AlanRatcliffe
Good news for those who missed my effects workshop series last year. I will be hosting them again at Paul Bothner Music, in Cape Town this Saturday. There will be two workshops: Basic Effects and Advanced Effects, both on the same day at the same venue.
Venue: Paul Bothner Music Plumstead, Cape Town, South Africa
Date: Saturday 03 November
Times: Basic FX - 10AM, Advanced FX - 12PM
FenderBender
Are you able to host this again this year?
Riaan-Combrink
Graeme Parfett wrote:
Are you able to host this again this year?
Please. Pretty pleeeeaaaasssee ... ☹
AlanRatcliffe
I should be able to, but the question is whether Bothners want to do the same workshop again this year. The weather wasn't great last time and consequently the workshops weren't well attended. Your best bet would be to email Carel, the Plumstead manager (carelvATbothnerDOTcoDOTza) and ask him if they will repeat the workshop sometime. Probably either in October ("Rocktober") or November ("Guitar Month"). Who knows, if there's enough of a demand, maybe I can get them to pay me enough to cover the petrol costs this time ?
To be honest, I'm not sure I want to do the same thing yet again. What might be a good idea is to get someone like Native Instruments onboard and do a Guitar Rig workshop. Or do a mammoth question and answer session on electric guitars and just make shit up as I go along. Usually that's a bit problematic, as you run the risk of people staring at you blankly, waiting for someone else to ask the questions, but if I know there are going to be some enquiring minds in the audience, it should work.
In fact, with the latter I might be able to organise something with Gareth (Vintage Vibe to you folk) - get the two of us together and we can (and do) talk the hind legs off a donkey discussing guitars, amps, tone and effects.
NorioDS
If you DO do a workshop, how about somebody takes their handicam and a tripod and records it? We could then edit it and add it to our videos section and on YouTube or something with a link to Bothners? Maybe that will help convince them to pay you some buck$.
Riaan
What might be a good idea is to get someone like Native Instruments onboard and do a Guitar Rig workshop
Now that's a great idea, one that no doubt will have me walking out Bothners after the workshop clutching my brand new GR box...maybe they should give you a percentage of the GR sales Alan?
Manfred-Klose
Is it a crime if attend both of the work shops?
I'll be there.
AlanRatcliffe
Norio wrote:
If you DO do a workshop, how about somebody takes their handicam and a tripod and records it?
...but ...but ...I'm really very
shy (boy)! :-[
Riaan wrote:
maybe they should give you a percentage of the GR sales Alan?
Will work for hard/software!
Manfred Klose wrote:
Is it a crime if attend both of the work shops?
The ones from last year (which is how far this thread dates back!)? Might cause a paradox ...or the transperambulation of pseudo-cosmic antimatter ...or something. ?
FenderBender
Might cause a paradox ...or the transperambulation of pseudo-cosmic antimatter ...or something. Cheesy
Just don't forget NOT to discharge those flux capacitors!
Quote from: Norio on Today at 18:47:11
If you DO do a workshop, how about somebody takes their handicam and a tripod and records it?
Too late Alan, Ursh just said she would gladly cover the prestigious event both in video and stills ?
Renesongs
What might be a good idea is to get someone like Native Instruments onboard and do a Guitar Rig workshop.
That would definitely get my attention. I am probably biased here but I if you gave a demo on RK3 in stereo doing the panning between rigs with expression pedal I reckon it would put all the other multi effects unit to shame. Bothners would have to have a clearance sale to get rid of their GT-10's ?
AlanRatcliffe
Graeme Parfett wrote:
Just don't forget NOT to discharge those flux capacitors!
I'll ignore the double negative for now and just say it's fine as long as you divert more power from the shields to the containment field. BTW, don't tell me you're one of those guys who can also speak Klingon (to quote Monty P: "Run away! Run away!").
Too late Alan, Ursh just said she would gladly cover the prestigious event both in video and stills ?
Way to get me NOT to do it.
Renesongs wrote:
I am probably biased here but I if you gave a demo on RK3 in stereo doing the panning between rigs with expression pedal I reckon it would put all the other multi effects unit to shame. Bothners would have to have a clearance sale to get rid of their GT-10's ?
That might be true if the vast majority of guitarists were not scared of gigging with a laptop. We early adopters tend to be technophilic types. Anyway, the rate things are going, it'll only be a year or so until the GT-11 comes out and then the GT-10s will be on clearance ?
Renesongs
Anyway, the rate things are going, it'll only be a year or so until the GT-11
That does not sound like good news for GT-10 users ☹. I'm now even more happy that I jumped ship and went for software sim route.
FenderBender
In every consumer or industrial environment, software is rapidly replacing hardwired electronics as it is rapidly adaptable and cheaper for manufacturers to replicate. This is also evident in the musician's world when we consider being able to download firmware to upgrade effects processors etc and now the PC is being included with recording gear like NI's Guitar Rig or similar. Genuine discrete, separately housed electronic gear and pedals will become more costly as production slackens to make way for the PC based stuff.
Every hardwired pedal and effects processor can be synthesised and replicated faithfully using DSP software installed on a PC (traditionalists may not agree!) if written correctly and enough time and money is invested. Generally the top vendors are moving closer to PC powered recording and effects gear and this IMO is a wise move as a lot of the early software driven effects processors were poor knockoffs of original top quality hardwired gear, slapped together in some Eastern sweatshop and sold for whatever they could get.
My guess is there will always be a few traditionalists who prefer and can afford the discretely built gear.
As far as recording goes, all that is required is a decent (low noise, high resolution) external USB sound card, recording/effects software and enough hard drive space on your PC. After that the world is your effects oyster.
Renesongs
@ Graeme - In my case the software synthesisers and effects racks overtook in features and quality any hardware I could attain a couple of years ago I am now in the position that I do not want to use a different product live as as I use in the studio (duplication of learning and tweaking) so I take my laptop to gigs with me. Most of the musicians I come in to contact with express concern that the computer will freeze on stage to which I always respond a blown valve or broken jump lead is far more problematic to resolve and repair.
FenderBender
I fully agree with you on that RS. It is also important to manage your PC properly and ensure that unnecessary drivers and software are removed. IMO I would not use my PC for anything other than the music software, email and browsing GFSA ?
As a matter of interest, how many times has your PC crashed unexpectedly while you were using effects/recording software?
Riaan-Combrink
Although I use a hardware multiple FX unit (GT6) for guitar, I use a laptop for my backtracks (Cakewalk). Have used the same laptop with my present band, multiple nights a week, for 16 months. Before that, I played in a different duo for two years, two nights a week, and we used the same setup. In the almost four years of playing with a laptop, I've had two incidents. Once Cakewalk closed mid-song citing a "drop-out", and the other time my laptop failed to boot Windows before the gig due to a corrupt partition. In any-one's book I think that is a pretty good reliability ratio, and I think the anti-laptop thing (iro guitar effects) is a knee-jerk thing. I'm with Rene on this one - the proof is in the pudding.
I travel to big gigs (weddings, corporates) with a spare laptop. I, of course, take a spare microphone and guitar too, so that's par for the course and basic professionalism. As it is, I don't have a spare hardware FX-unit, so I'm in trouble there!!
I think the key is also in Graeme's input, ie it should be a dedicated music laptop. If you're clogging up your machine with a hundred uneccesary processes running in the background, internet spyware and trojans and goodness knows what else on it, you'll have problems. If you have enough RAM and a clean machine, you should be fine. I've ditched the idea of upgrading to another GT-whatever (based on discussions over the last weeks in this forum), and I'll definitely go the Guitar Rig (GR) route now. Suspect I may have to upgrade my laptop to run both my bactracks and GR effectively. I'm guessing, as I have never seen GR and don't know how resource/memory hungry it is. I'm about to embark on the pricing and investigating phase, and for one support the idea of a GR workshop (linked perhaps to a big GFSA / Bothners discount on the day ? ? ?).
We all know the hardware stuff is rock 'n roll in the mythical sense of the word, but the times they are a-changing. I find with age I'm becoming less rock 'n roll about guys putting beer on my speakers and smoking close to my stuff as it is!! I know a guitarist / songwriter who loves his collection of vintage amps and uses them in the studio (has two chart-topping albums to his credit), but hasn't used an amp on stage for a long time (using a hardware multiple FX he has tweaked to best resemble the amps he loves). The reason is purely practical; i.e. getting to and from gigs with the least amount of equipment. Look, I realise I'm speaking on behalf of guys playing the pub circuit/circus. We usually transport an entire PA, etc, and the more streamlined you can get it, the better. The same considerations may not apply in an original band where you are attempting to forge an unique sound based on how your guitar sounds through just the right amp with just the right hardware FX-chain. Hell, then you've probably got a roadie lugging around the stuff and that's cool. On the other circuit, to be honest, your finely honed sound is probably more important to you than the punter who's had nine Black Labels and is shouting for Cocaine, La Grange or Thunderstruck. As long as you've got distortion, any distortion, he's happy! ?
So different strokes for folks and horses for courses, I suppose. All I've realised is that I've read enough comments by experienced people who clearly know the respective merits and demerits of both GR and the hardware options to be convinced its a viable option for what I'm doing. It reminds me of the analogue vs digital debate to some extent. One can be either dogmatic or pragmatic or simply concede that both are options that have their own merits. I still know guys who will use their 15 year-old external sound modules until they fall apart and cannot be fixed, simply because soft synths are seen as some kind of cop-out. I suspect its more or less the same personality that will snigger at something like GR.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth. I would love to find out more about the practicalities of GR (hint hint ?).
Riaan C
Renesongs
As a matter of interest, how many times has your PC crashed unexpectedly while you were using effects/recording software?
My Laptop crashed twice on stage using Vista and never ever using XP I tend to dedicate my Laptop to music aps, portable recording studio and stage work - no games , no internet (unless there is load shedding), no teenagers. ( I do watch DVD's on the laptop in bed though)
AlanRatcliffe
I use XP exclusively and I use a custom install for my music PCs that strips out crap like Outlook Express. My laptop has nothing but Guitar Rig on it and my recording PC only has essential stuff installed. I don't think either have ever crashed.
FenderBender
IMO Microsoft still need to work on Vista a little. What I loathe about it is the system resources it chews. I only use XP and it serves me well.
Renesongs
Off the topic completely but Vista has been the end of my relationship with Micro$lop ( I do PC support to pay for my music habit) I was so pissed off with Visa that I wanted to wipe my ass with the installation disk, evidently I do not have a big enough ass hole so I put the disk in the microwave for a couple of seconds, it made pretty patterns on the disk, my daughter has stuck it on her bedroom wall.
