Davos Bay Test Back at my computer after being gone for a couple days. A friend loaned me his Roland FP-5. I hooked it up, downloaded the driver, and did some tinkering and testing. One of the biggest issues for me with digital pianos is the velocity-sensitivity and weight of the keyboard. The Roland’s is pretty good, I have to say. It took me a while to get used to it, but it took me equally as long to get used to a new baby grand piano we have at church. The tactile qualities of the keys, the feel of them, the heaviness or lightness of how the keys move under your fingers, the resistance in them, all those things have a say in how the instrument plays.
Anyway, I put together a little test to see how the keyboard talks to my computer. This took about 15 minutes. I used samples of a Steinway, flute, and cello from the Prague Philharmonic. This is the tune from “The Girl of Davos Bay,” which is a song from my Tormay books. I think it turns up in the first book, if I remember correctly. I’m planning on recording a proper length instrumental version later, plus a sung version with guitars, voices, and Irish whistle.
I just discovered you, Monterey Peninsula neighbor! We even have friends in common, I hear. (Gary and Anna C.) I’m smack dab in the middle of The Hawk and His Boy and LOVING IT.
Ahem, I mean it is very enjoyable so far. I have been so disappointed by Christian-written fantasy in recent years, but even if you do not end this novel well, I’m sure it is the best I’ve read since Narnia. It is not easy for me to rein-in my enthusiasm right now, but I will do my best.
Nice music, too! I wish I had a whole bunch of it to finish reading your book to, but I will have to plug in some instrumental Fernando Ortega and my newest find, Andy McKee. Should be perfect. Thanks for the “reliable” enjoyment! I will post more specifics soon about why I am loving this book.
Small world! I’ve known them for quite a while (actually, I’ve known Anna since we were both in kindergarten). Very good people.
Thanks for your kind remarks about the Hawk. I enjoyed writing that story, and I always hope my affection for it somehow filters through the writing. The books aren’t specifically Christian in terms of deliberate theology, but I am a Christian and that perspective certainly informs what I do. At least, I hope. C.S. Lewis wrote an interesting essay about that, examining how we “sub-create”, as he termed it. Great stuff.
Glad you like the music too. I’ve never heard of Andy McKee, so I’m off to check him out.
Nice tune – easy listening (that’s meant to be a compliment; hope you take it as such).
I’m all about easy listening. Unless I get into my wannabe-rock mode.