Another Free Soft Synth

Brought to you by Tomas De Camino

http://www.keytosound.com/?desired_section=remedy

Betabugs Audio - Lots of Free Plugins

http://www.betabugsaudio.com/plugs.php

One interesting one is Moneo that treats each part of a stereo track as an independent entity allowing various changest to be made.

Then we have compression, limiting, stereo enhancement, rotary speaker effect.

All nice looking stuff.

Top 20 Guitar Solos of All Time

Compiled by listeners of the British radio station Planet Rock.

From correspondents in London
August 28, 2006 01:33pm

PINK Floyd's Comfortably Numb was the best guitar solo of all time, according to a new poll.

It was chosen ahead of the opening riff from Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses.

Third was Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, while Eruption by Van Halen was fourth and Guns N' Roses' November Rain fifth.

Led Zeppelin classic Stairway to Heaven was in sixth place.

British radio station Planet Rock asked listeners to come up with a top 40.

The rest of the top 10 featured Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits, Aqualung by Jethro Tull, Hotel California by The Eagles and Child In Time by Deep Purple.

Top 20
1 Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
2 Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
3 Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird
4 Van Halen - Eruption
5 Guns N' Roses - November Rain
6 Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
7 Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
8 Jethro Tull - Aqualung
9 The Eagles - Hotel California
10 Deep Purple - Child In Time
11 Queen - Brighton Rock
12 Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
13 Deep Purple - Highway Star
14 Wishbone Ash - Throw Down The Sword
15 Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
16 Cream - Crossroads
17 Guns N' Roses - Paradise City
18 Led Zeppelin - Since I've Been Loving You
19 Ten Years After - I'm Going Home (Woodstock)
20 Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile

A whole studio full of free stuff

This was taken from a Soundclick.com post by a guy called Smurf43

Hello Folks, here I am going to list a compleat studio setup that is totally FREE, and that anyone can set up and use with relative ease. I have had this setup running on a P3 700 with 640mb memory and it did fine. I made my first CD, Middle Of The Storm, and half of my 2nd one, Scattered Showers, with this setup. (you can check them out by following the link in my sig).

This setup has been put together and tested over a 2 year period by myself and a few other artist on the Kristal forum. And sorry all you Apple folks, the software is PC only. So here we go..... The Kristal Audio Engine. A free and easy to use piece of software. Will record up to 16track's, has ASIO support, and you can use VST effects along with the good ones that are built in. And it has great support thru the forum, just like this site!

These 3 VST effects are the ones I use 99% of the time with Kristal, and I think they are must haves!

Kjaerhus Audio Classic Series

Digital Fish Phones (look to the left, the Fish Fillets rock!)
GlaceVerb, the best reverb I have found.

The following are a couple Audio Editors that I have used....

Tiny Wave Editor and Sound Engine Free

These don't have all the bells and whistles that Audacity has, but they import the files right back into Kristal, which means you don't have to line the tracks back up! A

nd this is a way cool plugin called VB Strip Tool. Striptool is a virtual channel strip offering various types of digital audio processing. This is a compleat channel that has a parametric EQ, compressor, and it sounds great.

Next is mine, and a few others, number one choice for a drum machine, and it is called Leaf Drums 2.33. When you add the ns_kit7free sounds to it you have the most realistic sounding free drum machine that you will find anywhere, and better than some you would pay for!

I have also used Hotstepper and HammerHead with great results. Don't think that these are "rap-dance" drum machines. Even tho they come with those sounds you can swap them out. All 3 work fine, and are free.

By using all of the software listed above with the Kristal Audio Engine you can have a compleat 16 track home recording setup, with some nice sounding drums, for FREE! The rest are some links to other VST effects that work well with Kristal. The links might be outdated, I didn't check them all. But the 3 listed above will give you most everything you need to make some good recordings!

A list of VST's.... http://www2.kvr-vst.com/

Freeverb2, and others. http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~thman/VST/vst-eff2.htm

MDA VST Plugins. The Combo one is nice. http://www.maxim.abel.co.uk/vst/

Check out r8Brain. It does a good job of converting 48bit files to 44.1. http://www.voxengo.com/downloads/

Some Wave Editors and Sample Tools http://www.soundalot.com/freeware/wave/wave-b.html

Luxonix, a free multi effect (sounds good on guitar). http://www.luxonix.com/

A nice reverb that works well for back up vocals. http://www.anwida.com/dxrevlight.asp A BIG list of plugins. http://www.kvraudio.com/allpluginsononepage.php

Another cool site http://www.vstcentral.com/

And here is a multi track that is free at the moment, but it will be a pay for when it gets out of Beta, called Reaper. It is a big step up from Kristal, has unlimited inserts, can use VST and DX effects along with VSTi's instruments. The development on this is unbelieable

Big Fish Audio Drum Loop Sale

Title says it all

http://www.bigfishaudio.com/4DCGI/detail.html?654

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Kelly Clarkson Drunk with Metal Skool

Another currently popular one

OK Go's Treadmill Video

It's been everywhere, might as well be here also.



Slow to load ? Try here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zY_4QkJGls

So you wanna write songs? Check out this series for beginners

Designed for people who have never written songs before. This series of articles starts out with the very basics and moves on up to some very basic music theory.

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Mich Wich's Kristal Tutorial

Here's an oustanding quick Kristal tutorial written by Mike Wich
---------------------------------------------------------
This is a brief tutorial to get you started using the mixing aspects of Kristal Audio Engine. The software can also be used as a recorder, however, our purpose here is to get you started mixing a song that has been recorded using other means.

The software is available for free, here: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Once you have the software installed and a folder created that contains your unmixed wave files (maybe a wave with drums, another with a bass part, guitars, keyboards and/or vocals, etc.) we can begin the tutorial.

READ THE REST AT THIS LINK http//www.homemadehitshow.com/Kristal/KristalTutorial.htm

Line 6 Toneport KB37 & Gearbox Plugin Video

An upgrade to the existing Toneport. All the guitar and stereo inputs + a controller keyboard

http://guitarplayertv.com/index.html?req=1&station=gpnamm&video=gpsumnamm06/l6toneport

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Ultimate-Guitar.com: The Last Stand

The time has come for Ultimate-Guitar.Com to get an MPA letter. Surely, that was not something good, but the request to remove all tabs in 10 days. What does it mean? Nothing. We are legal. We are not going to shut down the website.

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Recording Industry Bans Musician From Charts For Supporting Free Music

BPI, the UK version of the RIAA, has banned a twelve year-old singer songwriter from a new music chart they were creating for schools. The reason, apparently, is that BPI doesn't want to promote young Amy Thomas' music, since she's signed to a music label that doesn't support BPI's stance on suing file sharers.

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Win an Epiphone DOT Studio

http://www.epiphone.com/contest.asp

My Line 6 Variax Review

Line 6: Electric Variax Guitar (500) www.line6.com/variax

What Is It:
The exclusive Line 6 modeling technology that lives inside the solid-body Variax uitar enables musicians to easily access over 25 historic guitar sounds, including classic single-coil and humbucker guitars, hollow and semi-hollow jazz guitars, acoustic 6- and 12-string, dobro, sitar, banjo, and many others. Instantly familiar controls work just like any traditional guitar.

There are numerous Variax models available
300 – low cost version costing around $450 if you can find it
500 - Which I have, now out of production but sometimes available on eBay etc.
600 – The replacement for the 300, strat style body with tremolo, approx $650
700 – Top of the range for the electric models - Carved-top ash over mahogany body with Tremelo
700b – Bass Version
705b – 5 String bass version
Acoustic 300 – New discount acoustic version
Acoustic 700 – Top of the line acoustic version.

The Variax guitar allows the user to select from 50+ guitar models at the flick of switch, modeling Strat, Tele, LP, Acoustic, Semi and many others. With the software based Workbench tool custom guitars can be created using the available bodies, and pickups, along with automatic custom tunings

Is It Good:
Firstly my background is not as a long term guitarist and I not a “tone snob” For me this guitar is perfect, I don’t care if it sounds EXACTLY like a Les Paul (though only 2 of 25 people correctly picked the real LP in an online sound test) what I care about is that I have 50+ different guitars to choose from all with totally distinct sounds including some very convincing Acoustic and Dobro models. I use the guitar exclusively in my home studio – I don’t play live, where it is perfect for switching guitars and tunings without leaving my chair. Many people online report extensive usage live where the ease of switching models between or mid song cannot be matched by any other guitar.

Finally a number of people have taken the electronics from the Variax and built their own custom guitars. Companies such as Warmoth sell prebuilt bodies but there have been many creative uses including adding standard pickups and midi pickups for the ultimate flexible guitar.

As a guitar the 500 is excellent. It has a Les Paul feel and after having it setup I have not had any significant tuning or similar issues. The 700 model has a top of the range body while the 300/600 has Strat style body, with, to me, slightly less of a quality feel.

Negatives:
A couple of minor negatives exist for me.

Firstly the guitar must be powered. This can be done either through the included XPS box with power provided through the guitar cable, or via a Line6 Pod XTL (XTL only) or using batteries. This power requirement and the extra cables necessary can be awkward at times, especially if, for example, batteries ran out on stage.

Secondly, while I have had no problems with my guitar, I constantly fear that, as a micro electronics and processor based technology, it will break and become unusable. Overall this does not seem to be a common problem but it’s a constant fear in a way that would not exist if I were using std pickups.

The high price of the models is also a concern for many.

Final Summary:
In summary, while not for the guitar purist, the Variax is an outstanding guitar for the studio or live playing musician

Some outstanding Variax Transplants

For those that don't know you can transplant the electronics from a Line6 Variax into other guitars and configurations. Here's some great one's by a guy known as Rose.

http://www.exit45.com/guitar

Some detailed pics here also.

http://line6.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=18&t=004525

Concert Ticket Generator

A really enjoyable piece of fun here
http://www.says-it.com/concertticket/index.php

Thanks to Manzana for pointing this out.

My mobile studio

Well I've talked about recording the podcast in the car, and in the old days I used to record my vocals in the car using the Zoom PS04. This week I finally moved the laptop and Toneport mobile into the mobile studio

New Song from The Tones

Yes, don't get too excited but I finished another song

Almost A Love Song

Send me an email to homemadehitshow@gmail.com and let me know what you think

New Line 6 Discussion Forum

My hero Zoetrope from the 2090 forum has now added a Line6 section where you can discuss Line6 products in a small/friendly environment. The Channel 6 board is great but this is a smaller place for "friends" to discuss Line6 products.

I highly encourage you all to post and review music in the songs section of the 2090 forum also. It's a great place to get constructive but friendly feedback and get yourself something of an audience.

http://www.2090.org/zoom/bbs/index.php

Line6 Toneport/POD Update Gearbox Update

For all you Line6 users - An excellent free update.

For Toneport users:
New amp models based on: Marshall® 1974X (18W Reissue) & Orange® AD30TC

New effects models based on: Sans Amp Bass Driver, Maestro® Bass Brassmaster, Arbiter® Cry Baby, Sub Octaves (synth effect) + Support for an external pedal with wah modeling

For All
* A free simple drum machine for playing along to
* Built in MP3/CD Player with loop and half speed function
* Easy access to Tone Library for prebuilt tones
* Tonelocker (from POD) for Tone storage and access
* Intel Mac Support
* Support for Line6 Bass Expansion module

Very cool and all for free www.line6.com

My song on the Daily Source Code

I was stunned today to learn that my song Get Myself Together, made it onto Adam Curry's Daily Source Code podcast, a very popular podcast made by the self proclaimed "podfather"

http://curry.podshow.com/?p=253 at the very start of the show.

It feels great so I highly recommend uploading your songs to http://music.podshow.com/index.php

It feels really great, much better than I was expecting it to