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Post by Zi on Sept 29, 2023 12:25:29 GMT
Pavane mentioned a plastic bass recorder from Thomann - there's a review of it and a plastic Aulos here: YouTube Review
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Post by pavane on Sept 29, 2023 14:37:38 GMT
I used to own a bass - an Aulos, but not the knick one. I found it awkward to play and I very rarely did; in the end I sold it. I would expect either the Yamaha or Aulos knick basses to be good, and better than the Thomann. But so they should be - the Yamaha is about 2½ times the price of the Thoman, the Aulos roughly triple. I don't think I'd ever play the bass very much, it would just be for occasional fun, and the Thomann would be fine for that, I think.
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Post by Zi on Sept 29, 2023 14:54:17 GMT
I've got a very elderly Aulos bass but one of the keys is broken. It was given to me by Mr Z's music teacher, many years ago. It isn't playable really and it's here as a curiosity and out of affection rather than anything else. The few notes I've blown have sounded nice. I've ordered the Thomann one for completeness and because I'm in one of those "The lyf so short" phases. I ordered the shaft lock thingy at the same time and that is the bottle neck in the order so it looks like the recorder won't be here for some little time. I told Mr Z I was thinking of buying a bass recorder to add to all the other recorders I don't play and he couldn't think of a good reason not to. He even reminded me of the musical instruments he has but hasn't really played and said that all the time they were here there was the chance that maybe one day they'd be learned...
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Post by pavane on Sept 30, 2023 10:05:50 GMT
It's good to seize the moment! Having recommended them, I hope neither the lock thingy nor the bass are too disappointing! Do report back about the bass, I'll be interested to hear your opinion. Part of the reason I never played the Aulos I had was that it was the type 533 model and I found that, although it was a really nice instrument and I liked the look of it more than the curved windway version, it was awkward to play, either with or without (there was a direct-blow cap included) the bocal. What I'd really like is an affordable bass in C but no such thing exists
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Post by Zi on Sept 30, 2023 10:54:11 GMT
It's good to seize the moment! Totally agree. I have no illusions about how suddenly I will evolve into a fantastic recorder player. I expect it will amuse me for a while and it will make being able to do some accompaniment with myself, possible. If I want to do that. I was going to have something 'nice' for my 70th but I couldn't think of anything so there's still that sum floating about for being 'silly' with. Circumstances stole away my 60th! I will report back! It must be wonderful to be a really good player - so good that recorder makers queue up to make a recorder to your every whim!
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Post by Zi on Oct 7, 2023 10:29:46 GMT
Still no bass recorder... and today I've had my flu and covid jab. They stuck them in the same arm. This is good because at least I can sleep on one side. This is bad because already the arm is starting to stiffen up and I won't be able to strim anything... hang on. That's good!
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Post by pavane on Oct 8, 2023 13:34:09 GMT
Eek - jabs. I haven't been to the GP for ages but if I were to do so I suppose I'd get pounced on and jabbed
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Post by Zi on Oct 10, 2023 8:26:00 GMT
We had both at the same time, in one arm. It's better than two sore arms. I was yukky within a few hours but it's impossible to say if it was the flu jab or the Covid one as the flu jab normally makes me unwell. Though last time the flu jab arm was fine and the Covid arm wasn't. I don't know which was which this time as they were in the same arm. Anyway, the next morning I felt a lot better and the next day I was bouncing about strimming the meadow without any side effects so as far as I'm concerned - job done! Mr Z was fine. Mr Z says my immune system was show pictures of the villains and wanted to beat them up. I think his immune system quietly noted that the villains now had moustaches... Trust mine to overreact! Still no bass recorder...
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Post by pavane on Oct 10, 2023 9:38:35 GMT
Any jab that could make me want to strim a meadow would certainly be worth having!
Has the recorder been posted yet or are you still waiting for the music stand thingy to come in to stock?
With some reluctance, I ordered a clarinet thingy from the UK and it has now been stuck in customs for longer than it was in transit. Sigh!
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Post by Zi on Oct 10, 2023 10:08:06 GMT
I don't know. I think I'm supposed to have signed up for something to get updates. I ignored that bit. Maybe I'll do as they asked... What clarinet thingy did you get?
I'm a bit distracted at the moment as I'm trying to sort out a new graphics card for my PC. I don't want to buy a new PC at the moment because I may end up having to buy yet another one when Bethesda release Elder Scrolls 6 in the dim and distant future... This one is fine but the graphics cards is elderly and the worst part is Ubuntu is unable to use it properly. It was a weird Nvidia experiment which they abandoned. Works fine on Windows but Ubuntu can only see one card when there are in fact two... So, I have been down the long, tortuous road that is graphics cards...
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Post by pavane on Oct 10, 2023 12:49:58 GMT
Thomann are usually pretty good about sending tracking info, so if they haven't sent any, I suppose the most likely issue is still waiting for the lock for the music stand. I presume you resisted the temptation to sign up so you can't just check the order status? Obviously I have done that, but I buy quite a lot of stuff from them, so it's worth it for me. The new clarinet thingy is a mouthpiece for the bass I bought earlier this year. The mouthpiece that came with it wasn't very good, and I found it very difficult to play. Unfortunately it doesn't take a standard mouthpiece, so it's not straightforward to get a replacement. I bought a sale mouthpiece from Howarth and got them to ream it out so it fits and it's much better than the original, but it only just fits (it's supposed to be able to be pushed on a bit more or less for tuning, but it only goes on far enough to just bring it up to pitch, so no possibility of pushing it on a bit further if the instrument is a bit flat for some reason). It also looks a bit odd. I have treated myself (again!!) to a new one from Ed Pillinger, who makes them to order. Amazingly, he was familiar with the instrument I bought, and had made a custom mouthpiece for a similar instrument for Antony Pay no less. I have just paid the customs and VAT charge of €80 - ouch. That's why I usually buy from Thomann!
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Post by Zi on Oct 10, 2023 14:00:23 GMT
The new thingy sounds great. The customs thingy sounds not so great. However, sometimes that kind of thing is necessary. I paid incredible customs on a Skyrim sound track once but I don't regret it. It was necessary! I did the finish login thing with Thomann and as I suspected it was a complete waste of time because something (I suspect the lock thingy) isn't in stock...
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Post by Zi on Oct 10, 2023 14:31:05 GMT
Arghhh - it is the lock thingy and it has gone from 1 week (which it has had already plus a couple of days) to 2 to 3 weeks. Arghhhhhh!
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Post by pavane on Oct 10, 2023 17:31:31 GMT
Oh well, never mind - plenty of time to play around with graphics cards Now actually worse than printers.
I really messed up last time I upgraded my computer because I bought a motherboard that I mistakenly assumed had on-board graphics. My own fault - it had a HDMI socket and that used to mean having a graphics chip, but I should have read the manual for the mobo because what it actually meant was that if I'd bought a CPU with on-board graphics the output would have been via the mobo socket. Of course, I bought a CPU sans graphics. I don't do any games so I only need something fairly basic. I got an Intel CPU specifically because Linux always seems to have graphics drivers for Intel stuff built in, whereas getting anything from Nvidia means lots of mucking about, but all cheapo graphics cards are Nvidia, hence... It works for now but it's only a few years old and last time I updated the OS I noticed that it regarded the driver as legacy software. Hey ho.
You are right, the customs charge simply had to be paid and no point worrying over it, though it was a bit disappointing because the whole mouthpiece thing has been rumbling along for ages and I hoped to be able to pick it up while on one of several recent visits to UK, but all deadlines missed, and I won't be going again for a while. (Actually, off to Belfast for a few days tomorrow, and I did think of trying to get it posted there, but couldn't think of any easy and reliable way of doing so.) I have been looking at getting a better strap for the bass clarinet as the basic one I was using was making my neck sore. The one I really liked the look of (a) costs about €80 and (b) is now discontinued in favour of an improved (allegedly) version costing about €115. However, I stumbled across one on Amazon (yes, I know) last week for £12. I was sure it was going to be one of those annoying instances of it being the wrong photograph as the price difference seemed far too big, but I ordered it anyway on the basis that I could reject it if it turned out to be the wrong thing. But lo! It arrived yesterday and was amazingly the right thing, and is a great improvement. I saved pretty much what I spent on customs for the mouthpiece, so a case of swings and roundabouts.
Sorry about the delay to the bass recorder!
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Post by Zi on Oct 11, 2023 9:31:19 GMT
I'd do the Skyrim soundtrack thing all over again. That's my measure of whether it matters. I forgive you Amazon. Anyway, I am now testing my legendary lack of patience... Mr Z has the patience of a saint... but both the collie and myself are extremely impatient. I suspect he has all our store of patience as well as his own. Re computers - the trouble is I just want it to work these days. I always thought, come retirement I'd build one but I haven't. It's ceased to be amusing. Anyway, the last couple of days it has started behaving oddly. Looks like a hardware issue so I think I'm just going to buy a new computer. TES 6 is 5 years away at least whatever. I just heard a few days ago that someone I knew a long time ago died of cancer (younger than I am when they died but older than I was when they got the cancer) and I guess mortality has now written a big large! For a bit. It will wear off. re bass recorder - it will give me time to sort out some books, convince myself I don't have enough and buy some...
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