tauzero

I'm building something not dissimilar at the moment - the intention being that it'll be a MIDI pedalboard that plays chords intelligently. The basis of it, though, is an Arduino [url="http://arduino.cc/"]http://arduino.cc/[/url] which detects which button is pressed and sends a MIDI note or notes corresponding to that. If you're only using half a dozen buttons, you might as well use them as direct input. As I'm using 15 or so (at least 14), I've used an array of diodes to allow me to channel them into 4 inputs plus a polling input. You'd then want something like this, if you want the sample to play while you're holding down a particular button (note that I have only just started looking at programming the Arduino and I'm not familiar with the MIDI library, so you'll have to work the MIDI commands out): int Pin2 = 2; int Pin3 = 3; int pinVal = 0; int lastPin = 0; void setup() { pinMode(Pin2, INPUT_PULLUP); pinMode(Pin3, INPUT_PULLUP); whatever MIDI setup is needed } void loop() { thisPin = 0; pinVal = digitalread(Pin2); if ( pinVal = LOW && lastPin != 2 ) { midi send all notes off midi send note 2 thisPin = 2; } pinVal = digitalread(Pin3); if ( pinVal = LOW && lastPin != 3 ) { midi send all notes off midi send note 3 thisPin = 3; } ... (all other pins) if ( thisPIN == 0 ) { midi send all notes off } lastPin = thisPin; }

Perfect for the air guitar championships.

They're not "very rare", they were sold under a variety of names - mine (sold some time ago) was an Atrics (as it was from Germany, it got nicknamed the Gerry Atrics). I'm pretty sure I paid around £250 new - I'd have to check on that though. As for whether it's worth it - it's of reasonable budget bass quality, but not fantastic. You could probably commit GBH on a pair of Peavey Grinds and produce a much better instrument for very little more money.

Hasn't BetaFunk posted to say he doesn't post here any more yet?

[quote name='lou24d53' timestamp='1404823078' post='2496022'] So what [i]should[/i] a headstock look like then? Whilst I agree there are a few downright dogs on here, it would seem that any manufacturer who is trying to come up anything unique or radically different from the norm is getting slated. But yet those designers who stick with the tried and tested Fender-esque shapes also get slated often on here for not coming up with anything radically different. [/quote] Tony Tsai's old style of headstock is great. I don't need stands, I can just hang them from the washing line. Oh, and the tuner placement means that the strings pass over the bridge in a very nearly straight line - are you taking notes, W&T?

I regularly went to see the Handsome Beasts there in the 70s. It's sad that it's gone now.

Much though I like the necks, Wood & Tronics have a headstock that's not only been hit with the ugly stick, but also if it's strung B-G, the B gets pushed to the edge of the fretboard around fret 1.

[quote name='Damonjames' timestamp='1404422647' post='2492594'] I think I have opened a can of worms! At least it is Nice to know that the majority are of the same mind set as me. I just look at the quality and variety in the sub 1k mark and can't imagine straying outside that. For those of you who have/do good luck and I hope you enjoy your basses as much as I enjoy mine. [/quote] Back in 1987, having paid about £125 for a rather tatty second-hand P (before reli[ck]ing was fashionable) a year before, I happened to pick up and play a £950 Warwick Thumb. Before doing that, I couldn't imagine anyone paying that much money for a bass. After doing that, I had to trade in my P and Hohner B2 and stump up another £600 to buy it. So it can happen. That's not to say that the same thing would ever happen to you - and, given the ever-expanding range of sub-1k basses, if it did, it's as likely to happen with something costing £220 as something costing £2200 (which is apparently the current equivalent of the £900 I finished up paying).

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1404373903' post='2491930'] Money is the necessary counter-weight to talent. The more talented a player is, the less money he spends on equipment (see McCartney, Jamerson, Pastorius, etc.). The less talented a player is, the more money he spends on equipment (have you seen my gear?). [/quote] Mark King? And surely with your Entwistle counter-wossname, he didn't lose his talent when he started spending loadsamoney on equipment?

I've got adjustable nuts on both Warwicks and two of the Tsais. So that's four basses that don't ever need a nut filing job.

[quote name='jazzyvee' timestamp='1401793034' post='2466836'] I bought the Tascam GB-10 about a year ago and the issues have with it are probably minor but irritating just the same. if you have a track on and you press the [<< button to go back to the beginning of the currently playing track it goes to the beginning of the previous track so you have to press the >>] button to get back to the track you were practicing to which is frustrating. [/quote] Press stop twice, that takes you back to the start of the current track. That annoyed me too until I found out how to do it. [quote name='jazzyvee' timestamp='1401793034' post='2466836'] The other thing I would like is a line-in so that you can play along to tracks from your iPod or mp3 player rather than having to fill the memory card from your computer in advance to play along. Finally the screen is not backlit so is not always easy to see what is going on. [/quote] Having a line-in sort of defeats the point though. You've probably got a line-in on your amp, use that instead. I've had both the CD-BT2 and the GB10, and I prefer the GB10.

Save all that filing and mucking around (as long as it's the right width for your neck): [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/abm_6240_webster_nut_bass.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/abm_6240_webster_nut_bass.htm[/url]

It works better when it's spelt right: [url="http://www.yeshuamusic.co.uk/"]http://www.yeshuamusic.co.uk/[/url] Where it says that they sell HB instruments.

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1404246037' post='2490819'] No producer, only an engineer at the moment, it's a hobby band and it's still in the process of being recorded. The engineer will mix it and then we'll get it mastered by another guy.. To be fair to the guitarist, he has had to come up with 10 or so solo's that he's been happy with... I just don't like the idea of all the layering. I'm just worried he'll leave no space in the music and it will end up being the over produced bollox, that Discreet hinted at. [/quote] It does seem a bit surprising to me that with a 2 guitar band, he'd be doing a lot more overdubbing.

[quote name='ironside1966' timestamp='1404244534' post='2490799'] It spent 2 week at no 1 in 1990 but most musicians I know have played it at some time,including me. I played in the mid-nineties and it was old hat then. I don’t understand why some bands haven’t moved on [/quote] It's quite shocking, isn't it? I mean, some bands still play stuff from the 18th century. Surely it's time to move on from Mozart and Bach?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1404218942' post='2490410'] I don't know about the vocals but Jeez do any of you think she was playing that fiddle? Come on then digital camera experts why was the guy on the right playing in time when hers wasn't, my bow technique on DB is terrible but I can tell you that's not how you bow a fiddle! No mic, no wireless Kit, no piezo installed... [/quote] And, funnily enough, only the sound of one violin. It hardly seemed like a serious attempt to fool the audience. And no-one has bothered mentioning the security guards doing a dance routine to "Jolene". And I don't think anyone who was actually there has said anything about her miming. Never mind, there's always time to get a Miltychat flashmob together and grab the pitchforks and blazing torches.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1404139220' post='2489638'] Has anyone else noticed how Ellie Goulding is getting increasingly desperate in trying to turn herself into some kind of credible "alternative " artist [i]a la [/i]Florence And The Machine? [/quote] You mean she's started to sing wildly out of tune?

I like it. Two previous bands have threatened to do it but never did, I'd like to give it a whirl sometime.

They're identical apart from the pickups, finish, and pickguard. I suppose it keeps the manufacturing costs down if you make a standard body/neck and then route and paint it differently, but it does mean that the variation is pretty limited.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1403685786' post='2485183'] Where's best for the conventional (solderable) right angled 'low profile' (flat) plugs? This type, with guaranteed quality. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hosa-IRG-100-5-Low-Profile-Right-Angle-1-4-Jack-Patch-Cable-6-/281343823905"]http://www.ebay.co.u...6-/281343823905[/url] [/quote] If you've got slightly more room, I'd be inclined to go for [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-3mm-1-4-Connector-Jack-Plug-Right-Angle-Design-Male-MONO-Guitar-Leads-Plug-/201115223846?pt=UK_Musical_Cables_Leads_Connectors&hash=item2ed366c726"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-3mm-1-4-Connector-Jack-Plug-Right-Angle-Design-Male-MONO-Guitar-Leads-Plug-/201115223846?pt=UK_Musical_Cables_Leads_Connectors&hash=item2ed366c726[/url] as I think the cable clamping will be a little more reliable.

I'm not putting the band through the PA, it's currently used for just vocals most of the time though I have put kick and occasionally snare through it too. I thought a sub might help spread the load of the kick. I was actually looking at something more like the Alto True Sonic TS SUB 12. When I say "cheap" I mean "don't have to play too many gigs at £50-£60 a pop to pay for it".

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1403737420' post='2485902'] Funny how you can always spot the home-made jobs, there's always something sort of wonky about the body & headstock shapes. [/quote] There seems something not quite right about the body shape. I'm not sure if that's simply that I'm so familiar with P basses that something that has a shape which is similar but a little different looks wrong (in this case, the lower bout is narrower than the horns, while on a P it's wider, so a P looks like it's got a fatter arse), or whether it's simply that it's not quite right.

One of these had me convinced my wireless, or my bass, or my amp was at fault, as the rest of the band carried on playing. Then I worked out what it was and the guitarist pointed me to an extension lead that everyone else had plugged into that he'd forgotten to tell me to use when I arrived. I should point out that said extension lead was officially sanctioned, it was the club ents secretary who provided it. Did get me quite paranoid though, swapped from wireless to a lead, from main bass to backup bass, and then was trying to work out what might be wrong with the amp...

Doesn't look like they will be back in stock - showing as "not part of our current product range anymore.". Boo.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1403696996' post='2485369']Simply wheel into position, remove the front and back lids, and plug the power into the back and I'm ready to go.[/quote] And presumably it would be the same procedure for the bass rig?