Kalium Quake Bass Review (...and Tone Demo)
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- Опубліковано 21 вер 2024
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Juveri Setila
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Unboxing Video:
• Kalium Quake Bass Unbo...
Creating Experimental Tones Video:
• Creating New Guitar To...
Time Stamps:
1:00 Aesthetics and Hardware
3:34 Quality
5:18 Pickups and Electronics
8:44 (social media plug...)
9:32 Demo
12:29 Play-ability
13:24 Ordering Experience
15:28 Conclusion
That open low C# actually has those higher frequency laser sounds that you hear when you hit a bridge cable. That’s amazing.
Connor McInerney yeah I was thinking the same thing. Sounds badass.
It's dispersion, the higher frequencies travel faster than the low. It's amazing the effect on a really long cable (or railway even). You can hear it on the low notes of a piano, too. Definitely a sign of a quality string, though.
Make your own lightsaber sounds
use it with an octaver lol. DO IT!!! DO IT!!! play brbrdeng
ITS A REQUIREMENT NOW....HE MUST!!!!
If he doesnt I swear I might have to do it myself🤣
I second this
Ayy! BrBR DENG
Um... He DID play it through an octaver.
What??? You couldn't hear it?
The whales are all stoked.
I have to say thats actually the most audible clear c#0 ive ever heard
You need to hear it in a 6/4 BBb tuba then good sir
@@PeterGriffin-kb2hf A tuba doesn't go that low. Well, at least not in the regular range. A Tenor horn goes down to E2, that's standard guitar low E. A tuba goes an octave lower, with the 4th and 5th vent maybe to low 5 string bass B0 or so, but definitely not to C#0
@@hannes1734 Correct on the tuba. Low A0 is about as low as you are gonna go on a tuba, it takes so much air to hold that note for more than a couple seconds.
You being the first to put out real videos on these basses, I hope you can continue this pioneering effort on these new instruments.
Having attempted to order through Kalium before, I'm just glad you got the bass at all.
I think right angle guitar cables would help in prevent getting that issue when putting that contrabass in classical guitar position.
what would be cool is if you converted one of your other quake basses to a fretless and used a bow/e-bow with it.
I like how he is so optimistic and positive despite on how many disappointments he encountered with this instrument.
A really insane channel, so much valuable real world (guitar related) information!
Man, you are very sweet to them, they sold you a dead horse spray painted and you manage to sugar coat it, you are too nice! I was really looking into buying one, after your review, my money will go to my luthier to craft one, at 2000E piece, they have no excuses.
Great video man I'm sorry about the finish bleeding, the switches, and your ordering experience. I recommend like taking a damp cloth and rubbing the bass down. It will help remove the residue a little. As for the wiring I'm sure you can fix or if you really want a killswitch you could keep it like that though I recommend adding a button instead like buckethead. Overall while it has its issues and it is like 2 grand at least I still think it is well worth the money especially for someone like you who frequently uses low tunings it is crazy clear and I love the new sound. I'm really interested in this guy and other things in the future I'm sure you'll probably update your other instruments in the future as well but that's again for the future anyway it's green and long let's call it "The Python"
i just recently built a 48 inch scale test bass. i cant even get a good sounding low F# and its 8 inches longer that that monster. granted mine is a shit-project. its 2 strings, fretless and more of a concept djentstick than a real instrument but i cant seem to get any clarity no matter how long i go. clearly there is an electronic point i'm missing like NEEDING some digital processing, and everything i have is passive. mine sounds about like the ibanez you contrabass'd but i lose all quality below G. turns into noodle-core. so i think what i',m lacking is the pre-amp or a special pickup is needed to get the lower tones. i dunno. but my 35 inch fretless 6-string bass sounds killer with passives down to A, and it's like there is a wall between A and G# that when crosses just takes all quality and pisses on the concept.
Do you have any pictures or video? You can share it on the facebook group too. Where did you find strings for that length btw?
13:23 "orderng"
Edit: still a great video dude keep up the good shit.
2:27 "guages"
You have sold me and I have now subscribed
Sounds like their customer service really sucks. That's a shame
Over the last few months, I've bought several sets of strings from Kalium. They took about a month to send me "In stock" strings. Pathetic!!!! If I can find another company that sells large gauge strings, I'll never order another thing from Kalium.
I ended up using their 208 string to get me a 20Hz E on a 34 inch Conklin 7 string bass. With the the right speakers, I get the depth and clarity I want. Intonation is an issue though.
As a former professor told my class, " The difference between a jerk and a critic is, the Jerk says, 'You suck.' The Critic says, 'You suck because....'" Clearly, you are being a critic. You are bringing forth import information that others may use to decide on what to buy. Never apologize for being honest.
I'm using those strings gauges for drop D an octave down (D0 A0 D1 G1) on a 34" scale bass
Awesome video, I bought that Brice 37" bass after seeing your other one and I love it. Also have a Brice multiscale 6 and it has the same bridge type as your Quake.
As for Kaliim, I tried to order a set for my 9 string once and selected their "1 day shipping" option. I didn't get any confirmation email or responses until I made a facebook post and people started tagging some of the Kalium guys (who were helpful enough). But after a few weeks, I ended up just getting a refund and getting some La Bella custom gauges instead. Those shipped just a few days after and are great.
I would really want to try Kalium at some point still since I've heard they're awesome, but I don't want to go through the whole guessing game experience again.
Also, for other bassists using low F# tuning, I found D'Addario has singles available up to .170 gauge and they do them for both regular scale and long scale (fits my 37"). They can be easily ordered from D'Addario's site or on site like Just Strings/Stringsbymail. Even Amazon has them. 👍
Newtone strings though the UK have very reasonable prices for their custom strings, and they also go up to a 200 gauge!!!!! I paid $44.84 for a custom pack of stainless steel strings in these gauges:
0.067
0.094
0.130
0.200
That includes tax and shipping from the UK to the US, which if i recall correctly, was about $5.73, I'm using those strings to tune to drop D an octave down (D0 A0 D1 G1) on a 34" scale, basically I went with their diamond strings, hex core, stainless steel, tapered, and I had to measure from the nut to the ball anchor resting point in the bridge, fingers crossed these strings fit on my bass which currently has a 100 gauge on it haha 🤞
Kalium would charge probably more than that for one single 0.200 gauge string, plus their website is extremely confusing haha
I really don't see why anyone would buy a Kalium bass when there are Dingwalls on the market.
I know this late but Dingwalls are amazing but kaliums have a way longer scale and they are arguably just as good from what I've seen
Dingwalls are 34-37 but the Kalium is like 37-40.
@@micahsnyder7299 Yeah, the brand should be called Basses for Hulk fingers... :D
The Dingwalls go to 40" scale?
perhaps commission Dingwall to make super long scale length basses
You should try doing some more collab videos with other UA-camrs. It would help you get more subscribers so they can see these awesome videos! I am interested to see what a nine string in double drop B and that bass in drop B-1 would sound like in a mix.
Keep up the good work man! Enjoying your videos
God... That bass sounds HUGE. The tone is the best I've heard since a lot of time. Clear, not too distorted and fatttt. May I ask you what plugin (or amp) did you use for that tone? Beautiful instrument imho
Kalium? Like, Kalium/Circle K Strings?
I had a bad experience with him the last time I tried to order strings. I had been ordering strings for all my instruments twice a year from Kalium since 2015 and never had a problem till late 2017.
I received an email saying my order shipped. It never showed up. No one responded to emails or calls until finally the dude answers. He said he could finally send out the strings in a week. I asked for my refund then and there, and never went back to him. He used to provide great service.
I've had pretty bad service almost every single order I've placed with them. I've had strings take a month to ship, and that was after sending one email on week two, two emails week three, and four emails at 1 month.
Now this is a bass built for a big man like me.
Sounds so clean compared to how other basses play those notes, there is plenty of room to play with this one. I'd like to hear it mixed with a guitar, with distortion, and both of those once the strings have been swapped and the bass has been tuned up to something a bit more normal.... and if you don't get smacked with copyright, maybe a super downtuned version of the intro to Feared - My Own Redemption.
Hey man! I have watched some of your low tuning videos. You are spectacular and I’m sure you are going to be very big shortly. Keep up the great work!
That's lower than my sliding didgeridoo (F# 0). Wow! Great channel!
Great review, thank you! I was curious about that bass.
His is my jam. I am glad I found you!
Seeing this thing in standard 5 string tuning with a high C would be pretty cool, I want to hear how much like a piano it sounds with the E on that 40 inch scale. Going down to a .226 gauge scale would be really cool to see how low it goes.
You'd have to put some REALLY thin strings on this to get into standard tuning. Pretty sure it would have to be a set of 7 string guitar strings.
@@georgiykireev9678 Kalium makes down to a .009 gauge string with a bass ball end. You could probably get away with something like a .070 or lower. It's definitely feasible though.
For super light tension (which I'm a fan of) on this instrument, you could do this gauge set, or beef every string up if you're more into tighter strings:
0.023w (in C3 this would have 27.64 pounds of tension)
0.031 (in G2 this would have 28.55 pounds of tension)
0.043 (in D2 this would have 31.09 pounds of tension)
0.057 (in A1 this would have 31.35 pounds of tension)
0.079 (in E1 this would have 33.43 pounds of tension)
Practically you could use an A string for E, a D string for A, a G string for D, so on and so forth
Kalium make great strings but ordering is horrible.
Two years later to update that they are still terrible and most times require you to actually call to get an order shipped out after sitting with, "shipping label created," for a full month. 🙃 I really don't understand it, man.
So the C# string is two octaves lower than the C# from drop C# on a 6 string guitar?
Yes
Yep, an octave lower than on a bass.
You don't get any lower
An easy way to mute low strings is to do it with your right thumb. Place the lower 3rd of your thumb on the lower strings, using them as a sort of hand rest. It worked just fine with a .170" gauge, even without any other muting and heavy distortion. 👌
could you try tuning it like a standard 5 string bass? by compensating the string gauges of course, i'm curious if it would sound more piano like
That's what the extra set of strings is
@@SaidTooMuchProductions awesome, hype!
Great follow up review of this bass. Kalium has suffered for some time in their customer service and ordering dept. Odd that the paint bled but since it was an experimental bass of theirs that may be the issue. However seeing that AND that it wasn't what you actually ordered there should have been some discount on price. That wiring set up must be a pain to deal with too. Making my own basses I'd consider some of their design idea's though for my custom basses. Not sure I'll ever make one with this scale or fanned frets though. Knowing the customer service and ordering issues...I'd still consider this bass and company. After all they're the only ones making an effort at this level of bass. There strings have high praise too albeit again with the delayed wait getting them at times.
This is awesome. I love the sound.
That low C#0 sounds so clear. That monster is built for some 8 and 9 string guitar action.
If you're gonna get down to a G#-1 like that insane guy suggested last video, you'll need to go way above upright bass scale lengths. Uprights sometimes have C extensions which bring the scale to almost 55 inches! And that's for C1!
I sympathize with your disappointing experience with Kalium but mate, thank you for being so patient and transparent with us. You need to do a comparison between your 3 contrabasses in the future, this one is starting to sound like some sci-fi movies haha
Kalium already did it with a .266 on the 40", that could at least be a starting point, I know its gonna be really hard to work with though, the c#0 is still a little annoying already
Definitely a tough journey ahead. Not much to do except making things more and more extreme. If you're going down the custom route, check out Jared Dines's djentstick. Barebones but modular, looks fun for experiments and modding
The headstock is great, very compact reducing the chance of neck dive.
great video as always
Man, you really need more subscribers and views. You are really talented. Keep it up!
the first experimental metal tone sounded like an angry bee's nest lol
press 11:52 for earlove FeelsGoodMan Clap
Great video!
Switches are 2 pair 3PDT, 2 pair DPDT. Series/Parallel switches are my favorite passive tone controls. Would be cool to have a preset bass boost switch right next to the S/P switch so that throw direction of Parallel = throw direction of boost engaged. I dont dig single coils with bass but maybe a fun pickup jumping option like the old Ibanez Universes with the HSH. Check out old catalog pdfs for diagrams
I would try using the tone knobs to get rid of that clanky sound and produce a big fat sound that concentrates on the lowes. And I think plucking a bit softer would make up for a rounder tone. But just some thoughts. Thanks for trying out mate.
I'd prefer to be able to roll each string independently, I like the prescence of the "high" strings, but it's just a distracting clunk on those low guys, i agree
@@SaidTooMuchProductions nice Idea. Maybe you can add a Split Pickup, like P basses have, and wire a tone control to each of them. I have no idea if the difference is to big between those strings but it could be worth a try. Maybe on your brice bass.
You know, people say distortion cuts lows, but if you used something that enhance sustain and retained lows, I feel like it could make those sub notes ring out better. It's the only problem I have with the super low tunings, they sound cool but it gets harder to make it work the lower you go. It ends up being unwieldy.
The fretboard looks like it's made of ebonol. Synthetic compound material made of black paper and resin. It's very similar to ebony in tone, but even a bit more dense and resilient against scratches and dents.
but... does it chug?
I'm going to use this.
Yeah... I'm going to do it.
I think, for notes this low, "unusual techniques" involve more than just adjusted fingerings. At ~ 20 Hz, it can take significant time for harmonic relationships to register in our ears. I think something this low is meant for atmosphere, much like the low strings on a theorbo are there to ring out as punctuation while the upper strings handle melody and harmony.
Speaking of theorbos, those things have _ridiculous_ scale lengths (but no fretboard). It's certainly possible to get something sounding good with thin strings if you give up on anything resembling a practical scale length.
To make it more practical, what if the body moved up so that the bridge extends past it? We're electric here, so having a bridge sitting on top of a reaonating chamber isn't a concern. 48" scale length should fit in the lap if the bridge sticks past the body. Being able to reasonably fret a 48" scale length is another matter entirely. Screwing with tunings to reduce the fret span might help.
Putting a hole in the body between the pickups would allow for the advanced "chopstick" fingerstyle technique: rubbing the strings perpendicular to the body with a rosined stick. I don't know if that would work at this range, but it might do something cool.
I appreciate trying to get the tone as dry and DI as possible, but for this bass, that does us favors for what it will sound like in practical use. Because nobody's gonna run it like that. Ya gotta get some various EQ + compression setups going. See how it sounds being PUSHED through a solid state sim, and a tube sim. I'm sad that that didn't happen :(
Thanks for taking the time to make these vids and spending your money on these instruments though!
... that was through parallel compression and EQ...
@@SaidTooMuchProductions Oh wow lol. I guess that extra low stuff just really doesn't want to sound all that great. I mean we can straight up hear the individual cycles of the waveform hahaha. My speaker setup probably isn't doing it any favors either.
*Tone demo* -> 9:28 .
Said Too Much Productions Longer Scale & Thinner Strings produces a brighter sound but making an even Longer Scale Length & thinner Strings would take some time.
I can’t be the only one who wants to hear Anesthesia - Pulling Teeth on this beast with the low C# tuning.
Anyway, great video as always.
BASS player here, yup, another 3000$ instrument......with problems.
Quite happy with a 4 string at 200CAD and a DEAN edge 1 6 string at 525CAD.
Went to check them out.....nice BASSES!!! But the troubles you got turned me off, when i saw the prices!!!!
For all of it's features, the actual tone of this bass isn't bowling me over. Maybe core-to-bridge or high tension flats made to specs? Can't tell what they have on there. Thank you for a daring review, even kalium doesn't have much coverage on this model.
Why was this uploaded around 3 AM ish
GET SOME SLEEP KEVIN
Lol, internet was slow and it took 3 hours to upload
What would be cool is if the Quake bass had a three octave neck (or more?). What I mean is 36 frets.So as to utilize that long neck I, myself am very interested in Extended Range Basses. I have a 6 string, 35" bass strung from F(0) in 5ths ; F(0),C(1), G,D,A,E, . I use a , 205 string for F(0) but it sounds dull compared to all the other strings. What does your F# sound like at 39.25 inches and what is the diameter of that string? I know your C# is .266 at 40 inches, the trouble being that 17 Hz are actually under the human threshold for hearing.
Wait since when does he offer sample packs on his Patreon?? This is new and VERY important information
Nice!
A bass play won't notice the green stain. Because they don't do laundry anyway.
I would really like to hear something like a Dark Glass microtube x7 on this
Pretty good for a C#0, that is low AF.
My bad experience lead me out of the boutique market and back into buying a commercial baritone guitar. Jericho guitars didn’t reply to any of my emails on inquiring about a guitar model they didn’t have in stock until around 6 months after I inquired. I did send about an email a month to see if maybe I was just falling on deaf ears, but after 6 months of no reply of when a model is back in stock?? I hadn’t even ordered anything yet and the red flags were blatantly apparent. Finally I get a reply from the company’s so called “customer service manager” and he sends me a link saying I must be blind because they’re in stock. Taking it as a playful joust, I clicked the link and saw that it took me to the same page with the same result I had seen 6 months ago. Same model, out of stock. I replied saying the link took me to an out of stock model. He sent a couple emails saying how they’ve been in stock for over a year with this model and that I’m not hitting the right link, blah blah. I had it at that point but then, stupidity caught itself when he throws a third email and says, and I quote, “Oh, checked the link. Didn’t understand you were after the ignition model. Yeah those will be out till next year June.” I gave up trying to buy a Jericho and went with the Chapman ML-1 Baritone instead through riff city and got it at my door in a day earlier than expected.
11:54 finally.... a Merzbow cover
Decent review however I can’t help but notice that some of the complaints have to do more with poor technique rather than poor or cumbersome build design. Like classical position you should have you leg on something for a better angle, claiming is hard to hear some intervals because your picking Atleast looks wimpy, and not having enough stretch because your wrist is bent. Idk things to consider since you’re more of a guitarist
The typical upright bass scale length is more like 105cm = 41.34” for a 3/4 contrabass witch is the standard nowadays.
I really want to get one of these, but 2000 is way out of my price range. Any tips on building one?
Yes the real deal!
I've played with some of these tunings and I also have the Brice Earthquake but I think F# is the limit of our hearing at approx 22HZ but even with the F# and super heavy strings that made it tighter than fishing line with a whale biting I struggled to make musical relatable sounds I think the niche for anything lower might be the doom/sludge/industrial metal stuff. Personally I would love to get a Kalium Quake in F# with the Hipsho Xtender and do Country and Blues but I don't want those dark end of the world tones.
The e - g strings sounds great! Sounds like a proper dingwall djenty odd time signature bass lol great tone! but the low C NEEDS WORK. It's too loose and sounds crappy. they need to make that low C not sound loose and flabby, they need to make it sound clear and balanced and "dingy" like the other 4 strings on this bass.
Forgot to mention this earlier but I say you should try making an instrumental with this and the 37 scale bass tunes an octave higher than the quake bass. I say it'd be decent but lemme know what u think but for now enough said🤣
I've heard of an extreme double-bass instrument called an octobass whose lowest note is C0, 16 HZ. The low notes where the fundamental is inaudible are played using a very slow bowing technique. I wonder what kind of sound you'll get out of your C# with an E-bow.
I literally had the same idea ua-cam.com/video/JDxhj8kdklg/v-deo.html
No, that's not right. The winds on the 3 lowest strings start after the saddle. That's why your intonation was off on the Brice bass. The mass needs to be equal from end-to-end of the functional length of the string. I've had plain guitar strings fail to intonate from corrosio between the nut and 12th. Not brown and rusty, just old.
Is that Mario Kart music in the background?
It's so clear it sounds like an octave petal
If it was sitting around shouldn't the paint be dry even more so?
Just got mine the other week. Mind messaging me so I can compare some observations about the quake?
I never saw Chucky Playing Bass Before
F#0 doesn't sound that good. It's only when you go higher up you get that bassy boom. And that boom sounds pretty good to my ears.
One thing you could try is an open tuning where you can hit power chords and octaves easily, kinda like how Peter Steele played on his B-tuned bass. RIP.
Very interesting. It's just too low for anything that I would like to play. Drop D is all I need.
Wondering if anyone runs a sound system to be able to push those tones out.
I want one, lol. Would that even be usable in a track? I wonder if it’s possible to tune it in fifths for extra high notes.
hi there, i'm planing to buy a bass that can be tuned to E0AEAd. will a 37" brice be okay?
Do they make any multi scale basses in left handed? I want one so bad and sadly I’m a lefty :/
I think I'm just gonna stick with F0 thanks. C#0 is way too low for me. 🤣
I don't even care. That Bass is dreaken awesome!
$2,800 bass and the finish rubs off? F that.
This dude did not just saw bow-teeq
So using an instrument like this could you hypothetically downtune into negative notes? Like B -1
Yep...
Now put it through a whammy pedal on Detune.
Used an angled jack biscuit
15:53 Well Nolly tuned his Dingwall to C#0 in Hell below and it sounded just fine
What's a crappy sound (there is no low-mids at all - but it has trashy finish as a bonus - what's a shame)! The fingerboard is propably synthetic (looks like ebonol). The Brice HXB2-405 RN 37 you have presented earlier sounds much better IMO.
2:15 thats what she said
CHECKMATE
this is very similar to the experience i had, only i never got the bass and cancelled finally, now he is holding my deposit hostage. the explanation is the bass has to sell before he will refund my deposit. he has not advertised the bass on his website
lets make one of these to where you can use a bow with it lol
Where does he go to look at the list of notes and hrtz?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_key_frequencies
@@SaidTooMuchProductions Thanks so much!
also, ive had the kalium bullshit experience. i went to them for strings a long time ago. i ordered strings based on THEIR tension chart and paid handsomely for bass strings and then nothing came. i sent an email, nothing, 2 weeks later after 2 emails they said the strings were on the way. 2 weeks later i got the strings and they felt loose. string tension was WAY off, and i measured them and they were the wrong size. i emailed. nothing, emailed, finally i threatened to report them and they apologized in an email and sent me new strings. same wrong pack again. never got a refund, never got my strings in the right gauge and they NEVER mentioned the tapered ends changes the tension chart so even the gauge i ordered would have been wrong technically going off their own chart. i ended up buying 2 of the wrong pack and said to hell with Kalium. they also made me mad when they ONLY allowed use through paypal, so after everything i went through i had a paypal account created and money spent that i didnt want for anything else. that's why i contacted stringjoy.com for the same exact guages and they wanted just over half the price for it. they took paypal and major credit cards so no bullshit, websight was super easy top use and i got my strings within like 4 days and they were correct, not only in tension but in the gauge i ordered. ive been 100 percent stringjoy since and through several years of stringing 15 instruments i have had 2 minor problems. once they double charged me, i clicked and it ordered 2 duplicate orders. i emailed, they apologized, gave my the money back for one pack, other pack mailed as usual. another time there was a glitch in the websight and it somehow didn't send my order, so after 4 days and no strings they sent me an apology and rush-delivered me the strings in 2 days with no upcharge and sent me a personal note assuring it wouldn't happen again. it never happened again. everyone makes mistakes and websights screw up but they do exactly what they say they will, their strings are super good, they make any error right, they don't blame you, they just inquire and take note and fix it. Kalium can eat a medium to large bucket of dicks. yes they offer bigger strings than stringjoy but technically i also never got my damn strings after they gladly took my money so i'd rather have a 145 for cheap, that arrives and is what they claimed, than a 150 that never made it and cost me 3 times as much and months of work to never receive. ive heard Kalium's customer service is often aligned with how famous you are. the lesser know you are, the less they give a shit about your results. so be prepared to pay high and receive nil. stringjoy takes the time. i will also shout out to Ernie ball, because even though i dont use their stuff anymore, they always worked with me on weird gauges on the phone and i always got a product. so that's something at least.
Using a .140 string for the low f# might be your problem
Hopefully this video hits six figure views and they start giving a damn
D'Addario has up to .170 available as singles on Just Strings and Strings By Mail. They're about $10 and you can easily order them and they'll ship within 2 days or so.
I reccomend those for F# tuning
Good luck experimenting, man 👍
@@SaidTooMuchProductions - I do give a damn. Been working at this since the 1970's and am a one-man shop.
Newtone strings from the UK do custom gauges up to 0.200 and they're cheap too!!!!! I paid $44.84 total for these gauges:
0.067
0.094
0.130
0.200
And that includes shipping from the UK to the US, and their website is wayyyy easier to use than Kalium, and more custom than stringjoy as you can choose the core type (hex or round), whether they're tapered or not, the metals used (stainless steel or nickel iirc), and you also have to measure from the nut to where the ball end anchors in the bridge, they also have two types of strings, diamond, and platinum, I don't know the difference but I got diamond because apparently it's more ideal for thicker gauge strings
One of these days you should make a discord server i could help set it up if you want
discord.gg/47jrXdn I have one I'm just trying to figure it all out, I'll post a community message soon