TorturedSaints

Well, it wasn't quite last night, but on Monday night we (aka DarkSky) were in Box Glasgow in Sauchiehall Street. There's a nice raised stage with loads of PA aimed down the length of the bar. There was an acoustic duo, a female duo (electric guitar, and keys or flute) called Simply Sense, and us (DarkSky - www facebook.com/darkskyband) on last. FOH sound was done by Shep, the FOH sound was pretty good. Unfortunately, the monitor sound wasn't great, our singer complained about not being able to hear herself, and I had to stand close to the PA speaker on my side of the stage to hear myself. Everything was miked up, and the bass was DI'd from an Ashdown 300 combo, which I should have turned up a bit to help hear myself. I was playing my Overwater by Tanglewood Aspiration Elite that I bought from a fellow BC'er. There was a bit of a gap between the first and second song in the set as I tried to find out where the mellotron sound from my midi pedals had gone - swiftly traced to it having been unplugged from the DI box, as the DI box had been used for the previous band's keyboard! That sorted, onwards and upwards. It was hot, sweaty and fun, not bad for a Monday night and our second gig together. The only annoying thing for me was that the stage backline layout was fixed, so I had to play on the right of the drummer - something I've not done very often. I soon discovered that when he hits his crashes on the right hand side of his kit is not the same time that he hits his hi-hat, so I had to work very hard at listening to lock in with him! Those that were there enjoyed it - a few excerpts from our set, recorded from a Tascam DR from the mixing desk. [url="https://soundcloud.com/darkskyband/darksky-live-at-box-glasgow"]https://soundcloud.com/darkskyband/darksky-live-at-box-glasgow[/url] Now we need some more gigs!

There's a thread here : http://basschat.co.uk/topic/222721-foot-keyboards-or-something/ with some details of what I currently use. I think it would be easier for Mac, although I use a Windows Vista laptop, and so far it has worked just fine - the only problem came when I pressed the wrong pedal sequence on the PK5 and sent a CC message which was duly accepted by the soft synth. If you wanted to go the hardware route, then a MIDI module like the Emu Classic Keys has a great Moog sound.

Tonight! It appears that the Desert Roses have cancelled though, so there's Ryan Morecombe (acoustic guitarist singer/songwriter) and DarkSky (us).

Here's another vid, showcasing the half fretless NS/Stick. Music starts at 1.00 [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taQKRgP--bA[/media] I think I'm developing Chapman Stick GAS!

I bought a second hand one a while ago, because I thought the same thing as the OP. It's a really nice sound. You can play very complex basslines on it, and they don't sound like basslines written for normal basses because the strings being tuned 5ths apart - at least they don't to me! As well as that, it's better for playing bass chords on because of the voicing (the chords sound open, not muddy). There are instructional videos on youtube which explain this better than I can. In terms of transition from bass playing, I would say that it's different. I didn't do tapping on my bass before I bought my stick, so I can't say whether that would have made life easier for me in learning it. Going back from stick to bass, I have to be careful to fret with my left hand, rather than 'tap', but it's not a big problem really. However, the big downside is the amount of time that you need to learn it - I've been 'playing' it for over a year and haven't got to a standard where I would be confident gigging with it. I am more proficient on the bass side, but not so good on the treble side, where the strings are tuned in 4ths like a bass. I would say that if you are a proficient keyboard player as well (I'm not), you might pick it up more easily as you are used to having both hands doing separate things, if you want to play bass lines and melody at the same time. If you have lots of time to devote to it, then you will probably learn it quicker than I have, but I find it a fun challenge to learn. As you live close to London, you might well find a teacher, but otherwise it's self-teaching from books or skype lessons. The 'standard' stick is a 10 string (5 treble and 5 bass), which is what I have, but there are different variants. There is one (NSStick) that was developed in conjunction with Ned Steinberger and can be played like a bass with fingers/pick, but also can be tapped on the fretboard like a stick as well (Don Schiff of the band Rocket Scientists uses this for most of their recordings). Places to investigate are Stick Enterprises website at stick.com and stickist.com for info from people more knowledgeable and more skilled than I am. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Our first gig with the current line-up. Alternative rock originals, supporting a couple of other bands including Desert Roses. https://www.facebook.com/events/203672223163323/ More details from www.facebook.com/darkskyband It would be great to see any fellow BCers there! cheers Ralph

It is a VST3 plugin. If your DAW supports VST3, then it should work. Unfortunately Reaper doesn't. Shame really. Thanks for posting this anyway.

Interesting way of doing it, thanks for the MAX diagram. I think I'll stick to my Cthulu thanks as it's working for me.

Here's what I use: Roland PK-5A midi bass pedals (ebay £280) into USB-MIDI cable (£5 ebay) into old cheap laptop (running Win Vista, so quite old), running Reaper (£50 I think for a non-commercial licence) into VSTi EMU Proteus VX (free download), output via ASIO4ALL driver (free download) to laptop soundcard, to headphone out to keyboard combo amp. The Roland pedals are played in 'MONO' mode and thus once you have pressed the pedal down, the midi stays latched on until you select another note or press the 'MONO' button again. I can play chords through this by the use of another VSTi called Cthulu. (About £50 as far as I can remember). Although it's not its primary purpose, you can assign chords of up to 5 notes (I think, I only use 4) to individual keys on the Roland pedals. It works quite well for me live. It doesn't require any midi wizardry that can't be done using point and click on a mouse. The trick comes as I'm looking at 2 sets of music (one for the bass, although I can remember that one) and another, listing the pedals I have mapped the chords to. You might think it's easy, just map Em to the E pedal, but if you're playing chords at 1 bar intervals, there's a lot of demented hopping around if you were playing E/A/E/A etc. I actually find it easier to play (pedal wise) by using adjacent pedals, so in this case, I might program the C to play E chord and the D to play A chord. You will probably come up with your own method. I also play samples by using the free included sampler in Reaper, ReaSamplomatic5000. I assign different midi channels to samples, sounds from the soft synth and Chthulu song presets. During a set, I don't have to touch the laptop, having already opened the setlist 'project' in Reaper. All triggering/playing/chords are then selected by changing midi channel from the Roland pedals. Hope this helps,a bit.

Thanks xilldx! Comments appreciated. It's a learning experience for all of us. We are obviously doing something seriously wrong if it's sounding blatantly commercial.

Excerpts from the EP here: https://soundcloud.com/darkskyband/darksky-excerpts-from-our

There's a couple of ways I can think of doing the job off the top of my head. Assuming the iPad mini is like the iPad (sorry, don't have a mini) you could buy something like a Rode iXY which plugs straight into an Ipad. Apparently they are quite good mics, although I haven't used one. You get a stereo recording. Another way would be an iTrack from Focusrite plus a microphone. It would only be a mono recording rather than the iXY as the iTrack can record 2 tracks at a time but not in stereo, as one is a mic input and the other an instrument or line input. There is a free app to go with this interface (although it's free to all) search the app store for Focusrite, its icon is like a big old tape recorder. The advantage of an iTrack over the iXY is that you can use the iTrack at home as well as it interfaces with your pc/mac and software such as Audacity (free), reaper (un-crippled demo), and you can plug your bass into the instrument input direct. I have used the iTrack and it works well, it gets powered from the iPad too. There is a Focusrite iTrack bundle which includes the mic and cable if you don't have a suitable one. There are other plug in interfaces for the ipad, things like the iRig for example, but I know less about them. There are probably lots of ways of skinning this particular cat, depending on what else you have and your budget. Hope this helps a bit. cheers Ralph

Bought this thanks! It is a little bit cheaper from Plugin Boutique apparently, but I bought it from Time and Space. Already used it to put some chords under a raw, unaccompanied vocal from the singer. Worth a look.

Hi all, if you would like to hear my band's first EP, recorded, mixed etc by me, then here's the link: [url="http://www.nimbitmusic.com/darksky"]http://www.nimbitmusic.com/darksky[/url] Difficult to categorise for us - others have suggested we are 'alternative', compared us to The Cranberries, (not that I've ever heard them before), so I don't know where that puts us on the rock spectrum! It's all original music, anyway. I would call it rock though. The Nimbit site is currently set up as to offer free downloads, with donations welcome. You can always download it for free and donate later if you've enjoyed it. Feel free to comment here, We will be looking to get some gigs early in the New Year using this demo as a 'door-opener'. or 'like' us at [url="http://www.facebook.com/darkskyband"]http://www.facebook.com/darkskyband[/url] or on twitter.[twitter]darkskyband[/twitter] Enjoy cheers Ralph Bass gear used on recording: Fender Jazz MIJ 'Geddy Lee' Sig. Post-EQ DI from GK MB500 into Tascam US-1641 interface. edited to incorporate hyperlinks

Just to put the cost of this in context, the cost for an airline pilot's initial medical examination (which as you can imagine is fairly comprehensive) is £348. You ought to get a lot of medical for £500.

I bought a bass from Rob. It was a very smooth transaction, very well packed for shipping. Bass all as advertised. Top bloke, excellent communications (even to the extent of emailing photos of how the bass was packed!). Buy/sell with confidence.

Looks like a no from us at the moment. I don't want to keep you hanging on for a definite answer. Hope you find somebody.

Let me check with the other guys (and girl).

No, worked fine for me although I did get the download code via Time & Space. Sorry I can't be of more help.

[quote name='RalphDWilson' timestamp='1350577572' post='1840820'] Well, that band folded for various reasons. But the new band I'm in is looking for a vocalist! Here are some details: Male or female doesn't matter to us, you must be able to sing in tune, be easygoing and creative. We would like to hear a demo of your voice, and we are unlikely to be interested in singers without some experience. We are all in our 40s, so singers with a mature attitude preferred. We don't really have a fixed genre in terms of how we classify ourselves, we just play music we like but in the main it's rock music but we're not afraid to venture outwith this boundary. It's not really relevant to list our influences as everyone is different and we don't sit down and say "let's write a song that sounds like ****" for example, we just write what sounds good to us and everyone gets involved as a group. We all write and accept input into our songs,we have a few songs that don't have lyrics or vocal lines, indeed the vocal lines that we've written are up for grabs too so if you want you can change them. If you're a songwriter, then we'd like to take that approach to your songs too i.e. we don't want to be told how to play your songs note by note, but to work on them together and allow us some creative freedom too. Having a vocalist and another songwriter may well crystallise some of the songs and define the direction we go in as a band. We don't argue and are very understanding, tolerant and aware of the others. We have all previously played in bands before with each other and for reasons various we found ourselves between bands and wanting an outlet for the creative stuff. We rehearse (Glasgow at Berkeley2, but may be trying Jamhut and Sound Productions in North Ayrshire) when we can (we all work, sometimes strange hours) and meet regularly for a coffee and chat about band stuff. Our intention is to gig when we have a singer and a 40 minute set ready We've all been in 'rehearsal-only' bands before and it's a waste of time for all. We are not really interested in covers, we've got enough ideas of our own. [/quote] Still looking!

I have had a similar problem in the past, but there was no overlap in band members What worked then was to offer the bare bones of the song to each band and see which band 'ran' with it and greeted it with most enthusiasm. You soon get a feel for which band it suits best.

Slightly OT, but still to do with Soundcloud. I was surprised to find out that a website called freemp3x has available all my (former) band's music from Soundcloud, which is available on the freemp3x website for download. This is obviously illegal and immoral, but the website is based in Panama according to the discussion on Sound On Sound's forums, and hence not easily accessible to the rule of law. Apparently, if you keep your music in Sets rather than individual tracks on Soundcloud, it can't be ripped to this website. The link's here: http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=1031267&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=365&fpart=1#Post1032257#1031267

Now looking again!