OldG

[quote name='51m0n' post='1342916' date='Aug 17 2011, 11:23 AM']Reaper has an open ended try before you buy license (and only costs ~ £25 for non-commercial use) Its superb....[/quote] Oh yes! The best £25 I've spent in years.... it just works - no dongle or copy protection, starts in seconds, unlimited tracks and routing,extremely customizable etc,etc - all this in a 6mb download! Gotta be worth a try...

Tried everything I could think of to cure the neck dive on my Tokai Jazz, including moving the buttons and weights... nothing worked for any length of time (the neck would creep downwards throughout the set). I was at the point of adapting to play while supporting the neck, when my wife bought me a strap with a sheepskin type underside - this kinda locks the strap to the fabric of your shirt or whatever you wear to stop it slipping round. Works perfectly!

[quote name='wez' post='1289480' date='Jul 1 2011, 07:54 PM']Seems a lot of peeps started on kay, me too £14 from woolworths, shortscale sg copy. the neck bent so much i ripped the frets out and used it as a fretless before selling it for £10.[/quote] Me too, My mate gave me his old Kay ( SG style) for my first bass. It was truly,truly bad.... upgraded to an Aria Cat and a cheap (at the time) old Sound City Bass 150 with an 18'' Fane loaded cab. The Sound City sits high on my list of things I should never have sold

Did a couple of jam nights as the' house' bassist... It was quite a buzz not knowing what was coming next - a few guys would want to play their own songs amongst the usual Johnny B Goode,Green Day,Oasis,All Right Now,Hey Joe etc,etc. With the unknown material I used to keep it simple... get the chords from the guy/girl and play varying combinations of root,fifth,octave with a few runs for interest.If you can't get to speak before the song, get in view of the rythym guitar and follow the fingers. Most of all have fun and don't worry if you bum a note, you are only ever one semitone out - just slide until it sounds good

Watched both videos to make sure..... I don't get it either - but then I like at least a [i]bit[/i] of rythhm with my music.....

[quote name='KiOgon' post='1212889' date='Apr 27 2011, 05:25 PM']EZ test - hold down each string 1 at a time at[b] 2nd fret[/b] - then tap each string onto 1st fret, there should be only a very small clearance = a fag paper between the 1st fret & string. If strings are too high at the nut you'll be struggling down the rest of the neck. Cheerz, John[/quote] That'll be the 3rd fret for anyone setting up a nut and reading this thread... fret at the third and tap (with your fingernail if you can) the string directly over the first fret (onto the actual fretwire) - if all is good you should just feel/hear a click as the clearance is taken up between string and fret. Any discernable movement - lower the slot/nut.... or no click with string hard against fret - pack and raise the nut. Totally agree on shimming the neck after setting the truss rod to get the action down though.

[quote name='thebrig' post='1172351' date='Mar 22 2011, 05:33 PM']I'm not sure the older laptop would be up to recording the amount of tracks I want without problems. In your opinion, do you think I would I be able to record 8 tracks, simultaneously via USB on the i5 machine?[/quote] I can easily record 8 tracks in 24 bit 48000khz WAV on my dual core laptop with firewire... I wouldn't be so confident with USB until I could test it out. Ask around on some recording forums - you should get the pros and cons of both to help you decide.

[quote name='fatback' post='1168372' date='Mar 19 2011, 03:44 PM']No you're not. And with an audio setup if it aint broke etc.[/quote] I run 32bit XP on my recording laptop with no problems at all (until I need to use more than 2gig of the 4 installed) - I am about to partition to dual-boot W7x64 to be able to access the rest for memory intensive VSTi's etc...

[quote name='Tuco' post='1168696' date='Mar 19 2011, 07:42 PM']singing from the samre hymn sheet squire i had trouble with sp2/3 as it goes.... i got no internet (or even the capability) on my "music" PC ,so i downloaded sp2 & 3 from the microsoft website on my wifes laptop,installed them (in safe mode),defragged,rebooted etc etc and when i ran ableton i had SO many pops & crackles no matter how i set the buffer i reformatted back to sp1.. i toyed with the idea of reformatting again (yeh i love it!!) and installing the service packs BEFORE id installed my audio software but i bottled it lol its a shame because theres a certain couple of freeware vsts i wanted to check out (ignite amps NRR1 and TS-999) but they only run on sp2 or later (something to do with the VC++ compiling software used in the vsts design being a 2010 version or summat.........? WAY over the top of my head!!)[/quote] Care to try an audio optimized stripped down XP32 with SP3 slipstreamed into the install? It runs like lightning for most people that use it ( many thanks to Dux over at the Reaper forum) - you'll need all your own drivers for motherboard,sound,video etc.... [url="http://fallofarcadia.com/Reaper/WXPSP3AO.iso"]XP audio optimized ISO[/url] Use your own XP key to activate (OEM won't work) Nearly forgot, When you get to the install, name yourself DAWuser and leave the password blank - change it to whatever you want later, but you have to do this to log on in the first place.

The laptop spec certainly sounds powerful enough... An express slot to add a firewire card may be needed if you want to upgrade the interface ( the UX2 is lacking midi for inputting drums and keys), and the 8gig of RAM will run plenty of VSTi's and effects. To use the full 8 gig of RAM, a 64 bit OS is needed (Windows 7x64) - and a 32bit DAW to be able to use all those free third party VST/VSTi's. As mentioned by myself and many others - whenever computer recording is discussed.... Try Reaper - so good I actually bought it, when I could have carried on using the unrestricted demo and ignored the 5 second nag screen! Download reaper's unexpiring and uncrippled demo [url="http://www.cockos.com/reaper/download.php"]here[/url]

[quote name='dannybuoy' post='1164848' date='Mar 16 2011, 07:26 PM']Never seen such an adaptor but I can't imagine it would be very good for an audio interface.[/quote] My setup: Tascam FW-1804 connected by adaptor to HP DV6900ea running audio optimized XP/Reaper DAW. I can record eight inputs together into Reaper with each track running vst effects, and monitor the the whole lot with only 6.1 ms latency while recording. In other words I can hear everything with FX in real time whilst recording, and same with the band... (in 24bit 48000 WAV btw) The laptop has a Ricoh FW port built in - but the TI chipset in my adaptor beats it hands down..... The adaptor linked in my above post has a VIA chipset which is also rated well for audio work.

I use a firewire express card in my HP laptop... I have recorded 8 inputs together with no glitches - in fact, I've never had a problem at all with it. Similar to [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Firewire-IEEE1394-Express-ExpressCard-Laptop/dp/B002TUP2WU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300261465&sr=8-1"]this one on Amazon[/url].

free 15'' Celestion [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=124024"]here in recycling[/url]

Try it without the battery, with the power set to 'always on' in control panel > power options.

I got the 202's - very pleased with them all round including their bass...

floating thumb technique - I don't even notice myself doing it after 15 years or so...

Do yourself a favour and download Reaper - an uncrippled, unexpiring fully functional Demo [url="http://reaper.fm/download.php"]here[/url] It should get on fine with your Alesis mixer and be a whole lot easier to get to grips with than Cubase...

[quote name='Skol303' post='1043542' date='Dec 1 2010, 11:13 AM']I'm a bedroom studio geek, and for me the best software for home audio recording, at least in terms of value for money, is Propellerhead's Record: [url="http://www.propellerheads.se/products/record/"]http://www.propellerheads.se/products/record/[/url] Costs about £160, but does absolutely everything you'd ever want and is 100% stable: seriously, come the apocalypse, there'll be a computer somewhere, still happily running Record (along with a TV playing re-runs of Friends on E4... but I digress). If you're interested in writing your own songs, or producing 'saleable' quality recordings of a band, then I recommend checking it out. You can download a demo for free, which let's you play with the software without being able to save your work - frustrating, but you can have it running all day if you like and get a feel for it.[/quote] Me too... 51m0n just beat me to it Reaper is a DAW that can produce pro quality recordings, is as stable and versatile as you described - unlimited tracks, unlimited VST/i's, PC and Mac compatible, MIDI capable etc,etc,etc.... It comes as an unexpiring,uncrippled demo that lets you register for $40 ( it's on offer atm) when you want - all in a 4.9mb download. I like it so much I paid for it!

No need to clamp the capo hard up against the fret ( creating a sharpening effect)... finger strength pressure applied backed off from the fret will work a treat. I reckon a capo should be used like your fingers, I like to play with minimal pessure and let the fret do the work - same with a capo imho... Sorry if this comes across as argumentative, but I just want to save the OP from buying a series of capo's and save frustration.

[quote name='Les' post='1041814' date='Nov 29 2010, 11:30 PM']Is there one thats really good ? That doesn't screw the tuning up on your guitar ? Got a Shubb and it's ok but there are still tuning issues. Within reason not bothered how much, need to sort this if I can.[/quote] I use a Shubb with no problems on my guitar... I'm guessing the nut on your guitar is not cut low enough - pulling the tuning sharp as you apply the capo. To test: capo at the third fret and tap directly above the metal of the first - you should just hear a click as the string hits the fret indicating a very small gap, Any discernable gap/clearance here will make for sharp tuning - cut slots or sand the bottom of the nut until at 'click' clearance. I am assuming the action and Truss rod are set somewhere near... HTH Mick

Great post from 51m0n.... Reaper and plugs will get you a long way - room treatment even further...

[quote name='BOD2' post='1027811' date='Nov 18 2010, 12:02 PM']Except the last part where it suggests disconnecting the AC ground to break a "ground loop". Don't ever do this. You might kill someone ![/quote] This is a never ever type bodge - also a big part of my previous post....

You could check your mixer,amps etc have got decent earth connections - and the power sockets you are pluggng into while you are there... S'where I'd start - then go to leads and interconnects ( I have a speaker lead that sounds like an old dial-up modem if my laptop is too close, for instance).