Aron's Web Page
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Additions: 4/23/04 - updated web site. 7/30/03 - Weblog Created 6/30/01 - misc additions 2/28/00 after almost a year, I got my password back! 3/12/99 - some changes. 7/16/98 - Online Bookstore 7/9/98 - StompBox Page added. 5/21/98 - Online Shopping Links... 5/18/98 - VL1 addtions, Internet Radio and more... 5/4/98 - OneClick Palettes and Extensions added to Free Software. Welcome to my web page! I play keyboards in Honolulu, Hawaii. I play Jazz/Funk/Rock music and love old analogs as well as the newest Physical Modeling keyboards. I'm into breath controlling them. If you're into breath controlling instruments, let's talk! I am also a software engineer. I was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii where I played in an extremely fun band called N-Focus. I am also a "music designer" i.e. composer/performer for Audio Bytes, a post-production company here in Honolulu. I also build analog pedals as a hobby. Check out my Guitar Stompbox Page!!! Check out my High School: Hilo High. Check out University of Hawaii at Hilo. Check out San Jose State University.(Graduate School) Current Projects: Corporate band Nueva Vida. Keyboards with Na Leo. Guitar with Joy Waikoloa and Arex Ikehara. Older projects.... Bay Area Guitarist Ken Harrill Ken Harrill sounds like Larry Carlton, little Alan Holdsworth and Scott Henderson thrown in for good measure. Don't think that he's just these guys thrown together (although, that's awesome enough!). He's fast, smooth and clean; even when distorted! Our music will be smooth Jazz based with some funky tunes thrown in. We may play around with some acoustic stuff as well. Import/Export is gone. The music was brash, definitely fusion (Jazz/Rock), lots of improvisation, raw yet refined. I've been trying to do some of this music here. I hope to record with these guys in the future. My Live Rigs: KEYBOARDS: Every since I started playing these corporate gigs, the key is to get in - do your job - and get out. My new setup reflects this. Yamaha S90ES - Great piano sounds, fat tones. Weighted action with 88 keys. Yamaha CS6x - Yep, a "techno" keyboard, but an extremely powerful keyboard if you know how to program it right. Unfortunately it has some MIDI delay. Even more unfortunate is the fact that most keyboards suffer from this now.... Email me if you know of a powerful keyboard that has no MIDI delay when stacking sounds. Yamaha VL1 or Sequential Pro One - These keyboards are my soloing axes. Depending on the people I am playing with, I will use one or the other. The VL1 is good for powerful bands where I need presence. The Pro One is more responsive and dynamic but has a mellower sound. Rolls 1 space line mixer. Crown 650 watt power amp. 2 Yamaha cabinets fed from the Crown amp. GUITAR: Yamaha Pacifica Strats. Usually my red one that has been highly modified. Humbuckers, custom wiring, different tuners, Wilkinson vintage bridge, well, like I said, almost every hardware piece has been changed. I like the way this guitar feels and sounds. Fender BULLET! Yep, cheap but amazingly good when set up. Just the bridge pickup costs more than the entire guitar. Amazing! Stompboxes: low and hi-gain custom pedals I designed +EH Deluxe Memory man (modified). Optional stuff: Buffer/booster box/tuner bypass box. Crybaby Wah (modified), Hornet Fuzz, Ibanez Chorus/Flanger, Speaker Simulator, Korg Dynamic Echo + many more. Amps: Custom Champ, Blonde Bassman, Custom Traynor YRM-1, Custom Bassman. Speakers: 2X12 Celestion Greenbacks. D'Addario XL (.009) strings. COMPUTERS: Macintosh and Windows XP computers running Logic Audio. Legacy rig: Macintosh running Studio Vision Pro + Galaxy Plus Editors. Legacy Info: Grew up in Hilo, Hawaii. Played with various bands including the very fun N-Focus with Moon Brown, Rainbow Page, Craig Ochikubo and Sid Hopson. While playing with N-Focus, we were one of the first pioneers to use computer-based sequencing onstage along with some of the first use of professional drum machines (Linn Drum, Oberheim and Yamaha drum machines). Sequencer Plus and Personal Composer w/IBM PC- LIVE! Back then Craig and I were deep into sequencing and analog synthesizers as well as playing guitar. Yes, I have been sequencing since the beginning! Received performance degree from University of Hawaii at Hilo (piano). Moved to Bay Area (San Jose, California). Studied Electronic Music Compositiion with Allen Strange. Received Masters Degree in Composition from the Electro/Acoustic Program at SJSU. During this time I developed several MIDI toolkits in Pascal and C for writing sequencers and real-time MIDI control. I programmed in FORTH as well as using a language developed at SJSU called MASC written by Dan Kelley. I got to work with tons of people including Morton Subotnick, Dan Wyman, Michael Boddicker, and many others. I wrote a real-time gestural sequencer/MIDI "transforming" application as part of my studies. Studied Jazz Piano with George Cables. Played with a bunch of people and played in Import/Export: Darryl Rowe, Ken Harrill, Chris Miller, Gus Kambeitz, James Reily, Dean Hudson. This band later became an instrumental fusion band. In the Bay Area, I mainly played Jazz/Rock aka "fusion" music as well as R&B. I played everywhere from Scramento all the way down to Monterey, CA; mostly in clubs. Worked at Graphic Notes - an international (Australian/US) company developing music notation software. I was a product specialist and tech support. Worked at Opcode Systems Inc. - tech support/sales/R&D. While I was in tech support I was able to help some of the top stuio musicians in the world. I helped develop tons of editors and librarians for various synthesizers. During this time I got to work with many synthesizer manufacturers as well as have access to the latest digital synthesizers. Later I did some work on Studio Vision Pro doing some of the 24-bit work. Moved to Honolulu, HI and started building guitar pedals as a hobby. Cool places to eat in Honolulu, Hawaii! Sakura Restaurant in the Aiea Shopping Center - The best mochiko chicken, gobo (just right and spicy), Japanese pumpkin and musubi that I have tried here. Golden Duck Chinese Restaurant - Good crispy chicken and look fun noodles in soup! Shirokiya - The Ala Moana location has delectable bento (Japanese plate lunch)! Ala Moana Shopping Center. Zippy's for breakfast - Order the 2 eggs, corned beef hash with fried rice. The won ton min is also good. On Jin Cafe - French/Korean type food for lunch. Good food for a good price. Kakaako area. I Love Country Cafe (Ala Moana area) - excellent food with various items. Bravos - Pearlridge Shopping center. Italian/local food, good service, good prices, just plain good! Cool places to eat in Hilo, Hawaii!
Cafe 100, still jammin' with the teri burger. They also serve the *original* loco moco. (In Waimea) - Kamuela Deli - Even though the gravy burger is $1.25 now, it's still great! New China Restaurant - Crispy Chicken is very good. Kows - more good Chinese food. KTA supermarket - eat the Poke and Bento. Gone, RIP... Fuji Restaurant - was good Japanese food... Cool Places in Honolulu ABC Music - Say hello to Dayton in the guitars/bass section. Cool places/people in Hilo, Hawaii Music Exchange - Say Hello to Alan in Hilo and Collier in Waimea. The best store in the state? If you like tube stuff, you be the judge. Ask Alana practically anything about Strats and Les Pauls. Blow your mind when you hear Wesley Matsuda play. Cool Links MacSurfer For Macintosh: Yes, the Macintosh is still alive and kicking.... OneClick Software - If you are an expert on the Macintosh, then you need this software. VersionTracker for new Macintosh Files My Free Macintosh Software Yes, I make em so you can break em. Info-Mac - get your file a day... Buy your Macintosh Online... No system.ini, autoexec.bat, system registry, dips, IRQs, yes, you can close all windows with one click. Yes, you can easily see how much disk space you have left. Check out Harmony Central for Music Related stuff! Music Resource Site - Like Macintouch but for Music Patchman Music- the best Wind Controller patches for your synthesizer. More interesting Macintosh Links...
Guitar/Music Sites Lentine's Music - Great deals! VICTOR LITZ WEEKLY SPECIALS! - Another cool store. Welcome to Torres Engineering The master of tube amp/guitar kit mods. Harmony Central®: Guitar Resources Tons of guitar resources. --Got/WantOld Pedals? Harmony Central - Effect Reviews Sound Barrier International Online Database Info on how to build Effects -GEO --Instruction GEO - The Guitar Effects Oriented Web Page I need to check out the Nashville Guitar Pattern.
Some of my friend's web pages... Craig Ochikubo's Web Page check out my best friend's web page. He's great! Doug Wyatt's Web Page - He's a wizard programmer /musician at Opcode. Eric Wakely - once upon a time I taught him guitar... Ken Harrill - Great Jazz/Rock Guitarist! KNBR - Sports Radio. Gary Radnich, Bob Fitzgerald and the Razor and Mr. T - My favortite sports radio station.
Deal-Mac - Here's where you find the killer deals the stores below are offering.
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