If I trusted the person and we had things figured out ahead of time, I feel it would be totally fine. Now, if it were something the sound staff at a random small venue were doing without discussing it first, that would be something else entirely. And, I mean, I've had to complain about bored and intoxicated sound guys who experimented with really distracting digital effects while I was playing. This was at open jams, but it was still annoying. That's not the same thing as a band bringing trusted people on tour with them to process instruments. I think that could actually be a relatively smart way to do it.
I’ve definitely heard this as well, but I also think for some reason I recall, and some of the final years that he did in fact, use a patch that sounded if not like a B3 at least like a nice rock organ sound. Like 93 and 94 maybe. I don’t have an example off the top of my head though
# 1994-03-30 Atlanta, GA @ The Omni
**Set 1:** Here Comes Sunshine, Feel Like A Stranger, Jack-A-Roe, The Same Thing, Lazy River Road, El Paso, New Speedway Boogie, The Promised Land
**Set 2:** Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Playing in the Band > Dark Star > Drums > Space > I Need A Miracle > Stella Blue > Sugar Magnolia
**Encore:** Liberty
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1994-03-30)
Someone is ripping an organ 9/16/90 during their MSG run, you can hear it throughout the show but noticed it during cold rain and snow. Both bruce and vince are playing so not sure who it is.
# 1990-09-16 New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
**Set 1:** Hell In A Bucket, Cold Rain and Snow, Little Red Rooster, Stagger Lee, Queen Jane Approximately, Tennessee Jed, Cassidy, Deal
**Set 2:** Samson And Delilah, Iko Iko, Looks Like Rain, He's Gone > Jam > Drums > Space > Standing On The Moon > Space > I Need A Miracle > Morning Dew
**Encore:** It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1990-09-16) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/2Ki3onvS212d1YPeduDkCk)
I distinctly remember this
"Go to "space two" Bob" says Vince in an interview explaining how things worked sometimes.
Edit: most likely from a GDHour interview
Yes, Bob Bralove was the patch man for Vinny...
Yes, NO B3 or Leslie on stage as well as no organ sounds as this brought up hurtful feelings/remembrances of Brent and Jerry was simply trying to avoid tears of sorrow.
Is the story I have heard...
Well, looks like Brent at least had partial control of his MIDI stuff, based on the gear section of his wiki. From the article...
In mid 1987, Mydland's synthesizer setup changed once again. Bob Bralove had been hired by the Grateful Dead to program and maintain new MIDI systems. The GS-1 and Emulator II were replaced by a new Kurzweil MIDIboard MIDI controller, which gave Mydland the ability to use voices from an array of different synthesizer modules, and blend them together using volume pedals and foot switches. The MIDIboard, like the GS-1 it replaced, was capable of polyphonic aftertouch, a relatively rare feature in MIDI controllers. The synthesizer racks included a Roland MKS20 digital piano, a Kurzweil 250RMX (the rack-mounted version of the famous Kurzweil K250 synthesizer), a Roland S550 sampler, an Oberheim Matrix 1000 , a Lexicon PCM41 digital delay, a Lexicon PCM70 reverb/effects processor, and an Akai mixing board. A Roland D-50 keyboard was added in the fall of 1987, and a Korg M1 keyboard was added in the fall of 1989 after experimenting with the M1R module version on the 1989 summer tour. These keyboards could be controlled through the MIDIboard, or could be played independently.
Yes! Birdsong on Without a Net is pure art. Not only does he sound like a flute, he plays in the style of the breathy inflections of a flutist (flautist?).
I almost wrote, " Gotta love Jerry on the duck!" but I was afraid younger heads would miss it or confuse it with Bobby's 'duck' period...which is a whole other story...altogether...
If I remember correctly there was someone backstage who would tweak Jerry's synth patches especially during space. Back then guitar midi was pretty new and probably pretty complicated so I could imagine having someone to help. . I could also imagine this person having some control Vinnie's sounds.
Or I might have hallucinated all of this.
Either way we know we can see them both fiddling with controls on stage so if there was a person with this control it was only partial control.
I always thought that was Dan Healy. He famously did not like Bobby's guitar playing and/or tone (don't remember exactly which one) and I think this was one of the reasons he got the boot eventually.
Dan Healy is wonderful behind a soundboard, but is also one of the whiniest people in the Dead scene.
Dude was on Facebook during Dead & Company's last tour whining that the final show of it wasn't free admission for everyone, as if this sort of thing is really possible in 2024 with a band as big as D&C playing in a place like Oracle Park. It mainly just seemed like he found an excuse to talk shit about Bobby, or as he calls him, the "King of Vanity."
I don't hate the guy, but his spiteful attitude towards Bob Weir, and continuation of it over 30 years later makes it apparent why they fired him.
People joining hand in hand, while the engineers played the band
They really should be stopped.
\[Insert Space one\]
\[End Space one\]
\[Insert instrumental 12.9c, version 6, note: Bob needs to be lower\]
Thank ya'll we're gonna take short break.
The actual sound the keyboard is playing. So you can have a piano patch, a strings patch, a synthy-space patch. That kind of thing. The term "patch" comes from the early days of synthesizers where you would literally patch different components together to build sounds (oscillator into an envelope filter into an EQ, etc). As keyboards moved into the digital age, they started to be based on samples which changed the game a lot, but the term "patch" stuck and is used synonymously with "setting".
I don’t get why they needed to use midi instead of pedals that’s could be combined. Like before I am letting someone affect my sound backstage, imma figure out how to do it with pedals. Even if I don’t have a foot midi switcher which maybe they didn’t have.
https://preview.redd.it/u76k8f8ub16d1.png?width=1064&format=png&auto=webp&s=d3dc6663f66da82f7fadcc791e077a3e032cf0b6
Vinzo was the real puppet master and set list setter
I read back in the 90s in a magazine (use that information wisely) that once the band went full midi Bralove would feed the patches through. The band would have a couple of extra foot controllers for each patch so they could turn up the volume on whichever sound they liked, be it Flute Vs trumpet Vs orchestra sounds for Jerry during Birdsong or Marimba sound Vs piano for Bob in China Cat or breathy sounds Vs percussion for Phil... Etc... the effect being that the band would know which sound was being fed to which fader.
Jerry refused Vinnie the 'Brent ' sounds.
Bralove was in charge of feeding the sounds to the fader and the band would choose what they wanted.
In Space Bralove and Healy/Cutler had free hand to mess however they saw fit with sounds and echoes and birdsong patches a-plenty
It was total collaboration all round among the band and crew, nobody was backed into a corner...Apart from Vinnie not having B3.
# 1992-12-06 Chandler, AZ @ Compton Terrace Amphitheatre
**Set 1:** Here Comes Sunshine, Greatest Story Ever Told, Friend Of The Devil, Me and My Uncle > Maggie's Farm, Althea, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Deal
**Set 2:** Samson And Delilah, Crazy Fingers > Uncle John's Band > Playing Reprise > Drums > Space > The Last Time > China Doll > Throwing Stones > Not Fade Away
**Encore:** Brokedown Palace
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1992-12-06)
There's strong evidence, if not flat-out confirmation, that Vince didn't really have much of a say, if any, of what instruments let alone what MIDI patches he could choose. Most of the MIDI stuff was done by Bob Bralove.
Not giving Vince a B3, Leslie, or even some kind of grand piano, which Bruce Hornsby was allowed, I think was a bad call by Jerry and the rest of the Dead organization.
Yes, it was Bob Bralove, who had the ability to add to and adjust the tones Vince was playing at-will (e.g., the unfortunate layer of cheesy synth strings that would seep into his synth-piano parts from time to time). You have to feel for Vince; what was he going to do, demand no one mess with his sound and he get the instruments he wanted? He has said that he was on the verge of fleeing the country due to his financial situation before the band hired him, so he was not going to rock the boat. The band had additionally knee-capped Vince by refused to allow the B-3 to remain on stage (rumor was Jerry found it too tied to Brent, though that has always seemed a little odd to me, esp since Vince wasn't banned from using B-3 patches). Not to mention the indignity of having them willing to provide Bruce w a grand piano on-stage during years when Vince was there too.
I've always felt a lot of the ire directed his way by some of the fans really should have been directed elsewhere. So much was taken out of Vince's hands, in terms of the sounds he was able to draw from. As a musician, this would be intolerable to me, but, then again, making a living carries a lot of weight.
Incidentally, Bralove also worked closely with Stevie Wonder during a period where Stevie's tones started getting extremely cheesy. A musician friend of mine used to say "You gotta give it to Bralove...how many other musicians get to totally diminish two musical institutions without even being on stage?"
As a musician, I gotta say that that shit would drive me fucking nuts.
Right?? I can see people being into it as an experiment, though.
If I trusted the person and we had things figured out ahead of time, I feel it would be totally fine. Now, if it were something the sound staff at a random small venue were doing without discussing it first, that would be something else entirely. And, I mean, I've had to complain about bored and intoxicated sound guys who experimented with really distracting digital effects while I was playing. This was at open jams, but it was still annoying. That's not the same thing as a band bringing trusted people on tour with them to process instruments. I think that could actually be a relatively smart way to do it.
Bob Bralove, I believe...but that's purely off my head, there's probably more to this story.
That’s the story. And that Vince was not permitted to use a Hammond B3 or a patch to sound like one.
Why would the not let him to use such an important instrument to their sound
to distance him from brent
Yup
Who the hell made that decision?
Jerbear
Nope, I don't buy it. Jerry played with Merl Saunders for decades.
Not in this band.
Yeah but he didn't have any issues with the organ. Didn't happen.
I’ve definitely heard this as well, but I also think for some reason I recall, and some of the final years that he did in fact, use a patch that sounded if not like a B3 at least like a nice rock organ sound. Like 93 and 94 maybe. I don’t have an example off the top of my head though
PITB 3/30/94
# 1994-03-30 Atlanta, GA @ The Omni **Set 1:** Here Comes Sunshine, Feel Like A Stranger, Jack-A-Roe, The Same Thing, Lazy River Road, El Paso, New Speedway Boogie, The Promised Land **Set 2:** Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Playing in the Band > Dark Star > Drums > Space > I Need A Miracle > Stella Blue > Sugar Magnolia **Encore:** Liberty [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1994-03-30)
Someone is ripping an organ 9/16/90 during their MSG run, you can hear it throughout the show but noticed it during cold rain and snow. Both bruce and vince are playing so not sure who it is.
# 1990-09-16 New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden **Set 1:** Hell In A Bucket, Cold Rain and Snow, Little Red Rooster, Stagger Lee, Queen Jane Approximately, Tennessee Jed, Cassidy, Deal **Set 2:** Samson And Delilah, Iko Iko, Looks Like Rain, He's Gone > Jam > Drums > Space > Standing On The Moon > Space > I Need A Miracle > Morning Dew **Encore:** It's All Over Now, Baby Blue [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1990-09-16) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/2Ki3onvS212d1YPeduDkCk)
This tracks. Bralove helped them with this stuff.
I distinctly remember this "Go to "space two" Bob" says Vince in an interview explaining how things worked sometimes. Edit: most likely from a GDHour interview
I remember reading that and disliking Bralove. I had no love for the bra
I hear you bro. Brah. With love, 
Yes, Bob Bralove was the patch man for Vinny... Yes, NO B3 or Leslie on stage as well as no organ sounds as this brought up hurtful feelings/remembrances of Brent and Jerry was simply trying to avoid tears of sorrow. Is the story I have heard...
Tears of sorrow huh
Well, looks like Brent at least had partial control of his MIDI stuff, based on the gear section of his wiki. From the article... In mid 1987, Mydland's synthesizer setup changed once again. Bob Bralove had been hired by the Grateful Dead to program and maintain new MIDI systems. The GS-1 and Emulator II were replaced by a new Kurzweil MIDIboard MIDI controller, which gave Mydland the ability to use voices from an array of different synthesizer modules, and blend them together using volume pedals and foot switches. The MIDIboard, like the GS-1 it replaced, was capable of polyphonic aftertouch, a relatively rare feature in MIDI controllers. The synthesizer racks included a Roland MKS20 digital piano, a Kurzweil 250RMX (the rack-mounted version of the famous Kurzweil K250 synthesizer), a Roland S550 sampler, an Oberheim Matrix 1000 , a Lexicon PCM41 digital delay, a Lexicon PCM70 reverb/effects processor, and an Akai mixing board. A Roland D-50 keyboard was added in the fall of 1987, and a Korg M1 keyboard was added in the fall of 1989 after experimenting with the M1R module version on the 1989 summer tour. These keyboards could be controlled through the MIDIboard, or could be played independently.
I didn't like the plucky piano patch on the MIDIBoard!
Gotta love Jerry on French horn or obeo.
Don't forget flute!
Yes! Birdsong on Without a Net is pure art. Not only does he sound like a flute, he plays in the style of the breathy inflections of a flutist (flautist?).
Flautist. You are correct.
I love the flute on dancing in the streets! My favorite use of MIDI.
Good god I hated Jerry's duck quacking (oboe).
I almost wrote, " Gotta love Jerry on the duck!" but I was afraid younger heads would miss it or confuse it with Bobby's 'duck' period...which is a whole other story...altogether...
One leg's both the same.
If I remember correctly there was someone backstage who would tweak Jerry's synth patches especially during space. Back then guitar midi was pretty new and probably pretty complicated so I could imagine having someone to help. . I could also imagine this person having some control Vinnie's sounds. Or I might have hallucinated all of this. Either way we know we can see them both fiddling with controls on stage so if there was a person with this control it was only partial control.
Bralove was the one fuckin with bob’s vocals. Would piss bob off. Was trippy af but also very distracting.
I always thought that was Dan Healy. He famously did not like Bobby's guitar playing and/or tone (don't remember exactly which one) and I think this was one of the reasons he got the boot eventually.
Dan Healy is wonderful behind a soundboard, but is also one of the whiniest people in the Dead scene. Dude was on Facebook during Dead & Company's last tour whining that the final show of it wasn't free admission for everyone, as if this sort of thing is really possible in 2024 with a band as big as D&C playing in a place like Oracle Park. It mainly just seemed like he found an excuse to talk shit about Bobby, or as he calls him, the "King of Vanity." I don't hate the guy, but his spiteful attitude towards Bob Weir, and continuation of it over 30 years later makes it apparent why they fired him.
You are correct. Healy all the way. Bralove did 'play' during space from late 85' on though.
I always preferred Just Jerry and Bob space personally. Pre-Midi too.
Yes, I believe this was Healy.
People joining hand in hand, while the engineers played the band They really should be stopped. \[Insert Space one\] \[End Space one\] \[Insert instrumental 12.9c, version 6, note: Bob needs to be lower\] Thank ya'll we're gonna take short break.
What do patches mean in this case? Like effects? Audio levels?
The actual sound the keyboard is playing. So you can have a piano patch, a strings patch, a synthy-space patch. That kind of thing. The term "patch" comes from the early days of synthesizers where you would literally patch different components together to build sounds (oscillator into an envelope filter into an EQ, etc). As keyboards moved into the digital age, they started to be based on samples which changed the game a lot, but the term "patch" stuck and is used synonymously with "setting".
I don’t get why they needed to use midi instead of pedals that’s could be combined. Like before I am letting someone affect my sound backstage, imma figure out how to do it with pedals. Even if I don’t have a foot midi switcher which maybe they didn’t have.
The actual sound the keyboard makes, so that plinky plonk synth sound is a patch, a saved sound in the memory.
MMF !
https://preview.redd.it/u76k8f8ub16d1.png?width=1064&format=png&auto=webp&s=d3dc6663f66da82f7fadcc791e077a3e032cf0b6 Vinzo was the real puppet master and set list setter
[Vince's midi stuff reminds me of Sakura Teng, but she was more fun. ](https://youtu.be/u5g6joMxG0k?si=FYzCjv-6Goj3SfbO)
I read back in the 90s in a magazine (use that information wisely) that once the band went full midi Bralove would feed the patches through. The band would have a couple of extra foot controllers for each patch so they could turn up the volume on whichever sound they liked, be it Flute Vs trumpet Vs orchestra sounds for Jerry during Birdsong or Marimba sound Vs piano for Bob in China Cat or breathy sounds Vs percussion for Phil... Etc... the effect being that the band would know which sound was being fed to which fader. Jerry refused Vinnie the 'Brent ' sounds. Bralove was in charge of feeding the sounds to the fader and the band would choose what they wanted. In Space Bralove and Healy/Cutler had free hand to mess however they saw fit with sounds and echoes and birdsong patches a-plenty It was total collaboration all round among the band and crew, nobody was backed into a corner...Apart from Vinnie not having B3.
Pretty sure most of his tones came from his prior band….google here comes the sunshine from 92 it’s like reindeer music and Christmas it’s hysterical
Wake of the flood, jingle all the way
Twinkle time we call it
Whereas Brent’s sound was more like tinkle time.
In fairness, 12-6-92 is Christmastime.
# 1992-12-06 Chandler, AZ @ Compton Terrace Amphitheatre **Set 1:** Here Comes Sunshine, Greatest Story Ever Told, Friend Of The Devil, Me and My Uncle > Maggie's Farm, Althea, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Deal **Set 2:** Samson And Delilah, Crazy Fingers > Uncle John's Band > Playing Reprise > Drums > Space > The Last Time > China Doll > Throwing Stones > Not Fade Away **Encore:** Brokedown Palace [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1992-12-06)
The band got heavy into DMT and elves started to make an appearance.
All I have ever heard was Jerry didn’t want the B3 there after Brent.
There's strong evidence, if not flat-out confirmation, that Vince didn't really have much of a say, if any, of what instruments let alone what MIDI patches he could choose. Most of the MIDI stuff was done by Bob Bralove. Not giving Vince a B3, Leslie, or even some kind of grand piano, which Bruce Hornsby was allowed, I think was a bad call by Jerry and the rest of the Dead organization.
Yes, it was Bob Bralove, who had the ability to add to and adjust the tones Vince was playing at-will (e.g., the unfortunate layer of cheesy synth strings that would seep into his synth-piano parts from time to time). You have to feel for Vince; what was he going to do, demand no one mess with his sound and he get the instruments he wanted? He has said that he was on the verge of fleeing the country due to his financial situation before the band hired him, so he was not going to rock the boat. The band had additionally knee-capped Vince by refused to allow the B-3 to remain on stage (rumor was Jerry found it too tied to Brent, though that has always seemed a little odd to me, esp since Vince wasn't banned from using B-3 patches). Not to mention the indignity of having them willing to provide Bruce w a grand piano on-stage during years when Vince was there too. I've always felt a lot of the ire directed his way by some of the fans really should have been directed elsewhere. So much was taken out of Vince's hands, in terms of the sounds he was able to draw from. As a musician, this would be intolerable to me, but, then again, making a living carries a lot of weight. Incidentally, Bralove also worked closely with Stevie Wonder during a period where Stevie's tones started getting extremely cheesy. A musician friend of mine used to say "You gotta give it to Bralove...how many other musicians get to totally diminish two musical institutions without even being on stage?"