A Beatles Virtual Instrument

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:09 am

zed wrote:What about the French discography??? It is not mentioned... and I know for a fact that there tonnes of Beatles LPs and singles from France with completely different artwork, and French titles. Hmmmmm... it would be disappointing to spend $200 bucks and not have a COMPLETE worldwide discography.

I have been kicking myself for years, since I went to a Flea Market in New York, and saw a French single from Rubber Soul, in a mini full colour jacket of the album cover with French titles. It was only $25... and instead of grabbing it immediately, I decided to think about it... and somehow managed to forget about making the purchase. I have regretted that bum move for years.

Oh, Mister Zed. What a bummer, that.

I wonder about the French stuff, though. The plethora lone might be indicative of the notion that it might not be completely documented. Yet, I cannot imagine that there'd be nothing at all included in this archive. Such omissions qualify for pretension where the caveats are kept tacitly hidden in advance of purchase.

In the meantime, you might find this site interesting, although the French entries seem anything but complete...

http://www.triskelion-ltd.com/beatles-foreign.html

Here is a pretty nice aggregation of the French singles:

http://www.freewebs.com/thebeatlesbeat2/French_sp.htm

French LP's
http://www.freewebs.com/thebeatlesbeat2/French_lp.htm

French EP's
http://www.freewebs.com/thebeatlesbeat2/French_ep.htm

Disclaimer: I'm anything but a discography expert and actually know very little outside the UK releases.

zed · Post by **zed** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:29 am

Frodo wrote:Such omissions qualify for pretension where the caveats are kept tacitly hidden in advance of purchase.

Indeed. I sent a quick e-mail to the author/managing director. Hopefully we will soon get some feedback on this matter.

Thanks for the additional links Frodo. It has inspired me to make quiet pact with myself. Well... maybe not so quiet because I am about to share it with you, and anyone else who may be reading...

From now on, when I travel to foreign lands I am going to try to put aside $200 for each country, and spend a few hours scouting out local vintage record stores, in an attempt to find some of these album collectibles from my travels. What better souvenirs could I bring home!?!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:33 pm

zed wrote:
Frodo wrote:Such omissions qualify for pretension where the caveats are kept tacitly hidden in advance of purchase.
Indeed. I sent a quick e-mail to the author/managing director. Hopefully we will soon get some feedback on this matter.

Wow-- yeah, do tell when the report comes in.

zed wrote: Thanks for the additional links Frodo. It has inspired me to make quiet pact with myself. Well... maybe not so quiet because I am about to share it with you, and anyone else who may be reading...

From now on, when I travel to foreign lands I am going to try to put aside $200 for each country, and spend a few hours scouting out local vintage record stores, in an attempt to find some of these album collectibles from my travels. What better souvenirs could I bring home!?!

Oh, man-- when I was collecting Star Wars rarities I always snooped around during my travels to foreign countries for special items. Once while in Brazil I found a Chewbacca with packaging in Portuguese-- not something you'll find locally. I'm sure that you couldn't even find that particular issue in Brazil any more.

More to the point, I found an LP pressing of Sgt Pepper while in Tokyo many years ago. Never opened it or had it appraised, but it will never get played or sold anyway!

zed · Post by **zed** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:49 am

Frodo wrote:More to the point, I found an LP pressing of Sgt Pepper while in Tokyo many years ago. Never opened it or had it appraised, but it will never get played or sold anyway!

If you're never gonna sell it, anyway, I don't understand why you wouldn't play it? Seems like it would be more valuable to YOU, if you also had the pleasure of listening to it. As it is a new record, unscratched or unworn, it may sound better than any other version that you have. I think you owe it to yourself to crack it open one day... make a celebration of it... and enjoy the experience of hearing it.

Frodo wrote:
zed wrote:
Frodo wrote:Such omissions qualify for pretension where the caveats are kept tacitly hidden in advance of purchase.
Indeed. I sent a quick e-mail to the author/managing director. Hopefully we will soon get some feedback on this matter.
Wow-- yeah, do tell when the report comes in.

I did get an initial response, but have fired back a second message for further clarification. I will let you know when I hear back again.

zed · Post by **zed** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:42 pm

Well, after a couple of e-mails back and forth, it looks like the French discography is not included in this book, unfortunately. There is only one "Les Beatles" cover included which is apparently an Israeli pressings of a French EP.

This is disappointing news, because as we saw from those French Beatles links, there are a lot of cool album/single/EP covers in the French discography. I'm afraid this means that I may have to wait until a further pressing of this book, before purchasing, because the omission would always bother me. Almost a relief, because I didn't really want to cough up the $200 right now.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:24 am

Hmm- what a disappointment. I wonder now what else has been omitted...? And why?

Hmm--

VERY Interesting-- this link:
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/02 ... tifac.html

Fascinating!

On another front-- actually on-topic, if you can believe it:

PLAY UPDATE v 1.0.052 has been released.

http://www.soundsonline.com/updates.php

Fab Four is still at 1.0.1

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:18 pm

Like the Energizer Bunny-- this thread keeps on going...

FabFour wins the MIPA Award (Musikmesse International Press Award)

http://www1.mipa-award.de/

Contenders: Miroslav Philharmonik and Vienna Instruments Special Edition

Other news:

Beatles Engineer Norman Smith passes away last week.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7284108.stm

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:26 am

Of course, Hobby, there's Heather's little coup announced yesterday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Mills

zed · Post by **zed** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 8:08 am

Frodo wrote:Like the Energizer Bunny-- this thread keeps on going...

boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom

Sorry to hear about Norman Smith. Guess it's time to do some more reading of Recording the Beatles to refresh my memory on his contributions. My memory does not seem to be very efficient, because I was reading all about him a few months back, and I have retained almost none of it.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:46 pm

monkey man wrote:Of course, Hobby, there's Heather's little coup announced yesterday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Mills

Yes, this is very interesting. While the settlement doesn't exactly send Sir Paul to the poorhouse, it is about 40% more than he offered her and 80% less than she asked for. The assertions of physical abuse are exaggerated at best or simply untrue since such behavior would have been considered criminal, and there were no such charges filed against Paul in that regard. For my taste, there was a little too much focus on getting *more* money-- and for her to do a televised dance contest in the midst of it all undermined her claims of suffering.

But it's over, thank goodness.

Timeline · Post by **Timeline** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 7:35 pm

Who was it here that said Fab four sounds had too much stick in the drums? He was right!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:50 pm

Timeline wrote:Who was it here that said Fab four sounds had too much stick in the drums? He was right!

I think it's probably more due to the vintage processing compared to the nature of Ringo's drum sound rather than the more pristine sampling approach of BFD, Addictive Drums, or similar.

The "stick" can be tamed, though. Few of these sounds fit into any given mix right out of the box, I've found. Because of the limited numbers of samples (especially basses and kits), it can get to be tweak city in a hurry.

But, I've also found that the "stick" can cut through electric guitars and vocals as tracks get layered more densely. I really think that having Beatle tracks as references reveal much about how these sounds came to be, how they were used, and consequently how they might be used in VI form. So many of those tracks were strong on mids and highs-- much more so than what we hear on today's mixes in general.

It's a VERY different than almost any other VI I've seen, and it's really not for every purpose. I'd like to see more options and other features, but its sounds are quite open to manipulation from its own front panel.

zed · Post by **zed** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:12 am

Try putting a stick in this...

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:21 am

Frodo wrote:Yes, this is very interesting. While the settlement doesn't exactly send Sir Paul to the poorhouse, it is about 40% more than he offered her and 80% less than she asked for. The assertions of physical abuse are exaggerated at best or simply untrue since such behavior would have been considered criminal, and there were no such charges filed against Paul in that regard. For my taste, there was a little too much focus on getting *more* money-- and for her to do a televised dance contest in the midst of it all undermined her claims of suffering.

But it's over, thank goodness.

Thank goodness.
You'd think Paul would have breathed a huge sigh of relief.
She seems like a piece of work; I know the judge wasn't impressed.

Poor Paul; I remember his saying 20 years ago that making friends was very difficult for him, largely because of ulterior motives.
Fat lot of good this would have done him.
Between you and me, I have a feeling he'd have gladly paid that sum just to be rid of her.

Not to denigrate or disparage anyone, of course...

Timeline · Post by **Timeline** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:17 am

She's a B for sure but Paul has major issues too. You got a be a bit strange to go after women with missing limbs on a regular basis. geesh! Don't think he would ever hurt anyone though. He's not reckless it seems. More likely just wants a normal relationship with lots of strange like most rock musicians pine for. Nothing wrong with that.

So he got a 20% haircut, big deal. I can't feel sorry being as how he's got a billion bucks. He should of had a prenup. Now that was stupid! This won't be the last time I would think either..... Lifestyles of the way too rich and foolish.