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INTRODUCING THE LINE 6 POD HD DESKTOP EFFECTS AND AMP MODELLING BEAN

The Line 6 POD range has been around for quite a few years now and has been a source of great effects and Amp Modelling both off stage and in the Studio. Based in California, this company now boast a new POD HD range with five models; the POD HD Desktop, POD HD 300, POD HD 400, POD HD 500 and the POD HD PRO. I have managed to get my hands on a POD HD Desktop (known as “the Bean”) announced at Musikmesse 2011 but unfortunately I am not a Guitarist, so I will have to review this from a Studio point of view and perhaps look at the possibilities of how I can get a better guitar sound from my keyboards. Fortunately the POD HD Desktop is aimed at the Studio user and has not been designed for the Live-Playing Guitarist who wants good LCD visibility and stomp-box type foot pedals to effortlessly change effects, whilst in full flow of his Blackmore-type solo.

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Audacity Audio Editor Version 2 – Free

Well here is something that you just got to read. If you are like me and have been using an excellent free piece of software called Audacity, then you will be thrilled to find out that it has just been upgraded to Version 2. Did I also mention that it is free? Those guys on the  Audacity Team deserve a very big “Thank You”

You will probably know that you can do many things with Audacity such as :-  Record live audio ,  Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs ,  Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files, Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together,  Change the speed or pitch of a recording and much more.

Some of the major changes in 2.0.0 over 1.2.6 are:

Go on download Version 2 now – you know you want to:-
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

INTRODUCING THE TC HELICON VOICELIVE PLAY

On my last review we looked at a great vocal product from TC Helicon – The VoiceLive 2 vocal stomp-box. TC Helicon have decided to also market a product for those on a budget by providing us with the VoiceLive Play announced at NAMM 2012 last month and which is also available immediately which makes a very pleasant change from having to wait months. They seemed to have approached the product however from a slightly different angle by stating that “VoiceLive Play gives you two hundred plus song & artist presets to choose from, helping you create amazing vocals. Plug in your MP3 player and sing along with your favourite tracks or create instant HIT effects for your own songs”. Well if it still has that professional sound and allows you to get that vocal sound you love from your favourite artist, all at the third of the cost of VoiceLive 2, then I think I want to give this pedal a look.

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INTRODUCING THE TC HELICON VOICELIVE 2 VOCAL HARMONY BOARD

You can’t get away from the fact that Vocals are one of the most important aspects of music. There is nothing to compare with the Human Voice and we all wish we could sing and sound like our favourite artist whose recent recording has made them sound unbelievable but at the same time believable. These include artists like the lovely Imogen Heap who are continually pushing and shaping the vocal sound to new limits creatively using every form of effect processor out there, including many that were not designed for the voice and they demand new technologies to find their next new sound.

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Namm 2012 and it is amazing how many small items sound so huge. Korg have a couple of updated items with so much more but they have become very small – The Korg Kaossilator 2 which is a palm-size phrase synthesizer and the Korg Mini Kaoss Pad 2 a great little effects processor. I think this You Tube Clip says it all. Have a blast with these:-

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Here is something a little bit different that can capture the sounds of India and I am sure will bring out the Hippy in you (Love and Peace Man). It is the new stomp box pedal from Electro-Harmonix called the Ravish Sitar Pedal and it should be available in the next few weeks. With this pedal you can transform your guitar into the harmonic and dynamic flexibility of a sitar.

Electro-Harmonix state that they have streamlined the essence of the sitar into a compact enclosure that offers a polyphonic lead voice and tunable sympathetic string drones that dynamically react to your playing. You can also create your own custom scales for the sympathetic strings while you set the decay time for the lead voice. There are two expression pedal inputs which allow you to bend the pitch of the lead voice and control the volume of the sympathetic strings simultaneously. These unique controls offer the player the ability to program the Ravish to become a totally unique and organic instrument unto itself. The Ravish is a truly new design with the flexibility to be a crossover tonal wonder.

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I am a great fan of both Imogen Heap and TC Helicon Vocal hardware so it was good to see Imogen and the VoiceLive 2 being used on stage. Imogen really knows how to get the best out of today’s technology and makes a great effort to discover a wide range of products to create herindividual sound. Her child-like approach to touch and play with everything around her musical life has trained her to be a master of today’s musical inovations. The vocal complexities that she achieves both live and in the studio need the type of products that TC are producing today. I have thought that there has been a wide gap in the market for a number of years for vocal hardware. There are too many pedals in the world for the guitarist and nowhere near enough for the vocal performer. I hope TC continue to produce these products.

Have a look at Imogen:-