Musician's thread?

[RyaNtheSlayA]

The Korg DS-10 program for Nintendo DS was my introduction to synthesizers and is what I used to make the soundtrack to Unemployment Quest. It served as my introduction to the world of synths and I think it's a great way to get an idea of how synthesizers work without breaking the bank.

As far as hardware goes, I'd recommend the Korg R3. It's pretty affordable as far as synths go and it's REALLY versatile. The only downside is that the limited knobs/display makes it kind of inconvenient to work with unless you are also using the included software.
And obviously it also depends on what you're looking for (analog/digital) and how much money you have to spend!


I also started playing my diatonic accordion again. I love that thing but I'm still pretty shaky. But I've been practicing daily for a little over a month and am HOPING I stick with it FOR REAL this time!

It appears there's a Korg app for 3DS too so I'm going to probably dabble in that to see if it's something I really want to persue. That Korg R3 kinda strikes my fancy (at least my preconceived notion of what I would want out of a synth). I'm bookmarking a bunch of stuff on all these suggestions. Thanks guys!

Now sharing time. I sold that Spector bass a little while back, and I don't think I ever showed this guy to you all. Sorry for the really awful phone picture, I don't have good lighting in my room at night.

Warwick Corvette Standard. It was my grandpa's grad gift for me going out of highschool. Absolutely phenomenal bass.

[Nemoide]

It appears there's a Korg app for 3DS too so I'm going to probably dabble in that to see if it's something I really want to persue.

Dabble away, but be aware that Korg M01 for the 3DS is VERY DIFFERENT. I have the imported version for regular DS; it's more for sequencing with General MIDI sounds than anything else. It's still a great program, but it's not what most people think of when you're talking synthesizers.
But the really cool thing about the 3DS version is that it lets you output a MIDI file on the SD card, so you'd be able to export your work and play it on other devices!

[Luke]

Goofin'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD85O4jo ... e=youtu.be

Doesn't sound great, but it wasn't meant to. Goofed around and played a few of my favorite Sega tracks on the piano by ear.

As I told Blu, if you'd like an actual "professional" performance, no problem, but playing music by ear is a calming mechanism for me. Going off the cuff tickles my fancy so to say.

You name it, I should be able to play it.


edit* that noise isn't me breathing...it's the piano "breathing".

[Ziggy]

Any one else mess around with effects?

I finally got around to fixing up my two wah pedals. I have an older Crybaby GCB-95 that needed a little TLC, and a newer one that need some modifications reversed. The older pedal just needed to be cleaned up and have the pot replaced. But I took the opportunity to mess around a little and modify the newer one.





I've done various mods to the newer Crybaby (which is why I have two - to keep one stock as a comparison) and was never happy with any of them. So I decided to reverse all the mods back to stock. But I had a hole drilled in the case for a SPST switch that I used. I read that if you broke the connection of a certain cap it would turn the wah into a volume pedal. Well, it never worked quite right and was pretty useless, so I took it out. But what to do about the whole? I decided to put a DPDT switch in there to select between two different inductors (I used a red and yellow Fasel). In addition to that, there's a resistor that sits in parallel with the inductor, so I decided to replace it with a pot so I could sort of fine tune each inductor. It really payed off. These two simple additions give me a pretty good range of tone selection. I'm glad I went with a push DPDT switch instead of a slide or paddle switch, or rotary selector, because I can kick it with the side of my shoe. Works great to be able to switch them without having to bend down.

I also decided to swap out the stock inductor in my older Crybaby for a red Fasel. I was pretty surprised when the new red Fasel inductor came in the mail, it was a much different color red than my old red Fasel...



The newer one is much darker, almost maroon instead of red. Because of this color difference, I decided I wanted to test all my inductors on hand side by side. So I installed alligator clips in one wah pedal so I could swap them out fast. The maroon Fasel sounds MUCH different than any of my other inductors. It's more vocal, kinda "thicker," and it's almost like the range is shifted down slightly. Weird. So I used the maroon and yellow inductors to switch between in my modified wah, figuring that would give me the biggest difference.

[TSTR]

I modded my Boss MT-2 with a Monte Allums kit years ago. Makes it much more useful as an OD at low-gain settings, flattens the natural EQ curve of the pedal, yet still keeps the compression that gives it its character. It can still get super gainy-nasty if I want, too.

[Ziggy]

I'm put off modding Boss size stomp boxes because of how tight they are inside. With wahs, there's soooo much room inside to do whatever you want. With stomp boxes, you're really limited.

I recently got a Phase 90 that I'm thinking about modifying. I like the tone of the phaser a lot, I just really wish it had a depth control. I was thinking about building a wet/dry mix box to sit in parallel with it so I wouldn't have to bother tinkering with the Phase 90 itself, but it just seems stupid to clutter up my pedal board more than it already is. I was thinking about trying the "R28 mod" which seems to tame the effect a little. I even got a sweet little push SPST switch that'll fit nicely inside the box, and look OK ascetically. But I'm gonna test it out first with some alligator clips before I commit to drilling a hole in it.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Forgot about this thread.

I did end up buying Logic Pro X and I'm currently trying to pick the best MIDI keyboard controller for the money. I don't want to spend more than $300 or so for one. Thinking about the Novation Impulse 49 or an M-Audio Axiom 49.

[Ziggy]

I'm so pleased with the way that wah mod worked that I think I'm gonna build a new wah pedal. Basically, I think I'm gonna take the standard Crybaby circuit and replace all the "mod" resistors with pots. I think I'll again add an inductor switch, but I might use a rotary switch and use 3 different inductors (red and yellow Fasel and the replica Halo). I'm thinking I'll also use a rotary switch for the "sweep cap" and do something like 5 positions. I'm just undecided if I wanna build the circuit from scratch (it's not complicated) or use an old Crybaby PCB as a starting point. I just scored an old 80's Crybaby off eBay for cheap, which I'll use for this project.

Any one ever try and use a wah in the effects loop? With the GCB-95, specifically, it doesn't work too well. It goes from being too quiet in the heel down position to too loud in the toe down position. Also, the toe down position has such ear piercing highs that it's basically unusable. For years I've tried to find a solution, but on the rare chance I do find this question on a forum, every ones answer is "You're not suppose to use wah in the FX loop, it's designed for the input." Yes, but listen to Tom Morello live. It's such an awesome synth sounding wah sound. It's not practical for normal wah use, but it's a must for Morello type stuff.

So after doing some reading, I realized that it must be the input buffer that's the problem. So on my stock Crybaby, I bypassed the input buffer and tried it out in the effects loop. It works now. It still has the problem where heel down is quieter, but town down doesn't kill your ears. It's usable, just not perfect. I'm hoping that after I build the wah described above that I'll be able to put it in the effects loop and determine how to make it work better (I probably wont be able to get it perfect). After I fine tune it with the pots, I can read all the values then replace the resistors/caps in a dedicated effects loop wah.

/rant.

edit: I love when packages are waiting for you when you get home from work. My wah came in today. The eBay auction wasn't very details, just a typical "untested, dunno if it works," etc. Seller had a couple of pics, but no guts shot. I was able to tell from input jack nut that it was an older style without the PCB mounted jacks. I was correct.

IMG_20141002_200609.jpg

$25 (opening bid) plus shipping. It's not in too rough shape. It's missing the two rubber feet, and the switch feels pretty wonky. IDK if the pot is scratchy (haven't tested it yet) but I'm figuring I'll probably have to replace the switch and pot. Other than that, it looks like it's in decent shape. It just needs a little TLC. The rocker is a little rough, but I think it just needs to lubed.

[Ziggy]

I'm torn... What looks better?

So I really like the way the Phase 90 sounds, but I just can't stand having the fixed depth and/or wet/dry setting. I decided, I'm gonna add a wet level control knob. Problem is, the Phase 90 is a small pedal, so adding knobs to it isn't easy.

Here's the stock pedal:


Here's an example I found of some one adding a knob:


Here's an example of some one using a smaller knob than stock:


The Phase 90 is such an iconic looking pedal though, I feel like it's almost a sin to alter it's appearance. I was thinking about re-casing the pedal in something like this so that I can better position the control knobs. In fact, if I did the re-casing, I would do more than add one knob. I think I'd add two knobs and two switches for all the mods I wouldn't mind doing. There's a "feedback" resistor that takes the signal from the last phasing stage and throws it back in a loop. It makes for a more intense phase sound, but it can also distort a little. It's useful sometimes, but I think I'd keep it off most of the time. So a switch for it would be nice. Then I was reading, it might be interesting to kill the dry signal and get 100% wet (stock is 50/50) signal. Wouldn't be useful, but might be fun to mess around with. A switch for that would be neat. Then if I could find out how to control the depth of the effect with a pot I'd love to add that as well. But really, I'd be fine with just the wet level knob, everything else is just icing on the cake.

So what do you all think? Any opinions on aesthetics?

edit: For example, here's some dude's custom Phase 90...



If I re-cased mine, I could do something like that. But then it wouldn't be the iconic looking Phase 90 pedal. But for functionality, I'm kinda leaning toward re-casing it.

[TSTR]

Recase, that looks sick.