From tonysounds@yahoo.com Tue May 23 21:11:12 2006
Subject:Re: Tonysounds retention appeal....

Humble??? ME? LMAO!!! Wow, I don't think I would even go that far! But thanks again to everyone for being so kind.

Bob is beyond gracious and generous with his time and expertise. When I first bought my Doepfer (on his recommendation actually) controller, he spent over 5 hours on the phone with me on a Sunday afternoon/evening helping me to get it rolling (I had just gotten my Muse Receptor and my midi interface and I had so much going on that wasn't working right, that I had a hard time disecting my "issues." And throughout my odyssey with that piece of gear (which has come to an end....bye bye!), Bob has spent time on emails, phone calls, doing forensics on my files, and then this Saturday actually spent another four hours (not counting the 3 hours each way he drove to meet me in Michigan) in person with his Doepfer and mine, his Motif and mine, his laptop and mine, trying to diagnose and cure the problem. I mean, how FRIGGIN COOL IS THAT???? Sadly, I think I scared him! Not only did I make my keyboard freak out within minutes of firing it up, but we switched to his rig
entirely (his controller, his module, his cabling), and I made his keyboard freak out too, repeatedly, over and over again....some really bad voodoo exists between me and Doepfer, which makes me a little sad, because I think it's a wonderful feeling keyboard, with a lot of potential, in a very small package. But it made me appreciate the A90 even more for what it does do.

Oh, and Bob's band is a blast! They're classic rock All Stars! I got to hear them do Joe Walsh's "Turn to Stone" (with a nice pipe organ "Toccata Fugue" intro by Bob, who just so happens to do a spot-on Joe Walsh vocal impersonation. And Bob is very clever with guitar comps played on the keyboard; he did George Harrison proud! "Mama Kin"!?!!! And a very nicely designed rig too by the way (clever use of pedals and pedal boards).

It really is great to meet each other in person; we're a brotherhood!
T

Robert Manzitti wrote:
Ah come on all....no blood no foul.
I have had the pleasure of talking to Tony many times and have met him on three occasions, twice at his gigs (one this past Saturday) and once he came out to check out my band while he was in town. He has always gone out of his way to be very humble, gracious and helpful on all subjects. Yes he can come across in his posts as a "know it all"...but the fact of the matter is he is a know it all! I think he has owned every single piece of gear that has ever been built and he is one MONSTER player. He has earned the right to speak with authority about all the gear he has owned and I look forward to and respect his opinions on things. I don't always agree with his choices, but he has never slammed me for my choices being different than his....and he has asked me for my opinion and help several times.
Oh and on a side note...not only does he smoke on the boards he is one great bass player too. When I asked him where that came from he said that when the DX7 came out he hated that sound so much and all bands expected the keyboard player to have one that he decided to take up the bass. All-righty-then! Wish I was so lucky and gifted!
So, this once belligerent Italian from Detroit thinks no flame wars are present, just two guys ventin' their opinions!
Vent away brothers and sisters of the world.
Bob

Randall Gafner wrote:
I agree, you guys are where I will never be, so I need to learn from
you. Where else to get straight ahead equipment opinions? Sam Ash
sales manager? Guitar Center on a Saturday afternoon? Stay on the
list, I always go to your posts and read the contents. Stick and
stay.
RG

On May 23, 2006, at 12:25 PM, mic08817 wrote: