BassTractor

6 hours ago, prowla said:

Must've been 76/77?

Good one. Twas '76.

23 hours ago, AinsleyWalker said:

I don't see a single ''histrionic'' response, until the 'world gone mad' comment, that is. 

@Burns-bass was probably in part responding to my "I have no words", as all of the nine previous comments about the thread title were milder.
It's what I decided on after noticing the OP had been online just before my comment, but had not responded in the slightest to the earlier comments on a thread title that effectively said: "Guys! Stuart Zender is dead!"
It's quite possible I should've been able to find better words, but I didn't at the time.

As to the idea of sending a PM: not everyone is prone to writing PMs on an online forum, and not everyone even looks at PMs.
There's also the aspect of a whisper-in-yer-ear PM possibly making too huge a point of it all. When we're sitting around a pub table in a cold winter, and someone comes in and leaves the door open, someone else will shout "Close that door!" and two minutes later it's all forgotten. Whispering in his ear instead (while the door is still open) might well have unsoughtafter effects.

I also notice with interest that Burns-bass opted to not write a nice PM to me before his "world gone mad".
Dunno what that tells about him or me.

Indeed: please change the click bait thread title, @Sean
It's not funny, and even if this was not on purpose, I have no words ...

On 10/05/2025 at 12:23, bass_dinger said:

I have a Kurzweil SP76 piano.  It is touch-sensitive (or rather, velocity sensitive).  The harder I hit the key, the louder it is.

 

However, since this morning, the A-flat below middle C is always at maximum volume.  Any ideas on what the problem might be, and how to fix it?

Now I don't know the Kurzweils specifically, but it probably has a type of hammer and a sensitive pad underneath (I don't know the right terminology here).
This pad then probably is knackered - - not necessarily after impact: tmight be dirt or corrosion or whatnot - - and in case needs a repair or replacement. You could try opening it. As said, I don't know the specifics of these.

Me, I'd open the piano and, if all of the pads are identical, I'd simply use the pad for a non-used key on the dusty end, moving it to the position in question.

You might also be able to get a new pad from the importer. However, I tried similar for my Roland, without success for half a year, so this might be trickier done than said.

Best of luck whatever way you choose!
bert

Huge problem.
To compare:
Andy Partridge wrote just one song about his terrible ex-wife, but XTC felt the need to write a whole album about the thread subject ...




I already have my coat on ...

49 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

You’re paying for the collective experience more than the musicianship. That’s always been the case.

Aye, and this reminds me of the gig of so-called avant-garde electronic music I once went to, where a reel-to-reel tape recorder, an amp and two speakers were the only things on the stage, and some guy walked on  - -  to a grand-but-ironic applause, to which he sniggeringly bowed  - -  and proceeded to said recorder and turned the lever to PLAY.

I tried to protest: "Playback!", but got the big "SHUSH!".

14 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

So, being a fan is being biased, don't you think...

Of course, but you weren't there, and you probably also do not know @kwmlondon.
There are probably several possible explanations, of which playback is only one; another one is the one kwmlondon offered: that the player in question had chosen the material with care.

BTW, I'm an unfan, and I'm much biased too.
I like to believe this rat is also committing many other acts of low quality.

Dunno if this is helpful, but we did have a thread last year:

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/498002-fanny/#comment-5285120

On 04/05/2025 at 09:36, Hellzero said:

Looks like good news @LeftyJ...

Tmight seem that way for Dutch and Belgian customers, who've had a good shop in Bax, unlike our British brethren, but the CNV workers union had earlier stated than Jochanan was a terrible CEO - one of the worst they'd seen. They'd love a restart ... if it was without him.
The CNV is to come with a new statement today.

36 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Playing the Fool has just been reissued. 

Ohw!  Thanks for that; I had no idea.
Ordered!

Been a fan for 50 years and seven months. 😀

11 hours ago, pfretrock said:

* Hz/Volt

🙂
We understood. 🙂

As to my Behringer Model D, there was a known issue with it, which was easily taken care of with a new wall wart and a firmware update.
In case someone owns one or is on the fence: the weird declining click-like sounds in the Sustain phase, for nearly every second note, vanish with an update to v 1.1.2, so let that aspect not hinder you.

Now I've heard the Model 15 and Model D together, I'm even more impressed with the Model 15 than I was a few weeks ago. Its timbre is sooo sweet and luvverly that it brings me back to models like the Moog 35.
A third oscillator, against my expectations, isn't missed at all on this one - given that the thing has so much to offer elsewhere on the panel.

Also, from limited experience, it seems to me as if it's more stable than the Model D. 
I can't remember having had to retune at all, which is much needed on the D  - -  annoyingly so, especially with its knowb being tiny (which of course is part of the deal; one knows that before buying). This is in stable room temperature and the synths placed side-to-side on a table.

I've always loved the Minimoog to bits, but am now shaking my head in disbelief over the Model 15. Awesome.


 

1 hour ago, bass_dinger said:

As for my "homage" quip, that was simply me making a silly joke - "don't buy the Lego version, wait until the inevitable Behringer copy of the same synthesiser".  However, I didn't realise that Behringer had already released a copy - the Behringer Model D (and thus, spoiled my punchline!).

These things happen, and no apology needed.
Yeah, the Behringer was mentioned earlier in this thread, when we compared a potentially £300 Lego to a £169 Behringer. I guess you thought that was a joke (or didn't see it), but it was the actual price at the time. I got mine for slightly less even, at 1/26th of the Norse price of a real Minimoog.
I feel the Lego is cool as f, but for that money two Behringers give more sound. The Behringer hate must be strong in this one for me to opt for the Lego.

BTW, there exists a synth manufacturer who uses lotsa construction set parts. Say a knob is actually a cog.
Forgot the name and the details. Cool as the proverbial.

5 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

Lego will have a shock when they put it into production, only to find out that all the votes came from poor musicians who are saving up for the real thing, or were bassists, or are waiting for Behringer to create a homage to the original instrument. 

 

 

I guess Lego are fully aware of how these things work, BUT since they could be bothered to post it, maybe they are indeed willing to put it out - provided most parts are standard and don't require new molds to be made. Maybe every part must be standard; I don't know how expensive molds are these days.
If they do, then I gather only massive sales will see another model later - - though I think the model pool is very tiny indeed.

As to the "homage", I didn't understand your post.
Did you mean the Behringer Model D or a possible future homage that is more its own thing?

 

Absurd, and smells not like Tesco's official let's-drive-our-customers-away policy, but more like youthful staff having a larf.
Me, I'd be happy with a Barilla substitute for Garofalo, but would be willing to make lotsa noise when 3XL is changed into S.

Is this system designed so you can deny taking the nonsense without making lotsa noise?
In case: do they then fetch it, or do you need to go to a shop?

6 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

I don't care, didn't really think about targetting.  I'm just using the same parochial view that is frequently trotted out, but in reverse to prove a point.

Not good enough. We wanna read everything about this Ergo guy. Seems like quite the character.
😁

1 hour ago, steantval said:

Can anyone give me any advice on where to purchase a replacement jack socket, the enclosed black box type, that is soldered to the circuit board, they seem almost impossible to get hold of.

 

My bass is a 1994, 2 EQ Stingray.

 

I would be most grateful for any guidance.

Reportedly, and also from my own experience, Music Man are extremely particular about parts.
I think you're probably best off contacting them directly. They'll likely ask you to send the part to them before they'll send out another.

I hope I'm wrong, and that my case was the odd one out (took a year before I received a fitting pot for my NOS Bongo).

 

17 hours ago, jonno1981 said:

I’m guessing the production version would be £300+. 

Compare that to the Behringer Model D at £169. 🙂
(Though admittedly the latter is only a scale model. 😀 )

Much saddened by this.
Sam clearly was a very decent human. I believe her contribution to NHS as well as BC will be remembered.
May she rest in peace.

Thank you, Steve, for caring enough.

This thread brings back memories of the StingRay being introduced (how time flies) with lots of tech speak and calculations. This was supposed to show us exactly how and why the StingRay position made sense.
Corporate mumbo jumbo? Dunno, but the sound was convincing enough.
 

21 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Is there any advantage of using Hz/Volt for CV and S-Trig over the other methods?

No idea. I've never been knowledgeable in this, and also have forgotten more than I ever knew.
I've tried to have thoughts about this, and thought that maybe Hz/V is more easy to get right in the upper octaves. However, I do not know this, and it might be bollocks. At any rate, it seems limiting if all you have got to work with are limited voltage ranges - e.g. that V/Oct might give a broader frequency range without the use of expensive circuitry.

I do remember interconnecting my Kawai 100F with my MS-20, which gave that going down a half tone on one keyboard meant the other synth went up, but then with either a quarter tone or a whole tone - depending on which keyboard one played. 

Also, we had this interconnecting trick (do really not remember the specifics), whereby the MS-20 patch bay and the mod wheel together made interconnecting a "doddle" of sorts. You'd have to turn the mod wheel very carefully to a fixed position to get this right, and you lost normal use of the mod wheel. Ghastly, but still had a certain charm.

I vaguely remember having seen your circuit-in-jack-plug solution somewhere, but haven't used it myself.

Yeah, it seems a shame that standardisation hasn't occurred morely betterly.

On 08/04/2025 at 15:25, BigRedX said:

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.

Don't know yet (have not had the time), but have seen 1V/Oct, 5V triggers (the 2600 reportedly being the odd one out (10V IMS) even though it should normally work from 6V and up), and CV ranges from -2.5V to 2.5V (but I think I somewhere also saw -5V to 5V without me remembering the product that relates to).

One day I hope to find everything out for the units I have (or might buy later).
Right now stuff goes on in my life that keeps me from doing that.

I don't know to what degree stuff has been standardised lately, but Eurorack is reported as being non-standardised. I know zilch about Eurorack.

Thanks, @pfretrock. Really helpful.
Without knowing too much about this stuff, I think we may be seeing similar design quirks in the Behringer 2600 inputs.
Half-related only, and I've yet to write down the factual details, an opamp might be in order also to send sequences to the 2600, as it reportedly demands high voltages - - though reportedly not as high ones as the ARP 2600.
 

8 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

the strings hardly move! 

Aye, and I can find them a bit more easily.
Don't like rummaging.
 

Seems they might be going bankrupt in Holland now.

Before, Bax in Holland had a good name, and all the criticism I saw was about their UK branch. Unknown to me how and why.
Reportedly, also Bax Holland's name has gone down the drain recently.

Today (Saturday) one or more of their Dutch shops were closed, and the firm filed for "postponement of payment" or something like that, which normally is a step towards bankruptcy.
Dunno the finer details.

On 28/03/2025 at 11:50, BigRedX said:

 

IME semi-modular synths are always too much of a compromise.

 

I had a Korg MS20 in the 80s which promised much more than it actually delivered. Many of the routings that modular users take for granted like being able to use the audio signal as a modulation source were unavailable, and TBH the patch pay while looking impressive could have been quite effectively replaced with a few switches. Similarly with the 2600. I was helping someone out on another forum with a patch routing and it was very quickly apparent that in order to do what they wanted another VCA and EG were required. And this was for a fairly simple patch that most non-modular synths could achieve on their own.

 

Where The MS20 excelled was when you wanted to interface it with other equipment and when paired with the fully modular MS50, but IMO if you are going to do that you might as well build your own modular system from scratch, so you can concentrate on those modules that actually do what you want, and as long as you don't run out of Eurorack space, it's easy to add more VCAs/LFOs/EGs etc. as you find you need them. And if you don't find you need them you would have probably been able to make do with something non-modular.

Yeah, many fair points, I think, and I agree about the MS-20 patch bay.
As said in the 2600 thread, we tend to often want a module we don't have. With for example my poor-man's solution, one does have the extra VCAs and EGs, and gets those at a cost within reach, e.g. 1200 quid in total for the mentioned four synths.
In Eurorack, I feel one hyperbolically needs a degree in modules to be able to find the cheap modules that do what one wants, and then still has to invest in the cabinets.
But yeah, really attractive with separate modules these days. Back in the days when we could buy a 2600 or MS-20, the alternatives like Buchla, Moog and Synton cost a leg and a rib. Off the top of my head I can't remember much else.
BTW, I worked with all three brands, and did find the patching quite tedious back then; things have certainly changed.

Then there's the bread-and-butter sounds: quickly dialled in on a semi-modular, whereas on a modular, one needs to either patch or keep patches. Keith Emerson famously had parts of his Moog set up as separate synths - IMS one of those resembled a Minimoog.