mrtcat

I'm toying with the idea of biting the bullet and just getting a new interface. I'm trying to compact down our live setup anyway and fancy a tablet controlled setup. Tempted to look at the Behringer X32 or even an X air 18 which can be controlled by iPad for live work and the unit can be used in the studio as an interface. I can use the Mackie in the rehearsal room I have but it just seems a little overkill for that.

I had no choice about changing the pc as my old one was damaged in a house move last year. We got compensated by the removals company and were happy at the time as my last PC was really old and slow. I now have a Dell with 16gb RAM and an i7 processor. Dell state that none of their Windows 8 hardware has been tested with Windows 7 software so they don't accept liability for problems encountered. I'm pretty sure it would work fine with Windows 7 but if anything goes wrong with the PC and Dell (not known for being the most helpful at the best of times) refuse to help because of me going against their advice I'll be up the creek somewhat.

If that's you murdering a song then I quit now.

Thanks guys. The drivers are refusing to install having tried all the above. It seems mackie released a slightly upgraded version of the desk with new drivers which work with windows 8 but plan no driver changes for the original desk. I can't downgrade to windows 7 as my machine is an 8 machine and manufacturers warranty is voided if i run it on windows 7. There's quite a lot of discussion about this on the soundonsound forum and none of it puts Mackie in a good light. I just feel really cheated that they are making expensive desks like this with the intention of letting them become obsolete when operating systems evolve. It's like they just expect you to go "ah well time to splash £1500 n a new desk I guess".

Very grumpy. Just splashed out on new PC for the studio only to find my Mackie 1640i isn't compatible with windows 8. It has a serial number starting 003 and according to the Mackie site the only driver software for that serial run is up to windows 7 only. Further research leads me to find that Mackie aren't going to provide any driver upgrades so there's nothing I can do. SO ANNOYING as it basically means my desk is gonna have to go and it's been a brilliant bit of kit. Humph

I often dep in a steel panther tribute act. Playing brown sugar wouldn't be the worst thing I ever played.

I'm not sure I understand why you lose growl when turning down? Neither of your amps are valve amps so you're not going to get that kind of break up by driving them harder. I had a RH750 and one of it's good points was that it could do all it's tricks at all of its volume levels. I'd imagine it's more the perception you have of the sound at a different volume. If it were me I'd think about a nice pedal like a sansamp or darkglass microtubes to give the gritty / growly sound and use the TC heads as a power amp.

And if you'd rather have streamliner than shuttle go and buy fretmeister's shuttle and while you're down this way I'll trade you my STM900 for it :-)

Sometimes I practice without drummer, guitarist, keys player or singer. Still worthwhile. Its totally up to the rest of you in the band tho. Id normally suggest that working on new stuff with someone missing is worse as it means you then all have to go over it again when they're back. If its covers though I don't see why it can do harm to rehearse without drums. You can often hear things better without drummer and could even realise something is wrong with how you do stuff e.g you and guitarist haven't been playing same thing in some places. I generally find the necessity to rehearse different with different bands. A pub band I used to be in insisted on rehearsing endlessly and they were still terrible for making mistakes at gigs. Other bands I've been in hardly ever rehearse and rarely made any mistakes. My current band still regularly learns a new tune at soundcheck and then gigs it that gig.

This is all very encouraging. I just bought a early 90s Japanese TRB5 from ebay for £460. It [b]appears[/b] to be in really good nick but won't get my hands on it until it arrives in next few days. If it's anything like as good as other Yamaha's I've owned then I'm sure I'm going to love it.

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1433097713' post='2787837'] Its not just weddings though surely. apparently Light My Fire, and Arthur Browns Fire are popular at Cremations. Not many funerals have bands though. Anybody played a funeral ? [/quote] Never played at one but my dad went to a work colleagues funeral years ago where it had been arranged that the crematorium would play the guy's favorite elvis song as the curtains drew across and the coffin disappears. Instead of "Love Me Tender" they accidentally played "Return To Sender". When I was younger my band was asked to play at my best mate's girlfriend's 18th party. We opened with "Get A Job" by The Offspring. The look on her dad's face was priceless as our singer belted out the opening lines.

[color=#333333]We need a funky pop / soul / disco guitarist for established function band. Good groove and a pro attitude. BV's desirable. Gear and transport essential. We're a friendly bunch but are serious about making good music and entertaining people. We have pro gear including PA and lighting.[/color]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1432660302' post='2783714'] We are lucky to have Cream City here in Milwaukee. Walk in there and they will have anything you want from vintage 60s Hofners to any Fenders Gibson Warwicks Rics Sadowsky etc ... They have it all. Blue [/quote] Putting my house up for sale and looking into green card lottery...

Having recently converted my workshop into a soundproof studio I have furnished it with all sorts of bits (guitars, amps, PC, monitors and drums). Now i have absolutely no inclination to pick up a six string guitar but I can't stop playing drums. It's so much fun and I love it. With the PC i have flown through a heap of youtube lessons and found it really easy so far. 6 weeks in and one of the guitarists I work with who's pretty decent has asked me if I want to join his band as a drummer. I always wanted to play drums as a kid but my folks wouldnt let me have a kit or lessons so I gave up on the idea without ever picking up sticks. I've played bass for 23yrs now and love it but love the drums SO much more and would say I'm already close to being as good as a drummer as a bass player. Anyone else ever found a new instrument by mistake?

Simple economics. The shops will know what sells best and stock accordingly, the ones that don't will go bust. Places like Bass Direct, Bass Gear etc are great and will do well as long as there aren't too many of them. There are few enough bass players out there relatively speaking and the savvy ones will know where to find the bass they want. High st music shops are possibly left with the less savvy to sell to these days hence the fairly dull ranges of basses and amps carried (the old faithful middle of the road combos etc). If all the music retailers have a killer bass dept then each one would probably only shift a handful of basses / amps each year and they'd all be wasting their time with it.

They are more expensive but the tips are replaceable at just $2 so they have a long life. I've played with them (I'm no drummer) but they felt ok to me. The kick beater really helps too.

Anyone else using these? [url="http://www.lidwishsolutions.com"]www.lidwishsolutions.com[/url] we find them far better than hot rods for volume control and drummist says they feel better to play with.

Very quiet. I quite like it though as it's good for the technique. Irritates the hell out of the wife when I play it on the sofa tho.

With a frequency range of 42Hz - 160Hz there's not a pre amp in the world that will make it sound like a bass amp. It's clearly a dedicated sub..............AND I WANT A PAIR!!!

Best of luck. Enjoy it and you'll be fine.