Sunday, November 14, 2004

New Toy: Edirol Keyboard + GarageBand Check it out!!! I bought an Edirol keyboard through a promo at my employer, for 1/2 price. Since the discount was good, I went for the best one, with 61 keys. The thing is like 1 meter wide. So, why would I buy a midi keyboard, when I'm not a musician? About 2 years ago, I asked my mom if we could have the Grand Piano which was sitting in the same place in the living room of her house ever since I was a little kid. My mom knows how to play piano, but she never enrolled me in lessons, although I did take about 1 year of guitar. Basically, I have absolutely no musical training of any kind, much less piano. After the piano was moved to our house, I began to play around with it, and I taught myself how to play "Oh Susanna", and I also composed a tune based on a little sequence I used to play on the same piano since I was in elementary school. I can now play both of these things fairly well, with a few mistakes. Also, about 2 years ago, Apple Computer introduced its "GarageBand" software, and quite a few people I know ran out and bought keyboards to play with it, but not I... I wanted one, but I try to restrain myself from dubious purchases - meaning, things that I don't think I will end up using very much. I discovered the Edirol discount available through my work about 1 year ago. From that time I began to consider taking advantage of it. Finally, I did. I felt a little guilty unpacking this huge keyboard, as I always do when I indulge in a large expenditure. My rationalization of this purchase, aside from the fact that I made a nice amount on a sale of 100 shares of my company's stock, is that my daughter Leigh will be taking piano lessons, and I think the midi/garageband combo will be a great intro to learning about music in general (way more useful than just the Grand Piano we have.) However, even just for my own entertainment it turns out to be a lot of fun to goof around with this midi keyboard, especially together with Apple Computer's GarageBand software. I can see that I will be killing a lot of time learning to play the keyboard better and composing some tunes. So, I feel confident that this was a good buy... Here's a little bluesy riff I composed today. I played all the parts, including all the miskeys. 1:15:26 AM    comment

© Copyright 2004 John W. Williams II. Last update: 11/14/04; 1:34:06 AM.