SumOne

That's very true for those that want to have pride in their artistic efforts. Unfortunately though, the goal for many isn't artistic integrity and having pride in what they've created - it's reaching the goal of making £ and presumably getting AI to fully compose music might be a way of achieving that. Perhaps this isn't true, but people are suggesting that companies like Spotify and Amazon music are using AI to create music and are promoting it on their playlists as they then don't need to pay royalties. e.g. Ask Alexa to 'play relaxing background music' and it is in their interest to play bland innofensive AI generated stuff they don't need to pay for.

Sounds like a good update, I might give a v4 another go. I had a v3 and liked it, but didn't like the octave tracking jump thing (I play a lot of octaves with synth bass), so I sold it to get a C4. A few years later I got a FI V4 but had hours of hassles trying to get it to connect to my Laptop but no luck, could've been my Laptop and the many competing drivers and midi things on it, the midi connector, or the FI, not sure - but my patience wore out so I gave up in the end and sold it (I do think this is a bit of an overlooked thing and hence a lot of the popularity of the MXR, people just want something that works easily, no faff). However, if I can do program order editing and a decent level of parameter editing directly on the pedal then I'm not too fussed about Laptop connection (just as long as I can also switch the slow/fast tracking via the pedal). Bonus for me is my Keyboard doesn't have a proper synth (just samples) so I'm keen on getting a small midi triggered synth unit (had been looking at things like the Behringer JT Mini). Is the FI v4 always monophonic - or can it do polyphonic when controlled via midi?

Fun fact: The Royal Society* motto since 1662 has been 'Nullius in verba'....meaning 'take nobody's word for it'. So I suppose not much really changes. *the world's oldest national scientific academy.

A good description of my band!

Unfortunately, I think you might be right. At least that's what it feels like to me as someone who has spent 30 years making electronic music. There is software that suggests chords progressions, song structure and drum patterns, Reason has just been bought by an AI company. Or can fully go with something like Suno. On quitting digital music, Daft Punk said 'the last thing they'd want to be now (with AI music) is Robots'. One of them went on to hand write an orchestra score for a ballet. A bit like being a digital visual artist but now AI can do it it'll kills off the need for humans doing that stuff and the market/rarity/value of digital art decreases, but AI won't replace hand painted oil portraits. Along with Daft Punk, one of my favourite electronic producers is Jamie xx, I think he does innovative stuff that's still accessible and more than most he has a signature sound, but a comment on one of his latest releases was 'sounds like AI'. If people think his stuff sounds like AI there's no hope for someone like me to not! I'm thinking there will be push-back in listening trends, AI will be great at personalising music (e.g. linked to mood/time of day, where you are in a marathon and heartbeat etc) but people will want to see real people perform live music with instruments.

I'm loving this: "Every Saint's a sinner, we all have our past. Forever is a fiction, nothing lasts."

Yeah, I figure playing an instrument live is somewhat future-proofed. People have been able to listen to recorded music for over 100 years but still want to go out and hear people perform it. Making new music, I dunno - AI will get very good at it. There will probably be a lot of hybrid stuff where music is made more cheaply/easily with AI but there is still a real 'face' to the music e.g. ask AI to make a backing track after having been given prompts about the style etc. but then a real person sings over it.

In the cold light of day now my initial hype has worn off I think for adding a small synth unit to be controlled by my keyboard I'll be better off using iPad or Laptop soft-synths at home and perhaps something like the Behringer mini and micro series if I want hardware (especially financially, as they are £40 - £80), or something like the Roland P-6 if I want sample playback via midi keyboard. And then for Bass guitar synth, I think I prefer the feel and interaction of combining individual effects (envelope filter, octaver, distortion - right up to gated fuzz, modulation, delays etc), it tends to avoid the slightly detached feel I usually get when using synth pedals with Bass. Still though, this does look good - playing samples back via Bass guitar has all sorts of potential if it tracks well etc. If the price is right I might get it.

That is very true, I suppose I did put in about 4 years of Bass practise before ever playing with a band though. But yeah - nowadays most of my Bass practice is playing with a band. It's partly that thing of it being a 'sociable' sort of instrument that works best played with others I like about bass. And I partly like Piano for the opposite reason - it can work well as a solo instrument to play alone at home. Piano seems to require a different sort of repetitive practise with formally learned technical skills being more important (like I'd mentioned earlier in the thread: the amount of gigging Bass players that did formal lessons/grades vs Piano players I expect would be markedly different). Playing one song so many times to perfect it to pass the grades and then move on is a bit tedious, but I guess it shows the challenge is at about the right level if it is difficult but achievable.

In the early days of the internet there was a battle of the bands online vote with the winner getting to perform on TV. My friend works in IT and fixed it for his band to get 1000s more votes than anyone else, they went on TV, weren't very good, and we're never heard of again! I suppose there are a some lessons there.

Nice, I hadn't seen the polyend mess, but that looks good too. And there's the Meris Enzo X (currently £539 at Andertons). No sample triggering with either of them though. The Meris and Quimera include a tuner (not sure if the Polyend does) and some more normal effects so perhaps could be used as a stand-alone multi fx pedal?....and a decent bass triggered synth, and a midi controlled keyboard synth. £500 is a lot, but if it is a decent multi fx, bass synth, midi synth, equivalent to things that are about £200 each then I could convince myself when things like the MXR Bass synth, C4, FI alone are about £250, and a lot of the relatively budget multi fx are about £250.

Looks good, I want one! This seems more innovative and interesting than any pedal announced by the big companies at NAMM. Triggering recorded samples I think being unique for a guitar/bass pitch tracking pedal? I'm also interested in using it as a synth midi controlled by a keyboard, my keyboard is piano and organ type stuff and limited synth stuff (basically samples) so plugging this in could really expand that. I know the FI can do that, but this seems to have more hands on editing and the screen. I'm guessing it'll not be cheap, something like £500?

https://musictech.com/news/gear/groove-thing-music-buttplug-namm/

You want something new and different instead of just re-releases and new paint jobs? .....we'll, this is what you get: https://musictech.com/news/gear/groove-thing-music-buttplug-namm/

I think it's a bit of a shame that the Octamizer has gone digital. You can get decent digital octave up/down (and other features like semitones) in most multi-fx, but the analogue Octamizer with the tilt EQ on the clean is I think unique. Octavers are one of the only effects that there really does seem to be a noticeable difference in tone between analogue and digital.

I suppose on the bright side - Bass playing is one of the few activities where you could have 50 year old equipment that is still perfectly fine (or even quite desirable) to use. For a lot of Bass manufacturers, a new paint job is about the limit of innovation - and even that is a re-release a lot of the time.

Sounds like the sort of ad David Brent would write after cashing in his pension to get his music on the road.

I think I'll start complaining about people complaining about people complaining about the ad. What a glorious use of free time and technology!

£279 here: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/251215451631027--ashdown-pbm-200-200-watt-portable-bass-head Yeah the Speakon thing is a bit of an issue for me too. I have an RM 500 so have a Speakon cable (and another one as backup). If I were to get the Ant (or Elf or Gnome or BAM 200) as backup I'd need to have an additional cable as backup to work with it. Not a big deal, but it is another cost and another thing to carry. (and Speakon cables are just better)

Nice. And already seems to be available and on sale! (one of those 'sales' where it's the actual price?!) £279 https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/251215451631027--ashdown-pbm-200-200-watt-portable-bass-head Personally, I'd go: Elf (£230) for backup and ultra-portability. Ant (£279) for a small gigging amp - not as ideal for being pocket sized backup as the Elf but with a few additional useful live features like mute button, Speakon cable connector would seal the deal for me. Or I'd go Gnome v2 (£215) if I wanted to have things like aux in and USB for home use (but isn't as small as the Elf as a backup, and doesn't have the live features of the Ant like the mute).

Yeah, I find that to be an issue on almost all pedals that have presets and knobs. There really needs to be more thought into bridging the gap between 'what you see is what you get' pedals and being able to switch presets and know what's going on with the knob positions at a glance with it on a dark floor position 6ft away (not small images on a screen like the TC Plethora, or needing menu click through like most multi fx). Something like knobs without markers on them that turn infinitely and have LEDs around them to indicate the setting position. (apologies for saying 'knob' many times on a family friendly forum!)

There is the NAMM 'Not Available until Mid May' thing, but I tend to think even more long-term when it comes to the expensive basses. If someone here wants to buy the Dingwall Sol in May 2026 then I'll happily take it off their hand in May 2027 for £1k cheaper once a 'NAMM 2027 must have' new paint-job is available.

I know this isn't probably news to anyone, but for people in a similar position to me (i.e. can read music and play to roughly grade 3 but pretty much self taught) I'd highly recommend getting some lessons with a decent tutor. I've learnt more in the last 2x 30min lessons than in the last 5 years! It isn't so much just playing the grade pieces, it's stuff like: How to sit, wrist position, finger positions (not using my thumb on black keys!), how to use the sustain pedal properly (and how to properly use the middle pedal), proper scale technique, how to spot scale structures and what other scales work with them, some useful rhythm stuff (tapping out the notes for each hand on each leg), and some reading things - I'd been misreading ties as slurs. etc. I guess all that stuff could possibly be found in online videos and books, but having it tailored to you is so much more efficient and effective. I do think that once a week might not be necessary for me after a couple of months of ironing out bad technique, once a fortnight might be sufficient (and obviously saves 50% of the not insignificant cost). (I'm actually finding perfecting the grade pieces a bit tedious - playing The Muppet Theme for the 100th time it starts gets a bit annoying!)

It isn't too clear as the website seems to say contradictory things. I would generally think 'EQ bypass switch' means the battery powered preamp for volume is still on but the EQ section is bypassed (not ideal if you want a backup for a dead battery, or if you prefer a passive tone, or want to keep a cable plugged in without battery loss), but then it also says "The master tone control operates in both active and passive mode." So that suggests there is a passive/active switch. https://www.ibanez.com/eu/news/detail/20250930143736.html