BassTractor

Ingrid Michaelson (with Sara Bareilles) : Winter Song To my ears: simple, very musical, emotional, beautiful.

😀 What went wrong? That's exactly what I meant; just worded as if it wasn't a mistake. I thought the Left-Handed Traffic made that clear. See, I was just kidding with all the mistakes, also as if some persons were not playing solos but ARP Soloists. Oh, I see now: I'd forgotten to use a winky there. Sorry about that.

Haha, that's luvverly. Thanks for setting us straight! 😄 Someone also played a Korg SP-3200 on that track. I think it must have been the only one in existence: possibly a custom PS-3200, factory-modded for Left-Hand Traffic. 😉 (and BTW, the Soloist was indeed the ARP that predated the ARP Pro Soloist. 😄 )

I'm struggling with the English a bit - both yours and mine, so just for clarity's sake: I'm 100% certain it sounds exactly like a real Clavinet that went through a stereo phaser or something similar (not that well-versed re that type of equipment), and while its sound lacks some of the overtones, it's still easily recognisable. What I am not sure about is whether one could emulate this sound on a CMI to this quality. However, that's not really important, as for all practical purposes, it's THE Clavinet sound. Your mentioning the C model made me think you meant it may sound like a C as opposed to sounding like a D6, but right now I'm starting to feel you more meant: a Clavinet as opposed to other instruments. In the latter case: there's no doubt whatsoever that this either is or sounds exactly like a real Clavinet. None of the other physical instruments of the era come close (but emulations might). The D6 model had stops of sorts, but I don't remember the specifics. I'm guessing the D6 was a response to other electric and electronic piano and harpsichord type instruments which had those. (Me, I had an electric Rhodes as well as an electronic Elka (at least I think it was an Elka), and by using the stops on the latter, and an effect pedal, one could emulate the role of the Clavinet though not its exact sound.) Yeah, they're great instruments, and I love how many people use them today. Just a few days ago I also heard a Wurlitzer electric in a modern track. Same with the real tonewheel Hammonds. They still sound fantastic, and everyone and their granny use them to this day. Here in Norway, a revised old B3 or the like sets you back ten grand or more. 😱

Having "played" a vdg for some time, I too got attached to it. Love these things. The D, G, C, E, A, D tuning system and the alto clef are easy enough, IME. Just give it 15 minutes each day - not hours every once in a while. Can't advise anyone else, but personally I'd be all over it. Though, if "fellivto practice" means "fellatio practice", then maybe prioritising the vdg is a bit stupid. 🙂

Now I'm not any sort of Clavinet specialist at all, but my guess is that not even the specialists would be able to hear the difference between say a C and a D6, seeing as the Clavinet sound in this song has been through processing and is mellowed. FWIW, to me it sounds like the real deal at least - - not a Clavinet emulation on a Fairlight CMI or the like, but I guess you were already sure of that aspect.

Indeed we do, and quite often that is because we're used to having to do everything. However, the grave mistake of meddling with bass territory is one that should occur only once - out of lack of experience or somesuch. Once pointed out, it should never happen again. From my days in figured bass accompaniment: the harpsichord player and the bass part player would meet up a bit early, and together decide on how to solve the task ahead. I gather this isn't even needed in many bands as long as keys=/=bass.

Not a bass, I know, but I always take a spare fridge - just in case my main one strikes and the beer's warm.

Only played live twice, but my takes are: - main bass (possibly one of those 18V thingies from San Luis Obispo) - cricket bat (Hohner B2B, which is not only tiny and passive, but also very stable and trustworthy). Peace of mind.

As others have already said: ask questions, as jumping to conclusions often is not really helpful. One of the best bands I ever was in had a couple as a driving force and it worked out luvverly: no ganging up whatsoever. Also: Gentle Giant famously swapped instruments during every gig - all part of the fun. Though I admit that keyboard player Kerry Minnear did not have a love relationship to drummer John Weathers. Their wives would've been fuming!

Is this the generic "sounds just like ..." as in that it might be about sound in the strict sense but also about chord progressions, melody lines and the rest? In that case, J-pop band Kanjani 8 have several songs that, whilst sounding nothing like Yes, do have compositional elements that make me go: no way they'd have done that without having listened to Yes. J-pop. I kid you not.

BassTractor Seal of Approval. 😁 I love it. Yes, I can see it has a certain "wrongness" to it, but that's about reference frame. This g..... is cool and funky. The seafoam and tiny tort plate finish it off nicely.

J.S. Bach. Taught me the essence of a good bass part, and had an immense impact on my musical thinking. Stanley Clarke (Children of Forever, School Days) and Jaco Pastorius (Jaco, Jaco Pastorius, Hejira). Rein van den Broek, trumpet player with Ekseption. Trumpet? No, but he did use a King Octavoice, an octave divider, and he pulled wonderfully raspy low tones out of it. Now, I only had a short-scale kid's guitar, but ... think shrewdly with me now: A second Octavoice doesn't know that the sound has already been through an Octavoice, now does it? ... [finger taps nose].

Interesting remarkuestion. Maybe it's about who you play with, first and foremost. Five complete beginners would struggle, but they'd struggle while learning. So if that's the deal amongst you and yer mates, that's the deal and you cope with it. I think you probably don't wanna be the odd one out in a band of professionals. Personally, as a boy/youngster, I believed I needed to be ready, and I totally overlooked the learning that can be had inside a band. I thought "being ready" meant having finished music college, sight reading near perfectly and improvising like a god. Bar the "school concerts" that everybody has played at, I joined my first pro band whilst studying music. Too late, I gather in hindsight. OTOH, when, near the end of my studying, an extremely accomplished musician asked me what my aims in life were, and I answered "to play with people like you ...", he said: "Well ... you're not ready". So yes, I do indeed gather it's about who you play with.

First week: Not for me. Second week: Medulla was already in my CD collection. Whilst it never had the impact on me that her previous albums had, it is highly appreciated each time I listen to it. This week: I think above comments by BillyBass (link works not), @nekomatic and @upside downer probably reflect some of my own responses to this Actress offering. I kinda like it, and when it was finished I kinda longed back to it, BUT ... I honestly hope I'm wrong, but I can't hear aim, drive, coherence or the like. Being a bit mean here, I hear a youngster pressing Record before having come to grips with his new-bought synth. Flippant, but still. (I'm aware he's done this for 19 years already, and I also respect that he does have an audience.) It also irks me that his scope seems to be firmly based in I-IV-V-I, which then is belied by a seemingly random gathering of noises: "It's avant-garde, you know! So I must be good!", he shouted into my ear - at least in my experience of the music. BTW, this comment is coming from someone who loves ambient music, loves and studied minimal music and loves and taught electronic music, so this is not about me not liking the style or the sounds. It's about me not finding whatever it is that Actress has to offer.

You can't judge this if you weren't there ... ... in November 2023. 😉

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You're welcome. Just remember that other live tricks exist too; it's just that I forgot. One, with a more modern synth could be negative pitch-bend from aftertouch (or even from velocity), but I gather it'd normally sound a bit different. Yeah, pretty impressive. My own problem was deliberately hitting the wrong key. I'm not very good at wrong notes, I tells ya! 😐 😉 😁

From hazy memory, several techniques are available (hardware-dependent), and I can't give you the definitive answer, but one trick that many players were very handy with is using the short pause between phrases to push the wheel all the way up - to then release it at the same time as the next note is played. One doesn't then play the key for the tone one hears, but the one for the tone it has to glide to. A whole tone is fairly standard IIRC. Without remembering exactly, I gather different synths had different wheel return characteristics, so I'm guessing not every synth would do this well in every tempo.

Magma - Hortz fur dëhn stëkëhn wost 😐

You're already a member, and have already posted there ... ... but you knew that. 😉

I feel your pain. We rented a Hammond C3 and two Ampeg fridges, and met your flights of stairs. Never again. I too generally agree with the learning aspect, and that was exactly why I bought all or most ofmy gear - - with a plan to become "learned and experienced" and then stand left with one bass (plus a spare cricket bat) and one amp (plus a tiny spare) and two cabs. However, some gear doesn't give one the learning, or the learning comes too expensively.

Not much, but I do remember: - Ashdown MAG C410 evo II 300W combo. Large and heavy, but I know that before ordering. However, the blue speaker cones belied their being just so-so. I've been verrry verrry content with other Ashdown gear, like the 30W Little Båstard with two original LB 12" cabs. - Rockinbetter bass. Again, I already knew about the ergonomics, but it came so shoddily put together it might as well have been an original from R.I.C. Decent sound from one pup only.

Whilst I do own and play some hip hop including rap, most of it is for different generations and convocations. I'm much more interested in KR telling me how things actually were before the Big Bang. 😐

Fantastic! So with a thing like that, I can do in minutes what would previously take days of work? Wow. I need to get me one of those mo du lar syn ... what was the word again? Hm. I'll just call it The Timesaver! 😃 I remember well the dozens upon dozens of footage bits like the above, explaining this new-fangled thing and telling us that you didn't need an orchestra anymore as this thing could make every sound conceivable by man. I also remember the fear in the orchestra. Thanks for posting!