BigRedX

Right case for the right situation. A cheap gig bag isn't much good if you need to load your bass into the back of the van. On the other hand I wouldn't want to walk half an hour to the rehearsal rooms with a flight case. Also IME all the decent semi-rigid gig bags take up as much room as a Hiscox case and some of them are almost as heavy. I own a Mono M80 and although it offers a good level of protection to the bass inside, IMO it is uncomfortable to wear while walking for more than a few minutes and therefore doesn't get very much use. I have a selection of suitable hard cases and comfortable gig bags to fit all my basses and these get used as appropriate instead.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1457350677' post='2997539'] The fan fret design belongs to Novax. They licence it to others. [/quote] IIRC the Novax Fan-fret patent has now expired so anyone can make a fan fret instrument without needing to licence it.

As others have said, if you are having fun playing music and being in a band then you are already way ahead of those people who can only dream about having learnt to play instrument. On the other hand although getting the "breaks" in music is largely a matter of luck I find that to a great degree you have to make your own luck. I think an awful lot of musicians are under the false impression that being technically competent at their chosen instrument is all they need, when in fact it may well be the least important thing when it comes to getting those important gigs or making a record. Yes there is an element of having to be in the right place at the right time, but the more you/your band are out there the more chances you get. The various bands I've been in over the last 40 years have had a modicum of success. Nothing truly massive but enough to keep me plugging away at it and also enough to know that all my "luck" has been backed up with an enormous amount of hard work behind the scenes to make those important gigs and record releases happen. And TBH putting out an album is not that big a deal any more. Since the mid 70s anyone with sufficient cash and the necessary drive can do it. And these days all it takes, if you are happy with a digital release only, is a recording and £50. The true test is being able to get someone outside of the band to pay for it all - and then of course to actually sell some copies!

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1457259531' post='2996714'] bit harsh there BigRed, nothing wrong with the first record, it's the second one that's the trouble, so any easy one to make a single album from, Armegideon time isn't on my version of London Calling btw [/quote] But IMO fair. I was a massive Clash fan based on their first two albums, but was so underwhelmed by London Calling. At the time of its release I really liked the single and then that was about it. I recently revisited it as my musical tastes have somewhat broadened in the past 30 or so years and found that I now like "Lost In The Supermarket" as well. And yes I know "Armegideon Time" isn't on the album, but in light of the weakness of the other material it really should have been there and not relegated to the B-side of the single.

Two caveats I would add to my answers. My spend on accessories is as and when I need to. Some years it's a lot others it's nothing. Buying a solution mention in the last question will very much depend on how useful it is to me. I have eliminated most of my equipment problems by having my amp and effects rack mounted into a single case.

The only double album I can't think off that doesn't need to have some pruning done to it is "Tommy" by The Who.

In the 80s my synth band used to cover "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" It seems pretty straight-forward until you need to break it down in order to program the drums when it becomes apparent that the whole song is built entirely around the main riff and to fit the vocal line without any regard to making all the bars 4 beats long. Genius stuff.

The Clash - "London Calling" could be re-released as an EP: 1. London Calling 2. Lost In The Supermarket 3. Armegideon Time

That is almost a second hand price - IIRC they were over £500 new. There's one for £350 on eBay ATM.

[url=http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/DISC-Epiphone-Thunderbird-PRO-V-Bass-5-string-Trans-Black/AYE]Gear4Music have a new PRO-V for sale at £399[/url] I tried one when they first came out as I really like the look and I'm a strictly 5-string player. Unfortunately I was completely underwhelmed by it. The pre-amp is a nasty cheap thing that you would normally find in an entry-level active bass and the whole instrument felt clumsy and awkward with none of the elegance of a 60s Gibson. I couldn't in all honesty recommend it to anyone who hasn't tried it for themselves first and liked it.

Which one is the best depends entirely on what you want out of a bass. IMO none of the Epiphone models (or even the current Gibson ones for that matter) have much to do with the original 1960s Gibson Thunderbird other than the name and the general body shape. There are 3 different Epiphone Thunderbirds all with different woods, construction and electronics so take your pick: The Epiphone Classic-IV PRO is the closest to the current Gibson version, although I don't think that means very much. The Epiphone PRO-IV used to also come in a 5-string version although AFAICS it has now been discontinued. You'll probably need to find one second hand if you really want a 5-string. Apart from the through neck this has the smallest amount of "original" Thunderbird features and has active electronics. The Epiphone Thunderbird-IV superficially looks like the real thing but it has different pickups and a bolt-on neck, however if you are Fender player you may actually prefer the feel and sound of this model. The only real way to find out is to go and try them all for yourself.

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1457022333' post='2994573'] Although [i]Sparks[/i] were/are not my 'thing', I was interested to read about how apparently, when they moved to the UK and hired a bass player, with a distinctive 'rick' type sound, and he wouldn't change his tone when they went all 'disco', that he lost the gig? I know that the BC collective is a mine of information and I'm interested to know if the story is true? [/quote] Looks like that story is complete bollocks. From the band line-ups from there were 4 different bass players on the 5 albums from "Kimono My House" to last before they made before "No 1 in Heaven".

All his devices need to be sync'd together. Probably using MIDI clock or even better MTC. One device needs to be the master tempo source and all the others slaved from that. If he'd just letting them all run independently of each other and hoping that they will all stay in sync then he's on to a losing battle. Also bear in mind that not all iPad apps are capable of outputting or responding to clock information. To help further we'll need a lot more information like what apps he is running on the tablet and Mac and what versions of the OS they are running under. What interfaces he has on each device and how they are all connected together. Then it might be possible sort out what is going wrong and how to make it work if possible.

The Thompson Twins' "Love On Your Side" has a line that goes "I played you all my favourite records…" which is followed by the main keyboard riff from their earlier single "In The Name Of Love".

"Rip It Up" by Orange Juice references "Boredom" by The Buzzcocks not only in the lyric but also in the the guitar part that follows.

[quote name='cocco' timestamp='1456993110' post='2994219'] That's gorgeous, But what was wrong with Pelham Blue? [/quote] Pelham blue is pretty nasty IMO. Although not as nasty as "Sonic" Blue - probably the least sonic shade of blue I could imagine!

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1456988110' post='2994189'] Wow, so did BC get threatened or have an injunction slapped on for passing on and/or trading/abetting the trade of counterfeit goods? [/quote] IIRC there used to be a pinned thread about it in "Off-Topic". The general gist of the matter was that RIC were unhappy about Basschat being used to advertise Rickenbacker copies for sale either in the sales forums or by providing links to instruments for sale elsewhere on the internet. Despite the fact that their claims probably have little legal standing in the UK, Baschat relies on plenty of 3rd party suppliers from other countries including the US for its functionality, and RIC could make life very difficult for the forum if it really wanted to. The outcome was that all sales and mentions of sales elsewhere of Rickenbacker shaped instruments - real or copies - has been banned on Basschat, as it is the simplest way of ensuring that the forum does not upset RIC. Anything else was deemed to complicated and time-consuming to police by the Basschat moderators.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1456993190' post='2994220'] Never thought about this but do I need to get my te combo pat tested to take it to rehearsal rooms and such like? [/quote] If you've seen the state of most of the gear in the average rehearsal room you wouldn't need to be asking this question! ;-)

Illustrator is obviously the professionals choice for this (although you may find that you need Photoshop too depending on what graphical effects you want), but it's not particularly cheap. However if you Mac is sufficiently old enough to run OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard you might be able to make use of the free version of Creative Suite 2 which includes both Illustrator and Photoshop. Be warned that this version was pretty buggy under OS X 10.4 and I can't imagine that it will be any more stable under a newer OS. Otherwise if you think you can master the program enough to do all your work in a month you could download the trial version of Illustrator CC 2015 and use it until it expires. Inkscape looks as though it might be suitable and as it's free you don't really have anything to loose except time if you want to try it. If you want to incorporate and manipulate your conventional score items you will need to be able to export them as either .eps or editable .pdf files.

[quote name='Greg.Bassman' timestamp='1456795749' post='2992379'] Hi all. I'm on the market for a gated (synthy) fuzz that works well with active basses. When I was a passive man, my weapon of choice used to be the Zvex Woolly Mammoth; however, it's become common knowledge that they don't work so well with active circuitry. I've found this to be true [i]and[/i] false; the tone is still great, but the 'pinch' (gate control) doesn't appear to be effective anymore. Any recommendations? Cheers. [/quote] Why doesn't the Zvex Woolly Mammoth work properly with active basses?

Using an external photo host such as Photobucket is a much better idea since it allows you to show far bigger photographs which are far more useful when it comes to selling gear. For some reason the Baschat uploader reduces the size of everything so that you end up with tiny images that don't show of what you are trying to sell in the best light.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1456844579' post='2992822'] The fonts are held in the Font Book. Otherwise open your word processor and look through the installed fonts. You should be able to just type the symbols into the word processor and cut and paste. [/quote] People actually use Font Book? The quickest and easiest way to all the glyphs (charters) in a font is to install the character viewer. Apple Menu > System Preferences> Language & Text > Input Sources. Then check Keyboard and Character Viewer which will be at the top of the list above all the different language options. This will but an icon in your menu bar to the left of the time from which you can select Keyboard viewer to give a floating palette showing all the available glyphs.

TBH I don't think there's going to be any one program that is going to be able to create what you want. The problem is that there doesn't appear to be any "standard" way of displaying non-standard musical instructions. The links that others have provided are either standard notation applications or programs for turning coded instructions into sound. Whereas AFAICS what you want is some way of easily taking your visual ideas and combining them with conventional musical notation to produce a score that can be interpreted by musicians to create a piece of music? Also from my brief look on the internet at composers who produce scores like this it is obvious that they do so because they have a background in visual as well as musical arts and are often just as accomplished in them as they are in musical composition. If graphics and art are not your strong points (as it appears from your OP) then your are left with two choices. Either get practicing in order to develop and refine your graphical skill; or find another way of presenting your musical ideas. After all isn't that the point of the course?

In normal situations I'm a bit lacking in the social skills department, but with the right musicians I can get on with them easily and have lots to talk about. And finding the right musicians is what this is all about. Don't worry about gear. Away from Basschat no-one really cares what you have, so long as you can play it sufficiently well to do the music you want and it works reliably.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1456796334' post='2992380'] What software could do something this, could you do it in Word ? Only my handwriting/drawing is awful. [/quote] Word is essentially a glorified type-writer. While it might be possible to do, you'd probably spend as long (if not longer) trying to learn how to achieve this as you would actually doing it. You need to right tools to do the job properly but you also need the right skills to use them (a bit like music really). If I was looking to create something like this I'd probably be looking at a combination of Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign as well as a more traditional notation program, together with a Wacom Cintiq for getting it all onto the computer in the first place, but then, I've already go the tools and the know-how to use them, so I'm not going to be taking a lot of time to learn a whole new set of skills. There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about computer programs for graphics and an incorrect assumption that just owning one will automatically give you all the skills you need. No-one here would assume that owning a DAW automatically makes you an ace composer or producer, so why would graphics be any different? Which brings me on to: [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1456799490' post='2992384'] Do as [i]they [/i]do; pencil and paper, I'd say. Just get a roll of ceiling wallpaper (is that a contradiction in terms..? ) and fill it up. In a century or so, those scrolls will be auctioned off for oodles of [insert your favourite predicted currency here ...]. [/quote] And TBH this is still the way I'd do it. The computer is great for getting things neat and accurate, but the roughness and hand-drawn look is what makes the images you posted originally so compelling. And be creating a true "original" you also create extra value to you score should you ever become well-known enough as a composer. You can't replicate the uniqueness of the one-off original manuscript with a computer file. Also even if I was to go with the software approach I'd still be starting with something hand drawn on paper which I would then scan in to use as a template. Again it's a question of using the right tools for the job. [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1456829929' post='2992564'] Thanks ��. It's for part of my MMus portfolio, so needs to be neat ��. [/quote] Does it really have to be neat? I'm sure the composer(s?) of the manuscripts you posted originally would have something to say about that. Of course it depends on what you are actually going to produce. IMO so long as what you produce is legible and understandable by the musicians who are expected to perform the music from your score, then it is neat enough. EDIT: If I didn't already have the skills and tools to do this on the computer, I'd be investing my time an energy in improving my basic drawing and penmanship using pens and paper.