Annoying Twit

At the moment haven't decided how it is going to work. I was thinking that it would keep on recording a loop (but not playing it back) until the user presses a button to lock a loop. It will then save the last loop to one track, and then automatically move onto the next track. E.g. (in case this is not clear), the user might start playing with track 1 selected. If they play through a loop that they like and want to keep, then the press 'the button'. This saves the last (not the currently being played) buffer into track 1, starts playing track 1, and then moves to track 2. The next time the user has something that they want to store, they hit 'the button', and the last loops is stored into track 2, which starts playing. So, at this time you have track 1 playing, track 2 playing, and also whatever live audio is playing. With this, a sufficiently good player would be able to seamless play one track, and start playing the next, while still allowing retakes if they want to. (Which will be what happens if they don't press 'the button' after a loop finishes). An alternative method would be to have the new loop be automatically recorded when the loop finishes, unless the player hits 'the button' as an 'undo' function. But I think I prefer the 'hit button to lock loop' way of doing things. Therefore the loops will not wipe each other, but as they're stored separately, it will be possible to mix and modify them separately. With the simplest method of doing this being muting and un-muting of tracks, which I've seen people using quite effectively on Youtube videos. I've used the PortMIDI library before, and that will make it easy to add MIDI control to it. I want to have a built-in drum machine, at least a very primitive one, and some sort of after the fact mixing ability. Using a MIDI keyboard with knobs that send control codes will be the easiest way of doing that. I own a Korg Nanopad, and thought that I'd maybe use that as the 'buttons' to control the system. But, it's tempting to use a better interface and allow the looper to have MIDI tracks that control outboard gear. Not for version 1.0, but it's very likely that 'the button' being MIDI will happen. It's still only on my Mac at the moment, but when it's a bit more progressed (no chance this coming week - first week of teaching for me), do you think you'd be able to give it a try?

I also think that looks quite nice.

[quote name='topo morto' timestamp='1380447157' post='2225244'] "Collection in person" + "Not obviously sought-after item" maybe? [/quote] As far as I can see from a quick Google, this is MIJ. I played a MIK Jackson which I thought (I'm not a super reviewer) felt really nice. Though even at the £100 second hand price, I wouldn't really feel right with something quite that fluorescent and pointy. With a case, this looks a super bargain to me.

There are a number of sold Tanglewood Warriors on ebay, which suggests that the going price is about £70-110. I haven't played one so can't comment on how good they are. If I was looking for one, I'd be prepared to bid an extra £20 for that one because the finish is IMHO so nice. It looks a lot better than the solid coloured finishes.

Am I missing something here, or was this a massive bargain? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jackson-Futura-EX-Professional-Bass-Guitar-/321213373200?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4ac9cf1b10

Now it's finished, would it be possible to hear what it sounds like?

This is brilliant. I wish I'd been following this thread from the start!

Thanks for the wiring advice. I'm waiting on some shielding tape bought on ebay to arrive, and will go through the electronics when it arrives. This is sort of embarrassing to admit, but I actually don't have a bass amp. I play through a Zoom B2 on headphones for reasons of domestic harmony. When I got together with some people at work for a jam session, I used a borrowed Laney amp, but it's not mine. I keep thinking that if our trio develops, then I'll need an amp, but for practice, learning, and general mucking about, zoom + headphones seems to work fine. I even sometimes use my guitar Roland microcube + headphones so that I can plug my computer in to provide backing tracks. My Cimar bass sounds really nice through everything I play it through. So, I don't it's the lack of EQ/processing that means I don't like the sound of the Shine so much. I just think that the Cimar sound (very similar to a Rickenbacker) is the 'sound for me', while in general (e.g. Eastwood Classic 4 is an exception - perhaps other shortscale basses with a neck pickup next to the neck) double humbuckers aren't. I'd like to give experimenting with wiring, as suggested by Karnage, a go.

That's amazing. And it was so quick too. Really enjoyed following the birth of this beauty.

BTW: I thought this bass was more incomplete than it is as I didn't spot the wooden covered pickups, and thought they were empty holes. I changed the post but forgot to change the thread title.

Looks a touch Wishbassy (or vice versa). Seems a bit odd to use an unstrung picture then to say it'll be strung and set up before sending. With the wooden pickup covers, at first glance it looked partially complete to me. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=181226758813&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

Hi all. I'm starting a DIY looper. I plan to build it using a USB audio interface connected to a Raspberry PI computer (to provide the computing power). In theory, that should allow enough memory and processing power for a decent looper, but also allow things such as network connectivity (ethernet) and the ability to connect a keyboard/mouse and monitor (if HDMI). Though, I hope to use footswitches and LEDs to make a 'stompbox' style looper out of it. The first stage is going to be writing code that actually does the looper. I've started on this, except that I'm programming it on a Mac. I'm being careful to use programming libraries that are available on the Pi, and hence my code should transfer over no problem at all. I'm not creating the interface yet, but have to type in text commands to make it do stuff. I'll later on have to work out how to use footswitches to make it do equivalent things. Here's what a current session looks like. [quote] ./rplooper I am initialising Cannot connect to server socket err = Connection refused Cannot connect to server request channel jack server is not running or cannot be started RPLooper is running metro volume 0.7 metro on timesig 4/4 timesig 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a beat division division beat division division beat division division recording Recording is 1 play store 1 export junk.wav Now in true exporting mode No going out of export mode I am now saving to junk.wav quit [/quote] Tonight I hope to fix up the issue of compensating for audio delay when recording, and also be able to import loops into one of the (currently 16) tracks on the looper. That'll make it a lot more useful than it is now. My big problem, and the reason I'm starting this thread, is that I don't have a looper myself and haven't used one. Hence I don't know exactly how the 'workflow' works. At present my looper, when recording live, puts it into a buffer. At the end of the loop, it keeps on recording. But, if you leave record mode during that time, it's the previous loop that gets saved to a track. That allows me to play for an entire loop, then have a reasonable amount of time to store the last complete loop. If I watch Ed Friedland looping as in here, he starts a loop looping back and progresses to the next loop instantly the first is recorded. My method also won't work for long loops as the player will have to wait too long. So, how does that work? Edit: I thought about how it might work. If I'm recording a loop, I buffer the previous loop (which I'm doing now). I could have it that a single foot button stores the previous loop. Hence if I'm playing and want to change the layer I'm playing, then all I have to do is start playing the next layer when the loop ends, and hit the foot switch while playing so that the previous loop gets stored, and continues playing. If I want to do a retake, then all I do is continue playing while not pressing the button. Is that how they work?

£200 for a Concord. Though, I predict this won't sell at that price even given what looks to be very good condition. I've watchlisted it to see if I'm right. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1984-Westone-concord-bass-guitar-MIJ-/151131180370?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item23301ecd52

I'm quite bullish with my lowball bids. I put lots of low bids out there, and never actually seem to buy anything unless I make a serious bid. I just thought it looked interesting, and I do want a fretless. In hindsight, it probably would have been a bad purchase for me, but on the other hand, I didn't purchase it. If I had managed to win it, well then for a relatively small amount of money I could see what a custom bass is like. Edit: Also, if I had won it, I could follow the lead of a well known ebay bass rebuilder, take off three of the strings, and sell it as a bass for playing by trained dogs. Edit: Here's an example lowball bid. £15.22 on this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westfield-Bass-Guitar-B1000-Metallic-Blue-BNIB-NO-RESERVE-/200968102606 With £10.99 postage, that would be about £26 to me if I won it. But I bet it sells for about £50 or so. And that it'll be well worth that for the buyer.

This has been up once with a low reserve. I put a lowball bid on it, but then the auction was pulled. The bass was listed again with a starting bid of £350. It sold for £540. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111171840015?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649"]http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1438.l2649[/url] Strangely enough, the same seller has now relisted it again with a BIN price of £895. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DP-CUSTOM-FRETLESS-7-STRING-BASS/111176502674"]http://www.ebay.co.u...SS/111176502674[/url] The seller might have saved some time if they'd just listed it for the price they're prepared to accept in the first place. And if it is a case that the seller refused to sell for the winning price, they may well have just alienated one or more of their potential buyers. Which for a specialist item such as this might be a small number of people. Edit: Hmmm.... bought for £535 in June? If that's an identical one, it could hardly be custom. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DP-Custom-Fretless-7-String-Bass-/221243471702?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3383237756"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item3383237756[/url] Edit: Yep, the buyer of that bass has 128 feedback, as does the repeated reseller.

Thanks again. I've purchased the tape as in the ebay link, and will look carefully at your pictures as an example when I attempt to shield my 'experimental' bass.

Thanks very much. I presume you're using a similar product to, say, this one: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Guitar-Pickup-Copper-Foil-25mm-x-4m-Shielding-Screening-Tape-Conductive-Adhesive-/290972996874"]http://www.ebay.co.u...e-/290972996874[/url] It would probably be cheaper to buy it from the UK, but please tell me if your source has a higher quality product or if there is some other reason why it would be better to buy from Holland. I'd been wondering what to do about shielding, and the tape sounded a bit fiddly. But looking at your very neat work, makes me think that I should give it a go. DId you cut yourself on the tape? I've read that when shielding with copper foil, it's near inevitable that the person doing it will suffer a few paper cuts.

Can I ask you what sort of tape you've used, whether it has a conductive sticky side, and the function of the green wire? How to you make sure that the shielding on the cover is electrically connected to the rest of the shielding?

Interested in bringing this thread back from the dead. Infinity basses are an internet only cheapie from Germany. If I remember correctly, one of the ebay users selling them was called 'beatbacker'. I have a memory that there was someone on here that bought a six string Infinity fretless to use the neck for a project that they had. That was the thread I was searching for when I found this. I'm curious to see what the previous person who bought an Infinity for a project did with it. There's a fretless six-string on ebay at the moment: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Infinity-6-string-fretless-bass-excellent-condition-/261294722407?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cd6610d67 This triggered my curiosity, though I'm not going to be buying it myself. I see that Lord Sausage is still active on BC, but I can't find a build thread for this project. Is there one?

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1380010551' post='2219322'] Having one built is something to consider. I was looking for something similar a while back. After looking at all the usual suspects and not finding what I wanted, I had a short scale (30") bolt-on headless built by Paul Rose. This breaks down into two parts and fits snugly inside my regular suitcase. Easy to reassemble at the other end. Build quality is functional rather than boutique but it''s a very robust and playable little bass. The sort of thing you can chuck in and take anywhere without worrying too much. It's been abroad several times and I often throw it in when I travel in the UK. I've only used it for practice but it's gig worthy. The only other 30" headless with a bolt on neck that I could find was the Traveler Escape Mk-II bass. I like the look of this but it was a little more than I wanted to spend at the time. - [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/traveler_escape_mkii_bass.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...e_mkii_bass.htm[/url]. [/quote] Are you saying that it cost you less than £419 to have a whole bass made for you by Paul Rose?

This is definitely an eyecatching bass. Possibly in more than one way if the player wasn't careful. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yaleng-Bass-Guitar-Incredible-body-shape-with-fitted-Flight-Case-STUNNING-/261293122671?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cd648a46f

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1380024353' post='2219635'] I suspect you'd get bigger bonus out of changing the pre-amp rather than the pickups. G. [/quote] That's an interesting suggestion. I'm not yet entirely convinced as to my ears it sounds as if the EQ on the bass is very powerful. But with the EQ flat, I don't particularly find the basic sounds of the pickups inspiring. I'm still curious about seeing if it's possible to coil tap the pickups if they have wires for that. My Rockbass has a similar sound with its humbuckers, but my Cimar has pickups that sound excellent to me. Perhaps I'm a single coil bass pickup kinda guy. I've just quickly checked the sounds at the Lakland bass site, and the bass which is probably most similar to my Shine in terms of having humbuckers and pickup position is this one: [url="http://www.lakland.com/ac_4401.htm"]http://www.lakland.com/ac_4401.htm[/url] Despite that having Bartolini pickups and a pre-amp, I don't find that to be an inspiring sound, and prefer the sound of their Jazz basses. However, I really like the humbucker sound on the Eastwood Classic 4. I presumed I was going to buy one until I got my Cimar which can have a similar sound (except not the fatness on the short scale classic 4's G string). [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmSUjhcJaPo[/media] It seems that for me, to like a humbucker sound, there has to be at least one humbucker right up at the neck. However, this is Ed Friedland playing, and he always seems to get great sounds. Other youtube videos showing off the same basses often sound much worse. If I'm looking at top range pickups and preamps, Nordstrand, S2, or Bartonlini, that's a fair chunk of cash. I'd like to be careful that there's at least a fair chance that I'm doing the right thing before I start buying stuff. Edit: These are expensive pickups, but this (at the beginning) is precisely the bass sound I don't want, and the Shine bass has a bit. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNipYNbjfes[/media] I'm personally wondering if I need to experiment putting the bass through a graphic EQ and compressor to see how much I can scuplt the sound I want that way, rather than just changing the bass.

Thanks. But, despite preferring the foam mute the first time I tried it, on subsequent tries, I think the inconsistency of the strings is too much of a compromise for the minor tone improvement. So, I've switched back to not using the mute. The whole point of what I'm doing is to try things, so at least I've now got a better idea of what a foam mute achieves. I've been playing the Shine more now that it plays better. I'm starting to address the degree to which other strings ring in sympathy, which can create a wall of mud obscuring what is being played. But I need to get a LOT of hand (both hands) onto the strings to do this. I've just had a quick play of my Rockbass (Streamer STD) that I keep at work. This also was experimented on, but in a different way. I sent it off to a technician to have it professionally set up. It certainly came back different. Comparing it to the Shine, I think the Shine now has the better setup and plays better. The Shine has lower action with less rattle and other unfortunate side affects. So, it looks as if what I have done is comparable to what I would have received if I'd paid for a professional setup. I'm not sure what I should do to the Shine next. I'd prefer to practice shielding on something with a much less crowded electronics cavity than the active Shine. New pickups might be interesting, but they'd be expensive and I don't know for sure that they would subjectively (for me) improve the sound.

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1380000434' post='2219234'] I think my general point is not to anyone in particular but just a general rant that Westones are not appreciated or trendy. The build quality and parts on many is right up there with the equivalent Aria models. However, without the links to Cliff Burton and John Taylor, Westone stay firmly in the perceived "Japcrap" division. Good for me, in that I can buy awesome cheap basses, but I would love more people to discover and appreciate them too. [/quote] I was using myself as an example, and surmising that others may be in a similar situation. I think that Westones are valued, but there is the matter of supply and demand. The Japanese Westones are now all 20 years old or more. But there are still plenty of them around because basses are an item that tends to be robust and last a long time. In the meantime, there are loads of worthy basses being sold. CV and VM Squiers, nice Yamahas such as the RBX260s, 270s, 370s. And as they are sold they enter the population of desirable basses that may hit the second hand market. Meaning that the supply side is quite high. Initially the VM and CV Squiers sold for money close to their new prices as they were desired and there weren't too many. The second hand price for those seems to have edged down a bit recently. As Squier continues to build and sell large numbers of these, I wouldn't be surprised if the second hand price for those heads down to the prices Westones typically sell for. Not because they aren't worthy or valued, but simply because there are a high number of worthy/valued basses out there competing for the second hand buyer. And if Westones suddenly did become more valued so that everyone was chasing them, that would mean that there would be fewer people chasing CV/VM Squiers and the better Yamaha RBXs. So then perhaps you have Yamaha RBX270/370s selling quite frequently for £50, instead of just occasionally. And then we have someone on here asking why these instruments aren't more valued.

Over on the ebay forum of moneysavingexpert.com, they take some delight in pointing out shill bidders that end up buying their own item. It's [b]possible[/b] that this has happened in this case. If it was a simple case of a non-paying bidder, how would the seller know in that short time. It's also possible that the seller decided to not sell for that price even though the buyer was genuine. But in that case, why relist for 99p with no reserve?