A Beatles Virtual Instrument

zed · Post by **zed** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:12 am

Frodo wrote:...reminded me that I've got three EZD expansion packs yet to install. I think I'll load them in right now!!

Damn. I'm feeling a little jealous. I wish I was playing with that Vintage Rock pack right now. The demo sounds cool... and I have weeks ahead of me waiting for BFD to arrive.

Did you get some spankin' good deal on those EZD expansion packs, or something?

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:44 am

"Nicely done, kids."

[Monkey hightails it to the southern turning point, a route he knows every square inch of by now...]

"Be a race official", they said.
"It'll temper your metal", they told me.
"You'll meet lots of interesting folks", they insisted.

What about the unprecedented lengthening of the race, huh?
Didn't warn me about that, did you?

[The northern turning point slips into a welcome relative silence as the cursing apester's gripes fade into the distance... for now...]

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:29 am

zed wrote:
Frodo wrote:...reminded me that I've got three EZD expansion packs yet to install. I think I'll load them in right now!!
Damn. I'm feeling a little jealous. I wish I was playing with that Vintage Rock pack right now. The demo sounds cool... and I have weeks ahead of me waiting for BFD to arrive.

Did you get some spankin' good deal on those EZD expansion packs, or something?

Yeah-- e-loo turned me on to a special a couple of weeks ago. Buy two expansions and get the third for free. Not bad-- basically 33% off. So I got Nashville, Latin, and Vintage on top of the main bundle.

I think my favorite out of the box is Latin. I am a little concerned about finding or creating more loops for EZD. Good Latin percussion is not easy to do convincingly. I guess I need to spend even more time with the interface. I know there are some things it just won't do-- for example, the room mics can be turned up and down, but any tweaking, it seems has to be routed into DP first. I suppose I could route the various ambient mics to different busses for individual processing, etc. I did find an actual DP template on their site for a fairly complex setup. I guess I'll study that after getting a little shut-eye. (Cripes-- 5:30 AM already.)

It is a very basic VI, but a pretty good one considering what it is or is not.

I'm even more gung-ho about BFD, and the percussion expansion is a must! Without doing a project with EZD, I can already see how I'll outgrown it quickly.

Seems like FXpansion will be the likely contender to put out a greater variety of ethnic percussion from Peru to Brazil to Cuba to various parts of Africa and Asia and beyond in time. I just don't think Toontrack is going to dumb down its expansions to a great extent, although I do want to see what they're doing with DFH2 when it appears.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:30 am

monkey man wrote:"Nicely done, kids."

[Monkey hightails it to the southern turning point, a route he knows every square inch of by now...]

"Be a race official", they said.
"It'll temper your metal", they told me.
"You'll meet lots of interesting folks", they insisted.

What about the unprecedented lengthening of the race, huh?
Didn't warn me about that, did you?

[The northern turning point slips into a welcome relative silence as the cursing apester's gripes fade into the distance... for now...]

MM-- you are in RARE form!! I think you just outdid yourself with that one.

LOL--

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:47 am

Thank you, Hobster.

You're right of course. I don't know what happened.
I seemed to lose most of my sense of humour around last July, something that worried me to the point that I created a thread about it.
I was quite (read: extra) ill for the second half of the year, so maybe that had something to do with it.
As of yesterday, it seems to have suddenly returned.

I figured I might as well make the most of it; after all, who knows how long it might last?
Just remember to duck, and that it helps to carry a moist hankie with you.

Paul J Forrest · Post by **Paul J Forrest** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:53 pm

Hi Frodo, (Ringo?) coincidentally there was a free concert in Liverpool city centre tonight to celebrate the beginning of Liverpool's year as the capital of European culture 2008. There was an expected crowd of 30,000 people and Ringo performed on the top of St George's Hall!

Paul J Forrest · Post by **Paul J Forrest** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:07 pm

Hi Monkeyman, you should have been in Liverpool tonight as it would have all been new to you.....well I mean..... especially with such things as electricity and lights!

Paul J Forrest · Post by **Paul J Forrest** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:19 pm

Hi Frodo, (Ringo?) coincidentally there was a free concert in Liverpool city centre tonight to celebrate the beginning of Liverpool's year as the capital of European culture 2008. There was an expected crowd of 30,000 people and Ringo performed on the top of St George's Hall!

Paul J Forrest · Post by **Paul J Forrest** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:34 pm

Hmm.....I don't know how that happened, it appears I'm working in Frodo stereo with a mono Monkey track sandwiched in-between. Must lay off the scotch!!!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:18 am

Paul J Forrest wrote:Hi Frodo, (Ringo?) coincidentally there was a free concert in Liverpool city centre tonight to celebrate the beginning of Liverpool's year as the capital of European culture 2008. There was an expected crowd of 30,000 people and Ringo performed on the top of St George's Hall!

Ringo. That guy.

I've heard some "interesting" things said about him, but he put a face on the rock-and-roll drummer forever. Drummers everywhere owe him a debt of thanks for the notion of recognition that drummers receive and deserve, if nothing else.

Currently on now-- a film from 1968 called "Rolling Stone", featuring a non Beatle performance (while John was nearly still a Beatle) of him performing "Yer Blues" with another band.

Lennon played his stripped-blond Epiphone Casino. Forgive me for the lack of names, but the other guitarist played a Gibson 335, and the bassist played a Fender Jazz. The tune is great as it is, but the extended solos were over the top!!

I fail to find this on imdb.com, but I suspect it's part of "Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" originally released in 1996. It includes performances by Jethro Tull The Who, Taj Mahal, and others----

--- that is, if you like this sort of thing...

Brilliant performances-- so honest, so real, so "right there"....

zed · Post by **zed** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:46 am

Frodo wrote:...featuring a non Beatle performance (while John was nearly still a Beatle) of him performing "Yer Blues" with another band.

Yeah, that's The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus. That is one of the most entertaining music DVDs that I have ever seen. No one who loves '60s music should be without that disc. Some classic Stones performances in there too... right in the midst of 1968 when psychedelia was still in its hay day. Love it, love it, love it.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:29 am

Paul J Forrest wrote:Hi Monkeyman, you should have been in Liverpool tonight as it would have all been new to you.....well I mean..... especially with such things as electricity and lights!

LOL!

Apparently it was all new to Ringo too.
He said on the BBC that so much had changed since he left in '64 that if someone were to have stopped the car (he took a tour of the city) and made him get out, he'd have been lost.

Frodo, you said much has been said about him.
I'm totally out of the loop, as you know, but if I were to guess, might folks have said that he isn't a musician?
He performed Yellow Submarine at the gig of course.
Whoopee!

Sorry I sound uncharacteristically sceptical, but IMHO, nobody's ever benefitted from a ride(!) quite as much as Ringo.
Perhaps I've not heard enough of what he did.
Then again...

zed · Post by **zed** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:48 am

monkey man wrote:Sorry I sound uncharacteristically sceptical, but IMHO, nobody's ever benefitted from a ride(!) quite as much as Ringo.
Perhaps I've not heard enough of what he did.

If you are saying what I think you're saying, then I think you may not be giving our dear Ringo enough credit. He was invited to join the band not only because he is a fantastic drummer, but also because of chemistry and a personality that jived well with the team. They really became the Beatles once he had joined.

His contributions are phenomenal. He is not a flashy "look what I can do" kind of drummer... he often plays sparsely, but quite deliberately. He just knows how to play the right thing at the right time, and that is a very under appreciated artform.

Poor Ringo. He is even more underrated than George.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:18 am

zed wrote:If you are saying what I think you're saying, then I think you may not be giving our dear Ringo enough credit. He was invited to join the band not only because he is a fantastic drummer, but also because of chemistry and a personality that jived well with the team. They really became the Beatles once he had joined.

His contributions are phenomenal. He is not a flashy "look what I can do" kind of drummer... he often plays sparsely, but quite deliberately. He just knows how to play the right thing at the right time, and that is a very under appreciated artform.

Poor Ringo. He is even more underrated than George.

I'd figured that his personality might have been the major reason they took him.
Sounds like I may have underestimated him, as you said Zed.
Sorry Ringo.

Poor Ringo, indeed!

twistedtom · Post by **twistedtom** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:44 am

MM you need to understand the historic perspective surrounding the Beatles. First Ringo was ahead of his times in his drumming and IMHO he is a fine drummer to this day.
The Beatles came up with many innovative harmonic concepts that forever changed music. To this day I still love their songs. I listen to a wide verity of music: that said, on an Alternate station that plays softer alternate music like the Gorillas (I put that name in for MM) some of the music sounds a bit like the Beatles and this is supposed to be the latest alternate music. IMHO the Beatles were much better than most of if not all of the bands that are using the same kind of harmonic structures as they did.

EZD; I have been playing with it since I got it. I have a RY30 rhythm programmer and banks of drums in my PC88MX, I don't much use Mod12 and they all have different sounds add the EZD drums (that I like the sound of) and I am on my way to a verity of drum kits. I think I need some expansion packs now.
The groves in it are mostly useful but I will be tweaking my own still. I have been getting into jazz the last few years so I need a jazz set as well.

Are the any good sources of MIDI groves I can get? I will be using them in DP to trigger drum kits? I like all forms of Rock, Blues, jazz, Bebop big band.

Frodo I see you are being a vampire and staying up all night again.
Tell my how you like the packs you loaded instead of going to bed.