SICbass

I'm a freelance bass-player (currently umemployed 😐). I also do occasional voice-over work, which I'm desperately trying to crank up just now as I can do it from home. The German authorities opened a platform to provide financial support for freelancers at 12:00 - there are, at time of posting, 50,618 ahead of me in the queue.

That sums it up rather neatly.

Did a show in my regular lounge gig last night after which they‘ve closed the doors until April 19th. After that there‘s a show I‘m not involved with, so my next (theoretical) gig would be May 28th. All gatherings of 50 or more people are banned so I‘m out of work. Is there a scratching head emoji?

My bread and butter gig, a show in a hotel 5 nights a week closed its doors after the show last night (upon order of the state authorities here in Germany) until April 19th. The current show would have run until then and I‘m not involved in the next production, so I‘m just a little bit screwed. It’s the nearest a freelancer can get to being made redundant. The city has banned all gatherings of more than 50 people so all other gigs are gone too. I‘m still digesting all this.

We‘re booked to play a sold out club tonight. Disco dancing, sweaty and full. The majority of the band are for cancelling. I haven’t reached the manager yet but I’m pretty sure we’ll have to pull the plug on it. According to the press, the local authorities here are extending their ban of larger halls to smaller clubs anyway which spares us the agony. However, we are all full time musicians who do this for a living. Having resisted overreacting up to this point, it seems to me that cancelling now is the responsible thing to do.

@GisserD I really Like the look of that. I'm curious about the knobs. Are the indented? The ones in the FI aren't, which, if you need to do any tweeking on the fly, is a real drag. In particular the parameter knob - you have to turn it with the light touch of a safe-cracker and thereby count how many times the LEDs have gone off and on again in order to know which parameter you have selected. It's a bit like that Dirty Harry moment..."So, what you have to ask yourself is this. Did the LEDs go off an on again 5 times or 6? Well, did they? Do you feel lucky..... punk?" You get my drift.

@Quatschmacher I'm afraid I'm not able to check at the moment because my pedal is semi-permanently installed at the show where I work. If I took it with me my colleagues would be a bit knackered.

We‘ve already had our first cancellation from a client. A corporate gala planned for Tuesday is now off.

Coolness and humour in perfect harmony.

In all fairness, your theory is far more entertaining and, frankly, in line with my level of tech savvy.

@Sibob You write Novation after your name. Do you work for them? If so, I have a follow-up question. Bear in mind, I ain't too bright, but... How do I match the volume levels of different patches?

I've figured it out. I had the BS 2 linked per USB with the computer so that I could review patches. I also had MuseScore open to read the parts. I neglected the fact that as well as showing the dots, MuseScore has internal voices for checking arrangements (the default being a piano) and the BS2 was triggering this. Doh! 🤦‍♂️ Smart boy wanted. Thanks for your help, P.

Hi Guys, I have Logic, but it isn’t opened up. Si, your point about it not being capable of making a piano sound, that‘s exactly what I was thinking, which makes it all the more perplexing. It must be erroneous sound from somewhere but being as Logic wasn‘t open... hmmm Not a problem as such, just very odd.

I've been goofing around with my bass station 2 - loads of fun. However, sometimes (at the moment, all the time with all patches) I can very clearly hear what sounds like a piano sound layered beneath the sound I'm playing. I can only hear it through the speakers on my mini mixer, not through the built-in headphone output on the keyboard. Has anyone else experienced this or am I losing it? Cheers in advance.