Greg Mein

I don't like using USB drives but they're small, quick and handy so it's a matter of keeping things slim and trim for live performances. Although it took some time, it wasn't a problem to download the sound file and I didn't lose anything that couldn't be replaced although I'll probably avoid putting the Waves licenses on a stick again. At first I went ahead and installed to another flash drive I had here but decided I should just put it on the thunderbolt SSD that already has my performance file. It appeared that I was allowed to install in two places so the stick can serve as a backup although if the thunderbolt SSD goes down we're back to being a plain 'ole duo show anyway.

Indeed you can. I just had Waves Central up and discovered I had 5 licenses on that dead stick and I was able to transfer them back to the cloud, it says you can do that once a year. Fortunately the one I actually use live was installed on this computer, that one was my main concern. I'm not worried about the rest right now but with them back to the cloud I assume I'll be able to transfer them to a different device later. I have two installed on my older MBP that's packed away in the garage probably until we move, hope it will still be working then!

I've had this happen a few times over the years, a USB flash drive becomes unreadable/unmountable and it's over. It happened to me again yesterday with a stick I use for plug-ins on my MBP, specifically Superior Drummer 3 sound content. I don't necessarily like to use a USB stick but just the basic sound install is 40gig so it has to go somewhere and I can't clog the hard drive with all that stuff. I've got to check and make sure I didn't have some Waves licenses on there also. I probably should have seen it coming, it's been a little flakey in disappearing recently however I was blaming the new USB extender thing I bought that has switches on it. It's a pain to be sure but in the end I should be able to just install it on another flash drive, the Toontrack manager program is incredibly straight forward and easy to use. I'm also thinking about just installing it on the thunderbolt drive I use that contains my digital performer files, seems that should work ok and I could lose the extra USB stick dangling out. Has this been a problem for you?

Sub zero temps are a given in the upper midwest although this spell has lasted longer than normal it seems plus we've had a large amount of snowfall here, certainly two foot at least. Looks like the cold snap is finally moving on though and we can get back to teens and twenties, maybe even up into the 30's next week.

Since most of my recent work is for live performances mono is all that I'm concerned with. Although my wife and I each have our own amps for instruments (except my keys because my Korg is also used on backing tracks but that's a different story) our vocals and our tracks go to the rather wimpy Eon One Pro and through that to a single Mackie Thump speaker I recently bought out in the front.

Digital Performer does have its quirks, but I think it's underrated in many ways. It has many cool guitar-oriented features, as well as some nods toward modern music production techniques. On Windows it was pretty unstable at first, but DP10 runs smoothly and reliably for me. I switched over to DP & Mac many years ago when it was version 5. I needed something for live play and the "chunks" area where you could have all the sequences you needed within one file was unparalleled at the time as far as I know. Also I needed to get away from the PC laptop which, back then anyway, was real finicky about where and when externals got plugged in. It's been a solid program for me and I learned about it by reading articles in Keyboard magazine where it was being used on large stadium tours. I have Ableton Live (still at ver 8) that I've thought about switching to occasionally but the last time I tried it I ran into a snag of some sort and, as always, I was under the gun on time.

I really liked Logic Pro 9 and then I did an OS update and freaking lost it, I haven't updated my OS since (10.13.6 I believe). Since ver 10 is $200 I've thought about getting it but I just don't have the time to mess with it now. I'm totally invested in Digital Performer 10, use it for live performance and have had great luck at motunation whenever I've run into an issue.

The only subscription I need is one that gives me more time for working on music. We have a gig this coming weekend and I've been back to trying to work on our backing tracks again where I'm still in need of many hours more time. Meanwhile work is requesting me to do overtime, our home repairs are still not complete and we're looking to sell and move this summer. I did do an update on some of the waves plug-ins that I use. I upgraded to Reason 11 a while back but I couldn't tell you what it looks like and my backlog of original musical ideas continues to accumulate.

A friend of mine I've known for years has lead a somewhat interesting life. We work at the same company, joined a band together (him on bass and myself on guitar/keys) and then he played bass for a while back when I'd started my own band. It's been over a decade ago now but he'd gotten remarried and they had an absolutely amazing new house built. The lower section of this home was primarily a professionally designed and built recording studio, a top notch state of the art place. I figured that would flop as a business but not at all, the place was always booked and there was some fairly high end stuff done there with bigger city startup artists, voiceover work for Discovery Channel shows and I don't know what all. Anyway he was running Pro Tools of course but some of these local blues guy got it into his head that he needed a tape machine. I remember him telling me about it and I tried to tell him not to do it but....well. He bought an Otari 24 track unit that had been in Electric Lady studios. Of course the tape was expensive and that cost had to be passed onto the clients so to the best of my knowledge that machine never got used. It sure looked impressive though!

Apparently the cancel culture outrage mob has won again, in the Gearslutz Newsletter email today:

I watched a demo of Amplitude 5 recently, looked really interesting and I'll likely upgrade to it from ver. 3 soon.

I was able to attend, I had the idea it would be a live presentation but really enjoyed the content regardless. I was surprised to receive a "connection request" in my email today and I'm not quite certain what to make of it considering I'm just a dude that creates some backing tracks for my husband & wife duo. "Hi, I do a NAMM "Believe in Music" media coverage and would like to include you in one of our interview / programmer specials." Anyone else get something like this?

I'll see about getting signed up, sadly work may get in the way. I did manage to spend some time logged in and looking around yesterday. I signed up for a couple of the giveaways, watched a unique band perform at the main screen and participated in a presentation on the Martin David Gilmour signature D-35. ETA: I did get signed up and accounting for the two hour time difference I believe I'll be able to attend.

Right on cue, yesterday the WHO released new guidelines on Covid tests: https://www.who.int/news/item/20-01-2021-who-information-notice-for-ivd-users-2020-05 There's probably a few of us that would be fascinated to know what transpired between the end of Feb and mid March but that will likely never get out, what a world we live in!

Thank you Notes, I know it's something that helps and it was an easy thing I was fortunate I could do. Although it was mild for me my wife received antibody plasma during her three day stay in the hospital as part of her remarkable recovery. A great guy we both knew was a few rooms away while she was there on the covid ward and died from a heart attack two days after she was released. In mid October we attended the funeral of a dear friend that died after more than three weeks on a ventilator. It's affected us all but more than anything else I want to see things return to a more normal state and I'd like to think any of us are doing everything we think we can to help out.

Having survived the dreaded 'rona without much difficulty myself I've answered the call to donate plasma and am scheduled to do that this afternoon after work.

My wife is back at it booking gigs, she's got us into a nice winery we haven't played yet not far away for Feb 20th. We had to cancel our last gig in Nov 2020 due to covid and it was a shame because it was outdoors and the weather was great that night. I would have actually preferred to wait until the work on our house was done. We're nearing the finish point but there is painting, carpeting and electrical work yet to be done so it still causes chaos with things all moved around and in disarray.

I received email about this a while back and believe I signed up then. Today I received another and went in and created a profile.

Just wondering if/how this applies to a guy using a DAW/computer sending midi out to a synth or two and perhaps a light controller and/or effects unit for live performances. You're still sending midi data through a serial port whether it be USB or 5 pin DIN at the 31.25k baud rate and two events can't happen at exactly the same time.

I remember many years ago while still in electronics school, I designed a circuit board and then etched and hand drilled a few of my own. For me breadboarding was just for circuit design and when you were sure you had something that worked you'd design a circuit board. We never actually created circuit boards at school but we wire wrapped some projects. Electronics is a fun hobby I'd like to get back to someday but not until after I'm done doing it for a living, retire and get moved.

I remember that gag gift but never had one myself.

My wife and I will be doing some serious road tripping in my 2018 Ram that I just paid off. Leaving Christmas day and headed towards Texas and other parts unknown until we must return to work on Jan 11th. As an employee of the university hospitals and clinics my wife had been given a choice of a two week furlough or give up three weeks vacation, that was a no-brainer. The avionics/aerospace company where I work is always closed between Xmas and New Years so I took an additional following week of vacation and we'll go have some fun exploring in warmer weather. We had a get together with my daughter and granddaughter last week and have also done the same with her children and grandchildren. We'll stay at her parents Xmas Eve before leaving on our trip Xmas Day. My dad has been gone for quite some time and mom died in 2018. My full sister who was supposed to administer the family estate actually ended up stealing it all behind our backs and so has been expunged. I'm hoping to go see my half brother in Chicago perhaps in Jan or Feb. We had made plans for earlier in Dec to go see my half sister in Lincoln NE but had to cancel because some people in her building came down with covid.

I didn't get the chance to listen all the way through yet but at the risk of appearing simplistic, what I saw and heard can only be described as fun.

Phase cancellation is usually considered a bad thing, that's mighty clever!

I like Arturia, I must have all of their softsynths but didn't know about the vocoder. I haven't been to their site for a while I guess. For live gigs I use DP and have no problem running vocal and guitar through it for live sound where I use Waves Tune Real-Time on my vocal channel and some of the guitar stuff on my guitar channel on live gigs. Perhaps what you're talking about is a bit different in that what I'm using on live inputs is not a virtual instrument?