mcnach

I see! I was losing track of where we were going with any of that Erm... yeah, my mobile phone would be my backup for the tablet, should it fail.

Oh, and about n-track and mobile phone/android... For me it's not about having a full DAW (a laptop is not a lot bigger and much better suited). I was recording basic ideas on my phone alread, press record, away you go. But that was a bit too basic. With n-track (or garageband for Mac etc) you can use a decent sounding drum track (loops, or imported, or using the built-in drum machine... your choice), and add some bass, a couple of guitars, some vocal cues, or basic synth sounds, with ease, like the old tape multitrack machines. Much like in the old days I had a 4-track tape machine instead of using my little cassete player to sketch my ideas. The difference is I had to save to buy my multitrack machine (£4-500 in 1994 was a LOT of money to me) while I only had to pay $30 I think it was to get the app and use it on my phone or my tablet. It was worth it to me and I only use a fraction of its capabilities. I hope this clarifies the mobile DAW thing... edit: and as @Cuzzie indicated, there's even a free version of n-track, I forgot about it. I just tend to like to pay a little when I find an app that really works for me, even if I could live with the limitations of the free versions. But that's just my choice. I'm pretty sure n-track is just one of many similar apps (the reason I chose it is that I had used it years ago on an ancient PC and I liked their approach, very simple). I think this is as much of a derail I can take until next week

You're somehow fixated with the DAW example I mentioned I don't do that sort of stuff with any DAW of any sort. I only said I 'discovered' this idea about having a 'bump' just at the corner of the frequency you're setting your filter at with my D800+ (the counterintuitive to me, at the time, set the HPF to cut higher, but also boost the bass EQ control), and that the DAW shows you exactly how that works in practice, so in that particular recording session I found it easier to communicate what I wanted to do to the bass by actually changing the EQ curve on the screen. The Broughton unit is supposed to allow you to play around with that 'bump' on both the HPF and the LPF so the effect should be reproducible with it, hence my original interest in it.

Yup. You can run n-track on your mobile phone, in fact. That's how I started using it, as I wanted something to catch ideas anywhere fast. I only moved to a tablet because the screen was too small and kept hitting the wrong keys but the functionality is there.

Out of curiosity: has this changed during the pandemic? With the people I play with, it was only a few that would regularly record at home, but now nearly all of us have some way of recording and sharing ideas. Nothing amazing, just enough to share basic demos. I have used Reaper and Cubase in the past, although probably using 5% of their capabilities. Now I tend to do everything on n-track and an android tablet, as basic as it gets, but it's enough and extremely easy to use, the closest to the old tape multitracks we used to play with years ago.

My DAW experience is very rudimentary. In the case I mentioned I was simply dealing with an EQ curve basically, which I'm familiar enough with in relation to bass: my mixing abilities are not very good, I just have spent enough time with EQs to have a sense for what I want to do to a bass sound in order to fit the way I want it... roughly. On a DAW you just have a nice big graph that you can play around with But yeah, we've departed a lot from the main topic, the OP will tell us off any minute now

That's a shame, they're really good! I hope I get to see them live sometime then.

But it isn't, it's super easy on a DAW, it's visual, move a couple of points, sorted. Or maybe that just comes easier to me, a couple of years ago we were recording one song for a charity CD thing and I was not happy with the mix, I tried to explain to the guy recording us what I wanted but he wasn't quite getting it so he let me have a go... got it straight away. I don't know a lot, but I know what I like, I guess. Actually, come to think of it, the way I 'discovered' that was with my D800+. Literally 2 controls: the adjustable HPF and the bass EQ control. I accidentally found that if I turned the bass higher than I wanted and used the HPF to slightly 'trim' the lowest end, I get that fat bass tone that retains definition and has no flab. It's been central to how I EQ my bass ever since.

The HPF and LPF (it's the LPF I was more interested in) work just as expected and are great, although the LPF should go lower than it does, it turns out, to make me love it (I have an SFX Thumpinator + adjustable LPF that fits my preferences better... I really just wanted it to have adjustable HPF too, which the Broughton does). The midrange EQ is great too. It's the resonance filter aspect that I need to work on. I have used the adjustable HPF on my Mesa D800+ in combination with boosting the bass EQ to get that bump at the low mids while cutting the far low end and it's very nice... I wanted to be able to get that sort of effect on the Broughton unit in a bit more directed manner. I'm sure it'll do what I want, but it covers a wide range and I found it easy to get some frankly pretty bad sounds out of it. I'm not one to spend a lot of time getting to learn how to use an FX pedal: I want them simple and easy to use. On paper it should work, I just need more time with it... but if it turns out to be too fidgety I'll move it along. Backup?

That's really good! Do they have any recordings out? There's just a couple of songs on Bandcamp that I could find.

That's nothing, I have a spare box of batteries. It's empty, but the other box doesn't know it, its purpose is to make them feel expendable, so they try their best not to fail.

You're relentless! (But I like you that way :p) Got the Broughton thing but I've barely used it yet. First impression is ok, just not as intuitive to get where I want to as I hoped. I'll update the thread is due course, and will include clips now that I've finally opened all my boxes after I moved and got all my gear connected. You'll derive a small amount of joy when I confess publicly that I may not like it as much as I thought I would Oops...

I always wondered what it would be like if I just took a microphone and hummed my basslines. I did it during rehearsal once for fun and it wasn't as bad as I expected! But nowhere near as good as I'd be comfortable doing in your situation However others may be much more talented than me in the vocal department (easy feat).

I don't know others, but I even bring two hands to every gig, and two ears although one may not be plugged in. I wouldn't like having to rely on whetever the sound engineer has in his bag of stuff...

The first 27 times was moderately funny, now... ah what do I know?

I hope you unplugged it very very slowly while looking at him in the eye

Simples: If the 'backup' is so small that it guarantees you'll actually take it with you, rather than leaving it behind most times, hence becoming a non-backup-really. Just one possible scenario that has been mentioned quite a few times since those tiny weeny ones starting to be produced.

That aspect is well worth repeating regularly, as it can cause confusion. I still get caught! Almost everytime I need to adjust mine (rarely) it's a 'doh' time

It depends on the neighbour's tolerance but if you share a wall, they'll be able to hear it. Try to use a room that's not directly adjacent, but based on the layout you may still want to watch your volume sometimes. Besides that, I would talk to them very early on to let them know that you like to play bass and will try to not bother them, but because it's a new place for you and not familiar how sound travels there to please let you know if there's any noise leaking. People tend to be friendlier when you approach them like that.

I never thought I was the adventurous type, but I guess I am then

I should check my crystal ball before leaving the house more often...

Oh, we have indeed! Good times

NOt an iPad but an Android tablet user here, and having both iRig2 and the Solo, I'd say go for it. Nicer in every respect and if I can use it anybody can In addition, you can power the Solo directly from the iPad/tablet which comes handy sometimes.

The Verve - in Norwich around 1991 in a small bar, before they became big. I didn't know who they were, I just went in because there was live music. Entry was £3 or something like that. Uninspiring drivel. After nearly falling asleep on my beer we decided to walk away and find something more interesting to do, like watching grass grow. Gogol Bordello - Glasgow 2017. Terrible terrible sound, couldn't really hear half of the musicians onstage, and except for one guy dressed like a pirate they all looked like they were going through the motions. Eugene, singer, looked particularly bored and uninterested, bringing props and doing things as if 'it's expected'. Here came the obligatory bottle of wine pretending to take swigs of (mostly falling down his chest) and spraying those on the first rows with it (nearly got me). After around 40 minutes I left. The good thing is that Lucky Chops were their support (a superb and funky badass brass band) and they were amazing, beautiful sound, great show... I was a fan already but they went above and beyond what I was expecting. Sea Bass Kid - Edinburgh 2012. Yeah, my band Outdoor festival. After getting crap repeatedly from some ignorant cnut who was part of the organisers because according to him we were too loud, despite my pointing to him every time that it was THEIR engineers who actually controlled the volume out there by the mixing desk. We were all getting annoyed at this guy coming on stage to tap us on the shoulder and yell at us. Guy comes again and grabs my shoulder. That was it. He was lucky he didn't eat a slab of ash that evening.

Small world! I was living there between 1990-1994, but the fish&chips experience was in 1989. edit: and I remember enjoying Boddington's cream ale next door... and telling someone after a few pints "this beer is amazing, my English has improved so much since I started drinking it!" but my friend replied "that's what YOU think". Ah well, I decided that it was only wise to repeat the experiment to see who was right. Many many more visits followed.