BigRedX

I'm assuming that this is a computer running Windows? Is it possible to set it up with a separate log-in/user for music use like you can on MacOS? Although my MacBook spends the majority of it's time being used for music, I do need it for work occasionally and each usage is on a different login with the preferences tailored to suit - Wifi and Bluetooth are turned off and notifications along with a load of other stuff is disabled for the music user.

Also for live use I'd be very wary of anything that uses consumer-grade computer connectors and cables, which means anything that you would plug in to your typical tablet or laptop. In my experience they are simply not robust enough for the rigours of gigging. I use a MacBook Pro live, but it is semi-permanently enclosed in a flight case with all the cabling between the devices in the case cable-tied and hot-glued into place and all the external connections made with XLR cables apart from one unavoidable USB connection for the footswitch that controls the laptop, for which I have multiple spare cables.

The problem with Android is that historically the OS was not designed to prioritise real-time audio and MIDI in the way that iOS does. So unless the more recent versions have changed to accommodate this, it is the OS itself and not the peripherals that are the bottlenecks and source of latency.

Welcome back! It must be a while the method of posting images changed several years ago, which is why there are now lots of old threads with broken image links. That bass looks great! If there is no real requirement for being able to hear the acoustic sound and pickup is using the soundboard vibrations how thin could you actually make the body?

If you do all you forum browsing on your phone you'll never see anyone's signature.

I was involved with Student Radio in 1979/1980 and if it wasn't for the fact that the programs were also piped directly into the student union common room and bar, a broadcast audience of 25 would have been something we could only dream of. So in some ways nothing much has changed. However both Student and Hospital Radio have always been great ways to learn both the technical aspects of putting together a program and presentation. That's something I think many producers of podcasts and internet "radio" would benefit from. As a listener nothing puts me off quicker than mis-matched levels and poor presentation technique.

For me it's all about how the instrument balances and feels on the strap rather than the actual weight. I've only owned one bass that felt noticeably heavy and that was only sold because it was too big and unwieldy to use on most of the small stages my band was playing rather than its actual weight. Every time I turned round I risked injuring a band member or someone in the audience at the front of the stage. It wasn't worth keeping for the 2-3 times a year we played somewhere suitably big and therefore it went along with everything else I wasn't playing at the time.

I've been and on-and-off user of Newtone Strings since the early 90s. In those days ordering involved phoning Malcolm to discuss what you needed, then sending a cheque for the payment and getting your strings in the post couple of weeks later. The process has certainly become simpler since then! At the time there were very few off-the-shelf options for those of us who needed something other than standard gauge 34" scale 4-string sets. Newtone came through for me when Rotosound had proved incapable of making a usable low B-string for my 36" Overwater, and while it was possible to get a suitable set of Elites they were nothing special and they still took a couple weeks to order in a my local music shop. A guitarist friend suggested I try Newtone, and when the strings arrived in the post I found them to be exactly what I needed in terms of feel and sound. I even tried a set of their short scale strings for my old Burns Sonic bass and once again they were so much better than the standard shop-bought options at the time. I continued to get Newtone strings for all my basses for the next 10+ years until I discovered internet bass forums and this along with the ease of ordering on-line from anywhere in the world opened up a much larger range of options for strings. By this point I was also mostly playing 34" scale basses, so finding usable well-made strings was less problematic. However since I started playing Bass VIs I have gone back to Newtone for their Axion Bass VI sets which are a fraction of the price of the main alternative from Labella. When I have used up my current reserves of 5-string sets I'll be ordering replacements for those from Newtone too.

When you get around to introducing scatter-winding would it be possible to save the stepper motor movements for each "random" option as they are used? That way if you do come up with a pickup that is noticeably better than the others due to the winding pattern it would be possible to recreate it. Or at least see how much the winding pattern affects the sound on two supposedly identical pickups.

IME there are two factors that affect the effectiveness of electronic kits with a more "traditional" band setting. Firstly there is the skill of the drummer in setting up the sounds and their responsiveness to the individual's playing technique. This is the area where I think most drummer with electronic kits fall down. How the sounds respond to the drummer depends on both the sound and how it has been adjusted to match that particular drummer's technique. The best sounding electronic kit I have heard from a "semi-pro" band should on paper have no been brilliant because of the old technology used for generating the sounds, but because the drummer had matched the responsiveness of the sounds exactly to how they played it sound fantastic. Secondly there is a tendency for bands and audiences to listen with their eyes. I used to be a fairly high-tech band which over the years had a number of drummers each with different electronic kits. The one that most people though was the best was the one whose kit was essentially a traditional drum kit but with the shells heavily damped and bugs for triggering the sounds attached to the heads. Interestingly he was playing the same drum parts triggering exactly the same sounds as his predecessors who used more obviously electronic kits. Also he was by far the more "metronomic" when it came to how closely his hits matched a quantised 16th note grid (as we discovered in the studio). So looks do count for a lot. These days there are commercially available kits that look to the average audience member just like acoustic drums. I'd say get your prospective drummer in for an audition and decide when you've heard and seen them.

Is it possible to disassemble the plugs to allow you to rotate the pins? Whenever I have made my own MIDI cables with right-angle plugs it has been possible to orientate the pins at 90° increments in relation to the cable direction when assembling them.

Whenever a band I have been in have used intro/walk-on music it's always something we have composed and is either in the same key as the first song, or has been designed as an extended instrumental intro to it. Also IMO you really need to get your walk-on timings nailed, so that your not either standing on stage looking like a spare part waiting for the music to end or rushing to get in place in time. Normally there is a tendency to go on too soon because everyone is keen to get started, so it's something that needs to be rehearsed almost as much as the songs themselves. At the moment I'm working on intro music for one of my bands that will blend seamlessly at any point into the start of the first song, so we can walk on when we feel like it and start as soon as everyone is ready to play.

Being a strictly 5-sting and Bass VI player these days there are plenty of basses that exist only in 4-string version which I like the look of but would never actually use if I owned them. If I had the money I'd buy a good example of each of those useless (to me) 4-string basses and get excellent luthiers to use them as templates to make me 5-string or Bass VI versions that I could use.

What would you have been hoping for by reaching your current technical standard 37 years earlier? On the whole bands don't want virtuoso musicians. They want people who are competent, reliable and look the part. Also you never stop learning and striving, so even if you had reached your current level of ability 37 years ago you would still have plenty to learn and work towards.

Aren't nitro finished basses supposed to get worn due to interactions with their environment? I believe the term is "Mojo"?

To the OP. Your keyboard player's problem sounds more like a case of "can't be arsed" than anything else.

No, it doesn't and it never has. iTunes uses whatever format the files are in already (so long as it is one that is supported). New rips from CD are done to the format selected in preferences - the default is AAC but it can be changed to any variety of MP3, Apple Lossless or uncompressed AIFF or WAV. There is an option to export to iPod/iPhone in a compressed format but this only affects the copies of the tracks on the mobile device. The versions in your library remain in their original format.

Just looked at my Hooky Bass and there's no taper at the machine head end because this bass has bass-style tuning posts.In fact out of all my Bass VIs only the Squier has guitar style ones. Looks like a custom set from Newtone is the best way to go.

If you go with Newtone get them to make up a set based on the Axions but with the machine head taper adjusted for the shorter string length of the Silhouette bass.

GHS strings designed for the Eastwood Hooky Bass. A bit heavier than the LaBellas and Newtones, but better for it IMO.

My mum, who's in her 90s, is part of an oldies ukulele group that probably does more gigs a year than I do, and I'm in two bands. After starting on a cheap but serviceable model she's upgraded to a fairly expensive Kala Ukulele now. She was most surprised that I could pick it up and play straight away, which wasn't difficult since the string intervals are the same as the the top 4 strings of a guitar, so coaxing some chords and a tune out of it was completely straightforward. I found that due to the sound I had a tendency to strum everything with a George Formby rhythm. Having had a go, I honestly can't see what all the fuss is about. I have to admit though, that after being denied an electric guitar as a teenager by my parents, I've developed an allergy to acoustic instruments, so I can't see myself rushing out to buy a ukulele any time soon.

Who did you email? Hercules or their UK distributor Strings & Things? Strings and Things replaced all 5 of my Hercules stands that had developed the sticky plastic syndrome.

Is this for recording? If so I wouldn't bother with an amp at all. A good pre-amp or channel strip, or even plug-in will be far more versatile.

And with exactly the same fault on the same model of Ashdown amp that I have owned from new, I was asked for an unfeasible amount of money just for Ashdown to have a look at it whilst simultaneously telling me that it was essentially unrepairable. Eventually the amp was sold for a tiny fraction of what I paid for it on eBay . When I brought up the matter with their representative who used to post here they were rude and sarcastic to me. I will never own or knowing use an Ashdown product ever again and AFAIAC the company can do one.

You are quite right. So did the Carlsbro Cab that I bought in 1990.