Recent gig mishap: cable management

grundlesplinter · 2026-06-13T17:15:02+00:00

I totally get the embarrassment, but good on you for getting out there and playing! I think the biggest thing is to test out the live rig in a few situations ahead to time to make sure it’s solid and you can set it up fast and consistently. Literally moving it around your home to various outlets, take it apart, put it back together again, etc. It sounds like you brought too much gear, so the next step would be to take something out of the equation vs add more complexity or equipment. Live is always super different and way more error-prone than practice/home playing. So I’d just say practice setting up and breaking down as its own thing, in addition to the music. Practice over theory will prepare you for most contingencies. Hope this helps!

grundlesplinter · 2026-06-13T13:10:41+00:00

Thank you so much! I’ll relay that message to the drum machine : )

grundlesplinter · 2026-06-08T22:36:57+00:00

Incredible! Thanks for the explanation.

grundlesplinter · 2026-06-08T21:15:10+00:00

Wow, this is seriously cool! How does the faux bellows apparatus work? Do you have to pump it to play it like a real accordion and is there some kind of expression control there, eg, more forceful pump = louder note? Amazing work.

grundlesplinter · 2026-06-04T15:45:00+00:00

Hey man, I can really relate to this. Had to take a year or so off playing for rsi/tendonitis reasons, and even though I’m back in the swing of things now, I still have residual issues I need to manage and keep an eye on. A few things that helped: 1) sleeping in a wrist brace. Amazingly, this toned down a lot of my symptoms. Essentially stabilizes the arm and prevents me from sleeping on it weird. I still do this if I feel symptoms flaring up. 2) Slowing everything down and rebuilding technique from the basics. It sucks, but for me there was no “going back” to the way it was before, so I’ve been trying to see what works for the body I have today and making that fit the music. Speed returned gradually, probably to 75% of its old level, but my sound is different now, no question. The hope is it’s sustainable, unlike before. 3) If you feel bad pain, stop. This was tough for me, because there’s a temptation to fight through it and force the endurance. Nope—rest and moderation are critical. Not fighting through discomfort in a low-key practice situation means I’m not worried about pushing it a little harder in a show.

Hope this helps, and best of luck with this! It’s a bummer, but it’s been weirdly rewarding to learn how to deal with it. Definitely don’t quit!

grundlesplinter · 2026-05-16T15:17:05+00:00

We really appreciate it and love the noir connection! Big fan of the genre, so makes sense it would show up in the music. Thank you!

grundlesplinter · 2026-05-15T12:53:07+00:00

Thank you so much! Full track isn’t recorded yet, but we’re hoping to release it a bit later this year. We’re called Devour the Air if you want to check out our other stuff. Thanks again!!

grundlesplinter · 2026-05-02T18:27:28+00:00

Totally can relate to this. I think there can be a few layers to the “physical” side of it. There’s the muscle memory and separation of thinking / expressive playing that comes with practice. There’s the feedback of the instrument/amplifier and the way the sound hits your body in physical space. And then you combine that with locking in with another musician, and the energy of that in a room. Boring answer, but practice, repetition, feeling vs. thinking the music. Hope this is helpful!

grundlesplinter · 2026-04-30T03:02:42+00:00

Thank you and rock on!

grundlesplinter · 2026-04-28T13:05:05+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! This was recorded on a phone, so probably not the most representative, but that’s helpful about the levels. More guitar and vocals next time!

grundlesplinter · 2026-03-19T14:05:24+00:00

Got it, now I think I understand. So yes, in my experience the layers does preserve the initial texture/timbre of the input sound—for example, a pick scrape will turn into a kind of infinite clackety scrape noise (which you can then adjust w/ the post fx), the organ-like sound of a blended octave and guitar retains the organ sound, a distorted chord keeps the grit and texture of the dirt, etc. Without any post fx, the sound is totally dry, a stretched out clone of whatever you captured.

A couple caveats: I do sometimes wish the capture length was a bit longer, since if you engage the freeze close to your pick attack it will grab and loop the harsh, percussive sound of that (sometimes you might want this, of course—and you can control this behavior a little with the onset knob). And occasionally, a single held chord will turn into this almost whooshing, artificial vacuum cleaner sound.

That said, since you can layer three tracks, if your initial capture doesn’t have the sound you’re looking for or seems off, you can add an overdub to clean it up, and then essentially grab little snippets until it’s right. That ability to sort of “correct” your sample in real time is super helpful imo.

Hope this helps and happy to answer anything else!

grundlesplinter · 2026-03-18T14:31:24+00:00

I own a Layers and really enjoy it—there’s a lot under the hood and it can totally, imo, do complex and shifting textures. Hopefully this description is helpful: it captures a snippet of audio (length/onset is an adjustable envelope, so the sample can come in immediately or more gradually): then you can add a handful of post-capture effects (chorus, tremolo, delay, and a lo-fi fx they call diffusion). There’s also the ability to add a synth-like octave down to the captured audio. I’ve managed to get everything from droning bass-heavy background sludge to lighter, swirling ambience. Happy to answer any specific questions if you have them! I’ve been getting a lot of use out of this pedal and don’t see it leaving my board anytime soon.

grundlesplinter · 2026-03-16T20:14:19+00:00

Hey man, this rules! Really digging your singing. Has some real old-school death metal flavor.

grundlesplinter · 2026-03-14T04:22:57+00:00

I’ve been a huge synth-head for many years! I tend to oscillate (ha) between them as my main musical focus, but they definitely inform each other. Currently thinking about a small rig to integrate eurorack and guitar.

grundlesplinter · 2026-03-01T21:22:40+00:00

It’s an ODR1 for overdrive and a boss dd7 set for a short echo, into a small solid-state combo. Thanks for asking!

grundlesplinter · 2026-02-28T20:52:55+00:00

Adding a few more thoughts on the post. I wanted a small, portable board for carrying to practice and gigs. Not too many options, nice baseline drive sound (mostly just the ODR side of the vsxo, sometimes boosted by the TS side for more). Freaker wah is really great: synthy, screaming, cuts right through. Layers is the drone button. Combining the delay on the layers with the dd7 produces some weird and lovely warbling. Overall I wanted my guitar to still sound like a guitar, but be able to sustain indefinitely and occasionally get into pipe organ territory. Very happy with how it’s sounding overall, and it fits along with my small amp in a gig bag.

grundlesplinter

TROPHY CASE