A Beatles Virtual Instrument

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:01 am

Fab Four News:

Video Tutorials are now available:

http://www.soundsonline.com/Fab-Four-Vi ... W-170.html

zed · Post by **zed** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:13 pm

Frodo wrote:Video Tutorials are now available:
http://www.soundsonline.com/Fab-Four-Vi ... W-170.html

Wow, I can't believe you're paying such close attention. On the ball Frodo.

I came across something which is may also be of interest. I found some Mp3 demos of that little VOX amPlug AC30. Check out the links under the heading Audio/Video/MIDI on the bananas website at: http://www.bananas.com/productdetail.as ... Guitar-Amp

This little baby actually sounds pretty darned good. It will be great for headphone practise, but it will also will be interesting to feed the signal into my Blues Junior to add some VOX fuzz to my signal before it enters a real tube amp. Very curious about this.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:44 am

Hey Zed!

Moi? Paying close attention? You're not doing so badly yourself with finding an mp3 of the Vox AC30. You know, I could actually live with that sound for practice at the very least and more. On my headset it sounded like it could benefit from a little boost in the 1-2k area, but that's nothing beyond the capability of any of UAD-1 or Duende should I run that into DP. For that matter, the tone knobs on any of these guitars could add a little more bite. I'd like to get close to that Ticket To Ride/ She's A Woman Ricky sound if possible.

I also checked out the mp3s of the Classic and Metal models. I like the Classic a lot and may have to spring for it as well. The Metal model sounds like my cheap Zoom stomp box so I'll pass on that one. Maybe the Marshall MS2 (with headphone jack) would be better suited for practicing Helter Skelter.

$40 a piece. That gives the term "cheap thrill" a whole new meaning!

Thanks for the link!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:55 pm

Mr. Z:

I understand that you have a Vox Amplug AC30 on the way. Same here-- should be here by Monday if all goes well.

zed · Post by **zed** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:53 pm

I enjoyed listening to those VOX Beatles tracks you mentioned. Thank heavens for Mp3s... it is so much easier to just search for stuff in my iTunes library, and play the songs straight away, than to dig out the CD or record album.

Frodo wrote:I understand that you have a Vox Amplug AC30 on the way. Same here-- should be here by Monday if all goes well.

It will take longer than that to reach me in Canada. Maybe even a few weeks... but I've decided to be very Zen about it, and since I know I will have to be patient, I'll just wait until I get an arrival announcement from Fedex.

Having said that, I might call Sweetwater tomorrow just to make sure the new shipment actually arrives as expected. I have my doubts that they will go out before Thanksgiving. I'll try to be more Zen about it once I know one is actually on its way to me.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:59 pm

Zed the Zen Man!

I guess it's still a little difficult for me to consider that Canada is another country-- but in truth, I've sent things to remote parts of England that have gotten there faster than things I've sent to you.

I guess I need to learn how to be Zed about it, too-- I mean.. erm.. Zen!

I ordered second day delivery, but I doubt the order went out today. With the holiday, that leaves two days left in the business week. Considering this is Tuesday evening, the net wait will be threefold the actual delivery time.

At least it's better than "never".

zed · Post by **zed** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:54 am

About three weeks late is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP6nYs9Il7c

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:38 am

zed wrote:About three weeks late is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP6nYs9Il7c

Nothinig like that warm, cozy feeling you get from a Beatles tune!

What's amazing is that it still comes across as a great song despite the "necro" overtones.

On another note, my amplug ac30 and classic rock units arrive Monday! So much for a weekend of wild twanging, but it appears that these things are pretty popular. Evidently, Sweetwater pretty much sold out their first shipment in a day.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:45 pm

PLAY UPDATE!!!

NEW
November 21, 2007
PLAY Software Update v1.0.032 (includes RTAS support)

This update is for the standalone and plugin versions of the PLAY software.

All installed PLAY Virtual Instruments can be updated automatically by Play Software Update v1.0.032.

Mac
(144MB)

I'll check the update notes in a moment-- still downloading. If RTAS is the only change I may not install it unless I can find something specific to AU that has improved.

Fab Four itself is still 1.0.1.

more to come...

zed · Post by **zed** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:52 pm

Frodo wrote:PLAY UPDATE!!!

Groovy Doo!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:57 pm

zed wrote:
Frodo wrote:PLAY UPDATE!!!
Groovy Doo!

Well, look who's in town!

I'm still three minutes away from the complete download... and counting!

Zed-- were you expecting this update? Seems odd that they eeked it out right before the holiday weekend. Do you have it? Any insights?

zed · Post by **zed** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:12 pm

Frodo wrote:Zed-- were you expecting this update? Seems odd that they eeked it out right before the holiday weekend. Do you have it? Any insights?

I haven't tried it yet, but I am also downloading it now. I don't have the impression there have been any significant improvements for DP users. I think this is the new version that they are including with new products like StormDrums 2, etc., but the improvements are probably mostly for RTAS users.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:52 pm

Once again, projects in Finale have robbed me of Fab Four time-- and guitar time as well-- but:

The Vox amPlugs AC30 and Classic Rock both arrived today!!

Cool gadget, these are-- a tad bigger than I imagined, but it's not at all a wall wart; quite lightweight.

Three rotary controls: gain, tone, and volume.

Two outs-- headphone and aux

Batteries included!

More soon...

zed · Post by **zed** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:07 pm

Frodo wrote:The Vox amPlugs AC30 and Classic Rock both arrived today!!

Groovy! You lucky dog... mine are still on back order!

Frodo wrote:Three rotary controls: gain, tone, and volume.

So does this mean you have a fair bit of control over the brightness and dirty/clean sound, or do the rotary controls click into presets?

Am looking forward to your first (errrr... second) impressions!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:55 pm

zed wrote:
Frodo wrote:Three rotary controls: gain, tone, and volume.
So does this mean you have a fair bit of control over the brightness and dirty/clean sound, or do the rotary controls click into presets?

Am looking forward to your first (errrr... second) impressions!

Nothing "clicks". No presets to sepak of. No how-to that I could find. It comes in a blister pack with very little info on the front and other blurbs on the back in four different languages (Fr, Gm, Jp, Sp?).

Maybe there's some pamphlet folded up inside the invoice-- I'll check again.

It's a pretty basic dial-til-you-drop approach. The dials have numbers, so if you find a combo you like you can probably just write down the approximate settings for one sound or another.

I'll give it a general test run in a little bit-- still up to my ears in Finale stuff at the moment.