SumOne

I'll need to re-read the book, but I think it took the soundsystems 'Bass Culture' as the starting point - and they didn't tend to play Calypso and Mento as they were more of a live band sort of thing and Bass wasn't much of a factor for them.

The book 'Bass Culture, When Reggae Was King' by Lloyd Bradley is probably the best account of the history of Reggae. There is a 30hr Spotify playlist of all the music mentioned: It goes all the way from late 1940s swing/RnB and Jazz that was played at the early soundsystems before Ska came about. It doesn't include Calypso and Mento though which seem a bit of an omission.

I think it is important to all be on the same page and be realistic and honest about what can be done as a team. All very well having an ambitious retiree band leader pushing and saying 'everyone learn these 5 songs before rehearsal next week' and then moaning when some haven't perfected it - but not all instruments are the same, not everyone learns at the same speed, some people have more pressing commitments. Perhaps the speed of learning for the band as a whole is one song a week. Also, as mentioned by others - need a definitive version to all learn, rehearsal recordings, all paying for the rehearsal room, and motivation of a forthcoming gig.

It kind of depends on what type of synth sound you want. One way of doing it is Octaver and fuzz, and I seem to remember getting some quite good ambient pad type sounds with the B3N mucking about stacking drive, modulation, reverb, delays. Add the slicer for some interesting sounds. Generally, envelope filters can be great for it (but the filters in the B3N aren't up to much). For the sort of mono Bass synth bassline sounds you are probably after though: Future Impact, C4, or the MXR are probably the top choices.

Agreed re the 24 fret thing being mostly unnecessary and not as good for slap. My personal choice wound be a 4 string with 21 frets as a slap bass and for most live stuff, and a 5 string 24 fret for jazzy noodling.

I think the economics of being in a professional band have changed a lot. Gigs used to be a way of generating interest so people would buy your latest album, seems that has flipped around.

Bought some cables from John, all went well with the transaction and quick postage etc, the cables are good quality. Thanks!

I expect so, although I've only used an Akai MIDI Mix with an MPC to basically add volume sliders to each track and for the knobs to control a couple of parameters for each track (that's quite good for stuff like live dub mixing - fading in different tracks and turning the knobs to do stuff like increase reverb). The 'Learn' MIDI feature does all the usual things like toggle and momentary so I expect it could turn on/off tracks or groups of tracks. https://support.akaipro.com/en/support/solutions/articles/69000858922-mpc-series-how-to-send-program-changes-with-a-midi-controller

It's not easy enough to change whole projects quickly/seamlessly for live use in mid-song, that is a downside. There are workarounds. i.e. could save several Bass 'tracks' within one project, then set the drumpad to mute/solo the tracks. Time spent changing between projects is one downside of the MPC in general: Changing from one project to the next requires: 'menu > new project> 'do you want to save changes to previous preset'? (if you've changed stuff) y/n > (wait about 3 seconds) > 'select project' screen opens (you can organise it in a user list)> click project and wait about 3 seconds for new one to load. So changing project is do-able between songs, but not during a song. It's a shame as it means using it live for a DJ type tool of seamless mixes between songs needs some workarounds, perhaps this is something the new software is dealing with - I'm yet to fully get into it though.

Anyone else use their MPC as a Bass multi-fx? I've gone on about this before and but as far as I can tell it isn't something people really do - I'm not sure why though, it seems a pretty good multi-fx to me. Plug in, set the it as an 'audio' track, set input to mono, record 'arm' to monitor live... And off you go, can use as tuner, effects (most have more parameters to adjust than your average multi-fx), it has bass amps, all sorts. No noticeable latency.

I'm loving the Key 37. I think the keybed and the sounds of stage piano things like Organ, EP and Piano are better than my Yamaha CK61 which costs more (that does win on extra keys and hardware controls though), and then of course there are additional things like synth, drum machine, sampler, sequencer, effects etc. All in a size I can easily take to gigs for those occasional times it's needed and it sits conveniently on my desk next to my laptop to distract me from home working. There is a good sale on for Plugins at the moment. e.g. Keys collection is £49 reduced from £249.

Personally, I think the new MPCs are excellent precicely because they have so many options, they are marketed primarily as a 'standalone production centre', but there is nothing stopping you saving a template that is just a drum machine and only ever using it for that, or I had a template on the MPC Key 61 that I've just added to my Key 37 that is 'Live stage piano' that has Piano, Organ, and Electric Piano each loaded and set up so drum pads mute/engage them - meaning I can easily solo or combine,when I'm using that preset the drum machine, effects, sequencer etc don't get touched. I also have a setting to use it just as a Bass multi-fx. I find them fairly straightforward to use - especially if just focusing on one thing at a time. I have found that finishing off a song structure and mastering type stuff is easier to do on the Laptop though, the MPC is more of a live tool and an all-in-one for putting ideas down.

Done! I've ordered a Key 37. (Amazon 0% interest on 12x monthly installments is a dangerous thing!)

A good thing with the Live iii is the included plugins. It's a cost with the Key 37 (and One+) that I'll need to factor in. £150 each for things I'd want like Stage Piano, Jura synth, Opx4, Organ, Electric piano....(you can choose one for free). Could quickly add up. By the way, the Mini D (Mini Moog) plugin is on a good sale price right at £29 reduced from £99.