BigRedX

22 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

If he goes ahead with his US tour using other people's music then he's going to get sued to oblivion.

He can play other people's music, how do you think covers bands exist? He just can't pass it off as his own.

That's a pity. In the 80s getting all the CV and gate synthesisers and other devices to talk to each other was a nightmare.

We had stuff from Korg - Hz/Volt CV and S-Trig Gate and Roland - Oct/Volt CV and various different trigger voltages from +4 to +15 volts depending on the device and trigger output. Luckily we discovered that although the Korg was Hz/Volt for the keyboard interface the modulation inputs were Oct/Volt, and you could turn a +ve trigger into an S-Trig with a simple resistor and transistor circuit that fitted in the body of a 1/4" jack plug. We also had a home-made device that allowed us to synchronise clock and start/stop functions of the Roland MC202 and Yamaha RX11. We were more than grateful when MIDI came along and swept all this rubbish away.

I would have hoped that all the manufacturers could have standardised on one CV scaling and a minimum +ve trigger value for all new and re-issued kit, but obviously that's far too sensible. Is there any advantage of using Hz/Volt for CV and S-Trig over the other methods?

Out of interest have Behringer taken the opportunity to standardise the analogue interface specifications of all their re-issues? If so which spec?

Or are we still left with two different standards of CV scaling and a variety of different trigger types and sensitivity levels?

I did have a look at a couple of downloadable manuals but they seems to have neglected to supply this information.

Why not?

12 hours ago, FugaziBomb said:

Years before the application of all of the stickers and various modding nonsense (which culminated in just ripping all the wiring out and soldering the pickups right to output jack),  I decided to put a nicer set of pickups in it.  I swapped the stock Asian Sweatshop Specials for a nice set of Seymour Duncan SPB-2 Hot P Bass pickups.  You know what they sounded a lot like?: the original cheap pickups that came in the damn thing.  It was an early lesson that different ≠ better.

I had exactly the same experience with another Washburn. I swapped out the stock pickups and pre-amp for a set of very expensive EMGs that were about half as much as the bass originally cost. I couldn't detect any difference in sound before and after at all. So either the original pickups were very good or the difference in sounds between pickups or the same form-factor is less than the manufacturers of after-market pickups would like us to believe.

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

Always heartwarming to read such supportive posts towards fellow musicians.

IMO there is nothing intrinsically special about musicians and live music, unless you have absolutely no filter.

Appreciation of music is entirely subjective and I personally do not want to be subjected to music I don't like.

One of reasons I am a musician and composer is so that I can move the balance of music I like and music I don't like very slightly closer to music I do like.

1 hour ago, Leonard Smalls said:

I feel that "musically boring" is something that's highly debatable... It's like saying that a discussion of surface tension is chemically boring (*), or set theory is mathematically boring!

For those that relish complexity in their music, playing modal progressions in 13:8 time is musically very interesting indeed. Those same people, when hearing a simple 3 chord ditty in straight-ahead 4:4 might say it's "boring" - but that's only to them. Others may find that simplicity is what they like, and complexity is, to them, boring.

But at the end of the day it's all subjective; I personally find Oi bands to be deeply dull and like a bit of crazed widdling though an Oi fan would be the opposite to that.

Same goes for "decent tune". I mean, which is better, Donna Lee or The Birdy Song? 

As for backing "tapes", we shall continue to use 'em - though in our case it's a laptop playing Logic; our guitarman fiddles with fx and stuff on the fly.

 

* to be fair it's a bit dull, after all, the Langmuir Trough experiment was what Thatcher worked on!

Yes it's all subjective...

But what I was trying to say is that I have no time for music where technical ability and musical complexity is at the forefront and ultimately all that the piece of music is about.

For me the skill is not in writing a piece in an uncommon time signature like 13:8. Anyone with a modicum of skill can do that, and most will signpost just how musically complicated their composition is. The real skill is the write a piece in 13:8 that doesn't sound like it has an unusual number of beats because the tune that holds it together is so good. Whenever I've written something in an unusual time signature it is because the tune has come first and it's only when I'm working out the drum programming that I realise it's not in 4:4

12 hours ago, Bilbo said:

I am not judging people wot use backing tapes, I just think it's sad that a, they have to, and b, the audiences accept it. It somehow devalues the art of music making for me. The tragedy is that, when you look on line, there are so many monster players but, when you go out to watch live music, you get half arsed shite badly performed against backing tapes. 

 

I think we deserve better (by we I mean the listening public). And don't get me started on A.I.

The problem is that IME most "monster" players that I see being heralded on here and similar music forums, are musically boring and wouldn't recognise a decent tune/song if it slapped them around the face.

As I've said before, parts that are technically challenging to play but repetitive and ultimately not very exciting for the people playing it are and have been essential components of a lot genres for the last 40 years. Maybe if my band were famous enough we could employ people to play these parts exactly as we have composed them, as well as tell them how to look and dress and STFU the rest of the time, then we'd replace the machine that does this job without complaining.

8 hours ago, Cliff Edge said:

It’s just buttons 4 and 5 via the expression socket to select presets. 

 I think you are going to need to draw a diagram showing how everything is currently connected up and what protocols each device uses to talk to another.

What you want should be do-able as I do something similar using an AirTurn Pedal, Helix Floor and MacBook. However I suspect that you might need to get a MIDI interface for the iPad.

Also does OnSong support MIDI program change messages either to select the next page/song or send them when a page/song is selected?

How are you controlling the Stomp from the Hotone Ampero? Because AFAICS it only has MIDI in?

8 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

"Dress code applies" ?

It's part of the WGW. So long as you wear black you'll be fine. 😉

The next gig for Hurtsfall is on Friday 25th April in Whitby at The Cove with Westenra and Social Youth Cult as part of the Whitby Goth Weekend.

Normally I wouldn't be announcing this quite so early, but I believe that tickets are close to selling out, and there will be no admission on the night without a ticket.

For the same event last October by the weekend of the gigs there were no tickets left, so if anyone is planning on attending the WGW and would like to see us play I suggest that you get tickets now.

Hurtsfall were upstairs at The Corporation in Sheffield on Saturday supporting Deviant, Zeitgeist Zero and Iamimperfect.

Really well run venue and evening with a proper stage manager making sure that everything ran smoothly. Also massive "backstage" area for the bands and gear plus refreshments. Only blip in the proceedings was that our backing was completely muted when we came to play and for some reason it took 3 goes for the sound engineer to find the right channel(s) and unmute them, which was a bit embarrassing and shouldn't be happening with digital programmable desks.

Despite the fact that we went on 10 minutes after the doors opened, there was a decent turn out to see us, and it didn't look as though that many additional people came in after we had finished. All the bands were great. I particularly liked Iamimperfect and will make an effort to see them again. We obviously went down well as we sold a load of merch afterwards, and with the gig ending at 10.30 was back home just after 12.00.

I believe some people like to see the empty stage set up, so here it is:

Amp and cabs and all the stuff in the middle of the stage at the back was for the other bands.

And here's a photo of us actually playing:

Next gig is the 25th April at The Crafty Cove in Whitby with Westenra and Social Youth Cult as part of the Whitby Goth Weekend. I believe that this is almost sold out already.

31 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Very true. How many folk have gone to a music store to try out something particular, only to then buy it elsewhere because it was cheaper?

The last time I went to a musical instrument store with the intention of trying some things out and also to make a purchase there and then if I found something I liked it was a disaster.

I was in the market for a controller keyboard to use with my DAW, had done my research and seen that my local PMT stocked several of the models I was interested in. When I got to the shop the keyboards and high-tech section was physically closed off with a notice telling me to ask for a member of staff to assist. I did this and was told that someone would be with me shortly. While I waited I had a look around at the various guitars and basses on display, which seemed much reduced from when I had been there previously. After more than 10 minutes had passed and with no-one showing the slightest inclination to serve me, I left.

In the end I bought the cheapest of my choices from Amazon safe in the knowledge that if it didn't do what I wanted I'd able to send it back and try something else.

I've been back once since this episode when I was in the area and had 15 minutes to kill and it looked even more run down than before, although the keyboards section was open this time. I couldn't even find enough things to keep me interested for 15 minutes and left shortly after entering.

TBH the needs of the people who post on here regularly have become far too specialised for the typical musical instrument store to service and we should recognise this and accept that we are not their customers any more.

If you like the sound of your current cab but it's not cutting it when it approaches the output limit, then just buy another one the same. 

You may find that additional placement options means that the second cab also ends up nearer your ears.

Have a look at black anodising too. This is what was used on most of the metalwork of my black Gus Bass:

1 hour ago, Skybone said:

But then you get colouration from the preamp pedal, modelling speakers.

The point I was trying to make is that with bass cabs you are stuck with the colouration they impose on your sound. At leat with modelling speakers you can pick some different ones. I've found that for the sort of bass tones I want speaker emulations simply don't work. The only one I still use is a guitar one that is tied to a a combo sound I quite like. In every other case I found that turning off the speaker emulation made my sound better.

There's a lot more to bass than the tone in the OP and P-Bass with flats.

I was lucky. I've never smoked in my life. Not even one drag.

At school the smokers were all IMO dickheads and losers and not the sorts of people I looked up to or wanted to emulate. After school I probably did a lot of passive smoking as just about all my friends smoked, but somehow I was never tempted. It might have been the cost. I was always skint either as a student or because I was on the dole and there plenty of other things I would much rather spend what little money I had on - like musical instruments or records.

9 hours ago, itu said:

Very good, thank you. Was the C bass just a 36" variation of the Original?

AFAIK the C Bass and 5-string Original shapes were 36" and the standard 4-string Original was 34". However as most of the basses in those days were made specifically to order there could have been some variation. You can tell the scale length of an Original shape bass by looking at the bridge position. If the bridge is right up at the end of the body then it is 36". If there's some space between the bridge and the end of the body (as in the Facebook example on the previous page) then it is 34".

2 hours ago, Skybone said:

You could always just plug the preamp pedal into the Effects Return of your amp, as it simply bypasses the amp's preamp and puts the signal into the power amp.

But then you still get the colouration of the speakers.

@diskwave You neatly side-stepped the age question. I'm probably only a year or two younger than you but I have yet to turn into my dad.

"Young people" like all sorts of music, although IME quite a few of them don't realise that the tunes in the ads are old. In a way I am glad that lots of music is not longer bound by age, as it means the gigs I play aren't all populated by 50 and 60 year olds trying to relive their youth. There's 30 years age difference between the oldest (me) and youngest in my band, but we all have similar broad-ranging tastes in music which is why the band works. Later this month we'll be doing a gig with a great new post-punk/goth band who look like they are in their early 20s and may actually be younger than that.

15 minutes ago, snorkie635 said:

Don't know if both outputs can be activated at the same time; they might be? I normally use XLR for studio and jack for live

They could on the Overwater I had that had both still connected. I used it for recording a straight sound whilst hearing the affected sound I was using. During mix down we would run the bass track back through the rig and the effects settings could be adjusted to suit where we were going with the mix.

6 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

What irks most are regular punters who only buy tap water (not even a soft drink)

Not everyone wants to drink alcohol and most soft drinks are sugary shit that's probably even worse for you. If I went to see a band I wasn't having a beer for whatever reason I probably wouldn't have anything to drink.

14 hours ago, prowla said:

My work laptop is a Macbook Pro M4.

The screen is a bit small.

10 hours ago, Owen said:

The joy of the 14" ones are that they will run 2 monitors as well as the screen. Treat yourself!

All laptop screens are a bit small:

That's my work set-up. InDesign Document on the middle screen with the pallets to the right. Two word files which I am working from on the left.

And here's the same set up for music:

Logic arrange page on the middle screen. HX Edit or Logic mixer page on the right and plug-in editing windows on the left.