BassTractor

Yup. Not full-sized. I don't know its keybed though, and my earlier comment re Akai should've been worded more carefully. Some people report size is a huge issue; others that it isn't. Animosity then ensues. (Why the flying do they need to fight over this?) What I personally find to be a problem is that keys of lesser size tend to sit in keybeds of questionable quality (not always!), which potentially gives timing issues or finger tiredness or whatever. For myself I've decided to stay well away from slim, mini or nano keys. I can adapt, but I also note that the error rate goes up after 60 years of playing full-size keys. I don't know your Novation, but your Kawai probably is very good. Then again, for the Solina, you'd likely go for an electronic organ action AKA synth action anyway, and would then land roughly in the Novation landscape anyway. As said, even the three brands I mentioned vary wildly within that landscape. Also Icon's ranges vary considerably. As to the eBay one, Icon do name their MIDI keyboards to incorporate key size for the mini and nano ones, so you should normally know what you buy, but I cannot tell right now whether the mini and nano ones do have 5-pin MIDI. Somehow I doubt it.

Nice one. Akai tend to use reasonably good keybeds too, and I found their Miniak synth and MPC Key 37 production workstation to be very playable.

IF you can stretch this to 49 keys, the simple Midiplus AK490 spawns enormous quality and playability for the money. Expect to have to search, though Bax seem able to deliver next week. 5-pin MIDI. IMS, it spawns a battery compartment, which in case I've used extensively. Maybe obsolete, the M-Audio Keystation 37 is a bit more spongy in its keys' response, but still quite alright. 5-pin MIDI. I've recently also bought an Icon iKeyboard 4S (three octaves, not four, so 37 keys), which surprised me positively to the degree I'll go for Icon from here on, despite its higher price point. 5-pin MIDI. Icon has cheaper models too: the iKeyboard 4 and iKeyboard 4X, which I feel still are impressive for the money. 5-pin MIDI. Icon make things a bit complicated with the enormous range they offer. They offer three different key sizes (regular, mini and nano), lengths from 25 to 88 keys, and also different levels of being advanced and knobby. If you can, visit a shop and compare them. Be aware that the more knobby models tend to have better keybeds, and sometimes the longer models spawn better keybeds than the shorter ones. I know zilch about USB and about the disabling you mentioned, so can't help there.

The Quart Festival in Norway had two stages, a 15 minute walk away from each other. The one-hour gigs on stage 1 would start at say 13PM, 15PM etc, and on stage 2 they'd start inbetween. So you could play a bit with this and prioritise which minutes you were giving up for the sake of the other gig. Perfec', nearly. However: Not everything went smoothly all of the time, and that's how I missed Kristopher Schau & The Cumshots, whose gig was kinda disturbed by action group F*ck for Forest entering the stage ... and each other after stripping in front of a banner telling the audience about the importance of saving the rainforest. F*ck for Forest has a dedicated page on Wikipedia, I see today. I have to warn you though: the asterisk was never used: neither in the spelling nor on stage ...

That's right.

Same here. We had enough regular Consuls, Zephyrs and Zodiacs though. If I understand the WP article correctly, the estates of the Mk II were conversions.

Exactly what part of "NO PARKING" was hard for you to edit out in MS Paint, @Silvia Bluejay? 😉 Oh, and great pic. Love the Zodiac estate - - a model I didn't even remember.

Here ya go:

Ha! I had no idea. The whole time, I thought JJ had done a Dave Davies. The true story is funnier indeed.

Yeah, at least the Wurlitzer was like that. Add solder with your soldering iron, and if necessary remove some of that again with a file. The Rhodes OTOH had small, moveable springs (spiral type) near the tines' ends.

When will they be repairing JJ's speaker cones? 🙃

Yup. After a life crisis, me burnt-out and heavily depressed, I bought at least one bass, amp, cab or multi-effects unit each month, for 36 months. Desperate nights and a finger on a mouse button ... Since, I've become a bit healthier, and am now more able to fight this. Not perfectly yet, but I'm slowly getting there.

Kinda enough to be the Guild M-85? It featured much in the documentary. Reportedly rare as hens' teeth.

I understand it is still thus. 🙂

For me it's still "Tuesday Night Music Club" and a few individual songs. Have never followed her career, but plan to do so retrospectively after having watched the documentary a good number of times. Must admit my perspective on her is influenced negatively by Kevin Gilbert's story about the mentioned album and its aftermath, in which Kevin painted her in a dim light.