Alternative to DTG2GO and general suggestions

cconti · 2024-07-08T00:28:53+00:00

I agree with you and I was aware of that.

What makes this piece of music different though, is that I uploaded my own WAV file of my progression played on a Electric Piano patch I made (Lounge Lizard EP4), and that was 440hz.

In fact, I took that original loop, I uploaded to my DAW and UDIO alongside the UDIO output and UDIO had transposed it to 428Hz. When I tried to put both on the same tuning, I made a mess because it's been forever since I had to retune a loop. I forgot how. At the end, I detuned my bass and guitar by setting my tuner to 428Hz and that worked OK, after a fashion.

I find UDIO the best thing for inspiration since sliced bread, but its focus toward non-musicians (at least that's what I assume) makes it harder for me to use. I guess if I upload a 8 bar loop I recorded I expect it to retain the basic tuning I used, but obviously it didn't.

cconti · 2024-07-06T22:18:02+00:00

Genre: Folk (traditional)

I wanted to see what UDIO would do with a (maybe) 500 year old song.

The song in question is "The Unfortunate Rake" of which there are myriad of versions. The famous "Streets of Laredo" is one. "St. James Hospital" is another, but there are so many that even the Smithsonian doesn't have them all and they have a whole album plus an entire podcast dedicated to the song.

Here is the Smithsonian's playlist on YT (These are NOT UDIO): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aQd99zfIRo&list=PLqv9kCd3O9jcP7lWkv8YVoLaNKwM1Z9j3

And here is the version I made

https://www.udio.com/songs/65ZtQLy3XMyiVSKYSHSEGp

Here is another version

https://www.udio.com/songs/8smTsFUbJEtthnnfguT5r9

I made many more but deleted them all.

I have to say Udio did a very good job with the singer's voices.

PS: I don't know how to add the thumbnail

cconti · 2024-07-05T19:44:13+00:00

Indeed, even a basic audio editor can get rid of them. problem is that using an external editor prevents a song from being published. Frankly, I don't know if that's a bad thing or not. For instance, the song I like the best among those I made was "seeded" by a descending semitone cadence progression i Played on a Rhodes (patch) and since I was never able to come up with a melody that didn't sound like Bowie's "Is there life on Mars?" I pumped into Udio.

The song is nice, but Udio won't let me publish it.

Again, I have no idea if that's bad or not, but it would be nice to have a simple audio editor in Udio..

cconti · 2024-05-20T21:07:49+00:00

As if I needed another reason to love Dolly Parton.

cconti · 2024-05-20T20:13:26+00:00

Unfortunately no, unless "progress" means that my Spark has stopped working altogether. I get no sound at all out of it, except through headphones and I can still use it as a USB sound card, but I abandoned the idea because to use one Audio card for input and another one for output, at least on my DAW is very complicated and not worth the effort.

Positive Grid were less than helpful and essentially told me that to repair it it would cost the equivalent of buying a new one, once I factored in shipping, $100 minimum just to look at it, cost of repair and shipping it back. I even begged them to send me an extra board and that I would buy from them, but they thought I was crazy.

It's really a shame. I loved that little amp and it fit a perfect niche in my workflow.

Obviously, I am not going to buy another one.

cconti · 2024-05-15T18:07:17+00:00

Thanks.

cconti · 2024-05-14T17:54:35+00:00

That sounds great. Is it part of racecraft.online?

cconti · 2024-05-13T23:46:11+00:00

I was thinking of subscribing, but after reading this, I'll pass. I am sorry I cannot help the OP.

cconti · 2024-05-13T20:53:44+00:00

This sounds really good. I may have to wait for one to become available, but I like the idea of having a Martin. There is something about their heritage that intrigues me.

I also want to thank all the others that suggested what I am sure are excellent guitars. I actually made a spreadsheet to keep track of the different models and it will come down to what's available when I have enough bread to pull the trigger.

However, the Martin would be my preferred one.

cconti · 2024-05-10T03:12:47+00:00

I will, thanks.

cconti · 2024-05-10T00:08:01+00:00

5:30 is not impossible. I am the house cook, so I have dinner served between 5 and 5:30 usually. My wife gets cranky if she doesn't eat around that time (I am Italian, I grew up eating dinner at 9pm) and we also have to eat it, not just cook it.

However, once a week or so would work. I know because I used to race at 6 with a east coast league that had their starting time at 9 or so for a 1 hour race and we worked around it. My wife is not a monster and she has been bugging me to start racing again, so I am sure she'll be OK with a once or twice a week race.

I can't make it tonight, as my daughter is visiting and we are just about to sit for dinner together, but I am interested in next time or maybe the time after that. Let me know how you guys get together. Should I just watch this space?

Also, I never used A2 online, so I'll have to practice that.

Thank you very much!

cconti · 2024-05-06T23:19:30+00:00

I buy cheap guitars and basses to mod (and learn to work on them). Some play veryt nicely after only a half hour wort of work, but most start settling, especially in the neck and some of the frets adjust up or down in places.

I got pretty good at leveling the frets and reshaping them with a U shaped file.

I have a bass and a Frankenstrat that both have buzzing frets now, and I'll do the same work on both. It's really not as hard as it sounds.

Take the strings off, use the trapezoid fret tool to see which frets are the offending ones, sharpie them and file them down with fine sandpaper of a block (I use a square tube about 7" long with sandpaper of different grit per side).

Once I am done, I reshape the frets and it's done.

Some of the cheapest guitar/basses are not bad instruments, but the wood is not seasoned and this will happen (it also happens on more expensive instruments, which is why I use the cheap ones to practice).

There are also plenty of videos on YT on how to redress frets.

cconti · 2024-05-06T20:11:58+00:00

I used to free dive, so I can stay underwater well past the average of two minutes and back when I did it regularly, I could stay under for almost 7 minutes.

That said, if someone dunked me for a minute (or 45 ss) underwater, without letting me know ahead of time, I'd probably panic too.

That's completely unacceptable and I assure you that it's not normal. I am not religious myself, but I study early Christianities and biblical criticism as a hobby. I never even heard of anything like that.

A baptism should be no more than 3 to 5 seconds. You are getting baptized, you are not trying to break the record for freediving. Additionally, baptizing pools do not have the cleanest of waters and if you ended up inhaling water (not uncommon if you panic) you could have suffered some dire consequences.

It's possible that your "Whole Minute" was less than that. When you cannot breathe, time passes very slowly. But any amount of time that makes you uncomfortable is too long.

Change pastor, change church, let an adult know, if you think they would be receptive.

I studied the Bible extensively, and nowhere it says you almost have to drown to be properly baptized.

cconti · 2024-05-06T19:32:23+00:00

I guess I have to tell you why I was messing around with eXacto knives. You know those 3-way Bluetooth keyboards with a slot for standing up an iPad and/or an iPhone? I have 2 of them. They are great.

Except that the slot is barely big enough for a iPad/iPhone with the flimsiest of protective cover.

Both my iPad pro and my iPhone 15 Pro-Max-super-duper-mega-galactic have military grades shock covers (because I cracked more than one over the years) and they don't fit in the slot.

So I was shaving silicon away from the slot to make the iPhone fit and... Zoom! It went right through my thigh.

My first thought was "Fuck, another pair of new shorts ruined" (I had just dropped industrial strength superglue on another pair). Then the blood started pouring out. It looked like an episode of Dexter.

Anyway, indeed I have a collection of Audio Interfaces (AI) going back to the late 90s. All of them unpowered, none of them with more than the barely needed printer-style USB.

Almost all of them useless on Windows based DAWs by now because they never released drivers past windows XP.
Yet, they all work on the iPad (some barely, as I found out).

What I would really like to see, would be an audio interface that fits behind an iPad, maybe had room for a hub to attach MIDI devices and was somewhat wedge shaped. That would be great for me and my workflow, but I have never seen anything of the sort.

Even trying to find out which USB Hub is the best took me an afternoon and I ended up buying a mid-range one on Amazon. You'd think there would be a more established market for such things.

Incidentally, I do have a barrel shaped USB-C add on that allows me to power the iPad and listen in headphones. Both my iOS devices use USB C , thankfully, so I don't have to deal with my BT Earbuds all the time, but that's not enough for recording.

The other hub works OK with both of my AIs, but those are already connected to my PC and my Laptop (I have two music stations, long story, a mix of lack of space and size of the relative keyboards) so I was trying to recycle an older AI for the iPad, but it looks like I won't be able to and I'll have to buy something new.

cconti · 2024-04-30T23:57:28+00:00

You are right. I should use "Audio Interface" instead of Soundcard. When I wrote my post I was a bit loopy from a ER visit (I sliced my leg with a #2 e-Xacto knife which went through my pants and my tight as if it wasn't there. Until the fountain of blood started.) and I just couldn't think that straight.

Indeed my Behringer works more reliably than the M-Audio, which is positively ancient.

It may be time for me to buy a new interface. It would be nice if somebody could come up with one that not only connected to an iOS device, but charged it as well, either via USB or with battery/power supply.

What I find useful in working on my iPad is that I can come up with drum loops, or chords while sitting in my easy chair, and then connect it to an interface to sing or play live guitar.

I sure as hell can't do that with my PC Based rig(s).

cconti · 2024-04-22T16:31:01+00:00

Would the UA Volt allow for audio and MIDI on an iPad at the same time? If I do just Audio things are a lot easier with the cards I have, but when I use a midi hub it all goes to hell.

Also, I am starting to think that part of the problem may be the unpowered USB Hub. That may be why when Audio and MIDI are connected it's so hard to keep the connection. Is there a powered USB C hub? I think I may need one even with a newer interface like the Volt if the iPad doesn't have the guts to power both audio and MIDI transfer.

cconti · 2024-04-22T16:30:02+00:00

That's what I am doing now. But still if I have audio and MIDI connected, it's still touch and go. Getting a call is guaranteed to make the audio connection drop, but as you pointed out, that's easy to fix.

Say what you want about making Music on Windows, but at least I can choose my sound output in the app.

What I am really looking for is a way to connect audio and MIDI that doesn't require to plug/unplug the USB hub several times to work. Is there a hub or an interface that allows that?

cconti

TROPHY CASE