A Beatles Virtual Instrument

Discussion of Digital Performer use, optimization, tips and techniques on MacOS.

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Frodo
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Post by Frodo »

zed wrote:.. Now I have to collect 2 different Ricky 12s? For crying out loud, this is maddening. :evil: :? :x
2 Rickies. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Life sucks, don't it? :wink:

I thought about selling my 330/6, but I like having the full size neck. I still want the 360/12 (earlier model)-- and a 325/v58 jetglo Capri. I'll just have to work harder and eat less.
zed wrote: Unless of course the added pickup of the 370/12 gives the tonal options to accomplish both the v63 and v65 model sounds. I wonder.
I wonder, too. Somehow, I think you'd be doing well with any of the them.
zed wrote: I found a local music store with both the Beatles Hits and Beatles Favorites books/CDs which you mentioned earlier. I am going to check them out before closing time. :-)
8)

They look deceptively simple, but so far I'm enjoying them a great deal.
Last edited by Frodo on Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Tim
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Post by Tim »

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Post by Frodo »

Hmm-- the headstock is a giveaway-- but it looks nice! I can't resist those curves!!
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Post by Tim »

It's mahogany though, not maple like the Ricky (which is where a lot of the brightness comes from).
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Post by Frodo »

Tim wrote:It's mahogany though, not maple like the Ricky (which is where a lot of the brightness comes from).
I love the look. I really do!!

Man, I'm so hooked on Rickenbacker-- the design and the sound... it's a shame!
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Post by zed »

Tim wrote:It's mahogany though, not maple like the Ricky (which is where a lot of the brightness comes from).
But isn't that what MW EQ is for? Or the top boost on an amp? How bright does it really need to be? Hmmmmm. Seems like the v63 Ricky 360 was much less chimey than v65. How much less chime could this have? For that price, I am seriously tempted to add it to my arsenal.

I was just thinking how surprised I am to learn that the electric 12 string was used so much by the Beatles. It was news to me to learn yesterday that the groovy lead in You Can't Do That was a Ricky 12 string, and then I went out a bought one of those books that Frodo recommended: The Beatles Hits, and imagine my shock when I discovered that the deliciously cool rhythm guitar track in And You Bird Can Sing is actually John playing a Ricky 12 string with a capo. I had no idea.

So grabbing some sort of decent electric 12 string is a top priority.

The book is cool, by the way, and will prove useful for many, many days to come. I was a little disappointed with a shortcut taken on the CD which makes it less useful. Each example is played with backing accompaniment on the left and the guitar parts on the right. Then each track is followed by an additional track with a slowed down version of those guitar parts. The problem is, the slowed down version does NOT include the backing accompaniment... so if you want to jam along at a slower speed to practise the part (e.g. by looping the track in iTunes), you cannot do it without first using audio tools to slow down the main audio tracks yourself. Grrrrr. They should have done that for us.

But then again, that is what the Amazing Slow Downer software is for: http://www.ronimusic.com/
It is simply a must if you want to learn how to play guitar parts by listening to recordings. I'd recommend you download the demo and try it if you haven't already.
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Frodo
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Post by Frodo »

zed wrote:Seems like the v63 Ricky 360 was much less chimey than v65. How much less chime could this have? For that price, I am seriously tempted to add it to my arsenal.
I agree-- there are other ways to add chime to a guitar sound that are perfectly legit.

The one important difference between the v63 and the v65 was that the former has the vintage toaster single-coil pickups, and the latter has the traditional/current "hi-gain" pickups. Pickups can always be replaced, if that makes a big enough difference.
zed wrote: I was just thinking how surprised I am to learn that the electric 12 string was used so much by the Beatles. It was news to me to learn yesterday that the groovy lead in You Can't Do That was a Ricky 12 string, and then I went out a bought one of those books that Frodo recommended: The Beatles Hits, and imagine my shock when I discovered that the deliciously cool rhythm guitar track in And You Bird Can Sing is actually John playing a Ricky 12 string with a capo. I had no idea.
Zed!! Glad you got the book! At first glance it really does look like any other collection, but there is a small treasure of info between its covers. I haven't bothered listening to the CDs, but I'm not surprised that they do not go the distance.

But Amazing Slow Downer has been part of my arsenal of utilities for a few years now. The algorithms have gotten better-- and using them on the actual Beatle tracks has proven to be the best reference of all. Why practice with the Marhsall CD when you can practice with the Beatles at any tempo you want!!? :P
zed wrote: So grabbing some sort of decent electric 12 string is a top priority.

.. so if you want to jam along at a slower speed to practise the part (e.g. by looping the track in iTunes), you cannot do it without first using audio tools to slow down the main audio tracks yourself. Grrrrr. They should have done that for us.

But then again, that is what the Amazing Slow Downer software is for: http://www.ronimusic.com/
It is simply a must if you want to learn how to play guitar parts by listening to recordings. I'd recommend you download the demo and try it if you haven't already.
Hey-- why use iTunes when you can snip and loop excerpts in DP?
Q. Amazing Slow Downer: Is it possible to save the slowed or speeded up versions of the audio?

A. To save a slowed down / speeded up / pitch changed file for CD burning:

Use the Amazing Slow Downer "File Menu" -> "Save song as..." item.

Select the "Processed stereo" item.

The saved file will be slowed down / speeded up / pitch changed according to your settings and will be saved as a 44100 Hz/16-bit/stereo file which you may burn to a CD with your ordinary CD burner software.
Fly those files into DP and design your own practice method with even greater flexibility!!

"We're gonna have some fun tonight...
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Frodo
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Post by Frodo »

zed wrote:... and imagine my shock when I discovered that the deliciously cool rhythm guitar track in And You Bird Can Sing is actually John playing a Ricky 12 string with a capo. I had no idea.
Side note--

Zed-- the capo trick explains why the chord changes in John's part are a whole step lower. It's this attention to detail that I apprecaite about these books.

What I have a problem with is that this chart stops after the solo. Hmm. Same notes mostly, but the repeated phrase at the end has some interesting fingering and picking in it worth exploring.

I'm still trying to get my ears around the 325/12 sound-- different somehow from the 360/12. The 325/12 doesn't sound as if it's tuned in octaves. Am I imagining?

I'm also regretting that "Dr. Robert" was not included. :cry:
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Does Fab Four work in DP?

Post by D.Compose »

It crashes regularly in my 5.12. It's also very clumsy and takes way too many clicks to access a simple sound. the sounds are great if you can get to them.

D
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Re: Does Fab Four work in DP?

Post by Frodo »

D.Compose wrote:It crashes regularly in my 5.12. It's also very clumsy and takes way too many clicks to access a simple sound. the sounds are great if you can get to them.

D
"It"-- of course! Fab Four.

D-- are you using PLAY 1.0.021 with Library Update 1.01? DP can be unkind to some plugins-- or some plugins can be unkind to DP, the two occasionally orphaning one another.

One thing that helps is to set DP's work priority to medium (if it's on high) or on low (if it's already on medium) in the Hardware Settings. This can open up a few more resources for plugins in general. That's not to ignore any further issues directly related to Fab Four still in progress.

In the Fab Four settings window, there are two preference sets which may also help. (I was just in Standalone mode for this...)

1. Audio-- Fab Four's own buffers can be set from as low as 4 samples/.3 ms to 1152 samples/21.6 ms. Depending upon the amount of MIDI activity at any given moment, overloading these buffers can send DP into a hissy fit. (I'll have to check this again while in plugin mode...)

2. Streaming-- The two "factor" options there are the play buffer factor and the preload buffer factor. This places a certain amount of sample data into RAM. With DP's work priority lowered and with this setting increased, performance can improve in DP. Again, I'll need to check plugin mode for exceptions.

Generally speaking, I've made adjustments upwards in increments of 2 for each of the buffer factors while keeping my eye on RAM usage. If it seems that too much RAM is being used at once I'll lower the settings just enough so that I can avoid pops and clicks. (Activity Monitor is great for monitoring RAM usage.)

Hope that helps...
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Frodo
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Post by Frodo »

Okay-- here's a plugin followup:

The Settings preferences do not offer Audio Buffers, but they do offer their own Streaming Buffer settings for tweaking the amount of sample data paged into RAM at once. While in plugin mode, the audio buffers are governed by and set in DP's Audio Hardware Settings.

Adjusting the streaming buffer factor upwards (as well as the preload buffer factor when appropriate) can improve performance until such time the amount of physical RAM used becomes overwhelmed
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zed
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Post by zed »

Frodo wrote:The one important difference between the v63 and the v65 was that the former has the vintage toaster single-coil pickups, and the latter has the traditional/current "hi-gain" pickups.
Dammit. I just went back to that eBay listing to see which pickups were on the Korean model, and discovered that someone had already taken it. I almost used the Buy It Now option myself earlier today. Turns out they were single coil pickups, and so closer to the v63 model, which is probably my more favoured sound.

Friggin' fruitcake! :-(

In support of Tim's comment of a couple days ago, I read today that one of the first things you would do when buying any of these guitars, whether Rickenbacker's or imitationbackers would be to put Pyramid Flatwound strings on them to get that vintage '60s sound.
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Post by Frodo »

zed wrote:In support of Tim's comment of a couple days ago, I read today that one of the first things you would do when buying any of these guitars, whether Rickenbacker's or imitationbackers would be to put Pyramid Flatwound strings on them to get that vintage '60s sound.
That was one thing I should have bought when I went to pick up the tuner and the Beatle books. I was so determined to come home with one of those Vox headphone amp thingies that I totally spaced on the strings. Tim gives good advice.

Zed, I hope the magic Ricky comes your way. Thing is, you won't be happy unless you have just the right one, and you'll know the right one when you find it. If it weren't for the pure luck of a half-price sale, I wouldn't have had mine, probably.

Many people buy guitars and return them as sticker shock sets in quickly. In other cases, where Rickenbacker is slow about filling its orders I've seen some stores have Rickies hanging on their walls for a year or more. I would just keep my eyes peeled for any occasion that would warrant some sort of clearance, provided there was nothing wrong with the instrument.

I love the feel of the neck on the Ricky so much thatit's the only guitar I've played this month. I've not touched the Gretsch since September-- and (you're going to clobber me for this), but I've not even touched the Casino. I haven't even peeled off the plastic from the pick guard.

I will, though. I will.... as soon as Ricky fever starts to wear off.
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Post by Tim »

zed wrote:
Dammit. I just went back to that eBay listing to see which pickups were on the Korean model, and discovered that someone had already taken it. I almost used the Buy It Now option myself earlier today. Turns out they were single coil pickups, and so closer to the v63 model, which is probably my more favoured sound.
It'll run again. I saw it several months ago. That's when I had the guy email me the photos. He told me that it comes in black (Jetglo) too.
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Post by monkey man »

A this point, it's obvious you guys are well beyond any 12 step programme I'm aware of. :shock:

In short, there is no hope. :lol:

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