bass trainers

[lizard_king_21]

I'm not sure if this is ther right forum to post this in but....

I have been looking at buying a tascam bass trainer, however, affording one on my humble salary is another issue altogether.

I wonder if there exists a computer program which will do most if not all of the same things.
such as removing the bass track from cd recordings, slowing down the track without effecting the pitch, etc, etc.

I have recently moved into a new home, in which i cannot play through my amp without bothering people. so i play/practice plugged in to my computer anyway. I would like to have these features without having to buy a $200-300 device.

please help

[Shovelbone]

Originally Posted by lizard_king_21

I'm not sure if this is ther right forum to post this in but....

I have been looking at buying a tascam bass trainer, however, affording one on my humble salary is another issue altogether.

I wonder if there exists a computer program which will do most if not all of the same things.
such as removing the bass track from cd recordings, slowing down the track without effecting the pitch, etc, etc.

I have recently moved into a new home, in which i cannot play through my amp without bothering people. so i play/practice plugged in to my computer anyway. I would like to have these features without having to buy a $200-300 device.

please help

Ok... several suggestions here - you say that you have recently moved into a new home that prevents you from playing through your amp without bothering people?
THEN MOVE!
Just kidding... .I have a Tascam bass trainer myself and I have used it quite often in the past. Although it does perform as advertised there is one small problem regarding the bass boost. When you increase the bass it becomes quite distorted so sometimes that can defeat the purpose. But overall I would recommend using one. If you do purchase one, I highly recommend getting the AC adapter with it. These things go through batteries faster than Rosie O'Donnell at an All You Can Eat Buffett!
Some of our friends out here have suggested certain software programs such as Audacity and another one called Slower Downer but I have yet taken the time to look at these. Perhaps someone else out here can speak to that.
I hope this helps!

S..........

[Geddyfleaharris]

I have a bass trainer for the odd time I have to learn a cover tune. I think it is a pretty handy little tool. Some people say that the ability to slow a song down is cheating but when you are pressed for time who cares. Watch the Classifieds here on TB or Ebay as they do come up for sale pretty regularily.

[Risen Ashes]

Is it really worth $200-300 dollars?

[Shovelbone]

Originally Posted by Risen Ashes

Is it really worth $200-300 dollars?

200 - 300 dollars??? I picked mine up off of EBAY for 125.00 and that included the AC Adapter. Unless you are talking about the MP3 version that they have ust come out with?

[Messiah25]

Try the "Amazing Slow Downer" from "Rony Music", It's really cool, but i don't know if you can remove the bass there but you sure can use the installed eq to boost it or cut it.
You can change the pitch or the speed and it cost less than 50 bucks.
I would say go for it.

http://www.ronimusic.com/

[srxplayer]

I guess you are talking about Canadian Dollars? I only paid $99.00 brand new at GC. I know you don't have GC in Canada but there has got to be a retailer in BC that charges less than $200.00 for them.

I have the older model. CDBT-MkII it plays CD or MP3 on disc. The doors are fagile so you have to be carefull with them. They also do weird things when they run on batteries. When they are pluged in with the AC adapter they work great. I use it as a headphone amp and for learning tunes. It has lots of features but the only ones I seem to use is the looping effect, the tuner and the slow down mode for more complicated lines. I also run it into my Ampeg BA115HP and use it to play along to the tunes I'm learning. It's a useful tool. I think they are worth money as long as you are not paying $300.00 for one.

The new model has a more compact design and better designed door. They go for $149.00 here in the States. They also deleted the extra line in that the mine has. I never use it anyway so it probably doesn't matter. It doesn't do anything that the older one can't do though. The MP3 player version is $269.00 here in the U.S. I have not tried it yet but it looks interesting. It holds around 250 to 260 three minute songs.

It may be cheaper for you to order one online at MF or GC online and pay the shipping to the Great White North.

[steve66]

If your running Windows on your computer, Microsoft Media Player 10 will slow the song down. Its a free download.

Also try Audacity. You can import the song and change the tempo.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

I have the Tascam Bass trainer (cd only version) and I think its very good. Very cool features

[dunamis]

Originally Posted by Messiah25

Try the "Amazing Slow Downer" from "Rony Music", It's really cool, but i don't know if you can remove the bass there but you sure can use the installed eq to boost it or cut it.
You can change the pitch or the speed and it cost less than 50 bucks.
I would say go for it.

http://www.ronimusic.com/

+1 I've been using this for several years. Don;t waste your money on the Tascam. I had two of them (CDBT-1 and the CDBT-1 mk ll) and they both stopped working in less than a year.

The Amazing Slowdowner works with CD's as well as MP3's. It has a pitch change feature that allows you to change the key of the playback souce, allows you to set start and end points so you can continously loop a passage, and has a controls that allow you to drop out the bass so you can play with the background track 'sans-bass'.

It works really well, is simple to use, and coupled with a headphone amp, makes the perfect rig for silent practice.