Electro Harmonix (EHX) have produced a very versatile pedal in the Stereo Talking Machine. It not only has great presets right out of the box, it’s also highly programmable giving you even greater control over the way the pedal alters your notes. With 9 selectable voice types, you too could be  AH-OOing and OW-EEing in no time at all.

Like the sounds created by a mouth harp, where the metal reed is plucked and the vibrations altered by changing the shape of the players mouth, a Talk-box takes the sounds/notes you put in to it and alters them according to the volume you’ve played them and the shape of the specific filter you have chosen.

Because the sweeping effect is driven by how hard or soft you play the strings there is a massive scope of what sonic sounds can be achieved using the EHX Stereo Talking Machine. And because each sound choice responds so differently, it’s worth spending time experimenting with each to get a good grasp on what is possible.

The unit is a rectangle box affair, with the 6 control knobs across the top: Blend, Voice, Attack, Decay, Sensivitiy, and Preset. The preset knobs gives access to auxiliary functions for each knob including Volume, Fuzz tone, Fuzz Gain, LFO Rate and LFO Shape. A Low frequency Oscillator or LFO is a filter that responds over time rather than to playing dynamics and creates a more regular filter sweep.

You won’t find any lose of your guitar tone, but instead applies the different tonal colors of the ‘voices’ available from the unit. From the dark and smooth/soft tone of the EE-ER voicing to the midrange-heavy and rather resonant sound of the I-A voicing.

For each voicing, you can reverse the voicing for example EE-ER to ER-EE or I-A to A-I which gives you further options with the flick of the Preset/Sweep knob. You can also control this function via the expression pedal option.

The Stereo Talking Machine is an extremely versatile pedal with a wide variety of voicings and multiple control options of those voicings. Add to that access to a distortion circuit and sensitivity control and the tonal possibilities really grow. If you’re not familiar with talk-box effects sitting down and having a chat with the Stereo Talking Machine may result in a new found friendship.

Posted by Dan Orr.

As previously mentioned, the iRig interface adapter enables guitarists to plug their guitar into their iPhone and not only apply great sounding effects to their guitar via the FREE Amplitube application, but also record those great sounds.

The VocaLive app for iPad is yet another release, following on from the success of the iPhone version and provides a one stop shop for singers or songwriters. Touted as being the “first professional performing and recording vocal processor for iOS”, the app just oozes ease of use and is packed with essential effects to bring to life your next performance.

It comes with a suite of 5 dedicated vocal effects (pitch correction, choir hamonizer, voice doubler, vocal morpher and de-esser) that can be applied to your voice in real-time along with a further 7 effects specific to vocal processing (reverb, EQ, compressor, delay, envelope filter, chorus, phazer) that can be combined in a 4 processor chain.

The single-track recorder is expandable to a full 8-track recording studio through an in-app purchase which will give song writers plenty of scope to record new and interesting tracks.

For the novice vocalist, there are enough preset functions to enable you to get up and running quickly leaving plenty of room for more advanced features and effects as you become more familiar with the application and confident with your recording.

VocaLive can be used with the iPads in-built microphone, headphones with a built-in mic or IK Media’s very own iRig mic – the first quality hand-held condenser mic for iOS.

As you will see in the following videos, using VocaLive is both easy and fun to use as well as producing really professional sounding recordings.

With the continuing development of technology and the ability for users to create their own music, VocaLive and applications like it place the tools firmly in the hands of the user to capture their own creativity. There’s little wonder that the internet is bursting with quality user content and there are no signs it will slow down. Have you got yours?

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Posted by Dan Orr.

Over time their images of the artist’s setups have changed so that now they are both easy to understand and very nice to look at.

Ever wanted to know just what Clapton was using in his days with the Bluesbreakers? The year is 1966 and Clapton is playing his 1950s Les Paul’s Standard through a Marshall Combo. Wanna know what speakers and tubes were in that model? Those details are all but a few clicks away.

While it might be hard to track down this particular model with a modest price tag, the information provided gives you a decent head start on what to look for and what could be possible.

And if nothing else, this information will add to your ever growing understanding of great tone. You can be pretty sure that the information provided on the site are sound, given that most of the information comes from the artist’s or their guitar tech’s mouths.

And with this type of direct contact you’ll find the occasional gem of behind the scenes takes from the artists themselves on their gear or band members and/or techies on the artist.

A great resource for geek-ing out and putting together the dream set up, should all your stars align and you win the lottery. Take a look.

Posted by Dan Orr.

Many people start playing guitar, because they hear a super heavy hardcore riff on the radio and it inspires them to become a musician. That’s cool because heavy metal is a fun genre of music that is also a rewarding genre for guitarists. The sound of a hardcore metal guitar is awesome; however getting ‘that’ sound can be difficult.

First let me note that there are many variations in metal sounds depending on the bands style and how heavy they are. Just like any genre of music there are many variations depending on the band or song. Also lead players need a different tone when they are playing.

However there is a basic ‘metal tone’. This is essentially loud and as distorted as you can be. Often it is common in metal to ‘scoop’ the tone. This means that you should put your bass and treble near full and pull your mids back to around 3 or so. The results this can have may vary wildly depending on the kind of amp you have, so experiment with your equipment.

When it comes to your guitar, generally metal guitarists use humbucker pickups. This is because they reduce feedback and give off a warmer fatter sound. For this reason if you find you are having trouble getting a good sound out of your guitar maybe you need to think about whether you have the right kind of pick ups.

So try these ideas if you are having trouble getting the right metal sound. Remember these are only guidelines for you to experiment with. Remember turn your amps up to eleven and rock out.

Another way to get a good metal sound is the use of distortion or effects pedals. This gets into an area that really can’t be covered in the Tech Tips section of this newsletter, but it’s an important topic to talk about. It can’t be covered because guitar sound is very personal, and the ideal sound for one guitarist won’t sound good to others.

Here is one of the most innovative Metal bands with a great and classic metal guitar sound:

Posted by Moses Robbins.

Weighing in at just 1lb, this is one robust pedal that will faithfully replicate any sound you send through it with pin point accuracy. Options for guitar lick altering goodness include: three auto delay modes – 50ms, 200ms and 800ms. You can also manually adjust, to pin point accuracy an exact delay time from as low as 12.5ms to 800ms as with the auto mode.

The Hold Mode allows basic looping of a chord or lead lick. After playing the section you want to ‘hold’, engage the pedal and you will continue to hear it until you release the pedal.

It runs on both mains power and DC9V cells so can easily be added to your pedal arsenal by daisy chaining the power or stand alone with the DC9V. If using the latter, remember to unplug your leads when not using the pedal to conserve your battery.

For more delay options, consider the DD-7 which expands on the functions of the DD-3 and DD-6 with expanded delay times, new delay modes, external control option – allowing for tap delay and stereo output. While the DD-7 boasts more features than its predecessors, it’s interesting to note that Boss still sell more DD-3s, so it seems simple is sometimes better.

For a faithful digital delay pedal with little or no learning curve, essential features packaged in a robust and compact pedal, you really can’t go past the Boss DD-3 Digital Delay.

To hear the sonic effects capable with the DD-3 check out this video:

Posted by Dan Orr

From Metallica’s “Nothing else matters” to almost every Nirvana song, a large number of The Police songs and The Cure, Chorus has been used to great affect in many songs.

“The chorus effect is something that you would normally find in string instruments. When you actually listen to a string ensemble, the instrument would sound like they are a choir of angels singing, thus the name of the effect”. – EzineArticles.com

So, what is it exactly a Chorus effect?
From Wikipedia: “In music, a chorus effect (sometimes chorusing or chorused effect) occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly (but never exactly) the same pitch converge and are perceived as one. While similar sounds coming from multiple sources can occur naturally (as in the case of a choir or string orchestra), it can also be simulated using an electronic effects unit or signal processing device”.

Chorus occurs when a slightly detuned and delayed “clone” of a guitar signal is played back with the original, producing a subtle (or sometimes not-so-subtle) doubling effect, which creates a thicker, lusher tone.

The original effect was produced by the Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, though later effects would add multiple detunings and delays to produce a rich, glossy animation and MXR Analog Chorus is probably doing the best Chorus effect right now.

MXR has brought back the classic sound of the analog chorus with the predictably named but lovely sounding Analog Chorus.

Perhaps the pedal by itself could look weak for some, and of course, simple! I think is is simple but it is a nice pedal and it looks very friendly on its aqua blue color.

What does this pedal feautures?

The MXR Analog Chorus has five control layout featuring Low and High EQ controls, Level, Rate, and Depth for maximum flexibility. And if you want to grab crowd´s attention, You will need this pedal, not just because how good it sounds but because of the brightness of its blue LED – some guitarists say is the brightest blue LED on the planet! But hey, if Andy Summers didn´t mind using this MXR pedals for a while, Why would you?

What about the sound?
With the MXR Analog Chorus You will be able to move from Robbie Blunt’s tone on Robert Plant’s “Big Log” sounds to the deeper undulations of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” with just a few tweaks of the Level and Depth control. In between that You might notice Andy Summers-inspired lushness and even a convincing “Black Hole Sun”.

The magic and simplicity of this pedal is that it is all about the Level and Depth controls – By tweaking these ones, you will go on trip from the underground to galaxy! Period!

If you are looking for the Classic 80′s chorus sound, this pedal is for you!

Posted by Luis Tovar

Founded in 1996 and operating in four countries (Italy, UK, US and Japan), IK Multimedia has been busy developing software for anyone with a musical bent. Leveraging the exponential growth of the personal computer and advancing technologies they’re enabling musicians of all walks of live play, product and listen to music like never before.

Throughout this time, they’ve partnered with the likes of DigiDesign, Intel, Mackie, EMU, Roland, Apple and many others and it’s their partnership with Apple where the iRig comes in.

A simple download from the iTunes App store effectively turns your iPhone into a complete multi-effects processor, recording studio and learning tool that’s always in your pocket. All effects are tweak-able at the slightest touch and swipe. Not only that but you can easily upgrade your ‘rig’ from the Amplitube iRig app Custom Shop with up to 11 stomps, 5 amps, 5 cabinets and 2 microphones.

With plug n play technology It’s as easy as plugging in the iRig interface to your iPhone, plugging your guitar into the right input and then plugging in your amp, powered speakers or headphones to start playing or recording..

They really have thought of everything. You can even import a track so you can jam along with it, providing your own lead lick or sharpening up your strum. For Jamorama users out there, this is a very usual feature that can easily be used with our Jamtracks. Simply import a jamtrack, print out or bring up the tab on your computer screen and jam away.

It also comes loaded with a metronome to keep yourself in time, and a chromatic tuner so you’re always in tune.

I took a few minutes out of my work day to give Dave’s iRig a go with his iPhone and have to say it is a really simple app to navigate. I dug out a pair of headphones and a lead to plug in my acoustic mini Maton, clicked on the Amplitube App and I was away.

The free app had enough for me to have a bit of fun with. It comes with a Noise filter, Delay and Distortion effects. Tweaking the effects is as easy as selecting it and dragging the slider up or down depending the desired effect. I even had time to record a quick track, which again was as easy as pressing record. The paid version does give you more recording capabilities but to quickly get an idea down, it’s a good option.

All in all the IK Multimedia Amplitube iRig for iPhone app is a neat little app with a multitude of uses. Being able to record your playing to hear how your it’s progressing or quickly get a copy of a musical idea before you forget it, is a really useful thing to always have in your pocket.

If you’re like me and iPhone-less, IK Multimedia have not forgotten us. They also have a USB audio interface in the form of Steath Plug so you too can download the Amplitube software, plug your guitar into your computer and experience all the great features your iPhone friends can access.

Check out the video below to hear and see how easy the iRig is to use.

Posted by Dan Orr

For the vintage tone-a-phobes out there, the Martin D16-Adirondack is a model that reproduces classic dreadnought tones of the likes of Martin’s D18 model but is set at a more affordable price than their other vintage re-issues.

The D16-Adirondack features a mortise and tenon neck joint and slightly different bracing than the D18 but produces a full rich bass that can dominate the rest of the guitar’s range. Having said that, you’re probably not going to get a fatter bass sound for open tunings or dropped D tunings.

The Adirondack (or red spruce) top, is unique in that it has an excellent stiffness-to-weight ratio and a “springy” quality that together enable it to be used on a variety of sizes of guitars while still maintaining good head room and a dynamic range as well as kicking out a decent volume.

Its striking good looks come from the much wider grain which is often at odds with conventional wisdom about what makes a great piece of spruce. Martin have created a distinctive look by using a gloss finish with a yellowish toner which make it stand out even more from their other models.

Admittedly, it’s not a guitar that will suit every style. Dreadnoughts are commonly thought of as a bluegrass ax. However, there is a diverse group of players that prove the dreadnought’s versatility.

Tommy Emmanuel & Bill Mize prove dreadnoughts are just as good for finger-style where Tony Rice and Grant Gordy show that they can also be used for Jazz. They have also been just as at-home in the hands of singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.

To hear how the Martin D16-Adirondack performs, check out the following video review from Acoustic Magazine’s Scott Nygaard.

Posted by Dan Orr

One man who has always been interested in the science is James brown – no not the smooth moving soul funk meister, but the Chief Engineer for Kustom Amps and the owner of Amptweaker – a personal company that allows Brown to pursue his passion for handmade pedals and custom amps.

Where his site differs from the usual offerings of Amp and FX pedal makers, is that he takes his inspiration from customers. Only once an idea gathers enough support does he begin making the unit.

He’s come up with a range of pedals so far and his latest offering, released during the Summer NAMM, is the TightRock which came as a response to customer requests for a pedal in between two of his previously released pedals the TightMetal and the TightDrive. It was met with a lot of positive feedback from Artists and users alike at the NAMM show and is sure to feature in many people’s pedal collections.

The unique routing options mean you can loop a separate FX unit into the TightRock which is on when you stomp on the TightRock and colours the TightRock’s distortion. Not only that but with the TightRock’s SideTrack function, you can send the guitar signal to another FX pedal which can color the amp’s clean channel, turning a single channel amp into a 3 channel amp. These are just some of the options available to the user.

Learn more about the pedal from Brown himself as he cranks out some sweet sounds and explains the possibilities that come with the TightRock.

Posted by Dan Orr

Yesterday we took in our final day at the NAMM show. Being Saturday, it was the day where the big crowds turned out to see the big name artists and the big changes taking place in the world of music gear.

After seeing pretty much everything that’s being exhibited this year we thought it would be cool to share a couple of new developments here that we think you are going to like and that maybe, will change the way we interact with music in the future.

The first thing that really got us buzzing is the new Eleven Amp from Avid (the guys behind Pro Tools).

They call it the killer rack because it puts professional recording and signal processing in the hands of every guitarist. Eleven has been an amp-cab-mic modeling software plug-in for pro-tools for some time now, but recently the avid team have developed the idea and turned it into a stand alone piece of hardware.

Taking Cool Processing technology from their Pro equipment TDM HD systems (big $$) and adding that to the software, Avid have produced a box that completes all the intensive algorithms that drive the complex software and delivers the audio to your speakers, amp setup and or via USB to your computer and pro tools environment with no latency.

The Eleven rack will suit the guitarist that is at the level where studio and stage is becoming part of their musicianship experience. This is a tool that will allow you to record your guitar straight into the digital world and have the end signal sounding very nice indeed. The quest for analog tone in the digital world drives these development teams project by project and the reality is that one day a cheap $100 guitar will sound like a rare 70′s telecaster through a 60′s fender combo.

The well trained ears have previous said, these emulation plug-in sounds are good, but they don’t sound like the real thing being mic’d up with the old 60′s combo.

James Michael – Producer, engineer,songwriter; motley crue, meatloaf, scorpions said, ” I’ve seen the potential for years with small preamps and amp emulation plug-ins, but Eleven is the first plug-in that can honestly replace the guitar amp.” Very exciting future for production.

Another interesting development is the new partnership between Fender Guitars and eJamming. We all know what Fender are famous for, but you may not have heard of the eJamming crew before. eJamming have been around for a few years now but it’s only recently that they have partnered with Fender and gained more exposure.

Basically, eJamming is just that – jamming online. eJamming’s online platform allows you to connect and jam out with your friends and other musicians no matter where both parties are in the world. The Fender representatives we spoke to said the partnership was a natural progression for Fender and that they chose eJamming as it offers the lowest amount of delay in signal.

This is definitely worth checking out and it’s free to try, so you can test it out with your friends before signing on. Check it out here.

If you do get a chance to try these things out then please leave a comment on this post so others can read your thoughts about them.

So, that is it from us at the show for now. While we’ve shared only a few interesting highlights here on the blog, we’ve taken a lot more information away from the show that will help us develop a better service for all of you in 2010. Also, look forward to to more NAMM related posts in the next couple of weeks.

Cheers
Jon