The Wiards's 2020 touring rig

jeremykeys · Post by **jeremykeys** » Sun Feb 23, 2020 2:17 pm

As many of you well know, Jordan Rudess is a hero of mine. I love his attitude, playing style and sounds. I'm always curious about how how does things live. Here a very cool look at his 2020 rig with some pretty decent playing as well.
Hope you enjoy this!

https://youtu.be/oyrNnHeQM80

mwiik · Post by **mwiik** » Sun Feb 23, 2020 5:37 pm

Awesome indeed. And once again just to clarify what a amazing piece of equipment the Kronos is. Yeah, we are all waiting for the Kronos 3 but as Jordan says, this does everything he needs. Well, the XK5 backstage wasn't a surprise though

Hammond is Hammond after all, and the CX3 is not really on that level.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Sun Feb 23, 2020 5:59 pm

mwiik wrote:Awesome indeed. And once again just to clarify what a amazing piece of equipment the Kronos is. Yeah, we are all waiting for the Kronos 3 but as Jordan says, this does everything he needs. Well, the XK5 backstage wasn't a surprise though Hammond is Hammond after all, and the CX3 is not really on that level.

said this before, the CX-3 records nicely

jeremykeys · Post by **jeremykeys** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 12:15 am

I use a lot of the Hammond type sounds on my Kronos for recording all the time. I use, if I remember the name correctly, ksounds Organimation sounds. Forgive me if I've got it wrong but the sounds to me are absolutely stunning. I don't use a Leslie or emulation pedal either. A real Hammond might sound better but for me, this is easily good enough. Glad you enjoyed the video that I shared. My first generation Kronos still kicks the mighty booty!

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 1:15 am

I am more interested in JR's original material than the Dream Theater catalog.

Has he recorded any solo stuff current- in the past few years ?

jeremykeys · Post by **jeremykeys** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 1:33 am

I'm not entirely sure. I have a couple of his solo cd's. I think the latest one that I have is "the Road Home" or something like that. It was him and other players doing covers. I really liked the one he did with john Petrucci. Just a live show with the two of them. You'll have to go onto his website and see what he's done lately. I know he does put out recordings but I don't know how often they come out. Nonetheless, he's a great musician and after having met him a couple of times, a really nice guy too.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 1:43 am

thanks, I will dig around and let you know what I think.

My favorite musician is Steven Wilson.

He has a terrific keyboard player. Mostly on the SV1 and Mini Moog

jeremykeys · Post by **jeremykeys** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 10:46 pm

I think I discovered Stephen Wilson around 2007. I fell in love with the music of Porcupine Tree. I also have a few of his solo cd's but he still has a lot of music that I haven't heard yet. He's truly amazing!

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 12:49 am

SW's Hand Cannot Erase is brilliant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAwHNPG_EQ4

To the Bone is excellent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VqCPp0 ... Ja6dD6QgAF

yeskeys · Post by **yeskeys** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 1:42 am

Steven Wilson can do it all and remain proggy as well, which I love. He's genius material I discovered a bunch of bands at once about 10 years ago - IQ, Kino, Porcupine Tree, It Bites, The Tangent, Spock's Beard, Kaipa, etc. But the one band that became my new Yes was The Flower Kings. Roine Stolt and crew have the perfect mix of prog, instrumentation, and songs. The new lineup this year I've not had a chance to listen to much but the 2000s were an amazing time discovering all this new amazing music.

My previous keyboard god was Dave Stewart. NOT THE GUY from the Eurythmics....ugh.

Liviou2004 · Post by **Liviou2004** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:16 am

jeremykeys wrote:As many of you well know, Jordan Rudess is a hero of mine. I love his attitude, playing style and sounds.

I know that lots of keyboard players do admire Jordan Rudess. an I do respect your admiration, sincerely.

I must admit that I'm not one them, not at all. Playing as many notes as fast as possible doesn't systematically make a great musician. It's quite easy : training hours a day allow everyone to increase his velocity on keyboard.

A great musician must also be able to keep silences, sometimes, to play with subtility and sensitivity, as required.

Just listen to Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock.

As a most recent player, listen to Cory Henry in this excellent piece (from 4:20) where he's playing on Kingkorg and Kronos :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_XJ_s5IsQc

Listen to his first solo on Kingkorg : not many notes, several silences at the beginning and then, progressively, he increases in force and in speed taking the listener away with him.

Narioso · Post by **Narioso** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 9:20 am

jeremykeys wrote:I use a lot of the Hammond type sounds on my Kronos for recording all the time. I use, if I remember the name correctly, ksounds Organimation sounds. Forgive me if I've got it wrong but the sounds to me are absolutely stunning. I don't use a Leslie or emulation pedal either. A real Hammond might sound better but for me, this is easily good enough.

Out of curiosity - you list a Hammond M3 in your signature - you should know what a Hammond sound like.

To me the CX-3 chip sound pretty good in one octave, but then testing XK1 and found a used XK3c I am really home all over the key range. Only problem I have is reaching down to the keys - since I'm elevated above this heavenly machine as soon as I hit a key.

If it weren't for they removed distortion from tube and a lot of settings for tube on XK5 I probably gotten one. Distortion is emulated in software.

I guess it depends if running a leslie on M3 or what else - but what does you ears say about M3 compared to ksound or what it was?
M3 i's a beast to have for gigs, or do you use that too or used to?

jeremykeys · Post by **jeremykeys** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:38 pm

I actually haven't turned the M3 on in a few years. Hse just lives in my living room. I've never taken it out on a gig. Too heavy and awkward. I've mainly played it through it's own speaker although I have plugged into my very old Yorkville Keyboard amp and had it first running through an old MXR Distortion plus pedal. I've found over the years that once you get a clone wheel in amongst the rest of the loud band, nobody can tell the difference. Audiences aren't that discerning. At least that's what I've found.

Hector Space · Post by **Hector Space** » Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:26 am

jeremykeys wrote:I actually haven't turned the M3 on in a few years. Hse just lives in my living room. I've never taken it out on a gig. Too heavy and awkward. I've mainly played it through it's own speaker although I have plugged into my very old Yorkville Keyboard amp and had it first running through an old MXR Distortion plus pedal. I've found over the years that once you get a clone wheel in amongst the rest of the loud band, nobody can tell the difference. Audiences aren't that discerning. At least that's what I've found.

Yes my experience too. I spent years gigging with an M102 and L122. It was always a fight getting a good sound on a loud stage. Then I bought an Electro3 73. On stage it’s been brilliant. Consistent great sound, easy to setup easy to carry.
Most recently I’ve spent about 6 months remodelling my K2 61 CX3 sounds - dropping the built in chorus/vibrato, cabinet sims and rotary - replacing them with ifx boxes instead. I’m now pretty satisfied with the sound and playability. I don’t think it’ll ever be quite as immediate and fun as the NE3 but it’s good enough for 99% of my gigs and means one less board to carry.