Many musicals from the recent past have been arranged with specific synthesizer parts in mind. To the musical director interested in an authentic performance, this can pose a number of problems.e First, many of these vintage keyboards are no longer made, and therefore are difficult if not impossible to find. Second, most of these musicals use sounds that were created specifically for that show, and the descriptions in the keyboard parts may be obscure at best.
LES MISÉRABLES, for example, is orchestrated for a specific Kurzweil keyboard model (which is no longer manufactured and increasingly difficult to locate). On top of that, the keyboard books indicate patches only by numbers, with no further indication of the type of sound required or how the sounds are split or layered on the synthesizer. A two-page section of Keyboard 1 in the song "The Docks" from LES MISÉRABLES lists, in short order, the following patch changes:
Up until now, the keyboard player, in order to achieve authenticity, would be forced to listen to a cast recording and attempt to design keyboard sounds that best approximate what they hear and see notated in the score. This is an arduous process even for a seasoned keyboard programmer, and will inevitably result in setups that are less than ideal. In addition, the setups need to be ordered correctly and efficiently so that the player isn’t searching for the right sound in the middle of a rehearsal or performance.
RMS Keyboards ® is designed to eliminate all this work. Each show in our library has been meticulously researched, and the correct sounds have been arranged in the correct order with an easy to use software application that supports as many keyboards as the show calls for. Simply connect your controller keyboards to the ports on the computer, hook up your audio interface, follow the easy to use wizard installation guide, and you are ready to perform!
For those who wish to evaluate the product before making a purchase decision, all our shows come with a trial version. The trial version is fully functioning for the first few songs of a given show. Thus you can be assured that what you purchase will work for your organization’s production.
With RMS Keyboards ® , you have: