BigRedX

For me the whole potential attraction of using a guitar (or bass) to control a synthesiser would be that I can use ALL of the various playing techniques and expressiveness of a guitar (or bass). If I have to change how I play then it's pointless. I might as well use a keyboard or enter the notes into my DAW with a mouse.

Hurtsfall played the Nottingham Pride event yesterday on the Gladrags stage at Rough Trade. Second time we've played at Rough Trade in less than a month and once again it was joy to be performing in an air-conditioned venue when it was uncomfortably hot outside. Once again excellent sound on stage and FoH. Due to time constraints we did the shortest set ever - under 25 minutes comprising just 5 songs. However we managed to pack the gig space at the end of the bar with plenty of people dancing and cheering as well as picking up a load on new fans, if our Facebook profile is anything to go by. Early finish and back home before 6.00 in the evening! Here we are giving it some at the end of our last song: "12 Long Years": Next gig is Twisted Firestarter which is the Infest Festival warm-up party at Rebellion in Manchester on 14th August.

Pitch to MIDI for the bass is a complete non-starter. The very best systems combined with the cleanest playing technique require a MINIMUM one and a half cycles to detect the pitch of the note played. That means that any note lower than E on the 9th fret of the G string on a bass will take at least 10ms to detect, 10ms being generally the point at which most musicians start to find latency intrusive and off-putting. And this is under perfect conditions using the best pitch detection systems and an exceptionally clean playing technique. Most older and budget systems (like the G2M) are much worse for latency. On top of that you can add another couple of milliseconds for that pitch to be processed and turned into MIDI information. Even with a piccolo set of strings it rules out anything below the 7th fret of the A string. You either need an instrument that uses fret sensing to detect the pitch or something like the Roland V-bass system to uses modelling to modify the waveforms produced by the strings if you want to use synth sounds from a stringed instrument in a live situation. If you want something for programming your DAW you are better off using a keyboard. If you want to retain the feel you get from playing the part on a bass or guitar, program the line into your DAW and then record the audio from your bass and use a beat slicing tool to make a groove template for the quantisation.

It's a problem because although the "choose files…" is underlined to indicate it is a link, clicking anywhere on the whole line from the D of "Drag files" up to the left edge of the Other Media button will bring up the dialog box even though the cursor only turns into the pointy hand on the underlined text. Either make just the underlined text the link or make the cursor change to the pointy hand everywhere that will bring up the dialog box.

Agreed. I'm doing this all the time.

Those 107 instruments do pose the question: What makes a Telecaster a Telecaster? Is it the shape, the construction or the pick-up configuration? Or just the fact that Fender says it is a Telecaster.

Be aware that most of the budget IR loaders add quite a bit of latency to the signal, some of them approach unacceptable amounts. IME adding cab models always seems to make my bass sound worse. I just use the EQ until I get a sound I like.

IME you need the on-line version to promote sales of physical media. I buy CDs (and vinyl if there is no alternative) because I like physical media and because it supports the bands who produce it. I'll use a streaming service to check out new bands but if I like what I hear I'll buy a CD. The sort of person who is happy with streaming is unlikely to shell out for a CD or other physical media because if your album isn't on their favoured streaming service they will just make do without listening to it.

It allows the valves and other parts of 1940s/50s amp designs that get hot to hang down into the speaker compartment where they can dissipate the heat more easily.

IME it is always easier to hear myself if at least one of the speakers is pointing at my ears rather than my knees or my groin. That means either mounting the combo on a tilt-back stand or putting at least one other cab underneath it. Both of those things place top mounted controls (for me at least) in a position that is both difficult to see and reach. The original reasoning behind top-mounted controls is that the amps would be placed on the floor in front of the musicians. Not only were the controls on top but labels were orientated so that they read the right way up when viewed from the back. Since this placement hasn't been regularly used since the early 50s it makes little sense to continue building amps this way.

Why do amp manufacturers still put the controls on the top of combos? It's not the 50 and 60s any more. No-one (not even tribute bands of artists from that era) puts their amps on the floor and then stands behind them. The position of the controls should reflect how the amps are used in the real world today (on stands and normally angled upwards) and not reflect some bygone era that is now irrelevant.

I don't think anyone who uses tab doesn't also have a recording of the song(s) in question from which they can get the rhythm. I'm of an age when very little pop or rock music was written down in any format and if it was, it was normally wrong. Therefore I'll usually work things out by ear as I always have done. IMO if a band wanted me to play a baseline exactly as it has been recorded then they also need to supply me with tab, notation or a recording of just the bass line. Otherwise they will have to make do with my interpretation of the part, which will be close but might not be 100% accurate.

Ovation.

I would have thought so considering a stacked pot counts as two.

Eastwood Hooky Number of strings: 6 Number of frets: 24 Scale length: 30" Number of pickups: 1 Number of controls (switches/knobs): 3

Update to the Pride gig on Saturday 26th July: We're now on at 3.30pm.

The way I look at it is that any band that expects me to have a bass with a Fender logo on it, obviously isn't the right band for me.

On the other hand if you can't "see" how much you are out if you think that you'd nailed it you probably had well enough for to serve the song. In the days before DAWs all you had were your ears to know if your performance was tight enough. These days I'll only look at the screen if I don't like what I hear on playback, and much of the time it's simpler just to have another go, then starting moving individual notes about.

Unfortunately that's far too much latency for me, and even more so when combined with my wireless bass system, Line6 Helix and whatever digital mixer I would need in order to make IEMs feasible.

This. However if the OP just wants something aesthetically (and maybe tactile) pleasing what's wrong with taking an existing amp or cab and getting it recovered in the colour and texture of material you prefer? In the 90s I had a red fabric-covered rig that was a mixture home-made and commercially available cabinets that had been stripped and re-covered by myself.

Year started playing: 1973 was when I start playing guitar. I played occasional bass when I could borrow one from a school friend from 1977 onwards and finally bought my own bass in 1981. Number of basses: Currently 4 (two 5-strings and two Bass VIs). Has been considerably more in the past. Music theory: No idea. I know what all the symbols mean but can't decipher them anywhere near fast enough to be able to sight read. I also know enough to realise that it's only theory and that practice may reveal different results especially with more modern instruments. IMO if I think it sounds good then it works and is good. Technique: Again no idea. Probably not a lot. I play well enough to be able to perform the music I write and have been competent enough to be able to bluff my way through a standard set of dad rock cover 10 years ago. Groove: Entirely subjective, and probably an old-school way of looking at micro-timing that doesn't really take into account how popular music has developed in the last 50 years. My micro-timing is perfectly suitable for the music I choose to play.

The downside is that it adds another potential point of failure where the two cables join.

Liking this a lot! OoI what do you do about the keyboard parts when you gig?

It's an image thing isn't it? Having said that if I found myself needing to play an F-style bass because of the band look, I'd prefer it not to say "Fender" (or "Squier") on the headstock.

Of all the Aggregators I have used over the past 15 years CD Baby are currently the cheapest with a $9.99 one off fee for an album and 9% of your streaming and download payments. The prices of all the Aggregator services have come down massively in recent years. When I first started using them it was about $50 for a one-off fee for an album and "singles" (which meant just one track) were only marginally cheaper. Whichever service you pick you want to make sure that it supports as many download and streaming sites as possible. While Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and YouTube are by far the biggest source of streams there are lots of others you might not have heard of, but they all contribute to the income from your songs.