Greg Mein
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Posts posted by Greg Mein
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24 minutes ago, Anderton said:
He's an idiot. Everyone knows Suzuki engines have a warmer sound. Honda's probably slipping him money under the table.
If you're not using a 1977 Shovelhead with a kick start why even bother?
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It dawned on me after the UAD Apollo Solo arrived that it's probably a good idea to have a T3 drive to go along with it and I spent another pile of cash to get a
SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Pro 1TB NVMe Thunderbolt 3 Portable External SSD, supposed to transfer up to 2800MB/s. Should be at my mailbox now and so, yet again, it begins...
My MOTU 828x, DP10 and 2017 MBP with the expensive Apple adapters for interface and drives works fine and will likely remain dedicated to my live rig. We haven't done any gigs for a while and we don't currently have anything scheduled but I'd like to tweak and add some more tunes.
And then my old system is still firewire based with a 2012 17" MBP, the original Presonus SL1642 mixer/interface and a UAD expresscard. The big plans I had when I got this stuff never materialized due to life events but I recently got this hooked up in the new room and it seems to work as good as it ever did although it's hard to figure why I'd spend much time using it now.
One of the biggest issues I'll be looking at now is all my software (Arturia, AAS, Waves, Superior Drummer, and on and on etc.), it's installed/licensed here and there between these systems and I'll be busy sorting all that out.
I suspect that my story rings of familiarity amongst folks here!
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2 hours ago, mcgoo said:
All the MOTU stuff is TB2 and I don't really want to use an adapter.
Yes this is disappointing, I've been using the MOTU interfaces along with DP for many years now but their hardware seems to be falling behind. They have small USC-C interfaces but I need the 8 in/out models for my live rig.
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10 hours ago, Bill Heins said:
I've got the Presonus 2626 and it works great for what I do...strictly home studio use
My computer is TB4 but I couldn't find anything TB4 audio-wise!
Bill
I've looked at those, could possibly be a good replacement for the MOTU 828x (I actually have two) I use in my live rig. I don't have any problems but it's annoying having to use the T2 to T3 adapters. I'm so tired of trying to keep up and since what I've got works it's hard to justify the expense at this point however.
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The Apollo Solo arrived today, it's a handy little unit. I've installed software and only barely tried it out so far. I'm reading the manual some and hope to get up to speed soon, I need to relearn a lot of things I've forgotten about Logic and some other programs and check out Luna. It loaded up with the included plug-ins plus the ones I'd bought years ago, just what I'd hoped for. I waited over a year to buy an interface for my '21 MBP but now I'll have a nice little portable setup for my personal recording projects separate from the rig I use for live gigs.
I pulled out the studio boom, attached my Studio Projects CI and rolled it up under the hood of the Steinway. I've been anxious to try recording this piano for a long time.
QuoteUAD-2 Inside • Onboard UAD-2 DSP Accelerator with SHARC® SOLO core processing • Realtime UAD Processing on all inputs • Same features and functionality as other UAD-2 devices and plug-ins when used with a DAW
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2 hours ago, Anderton said:
As to USB-C vs. Thunderbolt, I wrote this article a while ago but it's still valid.
Informative article, appreciate that!
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5 hours ago, analogika said:
Any reason why you want Thunderbolt and not just plain USB-C? The connector's the same, and Thunderbolt really doesn't offer anything extra for most audio concerns…
I was under the impression that thunderbolt 3 and USB-C were basically the same thing hardware wise.
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I've looked at these off and on for a while now but it had been really tough trying to make any decisions on what, or even if, I wanted to go there. Years of constant computer/hardware/interface/software changes/updates has left me with three completely different computer based recording setups I'll abbreviate as vintage big, live gig, and modern compact.
It's the 'modern compact' system I've made a decision on today. I had Logic installed when my newest MBP arrived in '21 but have yet to use it because I never setup an interface. I could have used one of my MOTU 828x units but I really didn't want to be backwards with thunderbolt 2 and also thought it would be nice to be more compact and portable.
There are a number of options but today I ordered a Universal Audio Apollo Solo Heritage Edition. It checks the compact boxes; small, lightweight and bus powered. It should offer top tier sound quality and then there's an added bonus in that I should be able to re-enlist my UAD plug-ins from the 'vintage big' system.
So if you've leapt into the Thunderbolt 3 interface world, what did you select and why?
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Last September we moved to a town that is 1/10 the size of where we were living so obviously gigging is not a primary motivating factor for us, however, there is one place where we do gigs "regularly". I use quotes because we travel extensively and are not always available.
This weekend will be rather unique for us, we'll be playing at our good friend's bar in Winslow AZ where we've organized a little birthday bash. It's not even a paying gig, we're just doing it as part of a gathering of friends in celebration. I'll probably take a guitar down to the corner at some point for a photo op.
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I believe I had an email about Gearfest but I did not check the specifics. We recently returned home from a 19 day, 4500+ mile motorcycle ride through 13 states and the majority of on-line activity was on hold during that time. I do believe it stated that the event was virtual again this year, that is much less appealing or compelling for me.
I've attended a couple of times in the past, rode the bike over both times. It was a nice day ride back then but now I'm much further away in NV so it's less likely that I'll attend in the future if, or when, it returns to being a live event.
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10 hours ago, Anderton said:
if you need to replace one of those Robot tuners, you can pay a couple hundred bucks and try to do it yourself but you'll probably need to send the guitar to Germany. Oh, and some of the original batteries are no longer available, although Tronical does sell a retrofit for the Dark Fire.
I have one of the Gibson Min-ETune Les Pauls. A low end model, "LPM" I believe is the designator, plain wood style without binding, similar to a Studio, came with a gig bag rather than a hard case. I bought it at Gear Fest a few years back for around $900.
It's a good sounding guitar that plays well but hasn't seen a lot of action. The band I was last in liked the sound of it so I used it on gigs (keyboards was my primary function with them however). On the gigs I do with my wife I've typically taken my Tele or Strat along with my Taylor T5. I did take the LPM one night but I'm certain I played the T5 all night and never even used the Gibson.
It's a nice guitar and considering it doesn't get much use I imagine it will last a long time without problems. Frankly, I don't need it and sort of wish I'd never bought it, I have much better ones and no longer have much desire for anymore. It seems a bit gimmicky at this point however, I think it still might come in handy when I get back to recording and perhaps want to experiment with some alternate tunings.
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22 hours ago, Joe Muscara said:
I moved so my acoustic would fit better!
It was imperative to find a place with the proper space when we moved, the 1920 Steinway is essential to life for both my wife and I!
To date all I've ever used on my recordings are digital keyboards and software (in respect to piano sounds), it's certainly more convenient and easy but I have a strong desire to record this piano and recently had a song pour out of me that will be a great one to try. I'm going to take a decidedly old school approach, ie; roll the studio boom over the top, perhaps a room mic or two, no click track, record direct into Logic and just try to narrow in on the best sound.
The song and lyrics are fully formed at this point but I'm still tweaking on fills. I'm looking at getting a small interface and using my MBP in the front room rather than trying to run cables and record from the studio room (which has seen no progress in getting set up anyway).
I'll likely wait until after the next time the pro tunes it before I record.
Obviously no one would dispute that tuning is a big task, most keys have three strings, some lower ones have two and only the lowest have just one. Pads stop at E6, bass strings up to Bb2 are installed at a 20-30 degree angle over the top of a few others and the highest strings are only a few inches long. From a mechanical standpoint it's a fascinating machine to observe and being a grand is all easy to see and access.
Being retired now basically anything I do can be considered a hobby and aside from some minor tweaking I've done, I hope I'm intelligent enough to know when/if I start digging myself into a hole if I pursue further.
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23 hours ago, Joe Muscara said:
The classic text on piano tuning is called Piano Tuning by Jerry Cree Fischer and is so old that it's out of copyright. You should be able to find a copy online.
Another great book is Piano Servicing, Tuning, and Rebuilding: A Guide for the Professional, Student, and Hobbyist by Arthur Reblitz. This is a great reference if you're going to tune as well as do other work.
Great info, thanks! I was able to get the Jerry Fischer book free for Kindle on my iPad at Amazon, I suspect it will be very informative. I've seen a little on some apps, I'll be looking into that also, thanks for that suggestion.
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For a little more context our pro is still on a schedule with us. Overall the piano is in fine form, where I've had a little trouble is with a couple lower strings; B1 which had actually been a problem before we moved and now F#1 seems to be a little problematic. I've tweaked on those a bit. It's not something I'm going full head on into, I'm just "dabbling" into it so far. I already have a couple of wrenches and I'll go ahead and order the mute wedges so I have that stuff.
From a mechanical standpoint it's an easy instrument to tinker with.
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We moved halfway across the country last September to a warmer, dryer climate. We knew the change would have an effect on the Steinway and had a humidifier unit installed in it by a piano tuner that comes over from Las Vegas. Having him come over is expensive of course and the piano has been having some subsequent tuning issues so I bought a wrench and have done some tweaking on it myself.
Now I'm thinking I should go ahead and get some mute wedges and just learn to tune it myself, after all, I'm retired, have all day, play it frequently and have been playing the piano since I was five. Overall the necessary tools appear simple and inexpensive although I'll probably want to invest in a more professional tuner unit.
I don't have any experience but am willing, and somewhat eager, to learn. I've discovered some on-line resources and I'm sure there is much more information available but would also be interested to learn of any techniques, tools or advice from those with experience here if you'd care to share.
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For many years Cakewalk was my favorite. I spent a fair amount on upgrades dating from the MIDI only days up through Sonar 7 (I still have the disc for that so it was probably the last version that I owned). Most of my recorded work was done with it and I still have backups on optical media. Sometime in the 2000's I switched to using Macs and transitioned to Logic and DP.
I was sad to see Cakewalk fizzle out although I hadn't used it for a while and currently don't expect that I'll go back to recording with a PC. I always enjoyed using it however; was real happy with all it's features and knew my way around it pretty well.
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What has been the cost of a show badge at times you've been there?
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I sometimes wish I'd kept the Digitech RP2000, it just seemed to have sounds and effects that I found inspiring.
I'm clinging to an old (I think 2012) MBP, the last year of the 17" screen. For a long while I thought I'd still use it for recording music but I'm beginning to believe that may just complicate my whole process considering I have faster and newer computers. Currently I'm thinking it may be a good machine for working on graphics and video, I still have some good animation, video and image editing programs on it. It's got things my newer MBPs don't have like an optical burner, USB and firewire so it could still be very useful.
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Drums have often been the most difficult thing for me, I never learned to play them and being a lefty, it was always awkward to sit down and try on other players kits. For a couple of years I had an Alesis electronic kit but never spent enough time on it.
In the recording realm I haven't sat down to work on anything except backing tracks of cover tunes for a lot of years now. I've primarily used DP to record, and play, the tracks at gigs. Creating these tracks can be time consuming and often tedious so I try to be as efficient as possible. My best, and most common, method is to actually place an mp3 of the song onto a track, tweak it to a click and then use it as a guide while I create my various midi backing parts (bass, drums, strings, horns, etc.). Superior Drummer (currently ver. 3) is my "drummer" of choice and I've bought a lot of the available midi packs (and some 3rd party stuff) for it so I can almost always find the parts that work (often coming very close to the recording). It's not always easy to find what you want but SD3 includes some tools for searching and tweaking the beats and sounds.
With few exceptions I imagine I'll stick with SD when I return to recording my own original stuff in the coming months. It sounds great and there is an immense collection of available beats, rhythms and fills to satisfy what I'll need.
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3 hours ago, Doerfler said:
NAMM or Gibson?
NAMM, I've bought a lot of gear and played many gigs over the years but I've never actually been employed in the industry and have never attended.
It's interesting and not too far away for me to just drive now. Although we have ambitious motorcycle tour plans in June, that's not until later and this being the 3rd through 5th I could actually do it. I'm going to take a look and consider it. As a retiree with an electronics degree and 30 years of experience there may be some type of opportunity I could pursue, or perhaps get a couple ideas about something I could do part time.
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It's odd that they've emailed me an invitation to attend, that's never happened before.
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On 3/13/2022 at 10:44 PM, Anderton said:
At this point, tube are a super-niche market that won't get bigger
Class A amps in particular draw a lot of current, and the things generate heat.
I bought a Tech 21 Trademark 60 back around 2000 and it became my main guitar gig amp. It was dependable, lightweight, consistent and I got all the sound I needed out of it. I've never been what you'd call a guitar "tone snob" even though it was often my primary instrument in bands. I actually enjoyed poking tube snobs with a stick on forums and even wrote a song called Tube Ode about it years ago.
Back in the mid/late 80's I traded a Gibson Les Paul Custom for a '78 Twin Reverb (a sad story I've often lamented) and spent years tweaking and modifying it. It was actually defective out of the factory; the Normal Channel didn't work due to missing wires. I did use the amp at gigs but as the years went by it became a rare occurrence to drag that boat anchor around. I finally sold it a few years ago to a young guy who was thrilled to get it.
When I made my best pawn shop score ever; a friend notified me he'd discovered what turned out to be a '59 Les Paul Junior, it also came with a little Gibson Skylark amp. It's a really fun little amp but was never really practical for gigs although it did get out to some. You plug a Telecaster into that thing and the twang will take you right back to Nashville circa 1963!
I used it with the last band I was in where my main function was keyboards/synth/sequencing. I played guitar on a few songs and tried to get away with just using a Tech 21 Fly Rig but they really thought I needed an amp so I started taking this one (it's small and very lightweight) and used the Fly Rig in front of it. The sound company mic'd it, everyone thought it was the bomb and I couldn't disagree. I placed a little battery operated fan on it to keep it from burning up.
I don't dislike tube amps, in fact, I love them but I just don't foresee using them on gigs anymore.
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2 hours ago, Anderton said:
Hey Greg - if you need someone to carry your bags next time, let me know.
I'm told our next journey may be a Mediterranean Sea cruise but there's no date or plan on that yet. 😀
The Jamaica trip was originally intended to be a group of around 30. In February of 2020 we went with the same group to Cancun, C19 was still minor news at the time. They decided a while back that this time the trip would be to Jamaica but folks started to cancel over the C19 tests, not the test to go but the one to return. Many of them are still working and didn't want to risk a quarantine. Being retired, I don't care. In the end it was just my wife and I along with her brother and his wife and it was a great time!
The resort had quite a few guests but wasn't anywhere near capacity which was nice for us but certainly less so for them. The employees, staff and others were appreciative and glad to see us. Tourism is important in the Montego Bay area and I'm sure it's beginning to improve.
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We returned just yesterday from a trip to Jamaica where we stayed for a week at the RIU Palace Jamaica all inclusive resort. The weather was fantastic and we had a great time. While there we saw a performance by the Silver Birds Steel Orchestra. Such an amazing and energetic group of performers I haven't seen in a very long time! We really enjoyed their show and Brenda bought their video disc.
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My computer is TB4 but I couldn't find anything TB4 audio-wise!
Do You Do Any Exercises to Boost Your Creativity?
in Craig Anderton's Sound, Studio, and Stage
Posted
Recently I've been spending a lot of time trying to relearn some older hardware/software while also trying to learn some newer and less familiar stuff, it's quite an exercise but it remains to be seen whether it'll boost my creativity at all.
Yesterday, for example, I was working on getting my Roland FA08 incorporated into my older recording setup. Apparently I'd never used it for recording before which checks out because I'd bought it to use with the last band I was in and haven't turned it on since I'd left, two or three years ago. I couldn't get it to receive midi being sent from the midi timepiece, frustrating but no matter, it'll work better with the USB driver installed anyway. It did but now I'm getting some strange behavior; sequence randomly starts/stops, chunks change, etc.. It threw me off but fortunately I've had enough experience with DP at this point that before long a light bulb came on and I checked the Commands. Sometime in the past transport control commands that had originally been assigned to a little AKAI KB37 I used for live gigs found their way onto the computer that had never been used outside the house and were responding to input from "any".
Moving forward though I'm revisiting some tracks I'd started recording a couple years ago and have come up with some new ideas to incorporate.