Squeeky bum time tomorrow

 

So tomorrow is our 1st Gadgeteers gig...we probably picked the worst possible time to do this, because its a long weekend here in the Catholic south where they've been celebrating Ascension day on Thursday so it turns into a 4 day break..
Nice, but it means a lot of our friends and colleagues who would come to our gig won't be around... but no matter there will be a few people and it is a gig so we'll get the experience of a full live set... :D

In preparation I've been setting up my pedals ....
Time for some gear pics....in case you've not been following my ongoing problems with Gear Acquisition Syndrome.... heres my lovely rig.

I spent the other morning rejigging my "gig" box to make a bit more space and use the new Goliath Powerplant and here's the final result. I was able to fit a few more things into the box...course I need to build even more muscles to haul it around cos its freaking heavy, but the upside is can set up in 2 mins, just remove the lid and plug into a PA and I'm off.

Purists might want to argue points about tone and sucking etc but bear in mind this is what I use in my bands where I need to wear several hats, as backing singer, keyboard/string/fx filler, as well as lead or Rhythm Guitar are needed so I have to have flexibility and like to keep it all in one spot.

The size of the rig is kinda dictated by the two massive pedals at the front an RC-300 looper (wonderful thing) and the GR-55 Synth. My main guitar sounds come from the Adrenalinn III box  on the top row, which  emulates a host of different amps and cabs as does the COSM modelling in the GR-55 so I can pretty much get any sound I want.... At home I just use a Tube Screamer into a Fender Champ 800..but band work has different requirements

The Adrenalinn can be further controlled and turned in to a pretty cool synth on its own with my FCB1010 midi control board, not shown here... I usually only set that  up for live playing or video recording. But for most of the time it just pretends to be a Fender Deluxe or a Marshal Plexi..I don't know how accurate it is, I just know I like the sound.

The Digitech pedal gives me various Wah and distortions and is a cool Lead/Loud Pedal when I need it.

Vocals...I am a shit singer, so I process the hell out of my voice.. the 2 TC Helicon pedals in the middle give me fx as well as pitch correction so I can do robots. harmonics, megaphones, vox, etc....then then go into the big TC Helicon Voicelive 2 box when I need to sing straight but with a bit of reverb and pitch checking to make it sound reasonable.

Under the deck is of course the power.. The Wah pedal and the GR-55 need a bit more power than even the Goliath can manage so they get their own power supply, but everything else is run by the Goliath which is a meaty and pricey bit of kit.
I like this Goliath but am a bit worried by the heat it generates, I blew up a much cheaper unit I bought previously and would hate for this one to blow as well, even though I'm within its output limits, the RC, VL2 and ADIII do draw a lot of power close to the 450ma limits, so it gets hot. I am going to attach a CPU heat sink to the top of it with some Thermal tape to help it shed heat a bit better and reduce my paranoia..If I can work out how to fit a fan too I'll keep better..

There's also a mic receiver unit for my wireless mic, and an In Ear monitor transmitter, which  is fed by the RC-300, which is where all the different outputs go into for output to the PA or when recording, the USB. That's only used when I am playing by myself otherwise I take a monitor feed from the desk.

The RC-300  can configure all its switches and pedals to different thing, it also has a very nice drum machine in it (so does the Adrenalinn) my template configuration for it, is to have the foot pedal set from 50%-100% input gain so it acts as a solo button. The loop fx button is a mic on/off switch, I sometimes split the mix input to a small mixer so I can loop instruments while singing. The Voice Live 2, also does some very cool funky harmonies and distortion fx so it can create some amazing tones even from my crappy vocals...

 

Anyone with more than a couple of pedals knows the wiring and patch cable maintenance is a pain, so keeping things in one box is my solution to it.. I'm still not happy though,  I've used the shortest patch cables I can, but I still plan to make my own cables to exact fit sizes. Also some of the power cables are a bit long, so I am hunting for shorter versions.

The only other thing I am planning to add is a Beat Buddy drum pedal which is due to ship in July..not quite sure where it will fit...but I will work it out.

It looks more complex than it is, but it turns heads when I set it up.

Finally its all driven by 1 guitar, usually Margaret, my Patrick Eggle Berlin Stage T with a GK3 fitted, but I also use a  backup Fender Strat with a GK-2 fitted, called Penny

Once the gig is out of the way, I have yet another gig to get ready for, the next Starrcase Gradation  event is coming up in about a month, I need to check the date but its been a hectic few weeks with double rehearsals for Gadgeteers as well as Starrcase gearing up to gig mode....

Both bands are getting better every time we play...so its exiting stuff..

Not had a lot of time recently to do any videos but have been hearing a lot of great songs that I want to do loop covers off, so will try to fit something in when there's a quiet spot.

Ahthankyew

5 more sleeps

counting down the days to the Gadgeteers 1st proper gig...we did a small spot at THE birthday party :) but this will be our first ever proper on stage gig. on Saturday 31st...we're shitting bricks over it... Only 2 more rehearsals to go

I'm hoping to grab some video and sound bytes on the night, lets hope it all goes to plan...we've been preparing for this for nearly 3 years now since the 1st Expats jam sessions started. We've come a long way, though still playing some of the same songs.......I am tempted to say badly but we have got better...Especially in the last weeks with the focus of a gig on our minds.

If anyone local is reading this, please come along and show us some support, we're at Sound Dog, the address is Oude Baan 8,  and were starting things off at 7-30.



Ahthankyew

Paid GIG!!

I am now officially a gigging musician, 100 euros divided by 7 ;)

heheh, its feels good.

Out Saturday gig though was a lot of fun, we had the audience bopping but it did highlight a major problem we have playing live... We have no clue how to mix the sound.

As a result, the recording we made direct from the mixer was dire. Just incredibly bad. With 2 members totally dominating the mix.... Fortunately the audience probably didn't have to worry about it, since they would have got a lot of the monitor mix as well which was quite loud...so they at least heard something better than we mixed...and we got paid so it couldn't have been too bad.


I'm researching solutions to this live mixing issue and thing I've found the answer...as always not a cheap solution but worth it, and as long as I can get use out of it for myself I'll invest in it.

http://www.mackie.com/products/dlseries/

cool gadget, will need to sell a few other mixer toys to pay for it.



Ahthankyew

All set up and sweet

Here we are, the new board layout..though I did switch the 2 VoiceTone pedals around after this was taken. Cables are still a teeny bit messy, but I can't really afford to go buying custom lengths.

Underneath the tier, is also a mess, with 2 long power strips, 1x 3pin UK and 1x 2pin Euro with 7 individual power units to power everything. I plan to replace almost all of those those with a single mega power unit in the summer when my tax rebate comes through.

Still heavy, still needs wheels to lug around but I'm pleased with it. Wait till you see the 2nd and 3rd board I can attach to it :D

2nd board has my other GR30 synth, and its UX-20 switch to control it, its not complete yet as it will also have my Beat Buddy Drum machine when it arrives in July, just to give a bit more flexibility. I've had a few test plays and its so cool to have looped arpeggios while you play other things and not have to worry about loop timings.

The 3rd board is my good old mobile board from the old Layout, it can route a shared guitar signal via the UX-20 through the GR30..I probably won't use it but its there if I want to.

oh and then there is the FCB1010...to control the Adrenalinn III, its not essential to use but it is easier....hmmm my floor space might be getting eaten up again :)

Do I have a problem?

Ahthankyew

Bit of a tech update

So my Pedalboard...is lovely despite a little running repair that was needed last week when a hinge rivet popped. But I need to make a few small changes to it to get a bit more flexibility out of its use at home as well as for live work (I sound like a real musician now don't I...wish I played like it).

Mainly its to help my solo looping, one of the issues with it is that I can't sing and play and loop and record only the playing, which is something you need to do, I have the ability to switch off the mic and not loop the vocals but the down side is that I then don't get the vocals coming out the speakers...not ideal... so I needed something to let me switch of the vocals in the loop but then send it to  another channel..

Since I was taking my source audio from the looper that was kind of a dead end, so a small re-arrangement is needed, the output needs to go to a mixer...I do have one but its a big one and I wanted something I could hide in the case.....
So here it is.

Small enough to fit in my case (more weight :() and just enough channels to handle the output from the looper, then a split signal from the mic which will also go to the looper but splitting it should mean when I mute it on the looper it still comes out to the mixer, leaving 2 channels spare for my other synth which I hope to use simultaneously but as atmosphere so not usually for looping..well that's the plan

I'll be setting it up this week and also resetting my wah pedal since its stuck in switch mode.
Some new patch cables to tidy things up will be a nice touch but not too essential just now.
Lastly I plan to add a new and mega power unit to it, the last one I fitted was too light and died a quick death so am saving up for a new heavy duty kit..


Oh and I need to invest in a barrow....to haul the beast around :)

Ahthankyew

False economy

Another 20 euros spent, on top of the 40 euros last month.....I'm talking about my old bike, its kinda falling apart these days, but I can't really bring myself to get rid of it.

I had to get a quite big repair done last month when I got an elastic holding strap caught in the gears and totally buggered it up.

But when I collected t, it had a few spokes loose......hmm that was the 2nd time I have been to that repair shop and on collecting have discovered a few spokes loose.....hmmmmm, saying nothing at this point, of course the spokes broke and I needed to get them replaced...but I went to a different place down at the station, they charge a bit more but are 100% reliable.

My old bike has almost certainly cost me more in repairs than it did to buy, or indeed replace, but its my old bike and I can't imagine having another...so I'll hang on to it for now, even if its a false economy.

At least with the spring heading into summer in a wonderful way, I can cycle to work a few times and save the expense of the car.....not such false economy after all.


Ahthankyew

Look, there really are no gods...deal with it.

Its no secret I'm an Atheist, despite being raised in a nominally catholic family and going to the mandatory catholic schools, I realised in my teens that religion was piffle and walked away from it with no regrets whatsoever.

As I've gotton older I've come into contact more and more with like minded people but also many serious religious people, most of whom I don't talk about their faith with....what would be the point?

Social media though exposes you to a much wider range of viewpoints other than your own, it also gives people a degree of courage to speak up in support of their beliefs...anonymity can hide a lot of cowardice and stupidity

More and more I am seeing the rise of religion taking an active stand in FB, Twitter, Youtube and other places...arguing their pretty incredibly stances, 6000yo earth, geocentrism, prophets and apostles, sins wiped clean for small fees and so on and on and on.

I try, I really do try not to get into arguments with these people, I mean what is the point?
They are trolling, but the problem is that if you don't stand up to something that you know is wrong, you're allowing it to happen, and exposing someone else to it.... and so the madness spreads.

Religion is wrong, frankly it is the real evil in the world today, All of them, even things you might not consider religion, where faith in something is used to place your moral superiority on a pedestal for all to see, are evil.

There are no gods, there is no supernatural realm, our place on earth and our position in the universe might seem hard to understand and it probably has no real meaning beyond continuation of our species but accepting, or rather proving that fact with the simplest of empirical observation, gives an understanding of the world that god botherers simply don't want to accept.

We're a fucked up aggressive species of naked apes doing our very best to fuck over each other in an effort to live as long as possible, fucking up as many lives as we can in the process so we don't get fucked before we die.

If we could actually step back and see that we and not our gods are doing this...we might actually fix the world and our own attitude to it.

There are no gods....life really could be better without them...if you simple stop believing in nonsense and deal with fixing the reality so we can leave a better place when we die....end of.





Ahthankyew

having a tidy up

As much as I want to do some guitar playing and coding....in that order, the attic is in dire need of a clean up...I amass junk like no one I know...if its not been getting used these last 3 years, then it isn't needed, (guitars and toys aside) time to throw it out without hesitation.

2 big bangs full of old papers and crap from past lives ready to kick out.

2nd cold has fortunately not been as bad as the 1st, got some decent cough meds and lemsip style things from the local Kruidvat (bit like boots) and have been ok.

Our hopes to play at a wedding gig in August took a dive when the bride and groom decided we were too expensive at the extreme cost of, you supply the PA.....so we were a bit disheartened among the Gadgeteers this week, until I decided, to get us a gig.

If all goes to plan we will be playing a show case gig of our set to friends ,family and if we're lucky local pub bookers who may want to take us on for some proper paying gigs... We're never going to get out of the rehearsal rooms despite our marked improvement if we don't actually get up and risk a few bad gigs till we polish our act.

So mark your diaries... May 31st..subject to the venue not getting booked for a paid event. The mighty Gadgeteers will be doing their thing


https://www.facebook.com/events/237312999804481/
Ahthankyew

Another cold!!

This really isn't fair....while still dealing with the tail end of a 2 week cough from the last cold...I go out with friends for dinner on Friday night and start sneezing like a sick old man...sure enough next morning ANOTHER fucking cold is in full runny nose mode on top of the old chest infection... This is so not funny.

Spring here has been lovely, with warm sunshine and blue skies most of March, but have I had much chance to enjoy it...no I fucking haven't.

So miserable, can't be arsed to do any coding, music, videos or much else...just trying to keep my mind focused on work related stuff and try not to miss any more time.
And my massive stocks of strong UK cold meds have all gone, used up on the last assault.....
Study week this week, I don't usually have a lot to do, so I can catch up on paperwork and prep for the last block....suspect I'll be shoving tissue up my nose and apologising for the coughs, sneezes and general nasty ooze coming out of me.

bahhhhhh...


Ahthankyew

Sad news to hear the passing of Jenny Trotter

I heard today some very sad news. the lovely Jenny Trotter who with her husband Chris run the Creative Vacances guitar weeks in Bercloux France, where I have spent 2 very happy and fun filled holidays, has passed away after a short illness.

Really a shock, I was chatting with her on facebook only a few weeks ago, upset that my fixed holidays would not allow me to come down to spend another week this year. I had resigned myself to next year..

Next year might still happen, but I won't get the chance to see Jenny's happy enthusiastic face as she fusses over her guests and provides moral encouragement to the unconnected pickers and strummers, who will become friends over the week during their musical journey.

Very sad news..my condolences to Chis, her husband, and her daughter Alice. I hope the fun and joy of your lovely business will continue and grow in her memory.



Ahthankyew

hooomaan again almost

Aside from a cough which I am happy to say is now a nice productive phlegmy cough and not the dry heaving get a bit of spit out of your lungs cough I've had for a few days and nights. Also I got a good 8 hours sleep, on the couch, so as not to drive Brenda mad.

I feel a lot better today. Still not at the office though but hoping I'll get there tomorrow as I have a presentation to give

I am quite convinced that each time I get one of these colds they seem to be more debilitating and harder to shake, is this an age thing or are the colds mutating into hardier versions. I don't know, but this one has been nearly 2 weeks, ruined a holiday break and cost me 3 sick days.

might venture out to the shops in a bit. Get some vicks...apparently if you rub it on your feet and then put your socks and shoes on it stops a cough......not sure that's actually true, but am willing to give it a go.


Ahthankyew

1st sickie in a while

Wasn't up to going to work this morning, had about 1 hour sleep between coughs...might need to take another day...man this is the worst cold I've had. And all of it during some of the warmest weather on record here in Netherlands.



Ahthankyew

Well that wasn't much fun

The spring carnival holiday has been amazing, wonderful warm sunshine every day, lots of parties going on everywhere, people sat out in the gardens with wine...except for me... All bloody week I've had this stinking horrible cold, the last two nights I've barely slept as I deal with coughing fits that won't stop...

grrr.. I had some nice plans for this week...just as well I work in education, there's more hols soon.



Ahthankyew

Holiday cold

We're on Holiday
I have a cold
Miserable


Wanted to do a load of work on my retro and PS4  projects but have been feeling crap all week so done almost nothing....grr

almost out of Lemsips too...the week could not get any worse.


...ah theres still time...it could get much worse.

Ahthankyew

1,000,000 post on TCE

 A small personal landmark

I got the millionth post on The ChaosEngine, an industry only forum I have been on since it started..

 

quite pleased with that

 

 

Ahthankyew

New Guitar?

Nearly, got Margaret back from Dijkmans music after she had a service...wow, what a difference, no more buzzy notes on the E string

I've been noodling on her all evening and the difference is amazing. Will try her out on the Roland tomorrow to see if I get less misfires now that I don't have rogue harmonics firing off at random times.

ermm, that's I...not much else happing. Coding, and playing

off to bed.



Ahthankyew

Slow Month 86.6kg

Not been a lot happening this month to blog about, sorry about that, weight loss is slow but there is loss, a few other not very interesting issues...

Loving my new iPhone 5c but when all said an done its just a phone

Have had some absolutely great rehearsals with both bands and a serious sense of achievement in my playing, but not had much time for any vids of new songs.

Took Margaret to  Dijkmans Music for some set up as she's been getting more and more buzzy which affects the midi pickup sometimes. they called tonight at 8-30 to say it was ready..that's good service. I'll collect her in the morning.

Work wise there's a few changes in the pipeline which will be sad, but I'll report them later.

Have finally developed enough muscles to take my mega case up and down stairs by myself...very very slowly I need to add. I also took delivery of a few new gadgets earlier in the month, I suspect my gadget addiction is as severe as my GAS was at one point, but when you hear 2 guitar synths being controlled by 1 guitar, its well worth it.

I got a UX-20 control splitter and a really cheap GR-30 synth that lets me do arrpegiated chords/notes while still playing 3 instruments and a guitar at the same time, its awesome, but I do need to do a bit of learning/practice to get the best of it....job for next week.
That's because its Carnival week next week, traditional south Netherlands crazy time..., so I get a nice rest for a week so long as I say out of the town centre, and will certainly do a video, got a few
numbers I'm working on that might go down well in a loop version.

That's also why I took Margaret to the shop, to tighten up the tracking.
I did experiment with putting a GK-2 midi pickup on an Ovation acoustic and it works...okish but not as well as I hoped and tbh I'm not mad keen on the Ovation, but somehow just didn't want to put it to my lovely Breedlove, it spoils the look...hmmm I think it's best I just use my spare midi pickups on a couple of my normal electrics as backup guitars of for a particular sound.

We are doing Sex on Fire as one of our songs in Starrcase and despite the synth providing most of the sound on the riff, my band members seem to feel that Libby sounds better for it..so I might as well fit a GK-2 to Libby and one of my strats. That should cover all the bases.


Oh well that's it...like I say...slow month. Lets see if March has a bit more life in it.



Ahthankyew

89.9...its slow but its steady

Well I had to eat a bit more, probably caused by the dog running me ragged, but in a good way. I don't know who was more puggled after our walk to Masbos, the local wooded area for dog walkers..Harvey, Brenda or me, well actually I do. Me.


Harvey's already starting to look a bit sleeker, and cuter as if that was possible.

No vids, been busy with marking and Harvey, but will be restarting soon. Marking is almost over and I get a reasonably quiet block this block...2 days work at home, so I can catch up on all the admin in peace and quiet in the office and do some much needed programming on PhyreEngine and Unity which I need to get up to speed on.

Speaking of programming I'm also delving into some retro stuff in my own time, its incredibly fun and takes me back 20 years.. I'm messing about with a project on Colecovision, an old early 80's console. Its amazing how primitive it is good old Z80 assembler, but I've take to it like an old duck back to water...In fact if anything I am finding it much easer than I did back then, perhaps I have learned a few things since then :D



Ahthankyew

Guess who's coming to dinner and lunch and breakfast...for the rest of his life :D

 

 

 

Harvey has come home, Bina indicate she couldn't look after him properly and was going to give him away, but I simply could not allow that. Harvey has been with us since he was a few weeks old, and I've been there with him since then, teaching him how to sit, beg, stay and so on..though we never managed "lie down"...he just blinks when I say that. So he's as much my dog as he was hers and I couldn't bear the idea of strangers having him.

 

Well he's back with me now, back home and after a bath looking all happy and smelling fresh.

 

Brenda wasn't too sure at 1st but within minutes of meeting him she's smitten... I wish I could make someone love me that quick :D

 

Oh well who needs lie ins....early morning and late night walks will help with he weight I suppose.

 

 

 

 

 



Ahthankyew

Oh god that's just wrong

I was singing a song in the shower...it sounded good,.
I was singing same song into my mic accompanied by some wicked guitar playing..it sounded good..

I played back the recording..
.
.
.
I can't sing.

I mean, I really can't sing.

guitar was good though.

How come I can sing some things pretty well..but some things  I think I sound good on are just diabolical. And no I won't be posting the working copies....


Ahthankyew