Amazing. The quality and substance of your videos is unparalleled. The effort you put in even for something as ‘simple’ as a a Christmas list is just too good!!
I bought one for myself 🤣. As soon as I opened it and started messing it, all three of my kids from age 14 to 22 at the time arrived at my office studio door, begged the thing out of my hands, and took it for the next couple of hours.
To be fair, Peterson's mechanical strobe tuners start at $799. The top of the line is in the $4,500 range. I don't know if it's any more accurate, it could just be a bunch of extra convenience features, such as 12 strobe wheels instead of just 1. Peterson strobe tuners are primarily used by piano tuners (those who don't tune by ear) and instrument makers, and aren't really necessary for most musicians. They make an app that's quite good as well, although it's way more expensive than other tuner apps.
Gotta say, Benn, your experience with the Waves NX head tracker almost mirrors my experience with CME’s WIDI line in the past year or so. From incompatibility and unbelievable latency (“you need to update the firmware, which you can only do from an Android device”) to random disconnects *while playing* and inscrutable messaging from the company (not to mention misleading marketing about hardware support)… It’s been pretty much as painful as dealing with Waves. I still ended up buying more devices in the hope that they’d eventually get their act together. My trusty Yamaha MD-BT01 dongle reliable does MIDI over Bluetooth to the devices I own. I paid less than the cost of one of those WIDI devices and I use it a lot more.
My family never forgot the Christmas they bought me a kazoo and Otamatone. Highly recommend as gifts in this category. I’d also recommend the Spider capo and Loci stands
I LITERALLY bought a Stroboplus HDC like 3 hours ago, I took a new job guitar teching and needed something a bit beefier than my little korg tuner, and its already impressed me
2nd'd. You can save a few bucks by buying a 2nd hand Keystep, just don't expect to find used Keystep37. Fantastic keyboard. I'd still have my regular Keystep if the 37 didn't exist.
I’ve heard the Brazilian jazz-style piece for guitar and (probably) viola that starts at 1:23 in quite a few of your vids. I quite like it. The melody is pretty and having it in that low register on a bowed string instrument is an interesting timbral choice. What is it? I’d guess it’s one of your own compositions. Is it available to stream somewhere?
my nephew is a drummer but i got him a pocket operator K.O. and a rubber case for it for xmas a few years ago. he shows me something new every time i see him. those things are just neat.
When he said "you know who is psychotically obsessed with tuning? Peterson," my mind automatically inserted "Jordan Peterson." Then he actually made the joke and I lost my shit.
+1 for the Arturia keystep, and here's a bonus idea; First controller for someone just starting into midi controllers - Arturia minilab. Not only a killer great little controller with mini keys and drum pads but also a great software bundle.
Instrument cables are the musician's gift equivalent to socks. Those Ernie Ball cables are like a moderately comfortable pair of socks (plus, the right-angle plug they use works without issue in Telecaster output jacks, which are recessed just out of reach of most right-angle connectors). And now I want a Peterson StroboStomp HD. Not much more than most other run of the mill tuner pedals.
I bought a slightly expensive Peterson tuner about 10 years ago and that is all I need. My high school had a tabletop electro-mechanical strobe tuner in the band room in the early 80’s, but I can’t remember if it was a Peterson.
and here I started this video like "oh, this will be interesting", after the half of it, I thought that you're just bored man :D , but hey, the tuner part was hilarious!
WIDI MASTER: Say my name, Benn... Benn: I won't say it. WIDI MASTER: SAY IT!!!! Benn: You're just a cool widget that cost me $50, I'm the master of my own realm. Just shut up and do what you're told. WIDI MASTER: Weird, because that's what I told YOUR mom thirty-something years ago ;) Benn: No, it can't be!! I've always wondered where my surprisingly cost-efficient bluetooth capabilities came from. So are you really my widi...widi d-daddy? WIDI DADDY: Yes, I am!! *evil bluetooth laugher ensues*
With Sonicware now shipping orders as received, the $199 Liven XFM would be a great surprise for many musicians. Also, I second the recommendation of Artiphon's Orba.
Not going to lie, that Roadie tuner for a guitar is pretty awesome. It encourages you to experiment with other tunings you never would normally play with because it is just so fast. I never would have thought open c would be such a heavy tuning but it sounds like robots destroying cities and I love it.
Does the Midi have a good piano sound ? Didn't see any grandparent obvious questions , figured I'd share my fave from selling gear decades ago . Cheers
Found the original version of the Tesla coil for sale in China for about $37, if anyone is curious about the dropshopping cost. Just ordered one here, seems dope.
I can't help but not trust the performance and stability of MIDI over Bluetooth. I would love for someone to convince me that my skepticism is unfounded on this, though.
That was a good list. The ambisonic mics and the wireless MIDI are both things I'd be happy to receive. Heck, my wife would enjoy the tesla coil as we've seen ArcAttack at more than one MakerFaire. I already have the Keystep, so...
****ELECTRIC guitarists! Don’t get one of these for a strictly acoustic guitarist! I don’t own a working electric guitar, and I can only plug my acoustics in with piezo pickups - and an ebow would do me approximately zero favors. That being said, I’m an instrument hoarder, and I’d for sure find a use for one eventually if anyone wants to buy me one 🤗 (but I’m weird)
No way, I wasn’t familiar with the polyend tracker but I remember vividly dreaming about this kind of device in the 90s when trackers were the only option to us many poor musicians. I wished there was this kind of device for when you are on the move and just got an idea. I feel somehow elated and teary eyed that the thing came to be more than 20 years later 🥲😅 The Interface looks incredibly familiar!
If the targeted musician has a microphone of any kind, just give them any cheap instrument and they will probably enjoy it. At least I would. A cheap kalimba, one of those zen steel drums, a toy vibraphone... Or something a bit nicer like a quality wooden recorder. Guitar pedals are also always fun, and there are some amazing quality offerings for that under 200 euros. A look around the JHS channel might help with that. And also it was probably mentioned on a previous video that if you get a modular guy ANY module they will probably be happy and use it somewhere somehow.
I also had a lame, regrettable experience dealing with the idiotic Waves online sale system (and representative). And the head tracking software is awful, and the hardware unstable. But I actually use that head tracker a lot, specially on the go. I have one of the headphones listed in their plugin dropdown, and man it has saved me so many times. Their studio speaker emulation is super useful, full mixes on the go. Incredible for surround mixes.
