Monday, October 19, 2009

Help me name my new keyboard

Time for some new music with my new EMU

I'm happy with my EMU Xboard 25 key MIDI controller which I got last night (in perfect condition, purchased second hand from Coreysan). I can already feel that fun times and great music will come of it. It's big enough to not feel like a toy and small enough to be mobile and go traveling with.

My other keyboard, Haniel, died quite a while ago. Haniel had hundreds of great sound banks and patches (i.e. musical samples/tones for different instruments) stored in her and I would do everything (sequencing/composing/recording) right there in the keyboard. If you click on my Reverbnation page and listen to the music there, all of it (except the songs with acoustic guitar and 'Raindrops on Skin' which is a combo of Garageband and Ableton Live) was created with Haniel.

The EMU is a MIDI keyboard, used to trigger the sound samples in computer-based music programmes. i.e. I can't create music within (or using just) the keyboard itself as with Haniel.

If you've been reading my blog for a while you will know that I give my pieces of equipment meaningful names:
Karishma (video camera)
Dandelion (drum)
The camera formerly known as Synchronicity (now renamed Phoenix because she fell on Valentine's Day and rose from the ashes)
Supernova (little go-everywhere-with-it camera).

WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Instead of me coming up with the name for the new keyboard, I'm throwing out the opportunity for you all. You can leave your suggestion in the Now is Wow Too comments section along with a brief rationale (i.e. why you gave it that name). I'll go with the name/rationale that resonates most with me. As a prize, I will compose a short piece of music for the winner.

Thanks in advance.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

"Sakura" (the cherry blossom) - since she is most likely a keyboard of asian birth.

Jayme said...

Two ideas, both from Sanskrit:

Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts.

or

Raga, a word which means harmony, melody and feeling. It is one of the three pillars of Indian Classical Music and has deep meaning in that context (http://www.searchgurbani.com/raags/index.php)