pkennethk's forum posts 2051

However, it costs a good 50k... but per Harrison's rep I spoke to, there's no automation package?! And no plans to offer one at this time? This makes complex mixes a multi-operator affair. It also makes the channel inserts useless for compression if you automate DAW faders.

It IS disappointing that $50k doesn't get you automation nor the option to add it later. Who do you think they're targeting, specifically, with this price point and feature set?

Trash Theory is a really good channel of music history. I recommend looking into his “Before ___” series. It’s really interesting.

Great recommendation. I 110% agree.

This essay on early Industrial music is one I've pushed on different friends this year.

Took a look through my overgrown list of subscriptions.

There's no accounting for taste, but here are some that I've enjoyed.

It's really hard to be natural in front of a camera. Some of the people in this list might come across as smug, artificial, or flat out insufferable, but if they're on this list, I powered through that awkwardness and found their content to have merit, regardless. You are all free to feel differently.

Last Updated: 5-25-26

Jazz Studies

• https://www.youtube.com/@OpenStudioJazz

Everyone's Favorite Theory Wonk

• https://www.youtube.com/@DavidBennettPiano/videos

Bass Youtube

• https://www.youtube.com/@pdbass

• https://www.youtube.com/@justsomebasslines

For All My Europeans: Dance Production

• https://www.youtube.com/@Bthelick/videos

For Old Goths + EBM Lovers

• https://www.youtube.com/@Tonepusher/videos

Chill Ambient Synth Jams + Kittens

• https://www.youtube.com/@gakhed

I saw that same video and could kinda relate. I find it harder and harder to share in other people's excitement and optimism when working on records. Even when I really l like the music. I can come off as a negative Nelly but I've done this so many times that your ultra creative idea isn't new to me and just brings up memories of wasted time 15 years ago... I totally get what Steve's on about. It doesn't stop me from enjoying music I'm working on and it definitely hasn't lessened the dopamine hit I get when I turn a knob and hear something I like, eleven if the surprise and excitement are over. That's why i jam with friends most Fridays. For excitement. It's not always good... or even music in the most traditional sense, but at least the thrill is there.

How much of this is fatigue from doing the same thing so many decades, and how much is perhaps a general decline in sonic innovation in music over the past 20 years?

Although I've noticed that with all this info out there, this generation of kids seems to be constantly pushing ahead rather than mastering a particular skill perfectly.

The world of the 2020s seems to reward generalists who push ahead, rather than absolutely mastery. I'm not sure that's a bad thing. People of our generation, especially dudes, seem to place a premium on mastery... and I'm no different... but how beneficial that focus is, I'm not sure anymore.

It's way harder to jump ahead on like a Joe Pass guitar method book than it us to flip through YouTube videos.

Better to jump around and keep momentum, than be stuck with a book that isn't working and plod through... Joe Pass is a master, but his methods won't resonate with absolutely everyone... but I do hear what you're saying. I don't feel like the world is hurting for young virtuoso musicians, despite all the ADHD challenges, but my perspective could be warped.

I'm stealing that approach. My keyboard chops are sorely lacking. I know I've played better.

Let me know how it goes.

At some point I have to put the bass down and get back into piano using this new approach. I know so many damn chords via the piano roll, but my fingers only really know the most basic root-position voicings.

As for 5 string basses, now I get why you're seeking one. With this method you're required to play in the key as written. If I'm practicing a song with a part I really like just for educational purposes and it requires me to retune I'll just as often transpose it, which is always a good mental exercise... it is nice to be able to return a synth with a knob or button, isn't it?

I can always pitch the whole thing up in a DAW, and I've done that... not as fun or satisfying as playing it in the original key, but it's doable. The 5 string thing is really just me looking to try something new with this requested 2nd bass, rather than just getting 2 basses that are more or less the same. I have no opinion on 5 string basses. If I give one a shot, then I'll at least know how I feel about them, good or bad.

Sticking to 70s stuff as I've been, the songs I've come across with notes below E1 are 100% the result of players tuning down a 4 string, as 5 strings barely existed then. Furthest I've come across so far is Chaka Kahn's Clouds... Anthony Jackson tuned his 4 string all the way down to C for that one.

I'm not sure which would be more challenging for me: switching back and forth between 4 and 5 string, or switching between a 4 string tuned to E-A-D-G and one tuned to C-F-Bb-Eb.

I got that, but yeah... if I implied you were old its because I feel old.

Dude, we're old. Happens to everyone, eventually. But when I'm 75, I don't want to look back on this phase of my life and feel like I threw in the towel too early. You're making changes, growing, and taking on new things, or you might as well be dead. I saw a YT vid the other day with Steve Albini, and he said that, at age 55 (time of the recording), nothing in his work excites him or brings him ecstatic joy anymore, and he more or less accepts this as a natural part of being 55. Acceptance is good, but I'm not ready to stop being excited by new things... at least not yet.

To be clear, it's pretty admirable deciding to learn something new once you're officially 'middle aged.' I find my brain is much slower on the >uptake now. I'm still fine with memorization but things like muscle memory or just understanding new concepts requires a little more effort >even since my mid 30s... which has made me pretty complacent.

Use it or lose it.

So it's NOT your 1st rodeo!

I knew absolutely nothing of music theory in the previous rodeos, and never came close to the point where I could credibly jam with others. I was abysmal. My last attempt was ordering a bass from Zzounds in like 2002, the bass arrived with a huge chunk of wood gouged out of it, and I decided to take that as a sign to just ask for a refund and stick with piano.

No one made you sleep with a metronome under your pillow? I think my jazz band instructor was more hardcore than I knew. He acted like it wss normal for teenagers to sleep to a 120bpm click.

That sounds amazing! We didn't have much of a music program at my tiny rural high school. There was only one other person in the whole school who even owned a guitar, and they were 2 or 3 grades behind me, and lived 15 country miles away. Not as big a deal today, with Youtube and the internet, but this was back when the internet was an exotic tool for "electronic mail" and checking weather forecasts that only a handful of people in the county had access to. I could have made some real progress if I had access to today's YT.

Dude, that's a really admirable work ethic and clever method. I wish more singers would perfect their phrasing the way you've come up with. Even when singing their own tunes, it drives me nuts when people sustain notes far past any musically relevant division. Once in awhile? That's a style thing. If you never rest or change notes on beat it really sucks the life out of the melody.

Cool idea to perfect your timing by rerecording lines you know. I should be doing what you're doing on piano. I'm a total slob anymore because no one's sitting over my shoulder groaning.

It has made a world of difference for me. I can understand not wanting a first-year grade-school student to be A/Bing their performance to something a professional session player banged out, but once you're able to handle that level of self-scrutiny, modern DAWs and the ubiquity of leaked multitrack masters make it so effortless. I stick to the 70s stuff for bass, mostly, because that's the era of recording a passive 4-string dry into the console or through a mic'd B15... nothing fancy to distract me. I know that what I record at home through my interface should sound like a slightly brighter, more sterilized/clinical version of exactly what's on the record. If it doesn't gel with the rest of the tracks, I can only blame my fingers, not my plugins.

Your sarcastic evasion doesn't answer the question.

We're close to the same age, you and I, but the way you phrased your original question made it sound like you were talking to your grandpa. We're not dead yet, Jim. Barely half-way there. :)

Anyway:

• I needed to borrow a bass to make a bass sample library.

• Why I needed to make my own sample set and not just use Scarbee is a long story.

• A buddy offered to loan me a good bass, but there were some logistical delays, and I decided to just acquire a bass at a price I could easily re-sell it at when I was done.

• I ended up getting way into playing bass in the process, as I had made that switch from guitar to bass sometime around college and had made at least 1 or 2 failed attempts to get more serious about bass since then.

• Something I've always struggled with, musically, is timing perception. My piano teacher was always on my case because I took liberties with note values, and my drum teacher was on me because I "played everything like it was a hip hop beat". In both cases, I couldn't perform things as straight and metrically-perfect as they wanted me to... I couldn't dial in to the difference between what I played and what they wanted. Playing bass now, as an adult with at least half his life left to go, is finally getting me dialed-in on that front.

• Every morning, before the day starts, I sit down with my bass, and I re-record 16-bars or so of some great 70s multitrack recording with an enviable bass part. And then I listen back, evaluate, and repeat until my playing has a groove and cleanliness I can live with, at least for the morning -- and through doing this, I am finally starting to hear when and where I unintentionally get a bit ahead of the beat or when I'm unintentionally letting an 8th note go too long or too short. I'm in no danger of getting hired by Donald Fagen or Quincy Jones, but it's a start.

That's a lot to unpack. What made you decide to take up the bass at this stage of your life?

They won't let me have a full drum kit here at the nursing home, so I had to switch to something smaller.

as a final thing just remember talking about it online is no subsititute to actually trying a bass in person, definitely go and try a few 5 stringers if you can it might you might find something thats right up your alley you didnt think about!

I'm in Southern California. I will hit up a few shops and try as much as I can before pulling the trigger, always do... but if I wanted to try something like a Lakland in person, for example, I have to go to a specific out-of-the-way place that is an actual Lakland dealer -- they're not gonna have any new 5-string Laklands in stock at GC or SamAsh on Sunset... so I wanna make sure I'm not overlooking some interesting boutique brand that makes a 5 string with small frets w/o having to do a custom order.

i mean if youre only dropping your low string 1/2 a step or a whole step, maybe just keep to a 4. its all personal preference i guess but ive never like 5 strings myself and i dont get when you hear people say like you need a 5 string if you need to play a low d on a song. maybe swap the e string for a 110 if you want to drop it a little more it should hold tension okish down to a c or so

I've considered that. I mean, if I just got a second 4-string, I could keep the other tuned down... and that ultimately might be the path I take. Thanks for the 110 size recommendation for low E.

Maybe part of me just wants the extra challenge of grappling with an extra string, lol.

One thing that I hear over and over is "I play the 5 string live, but I only use 4 strings when I record". The extra wood and width of a 5 string rarely seems to translate into a tone that people like better than the 4 string equivalent. Maybe we're just so accustom to the acoustics/sound of a 4 string neck and body that the tonal changes a 5 string neck and body introduce just never sound "right"... or maybe it's more complicated than that... maybe it's the onboard preamp most 5-strings ship with that keep them off of recordings? IDK. I might have find out for myself. :)

im not sure about where you are but im sure theres builders that will do whatever you want, someone like john shuker will build you whatever you ask if youve got the money, if youre on a budget it might genuinely be cheaper to refret a more affordable 5 string

I hear you. I'd love to do that someday.

The reality is that I'm only 1 year deep into learning bass, and I can't justify spending that kind of $$$$ when I haven't even fully memorized the fretboard yet.

The only reason I'm looking at a second bass is that my GF asked me to get a second bass so I could keep one at my place and one at hers. Can you believe that?!? I am not making this up!

I've already had to tune down to Eb to learn a song or two, and I want to learn a few urban gospel tracks, even though I'm not a churchgoer, so I figure it would be good for bass #2 to have those 5 extra lower notes.

So whatever I get, it's probably best that it be something I can re-sell for close to what I buy it for... because my tastes will surely change as I get better.

My friend, I've never given bass neck radiuses a second thought...

In my experience, many lifelong 6-string guitarists don't really care about radius either, despite radius being a more impactful dimension on that instrument.

... and for bass, for me, radius isn't a primary concern either. I've never played a 5 string in my life, I don't know what I don't know yet. Maybe I'll want something super-flat on a 5 string, maybe I won't care... maybe I'll hate 5 string altogether and just get a second 4-string tuned to B-E-A-D.

... but IF I'm ordering a completely custom bass neck, where I choose every dimension... I kinda feel like I should have the option to do a compound radius... I would want to order something with a spec you couldn't find on The Stratosphere's eBay shop, you know?

1. Make it sit in the track or your mix will sound whack. String gauge, wrap type, cotton or foam under the saddles and pick type or fingers and the technique used are the best EQ and dynamics processing.

Given that I'm still learning the instrument, I limit myself to 1970s session bassist rules:

1. Show up with a 4 string P or J, strung with flats.

2. Whether you record direct into the board, or through a mic'd B15 is the Engineering Team's decision, not yours.

3. Your fingers, your strings, and your tone knob are your signal chain.

4. If the song needs something brighter, use your fingernails, a pick, switch to rounds, or put on a fresher set of La Bella flats that are still in their big-bright-angry-acoustic-guitar-sounding phase.

5. Any compression applied while tracking is the Engineer's decision, not yours.

6. You probably weren't the first bassist they called, so be humble and do something simple that flatters the song and the other performers.

I want to learn to play through a new/unfamiliar chord chart in a competent and tasteful manner -- obsessing over bass pedals, plugins, and amps will have to be someone else's problem. Ditto for exploring bass as a lead or solo instrument, that's someone else's journey, not mine.

The idea of a compound radius on bass is interesting though. I mean, why doesn't warmoth offer that? Seems like bassism. Which is a portmanteau of racism and bassist...

Ha! I almost accused them of bassism too, using that exact portmanteau... great minds!

Fender's Mononeon signature bass is a 5 string with a compound radius (10-14", I think?)... Fender wouldn't have gone to the trouble of tooling-up the Mexico assembly line to do a compound 5-string neck like that if the artist didn't feel strongly about it. They don't offer that neck on any other products, so it must have cost them some $$$$ to accommodate... so yeah, I'm curious to at least try one.

So about fancy bass brands, my buddy has a fully customed out Warwick Bass II, gibson EB-2 style, that is hands down the best playing shortscale ive played and it produces the roundest, fullest tone I've ever heard from a hollow bass. It's a spectacular bass. Every Warwick I've picked up has been better than average but when you gave something fully customed out like my friend did, they really step up their game. They fulfilled every requirement he had and accommodated all his fiddly requests. If they offer the small frets on a compound radius, Warwick will treat you right on a custom instrument.

I'm glad to hear that. I'm curious about both Warwick and Spector basses. Never played either, but both those brands came on so strong in the early-mid 80s with basses that were clearly attempting to move beyond the Fender paradigms... It had to be more than just pro players following a fashion trend, you wouldn't have seen the mass adoption that happened if those brands weren't offering something special.

Warmoth only offers a straight 10" fretboard radius for all their bass necks.

No compound radii.

No money-note-assisting 7.25" radius.

No modern 12 or 14" shredder radii.

I hear their build quality is wonderful, but if their opinion is "bass players shouldn't concern themselves with the roundness of the fretboard", then I feel like I can't trust them to be super on-point with the rest of the neck... know what I mean?

They offer all kinds of radii for guitar necks... so, IDK what their logic is.

Musikraft is willing to go all the way with me, but I'm not sure ppl think of their current output -- haven't checked in with them in decades.

The internet tries to tell me that USACG can't be trusted in the post-Tommy era. I don't know Tommy, but I knew people who bought custom necks from them in like 2015 in the results were great.

I hear Allparts necks meet Fender Japan standards, which is great, but they don't do custom orders.

Also: I'm willing to go full cloth-covered-wire & nitro-traditionalist for a 4 string P-bass (and I just might, someday), but for a 5-string, I feel like I should just embrace the modern and get something shreddy... There aren't many investment-grade 5 string basses out there... It's like buying a fancy bicycle for 100+ mile rides: you just have to live with some humiliatingly techy/flashy details that won't age well, and channel your civic-war-recreationist urges elsewhere. I can't see myself going through the trouble to flow/transfer some fancy counterfeit Fender logo onto the headstock of a custom-ordered 5 string bass neck...

...

I like tiny "vintage Fender"-size frets on basses. 0.43" tall or shorter.

Who makes 5-string basses with these tiny/short frets?

1. Lakland
2. Dingwall
3. ????

Is that it?

On guitars, I think I prefer tall & shreddy frets for anything that isn't trying to be a blackguard Telecaster -- but for basses, I like to feel a bit of the fretboard under my fingertips as I play. I started with fretless back in the day: my fingers are right up on the frets out of habit... so maybe that's why I like basses with subtle fret wire?... IDK.

So you this option once? When did it change, exactly?

Correct, this website had the user search feature you seek once upon a time. No idea exactly when it changed, exactly. it was there one day, gone the next.

You used to be able to search for users here, for years. Then that ability went away when some big site changes were made. I used to use the user-search feature when we had it. I'd use it if it came back.

Thanks!

I guess they feel they're ready to have UA Connect installed on every producer's computer now. Good for them!

I'm familiar with the diagrams, but never knew much about where they came from. Your question sent me down a few different rabbit holes... but no real answers.

Strange that they'd invest so much time in all those diagrams, then walk away.

Kenneth, you're onto something with a correct submission garnering more points than a half-assed one.

I think you get quite a big points boost if your submission is rated "Correct". I was supporting what I thought the policy was already. But I appreciate the encouragement, regardless :)

I also think we should return to unfettered gear additions but mods ssd should be able to delete garbage/duplicate gear at will which would doc the user points for adding clutter.

I'd love to snuff dupes. I'd love it so much. There's some free labor I'd happily donate.

Let me know if you decide to part with your jupiter 6. Hint hint.

I just downloaded the trial for the new Cherry Audio JP6. Haven't fired it up yet, but I'm encouraged. Check out this talented MFer's patches for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBIzacXA6lg

It's about time the Jupe 6 finally got some emulation love. Now it's time for Roland to release a Boutique JP6 desktop DSP thing.

Thanks for the support, Jim & dj_k9 :)

We should marinate on these for a little while, see what other ideas shake out. I'm going to check out how Perfect Circuit and a few others categorize their products and make sure we're not missing anything big.

I didn't scroll through all the "ideas" so forgive me if this is a repeat, but..

Give an incentive or IQ points for users to rate the quality of submissions. I've had one submission rated correct in the past year out of 55 submissions. I don't think rating something "correct" should give the same amount of points as the submission itself. Maybe all three quality reviews give the same points amount of points though? The other problem I could see is people just verifying submissions for the points without doing their due diligence.

Or make a badge system for people that review submission qualities?

Users making dozens, even hundred of submissions that just sit there for years is a problem here, for sure. As someone who has reviewed/approved hundreds and hundreds of submissions here, I support Correct submissions being worth more points, because there are a lot of lazy, half-assed, and just plain wrong submissions that come through everyday -- there needs to be incentive for users to strive to meet a certain quality standard.

I love the idea of rewarding people who review other's submissions, but if the incentive was enough to matter, there is the risk that users start reviewing and approving things without really reading/considering just to get the points. So I understand the apprehension to reward approval-labor with points... frustrating as that is.

I think your badge idea is great. :)

How many submissions of other community members have you reviewed? I find the best way to get my own stuff reviewed and rated is to invest time in rating submissions from other people here, especially the work of users who are currently active on the site that week. That said, I still have hundreds of submissions that have never been rated, and maybe never will... but there's definitely an unspoken quid pro quo effect amongst the active approvers.

For me, I don't like the idea of Eurorack modules that require a case with power rails sitting alongside self-contained products that are plug and play. New/beginner users could get the wrong idea and affiliate-link their way to buying a $100 module, not realizing the substantial investment needed to get sound out of the thing. I suspect that this is why Sweetwater keeps unhoused/non-powered modules separate from everything else, despite their otherwise broad and sometimes-wonky categories for synthesizers.

If you look at the category-breakdowns Equipboard has for guitar pedals, all things synth are being grossly underserved here.

I know Equipboard's thinking on categories comes from the categories Sweetwater & GC still use, but I doubt anyone here feels users are being well-served by having "Tabletop Synthesizers" stuck in DJ Gear.

And what's an Audio Sequencer ?

Given that semi-modular synths exist in both keyed and desktop/non-keyed formats, maybe the answer is to have an option to filter all the relevant synth categories by things like "semi-modular", "eurorack voltage compatible", and "eurorack-mountable"?

Update:

Biggest issues with current categories, synth-wise:

1. The "Synthesizers" sub-category needs to be narrowed down to "Keyboard Synthesizers". This would make it clear that desktop/tabletop synths go elsewhere.

2. The "Tabletop Synthesizers" category needs to be moved from "DJ Gear" to "Synthesizers, Keyboards & MIDI" to sit alongside the "Keyboard Synthesizers" sub-category. Also, we need to rename it "Desktop Synthesizers" as this is the more current industry-wide term.

3. The "Sound Modules" category needs to be renamed to "Rackmount Modules", "Rackmount Synthesizers", "19" Rackmount Synthesizers" or similar so it is clear this is for the now-extinct 19" rack mount and half-rack formats. There is no longer a need to distinguish between what the industry used to call "sound modules" and "true synthesizers", because the days of rack-mount ROMplers full of piano sounds are well behind us, and nobody will be offended or confused to see a few of these old ROMplers sitting next to other rack mount gear more in line with a true synthesizer. People cared back when true synths were almost extinct, but now that the tables are turned, it's a non-issue, I suspect.

4. "Modular Synthesizers" needs to be expanded to encompass at least 3 sub categories: Semi-Modular Synthesizers, Synthesizer Modules (un-powered, un-housed), and Modular Cases & Accessories. The Semi-modular category would ideally be 2 categories: one for keyed and one for desktop, but IDK what the best compromise is here.

5. "Audio Sequencers" needs to be renamed to "MIDI & CV Sequencers" and moved from "DJ Gear" to "Synthesizers, Keyboards & MIDI > MIDI". Anything that is primarily aimed at sequencing external gear, rather than producing its own sounds, would go here: old dedicated midi sequencers from the 80s and 90s, CV sequencers for Modular, hybrid MIDI/CV sequencers, etc.

6. Audio Samplers needs to be reworked to clarify that it's for old 19" rackmount samplers and sampling keyboards, but NOT for MPC and Elektron-style self-contained "Production & Groove" products. I also think this category would be better served over with Synthesizers, Keyboards & Midi than DJ gear. Separate categories for keyboard and rackmount samplers would be great.

7. It's weird that drum machines are over with the DJ Gear... isn't it? That product category was never specifically aimed at DJs until the likes of the Pioneer Toriaz, which, ironically, would probably go under Production and Groove, which is not in with the DJ Gear.

8. Electromechanical keyboards like the Rhodes, Clavinet, OG Mellotron need their own category. This is an extinct product segment, but they don't belong in any of the existing categories, unless we want to expand Organs to include 1970s electric pianos and the like, which seems odd.

9. A new category for knob-based controllers and control surfaces needs to be created. The DAW Controllers category is overrun with these non-DAW-specific controllers, most of which are MIDI-based, but some are high-end HUI control surfaces and other such automated-fader and big-knob goodness aimed at ProTools types, but not specifically tied to any one DAW... or just rename it "Control Surfaces" and let it be the catch-all that it is, with no specific attachment to DAWs.

I know these sound like demands I'm shouting out, but I'm sure there are solid business/technical reasons why a lot of this isn't in-place already.

Ideally, we'd have a system where a piece of gear could exist in multiple categories. So an Elektron Octatrack, for example, could be in with the Samplers AND in with the Groove Boxes, and maybe even in with the Desktop Synthesizers, Drum Machines, etc... but if we are locked into just one category per item, I think some of the changes above would make it easier for users to pick the "right" category when adding or editing gear, which would make the gear ranking system here more meaningful and useful.

I agree with you that it does not exactly belong with the "Modular Synthesizers", but because of the hybrid nature, I am not sure it belongs with "Synthesizers" either. Seeing how something like a Moog DFAM can also be put in a Eurorack, where a Minimoog could not be. Would prefer to see them in their own category of "Semi-Modular".

I feel you on the additional categories. It would be handy to be able to search and sort by sub-categories like:

1. Analog
2. Semi-Modular
3. Virtual Analog
4. Digital Synthesis (FM, Wavetable, etc)
5. Arranger Keyboard
6. etc.

Many instruments would fall into multiple categories, of course, but there's always tradeoffs. An OP-1, for example, is a "Groove & Production" box, a Synthesizer, a Digital Synthesizer, and a Sampler. If it showed up as #20 in one category, and #50 in a different one, I think I could live with that.

It's my current understanding that the site owners need to more or less stay close to how major instrument retailers categorize new gear (Sweetwater, Guitar Center, etc), for a range of different business-related reasons, which I am AOK with. Thus, a whole lot falls under "Synthesizers". If this is no longer the thinking/reasoning, or never was, I hope they'll chime in.

Equipboard housekeeping question:

I feel like semi-modular synths like the Arp 2600, VCS3, MS-20, Moog Matriarch, etc would be best categorized here as "Synthesizers" and show up alongside the Minimoog Model D, Access Virus, Yamaha DX7, etc, categorically. This way, the "Modular Synthesizers" category can be exclusively Eurorack modules, Series 500 modules, and antique full-modular systems like Mood Modular, Buchla, Roland System 100, etc.

Semi-modular standalone synths are just too common these days to lump them in with fully-modular systems.

Any objections?

On the topic of bullet point 1 though, there's a difference between a review of a product and what I use something for, so I'd have separate notes for each and that's why I wound up asking about such changes so that I can put down the separate notes for people to see.

Understood. Reviews are the only thing available right now, which is why I mention them. Reviews contain a separate space/area to write down you favorite settings, patches, and usage, but I understand that you want a notes space completely separate from Reviews that would show under each gear photo in your Equipboard.

Some of the major industry people are also fans of ours, so I'll have to ask them what I should do on the matter on this.

I'd be surprised if many people in the music industry were familiar with Equipboard, honestly. This is still a pretty niche site, as far as I'm aware.

Even if I get approved for my own verified artist page, I probably would want to hold off on it until the Terror Stamp reamp rig workflow gets finalised and I make a video on the Terror Stamp. They're saying it should be in the mail tomorrow. Probably a good idea to get all my rigs finalised first. I'm still expecting a new guitar this week.

Judging by myself and every musician I've ever known, your instruments and setup will always be changing. There may be a few constants, but things are always in a state of flux. My advice would be to just add to your Equipboard bit by bit as you have time, and accept that, just like your setup, it will never be in a final/perfect state. Don't overthink it ;)

Even if we all agree that I should be a verified artist, maybe it's not a good idea to make anything official yet because gear situation is pretty limbo right now.

Having an Artist profile here is not like have a verified Twitter account. Maybe the owners of this site would want to consider a "verified" type profile in the future, but when you do eventually have an Artist profile, you won't be in control of it -- Artist profiles are community-built and (for the most part) community-maintained. Your personal Equipboard is the space you get to control, and you're already as official as one can be on that front.

The only couple additional features I want to request in this case is this.

1. On the personal equipboard pages, there needs to be descriptions available right under the images of the actual gear that got tagged. That way we can elaborate on why and how we use the stuff.

I think this would be a nice upgrade. Reviews are the only option right now, but adding a personal comment everyone could see right under the image would be useful for a lot of us... at the very least, it would save readers from having to click and view the whole review for every item.

1. It would also be nice to have us be able to mark stuff like "this is what we currently use" or "we rent this regularly" or "we don't have this anymore but it was used in old records"

The customizable categories in your Equipboard give you some flexibility in this regard. For example, I have a section in my own Equipboard called "Gearly Departed" for the gear I've owned and sold or that died of natural causes, a section for gear I need to have repaired (as a reminder to myself), etc etc. You can list the same piece of gear under multiple categories.

The Artist profile you mentioned (Didjaws), was added over 7 years ago, back when one could ignore the submission guidelines and add themselves as an Artist fairly easily (note the community member who created the Didjaws profile was jawsberrebi... hmmmm ). The criteria and creation process for new Artist profiles was changed a few years ago to (among other reasons) thwart self-created Artist profiles.

I hear you, that you'd like an Artist profile. It's great to hear that you see value in having one. I think the owners of this site would be happy to hear this too.

The "old" answer was to advise you to just fill out your personal Equipboard with your gear and carry on, as that gives you perfect control over moderating what is/isn't shown... it's a record of your gear without all the false IDs and approval process, etc... and there have been a few artists in the past who have had their own personal Equipboard and (eventually) an Artist profile too. BUT, in recent times, user Equipboards have been removed from the site search, and presumably made fairly invisible from an SEO standpoint... so there's a stronger case for the benefit of existing as an Artist profile, and not just a user account, if you're trying to fan the sparks of a nascent career. This being the case, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that having an Artist profile would be no better for you than a personal Equipboard.

All that said, my advice would be to:

1. Flesh out your personal Equipboard with reviews on your gear that detail how/why you use this gear, etc. This is the single most important thing you can do to make your profile more useful to the fans you send your profile link to. I've got your band blasting on Spotify right now, and I see you've worked with Bill Primo. Bill's Equipboard has been built up into a house of concrete and steel, so solid. Everything his fans could wanna know about why/how he chose his instruments is in those reviews.

2. Keep grinding on your music.

3. Hold tight and eventually you'll become an automatically-addable artist in the pre-sanctioned list (I forget which services that list pulls from, but it picks up fairly new and obscure artists decently) OR a fan will eventually make an Add Artist Request, even though you're not yet in that automatic list, and the Admins may (eventually) decide to approve the request.

In the meantime, there's nothing stopping you from linking folks to your personal Equipboard, and when you eventually get to the Artist profile stage, it's not like your personal Equipboard link stops working, your personal Equipboard will still have way better info and accuracy than the profile made up of people's best guesses about what gear you use, based on a picture they find on Instagram.

How would you ultimately want the whole system to be driven by your drummer's tempo/live-playing?

Do you already have a Pintech/DDrum type piezo trigger out from their kick?.. or do you need something digital that can pull a continuous live tempo or tap tempo reading off of their playing?

The Eurorack world would love to sell you a lunchbox case with like 2-3 modules to convert, divide down, etc... but we both know their ultimate goal is to alienate you from your bandmates so you spend all your time dreaming about plugging itty-bitty tiny colored cables into itty-bitty sockets that are too close to all the other knobs and sockets.

All my special little cables and converters are in storage boxes, and this question reminds me why I should be happy about that. lol.

What source(s) do you ultimately want to drive your PolySix with?

Congratulations on acquiring a Nord Stage 2! I'm so happy to hear you were able to make that happen. :)

I'm sorry I missed your thorough reply with the demo, Jim. That's not like me. I don't know how I didn't see/catch that one. Apologies. I'm not a mic expert, but sounds OK to me.

I gotta thank DMP for getting this thread back on my radar.

Mods can you please add

Name: ENGL E1055 Ironbass

https://m.guitarcenter.pl/catalog/basy/wzmacniacze/glowy-basowe/engl-e1055-ironbass

https://equipboard.com/items/engl-e1055-ironbass

Name: Ibanez EHB1005SMS

https://www.ibanez.com/na/products/detail/ehb1005sms_1p_01.html

This bass is currently for sale @ Sweetwater. You should be able to add it here yourself.

Mods can you please add

Name: Harley Benton MS-60 VW

Image: https://images.static-thomann.de/pics/prod/339362.jpg

The MS-60 already has a general entry here, that doesn't specify color:

https://images.static-thomann.de/pics/prod/339362.jpg

I'm pretty sure you'd prefer an entry that showed a picture of the good-looking vintage white model, but my orders are to direct you to the generalized entry.

Mods can you please add

Name: Ibanez Custom Fretless BTB1896F

Image: https://linus-klausenitzer.com/new-ibanez-custom-bass-guitar/

Do you want this added so you can log it to Linus Klausenitzer? If so, notice that in the press release they state "this instrument is based on the BTB1826E Premium". I'd recommend logging Linus' bass as this foundational instrument, since his custom creation is something for which there is only one in the world. We're trying to minimize the number of entries in the EB database that are for custom/1-off instruments like this.

I wasn't suggesting a Squier; just stating that Fender doesn't currently put trash pickups in any bass over $450 USD, to best of my knowledge. Trash pots/electronics? Maybe, but I highly doubt the Player series has any glaring deficiencies to address. You'll get the good tuners, pickup, wiring/shielding, and hardware you'd expect for that kind of money. Jim is a lot closer to this subject than me, obviously. Take my notes with a grain of salt, but listen hard to anything he has to share on the subject.

Well, I was thinking you'd pick up a phone, call a few places, and go to the one that assured you they had one in-hand. Doable here in LA, maybe not in Toronto. Bummer.

Anyway, the standard P-Bass pickup is essentially a humbucker by another name, not known for being harsh in any context. The pickups on everything from the Squier CV series on up are all very solid. I'd be shocked if you found the natural tone of any standard-config P-Bass Fender sells to be too much of anything in any regard.

You probably already know this, but the necks on P-Basses are generally chunkier than the necks on J-Basses, though I'd suspect Fender wouldn't go too extreme in that dimension for their current mainstream Player, Player Plus, American, etc series... but as someone who primarily plays guitar, just know the Jazz is almost always going to have the more guitar-like neck between the two. Tone-wise, nobody ever regretted buying a P-Bass... just know that your neck could have some chonk.

Fender Player Precision Bass it is then. I really hope that the Precision Bass doesn't sound as harsh as the Jackson Spectra Bass when put through my Darkglass preamps.

There are plenty of guitar shops in Toronto. Could you not go into one with your Darkglass and find out before you buy?

Mods can you please add

Name: Takamine TSA 500

Image: https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--g_9ql8rB--/f_auto,t_large/v1570713289/myinbz0w4rai8mspsgq1.jpg

https://equipboard.com/items/takamine-tsa-500

I'm seeing EBHs on Reverb for <$1000US. Seems like they do fit into your budget, if you're open to used. I know you have to factor in additional shipping charges/taxes to get anything stateside over to Toronto... I'm sure you could pull this off within your budget, even with those considerations, if you're patient enough to wait for the right used instrument to come along.

I was talking about Canadian funds, not US funds. Here in Canada, the EHB1005 costs $1649 CAD before taxes, so it's out of my budget range even IF I do manage to sell the Jackson bass.

I know, and I was talking about used prices. I checked what used USD prices would equate to in CAD before my initial reply.

I wanted to talk about bass guitars themselves. I'm currently using a Jackson JS3 Spectra Bass, but I'm making plans to upgrade to another bass guitar soon as the 9V battery clip isn't holding the 9V in place properly.

So replace the battery clip. What does a small part like that have to do with wanting a new bass?

The tone I'm chasing for is a Nolly-esque bass tone. Now, ideally, a Dingwall Combustion would've been an ideal candidate; however, the issue is the NG-2 model is no longer carried by any of the music stores in Toronto anymore, and the Ibanez multi-scale bass guitar I'm looking at is beyond my price range. (Current budget is CAD$1200 + whatever money I get back from Jackson JS3, to be determined - we're looking at getting back approximately 120-200 CAD back, so for safety's sake let's assume that my max budget including taxes and new bass strings is roughly CAD$1400.)

Re: the Ibanez, are you looking at the EBH1005? I was chatting with a session player here on EB who has one of those, plus multiple Dingwalls, and they actually prefer the Ibanez for most needs at the moment.

I'm seeing EBHs on Reverb for <$1000US. Seems like they do fit into your budget, if you're open to used. I know you have to factor in additional shipping charges/taxes to get anything stateside over to Toronto... I'm sure you could pull this off within your budget, even with those considerations, if you're patient enough to wait for the right used instrument to come along.

So because of this, as a second best option, I've been looking into Fender basses, mainly because I remember having used the Jaguar HH back in my high school years and I trust that the Fender brand is still going strong with their solid lineup of bass guitars. I've been looking into the Player series basses as of this time - the Jazz Bass and Precision Bass to be exact.

The cheapest 5-String Precision Bass Fender offers is out of your price range, but there are a few options for 5-string Jazz Basses under $1000... but why were you even considering a 4-String for progressive metal? I'm no prog metal expert, but I know those tracks get low. Not a single bass on Nolly's Equipboard has fewer than 5 strings.

Mods can you please add

Name: Kappa Electronics Kremlin Fuzz

Image: https://http2.mlstatic.com/D_NQ_NP_2X_621777-MLB46165031301_052021-F.webp

It's a fuzz pedal, based on the EHX russian big muff, with a aditional boost switch (labeled "pre")

https://equipboard.com/items/kappa-electronics-kremlin-fuzz