RhythmJunky

Hello folks, I've taken online music lessons since before they became cool ( well pre covid anyway). My set up has been the same, a microphone and either my bass or my slab piano going into a small (none usb) Behringer mixer. The stereo outputs feeding into the inputs a Behringer UCA202 interface and a desktop (HP Elite intel i7). Cheap, but it's worked okay for a good few years. When my tutor sent me the mp4 of my lesson a couple of weeks ago, my voice was really low and difficult to hear, so I thought that I'd upgrade the audio interface to a behringer UCA22 (not much of an upgrade I know, but somebody down the road was selling one for £20). I tested it all by recording myself a couple of times, on a Zoom meeting and all was good. This was a direct swap for the UCA interface. In my next lesson my teacher complained that there was a bad echo on his end and the only thing that fixed it was by swapping the interface back to the UCA202. Does anybody know why an interface would do this ?

Sorry about the long delay. I hadn't checked back after a couple of days, but thanks everybody for the suggestions.

Not perhaps directly relevant, but I once managed to get a pair of twin rudders complete with connecting rod (ie about the size of a surf board) for a Hobie 14 beach cat through customs at a major UK airport unchallenged. I'd bought them used in Santa Cruz and flew back with them checked as hold luggage. Just wanted to share. Doubt it'd happen today.

Hi, I'm looking for a UK rock based summer school of around 4 or 5 days, that's aimed at....shall we say...the more 'vintage' crowd? I've looked at the BIMM courses etc, and they look perfect, but the average age seems to be around 18 or so. I was in touch with them today and they said that they don't do any courses aimed at the older demographic. Whilst I don't have any issues with that, I just think it might be a tad...well...weird..for me to join in as I'm fast approaching retirement age. I'd probably be as old as the rest of the band combined. I've been playing bass on and off for years and also play keyboards, but have never had the chance to play in a band for a variety of reasons such as work pressure (I used to travel a lot) and availability. I'd love to gain experience in a group and to be honest the entire concept of playing in public terrifies me. Thanks all.

Could you imagine the self assembly instructions that'd come with it ? Now where did I leave my Allen keys....

I recently bought a pair of DT770 Pros (also 250 ohm) and have had a pair of DT880 (600 ohms) for many years. I bought the 770's as I wanted something with better noise isolation than the 880's for practice. There's nothing more annoying than having the theme to Coronation Street bleed through when your concentrating on learning a new song..... They also both use the same drivers as the 990's (at equivalent impedances). In general they can be a bit low if driven by something that's battery powered like an mp3 player, but are fine with anything that's mains powered (provided you're not looking for immediate and irreparable hearing damage volume levels). The entire high impedance means low volume thing, is a bit misleading as its actually the sensitivity that's important, but higher impedance headphones need a higher voltage to drive them than lower impedance ones. That's why it's become a bit of an issue with smaller battery powered devices. (Just like agedhorse said). My favourite amp to drive the 880's is a diy valve amp that i made a few years ago and which can deliver higher voltages, but that's just headphone geekery and I'm probably biased...

Wouldn't you be better off buying a s/h pair of hifi speakers ? Something like Wharfedale Diamonds. I use an old pair of Acoustic Energy AE100s as my monitors above my piano. They're pretty small.

Oh yes, those are quite nice aren't they ! Like something of the set of Brideshead (or any other period drama that I'd never watch).

No, 'fraud not. Just the chairs. Didn't even know they did them tbh. Need to check those out.

We have the same taste ......in....garden furniture. I have just like that 😆

I gave up about 15 years ago because after having reached a level where I needed to get out gigging, I couldn't find a band that fitted in with my demanding day job (meaning unpredictable working hours, late evenings etc, not that I'm a world leading brain surgeon or anything). I've recently started playing again but can't see me getting out much until I retire in 10 years or so as the unpredictability hasn't really gone away.

There's plenty of options. It all depends on how much you want to spend and what you want it to do. My current collection of silent practice options include (but probably not limited to) : 2x Korg Pandoras ( I think ones a 3 and one a 5) 1x 8 channel Behringer mixer 1x Zoom B1 4 multi effects with line in and a few drum patterns 1x Boss BR80 micro ( a small portable digital recoder with guitar in and line in) 1xBoss DR880 drum machine with guitar in (no line in). 1x Peavey Minx 30 Watt combo with headphone socket, but again no line in. What do I use the most ? The Zoom B1 4 which I have plugged into one channel of the mixer. I have a digital piano and the drum machine and my computer also connected to the mixer. The computer runs Transcribe ! which is a really good transcription/ slow downer so that I can play along to any mp3 or video file I wish and loop it, slow it down etc and it even guesses the notes for you.

Is there any other way to buy a bass ?

Me too, but strangely i do like some Jazz basses. I think that the 4+1 headstock style on Fender 5 stringers is the epitome of ugly as its so unbalanced.

Oh yeah, Band in a Box is pretty good, but the jazz side is possibly better than rock. Great for knocking up backing tracks to practice along to. I was using it this morning to create some rootless II V I progressions to play along to (on a keyboard). Really, really useful for stuff like that. Took minutes to write. I've just realised that I have a tendency to collect practice gizmos. Is this a recognised medical condition ? Is help available?

Not a hardware gizmo, but Transcribe! from Seventh String is a great practice tool. It's a Windows app that allows you to speed up, slow down, repeat, loop, transpose etc any digital music. I'm just having a pause for lunch from using it this morning to learn Whiskey in the Jar (Thin Lizzy version). I've also got the Pandora PX4B, which I don't really use, and a Zoom B1 Four which I use all the time.

I know somebody who works with him and has done for many years. I can't be too specific. Your comments apparently are bang on. What you see onscreen is what he's really like. Completely devoid of any single redeaming character. Did you ever see that TV series where he toured Ireland with his wife in a car? Absolutely dreadful.

Thanks everyone. It just seems that keyboard players aren't as talkative as bass players. Who'd have thought ?

Another option might be to get somebody to change the input transformer for you to a 240v. I've only ever done it on a solid state amp, which was pretty simple, but it might be a bit more complex on a valve amp with the heaters etc. BTW the power reading on the back of the amp is possibly the consumption rather than the output, which is typically about 1/2 the consumption (roughly). Finally, you might be able to run it off a big yellow transformer like the ones builder's use. These are fairly cheap and powerful, but don't leave it plugged i when you're not using it or your electricity bill will rocket 😉

I've been on that as well thanks, I was just hoping that there may be an entire forum rather than just a section on another forum. The Piano World forum is probably the closest, but its all a bit serious and classically biased.

Thanks Skinnyman. I've enjoyed trawling through gearspace over the years and agree with what you say about the Newtonian nature of the reviews etc. Sound on Sound can be pretty good as well. I just wish that there was a keyboard equivalent of Basschat which is far more active in terms of the quantity and range of topics discussed, helpful and pretty friendly. Maybe that's just indicative of bass players as a whole 😆.

The title says it all really. Does anybody know of any decent keyboard forums anywhere ? I know Piano World and find it's a bit, well you know, b0ring, and Keyboard Korner which doesn't seem too active. Are there any that are even half as good as here ?

Something like the Zoom B1 Four would be ideal. It's a small, cheap multi effects floor unit with line in and headphone out. It has various drum patterns and some fairly usable effects. I bought a used one locally recently for £30, just because I couldn't not buy it really at that price. It will run off batteries or a dedicated power supply or even a USB power supply. https://www.thomann.de/ie/zoom_b1four_bass_multi_effect.htm As for which headphones, that's probably one of the more contentious topics on here... Everyone has an opinion, and nobody is trying to give you bad advice. There's just so much choice. For my tuppence worth I'd recommend Beyer Dynamic DT880 Pros, or you could try models by AKG (such as the K701 or K702) or any Sennheiser or various other brands. If you're trying to either exclude external noise or eliminate the sound of your playing from annoying others then buy closed back headphones rather than open back. My DT880s (which are open) don't leak much sound but I have some other open back headphones where you may just as well have your head between two speakers. Avoid bluetooth.

Am I the only person who so wanted that paragraph to end slightly differently? ....the following day it was perfectly fine, but later decided to go solo and was offered a contract with CBS......?

I got a Kay Precision copy for Xmas when I was about 18 from my parents, bought from a music shop in Oldham. It was natural ash, with a black pickguard. I loved it. I gave it away about 10 years ago to a local teacher who I knew and who used to give free lessons to kids who couldn't afford to pay. I asked her to give it to one of her students who she felt needed and deserved it.