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

A couple that I use loads are Triangle 2 which is a great sounding mono synth, lots of knobs to experement with and loads of presets too. The MinimogueVA is a free emulation of the classic Mini Moog, great for sharp leads and fat basses, you can also use it polyphonicaly, which is nice for big brass/string pads. For the classic mellotron sound, I use Tapeworm. Also this for a Moog Taurus emulator. A few not so free ones are Native instruments B4 Hammond organ emmulator which is just so cool it hurts. And the Korg Legacy Collection. I find sounds to suit most tracks so easily with this package.

Whatever you do, don't get 1-click-dvd-copy.software-com. It comes with a large tin of SPAM.

Go digital. I use Amplitube and Guitar Rig. Both sound amazing and you just plug the lappy in to the pa, so no more luging Amps about either!

Sounds like fun! chronologically: A fondly remembered classical which died when it collided with my brother one night. A Fender(or a copy?) acoustic bought from a flea market for £20. I gave it away to my journeyman when my apprenticeship ended. A Marlin Sidewinder start copy, sold off to a former bandmate A Tanglewood acoustic, bought from the Barras for £80, I still have it and it has to be one of the best acoustics that I have played. A really crap precision bass copy, sadly I still own it A squire Heavy metal super strat, I loaded it up with a Steve Vai pick up at the bridge and an old gibson pick up at the neck. Traded in for a GS graduate. A heritage 335 copy, traded in with the above for a GS Graduate. Gordon Smith Graduate, swapped the P90's for Bartolinni mini humbuckers. Sold recently to fund guitar mods. A Hohne RTS- I still have it, I recently fitted a Sustainiac driver to it, also fitted a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck hot Rail humbucker to the bridge, It kicks ass and sounds amazing. It also has a Wilkinson trem which never seems to go out of tune! An Ibanez RoadstarII- just re-wired it and fitted Lace Gold Sensor pickups, It still need a wee bit of work, but does sound and play beautifully. There have been a few other dodgy acoustics bought,won or acquired and always lost, broken or given away. Not a lot over 20 odd years. I'm very happy with my current guitars and I can get any tone or effect that I require out of them. I don't really believe in paying lots for a guitar, I prefer to experiment with modifying them.

I've used AVG for 5+ years and I've been virus free. I'd go with what Rohan said about IE, it has more holes than a swiss cheese. M$ have even tarted it up to look like firefox. For me, the secret to P2P's is to scan everything that you download before use. There are a lot of nasty people out there, so you allways have to use protection!

You should get Norton Ghost, it takes all the fun out of reinstalling! But you do need a good partition to take an image of though.

my dad had that one. He eventually wiped his C drive and reinstalled windows. probably not what you want to hear though!

I started out on a twin deck tape stereo, you had to retune the guitars and keyboards everytime you started a new layer. I upgraded to a Tascam Porta1 which looked a bit like this I used that for years. When I got my first PC, my father-in-law bought me Magix recording studio. That got me hooked on PC recording. I now use FL studio as my VST host and sometims for instrument recording. I also use Cubase Se as my multi track. I don't think that I could go back to a 4 track.

My page is My music It's all instrumental as I have a voice that would bring a tear to a glass eye!

I've got a GUITAR LINK UCG102. I bought it to use on a laptop, it works great with my Ibanez Roadstar, but it doesn't like my Sustainiac guitar at all. I run my guitars through a DMX 6fire on my desktop with no problems. I'm now looking for a USB soundcard for the lappy, but thats another topic.