BigRedX

FirWire support has been phased out of Mac OS from El Capitan onwards (that's ten years ago). That means no further development of the Core Audio FW driver and no technical support from Apple. Some FW devices (such as those from RME) will continue to work for as long as the company is prepared to put the time and effort into supporting them and updating any software required. However with all the recent changes to 64bit and Apple Silicon, don't expect that to last forever.

All done inside a Line6 Helix Multi-effects. Outputs direct to the PA and an FRFR for on-stage monitoring (should the PA foldback not be up to the job). Has eliminated so much clutter from the rehearsal room, band van and on stage.

Back then AFAIWC Rickenbacker were a company that made bass guitars. I can remember being quite surprised when I discovered they made guitars as well! However I do think that Fender basses tended to get overlooked because they weren't as distinctive as a Rickenbacker or a Gibson Thunderbird or EB3. I was very much into The Sweet in the early to mid 70s and I distinctly remember Steve Priest as a Rickenbacker player who occasionally used a Danelecto Longhorn Bass (copy). However looking at their various TotP performances on YouTube it appears that most of the time he's playing a Jazz Bass...

Some FireWire interfaces no longer work with the more recent version of OSX. AFAIK only RME have given any assurances that they will keep their FireWire interfaces compatible for as long as is feasibly possible.

Glad you got there in the end. Pity Apple make it such a convoluted process.

I've been in a band where the money we made from gigging, selling merch and performance royalties pretty much covered all the running costs of the band. That's the best I've been ablate do in 45+ years of playing in bands.

Mac OS 11.5 has been out for almost a year now and AFAICS is mostly bug fixes and security updates, so it shouldn't have any implications for 3rd party plug-ins. However be aware that if you do update it may automatically go all the way to 11.6.5. If you want to just get 11.5 try searching for Mac OSX 11.5 combo update.

Hopefully after you've updated your OS, you'll be able to proceed.

Weird... However that looks like an education price, maybe the Apple ID and hardware are more closely linked for education users due to the discounted prices of both? I was able to get this to work for me with the a previous version of Logic Pro X, but... 1. I'm not an education user 2. I'm also the main user on the Mac I used to buy my copy of Logic Pro X You probably already have, but just double-check that your Mac is running the appropriate version of Mac OS as shown in that dialogue box, because there has been a recent update to Logic Pro X that upped the required version of the OS.

When I was starting out in the early 70s there didn't seem to be the same bias towards having to have a Fender if you were a bassist, or if there was I was oblivious to it. Most of the bass players in bands I liked seemed to play Rickenbackers or Gibsons, so Fender basses were never really on the radar for me.

I've seen Lenin's embalmed corpse in the mausoleum in Red Square. TBH he looked less realistic than a waxwork (and may have well been for all I know).

OK, I've just done the same with the same result. However, it is possible to move to move Logic to the Trash by right clicking and then moving it from the Trash to another folder on your Mac. See if that will let her buy a copy?

I think I know what the problem is. Because Logic is installed in main Applications folder (rather than the individual user's applications folder), when she logs into the App Store, it can already see that Logic has been downloaded, and therefore won't offer the option to buy it. Try logging back in to the Mac as yourself and move the Logic Application from the Applications folder into a new folder with some obscure name on the desktop. Then try again. Hopefully she'll be able to buy now and once that has been done you'll be able to move the Logic app back to its proper location. If that doesn't work she'll have to use the other route I suggested in my original post or try this process on a Mac that doesn't already have Logic installed.

Sting makes most of his money as a songwriter rather than a musician.

Last time I saw The Human League they were using keytars for the couple of songs where the synth players come to front of the stage.

TBH I can't ever remember my favourite bands' choice of instruments influencing me. If it did at all it would have pushed me in the direction of getting John Birch to make me a custom guitar and/or bass but it would most likely have been a shape of my own design. In the 80s I was mostly playing synths and there it was all about the features of the instruments rather than who played them (especially if you couldn't afford a Roland Jupiter 8).

Tony James of Sigue Sigue Sputnik used the guitar version with the synth tuned down an octave, as the tracking was better and the latency not too bad. However he said he still had to learn to play slightly ahead of the beat for it to be in time.

I've not personally tried one, but if the various reports on the internet are to be believed, then not really. Plus the lower notes took longer to register with the pitch to MIDI conversion (you can't beat the laws of physics).

Like a all solid electric instruments the things that give the Stratocaster its sound are the type and position of the pickups, the switching and control options, combined with the particular style of vibrato mechanism. There are plenty of instruments with this configuration that don't look like Stratocasters.

IIRC the bass version which came later than the guitar had the more powerful JX8P synthesiser in the floor unit.

Technically speaking, it's not a "MIDI pickup". It's a 4-channel pickup that when attached to the correct hardware via a special multiway cable will allow the bass to drive a (MIDI) synthesiser. Having said that without the required cable and foot controller this instrument is nothing more than a standard J-bass with a weird shape.

Not at all. By the time I had the money to buy any bass or guitar other than the cheapest ones in the shop, I had formed my own tastes that had/have little to do with what my musical heroes play/played. My first electric guitar was one I designed and built myself in woodwork classes at school, and while it had borrowed from existing designs (mostly Explorer and Firebird and were picked because I liked the "futuristic" shapes rather than any player association) the end result was unique in both shape and electrics. My first bass (a second hand Burns Sonic) was simply the cheapest one in the shop when I bought it - although I did try some cheap P and J bass copies at the same time and didn't like them as much.

I was almost 11 by the time I "got into" pop music. The Beatles had split at least a year prior to that, and therefore for me were completely irrelevant since they weren't on TotP and only on the radio when "oldies" were being played. I quite liked Paul McCartney's rockier songs with Wings, but the others were producing nothing musical of any interest to me. I've grown to appreciate them since then, although there are plenty of 60s bands I like far more, but the only songs of theirs I know well are the Sgt Pepper album and their singles.

I'm strictly a round-wound person on my Bass VIs, so I can't offer any advice on the LaBella Flats. However there are a couple of things you could try first. 1. Have you raised the bridge and shimmed the neck to compensate, on your Bass VI? IME as much of the "floppy" feel of the E and A strings is down to them being too compliant due to the break angle over the bridge being too shallow. If you haven't already done this, I would suggest giving it a go, as otherwise alternative strings might still feel as loose. 2. GHS do a heavier set of round wounds for the Eastwood Hooky Bass VI with a 105 E. You can get them here. 3. If you are still having problems see if Newtone will wind you some custom sets to your specifications.

For me playing in a Classic Rock covers band absolutely and utterly killed my enthusiasm for some of the songs we played, even though previously I had enjoyed listening to them. I think having to dissect the songs to work out how to play them was mostly responsible.