SumOne

It seems a rule that Ska covers bands need 'ska' in their name, it is for the one I'm in - at pub level it helps for a 'you know what your getting' sort of thing and getting punters that want to hear ska but haven't heard of us. It isn't a very cool thing to do though, would be a bit lame if we were an originals band.

UA Volt 2 interface: Not a pedal, but as a decent interface it has allowed me to use virtual pedals with low enough latency to play live - that has opened a whole new world of possibilities, including this lot:

With over 8 billion other people on the planet and ever improving technology I expect we're all replaceable in some way or another. ....whether other band mates (or employers etc) would want to go to the effort is probably the deciding factor.

Got myself a Luminite Graviton M2: Seems a decent bit of kit. Lots of nerdy potential! The best thing with all this stuff is also the biggest drawback - it can be very complex.

Free reverb: https://www.wavealchemy.co.uk/product/magic7/ A good list of free VSTs: https://www.idesignsound.com/best-free-vst/

Ride the riddim!

🤪

That worked for me as standalone and seemed good, but crashed 'Guitar Rig' twice (the only time it has ever crashed and otherwise always seems very stable with dozens of plugins). So I dunno where the issue is but I quickly uninstalled as I'm planning on using Laptop/Plugins live.

I saw Johnny Osbourne play live earlier this year and he still puts on a great show. 3 rewinds of 'truth and rights', I don't think anyone there was getting quite as hyped for it as I was! I have a lot of dub and reggae vinyl, but I more often use Spotify for the convenience - with various quite specific playlists.

Lots of great free pedal and rack effect emulations from Nembrini, and no latency so you can use them live: https://www.nembriniaudio.com/collections/free?srsltid=AfmBOooPRVmuR7RMiPTRp-sOmyV3cCo6e7raWnmzqIGNB4B-zvqpNFlo

I'm not fussed about Demon FX or Behringer making clones. They aren't counterfeit and pretending to actually be the original. And they aren't people basically copying (but saying 'inspired by') old designs, changing something like a transistor or adding something simple like a clean blend, then getting their kids to paint it, calling it 'boutique' and making a big deal of 'made in UK/USA' then charging £300.

And, possibly because almost every 'original' pedal has heavily borrowed from others. "The SNOW WHITE AUTOWAH (SWAW) circuit is based on a 1991 BJF rack mount remote wah circuit"

Played at on old slightly run down independent country pub last night. Didn't look promising to start: Stormy weather, small space, not many people, dogs, skittle alley and billiards table and open fire sort of real ale pub - didn't seem like the place for quite a loud lively 7 piece ska band. ....but it turned out great, almost entirety down to the landlords and small crowd of about 30 people (it can't have been profitable paying us) who were all really friendly, welcoming, all knew each other (the pub closes when the landlord couple go on holiday as there are no other staff, and 10 customers went on holiday with them this year!), a proper boozy (lots of good cheap beer, no food served) community pub. Not the sort of country pub you see many of nowadays, they mostly seem to basically be restaurants in a pub building. The music was all good, but that kinda felt secondary - mostly it was good to feel part of a communal party where everyone wanted (and therefore had) a fun evening. On the Bass playing side - I didn't use a compressor, and I missed it. I could tell the slight lack in punch and consistency.

I wasn't impressed with the 'Bassment' plugin. Nice to have a lot of things in one plugin, and it was only about £10, but all of the individual things can be done better with free individual plugins.

There are plenty ot trite phrases for this, everything from 'practice makes perfect' through to 'Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order'. .... I guess there is a middle ground where you strive to be better but don't take it badly when your expectations were set too high.

Thanks, that looks good. Especially "Effortless MIDI programming on the large 3.5 inches touchscreen LCD" when compared to the Paint Audio Midi Captain Laptop editing: You can do stuff on the controller too, but for the more in-depth stuff needs this editing via Laptop. It feels like a programmer from 1990 would be quite at home with it!

Milton Henry is new to me, but what I've heard is good. Not much available online though. https://www.reggae-vibes.com/news/2022/12/milton-henry-passed-away-at-age-72/

I'd say particularly for home stuff it is a good option if you already have an audio interface. I've spent a lot of time with Bass hooked up to the Laptop for Multi-FX editing, Source Audio Pedals, Future Impact etc. And it seems like for many of those things you can just cut out the middle man of using a pedal, the Laptop has plenty of processing power to do anything pedals can do, and lot of the free VSTs are just as good (or better) than pedals. Admittedly, using it live is a different proposition - and I might regret it!

Mostly I just like geeking about with different sounds and setups (I spent years making electronic music before I ever picked up a Bass). I am less fickle with things like basses and keyboards though, so it's not only that I like shiny new stuff! I always tend to nit-pick and think multi fx can be improved. The reason for this current setup is that I needed a decent Laptop and interface for DJ stuff, and started recording Bass at home through it - then realised that the latency is low enough that it is fine for home practice...and if good enough for home practice, perhaps it'll work live. It potentially fixes that nit-picking I have with multi fx. Don't like the filter in the Helix/Boss/Zoom etc? Tough! You're stuck with it! (or start adding other pedals), but with a Laptop you can buy a MF-101 Plugin from Moog for about £20. Likewise for me with B15 Amp, Space Echo, etc. Plugins and almost limitless routing and combination options, and MIDI controllers just open a whole new world of nerding!

The only one of those I've used is the vintage microtubes, I don't remember it going up into Fuzz levels of distortion though - was milder. Buying and selling second hand via Basschat is a good way of trying a lot of pedals with not necessarily much cost. I find you need to try them as it is all quite subjective and depends on your other equipment.

I recently got a UA Volt 2 and it has been great on a Windows Laptop. Or for simple headphone practice, the Nux mighty plug is good.

I've owned a Dingwall Combustion, Ibanez EHB 1005 MS & Ibanez SRMS 805, so I guess I am a fan of the fans! ......but I think it is a bit like the 4 vs 5 thing, fan frets aren't better in every way (I currently just use a standard 4 string). I think two main drawbacks are: Lack of choice in Basses, lack of choice in strings (for the Dingwall), but I expect each of those might gradually be less of an issue. I've had 4 string Basses with tension/tone across the strings sounding just as good as the Dingwall, but I've never had a standard 5 string sound as good on the B. So I'd probably recommend fanned frets for people that play a 4 BEAD, or play 5 strings. But then again, a good standard 5 isn't that different with a good setup/strings and playing through Amp/Cab and in the end it was the size and weight of the Combustion that put me off it, and the fact it just doesn't sound like a Passive Jazz. But as far as the technical playing of fanned frets - that wasn't an issue at all.

I've been using 'Gig Performer 5' (free 14 day trial) and I'm impressed. It is simple if you want it to be, I'd managed to MIDI map things straight away that I couldn't figure out on Reaper, it has a good clear interface, and it looks like it can do very complex stuff if needed. I have the total latency down to 6ms* (the equivalent time of of being about 6 foot away from a speaker, similar time to most wireless systems) with minimum processing strain (CPU hasn't gone over 20%, RAM use is staying below 50%). And a key thing is Gig Performer seems reliable, or at least it is marketed as being specifically designed for Live Performances with Guitar/Bass in mind (as well as some other things) with reliability being a key selling point. *Gig Performer has a tool to measure the actual latency from Interface input to Interface output, and gives times for each Plugin. You can switch between rackspaces (basically Presets on a multi-fx) with no gap, and can have trails. Or within each rackspace you can have 'variations' (like 'snapshots on helix stuff). I like the wiring view that has live colour coding to show the signal path and volumes e.g. here it shows the Drive adding a lot of volume but the delay then taking some of that volume away. I reckon I'll buy it after the trial, but it is a bit pricey at $169.

Nux mighty plug is a good option for practice with headphones.

Punters having a fight before we start was a bit disconcerting, but the gig all worked out well. In fact, the more rough and boozy pubs often have the most lively and up for it crowds. Monitoring was an issue though. In ears not working properly for some people, and feedback in the mics - the drums were mic'd up and half the band have stage monitors. It is too complex, I think we need to all go one way or the other.