sparkotronic

I picked up a Tanglewood TW400N about 15 years ago and it is one of the best playing/sounding acoustics that I've ever had. The neck is the best bit about it, if I ever have the money to get someone to build a guitar for me, I would love this neck on an electric. Stuff the snobs, a good guitar is one that is good for you and 90% of the time, the big names are s#@t!

Here is my Hohner RTS Revelation. It was one of the first off the production line (No 00079) and it has the original 2/4 Machine head config(before Ernie Ball sued them) The trem is a Wilkinson, which almost never goes out of tune, even after some extreme dive bombing. The neck is amazing and the access to the upper frets is totaly unrestricted. I scrapped the original wiring and pick ups and added a Seymour Duncan hot rail at the bridge and a SD single coil. I also fitted a Sustainiac, this thing is insane, the Sustainiac brings a whole new dimension to the guitar. I keep meaning to make another scratch plate up and do away with the single coil as I never use it.

The sustainiac is a brilliant bit of kit and it is also very easy to fit. The guitar feels alive when it is switched on, the only problem I've had with it is switching it off, it's far too much fun!

That makes me want to buy one now!

I fitted a Sustainiac to one of my guitars. It works like an Ebow, but across the 6 strings. You can get some really good sounds out of it, especially in harmonic mode.

I'm hooked on Guitar Rig. It's so easy to use. The sounds that you can create are only limited by your imagination. I just play in the house, so it's an ideal set up for me.

I'm Hooked on FL Studio. Such a versatile DAW, It's so easy to use, the only thing that hampers me is my imagination(or lack of at the moment!) I can't remember the last time I fired up cubase.

On my desktop I use a Terratec DMX 6fire, It's a superb card with lots of I/O and almost 0ms latency. On my lappy it's a M-Audio Firewire, No MIDI, but I use a E-mu usb to MIDI converter for that. as for the card, it sounds way better than the Terratec, I just wish that I had more time and opportunity to use it. Colin

I gave up on the 4 track years ago when my father in law bought me Magix MusicMaker 6 for my new PC. I couldn't work out where the hiss and warble had went to! I now use a home built PC with a Terratec 6fire sound card. I now seem to have settled in to using FL studio far all my audio, now that you can record audio directly to FL my copy of Cubase is virtually redundant. Using a DAW is a very steep learning curve and each time I use FL Studio, I find a new button to use! I was well chuffed with myself last week, for the first time in 4 years I actually got my Mod wheel to work in FL. I think that the home PC recording studio is the way forward, I actually found MM6 easier to use than my 4 track.

If you are using outboard effects, something from Magix would do. http://www.magix.com/us/music-maker/ I started out on musicmaker 5 and it gave top results, I only upgraded to cubase as I was getting more interested in VSTi's. I'm sure you could pick a copy up for pennies on ebay. Colin

There are some interesting ones on this site http://www.uv.es/~ruizcan/p_vst.htm The ELOTTRONIX XL is great fun, a bit like Jim fixing it for you to be Robert Fripp for a day! This site offers a free guitar amp simulation package http://www.simulanalog.org/guitarsuite.htm Some of the tones on offer are quite impressive. This site lists loads of freebies http://www.sadglad.com/freevstplugins6.html Have fun!

I went for a M-Audio Solo Firewire. It sound superb and coupled with my EMU USB to MIDI converter, I am now fully mobile with no where to go!

I'm looking to buy an external soundcard for my ASUS laptop. Could anyone advise me on what to look for? On my home PC I have a Terratec DMX 6fire. I have had no problems with this card and it copes with everything that I throw at it. With that in mind, I'm currently looking at this one: TerraTec Aureon 7.1 FireWire - sound card Is a firewire one better than a USB.

I come up with most of my good ideas on bass. I do love playing it, sometimes more than guitar! May the god of guitars strike me down!

I love this cello player. A bit like a french singing Tori Amos with a cello. http://www.jorane.com/ http://www.myspace.com/joranemusique1