First Rehearsal With the M3

Took the M3 to rehearsal for the first time yesterday. I don't have any sounds programmed into it, but I really wanted to take it for spin. So I scrambled to find appropriate programs between songs. The category browsing feature really makes that possible, but I also got lucky and found acceptable programs very quickly. It wasn't a great test because for some reason our PA wasn't outputting stereo. I didn't have time or desire to figure out what the problem was (all the wiring is in a big rack that isn't very accessible and I didn't have much time). But overall, the M3 availed itself quite nicely considering that I was using whatever sounds I could find quickly. Normally I rarely use unaltered factory patches. Of course my band mates were suitably impressed. The drummer did point out that it looked like a cruise liner from the side (all the white with the clashing rosewood side panel) and once he said it, it was all I could see. Its definitely a keyboard that make a visual statement. I have mixed feelings about that statement, but it isn't holding back.

The piano sound was a bit disappointing in the rehearsal room. It had a weird phasey sort of sound and lacked punch. In my studio the same patch sounds f'ing marvelous. I believe the PA collapsed the stereo sound down to mono and caused phase issues. I think a mono piano program would have worked better given the PA problem but I didn't think to try one. Hopefully later in the week I'll get some spare cycles to actually start programming the sounds I need for the band into the M3, and then I'll really get to see what it can do.