The Bontempi KS5600 (is not great) - with Fostex XR-3 4 Track

video by ChrisLody

"So I have some time not to be in the studio working on music and sound design for Sonicware while I wait for the updated version of the XFM to arrive, so I spent it in the studio doing something else :D Same thing will likely happen tomorrow.

Today I chose to try to write something with just the Bontempi KS5600, but it's not a great keyboard! For a start the output is super super hot, like surface of the sun hot, so the Behringer mixer is there just to get the level down to something I can record. Even then it'll distort internally while playing chords if it's not turned down on the front panel which increases noise vs signal a lot. Uggh.

As far as I can tell from the sound it's an FM based board but a lot of the sounds are quite similar. I found nothing with even the slightest bit of vibrato and very little that has a nice fade in that would be useful for strings. So this was a bit of an uphill battle. Why do I do this to myself? :D

It was recorded on the Fostex XR3 with mixing done on the Inkel MX880E and effects added from the Zoom 1201. Kind of messed up the video of the bottom left frame, but the whole thing is a bit of a mess so never mind..."