BassTractor

[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?"

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1453723118' post='2962067'] Maybe there is a basschat serial killer............ [/quote] We'll see. When there's only three of us left, it's the one who died last. I know these things.

Wow! This is not only interesting. It's downright exciting and inspiring. Thanks so much for posting. Oh... and... er... I can't do that [b]at all[/b], but if I could've done it, I could've done it a lot better!

Forgetting XTC, one of my fave bands! Thanks, Spaced, for doing the right thing.

Nope. I fear the cost these days. Before, music filled my day and albums emptied my wallet. (6,000 albums in roughly 30 years. It ended 20 years ago.)

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1453665667' post='2961598'] UK didn't release any albums in the 80s. Their last album Danger Money was released in '79. Well someone had to say it. [/quote] What have I ever done to you that I'm in your ignore list? Oh... wait! You can't see this!

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1453590276' post='2960937'] OP said UK albums :/ [/quote] Aye. It's a trick question. "Danger Money" was released already in '79. - "So" - "Hounds of Love" - "A Secret Wish" (there's Very Important Brits involved) - "Cupid & Psyche 85" [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YxCjoAMvnQ[/media]

Three very interesting basses: - the Dave Smith/Tom Oberheim OB-6 bass, - the Arturia MatrixBrute bass, - the Korg Minilogue bass.

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1453543333' post='2960382'] ask him how much he would pay for five plumbers to come out on a Saturday night! [/quote] Then I realised most of us are plumbers by trade ourselves. That's why we can underbid professional bands.

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1453382174' post='2958942'] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/277326-rip-animal/page__fromsearch__1"]http://basschat.co.u...__fromsearch__1[/url] Already posted. [/quote] http://basschat.co.uk/topic/277260-die-another-day/page__view__findpost__p__2958847 Already posted.

Here's the electronic whiteboard. If you want to read more about it, the guy's called Iannis Xenakis, and the machine's called UPIC. Which reminds me of a kinda cool story: I want to become his pupil, and are allowed to visit him in his apartment. We sit down at the piano, and after a lot of talking and playing, he finally says: - "I accept you as my pupil..." My head is bubbling with excitement of course. Exactly at that point the door opens, and a young man enters. Xenakis undisturbedly continues: "...ah, there he is... ...and [b]this[/b] will be your teacher!" Not what I was envisioning! (Incidentally, I didn't get a grant, and, out of money, had to return home after less than two months - without having received any serious teaching.) [URL=http://s1170.photobucket.com/user/basstractor1/media/Xenakis%20-%20UPIC%20%20-%20%20500_zpsz3dx3jre.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r525/basstractor1/Xenakis%20-%20UPIC%20%20-%20%20500_zpsz3dx3jre.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1453306448' post='2958301'] I'd love to see photos please, if you can. [/quote] PhotoBucket is weird right now. Twice yesterday it took ages to upload before I got an error message about a failed upload. Today I find two copies of the same pic in my library. Anyway, here's the first. This one is on paper but meant for the computer IMS. Notice the time markings - that piece of paper is loooong! [URL=http://s1170.photobucket.com/user/basstractor1/media/Xenakis%20-%20Mycenae%20Alpha%20-%201978%20-%20excerpt_zps1x6wtaq0.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r525/basstractor1/Xenakis%20-%20Mycenae%20Alpha%20-%201978%20-%20excerpt_zps1x6wtaq0.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

You said the g*-word! You're welcome. I may have missed important aspects, so just ask if you want to know more.