Q: I saw a video on the Five Peace Band website, and it's obvious that you were going for the minimalist approach: will this continue to be the case? —James

A: Hi James,
My electric keyboard rig setup is definitely a work in progress. Not having been using Rhodes, Minimoog, and synths for so many years (except for the occasional E. Band reunion) I lost touch with the developments in electric keyboard and synth technology. When I dove back in with RTF, there was so much I wanted to evaluate in such a short time that I ended up with probably an "overkill" setup—but, in the process, learned a lot about what works and doesn't work for me these days. It's certainly an ongoing creative area for instrument makers and programmers and players. Great, fun stuff!

Aside from time, the other barrier is always "cartage" when traveling on a tour—which leads me to the practical solution of trying soft synths via the laptop—MainStage, Logic, Spectrasonics, Absynth, etc. And, in fact, there's a whole other world of sound and facility available there, too. So, it's A Work In Progress—and probably will continue to be. But, so far, no software sounds have fully been able to replace the richness of the acoustic piano, Rhodes or Minimoog—but, each year they're coming closer and closer.

All the Best,

-- Chick

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