RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

I have a lot of time for them . Always loyal to the fans after so many years . I got lots of memories at the time being someone from the nwobhm scene which was happening back then . Went to Kingsbury bandwagon etc and was a diehard fan . Saw them at various London gigs right up until the Rainbow gig You get the picture .. To condense things I do regret being a bit narrow minded and not seeing them with Bruce . I made up for that on the somewhere in time tour onwards . Gigwise over the years 3 things stand out : The loudest gig ive bern to ( manowar on the blow your speakers tour was close ) was the metal for muthas gig at the Lyceum . Probably about 3 encores but some people were actually leaving as Paul dianno kept asking the sound guy to turn up. Then the Clive burr benefit gig . They were not very loud that night . Then the time Anyhax were the better band at Wembley and it was the worst time I saw maiden . Pre Internet then , and apparently this was around 5he time that Bruce quit . I stand to be corrected . I'll leave it there ..

Okaaay... Slightly complicated to explain , but I have success . There are the various solutions that I have .. Worth baring in mind that the usb plus output must always be plugged into computer and mixer . 1) midi out from moog grandmother into minitaur . ( I think that I also used grandmothers usb as well at one stage ) The grandmother acts as midi controller. 2) on Reason using the Midi Out Device Rack works perfectly 3) GarageBand ; When I click Plug Ins , Minitaur Editor is recognised and works perfectly . However, it doesn't appear as a track so cannot be recorded As it does not appear as a track . Perhaps ( if I could be bothered as I am running out of usb sockets on Mac ) is I could use my old line 6 toneport ux1 and plug the minitaur output into that.Using the minitaur like plugging a guitar into the ux1 . There is one other thing ; my friend recommended a cheap 4Channel Midi interface as I have a few other midi devices . Initially the minitaur was not recognised on the Sub Zero device I purchased . I may try this on GarageBand later . So all in all , progress has been made . I do need a usb hub for my 2018 iMac and I may treat myself to Logic Pro as a Christmas present as I know the minitaur will work on that . Plus it looks like GarageBand of course, which as a semi novice bedroom hobbyist is fun and easy to use . I think that's as good as it gets , but of course your thoughts are appreciated

Thanks @Quatschmacher I went through the basic prreferences in GarageBand and reason checking the inputs etc. The Minitaur is recognised now, but still same issue. A friend of mine who is a keyboard geek , will nip over tomorrow and he'll probably sort it out for me in a few minutes . Then we go for coffee, or beer . I'll update tomorrow . It looks like there's nothing wrong with the Minitaur , and I'm one of those guys who always leaves great feedback on eBay and hopefully I can do that tomorrow all going well..

Panic over I connected the rather large old m- Audi o radium 49 keyboard into it with midi cables . 🤦 All is now well . A bit odd that the dfam didn't work on it , but as a midi synth it is awesome .

I purchased one from ebayer this morning . No sound,! Just wondering if I purchased a dud ,and will have to return ASAP Things I have done so far : Plugged in to my Mac via us, registered and downloaded software Software looks all good ..except the volume knob doesn't move around while the others do I have plugged my DFAM into the input jacks ...nothing . My iMac plus everything else is plugged into my usb mixer . I also tried the DFAM through the Minitaur Hadphones to see if that works . Again, nothing . I also plugged my oxygen 25 keyboard into GarageBand and Reason and played the usb pianos in those and ..nothing . The oxygen 25 was connected straight into the Mac as it only has usb .. I also plugged bass guitar into Minitaur input ...again nothing . What I haven't done : used midi cable from Grandmother to Minitaur . Does anyone think I've missed out something , or should I return item ? Thanls in advance

Another update : Minitaur arrived this morning promptly via parcelfarce 👍 I briefly plugged it in and plugged the dfam into it via headphones . No sound , although I will properly setup later and fingers crossed all will be well..

Akai mpk mini play is nice and compact . Nice drum pads .

Update : After watching more you tube clips on the sound studio and indeed the subharmonican , I decided against either of those . I decided against the mother -32 also . However...after seeing one particular item on the bay for a price that would be niggling me if I let it go, I have just pulled the trigger and a Moog Minitaur is now on its way to me . 🙀 Apparently only a month old , with Decksaver fully boxed with instructions etc I'll get the wooden brackets from somewhere at some stage , and potentially the stand . I don't want to go the euro rack route , and tbh I think that will be it as far as my analogue hardware instruments go . Of course I have lots of iPad apps etc but buying moogs and decent synths can be very dangerous . So in conclusion , I have Grandmother / DFAM / and minitaur to come . Any more thoughts welcome ..

Sounds like things will improve Steve . Your attitude and willing to learn is spot on,, and you seem to get on with the rest of the band members anyway . I've been the Anne Robinson of the band in most bands I've been in . In my situations ( and looking back in hindsight ) , it came down to me just not having the time due to constant work, different shifts , socialising , going to loads of gigs and buying new albums etc. That's the excuses out of the way .. I don't know if you play covers or not, but it helps imho Back in the day, there was no you tube and hot licks videos were expensive . Finding a music teacher and having the confidence to do so helps . Learning BEAD tuning is very helpful also incase you get band members who want to tune down in rehearsals and stops you feeling anxious and way out of your depth . It's not a big deal for me anymore . I suppose my last band that I was in ( I stopped playing now ) was possibly my biggest achievement . 4 of us met up to an ad which I placed in loot magazine . The singer was a nice guy who had grear notions about how we could become a regular pub covers band . The drummer was down to earth and laid back but was fed up of band politics and would walk if any started . The guitarist was very good , but his personality was strange . Nice guy but he used to play bass and never really had patience for me . Fair enough. Anyway, the singer kept cancelling rehearsals at short notice which annoyed us. We all went to see other bands in pubs often comparing them to what we could be . Our idea was to get to do our first gig, and take it from there . When we got to the first gig ( the grey horse in Kingston wow!😸) the drummer was late, the singer was awful. The guitarist was his usually good self and I was just " me" doing rock poses out of nervousness like I always did and kept time with everybody else . The guitarist told me I did the best . The next rehearsal we met up, and the drummmer told me I sounded much better ( I put in a shedload of practice in the xmas break ). The singer commented also about my improvement The singer then announced that ne couldn't make it to the next rehearsal ..the guitarist quit .He tried to take the drummer with him but surprisingly the drummer stuck with me and we changed the band name and found a friend of mine who was a singer plus 2 guitarists . That was fun , but most importantly proved with had work and the righ attitude I was co founder of a covers band which I thought nigh on impossible . Anyway ,I'm waffling but hope there's something above that helps

I saw a listing on eBay ( only one there at this time ) . The seller wouldn't mind a straight swap for the matriarch . Have you decided to go for matriarch , or still not sure?

I like him . Very talented . Doesn't take himself seriously , and has fun. Wish him well

Mmmm...difficult one . How important are presets to you ? Not sure the difference in size . Apparently , the matriarch is bigger than the grandmother . watching this with interest 😼

Bass whammy ?

Thanks for browsing . Lockdown has contributed to so much 😺

Link to my recording ? Not sure how to post links on forums , but my username is Mellowcat and the track is Bandit . The track with ring of fire is ring a ding ( sorry lost count 😼) Let me know good or bad, how it is 😼

The app is highly recommended ( by me 😼) . Kid carpet is really talented . I managed to record a few bits on soundcloud for a giggle . For me , the trumpet is the best sounding instrument on it . It didn't take me too long to record the intro of 'ring of fire ' on a track I made up 😹. My keyboard friend thought I actually sampled it from an original recording 😹

Back on topic . More albums that spring to mind : celtic frost - vanity nemesis Rolling Stones - high tide and green grass ministry- psalm 69 Mercyful fate - Nuns have no fun ep soundgarden - screaming life Trouble - either 4th lp or manic frustration cop shoot cop- consumer revolt Gang green - older Budweiser

You're right about Kirk . I saw him on you tube unboxing one of those bos sets, and he was doing my head in . So so whiny

Regarding metallica . Was a huge fan . Met cliff and co back in the day . Have all of their albums ( except lulu ) but let's be honest ..everything pre black album is their golden era when they were the underdogs and were what was needed at the time. Sandman could have easily been on the earlier albums blah blah blah . Yes the load / reload should have been a much shorter album . I last saw them on the last tour they played at the o2 . Still good , but tamer of course as you'd expect . To me , they now are just kiss2 ( money money money ) I offloaded the ride the lightning box set despite being at that Lyceum gig It was unopened . I offloaded the live binge and purge vhs box set . Why? Because they are as doctor j said 😸 I have the monster dvd , watched it twice . However ,it is too cringey to arch again . Ricky gervais style . I still have the puppets tour poster framed in my hallway as I guess it's " classic " but I am so borerd of them now . I may sell eventually , but I 'm looking for a decent poster to replace it with . The rush presto album cover would be cool . Not so dad rock 😸 Anyway ,back to the topic in hand ..

A bit of a mish - mash really . Not necesssarilly the artists most well known albums ( except s o d ) , but hidden gems if you like those bands . Then again propaganda is probably one of the best albums by sparks .

Sparks - propaganda Klaus Schulze - moon dawn Groundhogs - Hogwash Atomic Rooster - In hearing of Rush-Rush Stormtroopers of death - speak English or die Hawkwind - Hawklords Tangerine dream - underwater sunlight Crosby stills Nash and young - deja vu Jean michel jarre - waiting for Cousteau Kings x - anything really overkill- taking over Nuckear assault - the plague Swamp terrorists - grim stroke disease Thats enough to be getting on with 😊

In the 80's /90's when big stuff was albeit cheap and I had the room , I had various humongous size combo amps/ headlamps and cabs. My first being OHM , then H/H , peavy etc . When doing band rehearsals I played through trace Elliot stacks which looked amazing . After finally purchasing a trace Elliot combo, it was more awkward and heavier than Gemma Collins . It had to go . Best setup I ever had was in my last band last decade. It was an Aguilar AG head , and one of those Aguilar cabs in various colours . . I chose the beige . Mr drummer laughed before our first rehearsal when seeing it, saying it looks like something from a 50's coffee shop. After rehearsal he was astounded by the sound and changed his opinion . It sounded great through an 8 string also Thank god for technology .

That first pic looks like something out of bassist magazine 😼👍