BassTractor

[quote name='Stu-khag' timestamp='1455021483' post='2975044'] to see what everyone here would be interested in seeing being mentioned in a tv programme. [/quote] "The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon" by John Surman may be a concept album, Idunno. At any rate it's not the usual prog suspects. Possibly maybe perhaps worth mentioning the (IMO bad) concept that Ekseption had for their "Beggar Julia's time trip", where medieval Julia travels in a spaceship-like time machine and picks up classical music pieces during the trip, in roughly historical order. Thus, the album starts with medieval/Renaissance-like music, before picking up Bach and Beethoven and the like, and megalomaniacally finishing with Ekseption. (Ekseption tended to use known classical themes for their mainly instrumental pop/jazz.)

My stuck-up ex-sister-in-law: "The guests would never leave! Even after I'd said "Please stay longer! No need to go yet!" several times, they still just kept sitting! " Sometimes, a divorce is just a lucky escape.

[quote name='phil.c60' timestamp='1454953572' post='2974571'] I've seen that photo of you in your pants. [/quote] Demm! I'd almost forgotten that, but you just had to bring it back! I'll have to go in retail therapy now.

[quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1454930567' post='2974208'] [media]https://www.youtube....h?v=SoAYK9tjWMQ[/media] [/quote] For some reason, I didn't get that to work (Win10 / Chrome), but it must be this, yes? Edit: I found out why. Somehow, your link had been truncated in such a way that the part we normally see of a long link text (as in: with "...." in place of a long string) now had become the link text itself. Anyway, here it be: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoAYK9tjWMQ[/media]

That was a luvverly photo though.

Dutch 80s band Mo used bassoon, synth or electric piano for the bass role, depending on song or song segment. Here's their "Nancy" in playback with visible bassoon (not in bass role though). I lurv it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntwRQ9JzN0A

I feel so stupid. Suddenly it dawned upon me: - "Honey, remember the bass I built myself?" - "Yes, dear..." - "Sold it to BassDirect! Got 300 quid for it. They said it was very playable. You want a trip to France?" - "That's lovely, dear. Congrats! You mean the one that looks exactly like a Fodera Monarch and even has a perfect butterfly inlay in the headstock? That one?..." - "... ..."

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1454521052' post='2970489'] Can someone please explain to me why anyone would put up a relatively expensive bass for sale (which would attract a commission in the four figure bracket) without making any effort to advertise it anywhere else (as far I can tell). [/quote] A serious depression? Can't be arsed? No clue, and too rich to be caring about the four figure number? Very busy, presumably making a lot more money? Living abroad? One year sailing trip? Beautiful long/short-haired blonde/brunette demanding the darn thing out of the house before he will be allowed near her again, so he desperately sees no other option than a quick handing it in to a shop? Other good or bad reasons that may or may not be rational or may be driven by emotion or the lack thereof?

[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1454512852' post='2970383'] ...and does your mother smell of elderberries? [/quote] You solved it! It's Hamster's dad!

Hm. DIsappointed with this thread. I seriously thought it was about something more serious than music. [url="http://s1170.photobucket.com/user/basstractor1/media/Isis_zps33ewclck.jpg.html"][/url] BTW, reportedly this Danish brand recently decided to change their name. My guess thus is Daesh. "[b][i]Daesh - - DA Eshcream[/i][/b]!" But anyway, Isis were very nice indeed. Thanks for posting this! Shamefully I must admit I'd almost forgotten them, and I do tend to like Ipecac-related music.

Yeah, I've tried to check out some newer alternatives, and it seems that most of them either still lock you to one place, or are very gadgety. The Kadabra (if being able to be used as a pure MIDI controller) to me seems like to most viable non-keytar solution at the moment, but personally, I'd still go keytar. Here's a guy on a keytar, playbacking to a guitar solo. The comments are hilarious, for once. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGa5smz23WY

Aye. Me, I prefer spelling mistakes (my own ones) far above what a poxy spellchecker comes up with, and I valiantly try to turn off everything that even resembles it. So far so God. Sorry I can't help with the SPD-SX. Didn't know it even existed. Does it respond to how hard you hit the pads - as in with different samples or rather with interpolation of different samples (as one can't be expected to sample 127 or even 1023 different levels of rimshots) ? That would be cool.

[quote name='JoeEvans' timestamp='1454173813' post='2967259'] It's not cool to have to try too hard, or to need complex and expensive kit to get a good sound, so a simple, classic bass is cool. However, it's also not cool to be the same as everyone else, and it's cool to be an early adopter of new things or a connoisseur of the rare and exotic, so a simple, classic bass is uncool, and a unique and unusual bass is cool. I hope that helps. [/quote] Classic! I like you're thinking. I also like your thinking.

[quote name='AlpherMako5' timestamp='1454162212' post='2967081'] Is it not gonna be the same in the music world? I'm just thinking out loud. [/quote] Thinking out loud here too, I'd think it would depend on exactly which far east factory where talking about, and exactly what contracts and what follow-up you have. In my world for example (sea kayaks), we can trust the Japanese to build stellar quality at a high price, and to be totally dependable. When dealing with China, we're probably in for many control/follow-up visits there each year, and still risk they vanish and/or copy the moulds and/or move production to a place we can't find... really too much to detail here. Dunno about MarkBass and Indonesia, but there has been a lot of talk on BC about the MarkBass changes these last years.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1454171408' post='2967232'] Low tension, like me! And my mum says I'm cool [/quote] Now [b]that[/b] was a philosophically deep point. Low tension people are [b]the[/b] cool people, so maybe I've been wrong all these decades, and low tension strings are in fact [b]the[/b] cool strings. If that then is true, then probably well-designed basses are cool anyway (yay!), and the regular sunburst P is not (yay!). Ped, you's bin shooked my world!

This is the first time I see someone referring to the 112EXT as colouring the sound. Reportedly it's even more neutral and detailed than a 112MNT (but with lower wattage), which already is a very neutral, detailed cab. The CN212 too is reported to be quite neutral and detailed though, so maybe there is something to this notion - though my knees are jerks and say this must be due to the amp/cab combination more than the cabs alone. Though: as far as I remember, the 112EXT is an effective cab, and the Shuttle is a class D with low damping factor. AFAIK there's no reason to expect these to be a bad combination, so I'm slightly bewildered. If you can't try them, then I'd go for the one that fits your price bracket and carrying needs. Reportedly, they're both stellar, whatever else may be true about them.

Christopher, dear, low tension strings are not cool. Use your eyes!

A cool bass is a bass that is so stubbornly, nauseatingly traditional and boring that it brings me to the point of puking and near suicide. Thus, sadly, a regular sunburst P is cool. I'd like to think that original designs with an original sound and maybe original colours are cool, but they aren't. The cricket bats, Bongos and Stash Stainlesses respond to people's need for something that can comfort us and reassure us it's really, really, really not a regular sunburst P. That is not a cool thing to do. I just far prefer them.

Oh, spd off! Sorry. Couldn't resist.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1454106610' post='2966623'] I didn't think it was actually Jimmy Saville, but there's an uncanny resemblance & his dress sense is just as bad. [/quote] Aye. Before even seeing it really was Edgar, my own first thought was Savile too - despite even remembering that picture from like 40 years ago or something (this was before MIDI).

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1454060469' post='2965825'] My main board is my Korg Kronos and compatibility is essential! [/quote] Thinking about it, I was not longer sure I got this. The thread title says "alternatives TO keytars" (which I tried to answer, basically saying to just use a keytar anyway), but the OP in isolation may be read as "alternative keytars to Vortex". Could you tell what it is you're after? As to "compatibility", do you simply mean it must be a MIDI controller? Or maybe that it must be able to control more than just KEY ON / KEY OFF - - like velocity, aftertouch, mod wheels and the like? Alternatives to keytars include monophonic wind controllers like the cheap Casio DH-100 or the expensive Eigenharp or Akai EWI and similar offering, and there are loads of things that look like toys as well. Kadabra might do it. ARQ might do it. AlphaSphere might do it. Personally, amongst other gadgets, I've used the Casio DH-100 as monophonic MIDI controller on stage. It did the job, but it also needed the humour. However, it sends so few MIDI parameters that it also really needs either modding or other external MIDI signals and a MIDI mixer.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1454101723' post='2966555'] Is that Jimmy Savile? [/quote] Dunno if you're joking or not, or young or not, but it's Edgar Winter, brother of Johnny Winter.

Kadabra? Zoom ARQ? Nah. Just use a keytar and be cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmzieCAIwxY . See that?That was a Yamaha breath controller! If even that didn't convince you, here's the ultimate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZVj2HVQ0Kc

David Sylvian: Let the Happiness In http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7XDVs0PI0E

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1453816983' post='2963017'] we heard people were saying" they were good but took too long between songs" [/quote] Then again, people can be extremely wrong, can't they? After a Philip Glass concert once, I heard people were saying "That was all a bit repetitive,wasn't it?"