Dave Bryce

…and banned them. dB

It’s not really possible to hear an Atmos mix in a way that fairly represents the technology on earbuds - they only have two drivers. Like you, I’m fairly unimpressed with the way Atmos mixes sound when they’re folded down to two channels. Heck, I feel a bit bummed having to listen to the Atmos mixes folded down to my 7.1 system without any overhead speakers, but it does still sound discernably different (and maybe even a bit better, IMO) than a 5.1 mix. I think Apple intentionally blurs the line between actual Atmos and the “immersive” effect generated by integrating earbuds with your head. dB

If I had to say what I listen to the most, it’s older recordings with which I’m not very familiar, or haven’t heard at all. Right now, I’m digging into a four CD set I got for $12 that has eight of Quincy Jones’ early records - two per CD. Such fabulous written, excellently played, well recorded music. dB

Excellent replies - thanks for taking the time! For me, the Bright Side mixes are the ones I like best so far. I find them more dynamic than the others, with more interesting mixing decisions and better integration of the instruments. The Bright Side mixes felt more like works of art, for want of a better term. With me and most PG albums, it takes me a few listens to really be able to wrap my brain around what he’s doing…so I don’t know how much the familiarity aspect is coming into play. 🤔 Has anyone else heard the Inside (surround) mixes? dB

Man… My mind is a bit blown by how much of an outlier I am here. I listen to hours of music every day. Material I love, or I don’t know, or that I always wanted to check out/others have recommended, or that I haven’t heard in years, etc. I absolutely love it. I’m very lucky in the fact that I can sit in my AV room with my laptop and do work while I’m listening. My wife now likes for me to spin records while one of us is cooking, and when we’re eating dinner. She calls it the Golden Hour. ☺️ There’s very little doubt that this phase was kicked into gear when I redid my AV room in 2021. For the previous couple of decades, I was in the same boat with most of y’all - rarely did anything like play an album. Now I feel kinda badly for all the time I spent without music playing. dB

For those of you who have had the opportunity to listen to both the Bright Side and Dark Side mixes of Peter Gabriel’s new album, do you have a preference? If so, why? If not, why not? For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, PG released two separate mixes of every song on the record (three if you got the three disc version with the surround mix). The Bright Side mixes were done by Spike Stent, and the Dark Side mixes were done by Tchad Blake. Not sure who did the surround mixes… I find it really interesting to have the opportunity to listen to different mixes of the same material. dB

Cool! Let me know how it turns out. One of my untraditional mods is to add a bit of diced onion to the turkey/celery/mushroom combo. Not much - maybe 1/4 c… dB

Looks awesome, Danny! What’s the difference between beef stew and Hungarian Goulash? dB

Exactly. Even listening to Yesterday is confusing. Acoustic guitar hard right, strings hard left, vocals center. Should be easy to discern…and yet… 🤔 dB

I, on the other hand, use mine constantly…and not just for my surround CDs. ☺️ My Yamaha “receiver” has this way cool mode called 7 Channel Stereo that is absolutely wonderful sounding. It is not one of those faux surround modes - I‘m not a fan of those. However, for the life of me, I can’t quite hear what it’s doing…but I know I really like it on vinyl and stereo CDs. Even better, pretty much no matter where you sit in the room it sounds good. i’ve had a few friends try to figure out how it works as well - we’re all stumped. Nothing online explaining it either. i’ve seen what looks like a similar setting called All Channel Stereo on other brands. I wonder if it sounds the same. Every one of my friends who hears it is just as knocked out by it as I am. I actually only turn it off if I’m listening to dedicated surround material. dB

Eagles, too… 😒 …and dare I say the Chiefs as well! dB

I have a killer 7.1 sound system in my house, in a room that was purpose-built to listen to audio and watch movies and concerts. I listen to vinyl and CDs, including lots of 5.1 and Blu-Ray mixes. Sitting here right now listening to the Bright Side mixes of Gabriel’s new i/o record, having already heard the surround mixes. In my car and walking my dogs, I shuffle my iPhone library. I don’t listen to streaming services, pretty much ever. I kinda don’t dig the way those folks make their living. dB

Finally got mine. My initial thought is that I’m really impressed with this instrument. As mentioned extensively in this thread, it’s way deep…but, man - I just love the sound and flexibility so far. I’m inclined to agree that it’s quite a bargain at the asking price. It was definitely worth the wait. 😎🥳 dB

I hear that. My 1202-VLZ is decades old - never had a problem with it. I’d give my MiniMoog props, too. I’m the original owner - bought it brand new in 1980. Been in the shop once about five years ago for a complete cleaning, but pretty much no problems otherwise. Couldn’t agree more. The stick is even worse. I’ve had Roku replace my Ultra once, but it still overheats and has to be rebooted. Apple TV is much more reliable, IMO. dB

Interesting topic to me, as I just got an Osmose. So far, it’s not really the uniqueness of the synth engine that I find intriguing as much as the way the (extremely expressive) keybed interfaces with the engine. I actually can’t remember the last time I bought a synth for the uniqueness of its sounds. Probably the Wavestation, and even that was kind of a combination of my older PPG 2.2 and Prophet VS. dB

It certainly is. Becomes even more obvious when I hear chords. No idea. I just know it’s been something that’s a part of what I hear when I listen to music for as long as I can remember. FWIW, I do not claim for that sense to be reliable enough that it could be called “perfect pitch’, but I am very good at hearing chords and intervals. I can quite frequently learn the chord intervals in a tune as it goes by (even if it’s the first time I’ve heard the tune), but I usually identify the chords more by their numeric relationship to each other than by key. I’d be inclined to agree with that. For example, it’s pretty easy for me to hear something like an open E, A or G chord played on a guitar because of the way they’re voiced/the interval relationship of the notes in the chords. It’s also pretty easy for me to identify something like a low E on a guitar. dB

Tony Levin usually has a synth on stage with him to play some bass parts. Michael League from Snarky Puppy as well. dB

Brother Ted was awesome. We met a few times, and we were lucky enough to have him here one year for one of our Hallowe’en jams. What a tasty player, and a great guy. RIP, Tedster. 😞 dB

Oh, man… 😞 Really sad to hear this! Ted was a good man, to be sure. We were lucky enough to have him at one of our Hallowe’en parties many years ago - the brother was a burning guitar player, and a lot of fun to hang with. dB

I’m very much inclined to agree with this. I remember trying to figure out Vince Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy” when I was really young. I could hear the intervals and tried to play it in C…but it sounded off, and I wasn’t sure why - all I know is that it made me uncomfortable. Too…clean and happy, for lack of better words; however, the moment I played in Ab, it was like everything snapped immediately into proper focus. I was really surprised as to how much the personality of the tune was affected. I suspect that one of the aspects that contributes to confusion when it comes to differentiating between relativity of audio perception and visual perception is that we’re pretty much all taught fairly well at an early age what to expect visually…but the average person isn’t exposed to much of that when it comes to audio. Visually, we all pretty much have a common frame of reference as to what is in and out of focus, what each color looks like, etc. With audio, not so much. I don't know a lot of people who can tell the difference between a 4k tone and a 7k tone, or when there’s too much/too little of certain frequencies present in the way a sound system is performing in a space. I’m also another one who finds that keys a fifth apart sounder more similar to each other color-wise than adjacent keys. G and D have more in common to my ear than G and F#. dB

I’ve have both their CDs for a while, and just got a copy of Bellybutton on vinyl. Great records. 🥰😎 dB

I had a DX7 and a TX7. I MIDI’d the TX to a JX8P and got really cool stacked sounds out of it. I seem to remember trying layering the DX and TX and detuning them to try and fatten them up. Sat the DX and JX8P on my Invisible stand with the TX7 perched on the right side of the 8P’s front panel , and there was my rig for a bunch of the 80s. dB

I’m on board with that. Note the Phaser pedal sitting on the end block of my CP30 in my photo. dB

You guys are making me feel like I should be spending more time with my JP-X and less time mixing/messing around with the guitars. You’re probably right. 😏 I get that feeling just about every time I get a new soft synth these days. So much power to be explored in so many of those bad boys. 🤔 dB

Truth be told, apart from the T8 and Prophet VS, none of the older SCI synths have ever done it for me - not even the P5. Just a matter of taste. I did love my Drumtrax, though. dB