I have a close friend who is one of the best musicians I know. He is blind. I used to make myself play with my eyes closed to try to see what it would be like. Navigation is the main problem, but I could adjust to playing the keys and I actually can remember I lot of songs when I have to.
DonM

As always, I recommend the Onstage Performer!
It plays wave and or mp3's which you can synch text and controlling devices as easy as pie. 149 dollars but nothing compares.
http://www.playwareinnovations.com/onstage_overview.php

Great program

Thanks for the compliments on my rig.

I have to say that I rely 50/50 on memory and reading so I find the Music Pad Pro to be a great alternative to the heavy homemade fakebook+music stand+light that I used to carry. Don't forget that my MPP is also serving as my accompaniment MP3 player at times too, plus it helps illuminate me on stage! It's serving many purposes in my rig.

Whether or not to use music on stage is a personal choice and I see that some top performers use written music while others do not. Like DonM I play 5-7 nights a week sometimes twice in a day and take requests from a list of hundreds of selections so whatever makes my job easier is fair game.

THink of it like this.....when you were 18 you started driving a car...both hands tightly on the wheel, tense, etc etc ......but a shiort while later you got your arm around your girlfriend........smoking a butt, listening to the radio, steering with your knees etc etc ........what Im driving at ( no pun intended ) is that the DRIVING becomes secondary to what your doing otherwise........just like when you play on stage....your eyes are on the audience, looking out there, not worrying about your fingers, rarely looking down at your hands or at a chart making it look effortless to the audience when performing creating a good stage presence...........now get that blindfold on......& no Peeking !

Hi Bernie,
probably not a great suggestion, but have you ever checked out Band in a Box for creating midi or audio files.
100's of styles with the megapak, majority so,so, but with a bit of work & a good soundsource, maybe could sound quite good?
I upgraded mine a couple of days ago and the styles seem to have improved over the years.
best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bernie9:
[b]

Rikki


[This message has been edited by rikkisbears (edited 04-22-2006).]

Can recommend BiaB very highly. I combine drum and sometimes bass loops with elements of rhythms/styles from BiaB with good plug-ins, and the songs sounds like a real band IMHO.

Can you post some BIAB songs for us too hear?

Hi Dnj,

there's some style demo's on the site. Bear in mind they're done with the vsc3 softsynth which isn't a patch on the way they sound on the ketron.
http://www.pgmusic.com/styles50.htm

Some of the blues, jazz & country demo's sound great.

Unfortunately I don't have the ability at the moment to do an mp3 of sd1 at the moment, my old win98 laptop isn't up to it.

I could send you a midifile to try.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dnj:
[b]

[This message has been edited by rikkisbears (edited 04-22-2006).]

Hi Rikki

I have BIAB with megapaks, as well as Powertrax. Yes, they are much improved over the old days. I rarely use either, as I have hundreds of styles for my KN7000. If I wanted to layout a song from scratch, I would rough it out there probably.

I mostly use styles except for some specialty tunes, and vocals where I want tthe original accomp.

The reason I brought up audio, is I just got SD Audio, that many received with their kb several years ago. I just wondered how many performers used mp3, and how. My sound quality is pretty good through my kb and Bose, but probably not as good as an mp3.

As soon as my Receptor is fully integrated with my setup, it will be even better. I quess I am never quite satisfied, and always looking at new technology , as well as constant self improvement.

Audiences today are too sophisticated to be fooled by pretend players, but on the otherhand, expect much more than 30 years ago.