Guitar player too, huh? You can safely skip the "professional" for me, but finding the perfect guitar strings clearly is another life goal for me too. Current favourite: DR Strings 12-52 (with a wound G-string) for C# standard tuning. There are so many parallels between playing the guitar and playing badminton when it comes to finding the "perfect" gear, it's stunning. A major difference being the numbers on the price tags though... So yeah, I feel like we would get along very well in the real world so make sure to say hi if you come to southern Germany at some point. We could go through my racket, guitar and beer collection. But back to topic - LN1 performs perfectly fine with lower tensions. I have a bunch of club mates who use it at 20'ish lbs. and it plays, well, like LN1 at a lower tension. It doesn't get slippery or stuff like that. On the pro side, you get a great durability before it actually snaps if you go lower. The question is why you want to string that Victor racket that differently than your main weapon.
I am focusing on the 700, but I love the feeling of the 4000 too, maybe because it was my first racket, but if my primary wears me out I grab it, and it gives up nothing to more expensive ones, because I beat players with better rackets consistently. I have to string it at less tension because it's only rated up to 22-23 lbs. max. Thinking of doing one with No.1, the other with GT5 so I can try two more strings. I like everything I've been reading about GT5 in that thread, except for it's harder feel, but maybe at low tension that won't be a problem. Then again, NBG99 is still a consideration. I'm reading as much as I can and trying to read between the lines in the opinions given about these strings. It's funny how so many people can have such different opinions about the same thing, so I try to filter all that by finding people who approximate my situation. Of course if we all used the same racket strung at the same tension this would all be a lot easier. My friend you are already using the brand of guitar strings that won my shoot-out of the best strings there are, but may I suggest, if you haven't tried them, the DR Pure Blues version was my favorite. They just had a depth and 3 dimensionality of tone that nothing from Fender, Ernie Ball, D'Addario (my previous favorite), GHS or others can match. D'Addario NY's were second. Most surprisingly, Gibson Vintage Reissue were atrocious. They sounded like a paper plate compared to the DR's. I wish I could come there for a couple of weeks to closely examine (and taste) all 3 of your "collections"
A little OT update... Initial impression is great. I know what you mean with that 3 dimensionality in tone. Looking forward to seeing how they perform over time and maybe do a direct shootout against the DR Tite Fits.
Congrtaulations! You're almost there! You might want to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or grab one of your favorite beers for this next part, because I'm going to share with you what has taken me 5 decades of experimentation, blood, sweat and tears, ungodly amounts of money, and an unquenchable thirst for the best possible sound. Being a perfectionist A-hole didn't hurt either, although it annoyed my friends when they wanted to do other things but I wouldn't quit. I could probably charge a fortune for this stuff. Not to brag, but I am routinely complemented for the sound I get, always questioned as to how I do it. And of course, this is all just my opinion, but I honestly know of only one other guy on the face of the planet (who is even more obsessed than me!) about seeking perfect sound, and he's not a musician, but his sound system has people flying in from all over the world just to experience it. It's like listening to a living, breathing band in front of your face with depth and detail you can't imagine. He thinks I have the best guitar sound he's ever heard live. We begin: Although EMG's are absolutely wonderful for canceling noise (which is why they are popular for high-gain Metal) and tuning your sound for a specific tone, with a few exceptions they tend to sound very dry with a digital edge, like using a distortion/overdrive device that produces irritating odd harmonics instead of sweet even harmonics (same difference in using a solid state versus tube amp for amp distortion). BTW, and I'm sure you already know this, but always use EMG's with enough voltage to give them as much headroom as possible so they can breath, at least 18v. If you really want to hear those strings perform, and get almost liquid, (and for the best possible sound if you go into a studio, or just won't settle for less (like me), try them on a good ($$$) guitar (detuned to E flat for a slightly thicker sound, which is why Eddie Van Halen, ZZ Top, me, and tons of others do it, easier to play and sing with too) with good single coil or humbucking alnico II, III or V pickups, or better yet, original black Gibson P-90's, my favorite sounding pickup. Something like a high-end Strat, Les Paul, or ES335, and of course on a boutique quality all tube hand-wired amp, including a now hard to find tube rectifier. But actually, without spending the big bucks, the new Fender Bassbreaker can get pretty sweet if you find a good one and dial it in juuuuuuust right. It's one of the few cheap amps that can get that most difficult of tones that walks the line between clean, and just a hint of tube saturated, slightly compressed overdrive without a pedal for a sweet Blues, Jazz, or Southern Rock style tone, where high quality guitar tone lives. Many of the better tone guitarists around here (I'm only an hour away from New Orleans) use original black-face pre-CBS fender tube amps, or their vintage reproductions. Always let tube amps warm up, fully on, for at least an hour. I prefer 10" speakers because 8's and 10's reproduce the human voice the most accurately. 12's have a little too much low-mid emphasis that kills the sweetness and natural qualities of a voice, and we don't want to add unnecessary eq to compensate. Any added eq causes distortion in the tone circuit of an amp, not where we want to get it from. The human voice (and a violin) is the most difficult sound to reproduce accurately, so why not use the same thing for a good guitar sound? 8's don't have the full low end that a guitar can get, unlike a voice, but can sound great in a studio post-eq as evidenced by the first Led Zepplin album and many others. Of course if you can find a 1959 vintage Marshall Super Plexi Lead 50 or 100 watt head with same period 4x12 cabinets and speakers, well, crank it up!. I used to play on a stack of those back in the 70's when my band used to open for acts like Bob Seger, Cactus, MC5, Brownsville Station and others. We never had a hit song which is why you never heard of us. Anyway, back to our story.......... While you are at it, (if you want the best of the best of the best, with honors, (couldn't help a little MIB humour), get some Neglex-Mogami 3080 110 ohm AES/EBU Digital Audio Cable with good quality Soundcraft or better 1/4" jacks soldered with lead-free Silver Bearing Solder 96/4 compound (62/36/2 will do), and run it with the imprinted logo reading towards the amp, with the cable as short as possible. Yes, once you reach a certain quality level in sound, you can definitely hear the difference in which direction a good cable is run. And go straight from your guitar to the amp, no BS in the chain because every little thing changes the sound. Let me repeat that again because it is critically important, every... little... thing... (down to the solder) changes the sound. For your live rig or if you want to use pedals and such, of course make all of the wire runs between them using this stuff, as short as possible. I've also taken pickups I really like and replaced the leads from them inside the guitar with this wire, as well as all of the internal wiring of a guitar, but it may or may not be an improvement over something like cloth-covered vintage wiring. Enough. This will get you where you want to be, and hopefully as you play with this stuff it will open your mind to ideas you never considered before, and encourage you to try anything and everything. You never know what might make a difference, and every little difference adds up. As I approach the grave, hopefully you will continue to keep alive the spirit of experimentation and constant improvement that has clearly driven me insane. One other tip I just thought of that helps immensely. Train your ears. If you can't hear the differences, all is for naught. Get a CD or whatever of the entire sound frequency sweep from 20-20,000 hz that plays each frequency for about 15 seconds. Use 10 hz intervals from 20-200 hz, then 50 hz intervals up to 1000 hz, then 100 hz intervals from then on up. Learn it until you can tell me blindfolded that a frequency I play for you is 1250 hz, or 2500 hz, or whatever. This will put you miles ahead because then you can identify when something is missing or overbearing, and where it is in the spectrum to fix it. By the time you get to this level, you will be able to hear sound in a room in a completely different way. You will be able to "tune" a room to get the best sound by moving furniture and changing wall/floor/ceiling materials which will change reflections and ambience, creating air or deadening a room as needed to allow the frequencies to sound their best. Are you hearing harsh reflections coming off of a brick fireplace in your living room? Put a dense chair or sofa in front of it to suck them up. If you really want to get psycho like me, I try to "see" sound and air as it moves around a room. I do it outside too as I play Disc Golf and shoot competitive air guns. It helps in adjusting furniture, setting up a recording studio control room, getting that perfect guitar sound in the studio, or figuring out why your band doesn't sound quite right in a certain room. You can do stuff like help all of your friends have better sounding systems (speakers up against a wall?.... oh no, no, no.) and identify problems when listening to other bands (they don't really suck, the room does) as well as your own. Learn to use your eyes and ears. Forgot about picks. Nothing sounds better than flesh, but for a little attack, I like a tortoise shell medium Fender pick. Once you get everything else together, experiment, and choose what sounds best to you. And that's the thing, once you get your system and ears happening, you've opened up a whole other world of options for subtle nuances to fit what you want. To my badminton brothers and sisters, my apologies this is so long. And to anyone who thinks this doesn't have any business being in a badminton thread, you are right, but s_mair has generously shared a lot of his badminton knowledge with me, and I'm returning the favor in a thread that I started. Update soon on new badmiinton goodies. Teaser: 2 sets of LN No.1 on the way.
Wow, I feel so honoured that you have shared so many secrets in your tone with me. Very, very interesting and a lot to think about. And frankly, I’m kind of glad that I haven’t reached that level of perfectionism (yet?). The more i think about it, the more parallels between the strife for a perfect guitar tone and a perfect badminton racket and setup I see. But before we dig any deeper @Cheung or @kwun, would it be possible to move the last couple of posts into a new chit-chat thread in the way of “Guitarists on BadmintonCentral”? I wonder if there are others like us around here. I know of at least one other BC’er who is having sleepless nights about the decision between a real Boogie amp and a Kemper/Helix.
For someone who doesn't have perfect pitch, how long does it take to train to that level? I normally use measurement to measure frequency response but having that ability will be very handy when measurement gears are not available and not to say much quicker process.
Not that long if you approach it with the intent to learn something. First off, nobody is going to undergo an endeavor like that unless they are seriously interested in it, or slightly unhinged, and once you begin, you will become fascinated by what is going on. Partly because, you will begin to associate certain frequencies with things you are already familiar with, that surround you every day. For instance, if you have an alarm clock that plays a certain frequency, you will now know what it is, and it's good to have reference points like that in every day life to constantly refresh what you learned. I have a lot of fun playing with low frequencies on sub woofers on my TV. To me a good TV sound system is useless without a sub because that's where all the great stuff takes place. And get a good one because lousy ones won't reproduce fundamental notes, they jump to the 2nd harmonic when they start to poop out, meaning instead of reproducing a real 30 hz, they jump to 60 hz because they can't handle 30 hz. It takes a really good one to reproduce the fundamental tones below 35 hz or so, and most people have no idea how low that really is. A great movie intro to watch (hear) to test sub woofers (and I use when I'm testing friend's systems to find the proper place in the room for it) is the opening scene when the spaceship is approaching Earth in The Fifth Element. It can rattle your house and knock stuff off of bookcases and shelves. Good fun! Low frequencies are by far the touchiest to play with and a sub can be difficult to get correctly placed in a room. They are already sitting on the floor (wood, carpet, brick, tile, linoleum?) and walls and corners heavily influence them. Speaker placement is a science all in it's own. I live near the Mississippi River and if I listen close enough, I can hear super-low frequencies coming from big ships engines and propellers in the water, right through the levee, right through the ground, like an earthquake rumble. It's a sound that is with us every day, yet most people don't hear it because they haven't tuned their ears to recognize it. Sometimes a train can do it. Things like that will happen to you, too, especially with low frequencies. It's also handy when you are trying to make your sound system sound better. You will be able to identify and hear reflections that are screwing up your sound, individual frequencies that need to be attenuated, etc... Most people don't realize that even with a front-only loaded speaker like you would have in your stereo system or on your TV, sound radiates all around the cabinet, not just out the front. For a simple test, try this. Take a single speaker and put it up against a wall. You won't notice it, but you are hearing the reflections off of the wall almost as much as what is coming out of the speaker, and the wall is coloring the sound as well as boosting the volume. Then pull the speaker about 3 feet away from the wall and see how much the volume drops and the overall frequency changes. Now you are hearing just the speaker, especially if on a stand that is only as big as the bottom of the speaker so the speaker is essentially floating in the air with nothing around it. You get a lot of reflections if you have a speaker sitting on a desk, for instance. Same effect, but now the reflections are coming from the desk. And about perfect pitch. All you need to know is what key your favorite song is in. You know, the one you sing all the time that stays in your head for days, or you've played so many times on the guitar that you can't possibly forget it? When you know it so well, and know the key, then when you sing it to yourself you will have that starting key for reference. For me, I've always had a high singing voice, one of the few people around here who could sing all of the Led Zepplin stuff full voice, like the end of Stairway to Heaven. I've been in several bands with much better singers than me, but they just couldn't hit those notes. My goto song is Rock and Roll, Led Zepplin. I know it is in the key of A. I've played it and sung it so many times I'm sick of it. So anytime I'm in the middle of nowhere and a guitar appears out of thin air, I can tune it on the spot because all I have to do is sing Rock and Roll, and I know what A is. There are a lot of things measurement gear can't tell you, useful for hard facts, but trust your ears. You are welcome, and tell your friend that Randy and his crew make some good amps at Boogie, but if he does go with a guitar processor instead of a real amp, always either run it straight into a tube amp, or have a tube preamp in line after the processor. Even a cheap one like a ART Tube MP Studio preamp works. That way, the sterile sound coming from the processor will be greatly enhanced by getting some integrity, warmth, and even-harmonics by passing thru the tube. He can also play with different tubes to tune it to taste, but don't try to use the preamp to get any kind of distortion, it will sound terrible. I was one of the original testers for Line 6 before anybody even heard of them (remember the P.O.D.?) I'd always tell them something like "yeah, it sounds great, but it sounds much better when I put a tube preamp after it or run it into a tube amp (hint,hint)." They weren't amused. Seriously though, for a while I used the Line 6 Studio rack mount preamp and ran it directly into either a Fender Pro Junior, Zinky, Marshall, or some kind of tube amp so I could have everything in one pedal board for live convenience. Certainly I wouldn't take that to a studio, but live it was fine because 99.99999% of your audience doesn't know good sound anyway, they mainly listen to the singing.
When it comes to my guitar tone, I'm a simple guy. I want a thick, chunky yet still articulate and tight high-gain rhythm tone. I'm into the heavier stuff and basically a riff oriented player. My preferred tuning is standard C# or with a drop B, so it's important to keep a tight low end. And that's why the EMGs for example fit my need pretty much perfectly - and I still run them on standard 9V. When I was still playing in band, I was using an Engl Powerball head with a mighty 4x12" cab, but decided to go for a more compact rig a couple of months ago. Also, I like our new neighborhood and felt like the Engl could be a bit of a disturbance there. So I ended up with my current setup: Randall Satan 50 Head Hesu 2x12" vertical cab (with Hesu Demon Speakers) No extra pedals, except for a TC Electronics Noise Gate And for the record - of course I know Ola Englund's Youtube channel, but I did not intend to basically copy that setup. Regarding guitars, I currently own two: ESP E-II Eclipse ESP Ltd. F400FM And I have the next candidate already on my list. It will be a Schecter C-1 SLS Evil Twin which seems to be made exactly for me. Also want to try those highly-praised Fishman pickups.
I think it's best and easiest to simply mark him here... @Mr Arc2 .... good tip with using a tube preamp to liven up the signal. I did the same back in the days with a Behringer V-Amp (you know that blue'ish dead cheap POD clone that sounded really bad?) and it pushed the sound to an acceptable level. If I was playing live a lot, then I'm sure I would be going with a digital setup too. It's just awesome to transport, you need a couple of minutes until you're ready to rock and you can be sure to get the exact same sound to the mixing desk every single time. Enjoying your guitar sound at home only, I'm currently very happy to play through a real tube amp setup though.
String buddies! I've got NYXLs now, 10-46 (added 56 for the 7 string guitar), great punch, nice mids and endurance. Bareknuckle pickups, and a Revv 7-40 generator and zilla fatboy cab with v30 and h creamback. A G major in the loop for effects. Great in the mix tone! Also really liked the jet city soldano clones (if you can dial them up a bit).
Haha, great to see other string addictives too! And that's a very interesting setup you got there mate. Sweet. So I take it that you are also more into the heavier stuff? I only now the Revv Generators from Glenn Fricker's Youtube channel but didn't have them on my radar tbh. And I just had to google Zilla Cabs... so great to see how many smaller companies are coming up with innovative products these days. And also, it seems as if the days for the big 4 x 12 cabs are counted - especially when it comes to lower tunigs or 7/8-string guitars. Personally, I haven't missed mine for a single second - that 2 x 12 has more than enough punch and the low end is far easier to control. Regarding strings, if you haven't tried DR Strings yet, then I warmly recommend you to do so at some point. And go for the Tite Fits or the Pure Blues since those two are having the round core instead of a hexagonal one. It gives them a very unique playing feel and they just sound great. I've been playing Ernie Ball strings for years, but the DRs kicked them from their go-to spot recently.
Glenn has funny video's and knows a lot about mixing and what works and doesn't, but I wouldn't turn to him about a 'great' guitar tone (although when he has actual guitarists over it sounds loads better.) Baker and Rabea Massaad have 7-40 videos that sounded great, that got me interested. I went to a german guitar store that had a large number of amps and brought my Zilla cab and two guitars (6 and 7 skervesen). Tried out a bunch, but mostly interested in the Mesa Mark V:25 and the Revv 7-40 beforehand. Mesa was great, but it had a small control area where it sounded amazing and the rest was not super usable. Sounded massive, though! Revv sounded like it was done, not much needed in terms of eq in the mix, still sounded massive and clearly defined but never overwhelming, also good number of sounds with the 'aggression' switch and fat/bright for different guitars (all midi-switchable <3). Best description was it sounded High Definition. Also tried PRS Archon (good but not my taste, the 2 channel H I tried a couple years ago was much sweeter), Victory amps (good, versatile but more 'vintage', great price and small lunchboxes, though!) Thanks for the recommendation for strings, I've just ordered a pack to try. I was an Elixir fan until the NYXL's came out. Most other strings just didn't last more than a week before rust or flakes falling off (looking at you, Slinky!) It's great to see the cab shops keeping busy, it's a massive part of your sound. I liked the Zilla fatboy, the speaker combination I got is really nice. I have it so that I can put it on the size and have a vertical cab, put a 2u Zilla rack (matching colours, yay) with the g major and the small Revv head on top. This way it doesn't just blast my feet And 2x12's are way too big already most of the time anyways, can't turn it up on stage anyway, and I agree the sound is way better, especially the low end. If I were to choose a non-metal rig I would opt for a 1x12 (perhaps 2x10, like Scrench suggests) and a Victory or something. How do you like the Hesu Demons? The video's I found do not really show a 1-on-1 except one with volume differences, but it sounds a little fuller than the V30? A quote says the cab sounds scooped? I play mostly heavy stuff and we're busy making our second prog metal EP, which already sounds way better with the Revv and a DIY iso-cab. We're also doing re-amping for the first time and plan on passing the final run through the Zilla in a rehearsal room so we can push the volume a bit (home studio's should be a little neighbour friendly ) What do you guys make? First can be found here if you like: Bandcamp: https://definehumanband.bandcamp.com/releases Spotify: https:// open.spotify.com/artist/48ftOm3IMblAgA3ws9cKWX (had to put a space to prevent a spammy media-box)
Awesome thread. Thanks for all the expertise you guys shared. I am the one who cannot decide which direction his GAS should go. Short background. I have only been playing for one year but i take it seriously and try to practice for one hour each day. Obviously my ears a nowhere close to your level... I own a PRS SE custom 24 with a floyd rose and I upgraded her pickups with the nickel covered JB humbuckers. I like the tone better and it looks much nicer with nickel covers instead of the zebra look. I only tried three amps thus far. I own a kong tubefifteen (https://www.session.de/KONG-TubeFifteen.html). I tried and returned a yamah thr10 first generation and a prs MT15. Both of them weren't improvements to my kong. The THR10 headphone sound was so dry and artificial through headphones. On a very quiet level my kong sounded and felt better. The MT15 had nice gain and a good loud sound but the master volume had to be used so delicately and on a bedroom level it didnt impress me at all. The buildquality of my particular amp was also very questionable. There was buzz coming in standby mode as soon as the power tubes were warm and a big bang when i switched on/off. The dealer (thomann) said that was normal for this amp. I returned the amp. I don't own any effect pedals but i want to start experimenting with it. My current setup doesn't offer enough versatility to me (no third channel, not enough gain, shared channel eq's, no delay, no tuner pedal...). Currently I am only playing for myself but my endgoal is it to be part of a cover band and play different genres (mostly rock/metal). So the question is, shall I start building around a tube amp (I like the mesa mark V) and get a very expensive pedalboard (and not nail all the tones i want) or just use something like a helix or kemper and save a lot of money. I always hear peoply saying the latter two don't give you the right feel and these people play with distortion pedals through a clean amp. I dont see how they behave much differently compared to a pedal with transistors, when you play the processors through the return of a tube amp. Another option would be using my kong as a fundamental and get a good cab (priority no. 1) and a bunch of pedals. Another point to mention is that the helix/kemper are much more likely to have a big drop in price once they're outdated. The mark V will be a classic. I know nobody can make a decision for me but any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks for your time.
Whaaat?!? I'm lucky to have a low-corrosive hand sweat though. I like the Elixirs on my acoustic guitar, but never did on the electrics. There is just something that feels off for me, I can't even put a finger on why or what. I have never been the best friend of V30s tbh as soon as I had to play through them myself. When I bought the Engl amp, I did a direct comparison between the Engl Standard (V60 speakers) and the Vintage (V30s) and ended up clearly preferring the V60s. The V30s just sound a bit too nasal in the room. Thing is that when I hear them mic'ed up and/or played by someone else, I kind of like them a lot. So no idea what's going on there. So when I decided to go for a 2 x 12 I wanted to get something else - and I remember watching a video from Ola in which he compared V30 and the Demons and the Demons just hit exactly the sound I was looking for. So far, I'm very very happy with the setup. They sound very open (modern?) with lots of high mids, so you have to be careful with the presence setting to avoid a too harsh sound. So far, I played them with a Blackstar HT5 Metal and now with the Satan and they match both amps perfectly. I would love to hear them with a Rectifier for example, but I'm currently drawing the line as soon as it comes to owing several amps. Cheers for the links! Will check it out later in the evening. I was playing in several bands during my youth and early 20s. With all bands falling apart after university, I also reduced my guitar activity to a minimum for the past couple of years. I kind of rediscovered the guitar in the beginning of this year and quickly was on fire again. So currently, I'm playing for myself and working out riffs and ideas together with a former band mate (bass player who is playing a sensational Darkglass amp! ). We discovered BandLab as a brilliant platform for this kind of "joint jamming". And that's where the Demon is doing an awesome job by the way. I mic it up with a boring SM58, go directly into the interface and into an iPad or iPhone to do the quick recordings on BandLab. Sounds thick and juicy as hell without any EQ'ing whatsoever. To be honest, I would have loved to see both the Satan and that Darkglass beast in our previous band setting back in the day. Like a match made in mixing heaven.
Hey man, great to hear you've been practising a lot, keep it up! PRS SE line is becoming better every year, great guitars. I can not give you advice on what to buy, everybody's sound and search is different. Just keep in mind that, especially since you just started out, your sound wishes may change, your ear will change, and that's alright. You say you've already tried some things and found what you did and didn't like, great. Keep finding what you like and what you use it for, and as your tastes may change you will switch it up every now and then, keep that in mind when you decide your budget (second hand is great for gear without losing much money when you're maybe reselling later). Also, rehearsal rooms may have simple amps or cabs, maybe something that you can plug into that (pedals in the front, or the return fx loop of it with a helix or something) is easy for traveling there and not dragging all the gear, but it depends on the venue. But most important is that you get inspired by it and it gets you to play more! Finding gear is part of the fun. Keep at it! (the MT15 doesn't have a standby switch, and will pop loud. also, gain channels will buzz a little bit)
Yeah, the plated high GBe were falling apart :O Elixirs have the coating, it feels weird, but I liked it. Still have them on my accoustic as well. Yeah the video's they sound really full, quite nice! Would like to hear them in person. The V30's are a weird thing, they indeed sound a bit nasally and are really, REALLY picky to where you mic them, but man do they cut in a full mix. The combo with the H75 creamback is just so much sweeter than the V30's alone, thats why I chose this, alone the v30 is a little harsh for me. Darkglass always amazes me, sound so great! I'll check out this BandLab thing, sounds cool!
Their distortion sounds so awesome, it literally gives me goosebumps. My mate uses Sandberg and Warwick basses and plays the amp through a 2 x 10 Hesu cab. You just don't believe the punch, definition and sheer volume you can get out of that setup. And you can put it all in the trunk of a VW Polo. And still have space for a crate of beer. Do it! Definitely my No.1 discovery on the internet in 2019. And it's hard to believe that it's all completely free of charge and without any ads. Must be the perfect tool for a band that can only meet occasionally for actual rehearsals but still work out new songs and ideas in between. And to be able to only start the app on your mobile or tablet and basically be ready to record a new idea within seconds is pure gold. What's more frustating than having stumbled into a new riff and playing it with full excitement only to forget it again at the exact second you switch off your amp... you know the feeling, I'm sure of it...
We just meet for writing most of the time, rehearsals now and then. But this would be easy to write with. We record with Reaper with some plugins, but this could be a great tool for writing. Reaper is great and cheap, and we use the GetGoodDrums Halpern drum sample library to write, which sounds amazing and recording drums is just too much work unfortunately (as is keeping a band together and moving forwards, apparently ). We're mostly a studio project now, perhaps some more playing with a more prog rock focussed next EP? Do you use one of their small interface boxes for your mobile? Or just the regular computer and audio interface?
I tried their own LinkAnalog “interface” (which is in fact only a mic preamp) but it didn’t perform well. So I ended up digging out my old Lexicon Omega interface, ordered a cheap camera connection kit for my iPhone and gave that a try. Result: Works perfectly. The bass player mate bought a cheap Behringer interface and goes straight into his laptop with it (signal coming from the direct out of the Darkglass). And that’s the best thing about BandLab - you can access it through mobile, tablet or a regular computer using Chrome. Heck, it even offers a couple of amp simulations if you plug your guitar directly into the interface for practising or when you’re travelling. Also you get a full version of Cakewalk as DAW when you’re registered - and again, completely free of charge. So yeah, I’m totally into it since it’s just an awesome platform. And I seriously wonder why it’s not a lot more popular amongst musicians. I’m currently looking for an easy way to program some drums. I’ve been fooling around with MT PowerDrumkit but I’m not yet happy with my workflow. How do you track the drums when you’re in writing mode? Do you use the patterns that come with GetGoodDrums it do you track them with a MIDI controller?
