BigRedX

I can't believe that this wasn't a massive (indie) hit. Catchy tune with clever lyrics. John Peel played it constantly for several moths. It was Single Of The Week in NME, and Any Trouble even covered it on their debut album: 23 Jewels released 2 more singles to almost complete indifference. Singer, songwriter Nick Simpson is now a well respected classical composer...

This latest update still hasn't fixed the inconsistency with whether or not you get a warning message when marking a forum as read depending on which browser you use and whether you click the button at the top within the forum or icon next to the forum name.

I've found it easier and cheaper to learn a bit of rudimentary keyboard technique, rather than spend ages messing about with pedals and having to modify your bass (or guitar) playing style. Then you can buy a cheap modern synth with user programable memories and have the right sound available every time at the touch of a button, no worries about tracking/ghost notes etc.

Based on those two statements Basschat should probably dump the ability to have signatures completely. After all if you can't do anything creative with them and over half the audience can't even see them, then what is the point?

I suppose that's down to differing expectations. I would never click an image expecting a larger version I would always expect that if it was clickable link that it was going to take me to a new page. I'd also use the ability to view the url of the link in the information bar at the bottom of the browser window before clicking anything. To me this is a dumbing-down of the forums to protect the hard of thinking who aren't viewing them on a device capable of displaying all the information properly.

Thanks. However using BBcode it used to be possible to combine an image with link to another web page - i.e. I could make a banner for my signature that was hosted on an image hosting website, which when clicked would take you to my band's website. Without BBcode I can't see how this is possible anymore.

If BBcode has been depreciated, has it been replaced with something else? and if so where can get the "user manual"

What is this "amp" that you speak of?

In the same vein as The Babysitters and The Door And The Window, I give you the Danny & The Dressmakers with a song whose sentiments will be close to many Basschatters hearts: Featuring Graham Massey later to be a member of 808 State. And now stop before someone posts tracks from my first band (who were contemporaries of these)...

Am I 14 again in the mid 70s with the benefit of hindsight, or 14 in 2021 with 45+ years of experience? It makes a big difference IMO.

I made a couple of guitar cases in the 70s and cases for all the synths and other high-tech equipment I was gigging in the 80s. IME the biggest problem was the weight vs the level of protection for the equipment. Anything that provided a decent amount of protection weighed almost as much as the instrument it was designed to fit - in the case of one of the guitars a bit more! The other trade off was between having something tailor-made for the contents and the fact that no matter how much time and effort I put into a case it was never as professional looking as the commercially available ones. The main advantage to having home-made cases for the synths and high-tech stuff was that we could brightly colour-code them, which: 1. Made it relatively difficult for someone to walk off un-noticed with one of our cases. 2. Meant we could arrange the load in so that the right gear went to the right place on stage - all the yellow cases went one side and the red cases went the other - very useful when several of the cases were identical in size. 3. Some of the cases doubled as equipment stands when emptied and made the stage set a bit more interesting looking.

If the material is difficult to cut or sticky like some or the lower-cost plastics it will affect the ease and possibly the stability of tuning.

My experience is that unless you have an established fan base that can be counted in thousands, there is no profit to be be made from on-line usage of music whether it be downloads or streaming. However if you are gigging and can put on an entertaining show then you'll have no problem making a profit from selling records or CDs at gigs. I will be seriously considering for the next album length project I do only having one or two tracks available on-line. If you like the music enough to want the whole album you'll have to buy a physical copy.

The advice I gave in my first post in this thread hasn't really changed. Unless getting your music on line is totally an exercise in "vanity publishing" and you have absolutely no interest in making any money out of it, I'd go for a single upfront fee and a low percentage of the individual plays/downloads. I suppose I'm of an age where I still compare getting digital distribution with the cost of pressing a couple of hundred records or CDs in which case even the most costly service looks to be a absolute bargain. However, I ought to point out that none of the music I have on-line (with CD Baby and Catapult) has yet made back it's original set-up fee in downloads or streams, although the Terrortones "VampireMan" single is now fairly close after almost 10 years!

I had and loved the "For My Country" single back in the day. Saw the reformed version at WGW a few years ago and it most mostly back catalogue but not as good as the original recorded versions. Also one of their recent spin-off bands were on the same bill as one of my bands back in 2019. Can't remember anything about their set so it can't have been my kind of thing.

I wouldn't have problem with this. They are on the lower edge of the fingerboard so unless you play hunched over your guitar you won't see them most of the time. Also the longer "flames" correspond with the typical fret markers.

More 70s electronica...

The synrh band I was in during the 80s used to cover this.

Do you play with a pick? Does your new guitarist have a predominantly clean sound? If the answer to both of those is yes you may have to have a bit of a rethink of your bass sound. I found that mine all but disappeared in this situation and I had to switch to mostly finger-style (or a softer nylon pick) and completely different EQ to separate the two instruments out again. Otherwise you'll probably get away with a small EQ adjustment if anything is required (I've also played with Strat players who from a tonal PoV might as well have been wielding an LP).

Thanks. Performer is from Mark of the Unicorn who used to be Mac only, but I believe these days they support Windows too. As a Mac user for over 30 years now I don't really know if there are any Windows-only DAWs with the same pedigree as Logic, Cubase etc. which might also be worth a look. If the MIDI side is important any DAW that can trace its lineage back to the pre-audio days ought to be suitable.

There is zero reason for any MIDI controller keyboard to stop working simply because the host computer changes its OS, unless it has been poorly designed. These days any MIDI interface whether it be external unit with traditional DIN sockets or built into the keyboard using USB should be class-compliant and work whatever OS it is presented with. I'd steer clear of anything that requires a "driver" as at some point it will top being supported by the manufacturer, at which time it will just turn into an expensive paperweight.

If you want to do lots of MIDI manipulation or editing your are much better off using a DAW that has it's roots in MIDI sequencing such as Logic, Cubase, Performer or Reason. Unfortunately in most other DAWs MIDI is very much an afterthought.

It really depends on the style of music and the other instrumentation. I play in two bands. One with two guitarists and synths and most of the time the bass is there to provide the bottom end although every once in while the bass line takes centre stage in the arrangement. The other is just vocals, synths and myself on Bass VI and drum machine. Pretty much all the instruments are equally important for both frequency range and melody/harmony and the mix changes all the time depending on who is doing what in any song at any particular time. Having both synths and Bass VI means that either of us can be providing the bass line or the melody part and often we'll swap over in the middle of the song.

I saw Bauhaus for the first time in 1980 (around the time when Terror Couple Kill Colonel came out) when they played the Ad-Lib Club in Nottingham (later to be The Garage). A properly mad gig. The "stage" was only about 1 foot higher than the rest of the venue and to get to it from the "dressing room" the band had to get through the audience first. Peter Murphy spent most of the performance inflicting violence upon anyone in the front row of the audience. They opened with a fantastic version of Bela Lugosi's Dead (the only time I saw them perform it live) and closed with Dark Entries, then band literally leaping into the audience at the end and were gone before anyone realised it was over. No encore. I saw them on every other occasion that they played in Nottingham or Derby over the next 3 years, but none of the other gigs matched that level of intensity.

From 1980, a time when you could buy pretty much any record by a band from Sheffield and get something good. Vice-Versa eventually morphed into the less interesting ABC...