STREB AGAIN

[Québécois]

<snip> So I was ok. Sadly, the instrument was so compelling that my husband has taken it up, and *his* practising irritates *me*. Luckily I have noise-cancelling headphones.

Gee, I am a lucky man! When I start playing a jig at 11:00pm in the basement my wife gets out of bed (from the second floor bedroom), grabs a couple of beers and joins me to dance! :)

[Delboy]

Can you use one to trigger external modules?  A rock Hammond voice strikes me as possible being good fun!

One of the built in Midi voices is a Hammond organ. Probably not rock version though.

[ladydetemps]

Yes and no. Other people have explained that there are numerous melodeon sound samples; the melodeon sound samples are jolly good and give you quite a lot of options (I think there are even more samples than there were when I got mine, but mine has, at least, a Mory, a dry-tuned club, a Pokerwork, a Hohner one-row and a concertina). But there is a limit to how much an electronic instrument is ever going to sound like an acoustic one.

<snip>

And as for price; I have no idea how much Steve is charging now. I paid less than half the £3k you guessed! I now regret not getting 12 basses, though; otherwise I'm very happy indeed with mine. 

Sounds like great value for money...you get several melodeons in one plus no disturbing the neighbours.
but..must...try...to...resist....

[Alison Scott]

One of the built in Midi voices is a Hammond organ. Probably not rock version though.

One of my not-yet-realised 'cool ideas' is to run the output from the Streb through some of the guitar amp effects in GarageBand...

[squeezy]

I've used mine on stage with Bellowhead with an external module and it works fine.  You can send the midi signal to anything that will take it through the MIDI out and then get a synthesizer, sampler or computer running sampling software to play the notes at the other end of the cable.

Steve's built in samples are amazing given the small memory in the Streb, however they are definitely recognizable as sampled sounds.  The module I have can play back massive samples (a recording of the whole real melodeon note without looping) - when I record and edit the samples correctly then it's almost indistinguishable from the real thing to listen to (unfortunatly not indistinguishable to play as it feels diferent).

The reason I wanted it in the first place was because I'd heard of it and just wanted a melodeon related gadget - boys with toys and all that.  I quickly realised the potential of being able to play something which can change key and layout (acoustically a Bellowhead tour requires 6 melodeons and one concertina - and changing the instrument and the microphones around between every number makes the gig more stressful).  Now I've got it sorted I need the Streb and a box of tricks and that's it.  Plus my one is completely wireless as the link to the module is via wireless MIDI (WIDI) which Steve very kindly built in to my new model.  I'm very very happy with it.

I've been meaning to put up some videos on youtube showing what it can do by way of thanks to Steve for all the amazing support he's given me in getting it just right - tweaking it this way and that, thinking up creative solutions for little whims of mine.  Seeing this thread has given me fresh impetus to get on and do it.  I'll post back here with the links so you can see what it can do.

Cheers

Squeezy

PS - not only can you use the Garageband effects to change the built in sounds of the Streb - if you plug the MIDI cable in to your computer via a sound card, you can also make it play all the bundled software instruments in Garageband.

[C age ing]

There are many other available 'patches', 'samples' or 'sounds' available for GarageBand but the usual problem with the brasswind sounds is that it is very difficult to emulate the tricks that players can get up to without a wind controller. Guess what you have with a Streb. So if you fancy sounding like a guy who was one of Fats Domino's Touring Band, google Pete Thomas and listen to his 'Human Saxophone' demo. Now can i borrow one to try out with my Akai 4000s Electronic Wind Controller.
Despite these modern playthings, still playing the blues and part of the Ellington Song Book on the Erika.

[Alison Scott]

I've been meaning to put up some videos on youtube showing what it can do by way of thanks to Steve for all the amazing support he's given me in getting it just right - tweaking it this way and that, thinking up creative solutions for little whims of mine.  Seeing this thread has given me fresh impetus to get on and do it.  I'll post back here with the links so you can see what it can do.

I am really excited by this thought and can't wait. Mmm!

[squeezy]

Well I've found out that I'm not very good at recording videos with the computer - but that never stopped me doing anything else.

Here's the first one:

It's Jack Robinson played on the Saltarelle Connemara II setting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK5r1MkPkbI

The sound quality is just my MIDI module playing through my speakers and being picked up by the computer's built-in mic which obviously isn't as good as it sounds live, but is still pretty good.  The button clacking sound is the authentic sound of the buttons themselves - and doesn't come through the speakers!

[HallelujahAl]

Great stuff, as usual, John.  I do like the authentic clicking of the treble buttons. I'm comforted knowing that my old hohner, too, can sound just like a Streb! On a serious note I think it's going to be really interesting to hear the different voices and registers that the Streb has to offer. So please do more.
AL

[upmine3]

Thanks for the Youtube upload Squeezy. It really does play well doesn't it?
There's another thing that i've been wondering too (cogs whirring in head) i bet it doesn't run out of "air" like a real melodeon does when you're playing a lot of bass with a tune which is a pain with real reed boxes! Since the electronics wouldn't know any different would they? You know how it goes you're getting right into a tune you add that deep bass when you need it on the push and snap the bellows shut quicker than you expected. A real drawback (excuse the pun).

[squeezy]

It does play nicely 

It doesn't run out of air in the conventional way.  There is a continuous "leak" which you can set to be a little or a lot depending on how you play it.  It doesn't matter how many buttons you have pressed down - the air release is always the same unless you use the air button which acts as normal.  Although sometimes this is a good thing, it makes it feel very different to playing a proper melodeon.  I have mine set to leak lots of air which minimizes this as I usually play with lots of reeds sounding at once anyway.

Here's a link to another clip of it playing the Playford tune Grimstock - this time doing an impression of a Hohner Pokerwork:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4nnhuo1_hc

Cheers

Squeezy

[Ellie]

Here's a link to another clip of it playing the Playford tune Grimstock

Genius - it even plays itself Fascinating to see the variation it can do - cheers for the demonstrations (although I still maintain that the most useful bit is being able to play silently!).

[upmine3]

Whooa i'm loving that Pokerwork sample it sounds really good right up my alley. Nice playing Squeezy by the way. You're selling that Streb to me even more now lol. As i said earlier it's the headphones plug in that really draws me to it for the quiet playing.

[streb]

Thanks John, I owe you one for those videos!

Also thanks to everyone for the kind words. I hope the instruments are still fun to play (and reliable...)

Steve

[Alison Scott]

It does play nicely 

Here's a link to another clip of it playing the Playford tune Grimstock - this time doing an impression of a Hohner Pokerwork:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4nnhuo1_hc

Cheers

Squeezy

Oh, these are just fantastic! It doesn't sound quite like this when I play it... though I did just get your DVD as a birthday present so am currently doing that exercise with the B part of the Grimstock and the rising bass line. Over and over till my head explodes.

[CC]

Mine sounds exactly like that....at least it does when someone else plays it! I recently took it on a Morris tour and swapped instruments with one of the musicians from another side for part of the evening so I could hear it played properly, and it sounded great!

This is also by way of saying to Steve that mine has been very reliable, and I'm still having a lot of fun with it. I've had it for several years, and it also gets outings at ceilidhs too, at least when I can persuade the band that I really need "all of those box things" on the stage (or, more usually, corner of the room...)

Cheers,
Guy

[Delboy]

I like the church organ voice. I play for the morris and surprised my team on one very sunny evening when I played 'Ring O Bells' for the dancers on the church organ. Their faces was a picture I'll never forget.

[Delboy]

Just one more quick question on STREBs.
I know Steve explained this when he delivered my instrument but I have forgotten what he said.
So, what is the socket for inside and at the top of the battery compartment?. Is for additional voices or what?
I could email Steve with this but I thought I'd try here first.

Thanks
Derek

[Clive Williams]

Just one more quick question on STREBs.
I know Steve explained this when he delivered my instrument but I have forgotten what he said.
So, what is the socket for inside and at the top of the battery compartment?. Is for additional voices or what?
I could email Steve with this but I thought I'd try here first.

Thanks
Derek

It's an interface port that allows Steve to reprogram the Streb - o/s, samples, keyboard layouts. Not for the likes of us mortals, I'm afraid, although Steve does have a miniature keyboard reprogramming module he can post out to people if a keyboard layout needs reprogramming - it plugs into that slot, press a couple of buttons on the unit, and a few minutes later you have a reprogrammed Streb. Samples need to be updated by Steve however.

Regards,

Clive

[Delboy]

Thanks for that Clive.