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For years I worked on a mobile 'heavy rock' disco but we didn't want the disco flashing light thing, we wanted to created a mood. The lights were all DMX controlled and we had a PC in a flight case with a USB-DMX adapter. From memory the rig was 6 x PAR56 on dimmer packs with rainbow gel selection 4 x gobo scanner 2 x moonflower Each PAR can was one colour of the rainbow and we worked out which gobos were which, I wrote simple programmes that were just red, or just orange. Some move complex ones that moved the scanners, flipping gobo as they changed direction. But it was all very low key. We retired from that game a long time ago, but a couple of years later someone asked us to do one last gig. We didn't have the PC anymore and had to borrow back the lights from the local high school we'd donated them to. I found that with only one scanner running a built-in pattern, the other three set to mirror it, we got 4 scanners all with the same colour, all moving in a sequence and it was fairly low key and not flashy. The dimmer packs let us put the PAR cans on a slow fade between channels - maybe a minute to move around them, and that worked OK. So looking back I probably wasted a lot of time programming fancy light shows - the built in stuff could be tweaked to be OK. Of course this is going back years to the days of single-colour halogen lamps.

I have a Chauvet Obey 40. It's only been used at home so far but I did use one in a band about 20 years ago and setting up 5 simple chases and using the 'rate' slider to vary the speed of the chases was all I needed. Select a different chase each song. About to buy some WiFi transmitter/receivers as the amount of long cables that have to be run and packed up. It'll pay for itself in cables and time. Currently only DMX control is 4 mini spotlights linked together with one as master (and sound to light) and everything else is just sound to light solo. It can look a bit manic.

I have 4 8" led Par Cans 4 mini Led spotlights 2 Moving head lights. We have a laser with coloured lights in it as well. I link the 4 mini Led lights together spread across the front to illuminate the band. 2 of the par Cans on stands either side. The 2 moving heads linked together and they mimic each other in reflection. It's ok but the sound to light just means random flashing lights all over the shop. I also have a Chauvet Obey 40 controller. I've played with the controller at home with everything connected but it's too many cables to connect. Next purchase will be WiFi DMX transmitter and rechargeable receivers. My plan is then to take everything off sound to light and program some simple chases where everything is a bit less manic. Will leave the moving heads in auto as programming sweeps with them is challenging using the Obey.

I get that this is somewhat sarcastic, but now that we have almost all the information about everything ever at our fingertips, why wouldn't you spend a few minutes looking up some musician who people on here think is significant and having a listen to what they have played on? Then you can make up your own mind whether it's worth listening to more or depart with knowledge that what they do is not for you.

I would hate to be in a band that did that. But as you have done 6 gigs in not much time, it doesn't seem his availability is that good, so maybe come to some arrangement about which gigs to do, as long as it is all up front.

I am eagerly awaiting his forthcoming video where he quotes from a load of old blokes on one of those old fashioned forums, and finally answers the age old questions; What bass is best for metal? Which is the best Jazz or Precision? Rounds or Flats? Can I mix cabs and heads?

Further to my previous comment, I should add that I'd much rather watch Danny than the smelling-your-own-farts w4nkery of Berthoud etc. I get nowt from that stuff (YMMV obv).

I did the 'Boss pedals on a Boss board' thing a while back and it was... alright. I like the BC-1X compressor and still have it on my main board (and the TU-3 is in the cupboard) but I sold the rest of the pedals as either I was bad at using them, or they weren't inspiring me to try. I didn't like the plastic board either.

I know Danny a bit. He used to live above a bar that I used to go to occasionally and now he's moved to the next town, I bump into him every now and again in the supermarket. Funnily enough, the last time I saw him, he was asking me about the tribute band I'm in, rather than talking about his more illustrious online career! He's actually a nice guy, even shorter in real life than you might imagine and a very good bass player! I don't really bother with online bass influencer types as a rule, but his clips are OK / mildly amusing. I do agree with some of the things he gets on his high horse about, especially the Mohini Dey / AI thing.

If I were into pedals I would try and do that. But even carrying one Sansamp around I now consider to be a mammoth task.

The band I had to leave back in March (due to me having a brain-bleed stroke) has been very supportive since then, kept in touch about my recovery and since then have asked me to do 5 or 6 dep jobs with them covering gigs my replacement on bass couldn't do. Latest was last Friday 28th November at a private party in a nice pub in Sherborne. It's gratifying that I still remembered the chords and arrangements for all the numbers I used to do, and could busk the new ones, although I must admit 'Fairytale of New York' unrehearsed was hard going - never played it before and frankly never liked the original! My short sax set (One step beyond, Geno, Tutti Frutti) went down well too; I suppose sdditional saxophony is my unique selling point! Following on from one of the other threads on this forum, the other band members would clearly like to have me back, and were thinking about hiding some gigs from my replacement so I could play them instead. I must say I felt conflicted - I would love to gig regularly again but I've had this sort of thing happen to me in the past but the other way around. Hmm... advice please!

I started out with the Moog grandmother ..then dfam…then Minitaur ..then very recently a Mavis ..and a Moog sound studio accessory kit ! Wow ! 😬 Tbh I thought I’d stop at the dfam , but the Mavis was going for £150 ..so I got it ! Of course this led me into purchasing the Moog sound studio accessory kit ! Only because it was b stock and just over half price so that one power supply does it all ! ( plus the mixer) 😮‍💨 What this now leads to is whether I should get the subharmonicon to join up with the DFAM , and basically having the Moog sound studio without the artwork or playing cards , dice and exploration pack ! One thing about the dfam and subharmonicon is that they have templates , and the sound studio doesn’t . I assume that the equivalent is in the Moog sound studio booklets . From what I gather , the subharmonicon is a bit marmite and mostly negative . I can’t get the mother 32 as the grandmother is superior . Having the subharmonicon would mean ( I think) the grandmother on its own or with the Mavis . It would mean no more Moog stuff which isn’t a bad thing .

Said a quick hello to him at a Janek Gwizdala / Ian Allison workshop in the summer where he was in the audience. He came across as a decent bloke, no different than he is on his videos, and yes he had a few cans of bitter with him.

Thank you for the explanation, I understand now that it's mainly about the practicalities of applying the paint. I've used Tuffcab on some baffles (as it was all I had around at the time) and agree it's tricky to get a consistent finish on the edges next to the grille batten with the roller. I also fit the port before painting, but as you say it's all hidden behind the grille if one is fitted anyway.

double post

I had pretty much the same experience. Initial disdain (for quite some time) and then at some point I got the joke and warmed to him and his sense of humour. I'd much rather watch him and his dipstick-lick-schtik than the wannabe technical virtuoso types endlessly trotting out that grating double-thumb run down the G string.

And now some colouring in >>

Body and neck >> Getting everything lined up nicely >> Body meets neck >>

The battens around the front edge and the holes for the port and the speaker mean it's not that easy to apply the Tuffcab. Painting it black (I used rattle can matt black on the ones I built) is much easier, and if you're putting a grille on, you can't really see the texture anyway.

All this has been very useful. Thank you, folks. Going to the "what", and taking Phil's advice Lighting to make the band look good - yes. Lighting to allow the band to see what they are doing - yes, definitely. Lighting to improve the audience experience - yes. Ease of use for total noob. Ease of set-up. Expandable for the future. Easily transportable. The band I've just come of had a t-bar with, I think, 6 PARs and they pointed in different directions, some flashing colour to sound changes, others just lighting the band. Here's a link to some video from Saturday night. It's a very typical venue layout, the stage area was generous for a 4-piece. How would you go about lighting that if it was your band?