BigRedX

Did your previous PC run the same version of Windows and were you using the same version of your DAW? Also have you changed from 32 bit OS and apps to 64 bit? Like it or not, increased computer power usually leads to sloppy OS and application writing since it is no longer necessary make the use of ever processor cycle and optimise every single line of code to make everything run as fast and lean as possible. With some much processing power, memory and storage available for relatively so little money, there is almost no incentive to do this any more. It's a fact of computing life that on buying a new machine you will need to at least double the processing power, memory and storage to just to stay level with were you were in terms of performance on your old one. Is Studio One loading in lots of plug-ins that you don't need? Can you create an empty song with nothing in it. Has the memory usage increased massively? Then add the sorts of tracks you would normally one at a time and see if there is a point at which the memory usage suddenly shoots right up. Also I'd check that your memory usage list is complete and all the active processes are shown. Do all the percentage figures add up to 100%?

Two things: 1. 8GB is pretty much entry level for normal computer usage these days, I wouldn't consider a machine with less than 16GB for anything other than casual email/web browsing and typing the occasional thing in Word. 2. You have a lot of things open at once. Windows is still not as good as that other well-known OS at prioritising audio and MIDI data, so the fewer things that are making use of the RAM and processor the better - especially in light of point 1. When you are using your DAW you shouldn't need to have any other applications open so shut them down. If you do need to look something up on the internet use you phone or another device. And go and buy and install at least another 8GB of RAM.

The trick with click tracks and any other automated tempo setting method is to make it work for you, not to allow it to be a rigid master. The days to the standard un-varying 1/4 note "cowbell" click with an accent on the one are long gone and anyone still using it should only be doing so because out of all the options available today they have found that this is the one that works best for them. 1. Whoever is using the "click track" to set the tempo for the rest of the band should have something they feel comfortable with. It may be the standard 1/4 note cowbell click or it could be an actual rhythm pattern complete with swing, groove and other micro timings already built in to it, or anything in between. What works for one drummer will not necessarily work for another. Give them what allows them play best. 2. Even given a traditional rigid click a good drummer can still play against it to proved the correct "groove" for the rest of the band to play to. 3. It is now possible to stick a lot of extra information into the click track to provide cues that only those using it can hear. One of the band I currently play with has some songs with different bar lengths in amongst all the standard 4/4. On these the click is programmed to allow the drummer to hear where these are. 4. You don't always need a click. With The Terrortones we never used a click live, but on each occasion before we went into the studio we would spend several rehearsals working on the songs we were going to record trying each with clicks at various tempos around what we thought was correct and then without. Those songs that benefited from using a click in terms of feel were recorded with one, and those that required a bit more push and pull in tempo between the various sections were done without. 5. If you find that the click appears to be holding band back on some songs in terms of tempo, either your tempo is wrong or the songs are in the wrong order in the set. In this respect using a click can be a real advantage when it comes to selecting the best song order for pacing a set. 6. These days tempo changes within a song are no problem either. My other band recently parted company with our drummer, and it was decided not replace him and use a drum machine instead. When I was doing the drum programming it became obvious quite quickly that some of the songs now benefitted from a set constant tempo, whilst others required me to match the tempo changes of our drummer to maintain the correct feel. We've spent a fair amount of time working on this in rehearsal so that all the band members were happy with how the tempo changes worked. Some required a straight tempo change from one bar to the next, whist others needed to build up (or down) over a bar or two. The end result is that now all the tempo changes happen in a predictable;e manner and are the same ver time we play the songs which results in them being much tighter and sounding better for it.

When anyone with a recording and $50 can get their "album" on all the big download and streaming sites why would you want to just hide in the indie ghettos? The result is that new music is everywhere these days. You just need to track it down.

I ended up with the Eastwood Hooky, because for me the most important thing was the increased string spacing, and of all the Bass VIs currently in production this is the one that is least like a guitar without having a neck as wide as a 34" scale 6-string bass. My Squier has a very narrow neck, similar to a 70s Stratocaster and IMO narrow even by guitar standards (the neck is certainly narrower than both the guitars I play). As I said previously the big problem I find with most bass VIs is that they are essentially guitars with longer necks and fatter strings. BTW have you looked at the Revelation version of the Bass VI? This has three P90 soapbar style pickups and a slightly wider neck than the Squier. It also has more conventional Stratocaster style pickup switching. I've found that for what I do the middle and the bridge pickups are the most useful - the middle for "bass guitar" sounds and the bridge for the more "guitar" -like parts. The Eastwood only has one pickup but it sits between these two positions and therefore is a suitable compromise.

In almost 50 years of playing I have had exactly 2 amps fail on me. One was a cheap, poorly maintained secondhand valve amp that died mid-way through the first gig I used it at, and the other was entirely down to user error, when I plugged in both sides of a dual channel class-D amp into the same speaker cab and released the magic smoke. Since for the vast majority of gigs I play these days my choice of amp makes zero contribution to the bass sound that the audience hear (as the FoH bass is entirely provided by the PA) I have ditched my big, expensive and impressive looking bass rigs in favour of a Helix and FRFR cab (and I only take the FRFR cab to gigs where I don't expect the foldback to be up to the task of producing an audible bass sound on stage).

Even The Cure look like they are having fun on stage these days.

While still not ideal, that sounds a lot better than the situation you and the bass were in previously. Can you give an indication of exactly how far out the tuning of the fretted notes are? A few cents or something more serious and definitely noticeable when playing two note chords or drones? Remember that the tuning/fret position of a fretted instrument is a bit of a compromise between what is mathematically correct and what sounds right. Guitarists will often slightly alter the tuning on certain strings depending on what chords they are intending to play. The other thing to watch is that you are not pulling all the fretted notes slightly sharp as you fret them. This is something I have to watch when play the bass VI as the 30" scale means lower tension strings which are more susceptible to this. Fret each note carefully and see if by bending the string at each fret (in both directions) you can lower the pitch of the note rather than just raising it. If you are fretting the note perfectly bending in either direction will always raise the pitch. However if you are pulling or pushing the note sharp as you fret, bending in one direction will cause the pitch of the note to drop first before it rises. Unfortunately if this is the case, all you can do to avoid it, is work on your technique (like I am). Finally, if the tuning problems are more than 10 cents, and not a result to your playing technique, then I suggest you take the bass to a decent luthier and get them to look at the nut and ask for a fret dress explaining, and hopefully demonstrating by playing, what the problem is. BTW what sort of custom build are you considering? I would love a custom Bass VI incorporating on all the things I like from the various models I have played and getting rid of the those that I find makes playing one harder work than it should be. Unfortunately for my preferred luthier (Simon Farmer of Gus Guitars) we are looking at in excess of £6k for one with all the features I want...

But more importantly remember that in the early hours of the morning "fast food" is anything but. After numerous occasions where I've thought a burger is just what I need on my way back from a gig, but by the time I've waited 15+ minutes for it to be made, I'm really not feeling like it anymore and thinking that if we hadn't stopped we'd be 15+ minutes closer to home, bed and if I was still hungry something decent to eat.

I think there are two separate issues at work here. Firstly there is the actual concept and design of the Fender/Squier Bass VI. Out of the box the instrument is perfectly playable if you are a guitarist looking to do some tic-tac bass or doubling up a guitar part on a 60s style recording. However a lot of modern bass players want something that is capable of being used as a stand-alone bass instrument, and unfortunately it's guitar-based heritage does not necessarily offer what a bass player wants. (This is why I have ultimately abandoned mine in favour of first a Burns Barracuda and now the Eastwood copy of the Shergold Marathon 6-string bass, but that's a completely different matter.) Out of the box (IME) there is nothing wrong with the action on these basses, but the fitted E and A strings are a little on the light (and therefore floppy) side and the whole bridge/vibrato mechanism while fine for doing MBV impersonations on a guitar is not really a sensible design feature on a bass. This is why as bass players we fit heavier strings and need to shim the neck. And as the OP has done replace the original wobbly bridge with the StayTrem version. The neck shim is only needed if you want to raise the bridge in order to increase the break angle behind the saddles to reduce the compliance of the strings. However once you have done that and fitted heavier strings there are a whole load of extra adjustments that need to be done to return the instrument to it's playable condition. The second issue is (as Andyjr1515 has already hinted at) that often the wrong things are adjusted to correct the problems that develop. It is important that the adjustments are made in a logical manner and only the right items are adjusted. While adjusting one thing may affect another, it should be sorted with its own adjustment. So in order: 1. The shim is there (on this instrument) to allow the bridge to be raised to increase the break angle over the saddles cure the floppy feeling of the lower strings on the Bass VI. Unfortunately this setting on the Bass VI is entirely subjective, and I get the impression that many people do it having been told it is a requirement without actually realising exactly why they are doing it, or what exactly they are aiming for. I've found that having the tops of the E string saddles approximately 17mm above the top of the scratch plate (combined with LaBella round-wound bass VI strings) gives the right feeling for me. That won't apply to everyone. 2. The truss rod is only there to adjust the straightness/relief of the neck. Any other effect is has is entirely separate and while require a different part of the instrument to be adjusted to compensate. Swapping from the factory fitted strings to either the LaBella or Newtone will almost definitely require the truss rod tightening slightly, but all you should be doing is correcting the change in relief caused by fitting heavier strings. 3. The intonation should only need adjusting because the new string are heavier and therefore the saddles need to be moved back very slightly to compensate. The OP has fitted a StayTrem bridge which I believe has a slightly greater range of adjustment, so there shouldn't be any problems here. Just work through the problems one at a time and use the correct adjustment for the correct part of the instrument and the OP should get be able to get it back to a playable state. If the OP does ultimately decide to get the bass looked at by a professional, they should explain to them the reason for fitting the shim and the higher than usual bridge setting, as I would suspect that a lot of luthiers would not necessarily know this and decide that removing an "unnecessary" shim and lowering the bridge would sort out all the problems and the OP will be back to where they originally started in terms of set-up which is not really what they want.

I play in two goth/post-punk bands. For the longest time one of our songs in progress was called "It's Friday I'm In Loughborough"...

Having had another look at all your photographs and descriptions, I would say the problem with the intonation is directly related to the very high action and that is most likely due to the neck being at the wrong angle in relation to the body. Remember that the intonation is there to compensate for the stretching of the string as you push down to fret it. The higher your action is the more you have to push down and the more you have to compensate by moving back the saddle. Follow my instructions and first get the neck angle right, then the action and relief and hopefully the intonation will sort itself out.

@Dankology I've just got my Squier Bass VI out of storage and comparing it to your photographs there is something very wrong going on with you bass. I've shimmed the neck on mine (a piece of 400gsm business card that sits in the end of the neck pocket closest to the neck pickup and extends back as far as the closest screw holes, so roughly 25mm x the width of the neck) and I have a more noticeable tilt in than is than is evident in you second photograph of the neck where it joins the body. The result of this is that my bridge is much higher than yours. I'm measuring 17mm from the top of the scratch plate to the bottom of the E strings. The whole point of shimming the neck is to get a much greater break angle over the saddles to reduce the compliance of the strings and therefore tighten up the feel of the low E and A strings in particular. Yours still looks like my Bass VI did when it was new out of the box before I'd added the shim. I have the LaBella Bass VI rounds on mine (I'd already stopped using it in favour of the Burns Barracuda before I got my first set of Newtone Axions) but the low E is only a 95 as opposed to 100 of the Newtone and fits perfectly in the nut without modification. and I doubt that an extra 5 thousands of an inch will make any noticeable difference. Action on mine is 4mm at the 12th fret and it would got down at least 1mm if I adjust the truss rod as there is slightly more bow in the neck then most people would find comfortable. Your bass looks so far out I would stop whatever adjustments you are doing and start again from scratch. Also that way you won't be making the wrong adjustments for the wrong problem. Firstly take off the strings and remove the neck. Check that your shim hasn't moved and if it is in the correct place maybe replace it with a slightly smaller one that doesn't fill quite so much of the length of the pocket - as I said mine fits between the body end and the next set of screw holes. Having done that replace the neck and without fitting the strings adjust the truss rod so that the neck is perfectly flat and straight. Then using a long straight edge along the frets to the bridge, raise the bridge until the saddles touch the bottom of the straight edge. Without any relief to the neck I would say you want the tops of the E string saddles 15mm from the top of the scratch plate. If you can't raise the bridge that far without lifting the straight edge off the frets at the top end of the neck, then you need a fatter shim. Once you have get this right, wind the bridge up another 1-2 mm. Now you can restring, tune to the correct pitch, and then leave the bass for a day. The next day come back, and check that the strings are sitting at the bottom of the nut slots (as I said on mine, out of the box, the slots were wide enough for heavier strings). If not widen them slightly without making them any deeper until the strings sit properly. Then, and only then, slowly adjust the truss rod until you have just enough space the slide a business card between the strings and the 12th fret while holding the string down at the 1st and 21st frets (if you are very hard player [like me] you might want a little more relief than this). Do not worry about the intonation at this point, if you are using the truss rod to get the intonation right you are doing it wrong. You might need to adjust the bridge up or down slightly to compensate for the change in relief. Only once you have got the relief and the string height right should you start to adjust the intonation. The bridge on mine is straight to within 1mm between the highest and lowest strings, so therefore when you you set the intonation you should get each saddle going slightly further back as the strings get thicker. On mine with the original Squier Bass VI bridge to high E string saddle is about 2.5mm from the front of the bridge and the low E string saddle is 3.5mm from the back (I had to remove the spring on this saddle to get it far enough back). That's about 6mm difference between the position of the high and low E saddles. I haven't checked the intonation recently, but when I was using it as my main Bass VI, I was playing plenty of things high up on the neck on all strings without any noticeable tuning issues. The only other tuned instrument in the band where I use this bass is synthesiser, and person who plays that has very good ears when it comes to tuning and notices problems I never hear. Once you have made all those adjustments, if you still can't get the bass in tune (and have tried another set of strings to rule out the possibility of a faulty string in your current set), please come back with the following photos: 1. Strings in the nut slots 2. Relief at 12th fret while holding the string down at the 1st and 21st frets (you may need someone to either hold the string or take the photo for you) 3. Bridge height 4. photo of the top of the bridge showing the saddle positions. HTH, and good luck!

Android is terrible for music apps as the OS doesn't give MIDI/audio data the priority it requires and there may well be noticeable latency. If you decide to use the Windows laptop, don't use it with a DAW unless you also require the audio and/or MIDI playback facilities. Instead have a look at Cantabile along with whichever virtual instruments you decide to use. You may however also need to invest in an audio interface rather than rely on the laptops built-in sound card.

The Newtone strings are heavier than the ones the Squier comes fitted with and therefore the saddle(s) will need to be further back. It may be that the bridge simply doesn't have the adjustment room required for these strings. I'll check with mine when I get a moment, but since I got the Eastwood Hooky Bass it's gone into storage so it may take a couple of days.

The only thing I would say with using a phone of tablet for the sounds is that the consumer grade connectors these devices sport (lightning, USB-C or other mini USB, mini-jack), are not really suitable for a gigging environment.

I personally don't like instruments with bolt-on necks. They always seem cheap to me as when I was starting out apart from Fender, all the other bolt-on necked instruments were nasty, virtually unplayable tat from the far east (yes I have discovered plenty of other "quality" bolt-on neck instruments since, but back in the 70s this was the perception). And yes it's a cost-cutting exercise but then again Jim Burns was able to design and build budget heel-less set neck instruments in 1960 in the form of the Burns Sonic guitars and basses, so there no reason not to do it.

What about David Essex in "That'll Be The Day" and "Stardust"?

Your almost certainly going to be technically a better player than me, and I've managed to persuade people play music with me on stage and in the studio for over 40 years now. The thing you need to remember is that at a gig any mistakes are over in less then a second, and unless you bring the whole song to a grinding halt within 30 seconds of it starting no-one in the audience is likely to notice.

I think (as others have said) the OP needs to ask themselves what exactly do they want out of playing bass/music? If you're not enjoying being in this band, maybe you should leave and let someone who is more tolerant of all the less fun parts of gigging take your place. IMO unless playing music is a major source of your income, you should only do it because you like it. Sometimes that does mean accepting that not every aspect of music or being in a band is fun, and often you will need to put up with the boring bits to be able to do the bits that you actually want to, whether that is playing a song over and over again to be able to nail a particularly tricky section, or travelling for hours to get to gigs. It's difficult to give specific advice in cases like this because everyone and their musical situation is different, and what is acceptable and works for one person is complete inappropriate for another. Maybe for the OP if you weren't in this band, what would you be doing and would you be enjoying it more?

If it is easy, check the status of the memory back-up battery. I've had several devices of similar vintage die over the last 10 years due to the battery running down. With a bit of luck the battery will be easily replaceable and not directly soldered onto the main board in some relatively inaccessible place (I'm looking at you Peavey).

Bass, Line6 Helix Floor, 3U Rack case containing the computer and interface for running the backing, Stand for the rack case on stage, Bag of leads and bits, And for the smaller gigs or when I am unsure of the quality of the foldback an RCF745 powered cab. For big gigs, if I wasn't also in charge of the backing, I'd just take the bass and the Helix.

That looks like the front door is open and the recipient's foot on the right.

The only thing I'd say about the module in the OP is that the sounds don't appear to be editable, so unless you you find enough of them usable as they are, you may well be disappointed.

By your initial definition, I don't play bass as I use a 5-string in one band and a Bass VI in my other. Where do you place post-punk "bass" players like Peter Hook and others who rarely venture below what could be done on a drop-D tuned guitar yet choose to play a bass rather than a guitar? What about all those down-tuned metal bands with their 7 and 8-string guitars? What about bands where the keyboards or some other instrument (not bass guitar) takes to low register parts?