Woodinblack

my bongo ticks all of those boxes, except the no pickguard.

And then another 5 hours getting round the roadworks!

A lack of 5 string option sunburst tort 4+1 headstocks unpainted headstocks (on painted guitars, ok on not painted) passive basses, or more specifically, passive basses with controls

Similar to the SY1000

Arm keyboard - that is what I need!

Not really, they don't work well on those, specifically the spacing is a bit of an issue (less than bass, more than guitar) but also the same reason as a bass. Purely down to frequency. THe roland GK systems have the best tracking you can get, they have researched it more than anyone else and they cheat a bit to get the frequency, but ultimately you don't know what frequency something is until you have seen enough of its wave to work out its time. For a bass note, low E is 41Hz, so one wave every 1 whole wave every 24ms or so. Roland do faster than that which is impressive, but even then there are other frequencies as well to cloud the issue so they pick the note they think it is and then bend like mad to get it to be right on subsequent data (which is why the GKs always sound better than anything fed from their midi ports). Obviously going to the low note of a guitar, the low E is 12ms so way better, and an octave about that, 6ms, you kind of got rid of the issue. I have played the GKs on bass and guitar and frankly it is just better on the guitar. The SY / VG system gets round that by not even trying, it just uses the wave coming in and modifies it. So no lag or anything.

The Guitar synths always did, just the VG system used cosm processing, the GR system used pitch to note, and that always is going to have a delay. Not so bad on a guitar, always a bit slower on a bass (in fact, twice as slow on the e vs e on guitar). Not so bad for synth swells and stuff, but for staccato notes, you have to predict that delay and play early, which is easy enough to do but does require a change in technique. Or just play it higher, in which case, use a guitar, then you can do the bass on it with the synth

They haven't abandoned it, it is still in the Sy synths, although in the SY1-300 it is the whole instrument. Does the SY1000 not do the individual notes that way, or is that why they are boss rather than roland?

Pretty up close and personal! Last night of a local pub, and they had invited us earlier this year based on the strength of a previous performance. Couldnt move in the pub and considering how cold it was inside, this was one of the warmest gigs! Went pretty well all in all!

Can't say I am surprised - it was one of those sort of buildings that looked put up in a hurry. I used to like the browse and occasional buy - it was convenient in that when shopping in bristol, my wife could go to the other shops so i got a time for a proper look. There is nothing else where they are so she would be with me and bored.

It was late, it turned up on friday. It has a european power supply but otherwise all is good, seems a great thing, havent had time to play around with it yet.

I presume that PMT bristol moved for costs, they used to be near the town centre, but now they are by the train station. Don't know what the new place is like, its not an area I go so I can't really pop in anymore like I used to when it was down town.

No servicing needed, but check the screws haven't got loose sometimes - my DI socket got a bit loose.

Glad it is sorted - obviously something on the back of those screws! How heavy are you talking? I like the look of the C4, but not keen on additional weight

I do that but the drummer joins in. Although at the last gig I did put a part of that riff in all right now. I don't think it really fits, but noone noticed the main riff of Pneuma is also a good for that!

In the bristol store they stopped putting prices on at one point - something to do with price matching. Either way it stopped me buying my reface DX when it was actually a good price as it wasn't labeled. But I always found if you say it is a price on the site that is the price you pay.

After saying I wasn't going for it, I did. It was £16 shipping and it is due on thursday

Nothing is going to be quite the same as GB, but remember Cakewalk has had over a decade to change, so I doubt it is the same. But it is free so easy to try. I would mention I haven't used it, I use logic and garageband, but I watched the 'first 10 minutes with cakewalk' video and it doesn't seem that tricky, compared to my memory of getting used to reaper (that I have used). But as people say reaper is free to try (although not actually free) and if you can get into it people who use it seem to like it And yes, although you can use your input jack, chance are its not going to be great so something with decent inputs (with actual levels and jacks / XLRs) will save you a lot of hassle.

That wouldn't dislodge the lightweight 5g ones i have, unless your jack socket had a problem.

We are being asked for it, so yes and no.

Hmm.. maybe but I don't really want the rest of the band to be insured through me!

There is such a thing as an 'easy to pick up' DAW, but as Dad says, there is a learning curve with any software. GarageBands ease of use when starting up is one of it is major advantages and the fact the curve is pushed back quite a way, not many offer quite that level of ease of use. Cakewalk is probably the closest, especially now it is free (used to be quite expensive), user friendly, runs everything. Reaper is a very good and comprehensive DAW, but doesn't have the beginner ease of use vibe that GB has. As people say, pick something and obviously they can all do the job, and all involve some effort learning what you can do but the resources are out there with youtube and the documentation

There is not and never will be a GarageBand for windows, but there are quite a few other DAWs that are sort of similar if you look around, depending on what you want. Don't download anything that tells you it is GarageBand for windows!

I just look at the VU meter to make sure it is moving, that is about it.