silentium!

[Komatos]

On Aug 24, 2012, at 9:01 AM, Gert van Santen <g.vansanten at upcmail.nl> wrote:

> Op 24-8-2012 14:43, Tony Scharf schreef:
>> I was thinking about this the other day.  Music Bar is kind of
>> becoming like that old couple that stays together but doesn't really
>> talk to each other because if he tells her that story about WWII
>> again...she'll kill him.
> 
> Actually, I've got a completely new story to tell, so I'm sure only good things will happen to me :-).
> 
> I've been working like an idiot for months (OK, nothing new about that ;-), and I'm almost finished with this translation of "We Are Anonymous" by Parmy Olson (cool book, btw).
> 
> So I thought I have definitely earned a cool present (don't start on the MiniBRUTE - it's still not here!).
> Since I've been playing guitar again for at least half a year, and I'm doing loads of practicing - plus planning an album and live gigs - I thought I can give myself a real good Ibanez guitar: AS103NT. And I got a great price too!
> 
> I ordered it yesterday, and I'm SO looking forward!!!
> 
> Here it is:
> 
> http://www.musicvillageusa.com/images/products/AS103NT_1_l.jpg (I didn't order it there, of course, but in NL).
> 
> Tada!
> 
> -- 
> Gert
> -------------
> gert van santen
> www.gertvansanten.nl
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> music-bar at lists.music-bar.org
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Wow that's a nice guitar. I love guitar based music, so please post any future tracks made once you get it and start playing. Regarding your second post/update: I'd take the sunburst version of the real model you wanted originally rather than settle for a different model in a color you like. You can always stain it later. Like an automobile you want that isn't available in your preferred color, the model/type of car is more important.

On a similar note to Gert, I've been real busy at work & with life lately. I'm 9 days into a much needed 20 day staycation. Trying to get projects done around the house, but mostly chilling so far. I haven't had any gear since late 2007 due to having to sell it all to catch up on bills & stay in the house (which I really almost lost this last winter/early spring trying to get the mortgage company to get me a restructure/deferral).

Anyways, after all that stress (financial, work & life related), and feeling a musical itch that needed to be scratched, I decided to treat myself to a new piece of gear with my longevity (annual bonus) and some Best Buy credit. I know most of you will probably laugh at me, but I ended up getting a Beat Thang hardware unit. With a 10% off coupon that came with the Best Buy card I got it for $899.99 + tax instead of $999.99 + tax. $100 off a limited edition item that I paid 60% for with cash and the rest with credit was a steal. I used the $100 I saved to get a couple of 32GB SD cards for it and still have some cash left. I'd been following it since it was announced in 2008 and actually released last summer at an initial price of $1500.

I bought it because I'm a hardware musician at heart and the Beat Thang to me is the spiritual successor to the Yamaha RS7000, which I consider to be the most powerful hardware sequencer ever made. The workflow is similar (unlike the confusing workflow of the Akai MPC line [I had a used MPC1000 for a few months last summer with JJOS & it just didn't jive with me]). The only thing different is you load up & work with one pattern at a time instead of multiple patterns/styles of the RS7k. This is due to having to load the kit(s) for the current pattern into RAM, which usually only takes 1-3 seconds.

While the initial marketing & product name seemed to gear it towards inner city youth & hip hop musicians, it actually is a great all round sequencer & sampler that can be used for live performance. The manual is slim at 20 pages but there is a wealth of video tutorials done by the Beat Kangz on their learnbeatthang.com website that are very professionally done & easy to follow. The video tutorials are what finally sold me on the Beat Thang a couple of weeks before I bought it.

Sorry for the novelette. I'm excited to be back in the game again. :-)

--komatos/wasted