Mornats

Well, fairly fresh ears... I couldn't wait I started this earlier this afternoon and wanted to see if I could complete it to a decent level the same day. I've been reading and watching videos on the Recording Revolution website and this is the first test to see if I've picked anything up. The main difference from earlier recording is that I'm recording at lower volumes and getting the levels right before going into EQ/compression/other tricks. Also, this pre-empts my NBD thread by showcasing my newly acquired SB320. A proper thread with pics will be forthcoming https://soundcloud.com/mornats/one-two-three-oh

I've got one for this month It just needs remixed with fresh ears.

If you're buying new, then the Yamaha and Ibanez budget-priced (all that's budget about them is the price really) are worth a look as well as the Squiers. For the music you mentioned it sounds like a Squier Precision would suit that. It's the classic bass sound and many people swear that all the need is a P bass. Not me, I like something different but you can't argue against a P bass. I've got a Laney RB1 practice amp and when the EQ is set flat it gives an honest natural sound. I really like it so an RB2 should suit you fine.

I just discovered that if you scan down the list of all items in a category they're typically listed low-to-high price. The price they're sorted on is the non-VIP price so if you see an item in the list that's a lower price than it should be, then it's a nice discounted VIP price. Or you could browse in a different browser (that you're not logged in on) at the same time as another browser where you are logged in and compare side by side.

Wow, I got upgraded to a VIP membership after a bit of hoo-haa with my first order from them. I just checked and the Ibanez SR1200 I've been gassing for is £669 for me rather than £869!

To be honest, anyone still on XP should really think about upgrading. Microsoft have stopped support for it (other than patching that big big mess up in IE a few weeks ago) and Win 7 in my opinion is miles better. Nice to see some love for other programs too. I think I've got a cut down version of Addictive Drums that I'll have a go of. Does BFD3 focus more on having control of the sound? EZD2 is (whilst still sounding good to my ears) more of a songwriting tool. More of the new features are about getting that groove in your head down into your DAW and quickly selecting some mix parameters to make it sit nicely in there. That's not to say you can't output the drum parts to multiple tracks and EQ/compress away but I like the quick results.

I bought Mike's lovely Bass Collection SB320 off him. It was very well packed and he packaged it up the same night I sent the money over, posted it the next day and I got it the day after. Brilliant, all was nice and easy, cheers Mike!

I see the usual suspects turned up in this thread

Does Ableton do drum stuff similar to EZDrummer? I thought it was more a DAW?

Not wanting to sound like someone from the EZDrummer marketing team (I think the new version is awesome) but this is how it works. It might be up your street. No programming required, just tell it what you want it to do

Awesome.

This is the track I was messing around with when I wrote the mini review above. I had a drum track in there already that I did using EZD 1 but never liked it. This took less than 20 mins to put together. This is the Indie Folk Gretsch kit. https://soundcloud.com/beautiful-skin/red-pepper

[quote name='Davebassics' timestamp='1399714446' post='2446864'] Do you know how many kits are included in EZ2? Is it just analogue kits? [/quote] You get two EZX packs with it, Modern and Vintage. Modern has a DW kit, a Gretsch USA Custom and a Yamaha 9000 and the Vintage has a Ludwig 60s and a Ludwig Vistalite kit. The vintage kits are recorded using a 4-mic setup for a more er, vintage feel. If you buy EZD 1 and do the free upgrade then you get the pop/rock kit too. They're all recorded at 18 bit (a quality increase from 16 bit - they say the jump to 24 bit didn't add anything so they opted to keep the sample sizes down). [quote name='RalphDWilson' timestamp='1399902591' post='2448772'] I did try EZKeys but wasn't a fan of the interface which seems to be like the new EZDrummer 2 interface [/quote] Same here, I found I was doing lots within a very small interface and it felt cramped. Despite sharing a very similar interface EZD2 doesn't have that cramped feel. Honestly, it just works. I'm a UX designer for the web and can appreciate the intuitiveness in the interface. It's a real shame they don't do a demo version to be honest.

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1399661046' post='2446489'] My favourite article on the subject [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar05/articles/soundingoff.htm"]http://www.soundonso...soundingoff.htm[/url] [/quote] Should have used Reaper instead.

Sad news, you and Paul must be well gutted! Really decent of the chap to offer the plan B though. Hope it all goes well and that good karma pays off for him.

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1399578092' post='2445625'] If I had a PC, I would fear the reaper [/quote] You can get it for Mac too But despite its flakyness, GarageBand is easier to use in my opinion.

I swapped to Reaper on the PC as GarageBand on a Mac was way too flaky to do any serious work on.

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1399575862' post='2445576'] Sometimes, I have ideas for metal, and end up doing stuff that would give hallucinations. [/quote] I always see things like this a good thing! Something unexpected that can sometimes send a track into a totally different direction. But I feel your pain, it can be tough sometimes to get a structure together. Just stick at it and don't be afraid to come out with something rubbish, at the end of it all you'll have learnt something and no one has to hear it if you don't want them to!

Another update... I've since found out that there's a record function in EZD that allows me to record any midi that's sat in my DAW and it'll record it into EZD. Apparently a lot of DAWs don't allow copying and pasting into plugins which is why I can't just drag it in there. I can also export the midi file and drag it into EZD from outside of the DAW. Weird way of doing it but hey-ho, I can do any midi roll tweaks and get the midi back into EZD. Best of all the Edit Playing Style feature will still work on imported midi.

A couple of things that I noticed since writing the above... 1. I wanted to add a cymbal crash to the very end of the song but I couldn't find a way to say "put cymbal crash here". However, I did add some crash cymbal to end fill and it just happened to put it in the right place. Maybe I got lucky! 2. I used to use the drum midi track in my DAW as a way to visually find my way around a track. I could tell a chorus from a verse and could see the bars all laid out by looking at the individual midi files. I can't do that now so I'll have to mark up my track in the timeline instead. Which is what I probably should be doing aaaanyway... Edit: after further playing around... Aha, select a midi file in EZD, right click and select "show in browser" and bosh, it finds it for you. Great! Not so great: one of the crash cymbals needs to be moved slightly in terms of timing but I can't edit individual mid notes. Not without pulling that bit out into my DAW and editing it in the midi editor there - but I would lose all the groovy EZD functionality then and you can't drag midi files back into EZD's midi window from your DAW. Did I mention that I could select the entire set of midi files in EZD and reduce the velocity of the kick drum across them all at the same time?