GRollins

I see a Theme at the bottom now. It shows Bravo 6 and Dynamic Theme (in addition to "Default (Default)"). Both are dark. At first blush, I see no difference between the two, but I'm sure there's something. For the moment, I'm on Bravo 6. If nothing else, it cuts down on the glare. Back to doing electronic repairs... Grey

I logged out and back in and do not see FB, Twitter, etc. So then it occurs to me to turn off Addblock Plus. Presto! FB, Twitter logos appear...but still no Themes. I turned Adblock back on and they disappeared, so Adblock may figure into the equation somehow, though that doesn't explain why Themes are still missing. I have no suggestions, only observations. I need to get back to rebuilding a blown-up Threshold amp and will leave this stuff to you experts. I'm a mainframe computer guy, not network. Network crap makes me crazy. Grey

Aye, but I don't use Chrome. I don't want to be tracked by the Googleplex ecosystem. Grey

And why does the website think I've only been here a year? Grey

I second the motion for a dark mode. Grey

One of my sons started showing symptoms this past Saturday morning. A test at that time came back negative, but a subsequent test Monday morning showed positive. He's been vaccinated, but not boosted. Yeah, he's pretty miserable. His temperature hit 101.6 for a while. You could practically warm your hands from across the room with all the heat he was giving off. The pity is that he doesn't care for jazz and probably wouldn't get the joke. Of course, as sick as he is, nothing's very funny to him right now. Poor kid. Grey

I've seen that somewhere...possibly here. I don't know if the intersection actually exists in the real world, but if it doesn't, it should. Grey

I don't think you're looking at this the right way... I distinctly remember seeing Rick Wakeman using one of those between the grand and Hammond. Plus, it gives you room for not one, but two Mini Moogs up top, as all proper keyboards should. Keith Emerson had one too, but he persisted in sticking knives in it and knocking it over, and his roadies had to take it away before he destroyed all the beautiful walnut burl... Grey

Late November: Managed an insane score on a Bag End 18" sub with Infra-M EQ. (If only I could have that sort of luck with the lottery...) Early December: Behringer 2600. Finally. Santa'ed both of those myself. Then Mrs. Santa got me the Behringer 914 filter while it was on sale. Very useful for those of us who find the static-like click at the beginning of synthetic drum strokes to be highly annoying...filter anything above, say, 250-350Hz. Problem solved. Then do the Deep Oscillator thing and blend the synth drum with a sampled real orchestral bass drum and you've got something that will dust off your (sub)woofers and actually sound like a drum instead of an alien farting outside your window. Grey

I finally scratched my Behringer/ARP 2600 itch...managed to get a sale price here in the US that more-or-less equaled what I'd have paid if I got the thing from Thomann. Speaking as a Moog-centric kind of guy, it's weird to mess with a 2600. I have fond memories of the ARP version from back in the '70s when I played bass in a band with a guy who had a real one. This is the first time I've had my hands on one since then and it's going to take getting used to. It challenges all my preconceived notions and go-to setting reflexes. Interesting to see that it's #2 on the list. While I'd be quick to point out how important ARP was for music (Weather Report, Edgar Winter, Star Wars sound effects, etc.), it never dawned on me that the bloody thing would be popular enough to rise that high on the list. I would have thought that it would be...what?...more of a nostalgia thing? I'm not sure. But for it to be that high up, it seems that the appeal is more broad-based than I'd realized. Grey

Speaking as a (primarily) bass player... Yeah...what he said... Grey

That's funny...I've always felt that way about the '80s. Grey

You got that right! Grey

A large segment of our society has turned anti-science--if fact, they are actively hostile. That's going to come back to haunt us over time. For my part, I am quite excited to see what the Webb telescope turns up. It's going to be tough waiting for the telescope to come online. Grey

I, for one, don't mind seeing cables and such. It has never once occurred to me as an issue. If you play electronic instruments, cables go with the territory. To try to somehow deny that and hide them...? Might as well hide your arms and legs. Cognitive dissonance. I'll ponder this for a bit and see if I can figure it out. Grey

I came late to the Kronos party and ended up with a 73 (76?), whereas I'd prefer an 88. Got it used for a pretty decent price. That said, I really like the machine and still may go for an 88 at some point in the future...used, obviously. It'd be nice if it stayed in production, but that's the way things go. No, I haven't looked at the current product. If I get serious about trying to find an 88 key Korg, I'll do my homework, at least to the extent I'm able. Where I live there are no Korgs available to test drive...not even the cheap ones. Grey

There are any number of things and stories I could relate, but I'll keep it simple: Steinberg can kiss my ass. I had nothing but trouble with CuBase. Nothing. But. Trouble. I cannot imagine how anyone could possibly be serious about using CuBase, but obviously I'm wrong because there are users who think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. (Methinks sumpin's wrong in dere heads...) The problem prior to the one that drove me away from CuBase forever led me to a general FAQ. Something like 90% of the question/answers in the FAQ were some variation on "How the everliving hell do I get past the licensing thing so the program will work?"...not "How do I record?" not "How do I insert a track?" not "How do I get a plug-in to work?"...nope...none of the above...it was almost entirely "I can't get past your friggin' licensing strategy!" That spoke volumes to me. If your FAQ is that clogged with people who can't even get the program to start, you have a SERIOUS problem. Apparently, they didn't care. The next time I hit a problem, I threw up my hands, went to Studio One, and was done in an hour or two; completed track. And that was from a near standing start, mind you. I didn't know how to get the job done, but I scratched around and figured it out, then got the track down. Score: Studio One - 1, CuBase - 0 I cannot imagine anything Steinberg could do that would bring me back to the fold. Grey

Two points: 1) Effects are key. A theramin by itself sounds okay, but add reverb/echo and it's a whole 'nother animal. Add other effects at your discretion. 2) If your frame of mind is that you must play identifiable melodies, perfectly on pitch, then you're going to have a learning curve...one that many people give up on. If you approach it more as a spice to be added to the main course rather than the meal, you can make immediate use of it and have a lot more fun. In this case you're going more for a swooping sound that's just wonderful if used in moderation. Whale sounds. Bird calls. Science fiction aliens with death rays. Your imagination is the limit. Theramins are a blast. Have fun with it. Don't overthink it, Just go from the gut. Grey

I had hoped that someone would have a Black Friday price on the Behringer 2600, but as far as I can tell Sweetwater is the only outfit selling their stuff anymore and they're not coming off the price. Other Behringer units, yes, but not the 2600. Oh, well. If there's no sale price to be had, I'll just wait; I can buy the bloody thing anytime for the regular price. Besides, I just got a Bag End S18E-C & Infra-M controller (screaming deal, couldn't turn it down, even though I had to road trip to pick it up). Useful for both bass and keys. I can use that expenditure as an excuse not to pay full price on a 2600. It's not as though I don't have other toys to play with. I'm just greedy. (...and foolish...) Grey

Once upon a time I asked an old gentleman who watched our land in the NC mountains when was the last time anyone had seen a bear in the area. He made a face and said there hadn't been any bears since the late 1800s. That was then, this is now. There are at least eight or ten bears in NE Rutherford County NC, minimum. It's good habitat. They've moved down from the upper reaches, like Mount Mitchell, and are colonizing territory that hasn't seen ursine critters in the lifetimes of even the oldest people. I've not come face to face with one, but the prints I'm seeing look to belong to 250-300# beasties so they're thriving. What with Covid and the loss of my daughter, etc. I haven't been camping in a couple of years, but the next time I go I'm taking bear spray because they've moved down as far as the gate to my land. The last time I camped the worst thing I had to contend with was a whippoorwill who perched on a limb just above our tent and sang all night long...loudly. Didn't get a wink of sleep. I think he was offended by humans in his domain and the tent color just didn't suit him at all. Annoying, but not the same as facing down a sow with cubs, which I did up in VA once. Anyway, my point is to take some bear spray. They're up there and it's their land. We just think we own it. Grey

Sorry if anyone got a basic CL feed. Somehow I captured the wrong URL. Then...NATURALLY...KC decided to pull a go-slow on me, leading to a 504 Error timeout. I think I've got it right now. Let me know if it's not the right ad. Grey

Somebody might want to go get this... Link to Craig's List ad for an empty Leslie cabinet He wants $700. I have no idea whether that's a fair price or not. I'll leave it up to you guys to figure that out. Grey

Oi! This could be a long, potentially boring, conversation. I'll try to keep it brief, because I have reasoned all these things through and have points of view which may or may not be controversial. Put on your physics hat. Sound is energy. Mechanical energy. Now, in the case of my Korg, for instance, the mechanical construction of the keyboard is of little consequence. All the sounds are synthetic. In the case of a Steinway, however, the mechanical sound is real and immediate; it starts as soon as you strike a key. But... You're in a bind. If you want the maximum sustain possible, you absolutely must go for maximum rigidity. The ultimate sustain would be to have something like two ten-ton granite boulders with eyelets holding the string stretched between them. The problem then is that you have no volume. To have usable acoustic output, you have to have a soundboard and that soundboard must be connected to the string so that it can draw energy from the string. However, the very act of drawing energy from the string begins to deplete the energy that you need for sustaining the note. In other words, it's a tradeoff. You can have sustain or you can have volume, but it's a balancing act. You have to give up some of one in order to get the other. So far, this is not particularly controversial. Full length necks on a guitar connect the bridge directly to the nut. The energy of a plucked string remains within the same piece of wood. In principle, this increases sustain and changes the tonality, but when you ask people why, they suddenly start mumbling. At this point, things begin to get a little wiggy. This is my take. I've never found anyone else who espouses this line of reasoning, so be prepared for all kinds of yik-yak if you repeat this to someone else. Consider sound in a room. Doesn't matter where the sound came from or what the frequency is or anything--all we're interested in is what happens when the sound wave hits a boundary. If the boundary is hard, like a wall, the sound reflects. If the boundary is soft, like the upholstery on a seat or the flesh of a human body, the sound is absorbed. If the boundary is exactly the same density as the air, the sound behaves as though there's no boundary and it continues transmission. (We're going to ignore for the moment the fact that sound is also absorbed by the air it travels through.) So...what we're looking for is any change in density. Higher density reflects. Lower density absorbs. Are you with me so far? Okay, consider a set neck, meaning one which is glued in place (e.g Gibson). Consider the density of the glue used to attach the neck to the body. Hide glues (think Gibson) are hard as nails. Great glue. Works wonderfully. But...uh...it's hard as nails. See above. A hard glue, no matter how thin the glue joint, will reflect energy. What about, say, an aliphatic resin? Soft. See above. Being soft, it will absorb sound. Hmmm... According to The Philosophy of Sound According to Grey, either of those alternatives are Bad. I want the sound to travel freely between the nut and the bridge. What if you were to magically manage to match (notice the alliteration...I love alliteration) the density of the glue to that of the wood? Promising...promising...but the thing about wood is that it's the product of a living thing--a tree. The density of the wood varies from tree to tree and even within the same tree, depending on what part of the tree and how you cut your boards. At this point you're going to have to reformulate your glue on the fly, depending on tests that you perform on each individual board. Ugh. Not practical. Welllll...what about bolt-on necks (e.g. Fender)? You're kidding, right? Okay, Fender uses maple for their necks. Good choice. Good tone wood. But then the sound coming down the neck hits the lacquer coating the heel of the neck, then the lacquer in the neck pocket...and that's assuming that there are no shims, which I've seen anything from wood (not so bad), to a scrap of sandpaper (there's actually a whole line of reasoning that the grit of a piece of sandpaper helps the body grip the neck better), to a folded matchbook cover (WTF??? This was from the factory, mind you!). See above. And don't get me started on variations in how tight the neck bolts are. A full length neck provides an unimpeded path for the energy traveling from the nut to the bridge. No big changes in density. No change in the mechanical impedance. Etc. A whole raft of variables are removed. Much more predicable. Given that I have been known to get long winded about this, I will stop here. I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to break down the above into both sustain and tonal arguments. Quiz on Friday. Grey P.S.: Yes, if you analyze the construction of the guitar I built, you will find that there are glue joints in the way. The neck goes down the back of the guitar, but not the front, which is where the bridge is. There's a book matched maple top glued to the top surface of the neck. So, yes, there's a glue joint in the way. This particular instrument is not a perfect example of my philosophy. But it's pretty to look at and I've been known to forgive a pretty face any number of crimes. (Details not important here...fill in from your own experiences...) If you're buying the next round of beer, we can go into the the interface between the metal supports for the bridge and the wood. Or the frets to the wood. No, the nut doesn't really factor into the tonality or sustain of this guitar--note the zero fret. Like I said, I can go on about this stuff in excruciating detail. You have been warned.

Thanks. A table saw works wonders on a plank of wood. And a planer and a band saw and a router and a drill press and a... And a lot of time and fiddle factor, but I love woodworking.so it's really kinda a cool way to pass the time. Beats working on the bathroom or back deck or whatever, right? Grey

SERIOUS heartfelt thanks to Tom for doing this. Grey