Shane_B.

2 hours ago, Mr No Name said:

We could get into a long and drawn out debate about this subject, but the fact is that 2fa is a form of ID check.

Partially correct. It is not an ID check as in they want your name and address. It is a verification check that the person who created an account is the one trying to sign in from a different device, or change the password, etc. etc..

You have the option to send a verification code to any email account you choose, say for example the one you used to sign up with initially, or a different one, or have it texted to your cell. My bank has a 3rd option to call your cell using an automated system.

I can see people not wanting it texted. I can understand people not wanting to be forced to use 2fa. But it's not putting your privacy at risk at all. Make a specific email account for 2fa and use that. I did. Been using 3 accounts for years solely for verification and software registration.

That said, I've never been forced to verify an account except for Google and Facebook. I'm surprised Soundcloud does, but it doesn't bother me in the least. Personally I think it's a great idea, but to each his own.

14 hours ago, Mr No Name said:

tell them to eff off. what does a music website need 2 factor authenification for?

2fa is used so if your password is stolen your account can't be accessed by the person who stole it. It's not used for data mining. You can have the 2fa code sent to your email account or texted to you. A few places also use an authenticator app/program. 2fa isn't a bad thing, it's a good thing.

I don't know of it's due to everything being set to private and I have almost no views or something I've been screwing up, but everything I upload to youtube is converted from the original uncompressed 1080p to compressed 720p and saved that way in my account. When I download my "original" video from my account, it's the 720p file.

That said, if you have a YouTube Premium account, you can upload all of your music to YouTube Music using FLAC or MP3 and a few other types, but only you can see it and listen to it. You can't share it.

I never got into FLAC so I have no idea how it compares to a 44.1/24bit or 16bit wav, but I seem to remeber reading that its lossless as if listening to the original wav master.

3 hours ago, bitflipper said:

Does it require a monthly subscription or any other additional costs beyond the initial purchase? Or is it essentially just a little computer with HDMI outputs?

It's just a one time charge for the stick.  All the major apps are on it like YouTube, Twitch, Rumble, and most of the subscription based ones.

You can get most of the paid subs monthly through your Prime account if there's a show or series you want to watch, then cancel it. I've done that a few times and aroind Halloween I sub to one or two of the horror movie channels for a month then cancel it. No contracts. Just pay for 30 days and that's it.

The really nice thing is if your TV dies, you just plug it in to a new TV and you don't lose your passwords.

You can upload photos to your Prime account and view them through the stick on your TV. I use the photo app a lot.

I never had one until my first smart TV died and I had to redo all my passwords on the new TV. It's a royal pain. Firestick solves all that. I didn't even have the internet set up on my current TV until I was curious if there was a firmware update. I shut it back off after that. One less thing phoning home on my network.

19 hours ago, craigb said:

Some examples that would be helpful (mostly applies to participating in live streams):

• The ability to set the chat window to default to Live Chat
• The ability to see a list of all who are watching
• The ability to search the chat
• The ability to resize the chat and emoji window

I mainly watch YouTube on my TV through a Firestick. The live chat window stays on once I check the box. Even when I close the livestream and go to a different one.

I subscribe to YouTube Premium and maybe thats why? It's the only service I subscribe to. I like the way they handle the music side of the service. I download everything in HQ and it sounds really good to my ears. I have terrible cell service so I download everything and it let's me listen offline.

As for the volume leveling, I swear when I turn it on, the louder I turn my TV the more it kicks in and the lower the overall volume gets. So I just leave it off. I have all of that stuff turned off for the TV, Firestick, and YouTube app. They'll fight each other if I have them all turned on and the sound starts to distort.

I also noticed when watching movies, you can select surround or stereo sometimes, not always. If watching on a 2 speaker TV I always turn the surround off.

3 hours ago, kennywtelejazz said:

 When she asked me for the 14 . I gave her 3 1/2  four times

                            

 

Kenny

That did not come out at all like I intended. And I was not making any references to myself, although reading it now I can totally see how it would come across that way. Lol

Hey, I'm still recovering from 2 weeks of the c-virus. Cut me a smidge of slack. Sheesh. 😁

Isn't that an old Rodney Dangerfeild joke? His Mrs. asked for something hurtful so he abliged twice and slapped.

Or something like that. 😁

You could have a 14" ... , millions in the bank, and be the best looking most well built, kindest man in the world and not a single one of them will stay happy. It's not possible, so take my very hard earned advice, stop trying.

On 1/10/2025 at 12:23 PM, bitflipper said:

That's because the HS-80s are rear-ported speakers, which can cause bass buildup between the ports and the rear wall. I've seen the benefit of moving them away from the wall first-hand, and it was a dramatic improvement. They didn't get stronger bass (they're still relatively small enclosures) but the bass response was smoother and flatter. The studio's owner later reported that the quality of his mixes had noticeably improved and he spent far less time fiddling with bass.

One potential solution for you would to add a sub and cross it over at a relatively high frequency, e.g. 100 Hz. You could then move the sub around the room until you find the ideal location

I've never had a large enough room to move them around. I would love to try that.

They are great sounding monitors. Professionally recorded/mastered music sounds incredible. Completely transparent as if the music isn't coming from the speakers. I can only imagine how these would sound in a properly treated room and spaced correctly. I tried to tinker with a sub one time but I didn't know enough about setting them up and had zero success. I have a much better understanding of all of this now, I just don't have the time or space.

On 1/10/2025 at 1:50 PM, jesse g said:

This is a testimony from an excellent mixer, which shows that not all great headphones  have to cost $500 and up ⬆️

 

 

I have a pair of those, or something very similar. IIRC there's a few models that look like that. They are so old the foam pads have deteriorated.  I also have to be very careful using them. They really flare up my tinnitus a lot faster than listening to monitors.

I had an ear infection one time and had a hard time hearing. I raised them to a comfortable level not realizing it was way too loud. I lost all hearing below 90Hz. I don't know if it was from the loudness or the infection or a combination of both.

After many failed mixing attempts with them I ended up only using them when I was tracking. That's a limitation of the operator, not the equipment though.

I do have to say, the #1 thing that has vastly improved my mixing and mastering attempts is Ozone 9 Advanced. Their visual approach to mixing that's different than just looking at a frequency display significantly helped me to the point where I once I had a visual that I could understand on what I was doing wrong, dialing everything in got a lot easier. I don't know what version OA is up to now, but I'm very happy with 9.

I have Yamaha HS-80's. I've never been able to hear bass on them. Even when listening to pro mixes. I attribute that to the room and their placement, and maybe my hearing a little.

I recently bought a pair of small Bose Bluetooth speakers and paired them in stereo mode. I was floored by how good they sound and the bass. Far better than my "pro" HS-80's. That said, moving the Bose speakers a 6 to 12 inches one way or the other dramatically changed the bass.

I've never been able to place the HS-80's where they should be because of size limitations of the rooms I've had them in. It says in the manual for best response place them "5 feet from walls".

6 hours ago, Sheens said:

No I and the rest of the free world forever need to thank YOU ! 

Besides your brave hero grandpa's (I grew up near USA WW2 cemetory Margraten)...

This caught my eye because of my odd situation. My mother had me very late in life. Two of my uncles were in WW2 and it seems so odd to say that. My grandfather was born in 1888.

My mother and all of her brothers and sisters are gone now.

One of the bad downsides of being born when I was is your the last man standing.

Anyway, I guess this time of year causes us all to reflect on the past.

Thanks for making me think of it.

I would rather drive from the southeast tip of Florida to the north west corner of Alaska to pick up a package rather than have it shipped by FedEx.

I hate Fedex.

Always screwed me waiting for overnight stuff for work and made me watch my brand new guitar leave my driveway in the back of their truck 3 times because they were too lazy to wait for me to ride up to them on my mower.

I hate fedex.

Have I mentioned I ha... oh yeah, I did twice.

10 hours ago, Terry Kelley said:

Are they leaving chem-trails? Asking for a friend.

I don't know, but a friend of mine said he saw a Chibson logo on one of them. Maybe they are drop shipping by drone now and that's how they are getting around the ports.

11 hours ago, craigb said:

The Feds will be going after amps and pedals next...

Apparently they are sending drones for them. Did you read about that? I counted 26 just tonight.

Edit: Forgot to say this is a major thing here in NJ right now. Every night there's more and more drones in the sky and nobody (cough cough) knows where they are coming from.

On 12/2/2024 at 9:02 PM, Sock Monkey said:

Wasn’t it Gibson that screwed us over in 2017?  

I owned a music store once (90’s) and Yorkville was the Gibson distributor. I brought in a few US made Les Pauls and SG’s as well as a bunch of the Korean? Made Epiphones. The Epiphones played better out of the box. People would come in and always walked out with the Epiphones. I got stuck with the Gibsons and ended up selling them at cost. 

Last year I went shopping for a new acoustic. The Epiphones won out for me over all. I bought a L-00  for $600. The Taylor’s were ok but at $3000 for what played and sounded about the same??? 
It is the nicest acoustic I’ve ever owned. 
I’m not a real USA Gibson fan. But I do miss my old EB0 bass. What a fool I was It was from the 60’s and I traded it for a POS Takimine acoustic . 
Any how we should not talk about Gibson around here . It brings back bad memories for some. 
 

I owned a USA Gibson Custom Black Beauty (I think their called?) and an Epi Sheraton II Made In Korea.

I could never get the Custom to sound right and I eventually sold it. To someone on the old forum through a music stores online listing.

The SII needed a setup so I went on their website and did the factory recommended setup to the T. It plays like a dream.

My favorite acoustic in an inexpensive Fender cutaway I've had for over 30 years. I have no idea where it was made, but definitely not US. Paid $249 for it. Plays better than my Martin. Doesn't sound the same, but I don't expect it to.

I also have a MIJ Tele and Strat. They were dirt cheap back in the 80's when I got them. I still have them and they still better than any US Tele or Strat I've ever tried.

For me it's the feel of a guitar and how well it will set up. I really don't care what the name is or where it was made.

I love the AI videos where they do well known movies and TV shows set in the 1950's. None are the full length shows, just  a few minute preview of the cast.

I was reading that they had a hard time generating fingers and hands so some of the older ones look off, but in the newer ones you can't see any artifacts.

16 hours ago, paulo said:

I think I got the gist of it.....

a warm front that could lead to wet patches?

Also areas of high humidity making it difficult to breathe at times.

1 hour ago, DeeringAmps said:

You’re sure of that?

 I looked at a Les Paul Jr at a Seattle area guitar show a few years back. Finish issues set off an alarm bell for me! I thought “even Nashville wouldn’t ship this POS”. Seller was a little “miffed” when I questioned authenticity…

t

The people making them are not selling them as Gibson's. All of the ones I've seen pictures of have tape over the name and nowhere do they say Gibson in any of the advertisements. 

It's the people buying them to resell them as Gibsons that are creating a bigger problem.

I'm not condoning the people making the guitars ripping off the Gibson name by any means. But in a lot of ways I think the people reselling them as real ones are worse.

I really think they should just label them Chibson. I mean no disrespect by that at all. The truth is most of them are great guitars and are actually worth more than what they are asking most of the time.

1 minute ago, DeeringAmps said:

Who do you think was behind this shipment?

The people making them aren't selling them as real Gibson's. Just lookalike's. You know that going in. Not saying it's ok, but at least they aren't trying to say they are real and asking $5,000 I guess is the point I failed to make. Lol.

They are probably made at the Epiphone factory there in Chi-nah.

I don't know what to think about it. I can understand why Gibson doesn't want their name on unapproved products. And I get why it's being done. It's a lot easier to sell if it says Gibson. 

It's a given with them that the electronics suck and the finish isn't perfect, but that's what you expect from a $300 guitar.

Only a dirtbag would try to resell it as a real Gibson. And there is the other problem. They should at least stamp them or mark them somehow so there's no doubt they are copies. That would probably take the heat off them a little.

I just want good cheap guitars. I don't care who's in charge. 😁

I'll take a 250 dollar chibson that needs a minimal setup out of the box any day over a Gibson that needs major work out of the box.

I still have my 200 dollar fender acoustic. Plays better than my Martin. Not the same sound but felt great out of the box. I have to take my Martin to get adjusted and never took the time so it sits in its case.

@Amberwolf

I tremble with fear every time I see a .NET update or installation happening that is mandatory for an installation. An installation screen pops up that looks I did a time warp back to Windows 3.11 and I get sick to my stomach. It happened several times during last weeks Windows update. I can't even remember the details, but I still have PTSD over something that was .NET related that messed up Sonar many years ago.

I had a similar thing happen last week. I turned my DAW on for the first time in almost 3 years about a week ago. I spent 2 full days doing updates and re-logging in to everything having to create new passwords most of the time because the ones I used for apps on my cell simply refused to work on my PC.

In the end, it runs everything noticeably slower. Nvidia, my printer, steam which I used to use for 1 game, and some new AI thing Win 10 forced me to install had taken over. 

I got the AI thing uninstalled and that helped, but I can't figure out how to stop the other things.

I had this machine running lean and mean for years. Ain't progress great.

46 minutes ago, DeeringAmps said:

IBTL my guess is we have our toes over the line of the ToS…

t

They were waiting for me to say something first. Then it gets locked.

Speaking of Temu, there are some amazing guitars on ebay in the 200-300 range. Many lefty. From what I've read and watched on youtube, some need a good setup, some come through perfect. I'm so tempted.

I love it. Can I get it lefty?

35 minutes ago, Wookiee said:

Not all 100 million registered Bandlab users visit these forums.

I don't believe there are 100 million users. I quote/mention this because there has to be a way, in this day and age of technology, to weed out the real users from the fake accounts and all that stuff.

Anyhoo, it's sad. In this day and age of technology and communication options, you'd think the more avenues to communicate you have, the better. But I must be wrong.