Greg Mein
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Posts posted by Greg Mein
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I've only used the MOTU sims in the studio so I don't know how friendly they are to MIDI footswitches, but when it comes to software, where there's a will there's usually a way
If this all works the way I'm planning I'll not need any footswitches, I've already done some initial testing to verify that I can add automation right to the live thru guitar audio track. I'll jam away as the sequence plays without worrying about any tap dancing and with my wireless unit now inserted I can leave the stage and wander when not singing.
In the end we're hoping to have an act that will fit right in at casinos and other places besides bars and pubs, be fun, maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses.
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So, here is what I do - becoming more likely to be my workflow lately.
Cut a guitar track straight into a good sounding DI, add several tracks and populate them with copies of the original clean DI track.
Now you can put different amp sims on different tracks, do some de-tuning, modulation or ambient effects and automate those tracks so you have smooth transitions of varying tones, panning (side to center for solos) and other fun stuff.
It's another world, I use parallel processing on lots of things - vocals, snare drums, whatever. Sometimes a great tube amp sound is perfect for a vocal track here and there.
Yes, you'll end up with lots of tracks!!!!
Oh Joy, another rabbit hole... Cheers, Kuru
On the system I'm using for our live performances I'm managing to keep my track count very low and most will be midi that plays on my Krome keyboard. For live use I want the system running as efficiently as possible, nothing sucks worse than having your system crash while you're playing a tune! It can be a bit of a balancing act because you'd love to add more effects and plugins but you have to always be wary of how much resources you're using. I will add some sparse pre-recorded audio (mostly guitar) tracks on a few tunes and I can go all out while doing the recording but then they need to be bounced down so there are no unnecessary plugins clogging the works.
I'm currently using Superior Drummer 3 for my drum tracks as a plugin and I'm not certain yet if I'll want to mix those to audio tracks or if it'll be fine leaving it as a plugin. Now that I believe I'll be running my guitar live through the system there's some more bandwidth I'll need for amp sim/effects but I'll not over indulge in those. At the end of the day this is for background support and my wife and I need to remain the primary focus for an audience.
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[video:youtube]
My replacement MOTU 828x interface arrived finally last Friday and I dove back into creating the tracks my wife and I will use when we get back to performing. Last night I also installed the Digital Performer 10 upgrade I'd been holding off on. Since to this point I've only had the 828x and a Furman in a 4 space case I decided to throw my Line 6 Relay G90 wireless in as well. That, of course, got me to wondering about running the guitar through the interface and eliminating the Tech 21 FlyRig unit I'd been using. Maintaining setup/teardown simplicity and the bulk level has been an important consideration from the get go and any time I can get the same, or more, functionality from software over hardware it's a win in my book.
In addition to articles/videos I remember Craig having mentioned here and there how he was impressed with the guitar oriented software in DP so finally after all this time I took a look at a couple things and yes I believe it's gonna work great for me! Major points for already being included in the software I'm using. When it comes to guitar I generally go for a clean sound but with this setup I'll be able to boost for leads, add some drive/effects for certain song sections and have it all done automatically while the sequence is running. If I don't go too crazy I hope I can pull it off with the thunderbolt gear.
Anyone else on a similar path?
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The other day I hooked up a MIDI keyboard to my computer, and played a synth that someone has in his house in New Zealand. That was pretty amazing to me.
Wow, talk about social distancing!
I'd always told myself I was going to take some time and look at this, I wasn't even aware there was some other cool underlying technology to it.
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It looked to me like Linux could have been a contender to break the Windows monopoly at one point but there must not have been much profit in development for it. I only ever used it a couple times and that was at work where some programs I used were designed for it. As far as for music creation there appeared to be a serious lack of hardware drivers or programs. My impression was that it was more of a do-it-yourself kind of OS.
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It's a shame so many things have been cancelled. I wasn't planning on attending this year but have been to it a couple times, it's a great event and made for a great m/c weekend trip to get there and back.
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Way back last July I received an email from Ableton about this little web program or course that looked interesting but then I never took the time to have a look at it. I was curious if anyone else had taken a look at it. Perhaps it's a bit elementary for folks here but if it's laid out good it might at least be kind of fun.
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Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The 'Rona
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We used to have AXS as part of DirectTV but now we've switched to YoutubeTV because it's way cheaper. We've got most of the channels we had (I should say watched) before but darn it, not that one.
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Perhaps the overall theme for 2020.....
[video:youtube]
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Me and Julio (goodbye Rosie, Queen of Corona)
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Kind of a good question I suppose and how to know? I'd like to think people are not being forced into unsafe situations and acting responsibly but in the end your own safety in any circumstance ultimately falls upon yourself.
Yesterday was my wife's birthday and I ordered some flowers and chocolates on-line to be delivered. I assume the florist shop wasn't crowded or unsafe, I sort of envision maybe a couple people working there to fill orders but I certainly don't know. It's probably safe to assume the delivery driver was out alone. I do know that it prevented my need to go shopping at the store which is something I prefer under any circumstances.
Anyway when I made the order there was a small disclaimer I'll paraphrase as "due to current circumstances there may be a need to improvise but rest assured the arrangement will be delightful". When I got home the flowers looked great but the chocolates were in the shape of little frogs. I've never seen anything quite like that but they were tasty none the less!
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Sounds like you married well, Greg!
Bob
I did indeed, she's a fantastic woman and an incredibly intelligent, talented and personable......person. We're very happy and get along great. We like to joke that I married her for her 1920 Steinway Model O baby grand and she married me for my Harley.
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This also gives me a chance to mention a trap many people fall into: generalizations. For example, worth depends on more than a profession. A CEO who brings a company back from bankruptcy and restores vitality to a town is worth a lot more than a CEO who drives a company into bankruptcy through poor decisions (and adds insult to injury with a golden parachute worth millions of dollars). Some police, teachers, and doctors perform services that are worth so much as to be priceless, and some are a disgrace to their professions.
This brings to mind a situation I experienced late last year when a co-worker of mine was more or less forced out of the department. I took over his projects in different areas and one day soon after when I returned to my main "home" area I was treated like a conquering hero, it actually kind of weirded me out as I was heaped upon with praise and gift cards. I wasn't doing anything special or over and above, I was simply doing my job, the same thing he should have been doing!
At my house my wife brings home nearly twice the salary I do but then she has post doctorate degrees whereas I'm barely qualified to change a spark plug.
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Not impressed by the article, sorry. I didn't find it to be particularly profound
It's the same one I saw people posting on facebook and it didn't do much for me either. I've certainly been fascinated however by what I've seen happen in the last couple months; the run on toilet paper seems to stand out as something no one could have predicted. I'm not overly surprised by the panic and hysteria, after all, a global pandemic ranks right up there with nuclear war or alien landings to scare the shit out of people.
I've mostly continued to live my life without a great deal of concern, I go to work every day, order take out and go through drive-ins almost daily and if restaurants could be open I'd be the first person at a table. I'm a bit irritated by all the #StayHome stuff, people seem to have no problem telling me what I should do but I've yet to see anyone tell me what they are doing; are you staying at home, being safe, saving lives, cowering in the corner? I might respond to examples but likely never respond to dictates.
The country has taken extraordinary measures and I believe at this point in Podunk IA I'm more likely to get stampeded by a herd of elephants than to contract covid-19. Don't take that to mean I'm not respecting anyone else's safety, feelings, values or whatever. The only people I come in contact with pose as much threat to me as I do to them. What it actually means is that I don't see running and hiding from the flu as a viable long term strategy. I'd be surprised if most of the people who've gotten it were not trying to avoid it also.
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Perhaps it's just me since I'm at work with a crappy pair of speakers attached to my laptop but I really can't hear anything you're saying on your videos.
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That is true, they do have a flat rate for fixing MOTU units.
It is very reasonable too, good customer service after the sale.
I made contact and, I thought, arrangements but then they left me hanging for a couple days, I attributed it to the weirdness that abounds and I know they were working with limited staff. I did get it mailed out and hope to get my replacement soon. The fee is $99.95 but they charge an extra $27 for return shipping also. I was told that they have refurbished units in stock and as soon as mine arrives they go ahead and send one of those out. There is a two year warranty but mine was purchased February '18 which put me a couple months over.
Meanwhile I used my Line 6 KB37 (my records indicate this unit is 11 years old already!) USB interface with a USB SSD to continue my work. I managed to record a guitar track and midi bass track but then had the first "bog down" event I've had in quite some time where DP began complaining things weren't keeping up. A first hand example of the wonders of thunderbolt.
It's possible that I could use adapters and plug in the Presonus StudioLive 1642 mixer/interface but that would be more trouble than it's worth for short term use.
During the downtime I've been looking at thunderbolt interface options, there are a few and a lot of them are more expensive than I'd imagined. The UAD Apollo 8 went on my wishlist, with that I could turn loose my oldest MBP and retain my UAD plug-ins but with a $2100 price tag that is a big leap! The Presonus Quantum also looked like a nice option but still a $1000 price tag. I looked at eBay for used 828x units, saw a couple and am holding that in the back of my mind as an option to have a backup.
In order to stay somewhat productive I spent some time working on the Boss VE-500 vocal unit my wife bought a while back. It was really frustrating trying to use the software until I discovered a firmware update for the box. After that we got a handle on creating some patches she'll be able to use for our performances.
I'd actually bought one of these shortly after she did but installing the driver locked my MBP up tight! Boss support had absolutely no idea what to tell me so I sent the unit back and had to revert to a Carbon Copy Cloner backup that was several months old. There was no such problem on my wife's new MBP. Mine has had a lot of other music software and drivers installed over time. I have no idea what the problem was but I can't help but wonder if it had a conflict with the driver for my FA-08 keyboard.
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The Beatles have always been a major influence of mine. They're one of the reasons I became a musician - I heard She Loves You when I was really young and it blew my tiny mind, then saw Help when I was 6 and living on an Army base in Germany and have never been the same since...
Anybody else ever get lost in learning to play Beatles songs?
dB
Indeed, being born in 1960 the Beatles affected me deeply at a very young age and the Help! era is still my favorite memory of them. The exceptionally good piano teacher I had from the Hollywood Hills added Michelle and Penny Lane to my lessons during my single digit years but the guitar stuff was what really got me man!
I've played a number of their songs in different bands over the years but on my own I often find the vocals difficult to reach especially as I'm getting older. At this point there is only one Beatles song on my set list and it's only partial; during our show I move over to the full size keyboard my wife is usually playing and do a medley with a verse/chorus of Let It Be into Beth and then finish out with the Layla outro.
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an internal battery that keeps presets alive, that kind of thing.
Every six months or so my ancient microwave oven's keypad stops functioning. I take it apart, reseat a ribbon connector, close it back up, and it works for another six months
I had it opened up, looked around for any burnt stuff and fiddled with the couple of cables in there. I looked for any type of battery as was a common problem with the midi timepiece units but didn't see one or see any info about that on searches. Without a display or computer comm there's no ability to try firmware updates, master resets or any "high level" troubleshooting and I suspect a power supply issue. This is the same thing I do on a daily basis but without schematics and parts layout I'm not likely to get anywhere on a unit with this kind of part count.
I started a tech link at motu yesterday but don't expect to hear back over the weekend. A couple years ago when a firewire port on my 828mk3 died there was a $99 flat fee to send it in and I imagine that's what I'll need to do with this one. I actually bought this one when I sent the other in because it seemed like a good time to start using my MBP with thunderbolt.
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Well damn, talk about interfaces I had the weirdest (I actually mean sucky) thing happen yesterday. I finally decided to go ahead and upgrade my Digital Performer to ver. 10. Literally minutes after I'd downloaded it I was setting up to do more work on my backing tracks wondering if I should install the new version or try to get more work done first, I flipped on the motu 828x and......nothing. The LCD screen was backlit but blank, none of the level indicators were lit and the 828 Audio Setup screen didn't pop up on the computer.
After verifying it wasn't just a dream sequence I popped it open and looked around but didn't see any obvious problems so it'll have to go to motu for repairs/exchange. So today I've drug out the old Line 6 KB37 so maybe I can try moving forward rather than letting the whole weekend go to waste.
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Here is a thought. IF (and that's a big IF) the people who recover from COVID have been shown to have an immunity from re-infection AND not pass the disease on, perhaps they should be the first to go back to work.
Notes
A lot of people, myself included, have never stopped going to work because it simply has to be done. Short of dying or becoming infected I'll continue to put on my big boy pants and do that.
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I watched the ZZ Top Little Ol' Band From Texas one this morning on Netflix. Was very interesting but wished it had been longer with more details, it seemed they left a lot out.
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Where I work is considered a critical supplier of avionics and communications equipment for the government/military so I've been there every day. A couple weeks ago they sent some folks home in a displays manufacturing area and last week they closed down a whole manufacturing building at the main site to have an outside company come in for a thorough cleaning, that was a weird sight.
I actually wonder how many people have already had the illness and just wrote it off as common cold/flu as far back as New Years? My wife and I traveled to the East coast back then and we both contracted a cold/flu like illness that seemed to linger longer than it normally should have.
Reality sometimes bites and the only possible chance of containing this thing was probably a week before anyone knew it existed and even though I hope everyone is taking the proper precautions, I'm sure we all know that the only ones we have actual control over are ourselves. This thing is not from some alien planet though and it's well known that viruses mutate and develop new strains. In that regard it's nothing new and I doubt that anyone has ever been able to hide from a cold virus their entire life.
I take it as a positive sign that bodies aren't being bulldozed into mass graves because we're at least three months into this thing and if the survival rate wasn't extremely high that's what would be happening.
OK, the Corona Virus Isn't Going Away. Now What?
in Craig Anderton's Sound, Studio, and Stage
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So today my wife booked a new gig for June 5th, an outdoor show at a popular place outside of our town a short ways. We still have a booking for May 22nd that is not officially canceled and we decided that if the gig is a go we'll do it for free as a show of support for a business that's suffered badly like so many.
Restrictions in our state begin loosening up May 1st in 77 of our 99 counties. In the rest (ours included) restrictions have been extended until May 15th. Our state stopped short of a "shelter in place" order and I've continued working all along as an "essential" employee at an "essential" job as part of Mission Systems at a company with huge government/military contracts. My wife has continued her medical practice from home and hasn't been to her office at the university for weeks.