Gearwire Gossip

I, for one, am no C-SPAN junkie; as far as I know, the senate could be voting on a line item that's calling for the requisitioning of my left lung under the auspices of "eminent domain," but if you're at all involved in the audio industry -- particularly if you work with wireless -- you'll want to be keeping up with all the DTV-shift-inspired UHF bandwidth reallocation malarkey.  

Remember Short Circuit? Now imagine if Johnny Five, instead of being a military sentry drone with a destructive, shoulder-mounted laser that achieves sentience, was designed to annoy the Soviets into submission though incessant tapping. Now meet the merchandising opportunity that could have been.  

When Fender issued the custom Eddie Van Halen guitar known as "Frankenstein," I was blown away by the price tag on it: $25,000. I never expected that to be outdone by Fender's beginner line, Squier, until I came across...  

I remember hearing KMFDM for the first time. I was living in Japan back then, wondering why the Japanese CD stores seemed to be so flush with this one particular group. Maybe it was the crazy expressionist graphics, or the...  

I have found the greatest musician time-waster ever. Let Them Sing It For You is simply amazing. This is an web application (I was too lazy to look and see if it was javascript, black magic, or supply-side economics)...  

When Brad Zell of PreSonus told Gearwire about the new monster recording bundle MegaStudio, he mentioned a thirty-page bonus in the package written by Martin Atkins. Called "Go Pro" I thought for a moment that Atkins...  

PreSonus releases MegaStudio, a giant-sized audio and video production bundle, on Friday, August 10. MegaStudio includes the PreSonus FP10 firewire audio interface, Cubase LE 4, Sony Vegas Movie Studio +DVD, a library of...  

At Summer NAMM 2007 in Austin, there was more than a little speculation as to whether the show would happen in 2008 at all, let alone bringing it back to Austin. That speculation would seem to be laid to rest, at least in...  

Summer NAMM had a staggering array of stompboxes to behold, but none quite so cool as the Boss RE-20 Space Echo.

Why is the Boss RE-20 getting my vote for Best Stompbox At Summer NAMM? Heritage. That's...  

Every now and again, we dig up amusing analog synth videos on YouTube and pass them along. This one is posted by Expertvillage, a username referring to a website that claims to have expert info on a wide range of topics....  

There is a short-but-interesting thread going on in Gearwire Forums about guitar electrocution. I decided to do a bit of research to see who else has had electrical problems with musical instruments, and most of my research...  

I once briefly dated a woman who led drumming circles. Our most notable outings involved watching Bill Murray in Broken Flowers, an African drum recital, and an evening with me watching her at work, whacking the drums and...  

Most times, it pays to read press releases slowly. Given that many music industry press releases are written at about a fifth-grade level anyway, this advice is lost on many like me. We know these things are full of cheesy...  

De la Mancha is currently plugging Dirtbox 2.0, a distortion and compressor that now features a ring mod, MIDI learn function, and "increased dirt levels."

What is puzzling some lovers of freak-rock from the 70s and...  

Remember the Gibson "Chinese knockoff" controversy Gearwire's Rob Warmowski reported on earlier this year? In that little hotbed of intrigue, the U.S. Trade Commission was called in to help prevent people from spending money...  

There are lots of analog synth and riddimbox vids on YouTube, but few of them got my head nodding quite like this little beauty from a YouTube user named Pendlecoven from the UK. Quite simply, this clip is addictive for the...  

Gearwire Managing Editor Joe Wallace says that in spite of his comments in this article, he really does NOT hate people who mispronounce common words and phrases such as "discombobulation," "evisceration," "fleur-de-lis,"...  

Mick Jagger knows. In response to an eBay "Want It NOW" post I spotted entitled, "Original Dan Armstrong Purple Peaker from the 70s," I could clearly hear MJ singing the chorus to You Can't Always Get What You Want.

Whoev...  

Are you a broke college student looking to get into software music production? Does the idea of shelling out for Sound Forge to record your band's demo seem unreachable? Acoustica Premium may provide the solution you...  

Gearwire's Joe Wallace is often snide, sarcastic, and downright snotty when referring to industry developments. This time, he's actually sincere when he says he likes the writing at Focusrite. He really means it!

I've...  

So, it's not a "transforming robot", but there is much more to the Vanguard VST than meets the eye. Even though it's main function is to provide multi-layered detune gigantor trance leads, it can create other sounds...  

Have you been begging your favorite indie rock artist to let you do a remix? Are you looking to remix someone else's material, but have no tracks to prove that you are a halfway decent producer? Well, for the first...  

This has got to be the software announcement of the week. The WTF factor on the de la Mancha Black Box Slight Disorder VST plugin effect is so high that I can hardly comprehend it. Basically, somebody spent time developing...  

Gearwire's Joe Wallace sees conspiracies everywhere, at least when it comes to pop culture phenomena. Hence this quite insane offering, which could possibly be the prelude to a new series of amusing photo pairings.

Accord...  

For those who love vintage drums, Bun E. Carlos is a very familiar name. Oh, and there's that stuff he does with that band, Cheap Trick.

Carlos has been pounding skins since the 60s, and his wisdom on percussion...  

On that freaky Neil Young electro/WTF album Trans there is a song called "Sample And Hold". One can't help but think that this is a direct reference to the Moog Sample And Hold 1125, in spite of the lyrics:

"I need...  

Are you still trying to use your Amiga or Commodore software to make music? Can you just not get enough of old school MIDI programming? For users of the "classic" M, the solution has been found that doesn't require...  

Looking to write music so you can listen to it while driving a lunar rover over the surface of the moon? Homegrown Sounds might have the solution for you. Astralis Microtonal VST Synthesizer is designed with the professiona...  

Nice Pet Shop Boys callback, eh? My co-workers will be giving me grief over that one for about six weeks.

I am forever seeking new ways to take the wind out of the sales of ding-dongs on eBay selling stuff that really...  

Neuenberger in Germany releases yet another pretty cool freeware synth. If you are looking to find a solution for week bass or lead synth lines, this is it. Check out the free download on their website, and you will...