about to buy an EMX1

MagpieIndustries · Post by **MagpieIndustries** » Mon May 19, 2008 8:05 pm

Califax wrote:adapter? hmm does it not come with an adapter? so i'm guessing it's mostly battery powered?

shouldn't be an issue for right now i guess, i think they sell adapters at guitarcenter.

and thanks i'll def buy some smartmedia cards too.

as far as using hardware live - is it best to just record your beats/rhythms for a whole song and play along with it? or do you guys prefer to have someone hit triggers to play different loops and such?

maybe you should get a real drummer. less complicated.

AmigaHeretic · Post by **AmigaHeretic** » Tue May 20, 2008 12:02 am

what kind of wire should i be using? that's the only question i have found unanswered...i hear that certain wiring makes a huge difference.

Well, it going to very, but you may need some midi cables and probably some 1/4" to 1/4" cables to plug to the PA and maybe a stereo 1/8" to 1/8" cable to go to the macbook.

Wiring does make a huge difference! Look for a brand called "Monster Cable". My MIDI sounds way better. Get gold plated midi cables if possible. Sure sure there are losers out there that will tell you it's "digital" data so it doesn't matter if they're gold plated or not, but 1s and 0s just sound better through gold.

Oh yeah, and make sure you protect all your cable purchases by getting the stores "service protection plan" just incase the metal inside your cables wears out over time and the quality starts to degrade. Then you can just go an exchange your old cables for new!

Willie K · Post by **Willie K** » Tue May 20, 2008 12:51 am

By the way...if I were you...would go the Logic Studio way instead of the Logic express one...because the Studio version also comes with Mainstage that will let you play live and use the plugins from Logic Pro 8,Garageband, and whatever thirdy party plugin you have installed in you lappie. I use and audiocard, the RME Multiface, that has 18 ins/18 outs (8 analog) and let me connect all my equipment (EMX1,ESX1,Kaosspad3,Alesis Micron,DSI Evolver,Parker Nitefly guitar and a Mic) to the laptop using Logic Pro,Mainstage or...Ableton Live 7, to play live...

Califax · Post by **Califax** » Tue May 20, 2008 5:19 am

thanks guys that's really helping a lot. if i ask dumb questions it's only so i can understand electronics i'm not tryin to be a jerk or anything :\ so telling me to just stick to a live drummer isn't helping.

but yeah i really would like to use my laptop i was playing around with the emx1 and it seems to do all i need it to do as far as drum machine sounds but the synthesizer itself isn't nearly as good as stuff i have found i can do in Garageband and logic. so i'll prolly stick to those and use the emx1 as a midi controller in addition to a drum machine.

and yeah i use monster cables for my bass, and they're very high quality wires, so i suppose i'll be using those to connect to the laptop

.

if i DO use my laptop tho, and use hte proper wiring that you told me to (1'4 and 1'8) will i need a seperate a/i as well? or can i just use the emx1 and laptop in conjunction with eachother without one? (because i'm still planning on using the emx1 as a midi controller in very rare instances)

thanks again

MagpieIndustries · Post by **MagpieIndustries** » Tue May 20, 2008 6:04 am

read this

Califax · Post by **Califax** » Tue May 20, 2008 7:11 am

interesting.

i only like monster cuz if a cable breaks ever, you get a brand new one free no questions asked.
and i haven't had one break on me in years so i just figure they do a good job making it :]

my concern was lag/latency from my computer to my emx1 that's the only reason why i was wondering what wiring i should be using.

nice article tho that was kinda funny

rtizrtiz · Post by **rtizrtiz** » Tue May 20, 2008 1:45 pm

AmigaHeretic wrote:
what kind of wire should i be using? that's the only question i have found unanswered...i hear that certain wiring makes a huge difference.
Wiring does make a huge difference! Look for a brand called "Monster Cable". My MIDI sounds way better. Get gold plated midi cables if possible. Sure sure there are losers out there that will tell you it's "digital" data so it doesn't matter if they're gold plated or not, but 1s and 0s just sound better through gold.

So You claim that digital data sent trough gold plated cable sounds better in the end, than data sent through normal cable . . . WTF

AmigaHeretic · Post by **AmigaHeretic** » Tue May 20, 2008 2:58 pm

rtizrtiz wrote: So You claim that digital data sent trough gold plated cable sounds better in the end, than data sent through normal cable . . . WTF

Ever hear of HDMI? It is for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. (I checked wikipedia to be sure)

Now I went to BestBuy last night just to be sure my information was accurate and they tried to sell me this....

Note that their website says "24K gold plating offers better enhanced signal transfer"

As if THAT weren't proof enough.... I told them I wanted to transfer LIGHT through a cable and transmit digital data that way, yes a "fiber optic" cable.....

BestBuy salesman to the rescue again!!!

They sold me this!!!!

Check their website and what does it say???

"24K gold-plated connectors ensure consistent signal transfer"

Check their website for yourself.. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 4092318833

I rest my case!! Ok, Ok, I'll give in a little bit. It's mostly just the 1s in the digital signal that sound better. Honestly I think the 0s sound the same through non-gold plated cables.

Hey but trust me about the service plans on your cables!! You never know when the metal might wear out!!! I LOVE BEST BUY!!!

Califax · Post by **Califax** » Tue May 20, 2008 5:21 pm

cool which one of those wires do you recommend? i get?

MagpieIndustries · Post by **MagpieIndustries** » Tue May 20, 2008 6:11 pm

Califax wrote:cool which one of those wires do you recommend? i get?

they are for transmitting video, so unless you want to VJ with your emx, you won't be needing any of them.

Yatmandu · Post by **Yatmandu** » Tue May 20, 2008 6:34 pm

Although a "digital signal" is in fact still an analog signal (which is carrying binary data) the noise immunity of "digital signals" should mean that you don't need to buy the most expensive cables. I have an el-cheapo HDMI cable for my PS3/blu-ray and have not noticed any problems at all.

Califax · Post by **Califax** » Tue May 20, 2008 7:05 pm

then i guess i'll stick to the monster instrument cables, they're not too expensive

AmigaHeretic · Post by **AmigaHeretic** » Tue May 20, 2008 11:35 pm

Califax wrote:then i guess i'll stick to the monster instrument cables, they're not too expensive

Yeah you might want to get some of these too!!

http://www.svalanderaudio.com/solidtech/coseng.php[/url]

You don't want to introduce distortion into your audio by letting your brand new monster cables just sit on the ground do you??

OH and EMXers check these out! TUBE RINGS!!

http://www.svalanderaudio.com/shoppen/ringareng.php

Check out the customer statements....

Then I tried the rings for the ECC82s in the power amp. This was ASTOUNDING!!
The bass immediately became more tuneful and everything became much better integrated. In simple terms, it all became more real....
.....Now I want to order some more rings, please.

AmigaHeretic · Post by **AmigaHeretic** » Tue May 20, 2008 11:38 pm

Yatmandu wrote:Although a "digital signal" is in fact still an analog signal (which is carrying binary data) the noise immunity of "digital signals" should mean that you don't need to buy the most expensive cables. I have an el-cheapo HDMI cable for my PS3/blu-ray and have not noticed any problems at all.

Wait a second, the guy at BestBuy told that "Bernoulli's principle" cleary states the more 24k gold looking crap you wrap around the outside of a piece of plastic the higher the speed of light through the fiber cable in the middle of that piece of plastic cover.

Are you saying that light travel the same speed even if the black plastic cover on the tips doesn't look gold colored??

I'm going to go talk to their manager!!!

Yatmandu · Post by **Yatmandu** » Wed May 21, 2008 4:15 am

AmigaHeretic wrote:
Yatmandu wrote:Although a "digital signal" is in fact still an analog signal (which is carrying binary data) the noise immunity of "digital signals" should mean that you don't need to buy the most expensive cables. I have an el-cheapo HDMI cable for my PS3/blu-ray and have not noticed any problems at all.

Wait a second, the guy at BestBuy told that "Bernoulli's principle" cleary states the more 24k gold looking crap you wrap around the outside of a piece of plastic the higher the speed of light through the fiber cable in the middle of that piece of plastic cover.

Are you saying that light travel the same speed even if the black plastic cover on the tips doesn't look gold colored??

I'm going to go talk to their manager!!!

Hold on a second! The only way a BestBuy guy could utter the words "Bernoulli" and "principle" is if he was talking about his cousin Bernoulli getting called into the Principal's office that morning, and therefore I think you jest, along with all other evidence of jesting from your other posts, which are now making me laugh pretty hard.