Topic: Musical gear wanking thread

[NoSleep]

Just realised I'd missed out one of the pics from my earlier post:

And after all the above expense I bought a couple of cheap guitars and did a bit of setting up (new nuts, saddle, etc) on them to make them sound a whole lot more. Both have become surprisingly firm favourites in my collection that get played way more than others.


The one on the left is Thomann's own brand fretless bass that I got for about £100 (as B-stock, albeit I stuck a £40 set of Thomastik-Infeld flatwounds on it with the money I saved) and on the right is an £80 Parlour guitar, which has a more biting midrange sound compared to the standard sized dreadnought style acoustic. Being smaller it's also far more comfortable to play, feeling more like an electric sat in your lap; you don't have sit in a special position like I find you have to with a dreadnought monster to hand.

[FerriswheelBueller]

I mentioned it on here already, but I recently got a Gretsch parlour guitar while all my stuff is in storage and it’s great. Much nicer than my big acoustics to be honest. My father in law got a Simon and Patrick parlour because he liked my Gretsch so much (but he insists on buying Canadian, fair enough it is nicer than mine).

[popcorn]

I've also got one of these on order:

This arrived today. Spent the evening fighting it. I want to sync it to my Digitakt with midi, and the lights are flashing in sync to the clock, but none of my loops are in sync.

ALL GEAR IS SHITE AND DON'T WORK.

[FerriswheelBueller]

The ditto x1 looper confused me (didn’t read the manual obviously) so multiplying it by four (and it’s popcorn so reducing the user’s IQ by 200) was always going to end in failure.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

There are a few different threads and posts knocking about regarding guitars, pedals, synths, wanking etc so I thought we could have a go at collecting all the wanking in one spot.

I have recently gone on a purchasing bender and would like to discuss my items with you.

I have just got one of these:



After years of failing to record my Vox AC15 amp in any way that sounds remotely non-shit I've given up and bought this amp modelling pedal. It's very highly thought of so I'm optimistic. I don't really know anything about amps or tone because I am thick, but so far I'm really pleased with it, because it's lovely and simple and small, and it's so much nicer playing through my monitors (with no Ableton lag!) instead of firing up this massive hissing fizzing box I don't understand. I've yet to do any recording with it, but it is really lovely knowing what the sound coming out of my monitors is exactly the same sound that will end up in Ableton. Goodbye fucking around with mics.

ooo very fancy, never heard of it before, watching a few videos of it now! sounds great

got an AC15C1X so i know your pain recording it. I'm in the middle of a bit of a hefty project and recording guitar with that amp has been an absolute nightmare, not least because having it anywhere near the right volume is out of the question in such a small house with every neighbour working from home. my mum's in the neighbourhood whatsapp group presumably because she just loves conflict and aggro and any time a guitar's been played with anything other than headphones the passive aggressive texts immediately start flying

even if I could get things done lightning quick in one take at the right volume, i'm fucking useless with mic'ing the bloody thing. half the time I end up just sticking my pedalboard through my line 6 pod. feel like a classic example of "all the gear no idea. definitely going to keep the strymon in mind for when I start shitting golden eggs.

[popcorn]

Sequential have just announced a reissue of the Prophet-5.



I had a play on an original Prophet-5 a few years ago and it was the loveliest synth I've ever played. It's been outclassed in a thousand ways since, but for me it was the perfect blend of shape, size, feel, sound and lovely simplicity. Just felt like a nice inviting all-rounder.

Wanking now.

[FerriswheelBueller]

I’m no good at synths. I’m a half decent piano player - is it worth me trying to learn all the bells and whistles and buttons and that? They look like a right laugh but I worry I’m too dim.

[popcorn]

I find synths infinitely more exciting than guitars. I love playing guitars but I can't tell the difference between any of them as instruments. They're different in vague, acoustic, inexact ways to do with string gauges and pickups. It's like picking your favourite brand of tomato ketchup or something, they taste different but it's really hard to know how, or at least to me it is. I know people can wank for hours about the smallest differences between guitars, but to me with my embarrassing IQ it's just an endless grey area.

Whereas a synthesiser is a kind of... device. They have clearly different features, sounds and functions. This one has an arpeggiator. This one has aftertouch. This one is monophonic, this one is polyphonic, etc etc. These are all features that manipulate the sound in obvious, concrete ways, as drastically as a delay pedal might. So for me it's a lot easier to find them interesting. It's like playing with different Transformers.

I also love how with synths and programming it can, if you want, become a purely intellectual exercise. It's less about having keyboard skill (though I have those to pay the bills if necessary) and more about designing sounds in the abstract.

I think the fundamentals of synthesisers, like filters and envelopes and LFOs, are pretty easy to grasp with a good tutorial and some trial and error. The Ableton tutorial is meant to be good. There are lots of free, good soft synths you can get to fuck around on. I'd highly recommend it, especially if you have a midi keyboard you can wire it up to. Or buy a cheap and cheerful little synth like a Microbrute.

[FerriswheelBueller]

I had a microKORG and got quite good at making shimmering noises with it, but I remember thinking “oh is that it then?” after a while which speaks to me not putting the time in.

I’m doing the old 1-2 buying a house/resigning from the shit job I hate in the next month so will have the winning combo of more space to put instruments and more time to fiddle about with them, so will see if I can figure a simple synth out.

Just remembered I hate un-weighted keys, I think that might be why I couldn’t be doing with my KORG.

[Better Midlands]

I also love how with synths and programming it can, if you want, become a purely intellectual exercise. It's less about having keyboard skill (though I have those to pay the bills if necessary) and more about designing sounds in the abstract.

You sound like someone who would enjoy Eurorack (if you have a money tree in your back garden).

[NoSleep]

I’m no good at synths. I’m a half decent piano player - is it worth me trying to learn all the bells and whistles and buttons and that? They look like a right laugh but I worry I’m too dim.

The best kind of synth to get to start with would be a classic analog one of sorts, with all the knobs and sliders to twiddle. The microkorg can make some good sounds but many of its functions are hidden under the bonnet, so you don't necessarily end up knowing much about what you're doing. Get one of those Behringer clones, or maybe an Arturia, and learn about ADSRs and how to apply them to amplitude and filtering/cutoff/resonance in useful ways (make a synth go "meouw" for the first time from scratch).

[Petey Pate]

Has anyone here had any experience of using Arturia's recent Keystep Pro? It appears more intuitive than the likes of an MPC or Digitakt, as everything on it is clearly labelled, plus as a (shit) keyboard player, having an interface with actual keys is preferable to pads and buttons.

The best kind of synth to get to start with would be a classic analog one of sorts, with all the knobs and sliders to twiddle. The microkorg can make some good sounds but many of its functions are hidden under the bonnet, so you don't necessarily end up knowing much about what you're doing. Get one of those Behringer clones, or maybe an Arturia, and learn about ADSRs and how to apply them to amplitude and filtering/cutoff/resonance in useful ways (make a synth go "meouw" for the first time from scratch).

I would second this advice. Creating patches on something like a MicroKorg or MiniNova becomes easier if you've had experience with more hands on, less versatile synths. Speaking of which, I own this 303 clone, which is about as basic as an analog synth you can get. Sounds great though, especially if you run it through FX pedals.

[FerriswheelBueller]

Appreciate the advice, thanks!

[popcorn]

Yeah definitely try something that lets you directly twiddle knobs rather than banks of presets and digital effects.

You'll have to stick with the thin keys though, weighted keys are usually fairly crap for synths. Just stop trying to play it like a piano.

[NoSleep]

That's the main thing; it isn't a piano, so the lighter keys will give you more expression to emulate other instruments. A synth flute sound needs a certain touch to make it seem like a flautist is playing.

[FerriswheelBueller]

Yeah it’s totally my fault, I’ve not really approached it with the right mindset before. I like finding a nice sound and going “ok, now what can we play with that” rather than spending time making a nice sound in the abstract, I guess that’s the best way to put it.

Soon! I will have time! I think one of those little boxes that Petey recommended would be a good start, then we’ll move up to something with keys and see how we go.

[Huxleys Babkins]

What would people recommend for a complete beginner who wants to make cool electronic noises that might be classed as "music"? I've got no experience of playing anything beyond noodling about in Garageband on my iPad when bored, and playing the recorder at school badly 30 years ago. Don't know any chords on a keyboard even. When lockdown happened, I was looking at MIDI keyboards and thinking it might be a good time to learn, but there's so much choice in a ridiculous spectrum of prices, but everything sold out, plus I didn't get furloughed. And is that even the right thing to get? Should I just forget the synth/DAW aspect and just buy a cheap keyboard to learn to play a note on for now?

Sorry to derail from the gear porn, but Ferris' posts about synths got me craving again. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[popcorn]

What would people recommend for a complete beginner who wants to make cool electronic noises that might be classed as "music"?

I would recommend a DAW because you can make complete songs in it. If you just buy an individual synth then you've only really got a lot of synth noises. Harder to make a whole composition. But with a DAW you can bang out Limmy-style techno bangers in an afternoon.

You can get a free three-month Ableton Live trial and try following some tutorials. I think Live is really good software and as far as DAWs go is the most inviting and user-friendly, but there's still a lot to learn. Even if you're only doing basic stuff, you can also be comforted in the knowledge that it's used by pros to make seriously complex music, so you're not just using some silly baby thing like Garage Band (apologies to the Garage Band lovers), and you're investing time into something that's worth learning, if you wanted to carry on.

So try getting that and just making some daft loops and whacking loads of effects on things and making bananas noises and see if it's fun for you. Nothing to lose! And if you find that's fun you can buy a cheap midi controller so you can play stuff on keys and twiddle knobs, and that might make it even more fun.

[Sherman Krank]

For the Jag fans here, Five Watt World have just uploaded the Jaguar episode of their excellent A Short History series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUPkmZG2yEk

[NoSleep]

I mentioned it on here already, but I recently got a Gretsch parlour guitar while all my stuff is in storage and it’s great. Much nicer than my big acoustics to be honest. My father in law got a Simon and Patrick parlour because he liked my Gretsch so much (but he insists on buying Canadian, fair enough it is nicer than mine).

The Gretsch ones look like they're veering toward the even-smaller "travel guitar" size; it's short scale and a 12-fret neck. The one I posted above is full-scale and with a 14-fret neck. I want to get a travel guitar, not to travel, but because the sound moves further away from a dreadnought in the same direction as the parlour guitar. I love this video, featuring Richard Bishop talking about the discovery and acquisition of the travel guitar he used to record "The Tangiers Sessions".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2p5j3EajWI

[FerriswheelBueller]

It is a bit bigger than a travel - brother in law has one of the Martin travel guitars and that feels properly small to play. Fun sound though, and much easier to pick up and play.

[easytarget]

hello cook, hello bomb,
Any of you have experience with recording from your *real goddamn tube fuckin amp* into your DAW?
There's a cheapish thing called Two Notes Torpedo and a much more expensive thing called Universal Audio OX.
Any opinions on the above?

Current pedal board to keep things on topic:


The Revv/Walrus Red combo is 90s death metal as fuck.

[Non Stop Dancer]

I discovered the Softube Console 1 recently and now I want one for Christmas. Anyone have anything to say about it?

https://www.softube.com/console1

[NoSleep]

I discovered the Softube Console 1 recently and now I want one for Christmas. Anyone have anything to say about it?

https://www.softube.com/console1

You should check out Airwindows. They do their own console emulation in a variety of flavours and it's free to download (supported by Patreon). They also have a ton of other ways to colour your signal path (all for free). Also the best dither plugins out there. The guy is doing genius work, putting a new plugin out every Monday morning.

http://www.airwindows.com

[Non Stop Dancer]

Thanks, I'll have a look. To be honest though it's the idea of the hardware I find very appealing. It seems like a very intuitive way of working when I'm othwise completely in the box.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

great stuff!


guitarists, I need to set up my strat a bit after leaving it way too long, thing goes wildly out of tune these days plus just needs a little TLC. anyone here able to recommend any tutorials worth checking out before I start wading through youtube? thinking a home set up might be enough before I go sobbing to a professional...

[kngen]

Genuine gear wanking here, folks.

Managed to snap one of these up on a whim because I'd just got a very generous tax refund, and I thought it looked cool. No real need for it as I've got a resissue Memory Boy, and any number of pretty good analogue delay plug-ins on a cracked version of Amplitube. It does sound nice, though.

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

great stuff!


guitarists, I need to set up my strat a bit after leaving it way too long, thing goes wildly out of tune these days plus just needs a little TLC. anyone here able to recommend any tutorials worth checking out before I start wading through youtube? thinking a home set up might be enough before I go sobbing to a professional...

This is a pretty comprehensive guide. No video but plenty of pics: https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/DIY_How_to_Set_Up_a_Fender_Stratocaster?page=1

Depending on what kind of Strat you have you might need to adjust the truss rod at the heel of the neck (which is a bit of a pain as it involves loosening the neck) as opposed to at the headstock (which is much more convenient).

[NoSleep]

great stuff!


guitarists, I need to set up my strat a bit after leaving it way too long, thing goes wildly out of tune these days plus just needs a little TLC. anyone here able to recommend any tutorials worth checking out before I start wading through youtube? thinking a home set up might be enough before I go sobbing to a professional...

There's an Italian guy on YouTube who's pretty good on Strat stuff. He seems pretty thorough from what I've watched so far.

https://www.youtube.com/user/FruduaTv/videos

[hellvetica]

Thanks for the adoration guys, I'll post a photo of my synth setup when I can be bothered.

Also pulled the trigger on that guitar and it's swell. Got a cute wee Yamaha amp for it too which turns out to be completely pointless as the guitar's louder than it on full blast. Also there anything more embarrassing and awkward than testing a guitar in a guitar shop btw? Knocking out a Sun Kil Moon song then remembering the allegations and clumsily changing it into some pseudo Marr-babble as though anyone was paying attention. Don't understand these guys who live to shred to the staff all day long.

Genuine gear wanking here, folks.

Managed to snap one of these up on a whim because I'd just got a very generous tax refund, and I thought it looked cool. No real need for it as I've got a resissue Memory Boy, and any number of pretty good analogue delay plug-ins on a cracked version of Amplitube. It does sound nice, though.

Whats this? Lovin' the aesthetic.