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Toe Tapper and searches


pogo97

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Ah! I see now. From a user's perspective, that would be easier to find if it just said "Search" in big friendly letters. "Use Google Site Search" hides the important information. And fwiw, the upper right corner of the screen is ALWAYS the last place I look on a page. Was this place designed by programmers or something?

 

(grumpy today)

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Pogo, if its any help I started using one of these http://beat-root.co.uk this year, it's got four pickups in it two in either end which due to the design gives a different sound for heel and toe. However I decided I needed more, so I got a metal tambourine and with the judicial addition of strong elastic added it to the heel end and the pickups pick up the sound of the tambourine with the sound of a kick. Don't use it for every song but when I do I tend to do half of the song without and then bring it in.

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My wife took the hint and my Beat-Root arrived today.

 

fetch?id=31251560

 

beet-root-2.jpg

 

I've been playing with it for maybe 30 minutes. It's cool but, like any musical instrument, it will take me some time to make it sing. The maker suggests that much depends on a good eq and I'd certainly agree. Except that it would about triple the price of the unit, adding a parametric eq would be just lovely. This model has stereo out (or mono if your cable's mono) so you'd likely want two eqs tuned differently. EEK! Of course, if I used Main Stage, I'd have all the parametric eqs I could want. This is getting complicated.

 

I also think there's a lot to be considered about footwear and, maybe, adding alternate surfaces, like rubber or sandpaper. I've tried bare feet, moccasins, and the shoes above, which are my gigging shoes. All different.

 

Finally, and I assume this is temporary, I'm finding that it's pretty easy to keep a steady beat, but the brain-share I'm using for that is subtracted from my actual piano playing. Just a little stodgy, that's all.

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practice...practice...practice...

 

salesman was driving the 401 west from Montreal toward Toronto

sees some old seedy guy with a guitar and his thumb out so he picks him up

says: "I'm new to Ontario, how do I get to Gananoque?"

seedy old guy says "don't practise, don't practise, don't practise."

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Congratulations on your acquisition Pogo. I have used mine all summer and am surprised how tiring it is to keep a rhythm going for a full song. You are dead right about the footwear as well, for me rubber soled deck shoes seem to give the best sound. This is my Beat Root that I have added jangles to. Its certainly not pretty but the tambourine is captured by the internal pickups and with judicial eq at the board, I can get very different sounds at either end of the stomp.

f6953fb71f565920c07f82eee6bc9455.jpg.2ae0926159d5a43d0bfe408c80c6be04.jpg

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Thanks, steve mac. I found that a mono cable only got the toe end pickups -- is that the same with your? Using stereo and an MXR 6-band eq I have, I can get a very pleasing thump from the toe pickup when I run it a powered speaker. I haven't EQed the heel end, but it comes out nice and crisp without eq, which will serve for now. Thinking of gluing some sandpaper somewhere on it -- the thing just cries out for mods.

 

I have a gig next Saturday. A "jazz age" gig with Diane. I know she'll want me to haul it along, but I'm getting a feeling that it's not enhancing my overall sound and won't be until it's fully automatic for me, which could be a long while. At its best, my piano playing is light and witty; when I use the stomp box, I feel a bit like a brontosaurus. I'll play a song with the Beat Root and it sounds, well, okay but obvious. Then I'll take my foot off and play the song without and it's like I've set down a 50 pound backpack after a long portage. I try the song again with the Beat Root, trying to maintain that lightness, and pretty soon it's oompah oompah again. It's no fault of the kit, but if it doesn't go away, it's no good to me.

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Congratulations on your acquisition Pogo. I have used mine all summer and am surprised how tiring it is to keep a rhythm going for a full song. You are dead right about the footwear as well' date=' for me rubber soled deck shoes seem to give the best sound. This is my Beat Root that I have added jangles to. Its certainly not pretty but the tambourine is captured by the internal pickups and with judicial eq at the board, I can get very different sounds at either end of the stomp. [/quote']

Hi Steve,

Since you have one of these -- same model as mine -- I'm wondering if you'd perform an experiment for me.

 

If you plug it in using a TR cable, does tapping both chambers send a signal? I've found that, when I do that, I only get a signal from the toe end of the box and not from the heel end.

 

In addition, I took it apart and it only has two contact mics, not four as stated on the site, and I believe that it's actually not possible to wire a stereo plug in such a way that matches their description:

 

Single 1/4" stereo output. (Using a mono lead combines the two playing areas) - however using a 'Y' cable (stereo male to 2 x mono female) means you can spliit the signal from the two playing areas and EQ them separately.

Very puzzling.

 

EDIT

 

I wrote to Matthew Calder about this and he has kindly responded:

it sounds as though you have one of the earlier models of Heel and Toe where we used a duo pickup arrangement - this has been changed recently to fit the description you mention.

 

It also sounds as though you have a faulty unit in that the signal cant be split. All Heel and Toe models have the wiring set up so that a mono lead combines the two areas, but inserting a stereo lead splits the signal to the ring and tip. Using a Y cable splits the ring to the left and the tip to the right.

 

Under the circumstances Im happy to mail you a replacement of a more recent Heel and Toe model if you would like that. Please remind me of your address and Ill get one shipped out

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Hi Pogo, yes with TRS cable I get sound at either end, to be honest I have settled on not using a stereo splitter just a mono so I get a bit of either end, obviously predominantly the end I am stomping on. I eq the board with a bass bias. Sorry to hear about your build issues, but the offer of replacement seems fair enough, especially if you get to keep the first one as well.

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