By Barry Rudolph
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Merry Christmas All!
Gift ideas for that musician, singer, songwriter or budding engineer/producer on your shopping list. Mail A Link To This Page To A Friend! |
Scratch Pad
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HIWATT Echo Theremin
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Merry Christmas everyone--Happy New Year! It's that time again this year to surprise and please our loved ones with a gift under the tree this Dec 25th morning. A very thoughtful item for your guitar player is the Scratch Pad. This is a way to protect the back of your prized guitar's body from belt buckle carnage. With that buckle Santa wears, he'll need one of these! Scratch Pad uses a patented 'micro-pore co-polymer' material that adheres magically to your guitar without glue or clips and can be remove without damage to any finish including polyurethane or nitrocellulose-based lacquers. In four colors including black, Scratch Pad sells for $26.95. Go to: www.scratchpadusa.com.
It might be a little late in the year but I love the sound of HIWATT's Echo Theremin at $199.99. Invented in Russia in the 1920's, the Theremin is that eerie, warbly sound you always hear in old B-movie Sci-Fi/Horror movies. It's just an oscillator with a sensitive antenna that, when you move your hand closer to it, the pitch goes higher and when you back off, lower. The Echo Theremin throws in a delay unit for up to 300 milliseconds of depth to the sound. The unit is self-powered by a single 9-volt battery and has an output jack for amplification. Controls include: volume, pitch center, delay time and volume. Check out: www.hiwatt.com/data/HiwattFX.html.
At the TaylorWare online store at: www.taylorguitars.com/taylorware, you'll find everything for the Taylor Guitars fan, from apparel to gift ideas to replacement guitar parts. New items are added all the time, so a TaylorWare Gift Card is always a wise idea. Pick a dollar amount, from $25 to $1,500, and use the card sleeve to write a personal message. Free shipping via 2-day air. Gift cards are redeemable at the TaylorWare online store, or by calling or visiting the TaylorWare factory store. Sorry they are not redeemable at Taylor Dealer locations. Finally, the TaylorWare Store shuts down for the holidays, starting on December 19 and re-opens on January 2 so act now!
Evans Utility Key
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Guitar Pro 4
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For $39.95 each you could give out a couple of Evans Utility Keys to your drummer pals. The Utility Key is a kind of Swiss Army knife for drummers designed by Ned Steinberger's NS Designs and Evans. It has an ergonomic handle, flat and Phillips-head screwdrivers, bottle openers, a small blade, a fitted carrying case, and a locking, fold out drum key that can withstand intense torque--from hardware tightening to marching head tuning. The key's shaft and other tools are crafted from strong, reliable stainless steel, while the handle is a high-grade die-cast aluminum. Visit www.evansdrumheads.com.
Guitar Pro 4 is the ultimate software toolbox for composing music on guitar. This simple and intuitive multi-track tablature editor is specifically designed for guitar, bass or other stringed instruments and allows you to enter notes by using keyboard keys (via a connected MIDI keyboard) or mouse clicks on an on-screen fretboard. Compose songs using up to 256 tracks and you can switch from tablature view to standard notation when editing full scores. Guitar Pro 4 includes a digital guitar tuner, a chord diagram engine, and a scales tool. For PCs, it costs $59.95 and is from www.emediamusic.com.
Cakewalk Pyro 5
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Cakewalk Pyro 5 is digital music management software where users can play, organize, edit, and share mix CDs of their favorite music. You can digitize and restore LPs and cassettes; create MP3s; record Internet broadcasts; and create data CDs; all from one easy-to-use interface. Version 5 adds ringtone creation and delivery, disc burning enhancements, improved audio editing, enhanced support for portable players, and more. At $39.95, this is a must-have for the PC owner who loves music! Check: www.cakewalk.com/Products/Pyro/default.asp.
Shure E4 Earphones
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The Chopper
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Protecting your hearing and your friend's ears are important reasons to consider Shure Inc.'s new sound isolating E4 earphones. Equipped with high-definition drivers and tuned-port technology, they have an ultra-wide frequency soundstage with brilliant highs and extended bass. Ideally suited for use with Shure's PSM line of personal monitor systems in both live performance and studio recording applications, each set of E4 earphones comes with earpieces outfitted with a high-energy/low mass micro-transducer providing wide-frequency stereo sound, sonic accuracy, and total isolation from outside noise. Check www.shure.com for more info and pricing.
The Chopper from Gig-fx™ is a new guitar pedal that chops up the sound in a wonderful way. Chopping is controlled by either a pre-set pot or by the on-board foot pedal. The chopped sound can be allocated alternately between left and right channels in a stereo system. Gig-fx also makes Pro-Chop that MIDI syncs and Mega-Wah, a stereo wah-wah pedal. Pretty heady effects! Visit www.gig-fx.com to hear the sounds and order one for yourself.
DigiTech's JamMan
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If you like playing guitar in a looping mode think about DigiTech's JamMan® pedal, which is capable of saving up to 6.5 hours of loops and sample phrases. The JamMan Looper/Phrase Sampler is a powerful effects processor dedicated to loop creation, manipulation, playback and overdubbing, based on the classic Lexicon® JamMan rack mount effect. JamMan offers tremendous loop capabilities at resolutions up to CD-quality 44.1 kHz in a compact, easy-to-use stompbox. Way more features and capabilities to list here but know this guitar pedal uses Compact Flash memory and connects to your computer via USB!! Check www.digitech.com.
Yamaha MO8
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It won't be out until January 2006 so how about laying away a Christmas present like the Yamaha 61-key MO6 or the 88-key MO8? They both draw on the advanced technology of the professional-level Yamaha Motif ES with an emphasis on contemporary styles and voices. There is a large internal wave memory stuffed with a full complement of realistic instrument Voices and Drum Kits plus a number of modern and vintage synthesizers. The MO features sharp, responsive filters with comprehensive real-time knob control, and an extensive set of high-quality onboard effects of reverb, chorus, EQ etc. The complete feature list is too massive to put here so you'll have to try this one out to explore all it can do. The MO6 is MSRP $1,499 and the MO8 at $1,999. Check: www.yamahasynth.com.
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