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The problem is that people are weak and fail. If we didn't use anything because of moral concerns about the (human) creator we would have to stop using most technology, tools, art, music etc. As such there is a careful balance to be gained between sensitivity and practicality. I can see avoiding something if you know of a specific concern, but at the same time if you dig deep enough into anything I'm sure one will find moral reasons not to use it (and knowing what evidence can be trusted is also difficult)... so the upshot is that it is complicated, and difficult to be fully informed about anything. As such I would rather judge the motive of the user of the tool (e.g. song) than try to determine the history of the original creator of the tool. I still play/listen to lots of the older Kevin Prosch songs - he was black listed for a long time, but nevertheless his songs were really meaningful to me during a period of my life, and I maintain the song and the singer are two different things.

I recently created a Youtube channel to post clips of my playing but also tutorial videos & a vlog update on general bass guitar news. I Will have mini documentaries on famous songs that feature the bass, which my first video is a deep analysis of Rush's Tom Sawyer which includes a break down of the bass parts & how to tackle the more challenging lines etc. Bass Espresso Thanks for looking & if you subscribe I will be over the moon!

Overwater's are always superb, enjoy.

Sometimes these creep into your £500 price criteria Steve,the Indonesian-built Yamaha TRB1005/J series. The original Japanese TRB/TRB mk2 from the 90s early 2000s really do it for me also. You have any experience with any of these?

I used some rolled up tea towels to pad out cases when needed. Just bought a pack or two from a supermarket, and any that weren't used in the case went into the tea towel drawer.

Mac&cheese will fill that right up

Excellent review as ever @Dood , that looks like a really useful piece of kit with the potential to replace 4 separate pedals on my board. The only thing I'd really like that I can't see is a notch filter. Would it be possible to use the 8-band EQ to create one if I knew roughly what the frequency to be notched was?

My colleague made this programme (I did the logistics for it) . Worth a listen. As a composer in San Francisco, Tarik O'Regan is at the epicentre of the collision of classical music and AI. In San Francisco now, there's the same buzz as in the early 00s' tech boom. But 'old tech' is moving out and Silicon Valley has a new nickname: 'Cerebral Valley'. Around Tarik's studio, buildings are constantly bought up for AI start-ups and ‘Hacker Houses’ - where budding engineers live, eat, code together - proliferate. And one of AI's fastest areas of development? Music creation. But classical music is part of San Francisco’s life blood. Since the 19th century, it's had a reputation for concert halls and opera houses. British composer Tarik O’Regan takes a personal journey around the city he now calls home, riding a driverless taxi to talk to figures from both the tech and classical music worlds. Will AI ultimately turn his professional career into a hobby, or will it prove a useful tool to human composers? He talks to Tamara Rojo from San Francisco Ballet, composer Mason Bates, and composer and AI entrepreneur Ed Newton-Rex, and uses AI to compose a new work to be performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002k3th

Even more scary is that a close mate, whom I formed a covers band with back in 2013 and has written 5 albums, just commented: "TBH that song sounds as good if not better than many songs coming out of Nashville". Whether that's fair or not, the fact that was his reaction just shows how good AI already is at composition. Very glad that, like you, I'm focussed on live performance.

Yeah, I figure playing an instrument live is somewhat future-proofed. People have been able to listen to recorded music for over 100 years but still want to go out and hear people perform it. Making new music, I dunno - AI will get very good at it. There will probably be a lot of hybrid stuff where music is made more cheaply/easily with AI but there is still a real 'face' to the music e.g. ask AI to make a backing track after having been given prompts about the style etc. but then a real person sings over it.

A good sax player really adds to a band. A bad one makes every song sound like One Step Beyond.

I’ve had friends do stuff like that too, meaning well but missing the point. I just laugh and keep posting; the odd comments still help keep the gig in people’s heads.

Classy 👍🏼

As a retired pilot I'd never recommended playing on any aircraft runways 😳, but Yep there's something for everyone. Just a shame we have to kiss (or ought I say 'play') a few frogs along the way 😂

Yep, she's a bit of a legend isn't she. Mind you she's had her pick of smaller scale basses with quite a few manufacturers falling over themselves trying to get in on the scene. And despite the obvious parental and sponsorship grooming, the young lass certainly has the talent and charisma to charm. Wonder what she'll be up to 10 years from now. Still playing I hope....