mcgraham

Only just caught wind of this tonight. Truly sad and has really hit me considering we were just catching up over PMs at the beginning of August! He was a fantastic, warm, good-humoured and humble gent, and the world has been bettered for him having been in it. I cannot, unfortunately, make the gathering due to work commitments. My prayers are with his family. Mark

Oh dear... Someone had to go there I guess.

In the interim, I'm setting up a purely analog/pedal based and mono solution for what I want. In time I'll figure out what I want/need to create my ideal/dream wet/dry/wet arrangement and get the bits I need as I go.

Cool. So there's actually a variety of different ways you can do it? Either from the controller end, or from the mfx end (depending on the functionality of the two). Dood, the FCB/FC200 is a bit massive for my needs... are you aware of anything smaller/more compact?

Hey dood, thanks for the input. As I say, I've not got anything yet, but I'd like to look into something that I can set-up as above, but that would also allow room for change later on. As this is going to be a wet/dry/wet type affair, I've already got the drive/amp dry centre channel sorted. I've been messing with the wet left and wet right being fed from the dry, but it's not quite ideal. I'm not super fussy and would happily use this setup live, but I'd like to look into creating a simple w/d/w setup that can give me real on-the-fly flexibility in the above manner. It's really the ability to a) retain dry signal integrity; and b ) use an expression pedal to control delay mix that's got me quite excited.

Hey SF, I don't have a controller or MIDI controlled FX unit yet. I'm curious about the process itself as I know nothing about it, though I can imagine the details are dependent on the systems in question. So you know the context, I'm trying to create a relatively simple wet/dry/wet setup (for guitar). I'm not a huge effects user, I like ease of use/simplicity but I need on the fly flexibility. Lets say I'd be looking at something along the lines of a Liquidfoot Jr in size, and something like an Eventide Timefactor and possibly Modfactor in programmability, though those are very expensive given the limited effect changes I'd be after. Obviously a midi foot controller would be more flexible than a purpose built board, so I'd be able to change things as I want in the future, but so far, I'm thinking I'd want to set up a foot controller with: - a dedicated tap tempo switch to globally control delay time and modulation effect time - dedicated footswitches for the different delay rhythms (1/4, 1/8, dotted 1/8) - an expression pedal to control delay level on-the-fly (so I can increase/decrease amount of delay in the wet sound) - dedicated on/off footswitches for different mod types (assignable of course, but will probably just be trem, flanger and maybe one more) and an on/off f/s for the delay - mute switch That's the sort of thing I'm after... any suggestions? Either for the foot controller or the effects units?

Anyone know how to do this that could explain it to me?

The HOG is an epic sounding pedal, and a lot smaller in real life than it looks in pics/clips. Though it can do polyphonic slides, I agree it would be great to have basically a whammy/treadle enclosure that can do polyphonic tracking rather than the polyphonic slide being just one function of many within something like the HOG.

I see myself as a musician whose first/primary instrument is bass. If I could only play one instrument for the rest of my life it would have to be bass. Fortunately that isn't the case. My feeling of what makes a musician is someone who has a natural predisposition or inclination to make artistically creative contributions when playing, and who objectively discerns/chooses to contribute in a particular way (e.g. choosing one possible contribution over another) rather than purely fulfilling a musical function in the only way they know how.

Went to Paris for a holiday with the wife. Took in a jazz gig with Gregory Privat who is an up and coming jazz pianist in a similar vein to Hiromi though not quite as eccentric (IMO). It was excellent stuff and really rekindled my desire to seek out, listen to, and play more jazz.

Hi Alex I run a Berg IP and EX112 rig. Other than the IP having a tweeter and being powered, they are identical. I tend to stack these, one on top of the other with normal orientation and front panels aligned to be flush with one another. I was wondering about other twin cab arrangements... e.g. immediately adjacent side-by-side, front panels in the same plane side-by-side but with distance between them, front panels in the same plane side-by-side, one firing at 90' to the other (opposite rear edges touching) etc and what their advantages/disadvantages might be? In particular, benefits to room coverage. Thanks for your time, Mark

+1. Favourite track on the live album ... at least for now

TBH, I sometimes wonder if musicians renowned for their technical and musical prowess think that their fan base will think they were playing expressively whether they were intentionally being expressive or intentionally widdly with their playing. In that video, for example, some of it sounded expressive to me, but sometimes it seemed to descend into fun but mindless shredding... which is fine (and fun!) in a jam context, but sometimes fans get very defensive of ALL their musical heroes playing even when those musical virtuosos have indeed been guilty of mindless widdling - e.g. 'it's jazz man, you wouldn't understand, you just don't get it man, can't you see? they're playing from their soul'.... FYI Faithless, this is not intended as a dig at you, your post just reminded me of some real life debates I've had with people who have used the above snide comments and online discussions that have turned into flame wars... and my own naivety in the past!

It's true. On the topic of Janek/Hadrien's stuff, I have to admit I'm getting a little tired of the same stuff and would like someone to do something a little bit different again. Like Hiromi was great when I discovered her music, but now it's just getting a bit tired as even the newer stuff sounds about the same as the older stuff. Also, does anyone else find that the recording production on some of these avantgarde jazz albums is absolutely shocking compared to even poorly recording live performances? Hiromi's last originals album was completely devoid of energy...

In an objective sense, I'd have to agree with Spoombung and Steve - a lot of it does sound quite similar! And I agree that often 'chop-heavy' musicians just end up making the same noises repeatedly. BUT! when improvising musician's get it even partly right, it is something wonderful (at least I think it is). When Janek (for example) solos, I follow the solo the way I would follow someone telling me a story. It sounds a bit pretentious, but that's the best way to describe it for me.

[quote]I believe that just because you're an excellent musician doesn't always mean you can sing well too[/quote] I agree. You can't just play an instrument and expect to be great at singing too. [quote]I still believe that singing is a natural talent that some have and some don't, and it's hard to get it if you don't already have some talent in the first place.[/quote] I agree, insofar as some people have a natural genetic/personality based aptitude towards singing (or any other instrument for that matter!) and that, ergo, some will find it easier/ harder to progress than others... but I do not believe that the voice is different from any other instrument in that some can learn it and some cannot. Yes, there is inevitable uniqueness to each person's voice that they can't eliminate, but I believe people can achieve great tone by putting in the work in and reaping the rewards!

[quote]Most musicians are not great singers in the way that, say, Ella Fitzgerald is, and in my opinion their "less than optimal" vocalisations detract from the performance on their main instrument[/quote] I apologise in advance if you feel I'm putting words in your mouth here... do you think that (in general) musicians who are good, or even exceptional, on at least one instrument cannot develop/acquire similar levels of proficiency with their voice as an instrument?

You could achieve the same result without singing along, but it helps to bring in beneficial elements from vocals and apply them to a non-vocal instrument. For example: - you will be forced to slow down and think more about the notes, - you will (as has been said above) have to breath to sing thus giving more space to your lines, - vocal lines/melodies tend to consistently draw most people's attention more than just extremely fast playing or amazing technique so playing vocal-esque lines/melodies can help to think/play in a similar way... etc

I've never managed to make it to a Bass day event. I've always had something going on that prevents me from attending.

I should check out Adam Nitti again, checked him out a few years ago but didn't quite capture my attention then... maybe now I'll dig him a bit more.

I particularly like Janek's tone and touch on his bass. Very clean, deep, round, crisp, even (like Good King Wenceslas?) without excessive top end and without being reduced to just reggae sounding bass. I also find that even his high strings sound very full and thick, while Matt G has a much more 'guitary' vibe to his higher strings.

Oteil does scat and I think he has a really nice tone when doing so, but I've never heard him sing an actual song.

Yes I've heard Billy sing on one of the G3 dvd's, not bad but I'd rather hear him play bass. Same can be said for a host of other virtuoso musicians: Satriani, Vai, Johnson, though I am mainly thinking of guitarists.

I'd be interested to hear that. I've often wondered about virtuoso instrumentalists whether they can apply their instrumental dedication to singing as another discipline.