Now (mostly) retired, I'm pursing electronics and computing just for the fun of it! I'm a computer scientist and engineer who has worked for AMD, Hewlett Packard and Siemens. I also taught hardware and software development at Case Western Reserve University, Tufts University and Princeton. Hopefully, you will find the information on this site to be helpful. Educators and students are particularly welcome!
Of course, I’m interested in learning more about the recent aerial incidents over North America. I hope the U.S. and Canadian governments release more information and images, soon. Surely, someone had a camera. 🙂
Recovery in Alaska and Yukon will be difficult. The objects are relatively small, the weather has been bad and the days are short (about six hours of daylight).
Flightradar24 has been a good resource along with ADS-B Exchange. Here are a few screen snaps of the Lake Huron incident (February 12, 2023).
USAF KC-135T over Lake Huron (February 12, 2023)
The U.S. has flown a variety of aircraft, especially tankers. Tankers have aircrew who have a lot of experience operating in commercial airspace. Tankers are well-suited for the job, i.e., relatively slow. Plus, their avionics have been upgraded for multiple roles including Link 16 and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). Link 16 assists information fusion for military and civilian decision makers.
Tankers are the most visible on Flightradar24 or ADS-B Exchange. The first track above is a KC135T (shout out to Pittsburgh ANG) following the unidentified object. Its path is similar to what I observed during the Chinese balloon incident. They squawk loud and clear for civilian ATC. Fighter jets? No. That’s why the FAA issues a temporary flight restriction (TFR) or ground stop when fast movers are operating. If you want to catch fighters, try ADS-C Exchange or DIY (if you have line of sight).
USAF E-3 AWACS near Lake Huron (February 12, 2023)
In addition to tankers, the U.S. has launched a variety of ISR aircraft. The Lake Huron incident was monitored by an E-3 AWACS (Sentry). None of these aircraft are strangers to people monitoring the airspace near Ukraine!
U.S. Coast Guard HC-130J over Lake Huron (February 13, 2023)
After action is recovery. The HC-130J Super Hercules is the tool for the job. Aircrew are trained for low-level night operations and can drop illumination flares. The avionics suite is extensive including night vision. It’s dark up there in the Yukon and Prudhoe Bay. The HC-130J can conduct air-to-air helicopter refueling, too. An USAF HC-130 was observed over the Prudhoe Bay incident (February 10, 2023).
Let’s give the professionals a chance to do their jobs. Hopefully, more information will be quickly forthcoming. In the meantime, read my posts about do-it-yourself ADS-B monitoring. 🙂
Brief flight over the region of interest (Lake Huron, February 13, 2023)
[Update] Canada’s turn! Looking at the Lake Huron depth chart, the object may be under 300+ feet of water. This will not be an easy recovery.
Looking for an alternative to everybody’s plain-Jake MIDI controller? Try the Buchla Lunar Excursion Module (LEM 218v3).
Buchla Lunar Excursion Module 218v3
LEM218v3 is version 3 in the ancestral line with an improved, redesigned touch bed. The LEM has touch-capacitive “keys” including channel pressure. It has a host of I/O ports: USB-C, MIDI IN/OUT via 3.5mm jacks and four 3.5mm output jacks (1V/octave pitch, 0-8 Volts pressure, touch strip pressure and gate). MIDI output is polyphonic. The manual is here.
Save your pennies, though. The LEM218v3 is $1,299USD — a big commitment if you’re not made of money. 🙂
The slow NAMM 2023 roll-out continues. Today, it’s Korg, again.
Korg are introducing two new models in the 61-key Entertainer Keyboard line.
The EK-50 U focuses on musical genres with “American roots”, that is, jazz, country, alternative, dance and rock. Korg breaks down the main features:
New styles
New sounds: electric and acoustic guitars, electric basses, brass, and drum kits
Performance record mode
Built-in amplification and speakers: 2x10W, 2x120mm dual-cone
Add-on styles from the Korg library
Operation on eight AA batteries (optional)
Song playback: MP3, WAV, Standard MIDI File
USB TO DEVICE and USB TO HOST ports
Weight: 16.5 pounds (7.5kg)
Street price (MAP) is $500USD. The EK-50 U and its sister are positioned in the high entry-level niche (i.e., against the Yamaha PSR-E473 and PSR-EW425).
Korg EK-50 CSA Entertainer Keyboard (don’t say “arranger”)
The EK-50 CSA focuses on Central and South America (“CSA”). It, too, has new styles and new sounds. New sounds include trumpets, saxophones, brass, guitar, bass and regional instruments like sampoña, quena and charango.
Both instruments have new speaker grill colors so I guess you can tell them apart if you own more than one. 🙂 I’m not real fond of the blue, Korg.
Listening to the audio demos, I would give the edge to the EK-50 CSA. The USA styles sound like… Well, they sound like an arranger playing rock and roll. I’ll bet the CSA out-sells the U simply due to anti-arranger bias.
BTW, the term “American” encompasses North, Central and South America. A bit chauvinistic or at least geography challenged. 🙂 “CSA” sometimes has a whole ‘nother meaning in the USA.
The Harmonic Distortion kit was developed by Fumio Mieda. It consists of three different distortion circuits which can be combined “to create harmonic modulation that goes beyond the traditional concept of distortion.” So, there.
Korg Nu:tekt HD-S and TR-S distortion pedal kits
The Power Tube Reactor purports to “deliver the responsiveness, the feel, of a vacuum tube guitar amp.” The TR-S is Nutube-based and it simulates the sag of a vacuum tube power amp. This achieves a natural-sounding compression effect (or so claim Korg). I’d like to try this one with keys.
Don’t forget the Nu:Tekt OD-S Nutube Overdrive kit. All three pedals are housed in a sturdy chassis and expect to be under foot. Don’t do that with your NTS-1.
Like other Nu:Tekt kits, no soldering is required, just assembly. My NTS-1 synth was easy to assemble and is still going strong.
I haven’t found any USA price information as yet. The available OD-S sells for $300USD street ($420USD MSRP). I expect similar pricing for the HD-S and TR-S kits. UK sites are saying 200GBP.
The AG08 is an extension of the successful AG06MK2 and AG03MK2 streaming console mixers. I use a MK1 AG06 every day and appreciate the number of I/O and control options that it offers.
Yamaha AG08 Live Streaming Mixer
Yamaha are definitely chasing the live streaming and pod-casting hot trend. The AG08 has:
24-bit, 48 kHz Multi-channel audio recording and playback
External 12V power or USB C bus power (switchable)
Phantom power on channels 1 and 2
Dimensions: 11.5″W x 8.8″D x 3.5″H
Weight: 4.9 pounds (2.2kg)
It’s all controlled by the Yamaha AG08 Controller app for IOS. (Same is true for AG06 and AG03.) You can find all the specs and manuals on-line now.
The industrial design is quite clean and colorfully pretty. Don’t like white? Yamaha offer the AG08 in black, too. It’s a tad big for my desktop and a little too much functionality for me. However, it appears to be built like a tank. Hope it can survive the occasional coffee spill. 🙂
The AG08 comes with the usual Yamaha software bundle including Steinberg WaveLab Case. WaveLab Cast may be aimed at the pod-casting community, but I find that it does a lot of everyday audio chores without the expense of full WaveLab.
Clearly, digital piano is the main focus. The FP-E50 is targeted for the home market, but I can see where (semi-)pros might consider this keyboard for casual gigs. Power comes from an external adapter, however. There isn’t 5-pin MIDI either — another feature that pros might miss.
Roland FP-E50 digital piano (arranger, synth)
Flipping through the FP-E50 tone list, it has a slew of classic Roland sounds from XV/JV days. Additional sounds (EXZ Wave Expansions and SDZ Sound Packs) can be downloaded from the Roland Cloud. Roland plan to release new accompaniment styles as “Z-Style Packs”.
The asking price is a reasonable $999USD (MAP). A furniture-style stand is available for $100USD. Roland are going up against Yamaha DGX-670. Just on the basis of visual appearance and styling, I’d rather have the FP-E50 in my living room.
The $1,000 keyboard space is definitely interesting these days!
Having worked with and played ROLI Lightpad M, I’m ready to write this review!
Starting out
The first thing you notice out of the box — ROLI Lightpad M has some heft. If Stanley Kubrick had invented a palm-sized talisman to take humankind to the next level in evolution, Lightpad would be it. It’s dark grey (light black?) with the DNA connector studs on four sides. Lightpad’s heft is due to its 2000mAh Li-po rechargeable battery. The extra weight has two advantages:
Lightpad feels substantial like a “real instrument”.
Lightpad does not skitter across the table when played, thanks to both the weight and rubber pad on the bottom.
Overall, it gives the impression of quality, not a cheapo plastic knock-off.
ROLI Lightpad M (unboxed)
My Lightpad had been sitting idle on a shelf somewhere and the battery was fully discharged on arrival. Lightpad shows battery status when the mode button is pressed (when Lightpad is OFF). I charged Lightpad using the ROLI USB C cable and an Apple iPAD charge adapter. Lightpad needed four hours to come up to full charge.
Tip: Flip Lightpad over and look at the rubber pad. The pad is inscribed with icons indicating button operations and the USB C port.
ROLI Connect (under Windows 10) readily recognized and registered Lightpad. I downloaded a mess o’software including ROLI Player, ROLI Drums, and ROLI Dashboard via ROLI Connect (ROLI’s content manager). Separately, I installed the ROLI Noise app on iPAD (3rd generation Air, IOS 15.6.1).
I wanted to play Lightpad M and the ROLI Noise app seemed to be the fastest way to start playing. There are plenty of on-line videos and I won’t go over the same basic territory here.
Noise is a decent way to learn about Lightpad’s basic capabilities as a drum pad and melodic controller. Enable Bluetooth and turn Lightpad ON. Lightpad sweeps a blue arc across the surface signifying connect mode. Launch Noise, tap the power switch icon in the lower right, and follow the dialog boxes to complete connection.
I had watched enough videos to know how to use the two matrices on the main screen: “clip” launcher on the left and key pad on the right. The four small buttons under each column in the key pad select the column (drum and three melodic instruments). Use the voice picker at the bottom to choose an instrument for the selected column.
ROLI Lightpad M 4×4 grid
It’s all intuitive, simple and enough to start horsing around. Noise changes Lightpad’s configuration to reflect on-screen choices.
Tip: Drums come in two forms: drum kits and groove kits. Drum kits assign a voice to each pad and you tap out a pattern in the usual way. Groove kits assign a clip to each pad and should be struck and held. Not knowing this distinction, I thought groove kits were broken, i.e., I didn’t always get an immediate response when briefly striking a pad.
Tip: Pads in the 4×4 and 5×5 configurations are too small for accurate finger drumming. If you can, select and use a 2×2 grid in order to get MPC-sized virtual pads.
I recommend downloading and trying the Pharell “Happy” sound pack. It’s free and is the fastest way to instant gratification. I want to play darn it, not build a drum pattern from scratch. If ROLI revive Noise, they should provide more content of the instant fun variety. I can see why some users might lose interest quickly when they have to microcode everything from scratch using a not always intuitive user interface (UI).
ROLI melodic key pad (C major scale)
I had the most fun jamming to and messing with the Happy sound pack. I especially liked playing a lead over slowed-down Happy. I messed with scales, chords, arpeggiation. The touch surface is balanced between soft enough and pleasant resistance. It’s just totally cool to play a line and then add extra pizzazz through pressure, glide, slide or whatever gesture you feel.
Tip: The playing surface ripples with so-called “waves”. The waves give a nice textured feel. Lightpad M has both the waves and an improved playing surface; the original Lightpad does not — something to keep in mind when shopping the used instrument market.
Tip: Use ROLI Dashboard and/or Noise to adjust pressure sensitivity. Out of the box, Lightpad is not as responsive to pressure as one would like.
For melodic instruments, notes are laid down on a 5×5 grid. Notes in the chosen scale are lit and non-scale tones are dark. Strangely, I began to recognize major vs. minor, etc. by sight and I could pick out melodies. I honestly didn’t expect that! Select Noise’s Seaboard simulator and Lightpad will follow notes played on-screen.
Noise is fun as far as it goes. In the end, Noise smells like a Web site that’s gotten a bit stale. Not surprising, because ROLI have neglected upkeep in recent years. There are a few UI widgets that don’t seem to operate anymore, e.g., “Hide Note” in the scale picker. Sadly, the SWAM sound packs cannot be installed — something to do with “not available in the AUv3.” Not my problem, ROLI.
ROLI Equator 2 and ROLI Dashboard
The tone gets decidedly “serious” on the personal computer side. ROLI Player and ROLI Drums run standalone and as plug-ins within a DAW or other VST compatible software tool. ROLI Player encapsulates the melodic software instruments Equator 2, Strobe 2 and Cypher 2. ROLI Drums holds up the rhythmic end.
In standalone mode, you can browse the presets while trying out different Lightpad configurations (scales, smart chords, etc.) OK, but not a lot of instant gratification a la the ROLI Noise app.
So, launch Ableton Live and try inserting ROLI Player on a MIDI track. Whoops, Live can’t find the ROLI Player plug-in! Drop into Ableton Live preferences and check the VST plug-in path. ROLI Player and Drums install into:
Darned Ableton Live supports only one custom path which I have already used. I copied the Player and Drums DLL files to the directory at the end of the custom path — a fast and sleazy work-around.
Ableton Live eventually found and created the ROLI Player plug-in. Choose a few funky loops, get the clips started, and now the fun begins, again. ROLI need to make the personal computer side as engaging as ROLI Noise on iPAD. None the less, if you have Ableton Live, you can groove away playing leads, bass lines, whatever in ROLI Player or Drums. The ROLI software bundle includes a download code for Ableton Live Lite, so you should be able to set yourself up.
Overall, in terms of playing experience, ROLI Lightpad M is best suited for leads. Finger drumming and bass require too much good timing and precision on my part. With all five touch dimensions going, however, you can positively shred.
In conclusion
I hope my comments convey the feeling of ROLI Lightpad M as a primary physical controller for synthesis. The experience is a similar to working in Akai’s MPC environment — triggering notes, chords and arpeggios with pads. Unlike MPC pads, Lightpad lets you mangle sound with gestures after the initial strike. It’s a worthy addition to a studio for no other reason than breaking out of muscle memory and mental ruts.
Buskers and coffee house players should take note of the new Yamaha STAGEPAS 200 portable PA system. The STAGEPAS 200 is a compact unit packing 2-way bi-amplification, 5 mixing channels (3 mono + 1 stereo), SPX digital reverb, a low frequency driver (8″ cone, 150W) and a 1″ high frequency driver. Dial in parameters with the STAGEPAS Controller iOS/Android app.
Yamaha STAGEPAS 200 portable PA
Yamaha have two models on offer: with battery (200BTR) and without (200). They weigh 27.6 pounds (12.5kg) and 26.5 pounds (12kg), respectively. Both models are essentially a cube measuring 12″ (310mm) per side.
Battery operating time is 8 hours (estimated) at 6% continuous use. I suspect that real-world will be less as 6% seems rather conservative sound-wise. I don’t think Yamaha are being disingenuous; it’s hard to rate operating time as expected use may vary from quiet background music to thundering blare. Accessorize with a spare battery pack, if you need a security blanket.
The STAGEPAS 200BTR should street around $650USD and the battery-less model at $550USD. Yamaha are going head-to-head with Bose S1 Pro ($700USD) and JBL ONE Compact ($630USD).
Yamaha have finally announced the P-S500 portable digital Smart Piano in North America. It’s being pitched more for home and studio than stage. The whole concept is to simplify the front panel while moving access to auto-accompaniment and such to the Smart Pianist tablet-based application.
These two announcements appear in the run-up to NAMM 2023 to be held April 13-15 in Anaheim. NAMM has along runway this year as the April show combines the former winter and summer trade-shows. Expect to see more product announcements in the next several weeks.
Alright. I bought a cut-rate ROLI Lightpad M. 🙂 I spent the day charging, registering, downloading, installing, and updating. Over 3 gigabytes later…
ROLI Lightpad M
I will eventually blog about the ROLI Lightpad M itself. For the moment, I’m going to ramble about the ROLI gestalt.
And you may ask yourself, "Where is that large automobile?" And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful house" And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful wife" And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?" -- Talking Heads, "Once In A Lifetime"
Starting out with Lightpad M feels like my first day with Akai MPK Mini. Lots of downloading and plenty of gifts to unwrap. Unboxing Lightpad is more “Apple chic” than “rack ’em and stack ’em.”
You first need to download ROLI Connect — ROLI’s content manager. Yes, yet another content manager. Plug in and ROLI Connect recognizes the Lightpad and guides you through registration. For some reason, ROLI Connect refused to show the Lightpad on its “Devices” tab. A minor quibble as the Lightpad magically appears after a reboot, etc.
You get a pretty decent bundle of stuff (Mac/Windows) just like Akai:
ROLI Studio Player
ROLI Studio Drums
ROLI Dashboard
Ableton Live Lite (redemption)
Cycling MAX ’74 (3 month redemption)
Melodics (3 month redemption)
Tracktion Waveform (redemption)
I downloaded and installed Studio Player, Studio Drums and Dashboard, leaving the rest for another time.
Sound-wise, you get quite a few packs:
5D EDM
Chillwave Drifting
Cinematic
Colours of India
Elementak EDM
Elements *
Equater 2 Fundamentals *
Experiments
Giant Dubstep
Modern Electronic
Session Keys *
Structure
Synthetic Resistance
Video Games
Vintage Electronic
World Colours
I wish ROLI Connect displayed the download sizes before starting the actual downloads. Equator 2 Fundamentals alone weighs 2.5GB. Begin sliding into the deep…
Hmmm, no free SWAM on Mac/PC. Somewhat understandable, as the full Mac/PC titles are tres cher. Still, I was hoping to try a few more SWAM instruments.
Fire up Studio Player and it recognizes the Lightpad M. All good.
And you may ask yourself, "How do I work this?"
That’s when you know you are in the deep. So, I tapped, swiped and pushed at random. Then spent the evening watching videos. 🙂 Although tedious at times, videos show me how other people use Lightpad and the ROLI software.
When you buy ROLI, you buy into the ROLI ecosystem. That may be a good thing; it may be a bad thing. This situation isn’t too different than buying into Akai’s MPC universe, Arturia’s Analog Lab, or Native Instrument’s Komplete, just to mention a few similar ecosystems.
An MPE ecosystem is not necessarily evil. Controller and synthesis need to be carefully matched as I discovered using Keith McMillen QuNexus with SWAM Flute. ROLI Studio Player incorporates Equator, FXpansion Strobe and FXpansion Cypher (all version 2). Studio Player has the patch browser and real-time performance tools (smart chords and multi-layer arpeggiator) which can be assigned to the Lightpad M.
Some punters have diss’ed the presets as all sounding alike or some such. Well, upgrade to full and make your own sounds. It’s a synthesizer. Buying a Lightpad may be a way to get full Equator for less. Do the maths and then go to work.
What you might not know (I didn’t) is that you can suck Studio Player or Studio Drums into Cubase as a VST, not just Live or Tracktion. You get a VST with superpowers like smart chords, arpeggiation, etc. Neat. A tool that embeds in a bog standard DAW? Now you have my attention!
The ROLI ecosystem is all well and good, but I want to use Lightpad as a controller to add the touch missing from Arturia Keylab Essential. [I will surely try this and blog about it.] Lightpad has an XYZ touch pad mode which is configured through the ROLI Dashboard. The Lightpad is small enough to fit into the upper left corner of the Keylab Essential 49 (above the pitch and mod wheel). I expect to do a lot of tweaking to SWAM Flute (Cello, etc.) to adjust parameter sensitivities, ranges and so forth.
I think ROLI/Luminary have focused wisely during their re-birth from bankruptcy. Keeping Lightpad was a good business decision as well as letting Studio Player make friends through the existing VST mechanism. Ditching the control BLOCKS (Live, Loop and Touch) was sensible, too. The control blocks were rather expensive key pads that sent control messages to Studio (or Noise). Not super necessary given the capabilities in Noise and Studio Player.
In the long run, I wonder how Lightpad M and Lumi Keys will relate. Lightpad M seems to be technically reliable, but I see negative comments about Lumi Keys on Reddit that give me pause (e.g., not charging, Bluetooth connection issues, etc.) Luminary still have a way to go in their recovery.
Luminary want to make money through Lumi subscriptions (lessons and songs). This is a dubious business decision. People are wise to the subscription scam. A subscription makes sense only if it delivers genuine value to the end user and keeps delivering value over the long run. I would rather see Luminary (any company, really) focus on reliable products sold and bought once — not promises.
Next up, I’ll try Lightpad M with Noise on Apple iPad — a good way to fill in the commercial gaps while watching football.
