bourniplus

Hi guys, my wife is starting her podcast and would like to be able to mix the audio of her voice with a bit of music at the beginning and at the end. So, basically I'm looking for a two-track mixer that can do fade-out and fade-in. I think most DAWs would be overkill. Do you have anything to recommend? Thanks in advance! Martin

Many years ago when I put together my busking setup I used a cheap, modified-sine-wave inverter that caused some annoying noise. I bought a 600 watt, pure sine wave inverter from China and it solved the noise problem. It doesn't seem to really have a brand other than "Power that really moves"...

Look for "Cameo piano" or Melodigrand. They're basically a small acoustic with drop-action, and two strings per note in the treble. I own one that I bought for 100$ and believe it or not, I take it on certain gigs (before covid that is), I just have more fun with this than a digital. It takes me about 10 minutes to tune if it's already close to pitch.

All my "digital" boards live upright: my Yamaha P80 (weighted piano action) spent 20 years like this without a problem. I'd guess spring-action boards are absolutely not affected by whatever position they're stored in.

+1 on re-capping the crossover. Also, have you removed the driver to make sure nothing is in there? I once had a buzzy V21 because of a dead fly.

Winter is pretty mild here this year so I still go for a jog about every 3rd day. The rest of the year I prefer bicycle. I live in the country surrounded by forest, and everyday my wife and I go for walks in the woods with the dog. Regarding coffee, one of the things I've done last spring and fall -and probably wouldn't have taken the time if there hadn't been the pandemic- is make my own dandelion root coffee. Local, organic, free, caffeine-free, packed with good nutrients, and tastes OK actually! It's a lot of work though. I've taken pictures, if ever there's interest I could make a blog post about it.

Thanks guys, after reading this thread I think I will probably get a pair of 58X in the next Massdrop batch, which is due for late January. I'd never heard of this company but it sounds like a cool concept.

Hi guys, I know there are headphone threads in the archives, but I don't remember seeing one lately, and new products appear, and everybody's experiences change, so... I'm looking for a new pair, I'm guessing somewhere around 150 US$. For the last 20 years I've been using a cheap pair of open-back Sennheiser's that still get the job done (last year I even soldered back the cable inside the headphone after my dog chewed it), but somehow I feel I should upgrade. I must average about 1-2 hours of use everyday, and my main uses are listening to youtube, vinyls, practicing and occasionnal recording. I "think" I want to stick with open-back for the comfort (letting things breath) and not being too disconnected from the outside world. I've identified a few candidates but still undecided. So, what are your recommendations? Thanks in advance! Martin

Tiago is a member of the EP forum, and has his own Youtube channel. His contact might be there somewhere.

If using the real thing is too logistically difficult, then it leaves hardware and software. If you have a hardware keyboard you like, you could always record both the audio and MIDI, so afterwards you can experiment with whatever software/VST/plugin you want. You might want to make sure that the recording person you'll work with is comfortable with doing this.

Don't mean to derail the thread, but, what kind of gigs do you get these days? I happen to have two funerals this week, but otherwise it's still pretty much "dead" for as long as I can see over here.

I've made one with the top from an old bench and metal folding legs that are usually used for tables. I had to cut the legs right under the bracing to have the correct height. These are sold in hardware stores for pretty cheap. For the top you could just use a piece of plywood finished the way you like. Sturdy, light, fits over a 2-octave pedalboard and folds flat for travel. Just not especially pretty.

...change a lightbulb? Ten. One to change the lightbulb and nine to talk about how you should not stand on an X-stand to do it.

The presets might have been customised, but it looks like he was using the Ab preset. ...or maybe it was because of a cat wandering in his studio, or the cleaning lady?

I'm guessing that you'd remove some of the carpet before moving the piano, so it might not have to roll on the carpet that much? If there are three persons moving the piano, and you're making sure the wheels are always rolling, and/or that no leg is dragging, or getting "stuck" on the carpet, I don't see why you'd need anything special to move it a few feet across. Especially if it's a short carpet. I'd say that moving by alternating keybed, tail, etc, would be even safer than going in one direction. This is free advice so take it for what it's worth... You could also put it on its side in another room, but maybe you have your reasons not to do so.

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I've been using their wireless unit for a few years without a problem and I can totally rely on it. When I first bought it I called customer service to get help with setting the channel frequency, and I remember they were professionnal and efficient.

I'm pretty sure Dave wrote "non-egotistical", unless he edited his post. I went to see Lachy in a small bar in a very remote area, and talked to him for a while after the show. I would agree he's a totally cool guy, friendly and truly passionate about music.

CEB, indeed my house is full of Hammonds, but none is close to this instrument at the moment! Actually I tried putting my laptop on top of the electric clavichord (the instrument in question) and read some sheet music, but the noise is so annoying I couldn't stand it, even with many sheets of metal in between. I had to raise the laptop about one foot high on a cardboard box. Tablets are ok.

No, absolutely no difference. I'm familiar with that phenomenon in electric guitars, but in this case it doesn't work. I assume it's because the massive steel frame provides enough shielding by itself...? I've also tried putting the pickup bar in a grounded metal bucket, closed with a metal lid, thinking no hum could get in there! That bit of 60 hz hum was still there, unless the pickup was placed vertically.

There is no power supply, it's stricly passive, straight from the pickups to the jack..

There are 50 strings, and I need 3 pickups to cover them all. They're soapbar style, and I got them in a set of 10 on ebay. Yes they're cheap, but they sound allright to me and they can also be quiet, just not in horizontal position. In order to connect them in series, I modified them so that the base plates connect to a common ground instead of one lead of the pickup. Some are "bridges" and some are " necks", the bridges and necks have different magnet polarity. I've experimented a lot with different combinations of these, with physical position, phase/out of phase, etc, until I got to the point where I am now. So, I have two "pickup bars", each made of three individual pups in series (have tried parallel but didn't like the tone as much), and I haven't found a way to make them hum-cancelling. When I want to hear both "pickup bars" together, they get connected in parallel. It looks like I'd have to remove half of the magnets and switch their position to get the hum-cancelling effect. But even then, I know I'm being picky but I'd still like to use only one "pickup bar" without the noise. I have a feeling it should be possible since they become virtually noiseless when I hold them vertically... I'm also aware of noise gate pedals but I want to try everything else first. I may try one of these power conditioning units.

Hi everyone, for the past months I've been building an instrument which is somewhat similar to a Clavinet. It has single coil pickups wired in series, mounted under and above the strings. Since this is a keyboard instrument and pretty much stationnary, I can't "find the Mecca". Now, I've done a lot of experimenting with shielding (the ground is connected to the ~20 lbs steel frame), and I still have a bit of 60 hz hum. I really love the tone of the single coils and would like to keep them. I know this topic is beaten to death, but my situation is a bit particular. When I physically remove the pickup from the instrument and move it around, I can easily find the sweet spot by putting the pup in a vertical (like a guitar) position, and that bit of hum pretty much DISAPPEARS. However, as I said, the pup HAS to be in a horizontal position. It looks like no amount of shielding will help. If you'd like to see what the instrument is, the three last videos on my youtube channel (link in my signature), show it in action. I might resort to humbuckers or some kind of noiseless single coils, but if I could get rid of that hum, that would be the holy grail of tone to me. Any suggestion?? thanks in advance, Martin

Yes. The only problem I have with it is the design of the handle, it's very awkward to carry. Others have also reported this on the forum.