Let’s say you’re at your favorite pizza joint and you order a pepperoni pizza. The restaurant owner says that there is no more pepperoni pizza available. The proper thing that the restaurant owner would say is that, “I’m sorry, sir. We don’t have any pepperoni pizza available today. Would you be interested in any of our other menu items?” The decent restaurant owner will not ask you to pay full price for that unavailable pizza and then take a slice or two from somebody else who has also paid full price. The basic concept of fairness (and justice) shows that you exactly get what you pay for.
Apparently, Philippine telecoms like Globe and Smart/PLDT don’t understand the concept of fairness. If you happen to be a subscriber of these companies like me or one of my friends (who provided the screen shot above), you probably have heard about this so-called “fair use” policy. To keep it simple, the “fair use” policy dictates that you are only limited to a certain amount of bandwidth per day (in this example 1 GB). Once you have exhausted that limit, they set your account to a snail-pace-slow connection as to give way for others to experience a faster internet speed. They call this fair. I call this crap! Why do I call this crap? Simple. I signed a contract that guarantees me that for a fixed monthly fee, I get unlimited use at a certain speed (like 1 to 2 Mbps, still sluggish compared to international standards). And all of the sudden, companies like Globe come up with this “fair use” crap that indicates you can only enjoy a sort-of-fast connection up until you consume 1 GB or something like that. Hey! I paid for unlimited use and not for this kind of crap.
Now, this reminds me of my restaurant scene analogy. “Fairness” according to these sneaky Telecom companies is like this: I order a pepperoni pizza for full price and they give me one. Sure, that’s what I expect. Halfway through eating my pizza, they decide to forcibly take my remaining slices and then give it to the next customer, who apparently has also paid for a whole pizza. Is this fairness? This is similar to how communism works: everybody gets the same amount of money whether or not I work harder than the next guy or do nothing at all and receive compensation while the next guy does double duty. It’s the same way how the Philippine government operates: The employed middle-class sweats it out for a certain wage, get taxed at least 30% by the BIR, BIR then decides to pocket some of that money for whims of the politicians (starting from the President downwards) and then hands out a little bit of that money as dole-outs to the lazy majority (armed with a bloated sense of entitlement and limited intelligence).
I work long and hard hours. One reason why I do so is for the benefit of getting a good and reliable internet connection, something that is necessary in the kind of work that I perform. I expect that the money I shell out would guarantee that I get the kind of service I paid for. The “fair use” policy is an injustice to honest, hardworking people who pay money for proper internet services. If Globe, Smart/PLDT, etc. were serious about being fair, they would expand their capacity in a faster rate than they acquire subscribers. It’s not like they are losing any of their profits if they would do such a thing. It’s only proper. With the way that the “fair use” policy goes, it seems to me like Globe and Smart/PLDT do not know any sense of propriety at all.
To reiterate my point, here’s what I think the “fair use” policy is all about:
The past few weeks of September have been very interesting.
Last Monday, I completed my second day of school. I’m currently pursuing an M.A. in music education (applied music emphasis, piano) at the PWU School of Music. So far, so good it’s been very good. Despite experiencing anxiety (and messing up big time) when I played for the first time in front of my piano professor, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. This is because my second day with her was fruitful. I got my assigned work (scales from C to E, some Czerny, Beethoven, Bartok, and Tcherepin) and, more importantly, I learned aspects of my technique that need work, something that I probably won’t be able to observe on my own. I think I’m in good hands since my piano teacher is the romantic period piano expert at the UP College of Music. With enough effort on my part, I guess there’s a lot of things I can learn from her. She says my legato playing, fingering and pedaling can still improve. I just hope that I can play my assigned pieces at a respectable level come Monday. Time to go back to the woodshed I guess.
Fortunately, I’m still working with Steve Nixon as his music transcriber. Working with him is a great opportunity to improve my understanding of what jazz is. Seems like I’m getting some jazz education with Steve while I go improve my classical at PWU. Tomorrow, I’ll be submitting a jazz scale guide.
I also managed to finish the “Eucharistia” songbook for Barbie Dumlao and Springs Foundation, Inc. It’s always a pleasure working with them.
I’m waiting for new assignments from GuitarZoom. I just finished working on “Real World Soloing” and that one turned out to be good as well.
The highlight of last month is probably the concert entitled “Musicalitea in Unity”. It was a concert organized by the UCCP-LCSMC Liturgy and Music committee. It was held last 09/28/2013 at the PCU Auditorium. I performed an original composition called “Promises” for solo piano as part of my set. Prior to that, I performed an old favorite, “Hesus”, with Pastor Chaz Romero on guitar and Chay Innocentes on vocals. It was very fruitful. I felt very honored and happy as well afterwards as Rev. Leo Eva Rempola, virtuoso pianist extraordinaire, asked for a sheet music copy of “Promises” after hearing me perform it. Like most of what I hear from my performances, I don’t impress myself. Matter of fact is that I could probably improve my performance next time. Nevertheless, I’m happy enough that I plan to share recordings of the concert via Soundcloud, so watch out for those.
Until next time, please stay glued to this page. Thank you and God bless!
I grew up as a fan of metal. I should be because I started out playing in a band that covered Metallica. Naturally, therefore, I would love thrash metal. Heck, I still do. Of all the Big Four thrash bands, Megadeth was up on my list simply because I think their musicianship was the most superb of them all. My favorite Megadeth album is “Rust in Peace”. Fast forward 2013, they released this:
Hmm, okay. I wouldn’t call this thrash metal. It’s some kind of hard rock that is more akin to a Mr. Big hit than a thrash metal anthem like Slayer’s “Angel of Death” (by the way, RIP Jeff Hannemann). I have seen how some fans have started to hate Megadeth because the band has the desire to expand its fanbase (and perhaps earn a lot of money in the process). Who could blame them? They got families to feed, bills to pay, etc. They do this for a living. This has to be respected rather than bash Megadeth for seemingly selling out.
I couldn’t really stand how narrow-minded or close-minded rabid thrash metal fans can be at times. Can’t we respect the band for trying out something else? I mean they’re artists. You can’t expect an artist to put out something like “Rust in Peace” every year or so. That’s the kind of thing that kills innovation.
So, for fans who are disappointed with Megadeth’s direction, please shut up. You’re not doing anything good. Hey, I would agree that this new Megadeth song isn’t really something that I’d be crazy about but you have to respect the fact that they’re living up to their name as ARTISTS and not mere parrots that repeat the same thing over time without meaning.
1. Be a member of the oligarchy or a political dynasty. If you’re Filipino, you already know the names. Chances of winning with this method is very high. The Aquinos, the Marcoses, and the Estradas are some of the names that come to mind.
2. Make a name for yourself in showbiz and be involved in a lot of publicity (positive or negative doesn’t matter). In the Philippines, politics is the next step in the career path of has-been actors and actresses. The odds of winning range from about 50% to near 100% with this tactic. The most successful example is Joseph Estrada.
3. Attend the Philippine Military Academy, launch a coup d’etat, surrender to the government, obtain amnesty, and then campaign for a senate seat. You gain a good chance of winning with this tactic not because of perceived competence but of notoriety and the ability to pull people towards a “cause” of some sort. Classic example is Honasan but the latest example is Trillanes.
4. Be the leader of an activist group. Perhaps this provides about a 50/50 chance of winning. It doesn’t really matter what cause you are pushing as long as you are noisy and you complain a lot on national TV. The commies come to mind.
5. Have loads and loads of money to spare. This tactic is very useful for converting voters from opposing camps to your side. This tactic can greatly improve the odds of winning because of the greedy nature of the Pinoy voter. A common tactic amongst political aspirants, almost everybody running for office uses this tactic.
6. Have actual competence and a proven track record in public service. This tactic does not guarantee a win. Dick Gordon is one of those rare individuals who can win an election because of this.
So, as you can see, because of the damaged society that is the Philippines, the described tactics, with the exception of #6, can guarantee a seat in government. A government seat in the Philippines is considered to be a mountain of gold. No wonder why there are many Pinoys who groom themselves and their children for public office, despite the fact that competence is not amongst their list of “redeemable” qualities. I have to recognize the fact that these politicians have a degree of intelligence in that they exactly know how to manipulate the Filipino into getting them elected.
And so, you can expect to see another three years of mediocrity, nothingness, and chaos after May 13, where people follow the lives of politicians as if they were watching their mind-numbing soap operas.
If you have read my previous post, Trolling the Trolls, you may then define troll as a critic who has the objective of putting someone down with words yet has no capability of demonstrating skill necessary for improvement. One way of dealing with such lowlifes is to overpower them. We all know that the troll’s only objective is to make themselves feel better by bashing other people’s accomplishments (especially when they have nothing of worth to show). Here’s another way of dealing with them.
Now, I don’t advocate impulsively bashing the troll back since the troll would get the kind of attention he/she wants. Since a troll is a fool, it is best to either ignore them or answer their opinions in a logical fashion that will destroy their arguments. However, Mike Johnston has another idea.
Mike Johnston has posted what he calls “The Most Important Video I have Ever Uploaded”. It probably is one of the best suggestions out there to overpower the negative impact of trolls:
Even musicians can be guilty of being trolls. If you’re one of them, please stop. Your not helping anybody. Why don’t you offer positive comments or constructive criticism instead?
A huge part of being a musician is the fact that one would always be under some sort of criticism. I know for one thing that I am not exempt from that. There will always be people who will hate you for no reason at all. You would be thankful for a few who would actually give out criticism because they care and they want you to improve. Unfortunately most of these people who are called “trolls” on the Internet really have nothing good to say. They only care about bashing or slandering you with words. If you think about it, it just shows how insecure they really are about themselves and they try to find self-worth in trying to hurt other people with words. If you ask me, that’s a truly miserable experience.
Whenever I watch videos of people playing their beloved instruments on YouTube, most of them would leave the comments section open for the public to use. Occasionally, you will see people posting positive, heartwarming comments, something that would give you the drive to continue on doing what you love. Most, however, would try and put you down. Many times I have been at the receiving end of such things. Back in the days when I had limited equipment (from 2003 to 2009, I produced music with a Pentium III PC and a consumer-level sound card!), I get comments like my music is overblown, too long, poor production values, overly ambitious, pretentious, etc. Some were even cruel enough to suggest that I forget music altogether and take up something like tennis! Now, how are those comments of any help might I ask? They aren’t. They just exist to hurt you.
So, how do you respond to such things. Never give up! Take all of those things as a challenge. All my life I have had to face critics ranging from my own parents to some stranger who knows nothing about my life and my passion for music. I had moments when I cried because of such painful words. Still to this day, I have to deal with how low my self-esteem has become because of mere words. The thing is that critics will not go away. They will always be there. It is best that you take those comments into consideration and take them as pointers for improvement. While we recognize the fact that the impulse to feel angry or sad will always be there after a critic attacks harshly, it is best to always use your cognitive faculties to look at the criticism from an objective standpoint.
Back in the days when I just used a Pentium III to experiment with sound and produce my music (I still have those albums in this website where I made use of such equipment), I felt deeply hurt when critics attacked the quality of my recordings and the quality of my voice. But then again, after all that emotion had passed, I evaluated myself. I realized the fact that I didn’t have the right equipment; it’s something that I had to accept. I also realized that I needed to read and learn more about the various facets of music production i.e. using EQ, effects, mixing, etc. Looking back, I’m glad that I risked putting my music out for the world to listen to; otherwise I wouldn’t have learned. Fast forward to the present day, I am at the very least scraping some of my living expenses from a variety of musical activities. Given my age now, I think I would have been worse off had I followed the troll’s advice of going for something like tennis! At least music gave me something to hope for that is achievable. If I tried tennis with my present weight and bad knees, I would be laughable.
To anyone reading this who has been shot down by any troll’s words, here’s what you can do:
1. Allow your emotions to be felt but control how you respond to them. It’s all right to feel sad, angry, bitter. You really can’t help it. It’s natural to feel that way. But then, make use of those emotions to drive your creativity. Maybe you can write a song about it or do some other thing. Express that emotion in some positive way. It wouldn’t really help at all if you try and kill the troll. That wouldn’t be of benefit at all.
2. Study the critic’s words. In certain instances, criticism has some kind of basis. Try and figure out why it was said in the first place. Maybe there really is something there you can use to improve. I for one had to swallow my pride and see if there really is anything in there for me to consider. Discard the bad, take note of the good.
3. Accept the fact that you cannot make everybody happy. Despite any measure to improve, you will always be under attack by some critic or two. The Canadian band Rush exemplifies this fact by continuing to create their brand of music, despite being ignored for years by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and attacks by famed critics like Robert Christgau.
4. Continue on working towards your goals. Never give up. At the very least, your creativity will bring forth achievements that will be gratifying to yourself and to others. Hey, at the very least there still will be one or more people who would like your work. For someone like me, it’s enough drive to for me to continue. Even if nobody would like what I put out, I’ll still try because eventually my persistence and hard work will pay off.
As a consolation, try this out. Look up a video on YouTube of any musician performing. Many times you will find trolls posting harsh comments. Try clicking on their profiles and see if they themselves have put out any smidgen of creativity like an original song or a performance. Many times, you will find that they really don’t have anything to demonstrate except for their harsh words. You will see how empty such people really are.
Here you will see Japanese guitarist Akira Wada testing out the amp. You will see here comments by this guy saying, “oh god,stop it! he plays like a 12 year old student..,”and this guy saying, “I had to watch again OMG he is playing like a 13 year old in a guitar store.Perhaps it’s to sophisticated for me to understand.It made me chuckle, for whats it’s worth.” The funny thing is that these people have the balls to post such comments when they themselves have nothing to show. All words people! Can they demonstrate how a mature man should play guitar. It’s best for them to shut up because if you inspect their YouTube profiles I don’t see any videos of them playing like Steve Vai or Allan Holdsworth or Eric Clapton even. It just demonstrates how fools use empty words. I remember reading Proverbs 15 when dealing with unqualified people who speak empty words. Verse 2 reads, “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.” Seems to me that there are two kinds of critics, the “wise” ones who actually know what they are talking about (useful for learning) and the fools a.k.a. trolls who could not demonstrate what they are saying and only mean to hurt people.
For those trolls out there, I challenge you. Is this a guy who plays like a 12-year old?
If you could play better than this, I MIGHT listen to you. Otherwise, you aren’t worth my time.
As Jean Sibelius once said, “Pay no attention to what the critics say. Remember, a statue has never been set up in honor of a critic!” It has the similar tone of Proverbs 12:16 which reads, “A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.” I remember Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland insulting Dream Theater. Did Dream Theater paid attention to his attention-grabbing antics? He was simply ignored.
I’m a composer. It is expected that I be creative and that I love creativity, no matter what form it may show up. Creativity is evident in a lot of things, and new media is no exception. Part of that new media so to speak are those TV programs we now call “reality” shows. As much as these kinds of shows push their way to greatly exaggerate or distort reality (just like professional wrestling), I would be first to admit that there are certain “reality” shows that I like watching. However, for a “reality” show to become interesting to me, it has to show people being very creative and expressing themselves through actual skill and talent. Therefore, in terms of these kinds of shows, you won’t expect me to watch “Survivor”, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”, “The Hills”, “Teen Moms”, or anything like that.
As I said, I appreciate a series that really highlights creativity. Some of my favorites are ones that involve food. As a composer and musician, I like trying to gain insight into how they work their creativity into something that couldn’t be preserved in their actual physical forms. Shows like “Top Chef”, “Cupcake Wars”, and “Cake Boss” are some of those shows that spark interest in me. These chefs are really dedicated to their art despite full knowledge that their creations will eventually end up in someone’s gut (and septic tank) after a few hours. Since food involves the senses, whenever I watch these kinds of shows, I try my best to see (or hear) what their equivalents might be in sound. If I take that approach, then perhaps I could mirror what I learn from these culinary shows from a gustatory aspect to an auditory aspect. I aspire to make music that is excellent and more than satisfying, something you would always come back for more. It’s kind of like having a comforting home-cooked meal or some haute cuisine.
I also tend to take that kind of approach when watching something like “Project Runway.” I certainly am not a fashionable person, but I can readily appreciate how designers would craft wonderful creations out of fabric. It’s kind of like how a composer would build a piece out of plucked strings, struck objects , and blown tubes. The kind of ethic and creative insight behind such endeavors deserve to be commended.
The thing is that these sorts of “reality” shows have a very interesting visual element to it. The question now is would a thing like “Top Composer” work well on network TV? I’m guessing that it wouldn’t work well. I mean that as much as you’d love people scream their soul out on “American Idol” or “The Voice”, I doubt that watching a composer scribble notes or record so many takes of a few bars of music on a DAW to be an exciting prospect. Would it be exciting to watch someone like John Williams, Philip Glass, or Randy Newman as head judge giving out a challenge such as, “You need to write and record a 12-bar blues combined with 20th-century serialism using a maximum instrumentation of 16-14-12-10-8 plus rock band,” to composers like myself. I mean your ordinary viewer would have a hard time understanding that, so it wouldn’t really fly as far as something like Top Chef. But who am I to say that? After all, I’m not some network executive like Chuck Lorre who could predict what show concept can become a hit.
P.S. If Bravo TV comes up with something like “Top Composer”, I would watch it. I might even try to audition for it.
During the last quarter of 2012, I finally was able to get the old piano I grew up with reconditioned and tuned. So, here are some videos of me testing it out. These videos were shot using my iPad.
The first clip here features my attempts at Frederic Chopin’s Etude Numbers 1 and 12 from Opus 10:
The second clip is features Claude Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1:
The last clip is a crack at Claude Debussy’s Reflets Dans L’Eau from Images Book 1 with an improvisation added as an intro. Of all the pieces I play on the piano, this is probably my favorite:
My sister and I grew up on this piano, and so it holds a lot of memories. It’s a good thing that I didn’t have this piano traded in for another. To my ears, it sounds fantastic whenever I’m playing it. However, it does have that effect where it doesn’t sound as well as I would like it to be when recorded. Every time I record this piano, it doesn’t sound like how I’m hearing it when playing. Perhaps I’m fooling myself to thinking how fantastic it sounds every time I play, much in the same way that any person would love his or her own voice when one is singing in the shower. At the very least I don’t despise the sound when it’s recorded (I can’t say the same thing for my vocals, the timbre of which I’m not fond of).
I could say that my technician really did a good job restoring a once-neglected piano. This actually reminds me that I need to call him up again for this piano’s supposedly biannual tuning and maintenance requirements. On that note, with regard to tuning, I would really appreciate it if anyone could point me to where I can purchase a piano tuning wrench and a set of mutes locally. It’s best if I can tune the piano myself rather than hiring a technician to do it. Given the way I batter the piano almost every day, I do need my own piano tuning kit.
Perhaps when I feel like it I might post more recent clips of me playing the piano. I hope you all enjoy this one.
I was nearing 6 years of age when strongman Ferdinand Marcos was forced to fly in exile after only somewhere around 2% to 3% of the Filipino population went to the streets for the so-called EDSA Revolution. Though young, I was already aware that such an event had big promises of change and social upheaval, the start of a society where every Filipino was equal in rights and privileges. After 27 years since that fated day, that promise remains to be fulfilled.
I remember all those years growing up how my parents were able to work hard and see the fruits of their labor blossoming to provide me and my sister the kind of middle class living that majority of Filipinos could only dream of having. One has to understand that while middle class style of living is pretty much standard in developed nations like Australia (where a number of my relatives live), in the Philippines it is rather exceptional. It is worth noting that despite the levels of success my parents were able to reach, as the years after the EDSA Revolution continued to progress, it became more and more difficult for my folks to be able to earn money from their garments manufacturing business. With changing economic forces around the world and antiquated local economic policies, my father’s employers suddenly closed shop, leaving him deprived of his retirement benefits. This also brought about the loss of my mother’s subcontracting business. Coupled with conniving and dishonest people that surrounded my parents like vultures, the years post-EDSA did not provide the kind of environment that would have allowed middle class people like themselves to prosper. I could imagine how much worse it would be for people who didn’t have much.
What does that story about my parents have to do with EDSA? A lot. Apparently, the greater freedom that EDSA was able to deliver provided a recipe for disaster to Filipino society. It only made means for the rich to get richer, the poor to get poorer, and the middle class to be strained close to poverty. Honest small business owners like my parents had to deal with red tape and inefficiency of government services as the BIR continued on their efforts to bleed them dry. All of this was happening while we keep hearing of corruption by post EDSA Revolution leaders, doing nothing with all their power and wealth to delude the ignorant masses to further enrich themselves. Now, I don’t really have to specify details about this. It’s pretty obvious how the Philippines is performing nowadays despite all that EDSA history.
It’s easy to blame the country’s leaders for the government’s shortcomings and failure to provide an environment that stimulates growth and creativity. However, are only the leaders to blame? The matter of fact is that Filipino culture is the culprit. Filipino culture is mired with impunity, mediocrity, and anti-intellectualism brought about by the “pwede-na” (that’ll do) and “bahala-na” (come what may) philosophy that is so pervasive in society. It appears that every neighbor of the Philippines continues to grow leaps and bounds while Filipinos keep on holding to unsubstantiated “Pinoy Pride” whenever individuals like Manny Pacquiao or Jessica Sanchez garner accolades for their INDIVIDUAL achievements that have NOTHING to do with being Filipino. While competence in other countries lead to success, patronage politics and other underhanded tactics remain key determinants for success in the Philippines. Such cultural traits continue to be present despite the 27 years that Filipinos have been celebrating EDSA, hardly the mark of an advanced society.
I’m not at all surprised that some discerning individuals think of the EDSA Revolution as a joke because it was unable to deliver it’s promises of a society where everybody had equal access to opportunities. It has become such a joke that emotionally-driven Pinoys tend to hit the streets every time they feel angst about something (EDSA 2, 3, etc.). I was gullible enough to be dragged to EDSA part 2 (2001) only to realize that upon arrival it was nothing more than a stupid street party pretending to promote a just cause.
No matter how many times the Philippines changes its leaders, it will always be the same until culture changes. It is only until Filipino culture embraces competence as the standard will we see people with track records of excellence hold important seats in government. When Filipinos start thinking critically will we see the kind of changes we long for.
Surely we Filipinos now enjoy the freedom it had delivered, but that undisciplined freedom is what keeps the Philippines in its current sorry state. This freedom we now enjoy has led to chaos that had deprived many Filipinos of a decent standard of living. Ask the people in the slums eating “pagpag” if they can feel the benefits of EDSA. While they might give trivial and safe answers because of how they have been misled, they will always feel that misery for their sorry state. Such widespread misery is enough to convince me that there is no change after EDSA.
Manuel L. Quezon once duped the Filipinos into believing that they are ready to rule by arrogantly saying, “I would rather have a country run like hell by Filipinos than a country run like heaven by the Americans, because however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it.” Bad (the absence of good) will always be bad, Mr. Quezon! I’d rather have heaven any time rather than your hell! Labeling “hell” as Filipino doesn’t make it any better. The absence of good can NEVER be delightful in any way. Making changes without any progress is useless effort. You can also add to that the fact that change can be for the worse. Look at EDSA. It’s legacy is still keeping the Philippines poor 26 years onwards.
Today I’d like to talk about my present band practice and gig instrument, the Kurzweil PC88 Performance Controller Keyboard. Why would I do so? Because I like this instrument very much, plain and simple. For any of you out there looking for a review of this fine instrument, read on.
Before I discuss the ins and outs of this instrument, I’d like to tell a brief history about how I stumbled across this “portable” stage piano and eventually became its owner. I was looking for a portable 88-key replacement for a Yamaha SY-77 I had sold a few years back. In July 2012, I browsed through the Philmusic classifieds and found a seller who was selling a PC88. The price seemed reasonable, and then I thought to myself I could use something a bit similar to Jordan Rudess’s Kurzweil K2600. To cut the long story short, I bought it and have been using it since then.
The Kurzweil PC88 was exactly what I was looking for, a keyboard with a pianistic range and some very good sounds. My favorite patches in it are “Classical Piano”, “Suitcase E. Piano”, a number of organ sounds and the “Slow Digital Pad”. In my mind, these sounds should serve as my bread and butter presets. My particular unit is the “MX” variety so it also has a general MIDI bank and a generous 64-note polyphony. Because it’s not a synth, its selection of sounds is limited but it has powerful layering capabilities via the “MIDI Setup” mode where you can layer four sounds, each of which has its individual volume slider. In a limited way, you can create some fantastic patches with real-time control over each sound. Whether I’m playing progressive rock, praise and worship music, or jazz, I can pretty much cover good ground.
I’m not really doing multitrack orchestral stuff with it so 64 notes is pretty generous for my purpose. The feel or touch of its key bed is definitely weighted, similar to the feel of a Yamaha grand I had used about 4 years ago in a company Christmas party, but has a bit of a springy bounce that you will never find in an acoustic piano. How would I know? It’s because it feels very different from the acoustic upright piano I use at home. The rugged metal casing provides me with confidence that it would withstand the rigors of playing out.
As much as I love this instrument, it is not without its faults. I bought this particular PC88 used, and so some of the lead weights were loose. I had to hire a technician to have all the weights of the key bed fixed with a stronger adhesive. My technician said that the original adhesive used doesn’t hold up well to tropical weather, and that’s why they would become loose as the instrument ages. Given the fact that it’s not a synth, I could not use the sort of analog-ish lead sounds I enjoyed in my former Yamaha SY-77, and so I have to stick to organ or piano sounds for my leads. Lastly, the PC88 is heavy! You will not enjoy climbing up stairs lugging this keyboard on your own. When I set this up in the church (UCCP-MCCD) where I occasionally play, I usually have to ask for assistance from friend and bandmate Pastor Chaz to carry it inside the church. Yes, Kurzweil didn’t lie when it said that the PC88 was portable. They forgot to write down a caveat that it’s only portable if you have a car, if a buddy to help you carry it, or strength comparable to a well-trained athlete. If you plan on carrying it around while commuting, I’d probably laugh at you.
So, in summary, other than the initial key bed lead weight issue, the lack of decent synth lead sounds, and the weight of the instrument, the Kurzweil PC88 is a great piano analog and an impressive MIDI controller.
