And here we go again! Finally, I broke out the Ensoniq MR Rack and connected it to a Leslie 130 and a small 8" speaker via another Pyle power amp. The sound is astounding! Since this module has internal reverb and other effects, it is ideal for the purpose. It has several nice Hammond patches and one fairly decent pipe organ patch (classic). Of course, the majority of patches are orchestral. I've relieved the INternal speakers of double duty and just the organ voices are coming from the INternals. The little Kawai module, the MDS Expander 1 (orchestral voices), and the MR Rack have their own amps and speakers. So, now the count is up to 8 channels/amps/speakers. Breaking each channel out to its own amps and speakers really allows the system to make more 'space' and sound tremendous.
In the past, the tendency has been to mix channels down to two into one stereo amp and one set of speakers. Some ambience was lost in this arrangement. Although more expensive, the new approach is to break out as many sounds into as many channels as money will allow. The result is a much better sound.
I'll post an updated picture of the console with the correct music desk and the amplifiers mounted to the top shelf.
Fun Fun Fun!
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Final on TING phone service . . .
Ok, the results are in!
The final bill on my new https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ phone service. Get this, it went from $227/mo with Sprint to $62 with https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/. That is a huge savings over what Sprint and other mainline phone companies charge! No limits no overages; simply pay for what you use! What a novel idea. Analyze what you pay for phone service and give these folks a try! There is an estimator on the site that allows you to estimate and get a decent idea of what you would save before you switch. Don't forget, if you are under contract, it will cost you up front the ETF for each line. However, they sweeten the deal with a 25% rebate for your trouble. I'm impressed.
Now, back to MUSIC!
The final bill on my new https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ phone service. Get this, it went from $227/mo with Sprint to $62 with https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/. That is a huge savings over what Sprint and other mainline phone companies charge! No limits no overages; simply pay for what you use! What a novel idea. Analyze what you pay for phone service and give these folks a try! There is an estimator on the site that allows you to estimate and get a decent idea of what you would save before you switch. Don't forget, if you are under contract, it will cost you up front the ETF for each line. However, they sweeten the deal with a 25% rebate for your trouble. I'm impressed.
Now, back to MUSIC!
Monday, November 25, 2013
OFF TOPIC! Telephone Service
Hi Folks!
Just a note to tell you that I accidentally fell into something really great! I can SAVE a bunch of money on my phone service. I'm about 3 weeks into the new service, and according to the estimates, my bill went from $227/mo for three phones to $45 so far. Worst case estimate will be about $80, but I don't think it will be that high. I'll keep you posted on the results when the months billing is in.
I know some of you are already asking HOW CAN YOU DO THAT!? Here is the long story . . .
Years ago, when NetScape 1.0 was the new and exciting thing on the internet (I was doing GEnie then and Compu$erve at 2400 baud), I ran into a site called TUCOWS. I visited it a few times for grins and then promptly forgot about TUCOWS. However, the name stuck with me and recently I was curious about if TUCOWS existed any longer, and if so, what they were doing.
So, I went to the site and sure enough, TUCOWS still exists. That in itself is quite a feat. Most of the early websites are long gone and only a very few are still working.
While perusing their site, I found a reference to TING https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ relating to phone service. Since I've been paying Sprint for several years a monthly fee of $227 for three lines with Galaxy 2 phones, I was interested in CAN I SAVE ANY $$$ WITH THESE GUYS?!
I went to their site and read everything that I could about it. I did a Yahoo! search and did some reading. Some bad, a lot of good. I pondered my dilemma and calculated my Early Termination Fees, which would be $600 smackers! To sweeten the deal, https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ offered to pay 25% of the ETF if I should decide to switch. I calculated that and figured that would be $150. Would they really pay??? Or is that just a come on?
The only way to find out was to take the plunge. So, after a short conversation with my XYL, I decided to go ahead and give it a try. After all, I've done dumber things before . . . this wouldn't be the first time if it didn't work out.
Not having to buy new phones was refreshing. I just used the phones that I already had previously bought from Sprint. Most popular phones seem to work with https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ . If by chance you don't have a phone that is compatible with https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ , then you can buy a new or used phone from https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/. You will pay full retail price for the phone, but NO CONTRACT! And you save a bunch of $$$ on the service! Really! Samsung Galaxy 2's and one Galaxy Nexus were able to be transferred without any hitch. Look on their site for a listing of https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ compatible phones. I filled out the forms for all the phones (3), and personal and billing information. The next day, I got an email saying that everything was set up on their end and to enter some codes on each phone to make the switch official and functional. That was a bit of a pain, but everything did work as advertised. You just have to be careful to enter each code EXACTLY and follow the directions EXACTLY. The directions for different phone makes and models are different. Take your time and be careful with this. I tested each phone and everything functioned as it did before. Now I was in trouble with Sprint, and I knew it. As expected, Sprint billed me $882 for all EFT's and a $100 deductible for a repair done to my grandsons phone that he broke. The rest was taxes and government fees of some sort. I didn't argue, cause I knew it would happen. I'll just pay it on the first of the month and that will be the end of that.
So, now that I've made the switch, I'm more than a bit apprehensive about the future with a new phone company. So, using their web site, I'm checking every day to see if the charges are as advertised.
I'm just amazed at this point as to the billing method they use. Of course there are no 'free' minutes for calling TING customers or other cell phone lines or anything else. You pay for ALL INcoming or OUTgoing minutes, messages and megabytes of data used. Ok. I got it. Even with that, my bill at three weeks is only $45 smackerz! I am having a hard time believing it!
Another big surprise is the 25% credit on the EFT's. When I got my last Sprint bill, like I said, it is $822. That is HUGE! I made a .PDF copy of it and then sent it to TING.COM and uploaded it to their site. They even sent me an email reminding me of this offer. Within ONE DAY, there was the $150 credit showing on my new https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ account. Imagine that! These guys do exactly what they say they will do, and they do it quickly! Very refreshing. And, they keep you informed of the progress of every procedure every time.
So, for quick estimating, it appears that if my bill is indeed around $50 this month, I'll be SAVING around $177 per month. At that rate, the payback for switching will be around 5 1/2 months. Then we can count on saving about $1500 or so a YEAR. That is HUGE! Think of what you could do with an extra $1500 each year! Heck, you can buy some GAS, or buy a drivable car, or maybe some tools . . . or pay off another bill. It is your money . . . spend it any way you like!
I don't often recommend vendors to other folks, but this is too good to not pass along. Give them a try. They work real hard to make a phone company that MAKES CENT$! https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/
Ok, I'm stepping off my soapbox and returning to MUSIC!
Just a note to tell you that I accidentally fell into something really great! I can SAVE a bunch of money on my phone service. I'm about 3 weeks into the new service, and according to the estimates, my bill went from $227/mo for three phones to $45 so far. Worst case estimate will be about $80, but I don't think it will be that high. I'll keep you posted on the results when the months billing is in.
I know some of you are already asking HOW CAN YOU DO THAT!? Here is the long story . . .
Years ago, when NetScape 1.0 was the new and exciting thing on the internet (I was doing GEnie then and Compu$erve at 2400 baud), I ran into a site called TUCOWS. I visited it a few times for grins and then promptly forgot about TUCOWS. However, the name stuck with me and recently I was curious about if TUCOWS existed any longer, and if so, what they were doing.
So, I went to the site and sure enough, TUCOWS still exists. That in itself is quite a feat. Most of the early websites are long gone and only a very few are still working.
While perusing their site, I found a reference to TING https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ relating to phone service. Since I've been paying Sprint for several years a monthly fee of $227 for three lines with Galaxy 2 phones, I was interested in CAN I SAVE ANY $$$ WITH THESE GUYS?!
I went to their site and read everything that I could about it. I did a Yahoo! search and did some reading. Some bad, a lot of good. I pondered my dilemma and calculated my Early Termination Fees, which would be $600 smackers! To sweeten the deal, https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ offered to pay 25% of the ETF if I should decide to switch. I calculated that and figured that would be $150. Would they really pay??? Or is that just a come on?
The only way to find out was to take the plunge. So, after a short conversation with my XYL, I decided to go ahead and give it a try. After all, I've done dumber things before . . . this wouldn't be the first time if it didn't work out.
Not having to buy new phones was refreshing. I just used the phones that I already had previously bought from Sprint. Most popular phones seem to work with https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ . If by chance you don't have a phone that is compatible with https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ , then you can buy a new or used phone from https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/. You will pay full retail price for the phone, but NO CONTRACT! And you save a bunch of $$$ on the service! Really! Samsung Galaxy 2's and one Galaxy Nexus were able to be transferred without any hitch. Look on their site for a listing of https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ compatible phones. I filled out the forms for all the phones (3), and personal and billing information. The next day, I got an email saying that everything was set up on their end and to enter some codes on each phone to make the switch official and functional. That was a bit of a pain, but everything did work as advertised. You just have to be careful to enter each code EXACTLY and follow the directions EXACTLY. The directions for different phone makes and models are different. Take your time and be careful with this. I tested each phone and everything functioned as it did before. Now I was in trouble with Sprint, and I knew it. As expected, Sprint billed me $882 for all EFT's and a $100 deductible for a repair done to my grandsons phone that he broke. The rest was taxes and government fees of some sort. I didn't argue, cause I knew it would happen. I'll just pay it on the first of the month and that will be the end of that.
So, now that I've made the switch, I'm more than a bit apprehensive about the future with a new phone company. So, using their web site, I'm checking every day to see if the charges are as advertised.
I'm just amazed at this point as to the billing method they use. Of course there are no 'free' minutes for calling TING customers or other cell phone lines or anything else. You pay for ALL INcoming or OUTgoing minutes, messages and megabytes of data used. Ok. I got it. Even with that, my bill at three weeks is only $45 smackerz! I am having a hard time believing it!
Another big surprise is the 25% credit on the EFT's. When I got my last Sprint bill, like I said, it is $822. That is HUGE! I made a .PDF copy of it and then sent it to TING.COM and uploaded it to their site. They even sent me an email reminding me of this offer. Within ONE DAY, there was the $150 credit showing on my new https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/ account. Imagine that! These guys do exactly what they say they will do, and they do it quickly! Very refreshing. And, they keep you informed of the progress of every procedure every time.
So, for quick estimating, it appears that if my bill is indeed around $50 this month, I'll be SAVING around $177 per month. At that rate, the payback for switching will be around 5 1/2 months. Then we can count on saving about $1500 or so a YEAR. That is HUGE! Think of what you could do with an extra $1500 each year! Heck, you can buy some GAS, or buy a drivable car, or maybe some tools . . . or pay off another bill. It is your money . . . spend it any way you like!
I don't often recommend vendors to other folks, but this is too good to not pass along. Give them a try. They work real hard to make a phone company that MAKES CENT$! https://zdshts1bnm4.ting.com/
Ok, I'm stepping off my soapbox and returning to MUSIC!
Monday, October 14, 2013
Mexican Theme ATOS Meeting
And . . . It was a screaming success!
This past Saturday, 12 October 2013, Millie and I hosted our first meeting for the North Florida Chapter of the American Theater Organ Society. We had 18 folks attending. I played a short 30 minute set and then had Open Console and LOTS of great Mexican food prepared by Millie. Being Puerto Rican, and growing up in California, she can do some extreme Mexican style food. A Taco bar and Spanish rice with pan fried flour and corn tortillas for the Tacos! Yum!
About half of my set was Spanish/Mexican styled tunes and the others were pop from the 50's and 60's. Everyone had fun and got along just fine. We had folks drive as much as two hours to get here from the South and an hour and a half from the North. Pretty good for us being in a two traffic light town.
The MDS Theater 2D organ performed well. Just prior to the event I added one stereo power amp, a Pyle 2x80 watt unit I purchased from Amazon to power the Expander MIDI unit separately from the organ amp and speakers. The Pyle was connected to two Crate K80's; one hidden in a corner and the other hidden behind an end table. The little Kawai sound module (under the left cheek block) was then removed from the internal amp/speakers and connected to a 35 watt Radio Shack PA amp I had lying around that is about 40 years old and connected to a small 8" speaker cab that is also old and had lying around and placed it behind the music desk to handle the perc and other voices used from the Kawai unit. The 8" cab was purposely selected because of its' small size and the Kawai voices being used don't produce much bass content anyway.
The Organ voices are coming directly out of the INternal speakers. So . . . I have effectively six separate channels, amps, speakers. The sound is great in this small space. All that needs to be done is get a couple of small reverb units for the MIDI boxes as they cannot access the ADR4 in the organ console any more.
My personal thanks to Gene Stroble for the great deal on a great sounding console.
I have two more MIDI modules that I would like to add to the ensemble as time permits. An Ensoniq MR Rack and an old Peavey Spectrum Organ (Mainly Hammond patches).
Now to evaluate the responses to the gig here and see if I can be put in the rotation for regular meetings in this area now.
This past Saturday, 12 October 2013, Millie and I hosted our first meeting for the North Florida Chapter of the American Theater Organ Society. We had 18 folks attending. I played a short 30 minute set and then had Open Console and LOTS of great Mexican food prepared by Millie. Being Puerto Rican, and growing up in California, she can do some extreme Mexican style food. A Taco bar and Spanish rice with pan fried flour and corn tortillas for the Tacos! Yum!
About half of my set was Spanish/Mexican styled tunes and the others were pop from the 50's and 60's. Everyone had fun and got along just fine. We had folks drive as much as two hours to get here from the South and an hour and a half from the North. Pretty good for us being in a two traffic light town.
The MDS Theater 2D organ performed well. Just prior to the event I added one stereo power amp, a Pyle 2x80 watt unit I purchased from Amazon to power the Expander MIDI unit separately from the organ amp and speakers. The Pyle was connected to two Crate K80's; one hidden in a corner and the other hidden behind an end table. The little Kawai sound module (under the left cheek block) was then removed from the internal amp/speakers and connected to a 35 watt Radio Shack PA amp I had lying around that is about 40 years old and connected to a small 8" speaker cab that is also old and had lying around and placed it behind the music desk to handle the perc and other voices used from the Kawai unit. The 8" cab was purposely selected because of its' small size and the Kawai voices being used don't produce much bass content anyway.
The Organ voices are coming directly out of the INternal speakers. So . . . I have effectively six separate channels, amps, speakers. The sound is great in this small space. All that needs to be done is get a couple of small reverb units for the MIDI boxes as they cannot access the ADR4 in the organ console any more.
My personal thanks to Gene Stroble for the great deal on a great sounding console.
I have two more MIDI modules that I would like to add to the ensemble as time permits. An Ensoniq MR Rack and an old Peavey Spectrum Organ (Mainly Hammond patches).
Now to evaluate the responses to the gig here and see if I can be put in the rotation for regular meetings in this area now.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Hi Y'all!
Yep, now I've taken delivery and the organ is in place. Had some issues to address . . . the Saxophone didn't work, one key ciphered, the backup battery was dead, there was a rattle in the console, the console lights caused a buzz in the speakers, the pedals didn't key properly and a few other items needed attention. All that is fixed and the organ is in 100% working order.
I have posted a picture of the new console for your viewing pleasure 8-D !
This organ sounds wonderful. It is an Allen MDS Theater II (2) D. I'm thinking the D is for Deluxe as it has the then new MIDI Expander, the ARTE drum machine factory installed and Gene installed another MIDI module (Kawai XS-1) under the key bed.
In the near future, I'll be installing an Ensoniq MR-Rack MIDI module along with a Peavey Spectrum Organ module with their own separate amps and speakers which will effectively make the organ into a six channel affair. That should add many resources (sound patches) as well as allow the console to make a lot of 'space' in a small environment.
More info as I make progress on this project. However, right now the organ is complete as is and sounds glorious! No need for the Hammond H382, as the Expander has 3 really nice Hammond patches already and is sufficient for that purpose. With a great piano patch, now it is easy to do some Errol Garner stuff . . . The dream of a lifetime! Thankx again Gene!
Yep, now I've taken delivery and the organ is in place. Had some issues to address . . . the Saxophone didn't work, one key ciphered, the backup battery was dead, there was a rattle in the console, the console lights caused a buzz in the speakers, the pedals didn't key properly and a few other items needed attention. All that is fixed and the organ is in 100% working order.
I have posted a picture of the new console for your viewing pleasure 8-D !
This organ sounds wonderful. It is an Allen MDS Theater II (2) D. I'm thinking the D is for Deluxe as it has the then new MIDI Expander, the ARTE drum machine factory installed and Gene installed another MIDI module (Kawai XS-1) under the key bed.
In the near future, I'll be installing an Ensoniq MR-Rack MIDI module along with a Peavey Spectrum Organ module with their own separate amps and speakers which will effectively make the organ into a six channel affair. That should add many resources (sound patches) as well as allow the console to make a lot of 'space' in a small environment.
More info as I make progress on this project. However, right now the organ is complete as is and sounds glorious! No need for the Hammond H382, as the Expander has 3 really nice Hammond patches already and is sufficient for that purpose. With a great piano patch, now it is easy to do some Errol Garner stuff . . . The dream of a lifetime! Thankx again Gene!
Saturday, July 20, 2013
A new console for Beck!
Here we go again . . . changes.
The Gulbransen Rialto is history. And . . . it seems I have acquired (but not taken delivery) on an Allen MDS Theater II organ that has factory MIDI and an 1st generation Expander and a Kawai MIDI module of some description on board. Soon as I get it delivered and set up, I'll post a picture or two of it.
It came from the home of Gene Stroble, a member of the North Florida Chapter of the American Theater Organ Society. There will be a lot of work setting this thing up. Just getting it in the house will be a challenge. I'll probably have to take the door off the hinges to get enough clearance to pass through without scarring the door jambs or console. Wow! Something modern enough to have MIDI on board! I'm more than a bit excited about all this.
Best Wishes,
Beck . . . 8-)
The Gulbransen Rialto is history. And . . . it seems I have acquired (but not taken delivery) on an Allen MDS Theater II organ that has factory MIDI and an 1st generation Expander and a Kawai MIDI module of some description on board. Soon as I get it delivered and set up, I'll post a picture or two of it.
It came from the home of Gene Stroble, a member of the North Florida Chapter of the American Theater Organ Society. There will be a lot of work setting this thing up. Just getting it in the house will be a challenge. I'll probably have to take the door off the hinges to get enough clearance to pass through without scarring the door jambs or console. Wow! Something modern enough to have MIDI on board! I'm more than a bit excited about all this.
Best Wishes,
Beck . . . 8-)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Oh Boy!
Millie and I have been going to a few concerts lately. We just got back from hearing Ron Carter at the STRAND THEATER in Marietta, Georgia. We went to hear him also in Birmingham, Alabama about 18 months ago. He is a great organist and a fine person indeed!
Our little NFCATOS group is growing and getting very active. We have some great organists, some great organs, and some great expectations for the future.
Our little NFCATOS group is growing and getting very active. We have some great organists, some great organs, and some great expectations for the future.
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