Al Krow

Can they add PWM just via a software update? I think a couple of folk have mentioned that omission too, including the Music Radar article, which was otherwise raving about the pedal! PWM useful mostly for string pad type sounds, or does it have wider use?

That's great thanks Peter! They seem to have included quite a bit of stuff since the original Enzo, a lot of it not specifically synth though. Have they improved the synth aspects too? The Arm chipset sounds like it's a premier piece of kit, though, and likely to give it DSP capability significantly ahead of any of the competition. Look forward to your further thoughts as/when you get a chance to get your hands on one.

Well, that's Music Radar's view of it!

@Quatschmacher other than polyphonic capability, do you have an initial sense of the overall capability of this unit vs the FI Mk4? Is it a step up and, if so, how significantly? Be very interested to get your thoughts as our resident synth expert!

Interestingly many BC'ers would take a spare bass to a gig as insurance 'cos they didn't want to risk blowing-up a gig (to mix my metaphors). Could maybe have spent the money on another bit of kit they use all the time and can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times they've actually had to make use of a spare, but I bet they're damn glad they had the spare on those rare occasions! But that's the point of insurance: it's a waste until you need it. Could of course say "we're neutral" and let other folk defend democracy (like some countries did during WW2) and hope the bad guys don't come after us. But we've mostly always stepped up to the plate and, for me, that's something to proud of. I think the right answer has got to be both / and, particularly when there are nutters like Putin around.

Defence spending is (national) insurance. Like all insurance it's seemingly a waste of money...until it's not.

APRIETA - VINCEN GARCÍA - Great to see one of the world's top current bass players using a Yamaha BB!

Pulling some of this recent sales tax/tariff chat together, the way I would summarise it: The EU levies VAT on a wide range of goods and services, both domestic and imports; The US doesn't have VAT but has a lower rate sales tax; A tariff is a targeted sales tax applying only to imports, paid by US consumers where the US levies additional tariffs. It is actually another means of revenue raising by the US government. When something is taxed it makes it less attractive and cuts consumption. Eg cigarettes (tobacco duty), imports (tariffs), jobs (employers NI). We may not agree, but I think there is a decent argument for taxing imports in preference to local jobs? Particularly if you are running a massive trade deficit with the rest of the world, which the US is.

Thanks Steve (as our resident VAT expert). As you say, the zero rating is actually a massive point, allowing businesses to recover all their input tax and no VAT charged on the export of goods and services to overseas consumers.

Nope. The "value added" is to do with how the tax is collected. You get a deduction for input tax on your cost of sales and pay over output tax on your sales. So the net VAT a business pays over to HMRC is on the margin ie the value added at each stage of a supply chain. The VAT is ultimately suffered ("borne") by the end, non VAT registered, consumer.

All sales taxes put up the prices of goods and services. A tariff is a sales tax focussed solely on imports, in effect it's a targeted sales tax, right? And just another form of revenue raising for a government.

Technically it's a tax on goods and services. But taking your definition surely someone buying our exports will want to "consume" them and not bury them in their back yard?

Isn't a key point that the US doesn't charge VAT on imports but levies a generally lower sales tax? They are now looking to level the playing field using tariffs. The rest of the world is going to have to suck it up or negotiate mutually beneficial trade deals.

Do you count fuel and adult clothing as luxuries? VAT can be quite a regressive tax, and is the second largest source of government income in the UK after income tax and NI. Surely it's up to each nation to sort out their own tax system? Ireland chooses not to levy much corporation tax on US multinationals, undercutting the rest of Europe. So US multinationals set up shop there. The US has sales taxes and not VAT. The EU actually has huge trade barriers: it exempts exports from VAT but charges VAT on imports. How is that not a tariff in all but name?