bobbass4k

The sound of the OC-2 is second to none, but it's something of an anomaly, it's popularity and status is kind of self propogating. Think about it, if Boss released a brand new Octave pedal that didn't track very well, couldn't handle chords, glitched out on long notes, and one of it's only 3 controls was almost completely unusable, people would slate it.

Sorry to post twice on the same page, the Rat Tail is here: It's spectacular, AB'ing it with the Turbo RAT was interesting, I was surprised at how similar the tone actually is, but obviously the RAT Tail's flexibility is just better. So many useable sounds and some not so useable but fun ones. Try low clipping completely off, high clipping completely full, dist fully up, filter fully off, no diodes with an OC-2 in front of it, lovely and filthy. Not sure where Ryan gets these LED's.

I'm now permanently tuned to D standard/Drop C, it's just better for me. If it's going to be a permanent thing and you've got multiple basses I would dedicate one to D standard, switching between E and D standard a lot is a one way to ticket to a warped neck. My best tip is get some DR DDT's. They're a bit pricy but there's no better strings for drop tuning. By some engineering witchcraft they don't lose tension in drop tunings, so you can use the same gauge you normally use and they won't be slacker. If you've got a brand you like already, then get a heavier gauge set and set it up properly with them.

[quote name='umph' timestamp='1364424420' post='2026453'] not porn without guts [/quote] Allow me to quell your depraved appetite: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v502/bobbass4k/DSCN0316_zps6e786aaa.jpg[/IMG] Photographed, by a completely bizarre coincidence, on a vinyl featuring Ant's band.

First change for a while, and it's about to change again. The Stache is great but there's a band on the horizon which the Rat sound is going to be better for, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to trade it for a Rat Tail. That's gonna make the Turbo Rat redundant, so if anyone fancies it drop me a PM, then next order of business is a Mastotron, so if anyone's got one they want to get shot of let me know too. [attachment=131761:DSCN0309.JPG] And to show how ridiculously bright the Stache LED is: [attachment=131762:DSCN0312.JPG] It can illuminate my room entirely on it's own.

Are they at the same (or at least similar) settings?

Well done Skol, it was a small but excellent collection this month, I'm thoroughly surprised to have come second. I'm kinda stumped by the new one though, I guess beetle sex just doesn't inspire me. That's probably a good thing though.

Re: The second one, I find it odd that people are criticizing it because he's playing it like a guitar, what's wrong with that? "He might as well be playing a guitar" is an entirely non-existent point, if it's so similar to playing on a guitar as to be indistinguishable, then why would a guitar be preferable? I just don't get why we bassists as a general collective seem so keen to lock ourselves in a box and limit ourselves to an extremely small range of styles and playing techniques. The bass guitar is a piece of wood, a variable number of metal wires, a couple of magnets and some electronics. I see absolutely no reason why one method of playing it should be more "valid" than any other.

Annoyed I couldn't find time to have a go at this, it's a great idea. I was torn between two, one had the best intro of all of them but I decided to be logical and went for the one that was the most consistent.

What do you have the direct level set to? That's probably responsible for your drop in output level and very bassy signal. Generally, octave 2 (the left knob) should be off, unless you're playing very high up the neck it just produces pure mud. Usually you'll want direct level (the smaller knob in the middle) quite high and octave 1 a little lower for a good octave down harmony, although direct level off and octave 1 all the way up can be fun too.

[quote name='plunkrock' timestamp='1364412099' post='2026189'] I was almost trading my Rat Tail for that, PM me if it doesn't work out for you (it will) [/quote] Cool, I might end up taking you up on that actually, I've never been quite sure the muff sound is for me, I had a Green Stache a while ago before he started doing the Grey Staches and I liked it but it was too noisy and got lost in a mix, so the idea is a gate and a mids control will remedy that but it might still not be for me.

Got Kev's and formerly Shep's Grey Stache on the way, If I can snag a cheap Mastotron too I think my dirt section might finally be complete, until I get the urge to replace the Turbo Rat with a Rat Tail of course...

Musicality and aesthetics always wins for me. I like complexity and skill but not when it's just for the sake of it. This to me is one of the most beautiful songs ever: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK62cRA92-g[/youtube]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1364054246' post='2021445'] WOW! I really like this Bob. Sounds great thru my headphones. Nicely mixed (some clever panning going on) and everything sounds tight and well EQ'd. I didn't try counting the time signature(s), but I didn't notice anything sounding 'out of place' either (if that makes any sense??), which is as it should be. Good work mate! [/quote] Thanks man, I wasn't sure about the mix, I finally got my ears syringed so I should be able to hear properly again but everything still sounds a bit muddier in my right ear so I wasn't sure about the balance, I was mostly working off just looking at the waveforms, good to know it worked. The original idea was to not have a single clean guitar, but I couldn't resist for one section, although I should have mixed the piano that doubles it higher.

Here's mine: [url="https://soundcloud.com/bobbass4k/war-has-changed"]https://soundcloud.com/bobbass4k/war-has-changed[/url] It probably still needs stuff doing to it but I wanted to get it up while I was happy with it. I realize it's probably well outside most people's wheelhouses, but it's nice to have a finished song, although annoyingly it's one of the few ones I've ever written that I think is hurt by lack of vocal, but oh well.

[quote name='ubassman' timestamp='1364022212' post='2020943'] I challenge anyone to get a groove counting 11s [/quote] Challenge accepted: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox9SfroL0uQ[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI-us49j5-o[/media] Of course groove is subjective, but for me those both have 11/8 sections that are really easy to lock into and groove along to.

Time signatures are such a subjective thing when it comes down to it, you can even see it in this video, Pino's tapping his foot in quarters and the keyboardist (don't know his name,I'm impressed I recognized Pino...) is tapping his foot along in eights, so they're both counting it differently. Personally I'd count it (the first bit at least) as 3 bars of 5/8 and a bar of 7/8, but that's equivalent to 2 bars of 11/8, or a bar of 15/8 and a bar of 7/8, or you could write it out as a single bar of 11/4. Personally I don't like time signatures bigger than 7/4, I think they're unwieldy, so that colours my hearing of time sigs, this could very will have been written as 11/4, but I prefer to break it down as w bars of 5.8 and a bar of 7/8. Music theory probably dictates which one is correct, but I think as long as it works for you, who's to say it's wrong?

FINALLY got mine written and the VST's all programmed, now I just need to mix it. Yours is great Skol, almost entirely opposite to mine, which should be interesting. Mine's not even remotely "video game" themed, but it IS angry. Definitely the most conventional song I've written for a while, it's mostly having fun in 6/8, except the first bit which is 3/8, and the breakdown bit which is 5/8, and a riff towards the end in 11/8, and there's a couple of random bars of 7/8 because that's the sort of thing I'm into. Hmm, maybe "conventional" is the wrong word, should be interesting to see how people react to it. I might slip a video game reference into the title, I just need to pick a good'un.....

The XP-100 whammy has the 5th/octave up harmony mode that he uses for Disposition, mine works a treat. The xp-100 has a lot more modes too, apparently the bass whammy sounds better, but to be honest I think that assessment is usually made by people who've spent the equivalent of a half-decent car on a bass whammy. Mine is one of my essential pedals, they can be had for < £100, in fact I think someone's selling one in the classifieds at the moment.

[quote name='Shambo' timestamp='1363783542' post='2017485'] Now I'm wondering if I need lower profile RAM that won't interfere with the CPU cooler I'm yet to choose. [/quote] It is something you need to consider, but personally I'd recommend a water cooling block for the CPU and GPU, although if you're not going to be gaming you could get away without water cooling for the GPU. They're low profile so they won't interfere with the RAM and generally quieter than a big honking fan CPU cooler. You can get simple no-maintenance systems that are sealed and have no reservoir. They won't last forever but you never have to buy coolant or bleed the system or anything.

Scan are my go to, the site can be a bit of a chore to use, and their prices aren't always the absolute lowest but there's never more than a few £ in it and the service and selection far outstrips OCUK and eBuyer, in my experience. As for CPU, you may not necessarily [i]need [/i]a quad-core, but quad-cores are the dominant force now, a decent quad core is well within a reasonable budget. I upgraded my PC last year and I sprang for one of the new Ivy Bridge i5's, 22nm! They can probably be had for £150ish, but if you can afford 32GB of RAM, you might want to look at an i7. Or I suppose you could always look at an..... AMD, if you're into that sort of thing.

I'll have to find some time to give this a listen, but to be honest I've kind of been going off Dave Grohl a little lately, he's started coming off as a bit insincere, even hypocritical. I saw Foo Fighters in Germany, and towards the end of the set he made a big speech about how he was "proud to stand on stage and play true rock 'n' roll, with no f***ing computers behind (him)". The nord and novation synths their live keyboardist was using are basically computers, not to mention all the fancy rack gear they were no doubt using. It's an extremely arrogant viewpoint that I was sad to hear from him. It kind of adds to the Wasting Light thing, he made such a big deal about tracking on to analog tape to get back to "true rock 'n' roll", I can kind of see the appeal, but what was the point when they were just going to compress it to hell? Wasting Light sounds exactly like most major label modern records, which is to say, f***ing awful, I certainly can't hear any vintage tape mojo.

Should have mine finished soon, it's essentially just a lot of riffs glued together, but I think it works.