Random Gear Pic

[TRGuitar]

The forum has been slow. How about we post a Random Gear Pic!



OK My son insisted you have the option of a Random BEER Pic!



If you live somewhere where you can't get this kind of beer ....... we are sorry. Explanation? Ask our Canadian members.

[rparker]

ah, nice pics. Both of them. Friends of mine used to do the road trips up there for beer. They brought me back Brodeaur's (I know I'm butchering the spelling). Always enjoyed that and the Molson's from up there. It's been year's though. they could be all bad now.

So, back to guitars. Is that gold one your Art100? I was curious how you were getting along with that one still. I think I have to change yet another POT - the final one to go - and my input jack is acting flakey, but it could be due to other items.

[TRGuitar]

Yep, thats my Ibanez. Working fine for me. By the way, Brador was kick butt beer. Drank that in the parking lot to the Ottawa Civic Center before going in to see Deep Purple back in 1985. (Classic lineup Perfect Strangers tour)

[s1120]

Ahhhhhhhh spent many a weekend driving to Canada on a beer run back in the 80's!!!!!!! Back then it was the best thing going for "real" beer. I've movement on to mostly pale ales these days.... But drank a lot of Canada back then.....


Nice collection you got there also!

[rparker]

Meanwhile, dozens of none-Upstaters (past or present) are wondering why the Canadian beer runs. It was all about a much bolder taste for me. (That, and it was more potent) A treat a few times a year. I liked my gennys just fine. Didn't care for the almost home town favorite, Matt's.

Say, we used to get a case of Old Vienna's every now and then. Tall, skinny 7-1/2 oz bottles.

I'm like Paul. Well, used to be and hope to be again. I'm all about the Ale thing. If you ever get down to the carolinas, Carolina Pale Ale is one to try.

So TR, back to the guitar thing. Did yours do any shade shifting, colorwise? I think mine might have lost a bit of it's white. not a biggie, but i don't see the gold one very often and was wondering if yours was chaning or not.

That, and I get to replace another POT this week or next. I know, I should have changed it when I did the other two.

[cnev]

Wow Terry I can't beleive you remember what beer you drank before a concert in 1985 unless that was your "go-to" concert beer.

[TRGuitar]

Roy, no color difference I can see. With the gold though I suppose it would be hard to tell. My pots seem fine so far. I do actually play it from time to time. Here is it in a video we did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXV3Hnd7Z2I

Chris, I remember because Brador was strong stuff back then. I only had it a couple of times and that was the first time I tried it so I remembered. In Ontario you have to buy beer at the beer store. You place an order at the counter and the case comes rolling out on this conveyor thing. It is different. Wanna see?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWzdOKCb-Gw

[boxboy]

Back to the beer...

TR/TF,
If you're sightseeing/concert going in Ontario in the near future and want to sample a great ale:

Red Cap Ale brewed by Brick out of Kitchener, ON. Discount priced and for my money, the best beer outside of the micros.

[TRGuitar]

We will have to try that! The boy needs to get his enhanced license yet though so he can go across the border. Haven't been to Toronto in 5 or 6 years, we are overdue!

[Chris C]

Great pics TR. Always good to see more gear, and who can dislike beer pics?


Here's my contribution. I've gone for the combo gear/beer double.

Among the stuff on the right is my Christmas present to myself - an Mbox 3 Pro interface. The orange Eleven rack behind will be used as a stand-alone effects processor for now, while I put in the time to learn how to use it properly. Seems that I buy gear (and beer) faster than I do the necessary homework...

The MBox came with Pro Tools 10 so I've got PT 10 on my homework list too. The second screen had been pensioned off a couple of years ago so it seemed like a good excuse to drag it out and put the editing window on one screen and the mixer on the other. Of course it wouldn't work when I tried to fire it up. Stone dead. So I took it apart, waggled some wires and sternly told it that if it didn't behave I'd do some serious experimental maintenance on it, which would almost certainly culminate in a trip to the tip. It's worked fine ever since.



Lit up (the screens - not me. At least until I've downed a few more of the Guinness...). The track on the screen are actually Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, downloaded from a remix contest somewhere.



Happy New Gear-Year to all.

Cheers,

Chris

[TRGuitar]

Now thats what I'm talking about! Nice gear! I love the seperate screens. Very professional. My boy has a soft spot for Guiness as well. Actually, I think he never met a beer he didn't like.

[rparker]

Nice job with the dual screens. I wish I had the room. PT is certainly a real estate hog.

So, what atre your thoughts going from PT8LE to PT10? My first was the 10, so I don't have anything to compare it to when asked about how the upgrade is.

[Chris C]

So, what atre your thoughts going from PT8LE to PT10? My first was the 10, so I don't have anything to compare it to when asked about how the upgrade is.

To be honest Roy, I wasn't deeply enough into PT8LE to be able to describe the difference without cheating and looking at a comparison table. There's no obvious on-screen cosmetic change. I think that you get a little more of more of this, a bit faster that, and a few more obscure bells and whistles in the corners I haven't explored yet. It does seem to use a bit more memory though.

The main difference to me is that there was a major change of authentication approach. 8LE would only run if the Eleven rack was connected and turned on. whereas this version uses an ILOK USB key. So I now have it installed on my downstairs computer as well. I'm unlikely to record down here, but it's really handy to fire it up and work through tutorials and exercises. There weren't any 'must have' features for me but as it came bundled with the MBox it made sense to switch up.

My friend who gives me tips and lessons on all things musical also has Pro Tools in his studio so it makes sense for me to learn it too. He's been demonstrating how to use 'shelving', 'compression' etc to improve the sound and it really is impressive what you can do. I'm looking forward to slowly working through it this year.

The new setup also avoids a small glitch with the Eleven rack where it would occasionally drop the sound through the USB cable if it was standing by for a while. Not sure what the cause was, but it doesn't do it when operating as an effects box rather than an audio interface. So I'll probably mostly use it as an effects processor now. I'm still only in the early stages of learning the full potential of that thing too....

I must say that I'm really enjoying learning how to run a reasonable DAW. It can be very complex, but the basics don't take too long to get working. I've now broadened the range of things that I'm either completely crap at - or at best mediocre - so there's a lot of learning and practice ahead before I can turn out a half way decent multi-track recording that I could play to anybody who's not a close friend or relative! But it's a totally absorbing hobby.

How are your own explorations going?

Cheers,

Chris

[rparker]

My explorations are going very well. I have to save eveything (set up, not audio files) just because I cannot remember how I got something working or how I did thing "A" while hearing thing "B" or that kind of thing.

I did buy the Virtual Instrument expansion pack. In a word: Wow.
OK, so many words. It comes with Strike (drum kit), Transfuser (audio sampling and beat management), Structure (Little of everything, and more), Velvet (electronic key boards and pianos) and Hybrid (a synth). Strike and Transfuser steal the show.

Strike is as impressive of a virtual drum kit as it is complicated. It sounds great and can be played and managed under a few different variety of settings. I'm not very good with it yet, but I've done a few good drum tracks even with my limited understanding of it.

Transfuser is a huge audio sampler and loop monster that does everything for you by default and whatever you want to do if you feel so inclined. Techno, hipity-hop, urban and world beats and instruments and all of tht jazz isn't everyone's bag, but it's sure fun as heck to mess with. I've got many hows invested into it just messing around.

Structure does everything. If you were a guitarist who was allowed one V.I. and needed some occasional drum, bass, pan-flute, synth, horns or whatever, this would be the one to keep. it's done everything I've asked so far and it's done it well.

I've done nothing in Velvet nor Hybrid yet. Too much to learn, forget, re-learn, re-forget, etc, etc.

I'm also trying to continue my panning and mixing efforts as well as trying to grasp what is happening in the Mastering process. All this while keeping up with the guitar and the new challenges I keep pushing myself into. Baby steps. Grown-up big walls. This whole panning stereo guitar tracks can get tricky. Well, that's an understatement. They are tricky.

As far as the rest of my digital project studio goes, I got a Resonator, I got my BBE Sonic Stomp hooked up to the 11R and I now have a Sans Amp Para Driver DI from Tech 21. It can handle bass and acoustic signals. It gave me the final piece of the using the 11R "live" in the office with my son and my friend on occasion.

After all of this, I need to be a really good boy for about 84 years. I went WAYYYYYY over budget. It's worth it so far. The theraputic value alone can't be assigned a price tag. It's very fair to say, though, that I'm probably going to have to nip all of this in the bud and not get anything in 2012 other than strings.

....and maybe a MIDI controller. Birthday 5 months away.

[CitiZenNoir]

I took this the very night this post was started.... Just now able to share it.
Had the same idea as you, Chris - The Beer and Gear shot.... Seems we both favor the Black Stuff
The other one is a Wisconsin brew: Leinenkugel's http://leinie.com/home.htm. Great stuff!
My favorite is the 1888 Bock.

Yes, it does look like I have horns.... Interesting, considering that I've been thinking of naming my latest band:
Cloven Foot

Ken