mcgraham

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1365342892' post='2038230'] I really wish I could line up everyone's rig and hear the OC-2 'sounding like a mess down low' . I really don't have that issue at all, feed it a bass heavy, round signal, and it tracks perfectly well down to an A, in my experience, lower if your attack is considered (don't choke the note). The glitching is from buzzy notes not tracking etc Si [/quote] I agree. If you're using it as dry + octave 1 to taste/for girth, even short staccato notes can be done down to about F# or so. If you're using it as just an octave 1 then I agree, down to an A. I also find octave 2 useable. It starts to jump out when moving to the higher strings and swells in as you go higher. Keeps an even distribution of lower harmonics to keep a full sound. I like it anyway!

Would love to oblige, particularly as I'm a Hong Kong resident, but I can't manage it. Just wanted to say sounds like a great gig and I hope you find the person you're looking for!

I may end up with the white Slim Phatty. That way it truly is different (and white!) but it'll also allow me to use my foot controller to generate arpeggios with the Slim Phatty oscillators OR with the Minitaur oscillators. I've already worked out how to change patches on the Minitaur with the McMillen 12 step controller. With a simple rack unit it'd be an immensely flexible bass synth rig... mwahahahhaha

Mmmm.... less believable

Good! Good! That's at least believable! Anyone else?

I already have the original black one, but I WANT this one: http://www.gear4music.com/Keyboards-and-Pianos/Moog-MINITAUR-Analog-Bass-Synthesizer-White/Q7P Anyone think of a reason why having two could be justified other than just for sheer coolness? Desperately needing a reason!

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1364469329' post='2026836'] My point about laxity is still there though, I believe. [/quote] Tell me about it! Having to deal with US Patent Examiners (and US attorneys) was a painful experience. As it happens, a few years this very complaint resulted in a change of procedure for the USPTO to 'raise quality of patents granted', but the system was set up in such a way that even patents that should have reasonably been granted, e.g. the arguably stricter EPO would grant it after some years, but the US Examiner would just keep dragging it out and raising lame objections, then when they were overruled, they'd (put simply) raise the same objection again but in a different formal guise, so the process just kept on for years and years and years. Not sad to have left that profession behind!

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1364464495' post='2026753'] Not quite true, they can sue you for infringement and you'd have to defend yourself in a US court. Whether they can afford to take action, or would bother, is another question I did this for my dissertation in my law degree. Also US patents are famously lax in their view of prior art and also the kind of things that can be patented - see diamond v chakrabarty for instance [/quote] Uhhh.... not quite. A patent is territorial. Unless you conduct an infringing act in a territory with patent, they can do nothing. If someone was to make in the UK and import into the US, that would be infringement. If they made in the UK, and sold/imported into the UK, or Germany, or anywhere else in the world that didn't have a patent, there is nothing the patent holder can do, as the patent rights are restricted to that territory. And I did this for 6 years, as a qualified European Patent Attorney.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1364460014' post='2026675'] The reason you most likely couldn't find the patent is because the HY5 basses now have their own separate [url="http://www.hy5basses.com"]web site[/url] [/quote] Thanks. [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1364460014' post='2026675'] However I just looked up the [url="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=20080229895&OS=20080229895&RS=20080229895"]patent[/url], and discovered that it claims this method of stringing increases the tension of the string, which it most definitely does not (the only change is to the compliance of the string, not its tension) so a brave and wealthy man should be able to challenge it. [/quote] Yes and no. It's a complicated point both in terms of physics AND patent law, and so not black and white by any stretch. In any case it doesn't matter. From a quick search you can see they ONLY have a US patent granted, so anyone anywhere else in the world can make it and not infringe, regardless of whether the patent is sound. [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1364460014' post='2026675'] The problem with getting a good sounding low B on short scale basses can be illustrated by looking at the sorts of gauges you would need to compensate for the decrease in scale length. Assuming that a 125 gauge B is the minimum acceptable on a 34" scale instrument, reducing the scale length to 31" would require the gauge of the string being increased to 131 to give the same tension. This why manufacturers play with compliance instead to try and give the same feel even though the actual string tension is much lower. Edit I forgot the square root in my calculations. [/quote] I understand the principles of string gauge and the difficulties with scale length. What most people fail to consider when spouting out against such systems is that things change dynamically when the string is oscillating. Anchoring the string in this way as you say makes it feel stiffer, but it should also ensure a more consistent string tension through the string's movement than a normal arrangement.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1364455336' post='2026641'] The Birdsong HY5 is still 31" scale - it seems that even they couldn't make a usable 30" 5-string bass. BTW the stringing arrangement of the low B doesn't change the tension - that is fixed by the unit mass of the string, the note it is tuned to and the [b]vibrating length[/b] - what their system does is to change the compliance to make it feel stiffer. Their method is also patented, so it's not currently copyable. And it means that you have buy a standard 34" low B to get enough length to fit. [/quote] Re: through-body stringing - you're spot on. it's worth bearing in mind that HOW the string vibrates will also be affected by how securely it is anchored at each end. As such, even though the tension required to tune it to pitch when non-oscillatory will be the same, the consistency of that maintained tension when the string is vibrating is going to be improved on the one with e.g. through body stringing, extended B headstock etc. Re: patent - I couldn't see anything on their site, but it's also worth pointing out patents are territorial. IF they don't have one in UK or Europe, Alan is very much free to go and make them here. Selling into a territory with a patent on an item infringing that patent is a no-no, but he would be free to make them here.

Got it sorted thanks to Stringsdirect!

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1363951886' post='2019982'] If you can afford to keep them all, then keep them .[i][b] Or, if you want to give yourself a challenge , sell the lot and get a custom bass.[/b][/i] [/quote] Good point! You need to be sure of what you want/stubborn enough to stick it through with whatever custom specs you end up ordering, but if you get it right, you create something extra-special. The one I use now as my main/only bass was ordered to create a fretless as amazing as the fretted I got before it (still better than any fretted bass I've ever played, but the fretless is EVEN better than the fretted). It's totally me, and it's intimidating enough no-one ever asks to borrow it

Great thought, and nice thread, but I think you might be missing the point of being a 'one-bass' person. Which bass do you feel most connected with and least limited by? For example, I had an immense connection to my 4 string jazz of many years, and it was my only bass. But eventually I outgrew it, I was hearing things involving a higher C string that I couldn't do. Deadspots and tonal imperfections bugged me etc. My current main bass is the only thing I've played since I've got it. It didn't feel like home at first, it took some time, but there are no limits on it (to me at least). It allows me to do everything IIII want to do. It's not universally perfect for everything, but I feel very connected to it now, and I feel without physical limits on it. So my question is the same to you... I think if you can nail it down to that, then you'll be onto a winner.

I'm trying to get a whole E-C set, so a standard JF344 set + a single high C, but I'm wanting to order 2 sets - one as a spare for my main bass, and one to restring my other bass.

At some point I will restring my other fretted bass B-G, but I need to get a new nut/nut recut to do that. I've not broken a string in 6/7 years, so never really keep spares, and I love how flats sound as they age. Nevertheless, I've got a conference gig that's a week long first week of April, and it'd be silly not to have some spares lying around.

Ta! I think I'll be calling round a few places today - no real choice at this stage!

Right, really would like a spare set for an upcoming gig and CANNOT for the life of me find a shop that sells a separate high-C string. I cannot remember the name of the company I ordered one from before, and I am failing miserably in my quest to find an online retailer that sells separate high-C strings. I'm actually getting quite exasperated by how difficult this is. Does anyone know a company that sells them singly?

[quote name='TG Flatline' timestamp='1363784517' post='2017520'] Room for two of those boards on even the tightest of stages [/quote] But I have no need for those sorts of extra effects. The only thing I'm tempted by is a low-pass filter, specifically the Iron Oxide Xerograph, and even then I'm not too fussed as I also have a synth setup. You should see my dual-station setup for the conference gig I've got next week. Small but awesome! [quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1363785950' post='2017556'] Obviously you need another 2 levels of dirt at least, plus an envelope filter and a couple of delay pedals. That would be simple! [/quote] He's getting better we spent Tuesday doing some board measurements for... a certain project... and since then Shep's put together his select pedals onto a single board.

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1363781432' post='2017433'] very sw***y mcgraham but you've not left much room for expansion! [/quote] I'm all about simplicity. Just ask Shep!

[quote name='Higgie' timestamp='1363749665' post='2017028'] Very very nice! Good job on the underneath too! [/quote] Ta! Took a good amount of time, but worth it I feel for the end result I should point out that the signal chain is OC2 > VT Bass > Corona Chorus rather than the way it looks on the board. This is because the VT bass is too big to fit into the gap where the Corona had to go. I'm still trying to work out how to/whether to integrate my Minitaur into the setup, as I can run the bass through the external filter and use an exp pedal to get big synth swells. Hmmmm....

And underneath shot...

Updated pic. Same pedals, but with uber-high quality switching and fully jacketed George Ls

I don't gig, not regularly anyway, and the reason is mainly that I just love making music and I don't really care that much whether there's an audience or not. An audience is nice, but I'd be happy in a log cabin in Montana making music. Because I teach voice and music privately for a living, I do get a wonderful sense of validation from my skills, as they are used for hours and hours every day. I have to keep my chops sharp and always keep moving forward with my own abilities, and have to demonstrate these to students. What limited 'validation' I might feel I otherwise would get from gigging, I get from my musical day job. There are other peripheral reasons, e.g. bands being hard work, unreliable members, etc, but the short and skinny is I am deeply satisfied musically doing what I'm doing without the need for gigs.

A vocalist is someone who uses their voice to make music. How good the music is, and how nice the vocals sound generally and within that music is subjective. It'd be a lie to deny that some people are born with an aptitude for singing, and some are born with a voice that has a tone people just want to listen to, but it would be wrong to say you can't improve your voice and become a good singer and develop wonderful tone. You can even become a great singer, it just takes a lot of time, commitment, dedication and good hard graft. The voice is an instrument like any other. The vocal cords, larynx, supporting musculature, diaphragm, air flow, air pressure, resonance, resonance shifts, etc, so many factors involved, and it takes time to co-ordinate these to do what you ask when you ask it. When you learn a bass or guitar solo, you learn the notes, you learn to play it slowly, then speed it up, work on tone, etc. The voice is not much different, it takes time finding and reinforcing and ingraining the correct muscle memory to co-ordinate the voice correctly. The chief difference is that with physical instruments the instrument is already built, all the notes are just 'there', ready to be played, you just need to learn to play them... but with the voice you are both learning to build the instrument (by co-ordinating your vocal cords correctly and recruiting the other factors in appropriate balance) AND learning to play it all at the same time. Which makes it tough in some regards.