Conference napalm::guitar

    
    Check out the COMMUSIC conference on IMDOWN::.  Despite the name of the
    conference, not everything discussed in there is computer-related -
    though a computer-based solution is definitely a possibility for the
    kinds of things you mentioned.
    
    

    I think the guys in my band would tell you that one DB is enough.
    
    The last thing they need is a DB-2?
    
    ;-)
    
    	db

    
    I only mentioned it here cause I think it does have a bias towards
    guitar players -
    
    You can plug your guitar into it and has an overdrive effect -
    
    I just see it as an alternative for those who can't find a
    rhythm section to jam with - I live in Peoria, IL.
    
    All's you need is some music theory or some chord charts!
    

    Actually, isn't this thing called a *G*B-2?  Whatever...
    
    						Brian

    re: .2
    
    Yup, I agree.  DB-1 suits me just fine.  In fact, I'll bet my
    DB-1 can play rings around your DB-2!
    
    	;^)

    
    I've never been able to spell - GB-2 it is.
    

    I've corrected the note title...
    
    How much variety in exercises does this unit give?  It appears to claim
    a lot in the advertisements.  What's the going price?
    
    Greg

    
    $300 - I didn't shop around too much for price...
     
    You basically choose from 48 preprogrammed patterns (read only) or 10
    user song patterns (read-write) to play - practice with.  A pattern is
    the combination of a drum track, bass line, and 2 chord tracks
    (separate chord synth parts), and the chord progression itself.
    
    The basic play pattern functions are start, stop, continue, start with
    intro, stop with ending, play fill - usually a drum fill, turn off
    bass, turn off chords. Once started, each track loops forever until
    stopped.  You can also adjust the tempo of the pattern (faster, slower,
    but same pitch) or raise or lower the pitch (in half steps I think).
    
    The user song patterns allow you to copy in existing patterns and edit
    them - change the pattern name, rhythm/foundation pattern, tempo, chord
    progression, turn on/off bass, chord1, chord2, drums, add fills, vary
    the pattern (each pattern has 2 variances - slightly different bass
    lines or comp rhythms).  You can influence the bass line up by
    specifying poly-chords ex.  CMA7/G makes the bass play a G note instead
    of the note it would have based on the canned/foundation pattern. You
    can also program limited looping of specific measures (repeat measures
    5-8 four times).
    
    The machine merges your set of edits with the foundation pattern - so
    for example, you can influence the root and chord type of a chord but
    not the inversion or register of how the chord was "sampled" if that
    makes any sense.  (Some times certain chord changes sound clumsy when
    merged to the foundation pattern.)
     
    Once edited your user song is saved (non-volatile).  You can buy
    separate disks to import other patterns or export your own user songs -
    each disk can hold up to 64 patterns, I think.
    
    From a music styles perspective, most of the patterns fall into a rock,
    funk, or pop-jazz category.  Some of the patterns (chord progressions)
    are stolen from actual tunes.  (Maybe they are all.) - I've been able
    to map 5 foundation patterns to (straight ahead) jazz standards.  All
    of the patterns are 4 to the bar except one - a jazz waltz (Bluesette).
    There are a couple of decent bossa/samba patterns.
    
    A bunch of stuff is available but I haven't heard anything from disk yet.
    
    If you see it at the music store just press the play button to start
    a pattern and then press a two digit pattern number 00-47 to hear the
    different foundation patterns.
    
    I think everyone would get tired of the out-of-the-box patterns pretty
    quick and that the usefullness of this thing is in the user songs and
    tempo control.