Category Guitar

Guitar Rig 4

Two years after Guitar Rig 3 was released in autumn 2007, the fourth iteration of the software modelling application for guitarists was released by Native Instruments. This time around a combination of an ever increasing workload, little free time and the fact that Guitar Rig 3 was ‘good enough’ for my needs meant it took […]

Truckers of Husk – Physical Education EP

It was completely by accident that I stumbled upon this great EP by Welsh/British band Truckers of Husk. I was trying to find a video on YouTube when I accidentally clicked on one of the popular videos titled ‘Sleeveface‘. While the video was mildly amusing, it featured music by Truckers of Husk which led to […]

Robot Guitar ('Someone Kill The Marketing People')

So after the digital pickups now Gibson is releasing an auto-tuning guitar. Great. This does seem like a big deal and I do like it that Gibson is trying to pair modern technology with high quality craftsmanship and vintage design, yet the name, website and associated marketing videos are utterly ridiculous. Do they really think that guitarists are 8 year old retards that would find this kind of promotional material appealing? Ok, they clearly do. Are they? :)
Gibson Robot Guitar
The marketing literature even goes as far as comparing the future value of this limited edition auto-tuning LesPaul to that of a number of legendary guitars including the 1959 Standard; what a sacrilege! The overall presentation goes a long way against maintaining Gibson's respectable image among musicians. Still, when the limited run disappears and this becomes a standard feature of Gibsons I'm sure many people will be happier. I know I would if I had one. Image courtesy of Gibson Guitar Corporation.

Guitar Rig 3

Also read the Guitar Rig 4 Mini-Review A bit more than a year ago I wrote about Guitar Rig 2, Native Instruments’ flagship product for Guitarists. Guitar Rig 2 was an excellent product in most ways, with exceptional sound quality, a solid foot controller and several improvements over the original. About two years since Guitar […]

Guitar Rig 3 is out!

Guitar Rig 3New amps, new effects, new presets and some new features. Woot! If this is anything like the upgrade from version 1 to 2 then we're in for a rockin' upgrade. :) The order has been placed (the 'software edition' obviously as the new Kontrol is somewhat pointless if you have the previous version). A review is forthcoming, when I get some free time that is...

Animusic 2: Resonant Chamber

Animusic Resonant Chamber
Since Apple announced their support for the H.264 codec back in early 2005 I never bothered revisiting their HD gallery. Until today that is. To many outside the world of computer graphics, Animusic became known from the real-time version of its 'Pipe Dream' piece, used for ATi's Radeon 9700 some years ago. The company has released two collections of tracks on DVD all featuring imagined animated (computer graphics) 'robotic' instruments accurately performing the tracks. Needless to say they are quite interesting to watch and very well done. The HD 'Resonant Chamber' sample presents a more 'acoustic' piece than 'Pipe Dream' and one that transcends several musical genres performed by an impossibly complex stringed instrument (a construction that combines guitar, lute, bass and harp) that might invoke images of Pat Metheny's Pikasso I 42-string guitar. Worth watching. [Update: Also available on the site is Starship Groove]

String-by-String

Gibson has been more or less synonymous with the electric guitar and along with Fender one of the two major historic manufacturers of the instrument. The introduction of digital technology in what was generally considered acoustic or electric territory was gradual and troublesome. There are lots of people that scoff when faced with computers, modelling […]

Electric Worry

Stream the first single from Clutch's latest album, From Beale Street to Oblivion. Clutch is a band I got to discover just a few weeks ago (thanks to my almost uninterruptible exposure to Spinalongaesque musical selections). Pure. Unadulterated. Almost Cult. :)
[Update: Damn, they've removed the audio file from the site. :(] [Update 2: Added YouTube video]

Has Satch lost it?

I first listened to Joe Satriani when I was in high-school, in 1995. At first I found his music pleasantly different from either the hair-metal 80s kitsch (even though some of his early stuff are clearly influenced by the æsthetics of the time) or, the fashionable genre of the time, grunge. Much of Satriani’s music can […]

Guitar Rig 2

When Native Instruments first announced Guitar Rig in June 2004, I more or less dismissed it straight away as yet another failed attempt towards the holy grail of software amp/fx modelling. I took the animated NI executive’s enthousiastic presentation at Apple’s WWDC as the archetypal marketing talk, and I obviously didn’t get a feel for […]