A unique concert took place on April 17 of this year at the Strathmore Hall in Bethesda, Maryland. Showcasing some of Yamaha's latest Disklavier and hybrid piano technology, Frederic Chiu, a Yamaha Piano artist, played the AvantGrand piano and the Disklavier Mark IV CFIIIS. One of the concert highlights was a unique piano duet that was played with Jarrod Radnich who just happened to be located three time zones away in Anaheim California. Jarrod played live on a Disklavier performance reproducing piano which was connected to the internet. At Strathmore Hall an identical Disklavier piano was also connected to the internet and it reproduced every keystroke and pedal press complete with all of the delicate phrasing and nuance of the original performance. In this fashion Jarrod and Frederic were able to perform a coast to coast piano duet in realtime. This performance showcased not only the talents of the two accomplished artists but also the cutting edge technologies of the Yamaha pianos.

Los Angeles, CA, May 11, 2010 — The latest successor to Roland's long line of electronic percussion multi-pads is now shipping. The Octapad SPD-30 features 8 independent Trigger Pads, hundreds of built in sounds, multi-effects and multiple inputs for external triggers and controllers.

Using the latest trigger technology from Roland’s industry-leading V-Drums®, the pads on the OCTAPAD SPD-30 feature an extremely natural and responsive playing feel. The eight separate trigger surfaces provide superior dynamic response, trigger consistency over a pad’s entire surface, and the elimination of crosstalk.

The OCTAPAD SPD-30 includes 50 kits and hundreds of cutting-edge drum and percussion sounds. Powerful onboard effects include 30 types of multi-effects that can be used on individual kits, and Ambience with an Equalizer and Limiter that can be applied to the overall OCTAPAD SPD-30 sound. The Phrase Loop recording feature allows the player to loop recorded sounds in real time, and then overdub additional parts or sounds. With the ability to record three parts per phrase, Phrase Loop is a powerful creative tool for live performance and recording.

Warneck Research has released the EP-200 replacement amp to replace the Original Wurlitzer 200A amplifier. Completely redesigned with low noise circuitry and board layout to minimize 60 hz hum the unit ships with reed bar shields for further hum reduction. The EP-200 remains true to the original sound and character of the 200A. Terminal blocks allow it to be a solder free drop in replacement for the original unit. Designed by Tim Warneck of http://www.keyboardcottage.com/ the amplifier benefits from the further expertise of http://www.kenrichsounds.com/ in Los Angeles to optimize the EQ curve. "The EP200 Amplifier Board features the EQ curve and sound shaping characteristics of a properly restored original 200 series amplifier; authentic vibrato; very low noise; an improved power amplifier; user-selectable variable or fixed line-out configuration; and a drop-in/solder-free installation." MSRP for the board is $379 and will be available from both sources in June 2010.

Korg is giving away a free tuner every Monday as part of it's 25th anniversary celebration. Starting May 3rd and running through Dec 27th residents of the United States over the age of 18 may submit one entry per day at http://www.free-guitartuner.com/. Entrants must provide an email and a zip code to be eligible.

The 2010 MITA convention is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas starting Monday July 19th and continuing through Friday July 23rd. Sessions will be held daily from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM in the conference rooms of the Orleans Hotel. On the seminar schedule this year will be sessions from Yamaha, Lowrey, Kawai, Artisan, Hammond, Rodgers, Baldwin and sessions on guitar amplifier servicing, MITA certification, Web Sites, and new this year will be seminars by Bill Whitlock, president and chief engineer of Jensen Transformers, Inc. on ground loop elimination! For those who want to become certified, there will also be an opportunity to take the MITA certification exam. More details can be found on the Convention Information page.

The Yamaha IM8 series brings experience and know-how accumulated over 35 years in the production of industry-leading mixing consoles to bear in three mid-size consoles that cut no corners when it comes to overall performance and sonic quality. In addition to no-compromise design and development aimed at delivering the finest performance and most useful feature set available in this class, production and assembly are carried out at Yamaha's own domestic facilities – the same factories where the legendary Yamaha PM series consoles are produced – to ensure unrelenting quality control throughout. Every inch of these extraordinary consoles is well thought out and built for a purpose. There are no unnecessary features, and nothing is out of place. The IM8 series consoles deliver a basic but plentiful complement of features plus truly transparent, high-resolution sound with tireless reliability.

These are consoles for serious sound applications, and will provide eminently professional performance, sound, and control in permanent installations or on the road.

Available in 3 Models.

• IM8-24
• IM8-32
• IM8-40

Back in the days when I had my shop in SoCal, I did a fair amount of vintage guitar tube amplifier repair. I found a couple of must have books on the topic. Foremost amongst these books is "A Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amplifiers" by Gerald Weber. Comprehensive in it's scope and valuable as a reference it has pages of vintage schematics and recipes for popular mods for popular vintage amps. Even if you never install one of the mods it is nice to know what they are and what they do since the chances of seeing a modded amp are relatively high if you are repairing them on a regular basis.

Electronic Musician on line has a four part historical overview of the role of electronics in music. Electronic music either begins with the bold but ill fated Telharmonium in 1906 or with Leon Theremin's inventive engineering school project that became know as the Theremin. The first commercially successful product was the Laurens Hammond's Model A using tonewheels that were refinements of the generators that were the heart of Cahill's Telharmonium. Hammond taught us the potential of the combination of innovative design backed up by solid production and business practices and intense marketing efforts. And an industry was launched.