@Fiddlerman -

Thanks, I understand. 

Love to hear more about you playing EV with the Electric Fiddlers (?), when you lived in Sweden - or did you all have a sound guy taking care of everything? 

(A Tune A Week #26 - Sommarpolska)

So, I'm waiting... in hopes I'll receive an answer about Octave Viola strings, from Henrik Frendin & Mikael Marin.

In the mean time, I've taken a new approach to finding what sounds I like from amp & pedal lineups. 

Still liking the patch designated "Spooky Melody", but instead of adjusting or switching out the effects pedals, I've kept the original settings for this patch & just switched between 3 different amps -"Blackface Duo", "Lux Verb" & "Plexiglas". 

These gave me surprising differences & enjoyed each for different tunes. 

Blackface Duo for lush, drawn out sounds for like "The Buzzard", by Old Blind Dogs - even "Snow Waltz" by Lindsey Stirling.  Lux Verb for delicate, light, quicker tempo tunes, sharper articulation - like some Reels & jigs.  Even though "Leaving Brittany" is pretty quick & nimble, I can't quite decide which of these two I prefer.  The Plexiglas amp has more gain & bass - more power at a lower volume setting, so this can really be cranked up if needed.  I played a few tunes with Plexiglas last night, but now I have a few of my pop ones specifically in mind - just couldn't resist having fun playing the Star Spangled Banner with a Hendrix patch!  It was still pretty mild compared to most of the JH patches - didn't want to blow out the speakers. (lol) 

Looking forward to trying out a few more amps with tunes later today, feeling close to choosing what to record. 😊

I posted my other 3 videos I wanted to share. 

For Mominette & Absinthe (shared in the Open Mic Night Party Thread) & Leaving Brittany (shared in the City or Boat Party Thread) it's unclear which one of 3 patches I used, possibly 2 different "Spooky Melody" patch amps - guess I was too caught up in getting a decent recording. (lol)  I was happy to hear I liked the reverb, but the patch I used for Leaving Brittany wasn't so great for the A & E string tone (too bright) - and think my bass was even maxed & treble midway, or lower, on my violin pre-amp. 

I'm definitely going to have to record some short sound samples, all on one video for better comparison. 

The last tune I recorded was The Black Cat Jig (shared in the It's Time For a CRITTER Party! Thread).  I used a fairly subdued Rock patch called "Sweet Child of Min" (yes, 'min') that was fun - had to turn the volume down for the Plexiglass amp had gain maxed and there was also an overdrive pedal in this lineup.  I liked it! 

🤔... suspect I won't have to change my strings out as often, playing electric - hasn't bugged me (sound wise) that my E string is corroded under my fingering, yet.  Will have to see if, or how much difference, I hear when I do change it out.

...besides practicing, spent time watching a few very interesting TEDx Talks on creativity & these on Sound, today; The Architecture of Sound, The Beautiful Lies of Sound Design, How To Translate The Feeling Into Sound, and What Is Folktronica?

I can NOW control the Spark APP on my PC with Samsung DEX!!! 

WOO HOO! 

Samsung DEX - WORKS!!!  ...if my phone is connected by USB!!! 

I cannot tell you how high the temperature and voices rose at the beginning of this thread when Kevin originally tried to get this App to work for me!  It was like pulling teeth & don't understand why this all seemed to be such a hidden secret.

Had forgotten about the trouble we had because I needed to have 'location' turned on - didn't even think about retrying to sync my phone & laptop again after the App was working, plus don't think Kevin tried using the USB cable. 

What a relief! 

Now I won't need to borrow Kevin's phone to record Video & I should be able to get decent screen shots of the patches, with the settings I use for my sound samples! 🤗  I sure hope all this will help someone else, down the road.

I need to charge everything & see if I can enhance my screen shots, need to take a break - got a few other things to attend to & my head is reelin'... or valsing. 🤭 

...only took 69 posts to figure things out. 🥴

@Mark , @ABitRusty -

Mark, breaks are not to be taken lightly - I hope your Grandson heals quickly! 

Btw, I should mention we are a large dog-loving family, which helps and everyone seems to be dealing with this well, so far - hard to tell, but with 7 little kids I don't want anyone's fears/feelings overlooked. 

Concentrating on music this last week definitely helped me keep MY dark thoughts at bay. 😞 

I've run into a little snag, since I changed my strings... 

Moving my strings over, I didn't take into account how the shape of my bridge was set for bowing certain sizes of strings - and I was too excited with all the 'newness' to take too much notice. 

Thought maybe I was just having trouble because I was trying to figure out the best way to bow the new low F string.  I was also playing more on the C string than usual.  The string grooves seem okay and I really don't want to change the top curve of my bridge - in case I want to return to a normal set up of CGDAE strings. 

I'm trying to keep focused & not to get discouraged, but it's awful tempting right now to run back to playing 'Edgar' - and to think just a week ago the Violin was much easier to play than the Viola, for me! 

BUT EDGAR IS ACOUSTIC ONLY!

My dilemma: clean bowing is NOW VERY DIFFICULT on my C & D (2nd string in on both sides), because their thickness and new positions on the bridge make them almost right in bowing line with the strings on either side! 

It's absolutely amazing how something so subtle can make such a HUGE impact on playing!  The original strings were already close, not only the distance between, but also the bowing levels, so it's really asking me a bit much to control even tighter bowing tolerances - especially with the extra effort needed on the lower strings.

I probably need to find a skinnier A string, maybe even a single wire A string. 😖  I'd also have to try to find a thicker C string (slim pickings) - because there's NO OTHER F string choices to switch to.  I'm at a point I wouldn't mind changing all my strings out (except for the new F string) - and if I'm playing with my Mini Spark I don't think I have to be quite so picky about brand/tone, just size.  Not keen on the idea of trying all Visions, but will look at them.

Just went over my Having Fun Experimenting! Thread, where I tuned down my 5-string VIOLA, "Edgar", first 3 half steps/tones, but then I tuned the C string all the way down to F#2 (3 WHOLE steps/tones!!!) - with surprisingly good results.  This may be a better alternative for my Violin, except my Violin has strings closer together than my Viola. 

...great, now I'm going to have to try tuning down my Violin C string before anything else - to see if I just want to go back to the original strings, but tuned down. 

*PAUSE*

Okay, DID IT!  Tuning down to F#2 IS feasible, but that's the limit - any lower, it's too sloppy to stay in tune.  There's no buzzing on the fingerboard or against other strings but can't get much volume out of it, not like the Vision F2 string. 

So, if I was going to stay permanently tuned down, I would definitely want to switch to higher tension strings (brighter/more focused) - would mean added researching on strings. 😒 

I don't have a 'before' photo & you can't really see from these photos that I basically have 2 bowing planes - the 3 lowest strings (F,C,G) almost line up, and the 3 highest strings (G,D,A) almost line up.  You might at least be able to see that my current A string (1st on RT) is closer in diameter to my middle string (G) - which I needed thick before the string switch.  It's not too hard to see that the low F string (1st on LFT) is much thicker than my next string (C) & could stand to be lowered, but I'm not having any buzzing on the fingerboard - so I'd like to keep it that way, especially if I switch back. 

It probably depends on if I decide to permanently keep the F string - lowering a tiny bit will probably be the easiest fix.  One way or another, I'll probably need to change something - in the meantime, I'll just keep torturing myself... maybe I'll get used to it (stranger things have happened). 🙄

I still have the option of raising the C & D string bridge slots.  The 'normal A slot' (which is now D) has always been too low for my liking, because my 'warmer' G & D strings are larger than some brands.  I've read about different ways to fill in a string slot on the bridge, like here: Repairing A/E string notch on bridge, but I'd really like to figure a way to try something temporary, first - maybe self-adhesive plastic (tomorrow I'll check, probably have something amongst all my stuff). 

Hope I made some sense... suggestions are definitely welcome!