All Activity

I had a similar experience letting that maple board rocking horse poo BB2024MX get away. I'd still buy that.

As an artist myself in both music and graphics I would completely disagree with rejection of digital forms for creation and distribution. The internet and digital media both audio and visual have allowed me to reach a far wider audience than I ever could before those things existed. Before the internet became mainstream the best I could hope for with any of my musical projects is that we would reach a couple of hundred people mostly here in the UK, and it was hard work doing just that. The first band I was in produced a handful of albums on cassette and two tracks on a vinyl compilation before disbanding in 1983. In the early 2000s we were contacted by an indie label in the US offering us a deal to put out a retrospective compilation on CD which meant we could now reach listeners all over the world and more importantly our music could be heard without it being buried under 3 generations of tape hiss. Without the internet or the digital domain that could never have happened. Without the internet and digital media the bands I have been in during the last 20 years would have probably done a couple of years worth of local gigs before folding. Instead we've played to knowing and appreciative audiences all over the UK. My current band derives a useful portion of our income from people all over the world streaming our music Similarly with my graphic art. I'm old enough to have worked with paint, ink and Letraset when there was no alternative, and while I produced some cool stuff that way (one example of which has been deemed interesting enough to be in the V&A Permanent Collection) I have absolutely no desire to return to those days. With the computer I can produce something far more interesting and innovative far more quickly and that won't include mistakes that I didn't have the time or money to correct. Again I can produce work for clients all over the world and not be limited to those on my doorstep. Innovators come whatever the medium and they will find new ways to use it that the majority of us had never even considered. IMO those worrying that "The Sky Is Falling" are those without sufficient talent or artistic vision.

Thank you!

Hi Dave, The reality is that lots of people still value a printed mag (including me) I've spent a lifetime making magazines and they are still so important for so many people - print will never die! Unlike the last owner of Bass Guitar Magazine we can operate on much smaller margins and hopefully we can make this work.

But I think that is the thing it can be extremely good and human created music can equally be woeful. I still see it as an artistic endeavour, before I was just a bassist, now I'm also a lyricist, sound engineer, producer, arranger etc. Obviously you can just tell Suno to give you a blues song with a male singer and it will, but that isn't how I use it, I have literally used 1000's of generations honing songs to get them to be the finished article I want. This weekend I am starting collaborations with another musician who uses AI for creation but differently than I do - this could be the magic sauce ! I also worked at a University till last year and saw the fear that all AI would produce was cheating students but the reality was something completely different when you saw how it could positively contribute to teaching and learning and help those with accessibility issues etc. I understand the fear musicians have whereby the tens of thousands of hours invested in honing skills can be replaced by a one sentence prompt but this will open up music to so many people who haven't got the time or commitment to put in the effort.

The Crossing is one of my absolute favourite albums to come out of the ‘80s. I still feel sad when I think about Stuart, same for Chris Cornell.

If AI is destroying anything in music/media I think it is the online social media/content creator roles (and I struggle to be sympathetic about this!). I find myself scrolling far less due to the sheer amount of AI related trash on facebook etc. While online marketing has helped many especially younger musicians over the last ten years or so, I think things may start moving back to the importance of a musician being someone who doesn't create glitzy and technically perfect 20 second online clips, but actually someone who plays real music to real people!

Thanks Dave, Burn is on my list to add in at some point.

Sounds like a different song Neil. Pretty good song tho. I've never heard of Volbeat but this is pretty good. Catchy song. Like a modern Classic Rock song to those of a certain generation. 😂 Dave

Guinness tone air for girth.

RV - Faith No More

WOW some great songs in there Lozz. You've missed out my fav DP song "Burn" The live version is a song i just loved playing in the "Friends of DP" tribute band. Have to admit Stargazer was also another fav of mine. I'd be very chuffed if i had that set list in front of me. Dave

anyone here some experience with Moog Minifooger MF Flanger? ta.

Years subscription bought, good luck hope the venture goes well. Jonny

That's very true for those that want to have pride in their artistic efforts. Unfortunately though, the goal for many isn't artistic integrity and having pride in what they've created - it's reaching the goal of making £ and presumably getting AI to fully compose music might be a way of achieving that. Perhaps this isn't true, but people are suggesting that companies like Spotify and Amazon music are using AI to create music and are promoting it on their playlists as they then don't need to pay royalties. e.g. Ask Alexa to 'play relaxing background music' and it is in their interest to play bland innofensive AI generated stuff they don't need to pay for.

I've found several websites were to buy them and they're cheap! Most importance is to find the right strenght, so 4 magnets hold the cover steady and it must be easy to open aswell.

Thanks! great idea, thats the best way to use a pick!

Mine is also engaged on power up. It also drives me mad. It is a lovely sounding chorus though. 😊

I'm increasingly teaching ethics and AI in a University. I use music as quite a good example. We need to see AI as a tool, and like any tool it can make some work more efficient, but we must not mistake quantity with quality. Generative AI in particular can create large quantities of music etc. very rapidly, but that doesn't mean it is any good. Conversly, in the right hands, AI can help creators generate really high quality work - for me the main benefit of AI in music is more in recording/remastering than composing (for instance). There's plenty of aphorisms about this but I quite like: "Those who are carried to a goal should not think they have reached it" regarding AI - it's one I use with my students and coursework!