Guitar Combo

I recently went to a music store looking for good quality guitar tuner. I was quite surprised at the line up of available gizmos for just this one piece of equipment. It comes in a wide range of prices from the 'starving musician' range which is roughly around US$20 - US$30 range which I wouldn't recommend anyone purchasing. To the 'musician virtuoso' type. This type of musician generally entails millions of dollars worth of endorsement. For starters the inexpensive ones are made in China and, if you intend to be an opening act for Ozzy (which literally means you're equipment will have to go through some serious air cargo bashing and thrashing across the globe) you wouldn't see it reach pass its prime for your next gig.

Throughout my search for a tuner in the music store's glass display, there was one particular box that out shined the rest. It was a little too large to be just a tuner yet a little too small to be anything else. Out of curiosity I summoned the store owner to let me have look at it and to my surprise it was actually software! A bit way ahead of their time for a music store around my area. What's software gotta do with metal bangers ? Everything really. Of course, the store owner didn't allow me to open up the box to take a look inside it's mechanics but just let me read the sales pitch on the box. It was quite a sales pitch and I bought it for at a hefty price of about US$90. I installed the software and it comes with a USB guitar interface. This is what the software looks like (click on the image for a larger view):
It comes with 39 amp presets and, you can come up with one of your own amp settings as well. It also came with a built in tuner. Which is great cause I nearly got duped into buying a tangible tuner. The only drawback to its tuner is that you can only tune at the standard 440 Hz frequency. That is you can't tune your guitar sharp or flat. But then again you can also do a Google on online tuners and you'll be amazed at what you can find.

Also, notice the grey theme on top of the black frame. It's actually a metronome and a tape deck. I haven't fooled around enough with the tape deck but, I did manage to record a riff or two with it. I couldn't figure out how to do a playback without affecting the amp settings. Guess I'll have to refer to the guide book that came along with it.

OK, so you're wondering how it sounds compared to a standard amp? I'm running an Altec Lansing speaker with sub woofer and it sounds just as good if not better than a standard amp. I plugged in my '86 Fender strat and jammed to Rage Against the Machine's Battle for Los Angeles on my mini hi fi. Honestly speaking, I kicked Tom Morello's rear when it came to sound quality.

However, this application is really meant for those whose in the business of songwriting. Hook it up to an 8 track mixer and you got yourself a one man band. Churning out albums like there was no tomorrow. Perhaps this is the way to go if you're an aspiring musician or band. You can start burning your demo Cd's, do a little promo photo shoot and send it to a producer. You might just end up with a lucrative contract.

I'm not quite sure what other available guitar software is on the market that I can compare it with but I must say that I'm content with my purchase.

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