Keyboard Magazine - March 2008 - (Page 22) BACK TO THE FUTURE stuff was done and I had all my keyboards together and the arrangement was good, then we went into the studio and laid down all the drums. Rod Morgenstein is the MVP of the album because these songs are complicated and he totally nailed all of them so tight and so right. I just know when I ask Rod to do something, it’s going to be exactly what is needed. He has a way of doing the progressive thing, playing all the odd meters, but playing with such strength and conviction that it really adds a lot to these versions. When you were recording in your studio and getting all the keyboard parts down, was that all done via MIDI and did you sequence it into a digital audio workstation? Yeah. I’ve been using MOTU Digital Performer for so many years. For this album I recorded all my keyboards in DP — basically all MIDI. That’s the way I’ve been working for a long time and that’s the way I’m comfortable working. It was a real combination of hardware synthesizers and also my software synthesizers. I used a lot of Spectrasonics Atmosphere and Trilogy. I used Native Instruments software and I certainly used hardware in my studio — a lot of Voyager, the Roland Fantom, the Korg OASYS, a lot of VSynths. What else did I use? The Korg Radias, Dave Smith’s Poly Evolver, and the Haken Continuum controller as well. Jumping tracks to Dream Theater, and the new instruments you’re using with them, what intrigued you about the Zen Riffer? My awareness came from a friend of mine named Ernie Cataldo. Ernie had told me about it because he thought that the Zen Riffer represented something that was a big step in that whole strap-on keyboard technology, in the sense that most people view that type of an instrument as cheesy, just by the way the things look and the idea of a keyboard player taking center stage. While they’ve been used here and there for many years, it hasn’t really been a big thing. Certainly in my own work with Dream Theater, I think even the mention of a strap-on keyboard would probably make them skeptical. But when I saw what [Zen Riffer creator] Charles Tentindo was doing and the elegance and coolness factor of the Zen Riffer, I arranged for him to meet me in San Diego, where Dream Theater had set up for four days of production rehearsals. Charles drove out and actually brought the instrument to rehearsal for me to see. I wasn’t quite sure where I would use it in our set, or if the band would be accepting of such a thing. But things happened quickly. Everybody saw the instrument and they were like, “Wow, that thing is awesome. That would look cool on stage.” We figured out where I would use it in the set — a couple of spots — and the next thing you know, Charles actually left me with this black Zen Riffer that he put together with the idea of my being into it. So it was only three days before our first show that I even got the instrument and started to think about where and how I would use it. It’s really been an interesting little ride. And here I am. I’ve done six shows and it’s one of the most talked about things going on in the Dream Theater world right now. Everybody is surprised to see me not in my usual keyboard world, walking up to the center of the stage. For me, it’s a blast. Do you carry more than one Zen Riffer on tour? I need another for backup so, of course, it’s been such a hit that I wanted the second to come out and be at least equally as cool as the first, and maybe even more striking. In talking about how it would look, we discovered something called Crazer paint made by a company called Alsa Corp. A company like that usually just sells you the paint. But in this case, the corporate head was a huge Dream Theater fan, and he offered the services of his painting team. They just finished it up and it looks incredible. I’ll be premiering it in Asia. It was exciting seeing you “duel” on stage with John Petrucci. What were some of the challenges of using the Zen Riffer live with Dream Theater? The first challenge of course was to find the right spots to play it. But there were a couple songs that we dialed in pretty quickly. For me, it’s such a good feeling to go up with the keyboard and do that. The biggest challenge is to figure out which riffs will fit in smoothly on the instrument and will work on a musical level. Photo by Paul Undersinger | paulworks.com JORDAN’S CUTTING EDGE AXES “I’m always checking out new instruments,” says Jordan. “I love to explore new sonic ground and ways to control sound. I recently got a MIDI controller called the Axis-64 made by C-Thru music. The layout is based on the harmonic table and it’s a whole different way of playing. Coming from a keyboard background doesn’t necessarily help. What does help is having strength in your fingers, so for me, it’s pretty easy to become comfortable with new finger patterns. The problem is learning where the notes actually fall. Right now, I’ve got it plugged into my OASYS.” What role will the Axis play in Jordan’s creative process? “Well, what I can predict for sure is that I’ll bring it to the Dream Theater writing sessions next time. I find it very inspiring for coming up with new ideas. I come up with riffs I’d never play on the keyboard — things like diminished scales or augmented patterns seem to be very natural on the instrument.” Jordan has also been working with Roland on a new keyboard — the Fantom G. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved contributing ideas to the working of this new instrument,” he says. “I’ve been programming a bunch of new sounds for it. One of the features I’ve been asking for, and not just from Roland, is to please not stop the sound when you change patches — ever. I find that very difficult and annoying. I understand why it’s been a challenge, but Roland has made a really special attempt on this machine to get it right. They have something called Live Mode, in which you can layer and split in any way up to eight zones and every zone can have its own multieffects — and then the entire patch can share a global chorus and reverb. When you change from one live mode patch to another, it’s seamless. You hear no glitches. It’s just plain smooth. “The keyboards I used to use, the Kurzweil K2600 and K2500, had some level of patch preserve, but the effects would glitch. Most Korgs and Yamahas have patch preserve, but only in the basic program mode, and not in the combination mode. To me, this is a really important breakthrough.” 22 keyboard 03-2008 http://paulworks.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.