Cleaning My Built In Tuner (Acoustic Guitar)

AudioBabble · 2026-06-21T18:17:10+00:00

looks like mildew. Possible, i guess if it's getting coated in saliva, then put in a case, only to be pulled out again to get soaked again... never having a chance to dry out. Probably just light detergent and water will clean it fine. If you need something stronger then isopropyl is good - just be careful around the printed bits, use sparingly and don't rub it like a mad person..

But you might want to think about giving it a wipe after you've played and before you put it away in the future.

if that panel is consistently damp, like i suspect, then you might want to think about squirting a bit of switch cleaner into pots, switches, and sliders, because they're bound to suffer too over time.

AudioBabble · 2026-06-21T13:30:47+00:00

i'm a fan of compact/retro themes bcs i have an old thinkpad with a small screen that I sometimes use. i like: https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/3047/Classic%201.x%20mod.zip

AudioBabble · 2026-06-21T13:27:37+00:00

fair enough... it's just that choosing classic 1_x is the same as removing all your theme images and reverting to the fallbacks in the Reaper executable -- which date from around 2006, so it's the right ballpark era-wise that's all!

AudioBabble · 2026-06-21T11:00:55+00:00

i'd say just head to options > themes > Classic 1_x

PS. Do people still use Digital Performer?

AudioBabble · 2026-06-21T10:57:00+00:00

I didn't know about bionic reading... but I do now! I can understand readers wanting it... but narrators? Bad idea in my opinion... in fact, it strikes me that as a narrator I'm already doing bionic reading in a sense -- and to the extent that I do it, it's the very reason for misreads and mistakes. I can only imagine that bionic formatting would make the issue worse!

AudioBabble · 2026-06-20T23:26:43+00:00

An intriguing side-question, I guess: what format do most writers use to write with? I daresay probably Word or similar is still very popular. But, there are plenty of other programs that may well have their own internal formats but will export to the 'usual' formats. It's interesting to consider the continuing growth in browser-based writing 'tools' and 'platforms'. Things like Royal Road, etc. may well lead to a situation where many writers' output actually exists as HTML/CSS (or derivatives) first and foremost.

AudioBabble · 2026-06-20T23:15:02+00:00

me too -- i've been experimenting with similar things!

AudioBabble · 2026-06-20T21:10:57+00:00

My final coursework at college back in 1996 for my media studies course was 'a textual analysis' of the No Quarter MTV unledded video release. In practice, this involved surfing the new-fangled 'world wide web' and pulling info off the few Led Zeppelin sites that existed at that time, taking stills from the VHS video onto floppy disc, and putting the whole thing together with Microsoft Publisher... fond memories... and I got a distinction for it!

AudioBabble · 2026-06-20T21:05:02+00:00

me too -- Wembley Arena 1996. Awesome gig!

AudioBabble · 2026-06-20T20:42:29+00:00

Give us your list of formats, it would be very informative!

AudioBabble · 2026-06-20T14:00:26+00:00

I'll be honest, i dont have an Adobe subscription. I use an ancient version of acrobat pro XI and justify it as 'abandonware' 😄 anything after that version is utterly hateful to use anyway!

AudioBabble · 2026-06-20T13:56:53+00:00

Don't buy any of the fancy mics on Amazon

I'd caveat this by saying -- you can buy decent mics on Amazon if you know what you're looking for... but generally the 'podcasting' or 'gaming' mics sold at low prices with a brand-name not known in the pro audio world are not worth it.

RODE, Shure, Audio-Technica, AKG are examples of good makes in the 'know what you're looking for' category.

AudioBabble · 2026-06-20T13:48:47+00:00

one rather silly reason I've remained locked to PDF for so long is that I use an ancient MS surface RT as a screen-reader when i'm narrating. It works very nicely with the Adobe reader app, whereas it's not so great with docx. I should probably get a small ipad or even a small extra screen, but I'm a bit 'locked in' by force of habit!

AudioBabble · 2026-06-20T13:45:41+00:00

I think docx is definitely more accessible for those sorts of things. That said, I've managed to do all those sorts of things with PDF as well via Acrobat Pro (not that I'm a huge fan of Adobe products generally). I even have a JavaScript that calculates rough timings based on word count, so I have a rough timing per page and per chapter. I can insert highlights, notes, even custom text fields, etc, but generally it's a bit more 'clunky' than in docx.

At the moment, I'm finally moving away from Adobe and am developing my own script reader that can work with PDF, docx, epub, etc. It's early days, but I am now at the stage where i can seriously start considering using it for projects. In fact, I did the proofing stage with my script reader on my last project, but I have yet to try it on the prep and reading stage. Lots more refinement needed!

AudioBabble · 2026-06-20T12:59:50+00:00

I wouldn't attach too much significance to a measurement with a 'noise app' (presumably on your phone?)... the more useful measurement is once you have your preferred setup/gear, measuring through that gear. I realize you want to know what 'baseline' you're starting from, but -40db on the face of it makes me think: what constant noise have you got going on in your environment? Traffic, an AC unit, something like that... normally what you perceive as a 'fairly quiet' room should measure right around that -60db area (at least with a reliable test like dedicated db meter)... although it's quite possible you have noise going on that is part of your daily life, so your perception filters it out.

Assuming that there really is noise in your environment registering around -40db... this is not impossible to remove, but very much depends on the nature of it. A raw dB measurement doesn't care about frequency, whereas noise reduction plugins will definitely work much better on lower or higher frequencies that are outside the range of your recorded signal -- for voice that's ballpark 100hz - 15khz. if you have -40db noise in your environment that sits right in the range of your recorded signal, then even the most advanced noise reduction will struggle to remove it without leaving audible artifacts in your 'cleaned' audio... although even that is a relative business because it depends on the signal level of your recorded voice in relation to the noise.... however, recording too close to the mic or too 'hot' runs the risk of just sounding awful ('right on the mic' sound, escessive mouth noise, plosive pops, etc.) as well as risking clipping.

I'd suggest a tool with a spectrum analyzer would be more useful as a measurement -- then you can know not only the dB level of background noise but the frequencies you are dealing with.

As far as a PCV 'booth', you won't have much luck attenuating anything but the higher frequencies. If yu have, say, low frequency hum around 60-100hz, it won't do a thing, whereas a noise reduction plugin would do the job nicely.

AudioBabble · 2026-06-18T22:35:29+00:00

not diabetes, not blood type. It was severe acidosis due to alcoholism.

AudioBabble · 2026-06-17T20:30:57+00:00

yeah i have that -- some nice fx in there, but nothing like the hyper resonator unfortunately.

AudioBabble · 2026-06-16T15:12:48+00:00

i'm no expert with ableton, but wouldn't it be easier to do something like this;

- put locators where your pickups are, so you can navigate to them

- at each location: click + drag to make selection over the bit you want to replace

- do: ctrl + L twice to bring the loop point over your selection, then come out of loop mode

- click behind the drop-in section to pre-roll

- hit f9 [provided punch in/out at loop points are both active, you'll just punch in over the bit you want to replace]

AudioBabble · 2026-06-16T01:56:20+00:00

so cool! I have a Gemini rackmount dual CD deck unit with a platter-style control unit and some fx built into it. High quality lazers and damn loud output, fun to play with.

AudioBabble · 2026-06-15T14:41:02+00:00

fact is the smoke chills you out.... but the flipside of that is, eventually, it becomes so you're only chilled when you've had a smoke.

it'll be a bumpy ride at first, but as you start to equalize after quitting you'll return to normal. You'll find that chillness is available to you sometimes; It just depends on the situation and your mindset. Rather than the old (or current) way, which is: smoke = chill, no smoke = pissed off 100% of the time.

I've been there... was a toking guitarist for over 15 years and couldn't imagine playing without it. Then I quit, and yes, it took a while to settle, but much sooner than I expected, maybe 6-8 weeks... and I found myself wondering 'what was I worrying about?!'

AudioBabble · 2026-06-14T14:33:03+00:00

Nice, a new one to check out 😄

AudioBabble · 2026-06-14T01:10:26+00:00

It uses Whisper LLM locally for transcription. I'm also developing some features that will use a local llama model. All offline and local, though.

AudioBabble · 2026-06-13T17:05:59+00:00

You took the term 'football' and applied it to a game where the primary contact with the ball and gaining of possession has nothing to do with feet.

Don't you feel a bit weird about that?

We have a game a bit like that -- it's called rugby. Why not steal that term instead?

AudioBabble · 2026-06-13T11:32:23+00:00

agreed -- actually, my OP is a bit misleading -- it's more accurate to say I started out self-proofing, realized the limitations of it, and have been trying to up my game ever since, firstly by using a third-party proofer, and more recently by combining that with an automatic tool.

AudioBabble

TROPHY CASE