pkennethk's forum posts 2051

... I think we could do a much better job of delivering on value proposition #3, the one about getting good deals on gear. In fact, that's a change to the site that is coming up very soon. I spoke about it a bit in this forum post.

I can appreciate that the explosion of the boutique pedal market over the past 25 years complicates the process of serving up the pedal boards of the pros and using that connection to help people choose the right pedals for themselves. There are SO MANY great pedals out there, with 95% similar analog tone circuitry among many of them, you not only have to educate people that John Frusciante uses a vintage Boss DM-2, but that rather than spending $600 on a used one, you could get the Waza Craft DM-2W for $150, or a 3rd-party clone, ORRRR a DSP-based vintage delay modeling pedal that also models a Roland Space Echo and a Memory Man for roughly the same price... AAANND this pedal proliferation means that because there are so many outstanding pedals out there, better than the vintage classics in many respects, that many excellent products don't have many (if any) pros associated with them yet, because there are 100 other very similar pedals out there...

...I don't know where I'm going with all this... just thinking through what you guys must be up against in terms of value prop #3.

That's great feedback. For a long time, the bread and butter of the site has been associating gear with pro artists, though that process isn't exactly lightweight since the proof and explanation require some level of thought & care. As the site evolves it's becoming more about helping people find kick-ass gear, pro artists or not. And in that sense you can contribute by adding your own tagged photos of gear in the wild, writing reviews, recommending related/complementary gear, etc.

How would you propose quickly giving people a sense of what they're in for?

Thanks for the thoughtful response, gchiaren. :) I appreciate you asking.

I think the content below the scroll is a nice overview of what the EB experience is like, at the moment. It's evolving, as you mentioned, but those organized lanes/layers of artist and product content feel true to what is currently on-offer.

Naive/non-rhetorical question: do visitors who signup before exploring the site have better long-term outcomes than those who explore first, then signup at a later date/time? If so, then I'd say the new design makes perfect sense as-is. If the data suggests otherwise, I might suggest funneling them directly to the experience/activity that best correlates to a positive long-term outcomes, and having the signup wall present once they try to add a review, photo, like, etc.

For anyone reading along, most of the people who frequent Equipboard are way more fun than me, and they don't speak in boring software/business jargon like this. I'm an oddball. Someone say something FUN, please! XD

After the year it sounds like you've had, I'm so happy to hear there's a new gig with less commuting in your future. Congrats!

Sounds like you'll have a bit more time each day to focus on music & health. I love that.

It's a nice improvement over the previous design. The big photo background lends some depth that allows the most important stuff to pop better.

I like the 3-prong value proposition, and the order in which they are currently placed. As a too-much-time-here person, this priority rings true.

My one crit would be that the only CTA above the scroll is asking me to sign up, before I've had a taste of what EB actually is. You get a nice sense of what makes EB special once you scroll down, but there's nothing in the design that indicates there is more below to scroll to (at least on 5k iMac and iPhone resolutions). I don't know if I've ever signed up for something, regardless of FB, Google, Twitter ID-integration, without first getting a really good sense of what I'm signing up for.

Regardless, congrats on the improvements!

Problem is, we have about 30,000 people per day on the site, and I think we could really improve the amount that actually do something meaningful on the site as opposed to just reading it...

Where do those 30k/day currently spend their time, generally speaking? What are the major patterns you're seeing?

I 100% understand if you need to keep those insights non-public... but it's something that's been on my mind since you posted this.

I look at profiles for John Frusciante, FINNEAS, Kevin Parker, Curt Cobain... and I wonder what it is everyone is looking at (or looking for) all day. Do people start at the gear and work their way down to an artist, or vice versa? Who are these 30k people?

et elle est belge en plus

Google Translate: and she is also Belgian

Really? I can't hear your Belgian accent at all. :)

Welcome, friend!

je veux gagner des IQ

Google Translate: I want to earn IQ

I can promise you that helping with this thread won't increase your actual intelligence at all... but I think you earned 9 GearIQ points just for posting. :)

Google Translate: Je peux vous promettre qu'aider avec ce fil n'augmentera pas du tout votre intelligence réelle ... mais je pense que vous avez gagné 9 points de QI d'équipement juste pour avoir posté.

vraiment trop triste

Google Translate: really too sad

Sad that Daft Punk broke up, or sad that we've been so focused on tracking down what gear they used 25 years ago?

Found a fun new article to enrich the thread & database:

http://www.daftpunk-anthology.com/dpa/mag-articles/keyboards-2001-03

Courtesy of Dan Carr's excellent Reverb Machine.

more importantly where di they get that cheesebruger?

It could have come from pretty much anywhere, apparently.

I have indeed seen this! And it is real, however, the title is very misleading, this isn't their studio, this is the Daft Arts/Daft Trax Office, where Busy P and Daft Punk's team spent most of their time. Here is a picture of Busy P in that exact office in 1999 and some video footage of the office can be seen in this music video from Cassius

Ah ha! I knew you'd know the inside story, Finley. Amazing, as always. :)

Thank you for clarifying that's more office than studio, I think that fact puts most of the gear spotted in said vid off-limits for logging to members of DP... but it's interesting none-the-less.

'blonde' in quotes?

EDIT: auntie looks strangely like a small power supply for a good 24v rails mixer from this angle but I doubt that's it

As good a guess as any for now. I'm pretty sure the "Auntie" name was added by the owner.

that's a blonde next to him....

Are we sure? ;)

EDIT: one of the images captions I saw claimed the person to his left was his spouse.

https://imgur.com/OfipRwJ

What the @#$% is this thing? (red arrow)

Full image here.

Credit: Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

I think most cats prefer Jaguars. The low friction "scratch plate" takes some getting used to tho.

Ha! Of course. :)

So just to come back to this, I found a thing.

https://vcvrack.com

Uh... I'm going to lose a lot of time to this. But it'll likely save me a lot of spending money on things I don't need, and allow me to refine my tastes, my technique, and figure things out in a musical manner.

So that's a thing!

Excellent! I'm all for not spending $3-$4k if you don't need to. Let us know how the virtual euro exploration goes. :)

for my buck I'm saying all macs are the same and its probably a 305 and a D1500, the 1500 has no resale even today.... we need some good photos, just 1 great shot to confirm the delay.... the PEQ forget it, they're identical unless you cna read the model#

I'll take what I can get. Someone out there has to have a photo somewhere they haven't bothered to digitize yet.

what's left in exhibit B? behringer PEQ??? and yamaha delay?

yep.

Macintosh:

-- Too many models, need more source info

Behringer Parametric EQ:

-- PEQ305 (circa 1989/90)

-- PEQ2000 (circa 1994/95)

Yamaha Digital Delay

-- D1500 rack (circa 1984)

-- D5000 rack (circa 1994)

-- DDS-20M pedal (circa 1988)

-- DD-100 pedal (circa 1996?)

that sounds almost believable but why would Kitsune be able tog et them into Daft Punk's space? I don't share keys with my neighbors!!!!

what's weird about Daft Punk's anonymity is everyone knows who theya re we just don't know precisely what they look like as adults.... maybe they're secretly lepers

Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo's younger brother Paul is/was on Kitsune, he's the "Play Paul" featured int he video, apparently... but IDK if I'd give my little bro keys to my office just for being my little bro, you know?

What do you mean we don't know what they look like as adults?

They lived in/near Hollywood for a good while in recent years, TMZ-types snapped pics all the time. I'm not going to debase this thread with tabloid photos, but plenty came up during my searches for studio photos.

I don't think its legit

well it doesn't have anything on my Exhibit B hit-list, regardless. I wanna cross those last 3 items off so bad.

EDIT: One of the hosts in the video, "Kocky", is going to some lengths to make it seem legit:

https://ng.se/artiklar/kocky

Google translation:

This spring, Kocky, aka David Åström, aka Soul Supreme, released the album Kingdom Came. The album features Jens Lekman, Mapei, Timbuktu, Hey Willpower and the French house producer Play Paul, among others. Since then, Kocky has played live, started a new album and ended up in disfavor with Daft Punk's lawyers. Kingdom Came took two years to record. Will the new record take the same amount of time? - No, this one goes faster because there will be fewer guest artists. It will hopefully be out next year. You coined the term rapclash. What is it? - Rapclash is a mixture of all kinds of music, but above all European dance music and American hip hop and RnB. I coined the word to appear to all rock journalists. If someone is going to put a label on one's music, it is best to do it yourself. And now all journalists are asking you to define the term instead. Is it tiring? - No or yes. Although I have to blame myself a little. What will happen when you play in Gothenburg in October? - I will bring with me Rosanna who is on the record and a motorcycle, Ozzoz. There may be a live guest. Jens Lekman maybe? - Yes, he was with me last time I was in Gothenburg. I might give him a signal. What really happened in Paris? - We would visit the record company Kitsune which has offices in the same premises as Daft Punk. We asked if we could film and it was quiet with them. But when we published the film on La Vida Locash's website, it went to hell. Daft Punk's lawyers called and were cursed. We filmed their masks and stuff and I guess they thought we sabotaged anonymity a bit. Are they still mad at you? - No, they probably are not. Only their lawyers in that case.

/ Sebastian Lundfall

that IS an ATC, where they actually are I have no idea.... I like when they flash the cheeseburger

yeah, Swedish TV is pretty loose, apparently... at least in the '00s.

EDIT: I bet Finley has seen this video. I wonder if he has any insights on what the hell it actually is?

What are the odds this is legitimately an office/studio space used by Daft Punk?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SxPaoFV5b0

There is a Studio Electronics ATC racked @ 1:24, whoever owns this space isn't messing around.

Let’s start with this. There’s a quick view of the 1998 rack at 4:25: https://youtu.be/13IwuRt2DbY

With English subtitles: https://youtu.be/61nlWiHa7ug

Thanks. yeah, my gut says rack mounted CD player and some other house-owned SR gear.

Let’s start with this. There’s a quick view of the 1998 rack at 4:25:

I keeps staring at this and its just a blur, there's something with 2 LCDs or 2 very bright VUs (more likely).... it occurs to me 2 LCDs could be a numark dual CD player for DJs, I would see thema round in the 90s at goth industrial nights where vinyl was not used anymore....

which video was eyesee referencing? the reply backlink for his post isn't working.

... I need one more unassisted Daft Punk sighting for a triple crown here....

Agreed.

The internet is still holding back on us. More photographic and journalistic evidence is out there. I can smell it.

One of the lurkers on this thread just has to have something juicy.

Come join the party, folks!

alright, logged the funkybox to Thomas

Anyone who wanted one of these for less than $200 is now officially SOL.

EDIT: those guyatone FX are really good and undervalued used

well, you're about to goose the value of one of them, by at least a smidge. ;)

ok, so not just me then

I've never had this issue before. Bit weird.

I get this all the time. It's not just you.

its blue, maybe a guyatone TDX delay???? or soemthing from that 'flip' series

EDIT: http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/guyatone/flip/fbx

could it be purple?????

weigh in, I think I have this

OMG. I think you've nailed it! That's gotta be it. Outstanding.

They probably ditched it in favour of a more simpler / easier to carry device? This video springs to mind where Thomas is using some sort of pedal to do all of the filtering https://youtu.be/hVN5dgIbZQY (Apologies about the obnoxious watermark haha)

Finley... I spent more minutes than I will ever admit to staring at the very fuzzy version of this video that I linked to in my Bangalter DJ-70mkii submission. I studied that blue FX pedal, in particular...fruitlessly... the fact that you have a crystal clear copy in your possession blows my mind. Maybe we can finally figure out what this pedal is now, thanks to you.

You, good sir, are a treasure.

but back to my point, I would think guys this clever wouldn't take a discontinued piece on the road

We're talking about the late '90s here, and the Mutator was discontinued in 2007 according to MusicRadar.

Daft Punk road gear that was already long discontinued by 1996:

• Linn Drum
• TR-909
• TR-808
• TB-303
• Juno 106
• Alesis MMT-8
• SP-1200
• And the era of MIDIMoog they used could potentially be one of the ones made from a salvaged board of an original MiniMoog

http://gph.is/28SGQbX (I kid, not trying to start nuthin')

Look, I'm a guitar player... in theory.

So are Michael and Giulio. So was I, in the 90s. There's no shame in it.

I'm still stuck on the Mutronics Mutator. It's really bugging me that one of the supposed key components of Daft Punk's sound was apparently never in any of their live rigs and never mentioned in any interviews?

Even Softube's official marketing namechecks Daft Punk, but there's not a single source I can find.

A Highly Regarded but Short-Lived Analog Filter

Mutronics Mutator, based on technology developed for analog synthesis in the 60s, was the go-to stereo analog filter and envelope follower for many of the bands and musicians who shaped the 90s sound, including Radiohead, The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Garbage, Beck, REM, Massive Attack, and Nine Inch Nails. Unfortunately, the Mutator abruptly disappeared from the market when a key component that gave it its unique sound was discontinuedand the designers couldn’t find a suitable alternative. After that, people could only find the Mutator on auction sites, often at highly inflated prices. But finally, a worthy alternative is here.

Why wouldn't they bring the Mutator with them on tour?

Sure it can be a bit unpredictable, but so can a MIDIMoog, a TB-303 and a lot of other stuff they lugged all over the world.

it seems like the site is so guitar-centric

Understatement of the year, lol... but if guitarists are the ones merrily clicking the Reverb and Amazon affiliate links these days, and not the Martin Garrix-ers of the EDM craze a few years ago, I can't blame EB for leaning into it. The pandemic has been great for MI sales on many fronts, but I suspect guitar and pedal makers saw the biggest gains.

I think knowing how people use their gear is something Equipboard could do better.

Agreed.

I’d say under Thomas Bangalter.

10-4. Logged it. I wasn't sure what the guidance was when someone was primarily part of a duo that is logged here as an artist, not a band. Just because there is a separate Bangalter profile here, doesn't mean that's how the EB folks want us to handle these things... but my gut was to just put it under Thomas, especially now that DP is no more. Thanks for confirming.

Here's a fun one to start your day: looks like Thomas used a Roland DJ-70 mkii for a few solo DJ gigs in the late '90s. I know these are grainy, but find me any other keyboard in the course of human history with a backlit LCD in that spot AND a big "scratch" platter on the right side of the keyboard.

• Image 1 is from this Facebook video
• Image 2 is from this video

Question: should this be logged under Daft Punk, or under Thomas Bangalter?

Image 2 shows that the "DJ-70" text on the body is orange, not white, making it a MK II

https://imgur.com/FzxoZkZ

https://imgur.com/qPaqHhX

Alright, here's a giant list of old Daft Punk interviews (with links) for your perusal. I just peeked at every one leading up to 2000 and I say, they went through a lot of different ideas for hiding their faces!

Consider me gobsmacked, Tom. YOU RULE!

Just cracking into this, but already there are some fun gems from days gone by.

Great find! Does the article mention the SE-1 specifically? That could just be something the graphics department whipped up from closest images they could find... this was a time before the internet was full of hundreds of images of each synth ever made.

Unfortunately, no.

I just noticed they also put a Jomox XBase09 drum machine in the corner of that collage. I've owned the XBase09, if you have a 909, which they did, you'd have no need for an XBase09... the XBase09 was just something you could still buy new then, that came close(ash) to what a 909 could do for less money... so I think they were just using the best images they could find with things that were sort of close to the DP sound.

Studio Electronics SE-1 sighted! Here's the lead from this article. The same graphic appears in this page from this article.

Great find! Does the article mention the SE-1 specifically? That could just be something the graphics department whipped up from closest images they could find... this was a time before the internet was full of hundreds of images of each synth ever made.