I've learned a new term amplifier modelling. You get some device you play through into your computer & it models various types of amplifier sounds/settings. Yes I'm sure there's the "brown sound" setting as well. Ok guitar synthesizer stuff is ok & it's been around a long time & that's what Alan Holdsworth & I'm sure many others such as Trevor Rabin from Yes do. But for any guitar hackie to just plug into something & sound like their favorite guitar riffer is almost blasphemy to the art of live sound. The box for my MXR Phaser even has on the front of it "Live to play live." How processed & computerized & overprocessed does the world need to become? Just listen to a phrase on Van Halen I & then listen to whatever it is you want to call it on Balance. Ugh. Sorry when it comes to amps & settings it should take one's entire being & sweat & blood to create & lock in their sound. I haven't gotten there yet but I smell that I'm close...maybe. Am waiting on a couple pedals to arrive so brother glop can modify them with the mod kits I ordered.
But to be fair to the gadget gizmoids out there, I do confess that I have a Hughes & Kettner Red Box which I will probably use. It can simulate a 4 speaker cabinet or a 2 speaker combo amp. And the reason is due to not having a 'studio' like environment in which to place an amp in an ideal spot with mics in another ideal spot. But at least it's dedicated to 1 purpose which is taking existing post gain amp sound & allowing one to go directly into mixing or audio capture device and sound like a mic'd cabinet. I could rationalize & justify it away but I won't. I have a kind of gizmoid that is in the category of this rant. >>>addition added 11/3 - The red box is like my running my amp's 2nd speaker output into a speaker cabinet so perhaps I'm not cheating afterall. <<< So onward with my iRant.
So this brings me to my next item & that's home digital audio recording. It's not a new concept but with computers being media oriented now a days many music gizmo companies are trying too find their niche in the market of USB & Firewire based products. To me that's cool. I started looking at USB based gadgets & I noticed for example the, ugh don't make me write this...'amp modeller' Line6 TonePort UX2 USB thing. Filled with lots of gizmos
& gadgets. But does any one of the features excel in any one area? Well it's limited by the very nature of the limitations of USB ports. Who knows. If I'm bowling I need to use a bowling ball. If I'm golfing I use A club for A shot. So the goal is quality audio recording through some interface on computer that is not based on the, usually stock & poor quality audio card. Why not get something that's dedicated to just converting the sound to digital & storing it on computer for shaping later? So in looking at reviews I found this interesting thing called Firebox that is Firewire based. Can I drool now? Now that's more like it. What's it for? Capture audio with quality mic preamps.
Before going through my Brother Glop induced journey I would've probably gone "Oh wow, & no way man!" about the Line6 thing. And I can see why people migrate to such things & that's because they don't have the time or resources to do the needed work to find their sound at home to record with. It's just a tool that gives the myriads something easy to work with. No I don't have much time & of course I'll need a Hot Plate to do anything at home...if ever. I'm wondering how many people just instantly settle for USB based stuff which does have a throughput limit but some may never reach that level of audio data. What do I know?
To be fair, perhaps the popular things like the Line6 help encourage & motivate 'cats' do jam out stuff for themselves that they might not have tried to do otherwise with mics & various other recording methods. For the good & tight sounding players that's good. For the not so good or out of tune or off key folks handing out the 'Hey look what I tried to do" CD at Christmas to friends & family, perhaps ease of recording isn't the best idea. And I'll throw myself into that grouping as well unless I can prove otherwise in time. laff.
And I shouldn't talk until I've recorded something of any kind.
I'll get off my binary soap box now.
Until later comes turn it up to Firewire.
2 comments:
There's a whole sub-industry built around Apple's GarageBand. Here are accessories from M-Audio. Here's Apple's accessory page. Here's a tutorial for playing guitar with your GarageBand song.
"Get a Mac"
I use the Pod XT Pro as part of my guitar rig.
Amp modeling will probably never ever sound like the real thing, but the reason I bought it was because i didn't know what sound I wanted, and I did know that I wanted to play a wide variety of music styles, and didn't want to buy a different amp for each style.
Its worked pretty well, but it does have the disadvantage of a lot of digital things - out of the box they sound good, but to get them sounding GREAT you need to spend a lot of time tweaking them just right.
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