TapperMike

Well, you know how porn stars came up with names? Pets name + street where you live(d) Really wouldn't work for me "Frisky Wildwood" Your music sounds idyllic a introspective to me. If you wanted to retain your local identity..... Mary Hill or Annie Land would be a nice play on things.

So now that I've played with it a bit more I'm finding more to love. I'm going to get a dsf sound library for dimension pro but still debating which pack I will get. I'll post some samples as time permits.

So it's a fairly impressive collection of sounds for the price. Though I'm not as impressed as I should be. The process for registering is kind of a pain. Don't crack gives you a redeem code that you have to enter at cakewalk. Fill out don't crack's forms get the code go to Cakewalk. Fill out cakewalks forms get an email that's poorly formatted (hint stay on the cakewalk page and download from there instead of closing the window and loosing the link. Download and get a registration code. Install (takes some time so be patient) Have your registration code handy for the install. You can have 32 or the 64 bit version installed but not both (did not make me happy) You can only install to one computer ever (again not happy) opted for 64 expecting the amazing got the okay but not amazing. Installed code entered ready to go right? No cakewalk wants you to register again. Off to cakewalk set up account offer serial code check email for unlock code. Poorly formatted text has that code butting up with the form mail. Get invalid registration code time after time. Go to cakewalk for support install and unlock have to be done via right click run as admin. Finally got the program unlocked. Speaker out issue with standalone version. I like to run thru my headphone outs on my computer..... It's useless unless I go thru a host to open Dimension pro in a host (using it in cantible 64bit) Some really nice pads etc but it's no wavestation. Not impressed with the acoustic piano's they are okay and less then many of the piano vst's I've already got. Not impressed with GPO which is included. Am impressed with the e-piano's some pads awesome most only fair. Basses are good. woodwinds/brass are mediocre. Mostly just teed off at my ztar. something funky happening with it which makes notes repeat when they should sustain. Expected combi's no such luck. Nonetheless I'm thinking of getting the proteus2000 expansion soundpack from digital sound factory. I have the 2500 card in an old broken command station and loved it. very little difference between the proteus 2000 and the 2600 Install expansions Start program

http://www.dontcrack.com/news/2013/06/cakewalk/ I just bought it and downloaded it. About to run thru the paces on a different computer. Dimension Pro used to sell for 350. As an added bonus it can open sfz files like aria, alchemy and digital sound factory https://www.digitalsoundfactory.com/dimension_products I've been looking for a better workhorse library then what I've been using. (tired of the M!, can't use Proteus VX anymore and Wusik is a pain to navigate with poorly produced sounds) This offer expires July7 In a few hours I'll come back with my thoughts on it.

I've read up a lot about the thumber and the inventor. He didn't have enough capital to go forward with the project. So he put the schematics up for open source. Meaning anyone with a working knowledge of electronics can "build their own". Really quite sad as I liked the concept a lot.

Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2

Way cool Layne.... just posted to my FB page

I was wrong. I had assumed that very few were born with absolute/perfect pitch and the rest of us were limited to only relative pitch. New studies prove that there is no such thing as perfect pitch. http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/06/11/0956797612473310.abstract So the most one can do is work out ear training to develop relative pitch.

A funny thing happened on the way to the circus. Record sales are on the increase. Part of this is due to with the fact that you have something physical to look at. It's also a great prop for tv shows. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/vinyl-sales-increase-despite-industry-slump-20110106

Wow you have some nice mics. The only thing I've seen that inspires more brand loyalty and/or pissing matches then guitars is mic's

Don't publish anything worth stealing and don't share anything worth stealing. Lock it all away in a safe secure place where the world will never find it. When you put something on the market for public display it becomes public domain regardless of how well you try to protect your copyrights/publising rights. You'll need an army of lawyers and two of surfers to find the material then try to prosecute the offenders. Trust me I'm in the software biz people claim to have our stuff for free all the time. Sometimes it's acting out and sometimes it's not. If we weren't in the software biz to make money we could easily simply not produce anything or share anything but that's not how a software writer or a music writer makes money. As for general copyright/publishing rights thing. If you feel it's worthy of writing then you should also publish. Upload your content to a blog. That way you have your rights in tact and have a verifiable datestamp as to when you wrote it.

Bowie's in Space - Flight of the Concords http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4zV4pJ8MwM

For awhile I seriously considered a uke. Then I read about how it was tuned. While I can play a few altered tunings for specific songs I've never been comfortable with them. I think I'd be even less comfortable with a uke/banjo tuning.

Man what great playing, thanks for that one Tom.... The Boys are back in town - Thin Lizzy

Thanks for that John, Please understand I'm not against practicing scales. I too practice my scales regularly but it's only part of my playing regiment. I've known speed metal players who practice scales for hours each day. It really helps them to lock things down. I'm thinking of doing a new blog and/or charting system. Practice diaries.

I find myself coming full circle in my playing and reject the ageism. I've done the blues, rock, funk, jazz, things separately. I find myself playing/writing music that would seem rather dated to the public. Classic Rock. Last year as every year my town has free concerts in the park. It's mostly cover bands and the bands are great. I saw a young country rock act that really took the cake. She wasn't Katie Perry she was playing rock standards country standards and a few of her own songs. I couldn't remember a song of hers to save my life. But I promise you if she was doing the bar circuit she wouldn't have gotten many gigs if at all. Also last summer I went to my sisters town where they have a huge free music festival mostly original folk singer songwriters. Those songs were very forgettable, and I was more content to walk the streets and check out the shops rather then give anyone more then a two song listen. In retrospect I may have liked a few of the songs but not loved them and If I bought a cd from the artist it would have been more as a means to support the concept of independent musicians then for the song itself. I don't love new songs anymore. I just like em or don't and like isn't enough for me to buy them. Yet buying material is what keeps the independent artists alive then anything else. In regards to the riaa industry. I wouldn't want to be successful I couldn't afford it. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100712/23482610186.shtml I've known major players with gold records who were scrounging to feed their families. A perfect example is Joey Mazolla of Sponge. Joey had worked and now works again at a music store I've frequented for ....the last 30 years. The stories he told of what the major label did to kill the act would shock you. He makes more money going on reunion tours with other acts as a back up artists or teaching alone then he ever did when he was playing stadiums and appearing on talk shows. Today as consumers of music we have too much selection for listening be it soundcloud, bandcamp, reverbnation and youtube then anytime in history. But people would rather spend their time on facebook then surfing for new music. And.... soundcloud, bandcamp reverbnation et all are more filled with...needy musicians in search of recognition then people actually seeking out new music to listen to. If you want to survive making music you have to be a marketer first. Go out glad handing the public and the bar owners every day. Develop a cult around you. In many ways it's like being a con man and putting yourself aside to stroke the audience. I like people too but I can't be the used car salesman. You look great, you should really come out and see us at XXX and bring your friends. Thanks for coming out.... it's you that makes the show possible. etc etc.

Egad.... I don't want to dig that far. Back on my feet again - The Baby's

Not me, a friend. Though I tend to agree. I had another friend who would endlessly practice scales. Everyday hours a day at a slow to medium tempo. She so obsessed with simply practicing scales that she didn't study any songs. She was quite good at her lifeless scaling. But she was too afraid to actually practice songs. She'd make a minor mistake and throw the baby out with the bath water. Now that I'm no longer performing live and rarely recording I find it difficult to focus on a practice regiment. Sure I can still play the old songs I used to with ease but I'm stretched to different approaches.

A friend once said to me If you always do what you've always done you'll always get what you've always gotten (and sometimes less) Another friend once said practice doesn't make perfect it just makes practice perfect. Do you routinely practice scales, patterns and sequences or are you more focused on song material? If you are learning a song how long do you keep it in your practice regiment? How much time do you devote to developing new techniques? How often do you practice? How long do you practice?

Ooh Child - The Five Stairsteps

I enjoyed both immensely not being a keyboard player I'm enamored by your technique. Best of fortunes.

Now that I've had it awhile I'm beginning to have buyers remorse. The binding on the neck is cracking. I've had to raise the action and do more then one neck adjustment to get rid of the fret buzz. The frets are rising up and I might have to tap them back in something I'm afraid of because it's to easy to damage the frets or tap them too far in. Had I purchased a guitar for a few more hundred chances are I'd have a reliable neck. I'm really falling in love with the neck shape but not the neck persay. Finances are thin this month. I'm neither luthier nor guitar tech and not about to invest in repair.

When I play my babyz as a bass i tune it B-E-A-D-G-B in the bass range. When I'd played bass with a real bass it was always a standard four string. Yes it took awhile for me to adapt. No it wasn't impossible, I almost bought a stick and tried one out in a store for a few hours. I'd come in play it. Leave,,,come back play it. Back then there was no internet but it did come with a book and a vhs tape. I could never adapt to the bass strings directionality. I'd prolly fair better with a megatar, or a warr or an ns/stick.

I've covered the rest in the other thread..... Rudi, I'm right in the same boat as you except... I don't have an acoustic. They never last with me. Granted I've got a godin LR Bagss (pre acoustcaster) that sounds nothing like and acoustic or a tele in my humble opinion. I went thru the same thing with floyd rose and finally gave up on them. Not only the whole spring/tuning but they all wack out on intonation after awhile. A buddy of mine wants to build.... A 7 string baritone guitar with a floyd rose. I tried to convince him it was a bad idea. That he'd have the guitar longer if he just invested in a whammy pedal. On the flip side of how long it takes to restring and tune a guitar. I used to have one of these..... http://www.joness.com/gr300/pics/IMG2010/IMG2010-DROP-SHADOW.jpg To change the strings first detune with the rollers behind the bridge then loosen the screw on the nut (no hex key required just twist) Slide out the string slide a new one, clamp and tune up. It took less then 4 minutes to get them all changed and in tune including string stretching. I've changed strings on my tele copy twice since I've gotten it Gage and brand can have a huge impact of the tonal response. Unless I'm playing jazz I usually keep the tone control almost all the way up. Not so with the tele. It's unusally bright to me (mostly because I've never had a good tele or tele copy but also because I rarely change strings on my guitars). While I'm mostly into D'addario's and it was strung with them when it arrived. going to a pure vintage fender set really made a big difference in the response. Back in the mid 70's to early 80's that's all I'd ever use. One thing to note about playing with older strings... If you use a metal pick it will bring back the brightness of the tone but it also will wear the strings out and make them break more easily. Also.... Unless you want to ruin the fretwork avoid stainless steel strings. A salesman was pitching me hard on Dean Markey Stainless Steel Strings when I first got my Strat way back when. While I loved the tone I needed fretwork due to the damage they did. Frets are mostly nickel which is a soft metal. When a hard metal comes in enough contact with a soft metal the soft metal loses. Granted Parker guitars (the american versions) have stainless steel frets. Now that Parker has been aquired by Washburn, Washburn has adapted using stainless steel frets for the higher end guitars they sell.

I haven't broken strings in over ten years and then had it happen on two guitars in the same day. I used to play with this "angry" guitarist. He went out of his way to break strings because...It would make him mad and he believed that he played better mad. Suffice it to say we had a very limited partnership. When I was seriously recording and seriously performing. I would always carry a spare guitar and a few sets of strings. I wasn't one of those who would break a string then change it on stage. As well I would always change them all if one broke simply for consitency. A new string will sound brighter then an old one. Granted sitting around the house playing a few songs it doesn't matter that much but when you are being paid to perform especially in the studio it does matter because one bright string even if it's in tune will stand out in the producers as well as the engineers ear. Back then I'd change my strings religiously every two weeks. Now there aren't any local paying studios and live performance is a thing of the past for me.