Notes_Norton

Definitely. When making a backing track for my duo, I often make subtle changes to tempo. Common variances are to speed up the B section a bit and/or speed up the end a bit -- but there are so many song specific changes that it would be impossible to list them all. Slowing the tempo of a section broadens it, rushing it adds excitement. Even with dance tracks, where the dancer isn't supposed to notice any tempo changes, subtle and gradual tempo changes are very useful to add energy to the tune. Of course there is rubato, but I find that difficult for a backing track so I avoid that as much as possible. My first instrument was drums, and through the years as a predominately sax playing multi-instrumentalist I have had the opportunity to work with some great drummers, and also the opportunity to sub on drums while the drummers played other instruments (like melodic percussion or the drummer in one band who played trumpet too). The 'out of the grid' groove and the tempo changes are something a good drummer just does automatically. It feels right and in that way it is right. Most good drummers don't sit down and analyze things like 'I'm going to lay back the 2s and 4s' or 'I'm going to swing the 8th notes a bit', or 'I'm going to speed this part up a bit', they just feel it and do it without any thought. Which brings me to a related subject (hopefully not to hijack the thread). Thinking is done in practice sessions. When it comes time to play the music for a recording or an audience, thinking can be your enemy. The best music is made with no thought involved. That includes the drum track. Insights and incites by Notes

My first instrument was drums. I added sax, bass, guitar, wind synth, flute, keys, and vocals (not in that order). If I was playing some disco or EDM songs, I would want to quantize the drums. But playing pop, rock, blues, country and most other forms of pop music, I want to keep the beat, but definitely not quantize. I play the drums live into my backing tracks and Band-in-a-Box aftermarket styles. That way I can get the feel right. Quantizing is the opposite of the groove. Sometimes the 2's and 4's need to be played behind the beat a bit, sometimes ahead. It depends on the style and the song. Sometimes the eighth or sixteenth notes need to be pushed or laid back a bit too. Again it depends. Listen to some of my favorite drummers, (and Bonham is one of them) like Bernard Purdie or Hal Blaine. Two drummers with very contrasting styles, but almost never quantized. Al Jackson Jr. played for many Stax cuts in it's prime and his rhythm was great, sounded simpler than it was, and always grooved - never quantized. Back in the jazz genre Buddy Rich swung those eighth notes using the proper delay for each song and always staying true to the song as did Gene Krupa and Max Roach. Steve Gadd another versatile drummer who even managed to inject a slight groove into disco tunes. I could go on and on with Cobham, Bruford, Blakey, Ginger Baker, DeJohnette, Morello, and on and on. None of these great players are known for quantizing, but they are all known for keeping the metronome steady as a rock when needed. When recording, I don't quantize anything, drums, bass, keys, and so on. If I can't get it right, I just do it again. To me, quantizing and compression are the two tools that when overused suck the soul out of a recording. That's my opinion, fee free to disagree because when it comes to making music, there is more than one right way. PS, excuse me for not playing the videos. ATT has phone line troubles due to the rain we had recently, and the DSL speed is such that they play about 2-10 seconds before buffering again. Insights and incites by Notes

Nope, I haven't seen Trump as an answer, and it's short enough to be a filler. I do see Idi (Amin) from time to time, so the constructors are not above using controversial leaders as an answer. But I guess 3 letter fillers are more common (Ulm, Ana, Ena, Obi, Ibo, Ebo, etc.). l like the puzzles with themes (usually Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, and sometimes Friday or Saturday). And I like clues that make me think in one direction and then surprise me when the clue means something else. I don't care for puzzles with too many sports or pop media names, being a non-sports fan and I haven't watched TV since the 1980s so I don't know most of those people. Slide one in every once in a while, OK, but if two or three names are in a section, and they depend on each other, there is a good possibility that the ipad comes out. Although I have learned that Mel had a diner and Reba had a TV show and somebody called Opie was a kid in Mayberry. Also somebody called Norm was on Cheers, Alda was on MASH, and Apu is somebody on the Simpsons, although I've never seen any of those shows. The things you can learn doing crosswords -- and if it wasn't for crosswords I wouldn't know what a Wapiti is (now I feel real smart). When they give music clues, I have to remember not to think like a musician most of the time. Doing crosswords is entertaining, and it gets me to use my brain in a different way. I guess that's why its entertaining. I often photocopy the puzzle, and do it with my wife, double-teaming the crossword constructor. When my duo partner (now my wife) and I gigged on cruise ships back in the 1980s there was no TV on board except for the advertising crawls and an old, videotape movie that would play again and again. So after 3 years at sea we got out of the TV habit, and when we got off, I hooked the cable back up, and a couple of months later, disconnected it, because we were used to doing things for entertainment instead of passively having entertainment fed to us. OK, we're weird, and it's not for everyone, but I think life without TV is better. Instead of watching I learned: to play wind synthesizer, to program wind sounds on the synth, to add lead guitar as my 7th instrument, about 500 new songs for me duo, to write styles for Band-in-a-Box, to run a mail-order business, to learn HTML code, to convert it to an Internet business, enough cgi code to run a shopping cart, and quite a few other fun things. (I told you I was weird!) Notes

If it is a natural point in conversation, and I think it would help the person I am conversing with, I'll mention Cakewalk. I don't push the product or try to force it into a conversation, but if appropriate I will tell people about it. BTW, I started on the Atari/ST computer. Tried a few sequencers (Dr. T's?) but ended up with Master Tracks Pro. I still use MTPro for MIDI sequencing when no audio is required. The interface is fast and clean. I never had an Amiga, but at one time I wanted one. I didn't have a commodore, but I had that Texas Instruments TI/99 or whatever they called it. The TI was pretty useless for music, it was my first computer, and taught me how to write in BASIC though I never got to the advanced stages of that. I moved on to other things when I got my Atari. After writing some styles for Band-in-a-Box/Atari and selling them through trade magazines I eventually bought a DOS5/Win3.1 PC and a Motorola Mac Classic ][ so I could sell to those platforms as well. I'm mostly PC now, as the Atari is gone and I see no advantage for Mac for the things I do on the computer. Insights and incites by Notes

I call that one clever. The best ones are those you don't get at first. For those who have done crosswords for a long time, have you ever noticed how words come in style for a while and then go out??? Some years ago you saw IBO, ULM (Einstein's birthplace), OBI, ENA (Bambi's Aunt), ANA (Literary Collection), and so many others everywhere, but they are rarely seen today. Insights and incites by Notes

It's really up to the composer. Personally, I would find 6/4 easier to read as the score would be less cluttered. If it only happened a few times in the piece, either way would be fine with me though. And if it only happened a few times, does the meter change aid a sight reading musician? If so it's the way to go. When writing a score, my personal opinion is that it should be as easy to sightread as possible. That includes the aforementioned time signature, but also careful about repeats, DC or DS directions, page turns, and so on. There are some who seem to want to either make it challenging or save paper to the point where it hinders a performance or requires some wood-shedding to get right. If it's easy to sight read, even those who can read but not sight read the piece will find it much easier to play. The less your brain is working on the score, the more resources you have to add expressiveness. Bob

Thanks. Space savings is good, but for our mics I need low/mid/hi frequency controls. Notes

Yes that would wor That would work Nigel, but for me, rotating the Samsons in and out of the repair shop is the better option. Two mixers would definitely take up more than 4 rack spaces, and rack space is at a premium for someone who does one-nighters. The idea is to make things as light and easy to set up as possible. We allow 1.5 hours setup time and 1 hour tear down time. One rolling rack space for PA and synth modules, two powered speakers, two small monitors, two microphones, two guitars (with amp sim/fx pedals), one sax, one flute, one wind MIDI controller, one pedal for wind MIDI controller, one tactile MIDI controller, two microphones, 3 computers (we only need two, but the spare is up and running at all times) and more cables than I want to count. The extra half hour set up time is because if I don't allow it, that is when a cable will fail risking me missing the downbeat. Entertainment purchasers can tell time, and some don't take kindly to bands starting late. We carry a suitcase full of spares and other devices that might go wrong. One-nighers are hard on gear. Insights and incites by Notes

Humanize in the various apps I've used it with has just been randomize. Things like vary velocity by _____, vary start times by ____, and vary durations by____. This is definitely not the same thing a good drummer does. And what the drummer does in most forms of pop music should be used as the basis for what other rhythm instruments do. A good drummer might rush certain beats or sub beats, and/or drag others. He or she does this in a constant manner, whether or not a click track is followed. It's the feel, the groove, or whatever else it's known by. It keeps it from sounding mechanical, and allows the rhythm to breathe. Now there are certain exceptions to this. Some EDM and other contemporary dance songs need everything quantized to the grid. It's how they are supposed to sound. But that doesn't work for rock, jazz, blues, folk, country and so many other forms of music. Snapping to the grid, over-compressing, auto-tune, and things we mentally do to 'perfect' the music, IMHO ruin the music. Feel free to disagree, but with over 50 years on stage playing sax, guitar, bass, drums, flute, and or synth plus vocals, you won't change my mind. Insights and incites by Notes

Humanize is randomize, which is definitely not the same thing. Drummers are precise in their variances to the rhythms, not random. If they are dragging beat 2 and 4 they will drag them by the same amount every measure. Humanize will rush or drag the beats by different increments. Insights and incites by Notes

Thanks.

I've played pro in rock bands since 1964 and have had the good luck to have played with some of the greats. I almost made it big, and got to be in the opening act for major stars, but the deal fell through due to money (the record company didn't want to pay). But it was a part of my life I wouldn't trade for anything. I agree. Tempos need to change, some songs need the B part faster, some songs need to constantly gradually speed up, some parts need to back off. Quantizing is terrible. It destroys the groove. Sometimes beats need to be pushed, or laid back a bit. Quite often the 2 and 4 of a 4/4 measure is consistently either behind or ahead of the beat depending on the song. In addition some instruments need to be ahead or behind the others by a few milliseconds. This is something rock, jazz, country, pop and other liver musicians have had to feel for all of history. Usually it starts with the drummer, listen to records done with Hal Blaine, John Bonham, Buddy Rich, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Carmine Appice, Dave Grohl, Steve Gadd, Al Jackson Jr., Ginger Baker, or Bernard Purdie and you hear the opposite of quantization, instead you hear groove. Over compression destroys the dynamic response of a song. Try reciting prose or poetry keeping every syllable of every word at the exact same volume and see if it's expressive. Compression for guitar sustain, yes. Compressing vocals, no, unless the singer has poor mic control. Auto-tune? If I hear a singer with noticeable auto-tune, I turn it off. I hate it. When I sing or play sax, wind synth, flute, or guitar, I play with the pitch. Slightly out of tune is expressive. A little sharp adds brightness to a note, a little flat, tension. Sometimes I like to hit a note slightly flat and slide it up to pitch, sometimes a quick pitch/sharp/pitch attack adds to an accented note, sometimes sliding down the tails of a held not at the end adds expression, the list goes on and on. I had classical music in school. Even the classics teach things like rushing the start of a phrase and then dragging at the end of the phrase to end it in time, or dragging first then rushing, depending on the song. 2-beat triplets should almost always be dragged a bit. This list goes on and on too. For rock, jazz, blues, pop, country and so many other forms of music to be forced into 'perfection' will suck the soul of the music. Even when I sequence the backing tracks for my duo, I play the parts live so I can get the proper feel and dynamics. Drums first, bass next and layer after layer on that (I play drums, bass, guitar, sax, flute, wind synthesizer, keyboard synthesizer and vocals). I NEVER-EVER quantize or use auto-tune. I practice the parts until I get them right (there is no substitute for practice) and if I screw up, I'll record another track. I may combine the good parts of two or more different tracks, but that's all the fixing I do. Purposeful imperfections are perfectly appropriate and deliberate, an occasional accidental imperfection stays in as long as it passes my judgement test. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Insights and incites by Notes

It seems to be out of production. I'd be trading one orphan for another. Since I have 4 Samsons, that seems to be my best bet. I'd like to find something still in production from a reliable manufacturer. If I can't I'll just keep sending the Samson units back for repair once every year or so. Insights and incites by Notes

If a guy with a lisp wrote "The Thong Song", would it come out as "The Thong Thong"?

I have 4, two are in for repair now. Sorry, I don't have one to sell. I thought about not getting them fixed anymore, because I figured newer technology would be better. But I cannot find a 12 channel, small rack space (4 spaces or less), with inputs/outputs all on the back. I see some advertised as 12 channel mixers, but in reality they are only 10s (two channels of the 10 are stereo). So I decided to put the broken ones in the shop and keep using the dinosaurs until someone comes up with a good replacement. I think the manufacturers find home recording people to be the big market, and actual live musicians to be a dying market. I think they have a point. I see fewer gigging opportunities than I've had all my life. Fortunately we have a lot of loyal clients we've been working for, some for decades now, and are still able to help them turn a profit. I feel sorry for young musicians, as there aren't the opportunities to play live that I had growing up. When I was younger, ever hotel from a Holiday Inn on up had a band, at least 6 nights a week. Singles bars all used live bands, as DJs hadn't cornered the market yet. And so many other venues have gone Sports Bar, Open Mic Night, Karaoke Night, Comedy Night, and perhaps one band night per week. Things change. Since I am a multi-instrumentalist, back in 1992 I started my Band-in-a-Box aftermarket style/songs business to help supplement my income in the diminishing gig market. It's still going well, and although it won't make me rich, it keeps me home during the slow season. Thanks, but I need 11 channels. Notes

I use an electronic tuner. You could tune the guitar by ear, but you end up with 'just intonation' and if you do it perfectly, the two E strings will not be in tune. You can tune with an electronic tuner and all the strings will be slightly out of tune, like piano notes. Then when you play the guitar, your finger on a fret will put it out of tune anyway. You are going to stretch the string when you press it down, and if it goes down slightly bent, you will stretch it even more. Guitars, like so many other instruments, are not perfectly in tune with themselves. But no matter which way you tune your guitar, if you do it well, it will be close enough. Insights and incites by Notes

I walked into Victoria's Secret while they were having a fashion show. I was in the thong place butt at the right time.

Escher you climb them up or down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativity_(M._C._Escher)#/media/File:Escher's_Relativity.jpg

What if the Hokey Pokey is really what it is all about???

It's a fun 12 bar blues, I like up-tempo shuffles, and the way we do it I get to play 2 sax solos, 24 bars each. Playing 12 bar blues is like comfort food to me. I wouldn't want to do it all night, but every now and then it's just fun. Insights and incites by Notes

We do that tune at gigs, it goes over well with the over 40 year old audiences. Insights and incites by Notes

Flip Flop and Fly?

I'm not a dinosaur by desire. I accept whatever works for me. I started using backing tracks in 1985 (I created them myself with a 4 track real to real Teac), when digital with the Atari/ST and primitive synths as soon as they were introduced, started writing aftermarket style and song disks for Band-in-a-Box in 1992 (and still do), went wind synth when the Yamaha WX7 was introduced, and tried a few soft-synths. I even have a Morph Sensel alternative controller on order. I've ordered a few software synths and tried a few of my friends' but as of yet, haven't found anything that works for me onstage. Perhaps someday. Technology marches on. Insights and incites by Notes

The PM soft synths (thanks for the links) don't approach what the VL does. There are different degrees of PM. The VL has models of single reeds, double reeds, cupped mouthpieces, plucked strings, bowed strings etc., plus models of the various pipes (conical or straight) boxes and other resonators, and finally various dampers like bells, bridges, and so on. In addition it has models of throat growl, flutter tongue, lip slur, and various other physical things that the players do to influence the instrument. If you model only one of these things, you can say PM. Here is a clip of a synth sax I did in 2004. It was recorded live, on a gig, with a pre-iPod Archos GMini Juke Box recorder and a cheap mic. Low fidelity, hung out in the crowd, so don't expect the tone to be great. It's the sax expressiveness that seems natural. All the instruments are synthesized with various early 20th century sound modules. I used a Yamaha WX5 Wind MIDI controller and a Yamaha VL70m synth for the sax solo. http://www.nortonmusic.com/mp3/_sunshinesax.mp3 I had some fellow wind synthesizer players bring their soft synths over on Mac and PC computers. We like to share what we have because we are a small community and visit each other whenever we are close enough. Nothing I tried feels as much like playing a real instrument (as opposed to controlling a synth) as the VL does. The VL unfortunately after 15 years went out of production. I have two now. The main drawback is it is monophonic, so with two I can layer sounds. And yes, when I hardware lasts forever, that was a figure of speech. Software synths tend to last until the next OS upgrade or two. I always use either a UPS or a line conditioner to feed current to my synths. It might be why they last so long. The only thing I had to repair so far was a floppy disk drive hardware sampler from Peavey. It still works. If I were recording in a studio, I'd probably try to mix soft synths with the hardware modules. After all, there are some soft synths that aren't available in a hardware package. But I've been a live performer since I was a kid, and while I'm amazed at what the folks on the other side of the glass do with their computers, sliders and knobs, whenever I've been in the studio, I've been in the microphone side of the fish tank. Insights and incites by Notes

Yes my TX81z and my VL70m might be 'doing the math' just as the VST does, but because the VST shares the computer's CPU, certain shortcuts are taken in the soft-synth to save processing time. So in the end it just doesn't sound the same. I've never found tuned percussion on a software synth that sounds and reacts like my TX81z and my DS8 I did try sampling, but with the FM synths, the attack, sustain, brightness with different attack velocities isn't duplicated with the sampler, resulting in less expressiveness. And nobody has made a physical modeling software synth, so the now discontinued VL70m is the only option. My VL can do things like add flutter tongue and throat growl to a brass instrument. It can change the vowel sound on sax patches as if I were changing the shape of my mouth to get slightly more oo and aah sounds. When the pitch-bend (reed emulation) on the sax is flexed, not only does the pitch change, but the tone changes as well, as it does on a real sax. I can do lip slurs on the brass patches. The timbre of the instruments change gradually with pitch realistically including the shift when woodwinds go from register to register. There are so many other nuances that PM can replicate. It's like playing a real instrument instead of controlling a synth. To me, recreating the nuances of the instrument bring out the nature of the instrument much more than the tone. But like I said, there is more than one correct way to make music. It's looking so far like I'm the only dinosaur here ;) Insights and incites by Notes