The Jam Room Blog Thread.

[Chovie D]

Get Reaper!  It's basically free (an unlimited trial), there are tons of tutorials and plug ins, it's easy to use, and it's stable.  It sounds like you might be having low-performance computer issues.  On my old computer the VSTi drum tracks would only partially load at first and then once the computer had time to load everything into RAM it would start populating all the sounds.  Anyway, get Reaper RIGHT NOW.

I might give Reaper a try.  When I sent the rep from Tracktion my log of crashes, he informed me that it was an internal issue with BFD2, and that I need to contact them as to why it's having problems with crashing, and using so much memory that it gives me memory error messages and won't always load all the kit pieces.

All I can say about my computer is that it's a brand-new iMac with 16GB total memory, and a little over 8GB of free space.  Perhaps I have something configured wrong, sure...but most of the advice from the Tracktion rep is, 'Here's a video on plug-in usage', or 'Here's a video on rack filters'.

The rack-filter thing seems to be the best solution, and I watched the video and read from the manual...but when I did everything exactly as laid out, the rack only connected with a little more than half of BFD2's outputs.  I pointed that out to the Tracktion rep, and he recommended the very same video I had used to get to that point without addressing why it only connected with some outputs and not others with any real answer.  So far, their protocol is, 'whatever they ask you, just recommend a video that's somewhere in the ballpark of the question, and hope they don't ask any more questions'.  All of this is just a total drain; I wanna have fun recording at home, and all I'm doing lately is dealing with one stupid computer glitch after another.

I guess for now, I will talk with FXPansion about BFD2 and the problems I'm having, tell them what I was told by the Tracktion rep, and see what happens.  But my suspicion is that each company will blame the other.

for what little its worth I use EZdrummer and it loads fine on an ancient machine in T3. I dont send every drum to a separate track or antyhing tho, theres a mixer in the ezdrummer software if I wanna tweak the kit mix. the whole point of tracktion was supposed ot be its immediacy and ease of use. Theyve lost that vision as their product has evolved.

[VOLVO)))]

I use ezdrummer within FLstudio. Then export it to Cubase. You can get really technical in FLstudio. Fuck all that reamp/digital cable crossing. I had the same problem, no reprocity between programs.

EDIT: perhaps some of your BFD kit is corrupted

[black aspirin]

Awesome.  So tech support for BFD2 tells me that I absolutely have to store its library on a separate audio hard-drive, or I can expect it to fuck up.  Looks like I'll be spending another $80-$100 or so just to find out whether that fixes the problems or not.

[johnny problem]

I'm debating between purchasing another delay pedal that has looping capabilities (Boss DD7) or actually just getting a loop pedal (tc Electronic's Ditto).  Both are roughly in the same ball park for price.

*I'm currently running a Line 6 DL4 and a MXR Carbon Copy.

[xayk]

First gig in 12 years at an outdoor event yesterday. It went... poorly. Other dudes didn't know what to ask for in their monitors, people were lost. Despite being the 'new guy' I suppose I have to take more of a leadership role to make sure things go smoothly in the future. Tone-wise got a few compliments though, so gotta start somewhere.

I soothed my jangled nerves by hitting the Hookers/Pallbearer/Saint Vitus show, so all's well that ends well.

[Jake]

Saw Helms Alee last night without having heard them before. That fucking band fucking kicks fucking all kinds of fucking ass.


Fuck.





http://helmsalee.bandcamp.com

[RAGER]

Yes.  Yes they do.  I posted a cover song in GD by them and all people did was tear it apart.  Idiots.

And if you didn't know already that's Ben Verellen of Verellen amps and Harkonen.

[Chovie D]

I loved their video. especially the "cold november rain parody" part at the 3 minute mark.

[Jake]

^^^ Wow. That is video spectacular.

I surfed through GD once since this "new" site went up and will never make that mistake again. Slagging on Helms Alee absolutely confirms my decision.

[the diddler]

You get any merch at the show Jake?

[Zero]

He got a red fang flannel

and a Helms Alee flannel

and some flannel

[the diddler]

Shoulda got a beard, maybe they were sold out.

[Chovie D]

^^^ Wow. That is video spectacular.

I surfed through GD once since this "new" site went up and will never make that mistake again. Slagging on Helms Alee absolutely confirms my decision.

im not sure if they were discussed much in GD were they? I only know about them because they are local.

[Jake]

I got the Weatherhead vinyl and a 7" split with Tacos! (who are also pretty great, I now know).

Funny you mention flannel merch, because I saw John Fogerty on Tuesday and he has 3-4 diff't flannels for sale. It seemed totally appropriate and hilarious. Shame they were $70.

[the diddler]

Sweet- was hoping you got that Tacos! split.  My label put that out, though I didn't have much to do with that particular release.  Tacos! is two thirds of my old band, Swayze!- they changed the name when I quit.

[Jake]

No shit? Crazy. I'm sure you know Quon then, whom I met and chatted up a bit before & after the show. He also turned me onto Lozen, which I've been very much digging.

[RAGER]

My buds and ex bandmates (Gaytheist) are on this next batch of shows.  What did you think of Dogshredder?

[Jake]

Epileptic. In a good way. Drummer was playing the shit out of his kit and making it look effortless.

[the diddler]

Yes, Quan Fi & I are non-sexual lifepartners (he's 1/3 of the Violent Hippy label).  Lozen's Para Vida record is the jam- best thing they've done and it's on their own Silent Queef label, which of course rules.

Gaytheist is rad- I should be seeing them again Saturday, assuming I don't fuck something up.

[johnny problem]

Does anyone else have the problem of doing stupid faces when they play guitar?  I apparently have been.  It's gotten so bad that my jaw hurts and my teeth feel all out of whack because of it.

[jibberish]

Does anyone else have the problem of doing stupid faces when they play guitar?  I apparently have been.  It's gotten so bad that my jaw hurts and my teeth feel all out of whack because of it.

no heh, but sometimes I forget to breathe when i'm really focusing on playing. I have to pay more attention to that so i'm not standing there gasping for a few sec haha.

fwiw, my tele is the fastest guitar I have.  that neck is great.

also now working on the "twitch" method of tremolo picking.  quite possibly the most unnatural motion I have ever tried to make, but the payoff will be huge: faster and longer tremolo picking ability

[JemDooM]

I hope I don't have that problem johnny! It's awesome when people make faces tho, totally!

I need to practise my tremolo too, I'm pretty happy with it now but it's the kind of thing that could be much better with loads of practise, I'm just glad I don't get repetitive strain injury anymore because that really hurt, I put more of the energy into my lower arm and out of the wrist and remember to relax, I need loads of work on my tremoloing of chords tho, that could be loads tighter!

Need to spend today learning Celtic Frost covers, we're dressing up as them for a Halloween gig it's gonna be so much fun

[jibberish]

I need loads of work on my tremoloing of chords tho, that could be loads tighter!

just when I don't have enough techniques and patterns to buffalo me while trying to learn them, I need to try this too now.

I like chords. I came into guitar from being a "fake book" piano player: left hand chords, right hand melody.  learning to see a riff was the hardest thing for me to do.  I just couldn't get it for a long time. but chords, I could always see the chords.   funny thing, from playing guitar, which imo, all RH guits are really LH guits, my left hand is a skilled as my right hand for melody stuff vs just chords on a keyboard. like now I can play a bass line or some cool arpeggiated thing vs chunking on the chords haha.

so maybe I try learning that "chestnuts roasting on an open fire " song on the keyboard for real this time...of course the words will be different cuz that's what I do...small stretch to "bolt's nuts roasting on an open fire, l ron sucking on his toes..." and so on and so forth ...

[RAGER]

Been working on that also with my MiniBrute.  It being monophonic and all I try mainly to play it with my left hand but switching once in a while to use the pitch and mod wheels.  Was learning bits of "Tarot Woman" the other day.

[jibberish]

there HAS to be another slick way to control auxiliary controls on synths. the mod/bend/portamento etc stuff needs extra hands, and that's just for 1 synth

like could a mercury switch be mounted on a hat so you could tip your head and activate something, or I wish those brain control dudes would shake a leg and get a little hat with a half dozen brain controllable outputs heh. SOMETHING dammit. maybe mod a paraplegic wheelchair control or  wire a wii controller into a wireless network connection idk.

frustrating, or worse when there are knobs that need tweaking in synch with the mod wheeling and sustaining.

envelopes and arpeggiators don't do it all. manual inflection is key also.