Axon has made a name for themselves in the MIDI guitar world. They've now got a FireWire interface that can be built into a guitar.
Since the guitar becomes an audio interface, and because FireWire is bidirectional, they've incorporated a headphone jack on the guitar that is fed from the computer.
Using hex pickups, you can output the audio for each string on a different audio channel. What can you do with that you might ask? Keep reading…
If you've got a guitar equipped with a built-in firewire interface and a software host that supports multi-input plug-ins,
you can have some serious fun with these plug-ins. Being able to process each string individually allows for panning, enveloping, and distortion performed in ways that are impossible with a normal guitar.
Colin from McDSP was kind enough to give me his finest Devo pose sporting the cool HoloSpex they were passing out.
If you look at a bright point-source light, you will see the McDSP logo above and below it.
BTW, he would not confirm nor deny the possible existence of AudioUnit versions of their plug-ins.
This device fits over the neck of any guitar. You can punch in a chord on the keypad and it lights up the places you need to place your fingers. The lights are even color-coded for each finger.
It's also got a song mode where it will go through each chord in a song. You can even load new songs into it via USB.
Physicist Nick Bromer developed this speaker array that, according to theory, can reproduce frequencies as low as a five foot diameter speaker would.
In the product literature it said that he's built a bass cabinet from a plastic bucket and when he was in college he made a woofer out of beer cans and sewer pipe.
This is one creative guy.
It would have been nice if they had handed me a free mic so I could say that Violet gave me the Finger, but they didn't.
If your sense of humor is as juvenile as mine (and it may be, you're here reading this aren't you?), you can see the comedic potential
of having one of these around the studio.
BTW, they have two models, the Black Finger and the Gold Finger. I don't know that I could have come up with more odd names myself.
These are super-thin keyboard overlays for various Mac laptops and desktops. They've got versions for the keyboard commands for many major applications.
You can also get them with jumbo letters, foreign languages, and clear.
They are, however, not ribbed for her enjoyment.
This was a demonstration rig set up to show that Drumagog is able to accurately trigger from just about any source.
I can vouch for this product because I've been using it for a while and it's a breeze to use. Being able to trigger BFD sounds is a great feature, too.
You can add some style while simultaneously avoiding the dreaded "devaluating of your investment" (their words, not mine) caused by putting up with bad acoustics in your studio.
Here we have a domino-inspired bass trap and a camo gobo.
It takes something unique to interest me in a sample library, so I'm very interested in Plectrum.
It's comprised of all manner of sounds from plucked, scraped, jangled and otherwise tortured strings and other objects.
This is based on the GigStudio GVI player, so Mac folks are going to have to wait on Tascam to get their Mac GVI player working.
I suggested to Geoffrey that he reformat the 158 instrument library to Kontakt. For some reason, he didn't jump at the idea.
Update: with the demise of Gigastudio it got ported to Kontakt anyway and now I own a copy :)
You can either be a worker bee or a consumer of the honey. Beat Hive is essentially a loop swap meet.
The content is created by musicians who can sell non-exclusive, royalty-free, Apple or Acid loops. Beat Hive splits the revenue with the loop producer 50/50.
Pure Magnetik is taking a different approach to selling VIs by utilizing a subscription model. They release at least one instrument a month that all the subscribers can download.
These monthly instruments will only be available for download for a month, unless you buy their All Access Pass, which allows you to download anything from the entire previous year.
Most of the instruments are available for Kontakt, Live and EXS24, although some instruments are limited to a certain format.
The Pok is a wireless foot switch box that transmits to a USB receiver. On the computer end, you can program each switch to output keystrokes to your favorite software.
My only question is, where'd they come up with a name like "Pok"?
[Trevor from X-Tempo informs me that it's an acronym for "Pedal-Operated Keyboard."]
I haven't been overly impressed with power-soak devices in the past. Having used several SPL products, I'm thinking that this two-rack-space beast has potential.
This end-pin acoustic preamp can be powered by an internal battery or by phantom power.
That's pretty useful for situations where hacking into an instrument to add a battery compartment is not an option.
This gives you an updated control for vintage-style sequencing. One of the nice features is that each of the tracks can have a different length so your sequence mutates as the individual tracks loop at different points.
Source Audio has expanded on their product line and made some improvements since I first saw them in 2006.
Their transmitter ring is now working wirelessly. They've also introduced several new effects boxes so you're not limited to just filter effects.
