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The Conn-O-Sax

November 10, 2008 in Articles

While surfing the net, I came across the strange instrument called the Conn-O-Sax. There is one on Ebay right now that can be bought for the princely sum of $100,000 (I kid NOT).

Conn made these to spur sales that had been slumpin. Seems they made them from 1915 to 1925, and they believed it was going to be the next big thing. They do have almost a 3 octave range (A to G), and the tone I’d describe as a really mellow soprano in quality to something like a Paul Desmond sound. Sadly, it seems that only about 20 of these instruments exist now.

If you want check out some audio clips (or buy a CD), Rob Verdi has an excellent album out that he did exclusively on the Conn-O-Sax. And it sounds great!!

Below are the images off the Ebay auction because I though this instrument was extremely interesting.

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AKG C214

May 26, 2008 in News

AKG has a new mic out, the AKG C214. From the press release:

Based on one of the most successful studio mics released by AKG, the C 414 model, and using all the feedback that during 30 years they have received from its users (maybe they could release a new version earlier, but…), AKG has released the C 214 Condenser Recording Mic, that includes some of the features of the models which is based on and some improvements that does not make it a expensive mic affordable only for big studios.

The AKG C 214 Recording Mic is a single capsule model that features cardioid polar pattern, 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response, from 12 to 52V phantom power, 1” edge-terminated large diaphragm, ultra low noise circuit (that includes a suspension to reduce the mechanical noise), rugged double mesh grill (to protect it from high radio-frequency signals), switchable bass cut filter, switchable pre-attenuation pad (up to -20 dB) and 3-pin XLR output.

This mic is specially good for vocals and miking instruments or amps, both in stage and studio, and comes with a shock mount and a carrying case. The AKG C 214 Recording Mic will be available after the AES show and its price will be $600.

I have two C414s (a ULS and an EB…..don’t ask why I need two, I just DO….or think I do). Honestly, I can’t think of the last time when I put them OUT of cardioid pattern.

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Grafton Alto Sax

January 28, 2008 in Articles, Videos

After the previous article on a new line of Plastic Saxophones, lets examine a previous, and famous, attempt at making such an instrument.
Here is Peter King playing one the legendary Grafton Alto Sax played by Charlie Parker.

Here is a great review of the Grafton Alto Sax.

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All Plastic Saxophone

January 28, 2008 in Articles

There seems to be a resurgence in this idea. Enter the Vibrotosax.

To create more saxophonist in the world is our prime concern. Our designer team need to accomplish 3 objectives….Design a saxophone that everyone can afford, provide a standard fingering configuration and producce a solid saxophone sound. The solution: to replace brass with polymer. By doing so we not only change the material but also the process of saxophone manufacturing which has remained unchanged since 1843.

Besides the strange English (they are a Thailand company and refer to the King of Thailand in their about page), aren’t we experiencing a strange sense of Deja Vu? I mean……haven’t we been there, done that?

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Keyless Saxophones

September 16, 2007 in Articles

When I was in college, I heard the story of Siguard Rascher having a keyless saxophone. Basically, a conical tube in the shape of a sax. Mr. Rascher was reported to be able to play anything on it.

Well, looks like you can actually get one and try to be a virtuoso like Siguard Rascher. Hollywood Winds sells an alto and a tenor version for $495 and $695 respectively.

I wonder if it would be cheaper to get an old C-Melody off of Ebay and just plug the holes….

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Yamaha’s Tenori

September 9, 2007 in Articles, Videos

Yamaha has a new thing out, called the Tenori

Media artist Toshio Iwai and Yamaha have collaborated to design a new digital musical instrument for the 21st century, TENORI-ON. A 16×16 matrix of LED switches allows everyone to play music intuitively, creating a “visible music” interface.

Check out a video of it

Create Digital Music also has an article about it.

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Roland KC 550

September 2, 2007 in Reviews

Roland KC 550I recently bought a Roland KC 550. It is a keyboard amp, but you can use it for many other things. I bought it for some gigs this summer. It has an XLR microphone input, plus 3 additional inputs. Easily enough to share with a keyboard player, your EWI and your Sax mic. We touched on the subject of amplification way back (not sure if I agree with my opinions from then, oh well).

Sound. It has a nice, smooth sound, and a real nice low end. Two of these together would make a nice little PA system. One makes for a killer amp for those gigs where no one wants to setup and run a PA system. The KC550 has tons of output. I don’t think I ever got past about 4 on it. It never cut out or distorted on any gigs.

Size. Well, Read the rest of this entry →

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Infrant ReadyNAS NV

July 29, 2006 in Reviews

About 3 or so years ago, I totally got into the iPod. At first, I didn’t see the point. I do now. Having thousands or tens of thousands of songs available, instantly, is amazing. You can call up an exercise you record in Band in a Box, or perhaps a Cannonball solo, and drag it over to Transcribe to slow it down. It is great.Having something like over a thousand CDs three years ago (more now), and spending months convert them into lossy digital formats, I decided to create a computer with a redundant storage system to hold my growing library. I built a computer using a RAID controller (RAID 5), and Pentium 4 computer, and Windows. It was a stable setup, and it allowed fellow teachers to access my library while connected to the wireless network we have (we are closet geeks).

Anyhow, technology moves forward. The computer Read the rest of this entry →

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Ingredients of the Earl Bostic sound

February 15, 2005 in Articles

Anonymous Coward writes “I want to cultivate an Earl Bostic sound on the Alto–big and blowsy. (Right now it’s small and lousy.) What equipment did he use to get that unmistakeable Bostic sound?”

Thinking that strickly equipment will help you is a flaw. He could have probably used anything and still sounded like Earl Bostic.

That being sad, a quick search on the net has yielded no information on what he used.

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Selmer Or Yamaha?

January 8, 2005 in Articles

jazzboy writes “So which one is the best Selmer or Yamaha? I have played sax for around 1 year and a half. 2 months ago I got a Yamaha yts-575 allegro tenor sax. After a few weeks me and my dad went searching on the internet and found a much better horn at the same price, the brand name was(I think you guys know this name) Yanisawa, and so I just got ripped off, but just in case I would like to know the difference between Yamaha and Selmer.”

So, I don’t get it. You searched online and found a Yanagisawa. Is it better? Have you tried it? And you want to know the difference between Yamaha and Selmer? Wouldn’t it be better to ask the difference between Yamaha and Yanagisawa?

You have been playing a year and a half. Do you need a professional horn? No. Hell, I remember taking lessons in High School and my teacher had a Vito Alto that my teacher would make sound 20 times better than my friend’s Balanced Action Alto that he spend thousands of dollars on.

If you look, you can always find something cheaper and better. I would suggest learning on the Yamaha horn. It’s a good horn. Get a good mouthpiece, and maybe some instruction, and practice. You don’t need the top of the line horn at your level.

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Accent Brand Saxophones

November 20, 2003 in Articles

harry63 writes “Has anyone had the chance to play on the the Accent Brand of instruments? From what I have been told by salesman is that this brand was started by a group of music teachers to create high quality instruments at lower prices for school music programs. Each instrument is a “knock-off” of professional instruments (ex: Accent Saxophone is a knock off of the Selmer Series III).


I played on one recently and I was immediately shocked at the construction. There was no extra play in the keys. Everything felt solid. In fact, even the engraving mimics the Series III.

When I played the horn again I was shocked. I did not expect that resonant tone and intonation to come from a $900 student horn. Has anyone else played on one of these or heard anything about them?”

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Series 3 Opinion

September 16, 2003 in Articles

jason writes “I recently was interested in a pro sax that I would stick with through high school and most of my colledge years as well. I must have played on over 25 horns! Finally I came at last to a particular series 3 (alto. I warmed up and played a few licks. I fell in love with it immediatly. The fluid action, intonation, blend in tone, the pure feeling just gave me a rush of excitment. Only problem was the cost. So on my birthday I got my sax. I have now had it for 6 months and it plays like brand new. I would recommened a series 3 for any sax player who is very interested. I play on a meyer 7 with a vandoren v16 2.5. I also use a eddie daniels ligature ( it’s essential for smooth intonation and eleminating any stuffyness.)”

What other saxophones did you try out in addition to the series 3?

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Octave Key Problems

March 19, 2003 in Articles

SaxMan0216 writes “I got a Selmer Series III alto sax 13 months ago (coincidentally, exactly 13 months today). Since getting it, I’ve been getting more and more used to it’s pitch centers and tonal differences. I changed from a Selmer C* mouthpiece to a Selmer C, I use Vandoren #3s for concert playing and Vandoren V16 #3s for jazz. I got a Claude Lakey 5*3 this past Christmas and I use it with V16s. (I segue into all of this because I know it could be the difference or the problem.)

The problem I’m having is with my octave key. Although this isn’t a consistent problem, sometimes when I play notes that use the octave key and more than three fingers (specifically D, D#, G, G#, and less than those E) I have to fight to keep it in the upper octave. Usually, the only way I can keep it up there is to bend it sharp. Is there something I’m doing wrong? Or is it a problem characteristic with the Series 3. When I was in District Band, the person I sat next to said his did the same thing but only for G. So I’m not sure which it could be.

I’d ask my teacher, but alas, I have none and have never had one. Any suggestions?”As always, a teacher is highly recommended. Have you taken it to be checked out by a repair person? Perhaps the shop where you bought it?

A lot of problems switching octaves is do to technique. You really need to voice the note right in order to play it. The saxophone does not really need an octave key. I’d suggest this: Do octave leaps and try to keep your embouchure the same, and make sure that your throat is open so the notes come out nice and full. I’d also suggest doing the same thing but without using the octave key. That would have build up your embouchure and further your technique.

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Phil Woods/Freehand

February 13, 2003 in Articles

I somehow get a Yamaha Magazine called “Backstage Pass”. It’s usually not a good read, however the Spring 2003 issue has some interesting stuff in it. There is a good article about Mark Rivera, Frankie Perez, Jeff Coffin, Lennie Niehaus, and the venerable Phil Woods. All these guys are Yamaha artists, and the articles are good reads, especially the Phil Woods article about how he is using a Yamaha Custom that they made for him.

The other thing of interest came in my mail the other day (like paper mail….imagine that). Freehand Systems is offering their MusicPad Pro Plus for $999. What this basically is is a 12.1″ LCD pad that can hold music. It runs Linux, has 2 USB ports, 32 Megs of Flash Memory and is supposedly fault tolerant (whatever that means).

It’s an interesting idea, except for a couple of things. First is the price. About 1/2 that it might be worth buying. Second, increase the memory. 32 Megs of Flash memory is nothing. You need more memory. Third, it really needs to be two pages. One way to do that would be to be able to hook up 2 of these together and when you hit the foot switch, it would move the second page to where the 1st is, and then load the next page where the second was.
It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t think it’s ready for prime time yet.

Update: 02/17 01:11 GMT by E :Rory was brave and actually emailed the man about his horn change. Here is Phil’s reply:

You bet your ass I am going to use it-it is a great horn-I can't play the selmer anymore-Yamaha has blown them out of the water for half the price about time- no, I am not playing it because they are paying me-they pay nothing. They do help with tour support. I have not sold out, contary to internet chat- the very idea that a man of my integrity is for sale is very upsetting - my ass has never been for sale-tell your friends and my enemies.

—-

Comments_Questions:


Phil played at my college in about '98 and let us put 2 cuts from the great concert on the CD. Also thanks for a signed Voyage CD that a friend conned you into sending for my 50th. Are you really going to use that Yamaha in place of the gold plated Mark VI? Later....

Well, there you have it. He simply LIKES the Yamaha better. He’s not getting $$$$$ for saying so, he really thinks that his Yamaha is a better horn than his Mark VI.

I remember reading something about Michael Brecker and switching to Guardala saxophones. He said something to the effect that “Yeah, it plays easier and better, but I’m used to my horn.” Regardless, whatever works for you. If you change horns, then more power to you, if not, more power to you.

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Sticky Pads On A Keilwerth

January 30, 2003 in Articles

per-misaer writes “I bought this Keilwerth sx90r tenor a year and a half ago. It sounds fine, and after some minor adjustments the action is fine to. One annoying problem remains though. The sticky pads!


I was told that the stickynes had something to do with the pads beeing impregnated, and that the problem would go away in time. Well, some pads are ok, but some, like the Bb,C, G, G# keys, sticks literally as if they were glued to the tonehole after I’ve been playing for an hour or so. I never drink anything but water when i play so that can’t be the problem.


Before playing I use yamaha powder papers with talcum powder on the pads, but it only helps until the pads get wet. Perhaps this water (or saliva or both) coming out of the sax is the root to the problem after all. When I have played for a while water starts dripping (or rather pouring)from the B and G keys, not only to make the keys beneath sticky, but also to make the key buttons very slippery.


I thougt that perhaps it’s possible to aply something water repellant(like car wax?)on the inside of the toneholes, to make the water run down to the bell bow instead of pouring out through the tone holes.


Any ideas? Any one? I’m desperate for advise!!”

First of all, the wax idea is not going to help. Thats crazy, and I’d imagine it would mess up the sound of the horn as well.

You can try getting Needsfeet (or Needsfoot) oil and apply that to your pads. It’s a leather treatment/waterproofing solution.

I think the root of the problem is that you are getting to much moisture into the horn. Is it cold where you practice? Some of the “water” is condensation from your breathe, the rest is slobber (salivia). It’s hard to tell if it’s condensation or slobber. It’s probably both. I hardly ever get water in the B and G keys, it’s usually in the upper stack, like high E or F. You might consult your teacher (or a teacher) to see if you are maybe slobbering too much. A lot of people when they start out really have too much salivia going, and after a while (a year, two, or so) they don’t do it as much. Maybe eat before you practice so then your stomach doesn’t think it’s foot in your mouth.

Maybe swab at intervals during practice? Clarinet players need to do this regularly, as do oboe and flute players. Thats probably the easiest thing to do, and would/should solve your probably.

High humidity? Maybe get a dehumidifier going in that room to get rid of the air moisture. I’d think that a low humidity room would work in your favor to inhibit condensation while your practicing. I doubt it would prevent it, but it might give you more time to play before water starts forming.

What I’d really do, if Needsfeet oil doesn’t work, and you don’t want to swab the horn, is to get those pads replaced. Some pads on some of these new horns are that real soft, cheap leather material, and they get gluey really easily. I’ll have to check the Keilwerth at the store I teach at too see what it has.

But, in the following order, SWAB at intervals, Needsfeet Oil, and replace pads.

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