Action Strings Crack
Christel Malden
Having ensured that Logic is correctly configured to: " sync to an external source" & checked that my chosen figure from 'Action Strings' is showing the same tempo (in this case, 115 bpm), I have found on a few occasions that 'Action Strings' runs a fraction slow, the string figure even marginally out of time with it's own metronome. The discrepancy is tiny, but nevertheless, in a professional environment, unacceptable & unusable. Obviously, I could record 'Action Strings' first, & use that as my 'time keeper', but this is not always convenient or desirable. Anyone experiencing the same issue?
You're talking about a Kontakt instrument, which is loaded in Logic as plug-in, right? There's no "sync to external source" to be done in Logic in such a scenario. The Kontakt instrument is the one syncing to Logic's clock anyway, not the other way around.
Jordito, thank you very much for your speedy reply. You are absolutely right, Kontact 5 loaded as a plug-in. The syncing issue is SOLVED. I'm most grateful for the info & for clarifying the situation,
The solution is simply that if I want to add a different string figure in the middle of my work, I can, because it now syncs perfectly with the existing material. Starting with 'Settings', I went to 'Synchronisation' & unchecked the box that says: "Sync to an external source" & reverted to the default settings for that page.
Finally, you get the performance engine and, for both the high and low strings, this allows you to trigger complete phrases from as few as one MIDI input note. Keyswitches can be used to switch between different phrases on the fly or to switch to individual string articulations if you want to play your own string lines as you would with a more conventional string library. While these three main components are, in principle, the same as in the original Action Strings, as described more fully below, there are considerable improvements in all three areas.
By default, the set of 10 keyswitches within a Theme are configured with four related Phrases and a series of individual articulations. The user can swap Phrases or articulations in and out to customise a Theme and then save it in the User category. As well as the playing styles hinted at by the categories themselves, you can also filter by feel (fourth, eighth, etc), meter (4/4, 3/4, 6/8, 7/8 or 5/8) and style (unison, complex or lead by the low or high ensemble). I have to admit to grinning inanely as I first auditioned a selection of the Theme presets. Whatever your level of orchestration skills, AS2 is instantly gratifying even before you dig into the performance editing possibilities.
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The guitar people who are dealing with my two 12-strings have done their best to accommodate my request for the lowest possible action/lightest possible gauge strings, but past a point it's obvious that there is going to be buzzing, tuning problems and so on with BOTH these requests.
So the latest incarnation that they sent back after restringing and re-setting up is a 12-string with .011-gauge strings and, to me, incredibly high action, even though the tech told me proudly he had "lowered the action to the lowest" he'd ever accomplished on a 12-string.
My question here is, will I ever get to the point that I will be able to play this guitar, or am I just banging my head against a brick wall? How do I get around the high action? It feels (although it isn't!) that the strings are a centimetre from the fretboard (they're more like 3 mm).
Now, I remember when I could barely play this guitar with the lightest strings (.009s) and lowest action possible (it led to much buzzing and other problems) but I despair at ever being able to play it now.
It is possible to set the action of a 12 string to be very low and be adjusted for very light gauge strings, but you lose volume and tone. I have set up an acoustic 12 string to play like an electric, using electric gauge strings (.008s). The tone wasn't great but the play-ability was very easy, so it is possible to get a soft playing 12 string, you just have to shop around, and find a competent technician.
The ability to lower that action of a 12 string guitar is entirely dependent on the build of the guitar. If the guitar neck has a large 14th fret hump, or the the bridge lip to the saddle is too high, it will be impossible to lower the action further than those things allow.
You should have your nut slots checked for proper setup. For lighter playing action you want the smaller gauge strings in the pair to be set to the same height as the top of the thicker strings, making it easier to be more accurate on your finger placement on the strings. Stock 12 strings usually have the nut slots all cut to the same depth making the smaller strings lower than the larger strings. For even better setup you can have the strings set to the same height at the saddle, which also improves the play-ability significantly.
For accuracy practice on the courses, look at working on mandolin style tremolo picking. By practicing tremolo across both strings of a course you can tell when your finger isn't aligned in-between the strings.
A 12 string was the first guitar I owned, and I still play one regularly. It is entirely possible to play solo lines on one, and I really like the way the Blues sound in it. Fingerpicking is also possible on a 12 string, and I have seen players use a slide on them.
Sometimes you have to do what is right for you. I purchased an electric mandolin, and it came with heavy gauge phosphor bronze strings. You had to tune them up until they felt like rebar, and I felt that they were on the brink of snapping. Going against all sorts of mandolin lore, I decided to simply use a couple of sets of light electric guitar strings. Instantly the string tension was lower, tuning was easier and the tone was, if anything, improved. You could use light gauge electric guitar strings on an acoustic. It wouldn't do any damage, though it would offend the purists.
12 String guitars don't have to be unplayable and nasty. From my somewhat limited experience the nut slots tend not to be cut deep enough on , so you have to put a lot of effort into squeezing the strings down. On my 12 string, a cheap Stagg electro-acoustic piece of nonsense, I filed the nut slots deeper and filed the saddle down. I also checked than the neck relief was flat. The next stage would be to make sure the frets are level. Do this and you should be able to use gauge 8 strings without issue. Granted it still isn't the easiest guitar to play as the neck is thicker, but it is a lot easier to play than when it left the factory.
Some just are not easy to play, even given the lightest strings and enver will be. I cannot get my Tanglewood Oddesey to go any lower. If you can't get a 12 string to a state where its actually a pleasure for you to play, with your geometry and attributes, then take a trip to a local music store and try whatever they have to gain some perspective on what is possible with other models.
I recently took my Ibanez RG into the shop for new strings (same gauge as original) and asked them to lower the action. It came back with a significant amount of fret buzz (pretty much all over the neck, regardless of pick attack). When I asked the guitar tech about it, he said it's fine as long as you don't hear it through the amp.
Is the goal when setting a low action to aim for 100% "buzz free" setup regardless of pick attack. Does it even matter? I assume too much buzzing would wear down the frets and also just make the guitar sound bad, even with distortion/overdrive.
Personally, I use a reasonably high action on most of my guitars (about 3mm at 12th fret) because I dislike buzz and have quite a hard picking action. I do have two guitars I use for speed and legato, and these are much lower. Unamplified they sound terrible, but once hooked up through my effect chain they sound great)
So there is no actual goal - if you asked the guitar tech to lower it as much as they could, they have probably aimed for the lowest they see as reasonable based on their experience with many guitars and guitarists. If you ask for less buzz / a higher action next time they will do that for you.
Having strings fret out when bending is more serious and I would expect a tech to make sure this isn't happening, unless a player said they don't do string bending and want the lowest possible action. This is normally a problem only on necks with a small radius, like on vintage Telecaster necks.
Dan Erlewine's books on guitar setup and guitar repair go into lots of detail on fret buzz. A lot of factors besides action affect buzz: neck relief, presence of loose frets, fret wear, string gauge, etc.
Fret buzz is not only not necessarily bad, but actually a part of the guitar tone. The guitar is partially a percussive instrument, and one percussive aspect of that (in addition to knocking or tapping on the body of an acoustic guitar or hollow-body electric) is the snap produced by string-on-fret action. Slap guitar technique in particular exploits this way of producing a sound. Aggressive "Rasgueado" strumming in Flamenco also exploits the percussive noise of strings hitting frets.
These statements aren't wrong. The important thing is for the buzz to be approximately the same everywhere, hinted at by your (a). If you lower the action, and you get buzzing on all the frets at the same time in any given general area of the neck, across all strings, that indicates good setup. How much buzz you allow is an artistic decision. There is an objective "too much", when you can't produce a tone at all.
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