All Activity

smells like teen spirit - yeah, sorry 🙄

As I mentioned in passing, I think there's deliberate obfuscation going on. In the same way that any computer program is an "app" these days, there's some none-too-subtle marketing going on to dissuade people from (i) asking what's under the bonnet and (ii) questioning what should actually qualify as "artificial intelligence". "Large Language Model" isn't as snappy or sexy, but it's a much more accurate description of what most of these services actually are! And as technically impressive as a large language model is, I wouldn't go as far as to call it "intelligent" - but this is exactly the kind of vast philosophical question their marketing depts would like us to ignore!

A well trodden discussion topic! Covers bands range from hobbyist musicians for whom playing once or twice a month live for fun is the goal, and they're in no way dependent on the income and are happy to accept £50 a head. I have several band members in my crew whom I would term "semi-pro", and for whom income from the band plays a key part of their earnings. We do a mixture of pub and function work and we don't accept pub bookings for less than £100 a head. We've pretty much got weekly bookings already in the diary for 2026 from our pub residencies. Function work pays considerably more and some BC'ers are in bands doing purely function work, some making a full time living from it. Quality tribute bands can often command very good money too - reflecting the time in and effort into their product. Solo artists are providing their own kit and transport and having to entertain a crowd without the energy we can get from bandmates and a live drum kit behind - they deserve their pay and good luck to them! It's not one size fits all.

Possibly the most unnecessary experiment in guitar history, but here we are

I've played a few Doobie Brothers songs over the years and they are great bass lines. Dave

Hi Terry Many thanks for sharing that. I'm actually giving a bit of serious thought to the 805 whereas originally it was all about the 705. I've heard nothing but good things about the T1's which is a refreshing relief (for me anyway) over Ibanez's obsession with dropping Barts into so many of their basses. There are actually quite a few versions of the discontinued BTB's I like the look of especially the 845 however most are based on look alone together with specification 'on paper'. It's odd really that Ibby have brought out so many versions of the BTB yet they're not that common a sight when looking to buy a 5 (aside from the 745 which seems to pop up everywhere !🙄) secondhand

Title says it all really. I think all the features of the amp make it a good practice amp. You can try out loads of effects and it has a lot of versatility in different use cases. But I just don't really like the way it sounds a lot of the time. I find it super hard to dial in a nice tone that doesn't sound farty or overly buzzy. I've saved patches but never been truly convinced by any of them as a plug and play tone. Am I doing something wrong? Are there any killer patches out there that I'm missing? Or do I just need to admit that it's not quite for me and move on. As ever, advice and expertise is very much appreciated.

If you're playing with 'em again say hi from Big from BarfRoco!

And in a 'Weightwatchers' special billing: Lards of the New Church supporting Fat Bot Slim

In FM mode, the DX7 patch basically takes the place of the VCOs, with all other controls remaining intact. So no. If they make a new hardware version with sufficiently increased memory and processing power, then it would be possible I suppose.

I'm assuming not, but is the FM synth voice stackable with the virtual analogue one, if not is this something that is technically feasible in future?

Dizzee Pascal Brunt Mars Sleaford Sods Drape Teddy Swigs Rake

I am no fan of much modern music and was surprised to see the angst in the thread on the insolvency of Native Instruments. I must also add that the practice in the “covers” circuit of pubs and social clubs calling professional Karaoke singers “Solo Artists”. I am also thinking back to my realisation that some of the best singers are now “Solo”. This has, in my opinion, really badly affected the quality of singers in bands. From the financial point of view, it makes sense, A “Solo” singer can make £150 in a night whereas a band charging £250 means each member gets £50. Of course we have to avoid the filter of nostalgia, a quick listen to any retro radio of TV station will prove that a high percentage of 60/70s music was awful, despite being probably the most innovative period in my lifetime. Changes in music seem to come in strange ways, witness the way that white people from here, (re)introduced the Blues to America. It is probably one reason why we should all consider the History of Music to give ourselves a real understanding of why we do what we do. As a creator of electronic music, you need the basics that training coming from a long apprenticeship. The alternative is some soulless, brain crunching morass that sounds akin to my own early experiments on electric guitar, bloody awful. So as someone from a guitar based band, struggling to get gigs in a world where the “empty orchestra” is Emperor and the only real live music is the clinking of glasses at closing time, I don’t understand the chagrin over the feared demise of Native Instruments but I can empathise with it. On reflection may be I should be more accepting of Valve Amp purists. They worship the failings on the technology for what it adds to the music and as music is our religion, perhaps I/we should all be more tolerant of the different denominations. Of course the devil AI music must be rooted out at all costs. The old ways are the best of course so initially I suggest ducking the servers in water. If they fail and die, they are innocent, should they still work, they are evil and must be burnt at the stake. In the words of the great Ozzy Ai, AI,AI,AI all aboard the Crazy Train.

Carter the unstoppable Sox machine

Doobie Experience (Doobie Bros tribute) rehearsal yesterday (just the core members - no brass/percussion). Sounded great, but man that stuff needs concentration. Intricate arrangements at times and so many different styles (rock, rnb, blue eyed soul, country,soul etc). Raised on Journey (Journey tribute) rehearsal this afternoon. More straight ahead but still needs to sound tight and lush. Debut gigs for both bands coming within the next month....!

Teen Town - Weather Report

Heh, Les is so lovely and mild mannered in person. I'd never heard of Carter USM but after I met the guy I looked them up and what a wild ride! Tackling schofield on Smash Hits 😂

Mark is a great, helpful, friendly Basschatter. I bought a couple of cheap pedals from him, unfortunately the parcel was delivered while I was out and some bar steward made off with it (my money is on another delivery driver - never usually happens round my way). He was kind enough to send me a refund! Top bloke, deal with confidence.

My comment was less about the musicians who use the stuff and more about the perceived value of the outcome. The software is great, of course. The fact that it’s either freely available or it provides you with a level of convenience that even my mum could knock out a 175bpm d&b roller (or whatever), and the fact that AI can essentially just do it all for you - that pretty much means that nobody listening values the music any more.