Slope #1, down: The Classic Chorus 212 dies.
Slope #2, up: Looks like it's not dead after all. I went to the studio on Sunday and lo and behold it's working just fine, even at high volume. I must have been using a crap instrument cable or something the other day when I thought it was dying.
Slope #3, up: I did a mobile multi-track recording at Fish Head Canteena this past Saturday, and mad e a few bucks.
Slope #4, down: I bring the multi-track home, start exporting the tracks to my computer and the thing takes a dump on me. Error code 43. Anybody good with a Mackie MDR 24/96? PLEASE let me know, I'm DESPERATE. I don't exactly have $1200.00 to replace this thing.
Slope #5, up (sort of): Upon dis-assembling the MDR I discover that I can add more RAM, RAM I already have several sticks of laying around the house. Part 2 of this semi-up slope is that I was able to remove the internal hard drive and salvage my tracks, so I can finish the project and get my pay, which I should really be working on right now.
Slope #6, up: Josh, bassist from CARBONSTONE has an Ibanez RG-6 that he is letting me hold onto, knowing full well that I will not be in a position to give him any money for it for months to come. It's a pretty nice guitar, medium blue with lots of sparkles. Humbucker at the bridge, single in the middle and a another humbucker at the neck, with a 5 way switch. Floyd Rose floater. I don't like floating bridges or locking nuts (which this guitar has both of) but this one is a little different, it stays in tune like magic. The action is low and fast. Again, I'm weird, I normally like my action a squeak high, but this one seems to work well for me nice and low. Oh and the pickups are supposedly something special, they have fancy model numbers on them. V8 (bridge), S1 (middle), V7 (neck).
Slope #7, up: I got a new toy in the mail today. A Digitech GSP-7, guitar processor. Apperently it's a guitar synth. Yes Brian, I'm playing digital distortion, or am I? That's what I really need to figure out. These things have an actual 12AX7 in them, but I have heard rumors that it is only for looks. The one Distortion setting that has the most saturation and gain is called "Digi-Tube", which of course is a contradiction in terms. There is also a "Metal Tube" Which has a nice dark warmth to it, but lacks a hair in gain and saturation, "Heavy sustain" which looses tone as you let it ring out but it does keep ringing, "Overdrive" typical flat over driven solid state sound, and then there is "Rock-Tube" which is good for low gain rhythm crunch, but with strong emphasis on the "low gain" part of the statement.
So I spent the late half of my afternoon sawing, cutting and drilling. I installed the GSP-7 into the Stereo Chorus head, and I think I did a fine job of it, I'll throw in a pic here at the end of this post. Then I ran off to a meeting, and afterwards I spent the majority of the night running through the different programs and fine tuning them. So far I have...
Patch #1, "Bitch": Basic high gain tube distortion for most metal power chord needs
Patch #2, "Low Gain Crunch": I think that one pretty much describes itself.
Patch #3, "Croon": For all your long, drawn out, half time, melodic solos. Little chorus, intermediate amount of reverb and lots of stereo multi-tap delay.
Patch #4, "Scream": High speed, high gain soloing patch. Much like "Bitch" but with a swell in the upper mid frequencies, simulating a volume boost.
Patch #5, "Deep Slow Chorus": A clean patch for ballad picking. Kind of like a clean version of "Croon", but with more emphasis on the chorus.
Patch #6 "Clean Delay": Just what is sounds like, with a little slow multi-tap delay and not too much feedback.
So now all I need is a midi foot-switch. I just want a basic 12 button without expression pedals. 1 - 10 and up and down buttons. I have a feeling I will have a hard time finding anything without expression pedals, oh well. You may wonder why I might not want expression pedals. First of all, I already have a volume pedal. Second the GSP does not have a Wah effect (which I don't use as part of my style anyway. And third, I dont think the GSP even supports it anyway.
Brain, Guitarist for War Driver, dropped me a link to some software that I need to look into. It uses midi to interface the GSP-7 with various recording programs. To what end I'm not sure. I have never fully understood Midi, or at least not all aspects of it, but it sounds like it could be a useful tool.
Oh, by the way, it's official. My phone does every F&^%ing thing in the G@$ D#%& world. I now have apps that make a my phone a chromatic tuner, a guitar (yes, a guitar), A piano, a drum machine, a bass synth, a VERY advanced metronome, a chord/scale reference (with modes) and lots more.
OK, that's all for now...
Neely
And here is a good funny I couldn't resist throwing in.
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