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"I'm a techno producer and Rick Wakeman is my favorite keyboard player of all time," wrote Wesley R. Dysart on our Facebook page. "I will never get tired of his music or his interviews. He's a major influence on how I fry to play!" We couldn't have summed up the influence of Rick Wakeman better. While it comes as no surprise that the most memorable keyboardist from supergroup Yes is flagged as a hero by nearly every rock keyboardist we hear from, we're continually impressed by the number of musicians working in electrónica, hip-hop, and other genres you wouldn't think have anything to do with baroque-influenced progressive rock, who say the very same thing. As we did last month with Wakeman's colleague in greatness Keith Emerson, we wanted you, our readers, to do the interview. Since our original posts on the Keyboard Corner forum (forums.musicplayer.com) and Facebook (facebook.com/KeyboardMagazine) called for your questions for Keith and Rick at the same time, many of the questions will look familiar if you read last month's issue.
[As in last month's cover story, we've identified questions by your user names, typed as you type them online. -Ed.]
tonysounds: Of all the gear you've owned andplayed, which is your favorite instrument, bar none? And of the synths you no longer own, which one do you miss the most?
Rick Wakeman: The piano will always be the one I could never live without On the piano, the true expression comes from the fingertips, and you have total control. I suppose that's because it was the instrument I learned on from the age of five. So it's bound to be the one I'm most attached to.
Of synths I no longer own, the answer would probably be the [Sequential Grcuits] Prophet-10, with the double-manual keyboard. It was initially misconstrued as just a dual-manual Prophet-5, but this wasn't the case. It was a different instrument in its own right I wish I still had mine.
johnchop: Which recent developments in music technology excite you the mostosa means to musical expression? For example, soft synths? The resurgence of analog?
RW: As with all technology, it's a matter of you being in control of it, rather than it controlling you. I see all technological tools...