Musicians' thread.

Submolecule said:
Sorry if this question has been asked before, cant go through the entire thread. What would you recommend as a good beginner guitar for about R2k - R3k? I play acoustic and would like to start playing electric soon. I'm sorted with an amp, just need the guitar. I know that I will need to go to a music store and test out their guitars in my budget, its just that I want to get an idea of what brands/makes/models to look out for or to avoid completely. Any suggestions?
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In the lower budget range I'd look at squire, cort, yamaha, epiphone or some of the non USA made fenders.
Brands to avoid - Behringer, pearl river, ritmuller

Look for a korean made guitar rather than chinese, as the low-end chinese guitars are just horrible.

To echo what Copa said, I'd highly advise playing the guitar hands on and not buying online.
You can try gumtree, some good bargains to be had sometimes, if there's one close to you, you can always go check it out.
 
copacetic said:
I'm no expert, but the obvious question is what sort of style you are hoping to play?

As much as any of us can recommend anything as well, your best bet is actually to go down to a couple of music stores, advise the employees of your budget and just play a couple of guitars that they have in stock. I made this mistake once - Never buy something you have not played before.

Ignore anything the salespeople say, aside from 'here, try this one'.

Then once you have a list of a couple of guitars, post it here, and also check out as many reviews as you can yourself.

Then, narrow the list down to 3 guitars or so, go back the store and play those three again, and make your choice, secure in the knowledge that you have more than adequate knowledge and experience with the given guitar to make a good decision.

If I say, 'Ibanez is great, don't buy Cort', I'm not really saying much, am I?

:D
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In the lower budget range I'd look at squire, cort, yamaha, epiphone or some of the non USA made fenders.
Brands to avoid - Behringer, pearl river, ritmuller

Look for a korean made guitar rather than chinese, as the low-end chinese guitars are just horrible.

To echo what Copa said, I'd highly advise playing the guitar hands on and not buying online.
You can try gumtree, some good bargains to be had sometimes, if there's one close to you, you can always go check it out.
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I wouldn't, unless I had played and liked the exact same model elsewhere.
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Thanks so much, I do appreciate the feedback. Its pretty clear what I need to do, now to find a decent music store.
 
Is there anyone here who can help me configure M-Audio 410 Firewire with Cubase 5...I'm going bald pulling my hair out as I'm new to this sort of thing thanks!
 
disabled said:
Is there anyone here who can help me configure M-Audio 410 Firewire with Cubase 5...I'm going bald pulling my hair out as I'm new to this sort of thing thanks!
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Could try and help, sure - You'll need to explicitly detail what the issue is please.

/Disclaimer - I've never configured a firewire soundcard before, so I've no idea how to go about it, but I'll try anyway.
 
I think it has something to do with connecting the ports between Cubase and M-Audio because there's no sound! and they not talking to each other When I play the bass the led for the bass input flickers when playing thebest is to take a snapshot and posted that could make things a lot easier

I'm going to rehearsals 2morrow and one of the guys seems to be a fundy on it so let's first see what happens and I'll keep you updated thanks take care...

http://www.pinkfloydtribute.co.za/
 
disabled said:
I think it has something to do with connecting the ports between Cubase and M-Audio because there's no sound! and they not talking to each other When I play the bass the led for the bass input flickers when playing thebest is to take a snapshot and posted that could make things a lot easier

I'm going to rehearsals 2morrow and one of the guys seems to be a fundy on it so let's first see what happens and I'll keep you updated thanks take care...

http://www.pinkfloydtribute.co.za/
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Okay, obviously best if you can actually show someone the problem - I'm just curious though; Did you get sound through Cubase before using the M-Audio card?

If you try and record the bass now, does it actually record (form a visible waveform)?

I presume you have set up Cubase to use the M-Audio drivers?
 
copacetic said:
Okay, obviously best if you can actually show someone the problem - I'm just curious though; Did you get sound through Cubase before using the M-Audio card?

If you try and record the bass now, does it actually record (form a visible waveform)?

I presume you have set up Cubase to use the M-Audio drivers?
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No it does not record, Yes I have set up Cubase to use M-Audio drivers And yes I do get sound with Cubase not through M-Audio because I use the Cubase for our performances for visuals and effects, There are 3 settings for Asio audio drivers 2 for M-Audio and one for normal Windows i.e.7 Ultimate

I mustr specify that I don't have speakers connected to M-Audio but should still get sound from the M-Audios earphone jack and even so the bass is not recording but when I play the bass the LED flickers so there has to be a signal
 
disabled said:
No it does not record, Yes I have set up Cubase to use M-Audio drivers And yes I do get sound with Cubase not through M-Audio because I use the Cubase for our performances for visuals and effects, There are 3 settings for Asio audio drivers 2 for M-Audio and one for normal Windows i.e.7 Ultimate

I mustr specify that I don't have speakers connected to M-Audio but should still get sound from the M-Audios earphone jack and even so the bass is not recording but when I play the bass the LED flickers so there has to be a signal
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Sounds like you don't have input monitoring enabled on the track you're recording the bass to.
 
disabled said:
Nope, but with the normal window drivers no problem and how do I add monitoring?
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First things first, nevermind about monitoring and recording - Get your sound playing with the M-Audio drivers and we can go from there.

This is a bitch to try and do over the internet, so many things it could be.

If you put in an audio file with the M-Audio drivers, does it 'play' then, as in the meter moves and the song moves forward, but there is just no sound? That means, I would guess that you need to go into the audio routing within Cubase and make sure it is outputting to the correct place. Alternatively, I presume that the M-Audio card has a control panel of its own? Have you checked the settings there?

If it doesn't play at all, then obviously there is a driver problem.

Perhaps download a thing called ASIO4ALL (google it), install it, select the ASIO4ALL driver in Cubase and see what happens.
 
copacetic said:
First things first, nevermind about monitoring and recording - Get your sound playing with the M-Audio drivers and we can go from there.

This is a bitch to try and do over the internet, so many things it could be.

If you put in an audio file with the M-Audio drivers, does it 'play' then, as in the meter moves and the song moves forward, but there is just no sound? That means, I would guess that you need to go into the audio routing within Cubase and make sure it is outputting to the correct place. Alternatively, I presume that the M-Audio card has a control panel of its own? Have you checked the settings there?

If it doesn't play at all, then obviously there is a driver problem.

Perhaps download a thing called ASIO4ALL (google it), install it, select the ASIO4ALL driver in Cubase and see what happens.
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Cool thanks for the information yes it is a bitch over the net but I'll get there, will see what happens by the week end and willk let you know as assagai has kindly offered to help me over the phone which simplifies things easier for me then we'll post in case someone else runs into this problem I'm sure it's a minor Thanks chat later
 
disabled said:
Cool thanks for the information yes it is a bitch over the net but I'll get there, will see what happens by the week end and willk let you know as assagai has kindly offered to help me over the phone which simplifies things easier for me then we'll post in case someone else runs into this problem I'm sure it's a minor Thanks chat later
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Awesome, yeah, over the phone will be excellent. Post your results here, one way or the other, so that people might learn from your situation possibly.

Cheers, have a good one.
 
trapjaw said:
I'm a drummer, been playing about 11 years now.

Encryptedbread, you say you have around R5500 to spend yeah? Check out gumtree and junkmail, you can get a very solid brand name kit with decent entry-level cymbals for a bit less than that second hand. Something like a Tama rockstar or Pearl Export, or a Yamaha kit, all of those are solid brands to look for that will last and sound good. Don't be tempted to get some cheap Chinese-made crap. It'll break, the hardware will come apart, the cheap cymbals you get with it will crack and warp in no time. A good brand name kit will retain its value as long as you look after it, unlike the el-cheapo Chinese stuff.

Cymbal brands to look for with the kit would be zildjian, paiste, sabian, istanbul, meinl...
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Thank you - exactly what I'm looking for. Cheers!
 
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