BongStuff

Yeah my little AIWAs done plenty of that kind of recording in its time. But I've got Minidisc for that now. Much easier on the old batteries amongst other things. OK, so not 44.1KHz raw audio, but for bagpipes stuck in traffic... ...and you know what they say. Minidisc, big ****. BS

Cheers for the responses Didier/Dave! Just to give you a bit more background, I am actually a fairly proficient pianist, albeit turned to the dark side of electronics I've got classical training to Associated Board Grade 5 ( got BORED at 6 ) for what it's worth, and my Mum is a music teacher, so I've grown up with pianos always in the house. I can read and write scored music fairly well. I've also made several recordings as a sound engineer for broadcast of piano pieces. So not a *complete* piano noob. But anyway, a few points... Dave, 'preciate your input. And I'll probably still use software based pianos for recording any kind of dancey/poppy techno stuff. I'm deffo going to check out THE GRAND once I get up and running. But there's something wonderfully tactile about creeping into a darkened room and just lifting the lid on the ol' Joanna and tinkling away. No laptops. No headphones ( YUK ). No amp. No speakers. No MIDI leads. No fans or hard drives whirring. It's a different experience from sitting in a room surrounded by all that stuff. Even things like just pressing the sustain pedal ( LOUD pedal ) without playing any notes, and listening to all the hammers lift off the strings, giving that wonderfully deep and distant atimbral FOOOOM I love. And I often find it's much easier to write the roots of a song/track in that non-hi-tech environment. If I *do* record it, it would probably just be to "notepad" songwriting ideas - one stereo mike and the minidisc ( see earlier thread on Recording ). The room has nice wooden floors so it should sound good enough for that. Didier, yeah I'm definitely going to shop around. The Yamahas I played in the one shop I've been to seemed to have the best action for a synth-defector like me Quite light but positive - no sponge! Nice bright sound too which I liked. Going to wait until I've tried at least a dozen ( that I can afford ) before purchase. Thanks for the info on tuning. I guess I'd need to have it in a room that's fairly even in temperature too?! But lastly - Dave - let's not forget you WILL get more girls playing the piano as opposed to a laptop and MIDI controller BS

They're not strictly speaking synths...

Ok, next thing on the shopping list is a piano. Before I get literally showered by 1000000's of posts saying that TheGrand or somesuch is better, you're never going to convince me the physical experience of playing a piano is possible with software and MIDI controller keyboards... SO...I was thinking a Yamaha upright. I'm kind of tight on space. The guy in the shop recommended something called a "U1" ( cue bad jokes about being the forerunner to *that* Irish band ). Anyone know anything? I guess I'm looking for something that's gonna last, is low maintenance, can take a pounding from a fair-to-middling synth player AND a baby Oh, and is easy to record... BS

Yeah OK...guitar? it might get me more groupies...here's the well-known groupie hierarchy....speaking from *real* experience.... SINGER BACKING SINGER SAX PLAYER LEAD GUITARIST ASSORTED BRASS PLAYER RHYTHM GUITARIST BONGO PLAYER DRUMMER DRUMMER'S MATE BASS PLAYER BASS PLAYER'S TWO MATES YOU'VE NEVER SEEN B4 TAMBOURINE PLAYER MORE OF THE DRUMMER'S AND BASS PLAYER'S FRIENDS DRUG RUNNER ANNOUNCER SPARK SYNTH SHOP OWNER SYNTH PLAYER

David Gray's drum programming bites ass. Seriously!! It's almost as bad as Steve's!! Learn to do it PROPERLY if you want to do it at all BS

Man I was looking forward to that chicken. Darn! BS

My little Aiwa portable is nearing the end of its lifespan. What great times we've had!! Anyway - is it worth me just digitally transferring everything to HardDisk/CD and thereafter not bothering with tape-based media? Just CD/R?! I'll kinda miss the rewind times... : BS

Synth Lads - did you notice how the old chatstuffers duplicated our Christmas thread last week? Man. So typical of guitarists. Always late coming in! BS

Dudes, A friend recommended the following one - a SONY ECM 719... http://www.kelkoo.co.uk/b/a/ss_Sony_microphones.html It's 60 quid. BS ps. Wow Didier - the MT44 - an old classic?!

Folks - the absynth thread was discussing nearfield monitors. So far it's "NS10s are rubbish" ...anyone who missed the thread got any recommendations on nearfield monitors? BS

they might once they see your new post highlighted! thanks! BS

Folks, Looking for a decent stereo mike I can carry around with my Minidisc recorder ( to get some atmospheres and things like that ). Best if it's unbalanced - the MD only has a stereo minijack input. Fairly cheap would be good Any pointers? C

Hello recording posse! So, whaddyathink?! BS

It's never really done that to me. I think BS

Thanks for the info. And Glasgow SCOTLAND you say! Well, aye thanks for clarifyin' the location an' that... BS

LOL! Yeah I remember reading an article by Vince Clarke on monitors when he used to do the old Yazoo stuff on a BBC micro. He had old Akai hifi speakers and said "if it sounds good on them, it will sound good on anything!" BS

Cheers for the info Dave/Didier. OK, so what's the current thinking on nearfield monitors?! Mine will have to sit around 0.5m behind the desk ( Soundcraft 24:8:2 ) about 2m apart. Can sit them on brackets or stands. Currently have pairs of... JPM Mini monitors Mordaunt Short MS35Ti Old disco speakers somewhere in my Mum's attic Bear in mind that big volumes are not preferable for me. BS

Cool story Steve. Yeah, sound insulation is the no.1 enemy of the recording studio. You can start to pinpoint acoustico-sonic gradients in your control room ONCE you are able to turn it up loud enough to have them!!! I reckon I'll get away with a small hifi amp and a couple of nearfield monitors ( NS10's still the way to go? ) for the most part. I'm thinking of building some kind of sealed unit SLIDING door to go over the INSIDE of the room door as well... Other than that, come midnight it's cans-cans-cans and wondering why that delicately ping-ponged reverb that you put on the percussion loop that you spent all night programming can't be heard on the tape you play in your car the next morning... BS

In a "resurrect old threads" frenzy I found this... http://www.steviebarrett.com/home/index.php?article=6 You were right Dave! Anyway, synth fans, expect more REAL synth talk from BS soon. My new studio is about to be built! OH BABY! ( ok well it's a spare bedroom, but it's 13x10! Woohoo! BS

hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa not goad me not with your puny "axe" tomfoolery. ours is a world you will never understand. we can play CHORDS, BASSLINES and MELODIES with different sounds ALL AT THE SAME TIME! from just one instrument and chords can have MORE THAN 6 notes! it's beautiful. come with us. BS

Hehehe...well it's not Mia...she'll NEVER be a guitarist! NEVER I TELL YOU!!!! BS

Oh YES! Now air-keyboard wise, what do I *do* to this mysterious track? Is it a tuneless widdly-widdly-Wakemanesque 200 notes-per-second blur of pitchbend and portamento? Or is it more Da Da Da? BS

I'll have Gail Porter and Sarah Blackwood out of DubStar please synth santa, wrapped in the bubblewrap ( to keep 'em fresh for later ) from a fully configured rack of 3GHz Carillon, Absynth and Cubase SX pre-installed & patched-up, a couple of XV5080s, and a Neumann U87 with 96Khz USB preamp/DAC. Thank you, BongStuff

So what are you asking for? BS