AndyB01

I wish I'd had access to resources I have now when I was younger. I still feel creative - even at the ripe old age of 59!

I guess it feels harder to be original the older you get, I put down a riff and then think I've definitely heard that before - turns out I have.

Lyrics wise, I think I am a much better lyricist now than in my youth - more to draw on I guess - life experience gives you that at least.

Great question though.

Andy

Fabulous skills - I could listen to this stuff all day.

Andy

Best show on UK TV currently (disclaimer: I do love me some fishing) 🎣

Great stuff - killer tune, lyrics and bang on message

All round brilliant - as always

Andy

Very clever and very well done - I am suitably impressed.

Andy

That is one sweet vocal, I didn't find the bass line too busy - the lead guitar I enjoyed, but maybe there's scope for something more or a little different? I'm not quite sure what, perhaps played on a nylon strung might be the right vibe... 🤔

My minor crits and ramblings aside, another great job.

Andy

Great job! 👍👍

Andy

Your lyrics paint some interesting images John, a lot of craft in there. One minor crit: drums perhaps a little busy in places, but appreciate this is very much a matter of taste.

Thanks for the listen

Andy

Peter, I really enjoyed that - it's right up there with some of your best work for sure. Hope you're all recovered from Covid, I think we're all going to cop for a dose eventually - vaccinated or otherwise.

Thanks for ten minutes of blissful musical respite from an otherwise mad World. Great work!

Andy

9 hours ago, KurtS said:

 My wife would probably like the silent version when I play a lead part 100 times trying to get a good recording!

Ha, many a true word spoken in jest Kurt, Mrs AndyB01 is a big fan of the 'silent' feature - her favourite line, as I am practising Horizons for the umpteenth time trying to perfect those fast runs and harmonics or get a single-take recording:

Quote

'don't you know how to play anything else?' 

Andy

😂😂

Nice work Kurt, very enjoyable listen. I agree with David about Yamaha instruments. I bought a SLG200-N a while back - in the shop I was comparing it with guitars at four or even five times the Yamaha's price point and it still more than held its own. 

Appreciate the SLG guitars are a bit niche, but they are very playable, have a good blend of amplified and modelled sound and record well.

I really should get mine out of the case a bit more often. 🙂

Andy

Very fluent Mark - very impressive work - never apologise for the squeaks, they're as much a part of the performance as the notes. 😉

Loved it. 

Andy

Very classy Mark, truly terrific work and a great listen. I hate elevators but I might ride one if it was playing this. 😉

Andy

Treesha, this is fab-u-lous - wow - the vocals just blew me away. Yes I also get the Kate Bush/ Peter Gabriel vibe and just a hint of Pet Shop Boys.

Really haunting but mesmerising stuff and some really interesting chord progressions in there too.

I loved it - well done.

Andy

Lovely song and very well performed (great harmonies). I wonder if that guitar solo should have just a little more drive - rather than being a completely clean sound - not a crit, more of musing. Loved it overall, top work as always.

Andy

Some more and the final word on this from Focusrite:

Alejandro Flores (Focusrite )

9 Aug 2021, 18:57 BST

Hello Andrew.

Thank you for the update. We are glad to hear that the beta driver is working for you.

The beta driver works for all Focusrite USB interfaces. It was made to improve performance with USB devices before it is moved to the main release. We thank you for testing it for us.

Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Best Regards,

Alejandro Flores // Focusrite Technical Support Engineer

@Syphus certainly sounds related, I definitely had that issue too but I was also getting a BSOD  when connected via USB 2.0. 

Touch wood, new driver will resolve it.

Hi John, the Scarlett 2i4 is USB powered, no external power supply. The laptop goes haywire if I accidentally connect via USB.3.0 instead of USB2.0 - no idea why. I'm sure someone on here knows the answer.

Andy

Seems all good so far after a few days of usage so here is the link:

https://sync.focusrite.com/s/y36gakQssglmbxd/download

It just downloads the .exe file (I have scanned this with Bitdefender but note you should always check internet downloads with your own endpoint detection software).

Note from Focusrite Support is to ensure you disconnect your interface BEFORE running the install.

Please note this driver was provided for a Scarlett Gen1 2i4 - if you are using it with other models/ generations of interfaces, then I am unable to provide any assurances as to whether it is (a) suitable or (b) will work.

Your risk, as they say.

Andy

@Johnbee58 did you not see this thread?

I have posted a link to a new beta release - might help

Andy

Particularly liked the panning effects - so much to admire in this - very skilfully done in terms of blends and builds and those big Vangelis style hits. Terrific!

Andy

Breaking news on this. I let Focusrite support know about this workaround and they've been in touch with a link to a new beta driver that they believe resolves the problem with fast boot enabled.

Give me a few days to test it, and if it works I'll post the link in this thread.

Andy

I'm only posting this for posterity, in case it helps someone else having similar issues. I've had a Focusrite 2i4 Gen 1 for years and it's a pretty good interface, but since I had my current laptop I have had occasional issues with blue screens for no obvious reason - usually on startup forcing Windows into repair mode. I have tried all sorts of troubleshooting to resolve this, at one point I realised that if I used a USB3.0 port for the 2i4 by mistake, that would almost always cause a BSOD so I learned to stick to USB2.0; I also learned that connecting or disconnecting the interface 'hot' was likely to cause a crash. However I had thus far been unable to resolve the 'startup' BSOD problem, despite numerous support calls to Focusrite, trawling through dump files and uninstalling and reinstalling drivers.

Then a few weeks back I was researching the issue again and happened upon an obscure post on Reddit that prompted me to check a power setting in Windows 10 called 'fast start-up'.

So, it turns out that Windows has a ‘fast start-up’ option, as part of the power settings (accessed under Control Panel | Hardware & Sound | Power Options | System Settings | ‘Choose What The Power Buttons Do’)

You have to click the option to change the Shut-down settings that are greyed out – one of which is the ‘Turn on fast start-up (recommended)’ checkbox – this was checked by default on my machine.

Unchecking this option has completely eliminated the problem for me. Yes, it has extended the start up time by a few seconds, but the absence of blue screen errors and improved stability more than compensates for this minor inconvenience. I still don’t know quite why fast start-up causes the BSOD problem, but I suspect it’s to do with caching of system resources and drivers, and their availability (or not) during critical start-up processes involving the audio interface but that's just an educated guess.

Anyway, there it is. Make of that what you will but hopefully it is of some help to someone. I have attached a PDF of some screen grabs so you can see where the settings are and how to change them.

Andy

Focusrite Error.pdf

Kenny, I desperately needed something to put a smile on my face this morning and you did it fella, and after last night's football result, that's one hell of an achievement!

Loving your fabulous work as always.

Keep rocking

Andy

I love Dire Straits and this is an excellent cover. I only ever saw one band at a gig once try to cover this and it wasn't pretty.

Great job all round 👏👏👏

Andy