RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

Nothing to be ashamed of . You play more then one instrument , so no need to be despondent at all . When doing the band thing , I preferred playing live and didn't mind rehearsals . The rehearsals were better when done regularly , but 4 hrs was too much . 2 was better , but you take what is given by the owners. I only played in covers bands , and recorded demos for pubs / venues 3 times . Always nervous ,and not experienced at doing it. We'd book 4-6 hrs ( apart from some dodgy guitarist who made us go into a cheaper deal and ruin everything). one cd was atrocious , one was much better and one I threw into the bin in disgust. I nearly forgot the best time , was when the bandleader recorded our sessions on GarageBand himself . That was really good . Calm and casual, and stress free . It seems like you'll move onto other things eventually anyhow , doing what suits you with your preferred instruments . When the fun stops stop , and find what's right for you .

Heavy handed and ham fisted before I found bass, I did have a hohner 2 black les Paul copy which was fantastic . However it had to go back to mummy's catalogiue to be replaced with a chunk of firewood called the Hondo 2 Bass guitar which was the right thing to do at the time . In one of my ver early places of employment , I purchased an SG Cooy from my boss for about £30 in 1981 I think . Didnt get on with that , so I offloaded that somewhere . I now have a strat copy gathering dust in the corner of my front room . Feels great , but I hate sunburst and not a fan of the jack socket . If I was to get a proper guitar , it would be a full body steinberger . Looks lovely . Headless design appeals also. It would have to be red , or white what Edgar Froese used . Either that , or something that is used by slayer...

When I used to do the band thing we'd have a 10 -15 minute break in rehearsals discussing the best way forward etc ,whether it's suggestions for new songs or things like this . Depending on the band , things were also discussed in the pub briefly over soft drinks if band members driving . Emails were used to confirm said discussions . It does seem bad form to email suggestions without previous discussion. One potential red flag imho is if other band members agreed to email being sent, and you got it as a surprise . Agree with all above ...

I almost forgot about this thread. I still get many random approaches from alleged record companies . The latest one was hysterical , from Gary Kelly Executive vice president and chief revenue officer at interscooe records. What I do find though regarding likes on my tracks ..so many are from milk club or bryder network . Some of these have a pretty ladies face on the notification . Regarding algorithms , I released a track called " set the timer to switch off when going to sleep". It was done quite a long time ago, when I was getting to grips with the recently purchased moog grandmother at the time . For some reason it's my most popular track. Lots of good and derogatory comments which made me laugh. One of the people commented about my good marketing plan,/ algorithm 😹 I am getting rather peed off with soundcloud now . I pay £10 pm . That's not enough for this asset stripping company! They keep trying to push for me to pay more . I do think about stopping it altogether , but I have a radio station created by them . Plus I do follow a few artists that I really like . Even one or two of them haven't used soundcloud for about a year. If you have any alternative sites I could consider instead , I'm all ears ..

Blur country house ? 🤔

Man thing is that it arrived ..hurrah ! Being accused of fraud is outrageous , and the seller should have apologised if the seller did the accusing imho. Now here's the rub regarding feedback ;; I'd do nothing . If the seller leaves positive feedback , all he better. I'd still do nothing . It sounds like the seller won't bother leaving any anyway . They may do, up to them I guess. Thankfully , I've still got 100% all positive feedback . 🤞it stays that way . It can lead to anxious moments buying and selling , as we know . I've had no feedback left at times , but thought " fair enough , no harm done " as at least it wasn't neutral or negative. Sending vinyl lps/ 12"s used to leave me worrying at times , plus liaising with buyer if they have received a special delivery and hearing nothing a day or 2 later. They lead busier lives than mine I assume , and I do receive reassurance eventually . I'd say if no bad or neutral feedback is left , forget about it and move on . Only imho of course .

I liked the track on the album at the time . " out demons out" . Don't know anything else about them . How bad were they ?😬

They may well have played there , but not on the album . There is a documentary about that gig somewhere apparently .

I purchased the triple Glastonbury Fayre LP in the very early '80s, being a massive Hawkwind fan at the time . It has the Pink Fairies who I was familiar with due to my brother having the Sweeties album . It wasn't cheap , as it as 'Rare ' 🙀 It had Marc Bolan and David Bowie tracks on there , and a whole side of Gong who were too much for me at the time .Edgar Broughtin was okay from what I remember . I sold it many years later , as I was never into festivals anyway , nor was I ever a hippy 😬 . ** I was way too young for that original gig , by about 15 years **

Thanks for the input regarding the stands . Good to know . I think I'll stick to what I have . I take it you're sending , or have sent the Aragon back to the retailer for refund . Hopefully you'll get something else , and not be put off entirely . For me, I don't like anything complicated. I stick with moogs ( grandmother, minitaur dfam ) , plus Waldorf streichfett and rocket . The streichfett is cheap and cheerful ...if you like the sounds . The only pita for me , is the size of the grandmother . I often think about trading it for a sirin which is expensive and discontinued , but it's just a minitaur but an octave higher, Not much menu diving for me 😬 I plug iPad into GarageBand when using other apps . Maybe Modal Electronics have gone the same way as Moog 🤔 Even Bass guitars , and multifx go wrong . Keep us posted

Just re read this thread. It seems like you should just send the Argon 8 back , and hopefully get a refund / exchange for something of better quality . I am interested in the K&M stand though .

So are you saying the K&M Stacker &Table Adaptor has collapsed all of a sudden ? I could have misunderstood , but you did say gone south . Sorry to hear about your latest woes . I don't know what could be done to sort out the issue . If it's the stand , would Thomann give a refund ( probably I'd imagine ) or further compensation ?? ( Cost of repair etc ) If unmarked , would you be dishonest enough to contact the sellers of the Argon8 claiming a fault with hopefully getting it fixed / replaced under warranty ?? Not advocating anything , and of course you could pay for repair if you wanted to . Please keep us updated . Things like this are really infuriating and have happened to many of us here and elsewhere . This is a downside of having a niche hobby I guess. The trouble these days is mass production , poor quality control and all things China, Indonesia and Vietnam seemingly. Hopefully you don't pack it in on the synth front . There are always apps 🫢😁 Is Behringher a route you'd consider , once you've calmed down ? At least their stuff isn't that expnsive in the scheme of things ,and wouldn't burn a hole so deep in the pockets . A lot of people despise Behringher due to ethical reasons . Also there's the sound you prefer . Probably not moogs . Also, could you get something more compact that you could use with your computer instead of needing a keyboard system .? FWIW, I have a coffee table that I purchased with my computer desk . I'm finding it a pita to find something that I can get to raise to put my moog grandmother synth on. It's just too low . The joys of music as a hobby ..😊

The Bush Hall. Is that Shepherd's Bush Empire under a different name ? Haven't been to London gigs for sometime 😬

This seems wrong on so many levels imho . Like him or loathe him , Johnny Rotten is one of the most recognisable front men / women in rock . To replace him is akin to replacing Freddie Mercury with Adam Lambert , although the circumstances were different obviously . Tbh and again imho, I think raw punk like this is for the young and that they are all just grumpy old men who can never get the vibe they originally had . I don't know Frank carter ( I'm out of touch I guess ) , and he may do a good job with them . It seems like a cross between a tribute act , and a cash cow grab. I could be wrong , I could be right . I never went , but heard about the negative vibes regarding the Finsbury Park gigs . Regarding the Billy Idol gig at Glastonbury , I saw that and it was like watching Dick Emery or Freddy Starr . I'd say it was time to give it up and do something low key instead . What, I don't know . Same in a strange way , with David Lee Roth . He needs to stop now .

Sold Ben a pedal , with no problem or fuss ! Highly recommended . A pleasant transaction with a pleasant Basschatter 😼👍