How do you have your practice area setup? We spend alot of time now practicing.
My practice corner has two tables which met in a corner, on my right I have my mixer, and I plug the headphones into the mixer, EVERYthing get's plugged into the mixer, so I can hear everything together. I have very old tape deck (Marantz PMD201) which I can change the speed by half and drops one octave, or just adjust the pitch a little, my Roland PMA5 sequencer (which works like BIAB), I can program very quickly a song using preset patterns and instruments, and change keys and time by a press of a button (a great way to study scales, patterns, or try to walk a line), a stand alone metronome (TAMA RWA), Tascam GTR1, my DVD player just added for TMBG, my multi effects pedal (Boss GT10B) . The DVD player with TMBG is on the left of the music stand. The mixer allows me to use anything without plugging and unplugging, and to use them all together. I actually just unplugged the Marantz tape deck (I literally wore it out), and replaced it with the GTR1. An old Boss TU-12 tuner is also part of the effects loop on the mixer. My 120g MP3 player also has a stand and an input to the mixer, and it can also change speed without changing pitch. Of course there is power for everything, so nothing runs on batteries.
The Tascam GTR1 plays Wave files and MP3. I ripped all the CD's that came with my various music books to the GTR1, plus any other songs I may want to learn. I can change the speed of the track without changing the pitch, I can also change the pitch without changing speed and effectively change the key. It has amp sim and effects, a built in tuner. It has Metronome and drum tracks. I plug the bass into the GTR1 directly if I am too lazy to take the multi effects out of the gig bag, and can listen through the mixer with everything else, or just plug the headphone into the GTR1 directly.
The GTR1 can work as a stand alone unit, I can plug my bass directly into it, and also the headphones, and I have a very small setup for travel or away from my practice corner. I can play along with the tracks, the metronome, drum tracks, or follow along with a lesson on GTR1.
The GTR1 is also a recorder with great quality which I use to record rehearsals and gigs, which is brutally honest.
This corner took many years to acquire and setup and the goal is to keep my practice simple with no distractions. It's actually a very simple setup, and I found the mixer was the key to keep it simple. The mixer is like a patch bay. I very rarely use an amp at home.
Tascam makes many different "trainers" which can change speed without changing pitch, and can also change pitch. Not all brands do this, some of the pitch changes (changing key) is only an "effect", not actually a setting. The GTR1 model is like a swiss army knife, it is small and fits in my bass bag, if I go away for a few days, I can take an old bass and still keep up with my practice.
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