Any of you arranger folks subscribe to any keyboard magazines? I'm talking about the paper kind...not on-line.

Just curious.

Tx

imo a few biased stories, waste of money, dust collectors,
mostly advertisements..

My personal opinion is that magazines belong to the past in the era of the open internet

Point well taken.

Like I said, just curious.

Many years ago I was religiously subscribed to Keyboard Magazine, then called Contemporary Keyboard (and bi-monthly) and I still have Vol. 1 Number 1 September/October 1975 issue (article on Chick Corea and NAMM 1975) as well as several other older issues I considered important.

At one time it was the only magazine geared for keyboardists, and in much later issues they even started reviewing Arranger Keyboards such as the Korg SAS-20 and Yamaha PSR-70 around 1983/1985, but mainly it was synthesizers and electric pianos.

There were also some great tutorials and some excellent interviews with the leading players at the time...I remember a Jimmy Smith interview that was very interesting...he used to use an old Cadillac hearse to haul around his old Hammond B-3 and he explained his use of bass pedals in conjunction with Left Hand bass.

I do remember seeing the first mention (showed at NAMM) of the Moog Polymoog (model 203a) in that first 1975 issue and knew I had to get one, as most synths available at the time were monophonic, whereas the Polymoog was fully polyphonic and had 71-note weighted Pratt & Reed touch-sensitive (velocity) keyboard divided into three sections with a volume slider for each.

Having that keyboard got me a lot of studio work, although initially, it wasn't a very reliable instrument until I had an electronic wizard friend of mine do some custom mods to it.

So, back then, the magazine was invaluable to many of us.

Nowadays, I only view Keyboard Magazine on-line....I believe a subscription for print, digital and iPad versions are available at the web site. http://www.keyboardmag.com/

Ian

I subscribe to the print version of Keyboard Magazine and find many helpful articles on playing keyboards, reviews of new keyboards and other related equipment but most of all the very interesting articles and interviews about and with a variety of artists. Plus there are Links to sound examples and demos at their web site. So for me well worth the the $12/yr.

I also have free Digital subscriptions to Pro Audio, Mix Magazine and Electronic Musician. Each has interesting and topical articles and reviews.

There is an evolving world of music, technique and equipment out there as well as a myriad of artists with something to contribute.

These publications are a good way to keep informed.

Joe

I have subscribed for years(1980). I have to admit that time has passed be by in that it is for younger musicians, however, it is cheap and I like the reviews.

Bernie

Many, many years ago, I had subscriptions to Keyboard and Sheet Music magazines. After a couple years, I decided neither one was worth the price and dropped them both. At the time, I was a full-time freelance writer, and I, personally, thought the articles in both were very poorly written and quite biased. Keyboard, like many similar publications, only reviewed keyboards that were also advertisers, and for some strange reason, they never seemed to have a negative review - not a single one that I could recall. Same was true for some of the boating magazines I subscribed to - all the boats were just amazing.

Now, I really do not enjoy reading online articles. Most of them are also biased and poorly written, and for the same reasons - they pay scale for online writers is lousy, and because of this they tend to get lousy writers. I just finished reading Alfred Lansing's "Endurance - Shackleton's Incredible Voyage," an absolutely incredible book that was very difficult to put down. For those of you who are not familiar with Sir Ernest Shackleton, he made a daring voyage to the Antarctic in 1915, a voyage that had it not been for a host of unanticipated weather conditions, would have been one of the most incredible explorations of the south pole in history. This book was the product of an enormous amount of research, and impeccable writing skill on the part of Alfred Lansing.

In contrast, most of the articles in Keyboard Magazine, and similar publications, both print media and online, tend to not be well researched, they're often merely the opinion of the writer and as such, tend to be somewhat biased. Maybe I'm just being a bit picky, or cantankerous, but what the Hell, I'm an old fart and we're supposed to have some leeway in these things.

While it's sad to see any publication cease production, I suspect it is the way of the future. Younger people do not read newspapers, magazines, and for the most part, they tend not to read printed information on the Internet. Consequently, the younger generation seems to migrate more toward TV News, You Tube, etc... I may be wrong, but I believe that a few years from now, children will no longer be taught how to read cursive, and from what my grandson tells me, they no longer teach cursive writing in school.

So, bid a fond farewell to Keyboard, and all the other print media. Pretty soon, no one will even remember their names. Hmmmm! Kinda like us, I guess.

All the best,

Gary

Like Ian, I too subscribed to Contemporary Keyboard since it's very first issue. I even kept every one of them up until about 5 years ago. I thought they would be a great collection to sell - no one wanted them, not even the library.

I finally decided to dump them in the recycle bin at a local paper drive. I continue to subscribe, but am always thinking of stopping. There's not much in them anymore that catches my eye. Back in the day I used their reviews to buy and sell equipment, but now the opportunities are fewer and further between.

I used to buy This magazine, but as mentioned above it's mostly just ads and nothing else.

I was subscribed to SOS before.