BigRedX

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1471370769' post='3112602'] What does RME do differently with their USB Interfaces ? Curious really. Because their units are very reliable on Macs. [/quote] IIRC RME write their own custom drivers for all their devices, which is why their USB interfaces are generally more reliable, and their FireWire interfaces are still supported despite the fact that the FW drivers built in to OS X are depreciated under El Capitan and beyond. Also USB has never been as well supported in Macs (even though it has improved considerably since the early days of USB1.1) because Apple would rather you use FireWire and now Thunderbolt which are protocols they have a vested interest in.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1471376573' post='3112678'] Ok BRX i know about music theory and bass guitar but that just went totally over my head. [/quote] OK to simplify... USB is a "dumb" protocol. Firstly every device on the USB bus has theoretically equal priority and it doesn't matter whether it's something which requires accurate timing of data like an audio interface or something which can wait a millisecond or two like the computer keyboard they all have the same status on the USB bus when it comes to sending and receiving their data. Secondly there are already lots of devices on your Mac's USB buses even if you don't have anything plugged in to the USB ports on the side and these are all fighting for an equal slice of the data stream as they require it. FireWire and Thunderbolt don't have "hidden" devices on their buses. That means the only FireWire and Thunderbolt devices that you have on your Mac are the ones plugged into the ports on the side (or back).

The problem with USB on the Mac is that the bus structure is quite convoluted, so that your USB interface may be sharing the bus with other devices without you knowing it. And just because you have multiple USB ports doesn't mean that they are separate buses. From the photo it looks as though you have the same MacBook Pro as me - (13" Mid 2012). Looking at the bus structure in the System Profile there are 2 separate USB buses - but one already has the keyboard, trackpad, IR receiver and Bluetooth controller attached to it, and the other has the built-in FaceTime camera. Also despite the fact that the Mac supports USB3 on one of the buses, this is ultimately connected via an internal USB hub to one of the main USB2 buses, so despite supporting the USB3 protocol the speed will be throttled back to USB2. And every other USB peripheral that you add will be competing for USB2 bandwidth. That's why FireWire and Thunderbolt are always better options on the Mac.

[quote name='goingdownslow' timestamp='1471355783' post='3112419'] I'm having the same problem with IE11, just get this... [attachment=225641:Youtube.JPG] (above is a .jpg not a video) [/quote] I'm getting the same on both my Macs - Safari under El Capitan. Only started happening in the last few days. I wonder if YouTube have changed something?

Something that doesn't connect via USB.

[quote name='TheRev' timestamp='1471347328' post='3112305'] What always surprises me about cover are of this calibre is that some people sat together in an office and said 'yep, that's it - that's definitely the cover we want for our new album' [/quote] I think it's more likely the fact that they have spent all the budget for the artwork on it, and the only affordable alternative is the name of the artist and the album set in Arial black on a white background.

TBH in a musical setting it's always known as "Gaffer Tape" tape to me irrespective of who actually made it.

[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1471337057' post='3112172'] Schaller 2000 is even better than the 3D. I have this on a couple of basses. You can get the spacing down to just over 15mm, and the ballend moves with the saddle so no sideways pulling. 5 screw fitting. [/quote] The Schaller 2000 might get you a narrower string spacing than the 3D but IME it's a complete bastard to get set up. I'd think twice about ever owning another bass which had one fitted.

I don't have, and have never had a party piece. If people really want to know what I can do I'd far rather put on a couple of tracks from what ever I've most recently recorded. At the moment that would be something off [url="http://terrortones.bandcamp.com"]this album[/url]. I consider my song writing to be far more important than my bass playing abilities.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1471295737' post='3111978'] Duck tape. [/quote] Isn't it "Duct" tape?

I can't remember ever having a problem getting used to the extra string when I bought my first 5-string in 1990. I did have 2 things in my favour. Firstly I had plenty of experience of other stringed instruments with different numbers of strings - guitar, bass, mandolin, balalaika; so for me the 5-string bass was just another stringed instrument with yet again a different number of strings. Secondly I had spent most of the 80s playing synths and only really using my 4-string bass as a writing tool. As my new 5-string bass was a far superior instrument to the 4-string bass that I'd been playing previously, that was the one I played all the time from then on. Even when I went through a period playing fretless and originally couldn't find a 5-string fretless that I liked - I simply played the songs that required fretless bass on the 4-string and those that needed a fretted bass on the 5-string swapping between the two with ease.

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1471210351' post='3111338'] My Jupiter 4 is capable of an extraordinary range of sounds despite being only a single oscillator synth. The Wasp had a great filter, but based on the one I tinkered with it was almost unplayable thanks to the "keyboard" and the oscillators were really under featured waveform wise. [/quote] Everyone has different ideas about what constitutes a good sounding synth, but it's hardly fair to compare the monophonic Wasp with a poly synth costing 10 times as much. The Jupiter 4 despite having only a single oscillator per voice was never going to sound thin due to the fact that it was polyphonic, and it's voice assignment meant that a lot of the time if you are not playing chords, you actually have 2 oscillators (or even all 4) per note. That combined with separate EGs for the VCF and VCA and the classic Roland chorus is what made it sound so good. A fair comparison for the Wasp would be the Roland SH09 which despite being quite a bit more expensive and having a proper keyboard and more useful performance controls wasn't even remotely capable of the same depth of sound. I know because I own both in the early 80s.

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1471193087' post='3111141'] Now this is starting to look awesome for a bread 'n' butter synth. Loopable EGs triggered by an LFO that goes up and into audio range, and the different ADSR curvings work very well indeed: [/quote] Loopable EGs are a great idea if you to play live without sequencers (although you still have to find some way of synchronising the other performances with them), however so long as there is a good MIDI CC implementation you can duplicate the effect far more easily on a DAW or sequencer.

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1471046001' post='3110265'] Software: Setup, registration and installation is easy, the Focusrite Control is straightforward, but for some reason a couple of times the Clock Source set itself back to ADAT, even though I had it set to Internal, which I think was the reason I was getting no audio last night. Not sure if this is due to something I'm doing wrong or if it's a bug in the software, but it's not difficult to fix. I'll see what happens over the next few days, maybe I'll figure it out. [/quote] The unwanted clock switching bug is something that has been present in the Focusrite software for some time now. I had it when I bought my Saffire Pro 24 interface 6 years ago. IIRC it arises from a conflict between the Focusrite control panel with either your DAW settings and/or those in the Audio MIDI setup application. Make sure that you have selected the same clock setting in all 3 locations and it should remain stable in the Focusrite Control.

Personally unless the music and people are fantastic or the gig is so well paid that you'll have covered costs of any new gear you buy fairly quickly I'd pass. With one or two rare exceptions nothing other than a double bass is going to compete volume-wise with even the quietest of "acoustic" bands without amplification. Also IME you need to spend a lot more money to get an acoustic bass guitar to plays and sounds as good as your favourite electric bass.

As the others have said - join a band.

[quote name='Machines' timestamp='1470863970' post='3109099'] All I know is every bass I've had with a good B has been 35" or more. The BTB is 35" and beats the Lakland any day. [/quote] And IME every 35" scale 5-string I have tried or owned has been been very poor when it comes to the sound and feel of the B-string. Then again they were all at the cheaper (sub £1k) end of the market.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1470858289' post='3109036'] I love music, playing and listening it's how I make a living. Blue [/quote] So why do you seem to be so belligerently uninterested in musicians who weren't creating music when you were growing up?

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1470898369' post='3109169'] To a point, but some parts are written for double bass and the MD might request an acoustic. I've got an acoustic for this purpose but it's a bit cumbersome and noisy. Plus the guys on stage might be amateurs but the pit guys are all pros who tend to have trained at the Royal academy or Birmingham conservatoire. Band call for west side story was one 3 hour rehearsal, job done, no issues. They've got an ear for detail! [/quote] I see. And as you've discovered, with electric hollow-bodied basses, the hollow body doesn't impart any significant character on the sound of the bass. If you got a model with a piezo bridge you might get a more acoustic sound out of it, but it will most likely suffer from the same noise problems that you are already encountering. If you are looking for something that will cover electric and acoustic/DB then I'd look for a Lightwave bass.

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1470817561' post='3108612'] Um, need a hollow body for am-dram pit work. Not sure cool feedback stuff is going to work in South Pacific....! [/quote] Why do you need a semi-hollow for pit work? Surely that's one of the very rare instances where the bass you use (so long as it doesn't impede your playing style or sound completely rubbish) is completely irrelevant?

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1470771242' post='3108371'] No hate, however when your my age, these guys are not relevant to me. The guys I like and have influenced, me cone out of the 60s & 70s. Blue [/quote] I'm sorry but IMO that's a really sad attitude to have. I'm only a little bit younger than you but I'm still finding all sorts of new and interesting music all the time and without even having to look all that hard. It doesn't matter if it come from the 70s when I was just discovering pop/rock or a brand new band who just stuck up their first recordings on Bandcamp last week. If I like it, then it's worth my time and money. If I felt like you I'd probably give up both playing and listening to any kind of music.

How about an early 70s style [url=http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/1971gibsonEB3L.php]slotted headstock[/url]?

There is limited space in most passenger aircraft cabins for hand luggage as it is and a lot of airlines are currently looking at ways of reducing the amount that passengers bring on board. If you have to fly with your instrument make sure that it is appropriately cased for going in the hold.

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1470476319' post='3106239'] "Engineered" is right! That thing needs a chain lift to move it off the shelf is on but you can really feel the quality, even in the feel of the buttons and the way it opens. My wife has an early 2000s CD player with twin cassette deck in her work room and by comparison it feels like something that came out of a Christmas cracker! [/quote] Exactly. Which is why I've been sceptical about the video in the OP, because as we've discovered getting the most out of the compact cassette format is as much about the mechanics of the playback device as it is about the electronics, and that means big, heavy units and not something that can be easily waved about as the bloke in the video does. My Aiwa F660 from 1984 may not have Dolby S and therefore in theory shouldn't sound as good as a more modern high-end player, but it is so robustly engineered, that it is still functioning, unlike the model I bought in the early 90s which was supposed to replace it.

So which Interpol album would you recommend? They are a band people keep telling me I should like given my general musical tastes, but everything I've heard so far has left me feeling distinctly underwhelmed. The best modern take on post-punk that I've heard in recent years has been "Here Are The Roses" by Dragons.