Ever see the SNL spoof of that show??? It's unbelievably funny. The character of James Lipton makes me pee my pants..... "You're a DELIGHT ..... " funny, funny stuff.

Will Ferrell is a riot as Lipton! My fav was that classic "inside the Actor's Studio" sketch where he interviews Screech (from Saved by the Bell) played by Tobey Maguire. That one really had me rolling on the floor.

You're right - that one was a hoot ! They're all priceless - the way he sits there with his head tilted, staring off into "nowhere" ..... I have to laugh just thinking of it !

Well....is it in the house yet?

It's here on the stand ..... Ally and I are headed to the pool for a few hours, and we'll be back at dinner time. You and Donny coming over for supper? Call my cell...

It's 9PM here on the East coast, and 2 of the "Three" Stooges just left.
Donny and Fran came to fiddle with the VA76 and we had a nice dinner before the session.

You should have seen us three ...... trying to figure out why the volume was so spiratic ...... we never thougfht to look on the floor !(at the EV5 expression pedal, that I forgot i hooked up )
In playing the sustain, we accidently bummped the EV5 and lost most of the volume !
(Idiots for the moment)

After that - we had a pretty good time comparing notes on an instrument that we are already somewhat familiar with.

No big surprises - great sounds, great styles, LESS than great real time control of things like:
octave shift
manual bass
part volumes
seq play

lots of hidden menu stuff. If you set up performances ..... it's got a lot of potential, but for "on the fly" adjustment ....... what a nightmare. It'll live very happy on my studio desk till something else excites me.

Dave, break a leg with the VA, it's always been a board I've wanted to like.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Terry,
I agree .... it's not an instant love afair, but to be honest - it sounds fantastic. It's just not as quick at the draw as some others. Even my Korg, which is a bear to learn has more real time control, once you find out how to use it ! The VA is clearly aimed at "performance" oriented players (not a bad thing at all), but when you need to make spot changes with no notice - it's impossible to access many of the important parameters.

In the studio, it will be a terrific sound source, a great controller, and a handsome unit to complete my recording desk. I'll take a pic as soon as I decide if it's staying ! (I'm sure I'll keep it for a LITTLE while, at least. )

The VA has been here a whole day so far, and my original concerns still stand.
1-sounds fantastic
2-feels great
3-drums are wonderful
4-scat voices are the best in the biz

...with all that going for it, I predict that the VA76 will never be widly accepted on stages for these reasons (among others):
1-touch screen(slow - hate it)
2-button placement(fills etc, too far away)
3-no quick octave or transpose
4-except for style morphing, no quick edits on the fly
5-no mic input

It's not a disapointment, because I have other plans for this baby, but it reinforced the need for quick edits in a stage situation. If all you do is play "pre-determined" performances from begining to end .... you could learn to make this board sing(it actually CAN "sing" ), but if you change beats and tones within a song, like i do ..... it just can't compare to the ease of the competition.

For strict ease of use - Yamaha has my vote for the overall BEST in the biz.
Technics is next, and everyone else follows after that.
Too bad, ease of use isn't the only thing that we need on stage!

So..... no surprise here folks - just a great keyboard with huge potential as a studio controller and writing/arranging tool. It sure is pretty too !

oh man i miss mine. kinda regret selling her.
oh well, there will be other loves.