Hey.

After hearing a lot of the live material Prince and his new
band played last year I'm kind of wondering what kind of
keys Renato plays. They sound very different from the ones
that Mr Hayes and Tommy Barbarella played. It's that kind
of electrified sound, I don't know how to describe it, but
it sounds incredibly funky.

For example, the Celebration Performance of "Xenophobia"
that has Prince lead the audiance into the "Xe-Xeno Phobia"
chant. Renato has a solo right at the beginning, about 1
minute into the performance and those keys sound marvelous.

There's also an example of that sound in the Days Of Wild
cd single when Nato jams on his solo.

I'm no musician and I know very little about the actual
instruments most people play. I know a guitar from a bass
guitar and a piano from a keyboard but that's about it.

:ducksheadinshame:

And since we're on the subject, which guitar is that Prince
plays that makes that low dirty hardrock sound displayed
best in the "WholeLottaLove" celebration performance or on
the NightTown boot..??

Is that the Hohner or whatever it's called? Cos it doesn't
sound like a cloud and the Habibi model sounds more high
pitched mostly...

Anyway, have a good laugh at my obvious ignorance and feel
free to respond if you know the answers.

Thanks!

He has a few different keyboards, but the Nord-Lead is the one that you are refering to.

Thanks for the info, Thumpinhard...

I really dig the sound of Renato...he's been a breath of fresh air in the NPG, IMO

Thumpinhard said:

u know what else he got in his arsenal??...looked like he had a triton?...think he also has a Rhodes stashed away under one of the leads...plus he has more effects pedals than P!

If anyone has the full spec of their live setup though, I'd be real interested to hear what toys they got.

Renato plays a Nord Lead 2 and Yamaha Motif 6
[This message was edited Tue Apr 29 21:30:04 PDT 2003 by daysofwild]

daysofwild said:

aha...u know what P played on the tour...could've been another motif?

endorphin74 said:

I agree 100%. Renato's playing is really refreshing and
brings a new [less predictable] ingredient to the live
mix.

I'm the same as you, Istenszek - I don't play any instruments, I can't read music and my technological know-how is pretty ropey! So I won't pretend to know a lot about the 'mechanics' of Prince's music.

But I'd go as far to say that Renato is my absolute favourite keyboardist that Prince has worked with. Whether - technically - he's the *best*, I don't know. But he's MY favourite.

And he seems a genuinely nice, humble guy to boot.
[This message was edited Wed Apr 16 8:15:14 PDT 2003 by onenitealone]

onenitealone said:

my favourite too!!...he's constantly doing something, even when he's not caressing the keys...he's triggering samples.

naturally, i understand no one in the band plays anything but what prince asks of them.
but i miss morris hayes' keys.
renato is technically better, but he's too energetic, always 'filling in the spaces' with ornamentation. imo, just because you CAN play a quick riff on up in there doesn't mean you should

About the guitar:

at Nighttown, I think Prince mostly played the Cloud. At least during the last track, Beautiful Strange.
Besides that, I'm sure that almost all of the performanes of Whole Lotta Love were done with the Hohner Telecaster.
I just love his sound nowadays. Very nice dirty rock style and then also a warm and clean jazz style.

SolarEclectic said:

co-sign. absolutely agree with you.

calldapplwondery83 said:

Hmmm, I know what you mean. Me too. His guitarplaying has
always been cool but it used to be low in the mix on the
records.

But the sound he has now is the best ever. It's a perfect
mix between the softer, low key guitar of earlier records
and the brontosaural meltdown on "the war".

During the ONA in Europe tour Renato used a Nord Lead 2(top) and a Korg Triton (bottom) on his left side.. a Yamaha MOTIF6 [61 keys] (top) a MOTIF8 [88 keys] (bottom)
in front of him and on his right a Fender Rhodes hooked up 2 some Boss FX pedals, the DS-1 distortion & the PH-3 phase shifter... I think he also had some rackbased synths modules on stage, but I couldnt see which ones ...

And oh, Prince played on a MOTIF8... and had a Fender Rhodes 2.....



OH, can ya'll guess i'm a keyboardist?! and ...I have a MOTIF6... very smooth instrument...

hope this is of any help...
[This message was edited Wed Apr 16 15:45:22 PDT 2003 by BfunQ]

BfunQ said:

It certainly is of help, yes. Pretty impressive.

Thanks for letting us know!

BfunQ said:

This Fender Rhoads was the Funky sound that the original post was talking about I'm sure of it. Ray Charles did "what I say" in the Blues Brothers on that same funky, electric piano sound.

Sooo cool

:I: use a Fender Rhodes on a lot of my material!

go to this page 2 have a listen 2 some Fender Heavy tracks!

http://www.drezone.ukf.ne...ourney.htm

Neto ain't got Sh*t on me!

'dre

DreZone said:

Don't use RealPlayer. Have any MP3s?

I love those distorted Rhodes sounds Prince
have on Xenophobia & Strange Realationship
on ONA Live.Renato is a talented cat but still I
prefer the craziness of Dr.Fink.
/peace Manki

Renato also plays a Nord Electro, mainly for Hammond sounds.