Music Gear

[Hambeast]

I really disliked EZdrummer last time I used it. I found it all sounded really plasticy and artificial. The humanize feature in particular was horrible. It was either "off" which made fast drumming sound like machine guns, or "on" which had far too much varation and made it sound really sloppy. Played around with BFD for a little bit, but eventually settled on Addictive Drums which I've been using since.

A few black friday deals:
Waves Sibilance (de-esser) - Free: https://www.waves.com/plugins/sibilance - There's also other plugins discounted - https://www.waves.com/specials

iZotope Neutron Elements - Free with any purchase. I assume this means you can buy some cheap $2 plugin and still get it? I've never used it but iZotope stuff is normally pretty solid: https://www.pluginboutique.com/articles/1401

Eventide - Various discounts - Again, I've never used them, but I've heard great things about the Blackhole reverb: https://www.eventideaudio.com/specials/holiday-sale

iZotope - Various discounts - oZone is great for mastering and Nectar is super handy for vocals: https://www.izotope.com/en/store/deals.html

Native Instruments - Various - Guitar rig is pretty cool, but I prefer Amplitube for distortion: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/thanksgiving-2018/

Softube - Various - https://www.softube.com/buy.php

Soundtoys - Various - Always highly rated, but I've never found much use for them other than dicking around - https://www.soundtoys.com/

XLN - 50% off everything - Highly recommend Addictive Drums - https://www.xlnaudio.com/

Audio Assault - Various - Never heard of them but they seem to be aimed towards metal. Some amps for $5 - https://www.audio-assault.com/

[Obsidian]

Anyone know of a decent amp repair person? Preferably near Cork?

I have a Blackstar ID:Core 150 and the USB port on the top is damaged. I bought it as a remaining floor model and have no receipt and never registered it with Blackstar as a result.

I took the back off the amp and took apart the circuit boards to get to the top layer where I discovered the mini USB port itself was ripped from a smaller circuit board. It looks as though the board itself was damaged.

Because of this I can no longer update firmware, recall patches and recently lost the ability to turn on my Effects Loop (needs to be activated using the computer to use with the footswitch).

I would drop it in to any old amp repair place - but my question is: Is this an amp repair or would this be better being handled by a computer repair place? Its literally a damaged USB connection.

[Spoderman01]

Eventide - Various discounts - Again, I've never used them, but I've heard great things about the Blackhole reverb: https://www.eventideaudio.com/specials/holiday-sale

Have only used the H9 products but the Blackhole reverb is incredibly good

[Emphyrio]

Free drums or paid-for drums?

I actually don't mind paying this time. Once it's pretty good and not huge in price or processing requirements.

Gonna have a look-see at the links above when I get home. No harm in a gander.

[astfgyl]

I really disliked EZdrummer last time I used it. I found it all sounded really plasticy and artificial. The humanize feature in particular was horrible. It was either "off" which made fast drumming sound like machine guns, or "on" which had far too much varation and made it sound really sloppy.

You have to work like a dog to get anything natural sounding going with it. I used to use it but now I use a free one called MT Power Drumkit and I can get a handy enough sound out of it. A lot of the time I would mix and match samples with the kit because I'm not looking for the natural sound much, but that machine gun kick thing just never sounds good in any type of music.

[Hambeast]

The newer versions of EZdrummer might be a lot better. I know they've got stuff like "Superior" now which I assume is an improvement, but I was turned off by EZdrummer and I'm happy with what I use now. Drum Machines aren't something I want to spend too much time tweaking, and AD was immediately 10x better right out of the box.

I really like Devin Townsend's Ziltoid album, but the drums are horrible sounding because he's using EZdrummer. Particularly the faster parts. For example. 1:02 into Ziltoidia Attaxx

https://youtu.be/YtSnXU8DfCA?t=62

[astfgyl]

I'll let him off with that just because I love that album

[Blizzard Beast]

Is this a thread for all musical gear or are there any objections to having a seperate thread for drum related gear ?

No objections, this is just a sort of current purchases, non specific thread - what are you looking at, what did you buy, etc.  Definitely fire up a drum specific thread because this always gets overwhelmed by us and pedals 

Grand job,Il post one up in due course.still researching a bit for what I want but will post one up when I have all my info as I have a few queries on electronic drums..

[Spoderman01]

Temptation got the better of me so I've ordered an Akai MPD218 pad machine and a JHS Bonsai, the one with 9 tube screamers in one.

[Blizzard Beast]

Anyone know of a decent amp repair person? Preferably near Cork?

I have a Blackstar ID:Core 150 and the USB port on the top is damaged. I bought it as a remaining floor model and have no receipt and never registered it with Blackstar as a result.

I took the back off the amp and took apart the circuit boards to get to the top layer where I discovered the mini USB port itself was ripped from a smaller circuit board. It looks as though the board itself was damaged.

Because of this I can no longer update firmware, recall patches and recently lost the ability to turn on my Effects Loop (needs to be activated using the computer to use with the footswitch).

I would drop it in to any old amp repair place - but my question is: Is this an amp repair or would this be better being handled by a computer repair place? Its literally a damaged USB connection.

There's a few lads in Cork that fix amps,not sure if Steve Nixon  fixes amps as well as guitars.I know a guy in work that does fix amps outside of work who is good.I can ask him for you,not sure how busy he is but can let you know monday if your still stuck.

[Floss]

Nixon doesn't do amps, but his buddy Dave (carrigaline) does so he can link you. There's a guy in Glanmire too I think though....

[Floss]

Did a bit of shopping this week...Upgraded to Cubase 10, some nice looking updates. Got a few drum plugins too (drum Leveller, auto align)... and finally decided to take a punt on some of the Klark Teknik compressors (clones of 1176, LA2A), and their pultec clones.... looking fwd to trying them. Got a good deal on a 7string too, never played one...

[ldj]

Does anyone know if there's any brands that do a decent copy of a Yamaha SG2000 like this one, my dream guitar but only seeing €3000 prices online 😂.

[Juggz]

Try ebay, reverb, etc. The beauty of the Yamaha SG is how good they are as guitars moreso than the looks. Getting a lesser guitar which looks like one seems like the exact opposite of the idea of them.  The 800s and 1000s are ridiculously good guitars for the money and can be gotten for under a grand with a bit of effort.

[Spoderman01]

Boss Katana 100w head on the way. Was looking for something cheapish with an aux input and an FX loop.
The acoustic channel is also a plus as I'd half an eye on getting a little acoustic amp at some stage anyway.