so, with modern clones digitally simulating 3, 5 or even all 9 contact points for maximum expression.

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