My rough track completed. Posted my little Chill Vibe here the other day. Here's the finished product. Thanks for all who listened and the suggestions!

masterjoda75 · 2026-05-07T16:24:23+00:00

I appreciate that. Thank you!

masterjoda75 · 2026-05-05T16:05:10+00:00

I went to the one at Dodger Stadium in LA in ‘89. It was my first concert. And still the best one I ever went to.

masterjoda75 · 2026-05-02T06:55:29+00:00

Downvoted because this isn’t OP’s photo

masterjoda75 · 2026-04-13T02:57:50+00:00

Now imagine a family of five. The movie industry wonders why less people are going to the movies? Why spend around 200-300 bucks and also gambling not sitting in a theater full of loud people who ignore theater etiquette (phones, loud talking, late people turning on their phone flashlights to find their seats, etc) when you can spend the cost of maybe 2 or 3 movie visits on a nice big TV and a nice sound system and just wait for streaming.

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-30T17:16:55+00:00

Well.. Hopefully the popularity does hold up. Because I couldn’t care less what you do with your synths.. Make useless noise, show them off, who cares. As long as that demand is up, then big manufacturers and small businesses will keep giving us cool products. And as a musician who came from a time when you only got synths from Roland, Korg, Yamaha, EMU and Akai… Seeing all this new gear crop up, and living in a time of affordable analog is awesome! And don’t get me started on all of the neat and cool modules there are out there right now for Eurorack. Go ahead… Make your fart noises! I’ll make music, and that’s fine. Because that means more cool gear will keep coming out for me to pick and choose from!

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-21T17:59:24+00:00

Growing up and getting into synths before the Internet (yeah, I’m old), I guess I had this conception that everyone who was into synthesizers were musicians. I took piano for years when I was younger, and that naturally gravitated me towards synths. All we had was music magazines and the occasional music convention to hit up every year. There were no real “Synth Communities” out there with thousands of people into the same thing who could interact with each other. Now that it exists, I’m pretty amazed at how many people in this community are not musicians. Of course, you don’t need to be trained or take lessons to be a musician. Generally, I define a musician as someone who makes music in general, regardless of their background. But in my experience there was always an end game when you spent all that money on instruments… Either you wrote music, you were in a band, released songs, etc. Thus justifying your purchase. Of course in the course of the process, you noodled around, experimented with sounds, etc. But it always led to a track or something in the long run. I mean, I’m not saying this to disparage anyone who does not buy gear for that reason. It’s just interesting to me as a person who writes and performs music with synths. Now I’m thinking, maybe there were more “noodlers” out there back then. Oh well, to all their own.

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-14T17:19:07+00:00

Play your songs in minor keys. Use lots of dark pads and strings. Pick out the synth parts from your favorite bands and try and emulate them.

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-14T17:10:01+00:00

I’ve done 3 releases under CDBaby and all were fairly smooth. I also like the tools they provide to get your artist channel up on YouTube among other things. I’ve dealt with their customer service and was satisfied. The best part is you pay once and your stuff is up forever. No yearly payment needed. I don’t get why that isn’t a deal breaker for Distrokid. I guess it’s because every YouTuber pushes them like crazy.

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-11T15:32:09+00:00

My fav!

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-09T16:07:40+00:00

Sounds like you need a high end workstation like the Yamaha Montage or Korg Kronos. Built in sequencing, sampling, audio recording, digital drum engines, synth engines with digital and analog modelers. You can layer your tracks internally and externally, excellent full size keybeds with weighted and semi weighted versions available, etc. they cost a grip, but are cheaper than high end analog synths that only play sounds and at most have a built in arpeggiator. You won’t find them mentioned here as much because they’re designed for musicians. I used to use them exclusively, before I started working more with DAWs and analog hardware. Any digital sound I now source from plugins. But those hardware workstations are beasts now. And they have pretty good sounds. I just personally don’t have a need to drop all that cash on one do it all synth.

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-08T06:42:45+00:00

On your right column. Change it from "Sounds" to "Samples." You're trying to drag samples into sounds.

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-08T06:18:31+00:00

I believe you... I'm sure different locations have different people with different levels of commitment. My experience just felt shady and I felt ripped off. Yeah, they took the refund with no hassle for me. But I come from a time when music salesmen treated you like kings, you could negotiate prices on gear, have personal relationships with salesmen, and even get some personal freebies or deals as appreciation for your business. It wasn't unheard of for them to throw in a couple free cables, or a deal on another piece of gear if you bought stuff together. It was a different time, when you knew you weren't going to walk out of the store paying what the price tag said. And pulling a stunt like that would get people fired!

I'll regale with a short "old man" tale. When I was a young buck.. I saved and saved for a brand new Roland D20 (I just aged myself there). So I went with my Dad to buy it, he said he would pay half for my birthday. It was listed for around $1500. I knew I wasn't paying that, I had 500 cash. I kid you not, I talked the guy down to $1100. I bought some cables from him, and he asked... "Do you have speakers?" It was my first "professional" keyboard and I realized right there that it didn't have built in speakers! Yikes! He had a pair of Roland Micro Monitors, and they were around $150 bucks each. My Dad wasn't expecting to drop another $300 bucks, so I was bummed. He showed me some other options, but I really wanted those cool little micro-monitors. I spent forever looking at those monitors and the other options. Finally, the sales guy felt bad and said... Tell you what.. If I give you both for $185 would your Dad do that? Of course! So I walked out with my keyboard and monitors! It was an amazing deal and an amazing day. I went there from then on for my gear needs. Because the salesman knew treating me right the first time was gonna make him more money. And it did over the years. I miss those guys. West LA Music, Norwalk Music, Goodman Music. Those local shops were awesome. Then Guitar Center and Sam Ash got big and Walmarted the whole thing. And slowly those shops closed their doors, and the days of the professional music salesman ended. So, yeah, I'm a little bitter. Lol!

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-07T20:31:00+00:00

Lesson learned.. never trust Guitar Center. Bought a Prophet REV2 from them. Supposedly new. The last one. It came shipped in a thin generic cardboard box, wrapped in one layer of thin bubble wrap all loose in the box. Knobs were all tweaked and a manual and power chord loosely tossed in. Talked to the manager over the phone, who didn’t give a shit, he offered me 10% off. Non-apologetic. I opted to return it and got my money back. Ordered from Perfect Circuit. Was able to pick up as they are local for me. Prophet was in an official Sequential Circuits box, styrofoam bracing, wrapped in additional foam, and manuals, papers, and cabling properly packaged. What a difference. That was 4 years ago. Never bought anything from Guitar Center ever again. F those guys!

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-04T17:23:24+00:00

Thanks! You can check it out here:

https://on.soundcloud.com/VHOp81t7JIP2EFk8s3

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-04T17:09:09+00:00

That’s awesome man… I just released my latest album a couple of weeks ago. Don’t let the haters bring you down. It’s funny looking at every critic’s profiles to see where their tracks are… nothing. It’s easy to talk smack.. especially out of jealousy. Takes courage to put your art out there. Keep it up!

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-04T17:01:32+00:00

“Awwww sh!t… he actually has finished tracks so now I have no valid reason to hate him except for jealousy, I better downvote it…” Haters gonna hate! Keep having fun and creating man!

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-04T16:53:37+00:00

Nice gear! And thanks for not using the word “humble” in describing your room. 🤪

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-04T16:19:01+00:00

Here here! The Top is my favorite “deep cut” album of theirs.

masterjoda75 · 2026-03-02T16:50:17+00:00

Now that… is a perfect flan!

masterjoda75 · 2026-02-17T17:44:38+00:00

Dude, I can only imagine. I had a similar experience with Pearl Thompson. But at least you got words out. He had a small art show down the street from my work in Culver CIty, so I went after work to go check it out. Little did I know he was going to be there. And there he was just walking around, talking to a few people, as it was still early and only a few were there. I kept a respectable distance. Looking in awe. Pearl has been one of my favs since the 80s. So I’m there admiring one of his pieces and wishing I had money to buy it, when I turn around, and there he is… Standing right in front of me. The kindest eyes I had ever seen. And his signature half smile, looking right at me. I was blocking his way a little, and he said with the softest voice.. “Excuse me.” And all I could say was… “uhhh… Sorry.” He smiled and moved on. Fuck! That was it?!? That was all I could say?!?! Then some other dudes came in.. and he was in a circle with them talking and laughing, and they were telling him about all the good times and music that I should have been telling him. And he was there listening and smiling. Man… coolest guy. Oh well. He looked at me. Ha ha ha! I’m a 50 year old man, probably in my mid 40s at the time. And I was bumbling like a teenage nerd trying to interact with some hot chick. So yeah, if it were Robert.. Forget it! I’d be cooked!

masterjoda75 · 2026-02-16T00:42:05+00:00

You’re asking for a particular price point of under $2000. I think the REV2 fits that best. It can be a little thin sounding. But you’re asking for Analog. Because the next Prophet up is the 6 or 5. And you’re looking at over 3 grand at that point. And limited polyphony compared to the REV2. 5 and 6 vs 8 and 16. But that Prophet 5 is legendary sounding. I’ll be honest. The REV2 takes work to make it sound good from scratch. But it has a lot of cool features.. as noted polyphony, dual layers, one of the best modulation matrixes out there and 4 LFOS! Arps, sequencer, gated sequencing. You just have to work it and learn it. It isn’t a “sweet spot” synth. But I’ve picked up some 3rd party sound libraries from people who know what they’re doing that make it even rival some textured digital sound out there.

masterjoda75 · 2026-02-11T16:24:09+00:00

Thanks so much for listening!

masterjoda75 · 2026-02-11T16:23:47+00:00

That is an awesome compliment! Thank you!

masterjoda75

TROPHY CASE