Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Flea Market/Yard Sale/Thrift Store finds (Musical Instrument Edition)
I’ve always got my eyes out for three things while browsing these types of places. The GF likes going to them, so when we do go, I look for:
- Vinyl records
- Any kind of cassette tape players/recorders
- Musical instruments of any kind
A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon a nice tabletop Lowrey Organ at a thrift store that worked, lit up, made sound and everything for only $50!
Well, I tried haggling in the price (as there’s plenty of old Lowry organs on the net for sale cheap) and ended up not buying it like a dummy. Went back the next day and it was gone!
Anyway, today I found a few vinyl LPs, the GF found herself a few Knick knacks, and oh, I bought a “Stagg fretless electric bass” for $40!
It’s a little beat up, but I think with some TLC, it WILL music!! And yes, nothing against our friends in the cold white north, but the stickers have got to go!
So what kind of musical instrument did you find recently? I love this kind of shopping, you don’t find things, things find YOU!
Comments
I don’t know whats up with this knob yet!
I picked up an electric guitar someone was throwing out, cleaned it up (best I could) and set it out for the next person to pick up and learn. It disappeared immediately! Hopefully someone made use of it.
I have not been thrifting in quite some time. Nothing that recent, but in the past decade or so
I have acquired the following in various thrift stores:
A Hyundai knock-off of a Les Paul $5
Harmony Stella $3
Moog Opus 3 $50
Digitech Whammy $10
Fender Frontman 15G amp $12
Ampeg 10watt tube cube amp $15
Crate 10 watt amp $10
Marshall G215R CD amp $15
2 Ratshack Reverbs $3 and $5
All of the above were alive and functioning when purchased.
I have probably used up all of my thrifting good luck, though 😬
I love doing this, not just for music stuff, but for all kinds of stuff. Music & electronics are usually my first stops in the store though.
I got a 5 pin midi keyboard, I think it’s 37 keys, for a couple bucks about a year ago.
Plus several miscellaneous drums and percussion type instruments usually a couple dollars a piece, Over past couple years.
Realistic Concertmate MG-1 - 25$ - Responded to an ad on Facebook Marketplace. Had to drive about 80 miles outside of town, but had an awesome conversation with an old music teacher and her violinist daughter. They could see my love for synths and I promised I wouldn't sell it and would send them a few videos of performing every now and then. Also, did explain how much it was worth and offered to teach them how to make more musical sounds out of it. They politely declined.
Roland Juno 106 - Free - Eight months later out of the blue the same teacher contacted me via phone asking if I would be interested in a Juno 106. I politely declined as I said it is worth far too much and I didn't have that kind of money. She said her music teacher friend was willing to give it to me for free as it had been sitting in her basement since the late eighties when her band broke up. After talking with the original teacher I had spoken with she seemed convinced that she wanted to donate it to me. Tried to convince her to just have her friend post this for sale online multiple times to no avail. They knew how much both were worth. Drove the eighty miles to the original teacher's house and had a lovely afternoon chatting again and also promised to not sell it ever. It still needs the sixth oscillator chip replaced, and the chorus needs some work, but overall in really good shape. The kindness of people never ceases to amaze me. I don't cry often, but there was joy in obtaining these and shed some tears on the car ride home both times.
Roland JV-30 - 99 cents - Was at a Goodwill Outlet store and saw this covered in a disgusting film on almost every last inch of the instrument. A few broken keys, but it powered on and purchased it for a buck. Worked on it for a few weeks and restored the entire action. Plays great and learned a lot.
Great story! Had you not tried to explain they were underpriced the first time, I wonder if you’d have gotten that second call with the Juno? I definitely think it’s worth always playing fair with people, the folks that think “all is fair in business” have probably never had the joy of seeing what many people are actually capable of doing for another human who is shooting them straight. We could use a lot more of this type of thing in our world. Sorry, I went a little off topic there! I work in finance/sales... in Vegas. I’m probably just a little jaded by my experiences over the years!
Love hearing stuff like this. Thanks for sharing it!
Very nice story, @hogyard.
Nice! There’s a little kid out there with a guitar now, that otherwise wouldn’t have one if it wasn’t for you!
I was getting some tires installed on a car one day and just happened to see a guitar neck sticking out of a pile of trash behind the shop while I was waiting. I walked over and picked it up and found it was a cheapie “Lyon - by Washburn” strat copy, that was missing a few strings, the pickgaurd and electronics were hanging off of the front of it and missing some parts. Basically, they had it in the right place - the outgoing trash! But, I decided to save it. The guys at the shop said I could have it, so I took it home and fixed it up a little and made it playable again.
Still have the Lyon! My original idea was that If I ever play out live again, and if I ever have a need for a Pete Townshend/Paul Stanley guitar smash at the end of a show, this will be the one.
But you guys have inspired me. I’m going to find a little kid to give this to! ❤️
Well it does sound like you’ve had some luck in the past! Man, I’d love to find some guitar pedals at a thrift store.
Same. I always go straight to their electronics to see if I can find a cassette tape recorder/player. (These are extremely hard to come by out in the wild!)
I’ve been on the hunt for one as I have a box full of old cassette tapes of recordings I did way back in the day that I’d like to be able to sample and maybe even get into some tape looping stuff.
I know I could just buy one off of Amazon or eBay, but that takes the fun out of searching local second hand stuff and discovering things. I’m waiting for this perfect tape deck to “find me” lol
Wow! They sound like good people. It’s always comforting to hear stories like these. It helps restore my faith in humanity, knowing there’s people out there that still have some kindness in their hearts!
So I’ve been looking up more info on this fretless Bass. “Stagg” looks like a smaller Behringer type of company where they make a ton of entry level instruments and equipment. They (like Behringer) make everything! From stringed instruments to Brass, drums, and all kinds of electronics like midi controllers and interfaces.
Anyway, I already knew that this wasn’t a “precision” instrument?5??’ No YT , (otherwise it probably wouldn’t be in a thrift store for sale!) but more of an entry level instrument. These retail for around $250 brand new, so I reckon the $40 I paid for it wasn’t the “deal of the century”, but definitely a fair price!
Here’s one on the ‘verb:
https://reverb.com/item/40273545-stagg-fretless-4-string-fusion-electric-bass-guitar-bc300fl-bk
It’s interesting, I’ll say that!
It really doesn’t matter if an instrument cost $10,000 or $10, (if it’s not broken, a real musician should be able to make music with it right?)
I think the most amazing thing about it is... the headstock! I’m pretty sure this is the exact headstock @LuisMartinez used for his amazing iBassist app’s icon!
Huh? Amirite?
Eh it’s close lol
Nothing recently, but I have had a few great finds over the last 15-20 years:
Last week I found a Casio ctk-720-61 key portable in the bin on my construction site...full working order including all the key lights...it’s pfc. Even had the power cord. 😎
We have a chain of “hipster” stores in Orlando called Adjectives. It’s mostly decor and furniture, but they also have records. Every time we go, I end up taking far too long digging through bins to see what they have.
So far I’ve gotten:
1. Jingle Bell Rock on 45
2. Bob Dylan Knockin on Heavens Door on 45
3. Steely Dan’s Katy Lied
All were pretty inexpensive, I believe less than $30 total. The Dylan one is in rough shape, extremely crackley, but still playable.
Nice, though buying used gear from music shops isn’t really the same thing as finding something at a flea market, yard/garage sale, or a thrift store. It’s got to be something you stumble upon at one of those type places. Otherwise everyone could just post all of the used gear they’ve ever purchased anywhere.
Dang... Score!
Cool. I picked up these three during yesterday’s haul:
Beethoven, Henry Mancini, and The Philadelphia Orchestra. They were like 3 bucks each. (I Only got the Henry Mancini album because it has Moon River on it!)
I found a 1981 Moog Rogue in the attic of an insurance company that also has a small music shop in the back...it had just been sitting up there covered for 30 years and was in perfect condition. Now, the guy knew what he had, even though it was the cheapest Moog Model released even to this day, so I still had to pay for it, but even then it was a steal. And to stumble across something like that in my tiny town, while actually looking to buy my first synth, seemed too coincidental and magical to pass up. The guy was shocked and figured it’d never sell here.
As a teenager, we also had this flea market that would regularly buy and sell old vinyls. That place gave me and my friends a great musical education at a young age. Kraftwerk, ELO, all the classics and a ton of obscure weird stuff that, looking back, was so odd for such a tiny town to have. And the most they charged for a record was a dollar. This was in 2000-2001. I’d trade Spotify for that flea market any day of the week.
Sweet! Still have it? Bet that thing sounds amazing!
It does! I didn’t play it for months because I got a Grandmother, but it wasn’t too long before I decided the Rogue just plain sounds better. I have to let it do a lot of warming up these days though, or it’ll do some weird glidey stuff. I’ve played the hell out of it though. That thing THUMPs as a bass...you’d never ever mistake it for a soft synth.
Only downside is it predates MIDI, but that only encouraged me to get better.
Whoa, you win. Not just for the stuff you got (hello, sister of the Rogue) but for encountering people who raise your estimation for humanity back up to “hopeful.”
Walking along 5th Street in Brooklyn in the fall I spotted the Roland logo under a heap of leaves. It was an Alpha Juno 1. Brought it home, dried it out for about two weeks while I waited for the power cord. Sacrificed a chicken before switching it on and it worked!
Score! That’s amazing (except for the chicken but at least he died in the name of Rock & Roll!)
Haha, wasn’t that supposed to be a bat?