Jump to content

BluefoxIcy

Members
  • Posts

    150
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by BluefoxIcy

  1. http://freepats.opensrc.org/samples/imis/ Public domain http://freepats.opensrc.org/sf2/acoustic_piano_imis_samples/ Split up pianos... I think... You may have to do some work to make some of the really good IMIS shit work.
  2. I broke the original strings on my guitar, cheap crap that I should have replaced day 1 but instead replaced day 3. Haven't broken a string since, wanted to move from mediums to lights though. PS I use a graphite nut I mounted myself (tech wanted $50 for shaping and filing and $20 to mount?! Screw that, pre-cut for $6 and mount myself!), shimmed up by a chopped up 1.14mm Dunlop Tortex extra-heavy pick. The guitar plays LOUD without amping now; it tunes and bends easy; and overall feels and sounds ONE HUNDRED BILLION times better than with the shitty nylon nut. With my amp I can make the damn thing sound EXACTLY like an acoustic with gain mode active, tone up a little more than half way, and the middle voice setting...
  3. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GBXL these??? I'll pick up a set, probably grab a set of hi-beams too and compare them later. Those look nice.
  4. DR Tite-Fits are $5 strings and many (including myself) hail them as some of the greatest strings ever. Earnie Balls fall into that price range too IIRC, I believe these are the favorites of Slash and whoever Kiss' lead guitarist is (and a lot of others). By contrast, a lot of over-marketed strings cost $10-$15 and sound like crap or wear out in 4 hours. Most coated strings fall into this category (I've heard DR black beauties last a while, but also heard that heavy players WILL wear them down in a week). It's really hard to look at strings and go, "Those will sound awesome." You have to play them.. my recommendations usually come from people who went, "I use these, they rock." The Fenders didn't, they just looked good; they do just that, because they definitely don't sound good to my ears.
  5. I'm irritated right now. I wanted some lighter strings to do string bends at 2 easier (Guitar Battle vs. Slash, Slash 2007) so I spent a good $3 on a pack of Fender Super Bullets, 0.009 - 0.042 THEY SUCK. They go out of tune yeah but that's just the first couple days stretching out, that happens. I just came from DR Tite-Fits though; whereas day 1 of a DR string is "Holy shit this is bright," day 1 of a Fender string is "this is really mellow toneless crap." I'm thinking of going with some DR Hi-Beams 0.009 - 0.042 guitar. These are much brighter than the normal Tite-fits I was using, and also are light gauge so they're a little easier on me (hey, the Fender lights ARE easier to play than the DR mediums). DR Hot Pinks or Red Devils have my eye but I'm not so keen on the coating. Anyone tried either of these?
  6. Sort of. Not really. The next release of Ubuntu will directly support (i.e. include) Wubi. Wubi installs Ubuntu to a file on your hard disk, and (as far as I can tell) adds an entry to C:\boot.ini to boot it. This means you don't have to install the OS proper to boot into it and use it; it's a file on your hard drive. You do have to leave Windows. Ubuntu Studio contains an array of multimedia (music, video, image) software. No I don't know how to use it. Anyone who wants to play, here's a sane way to do so. If there's something you don't like in an app, file a bug on it on launchpad.net, use something else, maybe in 2 releases they'll fix it. Wubi itself uses a somewhat unstable storage architecture. The whole system is in a file; instead of being in a file system on disk, it's in a file system in a file in a file system on disk. This basically means if you crash/lose power, you've got a MUCH better chance of breaking it (file systems aren't reliable media, they're meant to run on top reliable media!). I designed something like this in 2004; it lasted through 3 hard reboots the first time, 4 the second. I determined it a very bad idea. On the up side, the worst you'll do is break Ubuntu, but not Windows. I'll figure out what's going on with 8.04 when it gets released. You can find more information on Wubi (as separated from Ubuntu) here: http://wubi-installer.org/faq.php
  7. The gist of his his argument is "I am a fucking retard and you should give me what I want bitch now bend the fuck over."
  8. You're right. And that mod isn't actually any difficult to do.. it's also easy to switch in/out of the circuit and make it parallel or series (I had a rather gross and deranged idea on parallel tubes in this respect, involving a pot wired as a voltage divider to give disproportionate levels of signal to each tube; and each tube with its own vol pot).
  9. The best squier strat seems to be the Vintage Modified for $250; but we're trying to talk about acoustics here :s
  10. Nice thanks for that. That preamp is actually a stupid op-amp on a starved plate tube (the tube has 50V instead of 300V on the plate, it does nothing) so yeah this is probably significant. A pure tube preamp won't really card, except that a guitar preamp might have a bigger input line resistor and/or smaller ground resistor (the signal in my VJ for example goes across 68k to the tubes, and 1M to ground, letting a few percents of the signal ground out; originally that 1M was 100k so uh yeah like 1/3 the signal was discarded, I threw in a 1M for better gain). Of course, the tubes overdrive FASTER with bigger signal in.... With a solid state device, you might just blow it or set it on fire (blow, pop, sparks, ignite if you're not lucky). Didn't know about the signal difference. Makes much more sense where the electronics would change from that.
  11. So I'm learning to play guitar; rhythm, lead, etc. I've noticed that acoustic players have a particular style and don't typically play in bands so much as they rip a song out themselves. ... A whole song. Like, Bohemian Rhapsodi, with the piano part and the countermelody against the vocals AND the vocals all going, one instrument. Or the Rain Song, which I watched a friend perform, playing a steady rhythm while injecting the main melody. How... the hell... I don't even know where to begin with that. Is there a specific style I should look into say a year from now when I can play somewhat? After watching him perform the Rain Song my friend said learning acoustic really cleans up your technique and makes you a better player on all stringed instruments in the guitar/mandolin/etc family, so I'm interested in this being an eventual developmental step.
  12. The only real advice I gave was that truss rod adjustment does indeed fix neck bow (it's, in fact, what you're supposed to do for that); and that acoustics aren't electrics. The rest was pretty anecdotal. What kind of Ibanez you got anyway? Like I said, the only one I've got to see was a really nice sounding acoustic-electric with a cut.
  13. Adobe also doesn't like you using the term "Photoshopping" because it genericizes their trademark and they can't sue over it. I've taken up using "Gimping" to no real end, but if too many people did this they'd start sweating for exactly the reasons you've stated: Photoshop is the de facto, and they don't want any whisper of anything else to enter the market.
  14. These are pre-amps I'm looking at, the first half of the amp stage (my amp uses a 12AX7 into an EL84, but 12AX7 into 12AX7 into EL84 can be done). That or the Roland Cube, both of which I was eyeing up before and might actually pick up still (after a few more things... sloooow spending schedule). I'm using a Valve Junior (love it, awesome overdrive, and I've got it to break up into a bluesy sound quite nice) but I'm going after replacing it with the Valve Junior Half Stack since the combo pounds on the tubes and makes an irritating rattle (and damages them!). I'll throw the BitMo TRIO mod on to get a bright/wide switch, which'll give me a setting that lets me pick up some screaming blues (I've heard it, it fucking rocks). http://demos.dovetailsystems.com/bruce/Bruce%20Hutcheon%20-%20Night%20of%20the%20Dogmen%2006.mp3 No pedals, no effects loops. Pure signal characteristic manipulation and overdrive.
  15. Acoustics and electrics feel, sound, and play wildly different. Playing an acoustic cleans up your technique (if you learn to play an acoustic), so I'm going to learn after I get good on electric. That being said, there's definitely a lot of nice cheap electrics out there. Squier Vintage Modified SSS Strats for example go around $250; while an Epiphone Les Paul Studio hits $320 (and a freaking pretty Les Paul Studio Chameleon hits $400 for the paint job!). Semi-hollows, I've had my eyes on a $600 Sheraton 2 (I hear the elitist $1600 Epiphone Sheraton and Dot are worth the money though, but I'd have to handle them first to bite that), but a Dot goes for between $240 and $400. Places like Agile Guitars are said to make some real quality stuff for around $800 or so too. Electrics aren't acoustics. They neither sound nor feel nothing alike.
  16. But it's a GREAT way to fix a bow. Just NOT that fast! Thanks though Legion. I normally would only move 1/8 a turn at a time, and not snap my rod; but I didn't know the wood had to settle under the new tension for a while or it'd explode. This had me puzzled for a while too. Fortunately when I did my truss it only needed a 3/8 turn (which adjusted the relief by some sub-0.010 inch step... o.o;). As for an acoustic to play, I don't know. My Harmony is crap. I've been looking at Epiphones, considering getting an acoustic one day (once I can play the electric well)... the Dove Dreadnaught has good reviews, but I know nothing about the damn things. I'd probably aim at an Ibanez with a cut-away (les paul looking acoustic); I've seen acoustic-electric Ibanez that play and sound nice. Tell me what you come up with in any case.
  17. He has produced douchebaggery. I believe that goes for 4 WoW gold.
  18. Did some digging. 12AX7 tubes run with 300V plate voltage; these things use 50V plate voltage (i.e. the tube doesn't work, but it glows a bit) and have a parallel circuit where the signal goes, using a silicon op-amp (blah!). http://www.cockos.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17220 http://www.gearslutz.com/board/geekslutz-forum/116542-tube-art-tube-mp-upgrade.html Another company was using a dirty trick, lighting the tube up with LEDs but the tube was completely non-functional (designed out). ~_~ You know what? A 12AX7 preamp circuit is a 115V in, 300V/6.3V out main transformer with 300V powering the plate and 6.3V powering the 12AX7 filament, 5 simple ground points, 6 resistors, 1 cap, and 1 volume pot (logarithmic trapezoidal). It doesn't even need an OT. Why is this a multi hundred dollar endeavor when using a $3 op-amp is a $70 endeavor? $10 tube, like $6 of parts versus a $3 4558.... Blahe. Music gear is such a shit market.
  19. McDonalds makes food, and people are starving, they are also douchebags. The music industry is full of shit, but there's nothing wrong with trying to make money off your creations, be they music or movies or software. Some software COMPANIES are very responsible and listen to their user base-- this is a good marketing move because it means they put effort into developing a good, user-driven product, and fixing user-discovered bugs as quickly as possible. It means you CAN'T COMPETE WITH THEM because they have the very best, which means they can price in the same range as everyone else and kick ass. One company called Dragon doesn't even sell software, it makes it. If you have a broken pile of shit code you can't fix, pay them money, they'll examine it and task it and tell your engineers where they messed up the design, and how to rewrite it, and help rewrite it. By your philosophy this is a valuable service (it is in this case); but the music industry basically hires talented musicians to stamp out whatever "today's hot sound" is in the same formula, which is a costly philosophical and cultural disservice. The artists need to make money making whatever they damn well please, or get a new job if their music's that bad that nobody wants to pay for it.
  20. I charge all of you to learn to tune your instruments, and ear train. And don't you dare sing without vocal training against a sine wave or something, or with a teacher that's bitchsmacking you for 2Hz off. This is great. I could strum in rhythm and do X notes at once, then modify my guitar music and sound like I know how to play. Don't waste your life with this and just give up on actually performing well; with great power comes great responsibility. Correct mistakes, but don't try to make gold from shit.
  21. In theory, if you look at the individual volumes of each frequency range on a fine scale (a fast fourier transform does this, look at open source libfft for existing code), you can profile the core notes and the distributions of frequencies from each, then alter to taste. Identifying the core frequencies (this is a C4-F4-C5) is the easy part. Figuring out what's going on around those frequencies is tough; the notes overlap. The curve should look familiar to statistics majors (beta curve i.e. standard normal), so it's no impossible task right? So now what about frequency shapes? this works all well and good for sines and pianos, but a flute looks like two overlapped sine waves out of phase on the same frequency (okay, not so hard to deal with...). A guitar will output one note if you play one string, right? What's the low-mid-high thing for then? That's right, the way the string resonates (think piano or flute or anything else too... especially violin, where your heavy handed bow affects pitch), there's a mix of frequencies in there. The core wobbles up and down. We just lost our perfect world scenario 5 times here. It works in theory; it's just very hard to do in practice without making hollow or muddy sounds or otherwise making it really fucking obvious. There was a program ages ago that turned a recording of multi-phonic instruments into a MIDI, sometimes. Not very good at it but it did take a good shot. I was what 14 at the time... so yeah 8 years ago, this is the same kind of tech on the base, just with further processing after you get it right.
  22. You are no longer allowed to eat on any 24 hour standard calendar day in which you have listened to any music. Musicians don't need to eat, neither do you.
  23. .... hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I've used some lovely professional products, but I've found that a lot of things like Blender have a special place in the market, while Gimp has been used with or in place of PhotoShop even when PS was available (Shrek comes to mind). I love Gnucash as accounting software. Certain security software almost EXCLUSIVELY goes to open source solutions, and not because "we need the source code to make sure it's secure" (some stuff like firewalls goes to closed solutions, while IDS and security event monitoring always falls square on Snort and a number of open source packages). In the realm of audio software, it's such a niche market and nobody wants to really put the time in if they have the real experience (i.e. no actual musicians give any feedback on the stuff that's out there), so it's kind of a shot in the dark for the developers unless they direct clone another software. Audacity is the only example I'll give there. You made a blanket statement stretching past just audio programs. I'm not arguing the free audio software market has not much of anything great going for it; but saying "professional products" are always better is directly false.
  24. I want to say, "difficult to use" costs productivity time even when experienced users have to perform long and complex action paths for simple common tasks; forget doing anything nifty-but-obscure, you'll spend forever figuring out how or looking for the manual. A lot of professional software is actually "too dumbed down" though, in other fields at least (look at Windows, where a sysadmin might do something unsupported and Windows will gleefully undo the change because it doesn't think that's what you want). They want the ability to say "It doesn't do that" instead of "wow that's an interesting thought and we have no idea, try combining the powers of these low-level features with some scripting... maybe you'll find something." Beyond that good call on all points. Just remember, YOU are a professional; they aren't special, only proficient. The only thing that sets them apart is they get paid for it (as a, you know, profession?).
  25. I'm an Open Source Software guy, I use Linux, I would probably point you at Ubuntu Studio, etc. Open source software is free, and it's a great charity; however, I always have to take a direct stance against insane people like Richard Stallman or all the GNU fanboys that say absurd things like "asking for money for software is {unethical,a crime}" or some stupid shit. If you make software and give it away for free, that's wonderful; if you're selling it, then I am obligated to buy it to use it. It's a fucking lot of work to make and takes time and money and you make $50/hr so you're either not getting paid for your hard work or some company dumped a $90,000 paycheck on you and about 20 other programmers, 10 QA testers, 10 managers, 2 project managers (YOU NEED THESE TOO), marketing research, and God knows what else. It's a lot easier and cheaper if they hire real software engineering experts too instead of leaving the design to the programmers; but again, someone got paid for that position too. zircon might laugh if he's making millions off his music and I'm like "yeah I downloaded most of that shit." He might not laugh so hard if I'm standing on the corner passing out free copies of his CDs to every person in my whole town, and then going to the next town; he'll be decidedly pissed if I'm selling them for money he's not making. When the whole huge network of 95%-Zircon-music-isn't-paid-for-yet goes up and he's in the poor house for lack of sales, he'll either sue everyone in the world or cut his wrists and take up burger flipping instead. Can you see why yet??? Do you understand how software is similar???
×
×
  • Create New...