amp without controls to just be everything you want

[byacey]

Great episode by the way! I think this is more like "they took the fun out of our jobs". It's a poor example, but I would simply say that sitting at the keyboard of a player piano is not exactly the same as playing the piano, even though the audience may not know the difference.

I'm all for progress and not the least bit threatened by technology. At some point in the last 40+ years I had a hand in much the super high tech stuff you know about today - maybe even more stuff if you work for DoD. However, there are things/technologies that enhance our ability as an artist and other things that at best substitute for lack of talent or ability. An amp that thinks for itself falls in the latter category for me. YMMV - especially if you use control versus managing speed for yourself.

I don't think technology will ever be able to artfully replace lack of talent.

 

[somebrains]

Apps already exist that let band members do their own monitor mixes via ipads. The question is whether that would scale to 100+ people in an audience.



That's because combo amps don't cover whole rooms, unless the room is very small or the band is very quiet.

You can scale the content delivery easily.
The trick is properly architecting the wifi mesh + encapsulating the experience with a local bias vs traditional broadcast boilerplate.

You approach the show as more of an IoT architecture rather than mobile.

gave this talk in LA to a bunch of film editors.

 

[JimChjones]

Hell guys, people have got to have crazy dreams before there's progress, and sure 98% of the crazy dreams are nonsense, but are you really confident that you can identify the 2% every time?

If you think about pure accoustic music then a system that precisely amplifies what's audible in an ideal listening situation and automatically compensated for things like people moving in and out of the room etc sounds like a good thing. Especially in circumstances when a talented soundman is unavailable.

And also don't just think music shows, think things like gymnastics competition s where the canned music sound is universally execrable...

With electric and electronic live music it's maybe another story, but in that context you've all said it...

 

[JACink]

I don't think technology will ever be able to artfully replace lack of talent.

Ableton seems to be doing a pretty good job

 

[NeonVomit]

Ableton seems to be doing a pretty good job

Ouch.

 

[Steadfast]

this is precisely why creativity is dead.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

OMG! The song that consistently gets rated The Most Scratchable Record and is arguably the worst song ever recorded.

I actually quite liked it, although I was a kid just starting to read scifi when I heard it...

 

[HolmeBass]

When I ran 3 rehearsal rooms one was pretty big about 900 sq feet and we were having some trouble getting enough gain before feedback despite having plenty of speakers and amps. So I rented an RTA, hired an engineer and we spent 5 hours shooting noise and playing with the speaker positions and the 32 band graphic eq. We did get a few more db of gain but EVERY BAND that came in that week begged me to put it back to "how it was before."

RTA's have been supplanted and replaced by FFT analyzers like Smaart7 that actually compare what goes in electrically vs. what goes out acoustically. With them we can now model the coverage pattern and phase coherence of multi cabinet SR systems. That processing and the modern line array are a big reason why you can now understand what the singers are singing in sports arena concerts.

I always figured RTA relied on FFT in the chain anyway - if it doesn’t, just how does it work?

 

[40Hz]

I actually quite liked it, although I was a kid just starting to read scifi when I heard it...

That’s probably because you’re a nicer more idealistic and positive person than I am.

And in all fairness, you could use the lyrics as an outline for a multi-volume scifi dystopian future history epic if you were a writer. So no harm done.

Asimov, Herbert, Niven, and Dickson better watch out!

 

[nilorius]

Could be such an amp, but the volume conductor always will be. Theres the question - will this be the best way to achie the best sound possible?

 

[ColonelZulu]

Patrons get handed a wireless headset with a multi track micro board so they can adjust the output, tone, effects on any individual track.

 

[madbanjoman]

Well this technology is in the consumer home speaker market already. Apple’s Homepod adjusts to the room and has no knobs except volume. After it is moved, it listens to the music playing in the room and adjusts.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

When I play live, everybody adjusts to my playing.

 

[glocke1]

i like the amp to be classy with sound and not have a button or knobs that adjust anything so a true sound can come out. i have a dream that a amp will be so you don’t do anything to “get there”. Even volume not have a button or knobs, so it’s automatic that listens to the room and makes it do everything. amp will have noise sensors that evaluate every situation and mix possible. there will be algorithms, but all analog. how about a bass amp for a live concert to adjust itself and will cut through by itself? can it be the future?

Im basically fine with treble/middle/bass and maybe presence or whatever depending on what the manufacturer calls it. Thats sort of what I like about Demeter stuff, although to me they tend to lean more towards the brighter/upper middy side of things so I end up turning the treble and mids down while turning the bass up.

I do own both an Eden WT800 and a mesa walkabout, and while I like the tone both of these produce, they just have more knobs than i want to deal with

 

[Wisebass]

how about a bass amp for a live concert to adjust itself and will cut through by itself? can it be the future?

Hi Rumbledore

I can understand the idea of a kitchen robot, but I still prefer food that is cooked by a human chef!


may the bass be with you

Wise(b)ass

 

[agedhorse]

I always figured RTA relied on FFT in the chain anyway - if it doesn’t, just how does it work?

It can also be a set of 31 bandpass filters looking at the acoustic energy in each band. There's no phase information available this way.

 

[Bflat]

Cool idea......Anyone thought about what happens when more than one of these is used in the same room...one for the guitar, one for bass, etc.......total random chaos adjusting all night or volume runaway

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Never heard that before. Never even heard of that band. But man, did I enjoy that.

Zagar has a guitar company less than an hour from where I live.
Zager Guitars | Zager Easy Play Custom Guitars

 

[Passinwind]

Cool idea......Anyone thought about what happens when more than one of these is used in the same room...one for the guitar, one for bass, etc.......total random chaos adjusting all night or volume runaway

It's all good since everybody subconsciously craves Ornette Coleman music.

 

[rtav]

In true Talkbass fashion the thread has assumed a life of its own.

In reading and considering the OP and subsequent comments I am not sure I would want an amp, however classy, that I could not affect via manual controls.

My own sound changes a bit depending on my mood as much as any objective acoustical-electrical data.

I tend to play differently depending on how I feel, how the band is feeling, the song itself, etc.

As it is my amps get gnarly, louder and darker as I dig in or really pound out my lines - and I love that. They match my mood by simply reproducing my playing passively.

How would a “self-correcting” on the fly control-free amp deal with changing subjective emotional playing styles, which can vary in a number of ways?