The title will be the only stupid pun on playing a saxophone as Chicagosax does it in a way you very likely have never heard before.
The pic looks pretty cool and that stage is something Cat made just for him ... but that's not what he plays.
This is a Yamaha WX-5 Wind Synthesizer
which means it is a saxophone, a trombone ...
or it could be drums if you like.
There are different models of the instrument with varying numbers of keys. A traditional saxophone has twenty-three keys but this one has sixteen.
MIDI is what makes this work as the instrument determines the note being played and then sends that as MIDI language to a synthesizer which, in turn, produces the actual sound. That sound can be whatever your demented heart desires.
This instrument sells for $500-$700 US and you will also need to get a MIDI sound module (i.e. synthesizer sound box).
At one point early in the show, Chicagosax was using a voice that was almost a guitar and I thought, hmmm, here's Chicagosax making a sax sound like a guitar and, on Friday, Voodoo will be making a keyboard sound like a cello, and who knows what comes next week.
All of that kind of magic is based on MIDI and, do take my word for it, MIDI is a world of switches and wires that will run you out of patience long before anyone can finish describing it. The power of it is enormous but the frustration is legendary.
Chicagosax was playing jazz standards and that alone isn't so interesting but what he did with them was fascinating. There's playing a lead line for grandstanding (i.e. shredding) and then there's playing something exploratory and intriguing. Chicagosax has been playing for a very long time so he knows well the difference and his leads are surprising and delicious. At one point I said it was 'wild lead' and I hope that wasn't taken as disrespectful as what I meant was that there is kind of a standard lead (i.e. minor blues scale) and then there's the world beyond that. Wild lead is what goes into the world beyond and that's where you will find Chicagosax.
There will be another show on Friday as Chicagosax will fill in for Voodoo Shilton.
Oh, just in case you're thinking these Second Life performers are amateurs: Chicagosax opened for the Rolling Stones with his earliest band, The Missing Links, in Chicago. Later they became another band you may know: Chicago Transit Authority.
The pic looks pretty cool and that stage is something Cat made just for him ... but that's not what he plays.
which means it is a saxophone, a trombone ...
or it could be drums if you like.
There are different models of the instrument with varying numbers of keys. A traditional saxophone has twenty-three keys but this one has sixteen.
MIDI is what makes this work as the instrument determines the note being played and then sends that as MIDI language to a synthesizer which, in turn, produces the actual sound. That sound can be whatever your demented heart desires.
This instrument sells for $500-$700 US and you will also need to get a MIDI sound module (i.e. synthesizer sound box).
At one point early in the show, Chicagosax was using a voice that was almost a guitar and I thought, hmmm, here's Chicagosax making a sax sound like a guitar and, on Friday, Voodoo will be making a keyboard sound like a cello, and who knows what comes next week.
All of that kind of magic is based on MIDI and, do take my word for it, MIDI is a world of switches and wires that will run you out of patience long before anyone can finish describing it. The power of it is enormous but the frustration is legendary.
Chicagosax was playing jazz standards and that alone isn't so interesting but what he did with them was fascinating. There's playing a lead line for grandstanding (i.e. shredding) and then there's playing something exploratory and intriguing. Chicagosax has been playing for a very long time so he knows well the difference and his leads are surprising and delicious. At one point I said it was 'wild lead' and I hope that wasn't taken as disrespectful as what I meant was that there is kind of a standard lead (i.e. minor blues scale) and then there's the world beyond that. Wild lead is what goes into the world beyond and that's where you will find Chicagosax.
There will be another show on Friday as Chicagosax will fill in for Voodoo Shilton.
Oh, just in case you're thinking these Second Life performers are amateurs: Chicagosax opened for the Rolling Stones with his earliest band, The Missing Links, in Chicago. Later they became another band you may know: Chicago Transit Authority.
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