BassTractor

You are not gonna believe me in this, but: Gentle Giant's otherwise fantastic bass player Ray Shulman sings a wrong note 😱 in the fugue-like vocals of this beejooteeful track called "On Reflection":

Nah. - "I couldn't have done that at all, but if I could've done it, I could've done it a lot better." Modest realism keeps ya sane.

There is a recording with me on it ...

Exactly. Probably a good idea to not draw too strong conclusions from one little remark made under specific circumstances. Though I do recognise that some indifferent people will answer "Anything!", I too could be found to say it - given the right setting.

I'll listen to anything and like really everything. Yes, I have great taste! 😁 That said, several posts in different threads by @zbd1960 could nearly have been written by me, me coming from a strictly classical background and then having accepted more and more music into my life as the decades passed. Today, just as I'll listen to Bach but (nearly) not to Vivaldi, I'll listen to Penderecki but nearly not to Britten, to B.B. King but not to Freddie King, to Little Big Town but not to Hank Williams, to Metallica but not to Slayer, etc. etc. As to the neuroscientific angle, I know very little and thusly am very sure I'm right ( 😉 ) in thinking that for most people, musicality as well as exposure as well as neurotransmitter combinations play important roles.

Ah. I'd overlooked that possibility. Thanks for mentioning. The Micron already had the vocoder, BTW, but the Miniak offered better UI, steel pot shafts, a better set of presets and a microphone. Some say that it also was redesigned internally so it should live longer, but I haven't seen this confirmed. All of this of course has relatively little to say for the original question of the OP, which I tried to answer before the OP saw new possibilities in other directions. I maintain the Miniak is a beast, as is the Blofeld Keyboard. Whether someone is served by their vast capacities is another matter.

Not wishing to try and sell you a Miniak, and I don't know the GR55, but one thing I know in-depth is that the synth engine of the Miniak is unparallelledly advanced in the price bracket. I read the GR55 has 900 PCM presets, which IME probably means the individual sounds can be tweaked to some degree. Then if you like those presets, your needs are covered. The Miniak OTOH does have 500 or so presets, and as I said initially these are a travel through hit history, but the Miniak's real power is in that you can build the exact sound you need - either from a preset or from scratch. Not everyone's cup of tea of course, but very, very, very powerful. (Me, I bought an iPad editor app for it, thusly evading the Miniak's user interface - though before that I programmed from scratch on the unit itself and that worked more than fast enough when I got used to it.) Of course your needs, or the OP's needs, might be met better with another box.

Can the software do this on a note-by-note basis depending on the chord structure? I'd imagine it technically possible by now, but is it done?

IMLE, no hassle at all. Bass kept on its leash, and fretting arm stretched over bass neck - unless bass is "hung" very vertically. As to what to buy, instruments exist that contain gazillions of presets that can be regarded as a travel through the history of hits. These can be modules, requiring a MIDI keyboard, or stand-alone instruments with built-in keyboard. One example of a great one, bought used, is the Alesis Micron, which later was bettered and re-released as Akai Miniak. You won't find better for the money, but its user interface with few knobs and buttons needs some getting used to. The Miniak in this is already much better than the Micron. A more expensive alternative, exactly as unique for the money, and again bought used, is the Waldorf Blofeld Keyboard. One should get the "Keyboard" version rather than the tiny module, for several reasons. It's less of a travel through hit history, but IMHO makes up for that through a very powerful synth engine. There may also be examples in the class of instruments that bewilderingly is called "keyboard" or "keyboard instrument". These are the often cheap instruments that beginners buy when wanting to start playing keyboards. They'll have built in rhythms as well as auto-accompaniment, and in the cheap end of the market sound incredibly cheesy. If you go that way, then maybe get a second-hand Yamaha, as they're the most secure brand to buy. Then get one that was 1,000 quid new or more. Roughly. Of course you might be able to find a model from another brand that's equally good. It's just that Yamaha have been consistent.

😀 True dat, but I hide behind the parapet of "novelty" as there is a certain novelty aspect to Würm - at least as seen from the hill of traditional rock. I mean, we have just learned that Maurice Ravel came first! 😉

Huh? Do you mean Sheila's "Spacer" by any chance ("he's a spacer, a star chaser" etc), or "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper" by Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip? Or does Sheila have a "Starship Trooper" as well? This got my interest as reading your post I thought of "Starship Trooper" by Yes. Its "Würm" part might fall in the novelty category.

Ha! Didn't even remember that, and referred to a really recent thread, but I'm struck by the level of general wisdom expressed in the thread you linked to. I wish I was as smart as myself.

Quite understandable. I grew up with it and hated it thoroughly. Then something happened. Maybe it was my stroke. 😀

Twas essential info for those not yet aware of these things. Good you posted it.

Recently mentioned in another thread, but stuff like "Livin' it Up" by Bert Kaempfert. Easy Listening in style, incredibly cheesy, and still just wow. Also this Mantovani thing called "Charmaine". ...and since I now speak of what is essentially ballroom or lounge music: almost the complete output by Max Raabe, with songs like "In meiner Badewanne bin ich Kapitän" (in my bathtub, I am the captain 😀 )

No no no no, no no no no, no no no no, no no no no, no no no no, no no no no, no no no no, no no no no Superma'an ...

Laurie Anderson: "O Superman (for Massenet)"

Focus: "Hocus Pocus"

I offer you: Ekseption. Half their output were pop songs based on classical themes, with jazz impros in the middle. Based on tackiness, they still knew what music was, and were great players to boot. Have no sound on my laptop, and can only hope the vid shows the correct song, IMHO a well-crafted reworking of a Beethoven melody. BTW, the other half of their output, their own songs, to me are sometimes very forgettable, and sometimes as intensely beautiful today as they were fifty years ago.

Gail Ann Dorsey - simply the greatest haircut in bass. IMHO

IMHO the phenomenon "spice girls" is one thing, but the actual compositions is something else. I still think their first album had a few cracking pop songs. Don't remember which ones, and I haven't played it for years, but still. Their second album OTOH bored me to tears.

Not necessary though. In my municipality, they solved this without even trying: 😀 This is a pic from 1968 from a local "beat festival". Along one side of a 100 yards long cattle market hall, a stage was raised, and each band got their allotted yards of it. The audience just moved from band to band. Incidentally, the band playing in the pic, Spacial Concept (not Special Concept), has bass player Cyriel Havermans, who later joined Focus and at some point started to use the Cyril moniker. Edit: first now I see the stage was on more sides. Never saw the drum set.

Demn you! I clicked the first link. It ruined my life!

Following the pattern set out in the OP, I didn't buy: Steve Morse: "Stand Up" (didn't know about it until a few years ago) Art Zoyd: "Le mariage du ciel et de l'enfer" (should've been autobuy after "Les espaces inquiets") Sonic Youth: "Bad Moon Rising" (still haven't heard it, which is weird) Megadeth: "Killing Is My Business ..." (dunno why not) Metallica: "Ride the Lightning" (bought later than "...and Justice for All") ... but did buy: Dire Straits: "Brothers in Arms" Phil Collins: "No Jacket Required" The latter two became insufferable to me after just a few listens, but happily, good relationships with the record shop meant I was allowed to swap them. Nice.

In 1985 I had trouble finding good-to-me new music, and I felt the 80s were becoming a lost decade. Then this arrived: Cupid & Psyche 85 by Scritti Politti. Decade saved (and I found a lot more after this, like Propaganda's A Secret Wish ).