Serena Toxicat's project, Protea, has just released a track on machineKUNT's compilation, Extreme Woman in the Dark Future, released August 12, 2008. After years working with a variety of musical projects (some that still make her shudder) ranging from pop to goth, Toxicat used a variety of lo-fi gear to record her tracks.

The track itself Toxicat describes as "my thorny, sharp-clawed, 21st century brainchild [to be] enjoyed in a cozy dungeon with a crystal divinatory pendulum and a cup of catnip tea." It was recorded on an old Tascam Portastudio with a big assist for the Alesis Quadraverb.

"My other tools were a Zoom effects box, a gorgeous Shure old time radio-style mic, a four-track, an Alesis HR16 drum machine, and an Alesis QuadraVerb," she says. "I always used my Tibetan bowl and incorporated my cat's unique Siamese wails into the mix. I fed VHS porn moans through the effects to create an eerie soundscape. I used my voice in odd ethereal and percussive, ways. I reverse engineered. When I used my old desktop, I worked exclusively with Acid sample looping software, but only made .wav files, and GoldWave edit pro for effects."

The venerable Tascam 424 Portastudio is one of those quaint, obsolete, bits of gear that still has its applications. But they have been assigned, just recently, to the retail scrap heap. In 2008 the Tascam four-tracks were absent from the Winter NAMM show. They are being replaced by the DP-02, a sort of digital version of the simple Portastudios. One thing about the new digital Tascam product is that they cost a lot more than the old four-tracks. These days cassette recorders can be found for between $20 and $70. That is something of a price break for the cost-conscious musician who just wants to record a demo, and sometimes restrictions placed on you by gear can lead to creativity.

"How I used it was fairly typical in a technical sense, and it was so simple -- stick a tape in, plug in, record -- but my stars was I a piece of work! I lived in this converted sorority house that was inhabited by UCB students. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but it was their finals week and I was up at all hours caterwauling into that thing," says Toxicat. "I must have recorded all the melodic tracks during the day. Those poor kids thought I was blaspheming, on drugs, or having a psychotic episode. I recall wailing about vampires, choads and Chex Mix. I was inspired! The warm, analog quality was absolutely divine. My building manager was cool; he wanted me to show him how to use it."

The Tascam 424MKII Portastudio was released way back in the winter of 1996. It has four balanced XLR mic inputs, three-band EQ with mid sweep, an upgraded AUX system and automated Punch In / Out, The press release stated "After the performance is captured, the 424MKII's new three-band EQ with sweepable midrange will enable you to contour the sound with far greater flexibility than was previously available." The 424MKII had two AUX sends, one of which was also a Tape Cue. The second send comes is useful when you mixdown and want to use an effects processor, such as the Alesis Quadraverb.

"I loved my Alesis! I used it for my vox and it was fun and friendly. Well, I did get obsessive with it, but that's a tribute to its flexibility," says Toxicat. "I'd run my vocals directly through the Quadraverb. Sometimes I felt it was a channel to enlightenment!"

The Alesis QuadraVerb is one of the early multi-effects processors (there have been many since by Alesis) but a surprising number of people still use these. One reason being, that they are easy to deal with. Features include EQ, reverb, delay, flanger, phaser etcetera. All the sounds are passable if not unique. The QuadraVerb has six real time controllers and MIDI controlled reverb and delay. You can also pick one up for less than $100 -- often much less.

Even Toxicat has tired of hodge-podged old-school gear, which she admittedly only used out of necessity.

"Protea will live on and I'll have the tattoo to show for it. I am in the process of recording a concept album about the Ancient Egyptian pantheon with [a] very modern setup, and I'd like to get it signed. This DIY stuff is getting old! Thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to talk rather seriously about gear!"