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Practice gizmos


Telebass
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I don't gig any more due to spinal deformity, and haven't picked up my bass for over a year. Having dug up a little inspiration, I find my Tascam MP-BT1 is complete toast. Rats.

Any suggestions for a cheapie alternative, that I can connect headphones and line-in to?

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5 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

Yamaha sessioncake is cheap. Plug in your phone, tablet or MP3 player and headphones and you can play along. 

 

But if you can afford it a Tascam GB-10 is worth the dollar.

The Yamaha looks just the ticket, thanks! Would love the GB-10, but can no longer justify such a gadget, let alone actually afford it!

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I use a cheap Behringer 4 channel mixer, a EHX freeze pedal to practice against chord tones, and a TC Electronic wiretap for when you want to easily record those inspirational moments. And the mixer has stereo channels to input spotify etc.

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+1 for the Yamaha Sessioncake.  My only gripe about it is that it's battery only - yes, one can use rechargables but I would have liked a DC in option, especially seeing as it's so low voltage they could have used USB in and dialled it down internally from 5V to 3V.

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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. 

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11 hours ago, Telebass said:

I might just get one of these if things look up a bit.

 

They're pretty good little gadgets for home practice. There's threads here and on TB with tonnes of patches for them too, so there's no shortage of tinkering you can do. I only use a handful of them, but it's good to know I can play with it if I was after a particular tone

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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? 

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I like using a DAW for practice. It means I don't need an amp or effects, I just plug straight in to an interface box (Scarlet DI2 £70ish) and then use Reaper (free trial that never ends but its only $60 USD anyway) on my PC which allows me to drop in mp3's and then set up loops or slow the track without effecting frequencies. I've downloaded loads of free plugins such as amp sims and effects and cab sims.

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3 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

I like using a DAW for practice. It means I don't need an amp or effects, I just plug straight in to an interface box (Scarlet DI2 £70ish) and then use Reaper (free trial that never ends but its only $60 USD anyway) on my PC which allows me to drop in mp3's and then set up loops or slow the track without effecting frequencies. I've downloaded loads of free plugins such as amp sims and effects and cab sims.

Yes, a DAW is the most flexible of all practice tools.

You can make up your own backing tracks with a simple drum and chord track (or an MP3).

You can record what you play and listen back for improvements etc.

 

And at the end you can master your session down to MP3/WAV and force other people to listen to it 😉.

 

Edited by Nail Soup
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