Skinnyman

Is it the Mk2? I’ve got a trip to York booked tomorrow so I’ll check out as many as I can and if the Akai is as decent as it appears for the price I may well take you up on that….

Is a definite contender and you remind me that I need to get to Gear4Music this weekend to try a few out

The Music Lab (rehearsal rooms, studio and teaching facility) in Hoddesdon has classes for drums, bass and guitar and they put students together in bands for end of season gigs. They have students of all ages and abilities (the drummer I worked with in my last-but-one band studied with them and was well into his forties). That’s the closest I can think of to what you’re looking for and it seems to be really popular. Of course, it’s no use if you’re not in Hertfordshire but there may be other schools/studios who are running the same sort of thing.

That would be great but the M32 is a bit bigger than I’m after. The Korgs look like they might do the trick

I’m looking for a small 25 key midi keyboard to use with my tablet when travelling. Obvious candidates are the Akai LPK25 and the Arturia Microlab. Anyone with any experience of either of these able to share pros and cons? Or recommend anything else that I should consider? It needs to be rucksack-portable (so fairly rugged) and be iPad, laptop and Android-friendly…

I really hope they survive - the Argon is a great machine and their app is brilliant

I see that Modal are in administration which is very sad news. That said, there may be some good clearance bargains to be had on Argon and Cobalt models…

I’ve long been of the opinion that trying to prevent cookies is basically pointless. Pressing a button that says “reject all” does not guarantee that all advertising and tracking cookies are being rejected - we are basically taking it on trust that the sites and their affiliates are actually disabling all of the advertising and tracking features as we’ve requested. Saying that, I trust BassChat a darn sight more than most (any) other sites and I’m prepared to accept that the guys are trying to find a way of generating some income from the lurkers and non-supporting members while giving paying subscribers an ad-free and track-free experience. With all due respect though, I do wonder if this might have been implemented in a slightly more inclusive fashion? This is a community so maybe it would have helped to give us a bit of a heads up about what was going to be implemented. I’m not suggesting that we should be given any kind of say in the matter but I generally think that if you tell people what problem you’re trying to solve, they’ll work with you to solve it rather than react badly when change just happens for no obvious reason. Anyway, I’m happy to let the guys work through this and iron out the wrinkles. On a separate note, I cannot understand how companies can believe that online adverts beyond a simple banner can ever be effective and help sell a product or service. How on Earth, for example, Grammarly expect me to subscribe to their appalling word-mangler just because they interrupt anything I want to view on YouTube every thirty seconds to show me 5 seconds of the same fecking advert is beyond me. Still, if someone seriously wants to pay money just to know that I’ve entered this month’s photo competition and am a bit interested in the Ampeg DI box then good luck to them. As someone pointed out many years ago, if you’re using a service and you’re not paying to do so then you are the product…

Sold a Behringer X Touch to Andy. Fuss free transaction and an absolute gent. Exactly how a BC transaction should go. Thanks Andy!

Current encryption technology relies on it taking so long to try and break the encryption that it’s not a practical approach. The promise of quantum computers is that, among other things, they will be orders of magnitude faster, making it practical to try many different key combinations. There seem to be legitimate concerns that the encryption approaches we use today will no longer protect the things we want protected.

Do quantum computers, when they become mainstream, make things a little easier or more challenging for the hacker, I wonder?

Apparently, subscribers/customers of BA, the BBC and Boots have all been targetted in the last few days. I guess they’ll be moving on to Currys and Costco next….

I dunno about that. I listened to it later and we were still sh**

+1 for the RCF. We had an issue with WiFi dropouts but I got round that by using a tethered usb connection to a cheap android tablet. Since then, rock solid and way more features than we need - but nice to know we have the option. Guitarist Helix gone down? Plug into a hi-z on the RCF. Lost an fox pedal? Put it in the signal chain on the RCF. Need six individual mixes? Record to USB? All covered by the RCF. It really is a fantastic bit of kit…. If I was buying again, it would be a toss up between that and the Zoom Livetrak

We went down the IEM route last year, even though we play exclusively small pub gigs. Before that, with a loud drummer and an equally loud guitarist, the monitor volumes were stupid and the vocalist still couldn’t hear herself. I was using a set of ACS moulded plugs that I’ve had for years so I just got the IEM earphones they do that fit into the moulded plugs where the attenuator/filter thingy sits. We invested in a wireless mixer (which we ended up using with a tethered usb connection to a tablet on account of WiFi dropouts - if we were doing this again, I’d just get the Zoom mixer), which allows six individual mixes to be sent and each of us has got a cheapo Behringer headphone amp and earphones. Instant bliss. We’ve never sounded better out front and we’re so much tighter now that we can hear each other and ourselves properly. I’m a convert but - and here’s the great thing - we’ve also played gigs with a hybrid setup where not everyone was using IEMs. We played one, for example, where the bass went through an amp/cab - we still took a DI feed to the mixer so it could be mixed into the individual mixes even though none of the signal went through to FOH. So….there are many different ways to use the technology now available to us and none of them is “right” and none of them is “wrong”. Vive la difference, eh?

I used to live in Rickmansworth. Jus’ sayin’

It would be nice to have enough hair left for that to be a consideration.

The main thing I’m taking from this thread is that some people like to ditch the amp and use IEMs and some people prefer to keep their amp and use a monitor. Anyone who’s ever heard me play would probably prefer me to keep the amp and the IEMs and just ditch the bass

My last band (I played keys and guitar and left because I started a new job and couldn’t commit the time) are looking for a bass player. They’re a great bunch of people doing mainly 80s covers. Great drummer, a fairly restrained guitarist and a great female vocalist. I believe they have gigs booked this year, mainly rebookings. PM me if interested and I’ll pass on details

I have two. A 4003 and a 4003sw. I want to sell one and will be buried with the other. Which one is which varies depending on the day of the week. Such is the Way of the Ric.

Played my last gig last night. Fittingly, and like most of the others I’ve played over the years, to a half-empty pub that suddenly filled up and came alive for the back end of the second set. It’s my decision to quit and I certainly won’t missing the load ins and outs or unloading the car at 1:30 in the morning…. ….. but I’m still not sure how I feel about it. It was surprisingly emotional saying goodbye to the band. Even the guitarist.

That’s me out then. D’oh

I was given a pedal for my birthday. I didn’t buy it but I did ask for it. I can’t determine from the rules whether this is acceptable. I’m guessing that there’s already been a ruling on this kind of thing but I can’t find it anywhere. Am I still in or do I need to remove myself, head bowed?

You mean, that’s not the correct way? *sidles from room to spend rest of evening restringing basses*