For my music , I am using three different keyboards in my home-grown studio . Each one lends something to the mix .
Akai AX 60 61-Key Programmable Polyphonic Synthesizer – These were made in the 1980 ’ s . A versatile analog synth that is easy to adjust on the fly . Keep in mind that vintage synth ’ s values are climbing like crazy . Go to Reverb . com and take a look at what a Roland Juno 60 is going for these days .
Roland Juno-DS 88 Weighted Keys – This is a really good all-around synth that gives you plenty of piano , organ and lead synth sounds . A good value for the money . See our
review of it here .
Akai AX 60
KORG microKORG XL + 37 Mini-Keys Synth with Vocoder - You would be surprised how affordable and easy to use this mini-key synth is . I highly recommend it too if you want to learn how to develop / tweak your own warm analog sounds . I haven ’ t had a chance to try the vocoder yet with the built-in mic . We
reviewed it here .
Roland Juno-DS
SMALL GOODS A few items to mention that make things easier for me . I have an assortment of G7th Capos if I need one and both PRS and Snark clip-on tuners as well as a variety of different length guitar / keyboard and MIDI cables .
THE ONCE FEARED CLICK TRACK : I WONDER AS I WANDER ( AROUND THE BEAT ) As publisher of this magazine , leading our writers and developing content , I don ’ t find myself using a click track like many of you do on the worship team . I now have to get used to the click and even though it is difficult for me , I just need to embrace it .
I do still wander off at times , as you will hear about in just a bit .
CAPTURING A SONG : HOW COOL IS THIS ? So , one of the songs I wanted to get going the most was one I now call “ Joy ( Wedding Song )”.
KORG microKORG XL +
I named it to honor Judy and our 20 years of marriage . I had the inspiration to ask our regular Percussion columnist Mark Shelton to supply some percussion parts to what I had laid down already . Yes , I already had this one in the works so Mark had the challenge to add the parts after my main structure was in place ( not the ideal way to go about it ). He rose to the occasion and delivered solid percussion with some creative elements that I was really happy with .
The next step took some bravery . Some of the song was solid with my acoustic guitar part and some was just OK . I had the bass and percussion parts going for me , but I knew it needed something special . Then I remembered that about two years ago I had the honor of sitting in Phil Keaggy ’ s living room and showing him the gist of this little song ( I played it very awkwardly in front of him – nothing to be nervous about there eh ?). He had some kind