MORE Music Technology at NAMM 2008
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4

DigiTech RP350

A great way to connect your guitar to the computer, and pick up a lot of sound along the way, the DigiTech RP350 can take you from lonely strumming to recording and overdubbing. For openers, its 24-bit, 2-in/2-out USB port will connect your axe to a Mac or Windows computer, so you can use your software of choice to record what you play.

Audio outputs include XLR, 1/4-inch, and 1⁄8-inch headphone—all stereo. There's an 1⁄8-inch aux input and a 1/4-inch instrument input, too. But it's more than a simple audio interface, because as you play through the RP350, you get the sound-sculpting power of a very hot processor: DigiTech's Audio DNA2 DSP superchip. (The "DNA" refers to its ability to mimic, or model, other hardware.)

The DigiTech RP350 is a foot-controlled audio interface for your computer with a great-sounding effect arsenal inside. (Click to enlarge.)

The RP350 provides 70 Factory and 70 User presets that let you choose from 27 amp/preamp/acoustic models and 18 cabinet models, including plenty of Fenders and Marshalls. There are 73 effect models including classic distortion stompboxes such as the Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer and the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi. There are reverbs from Lexicon, EMT, and others; five-second-long delays; flangers; chorus effects; vibrato and tremolo; a drum machine with 60 patterns; and a lot more.

Once your tone is dialed in, you can program the solid metal expression pedal to control just about any element of your sound. You can also download a free copy of the X-Edit editor/librarian from the website and customize presets or upload and download new tone settings.

www.digitech.com

Acoustica Spin It Again 2.1

All right, so this isn't directly related to playing your music into your computer. But I used to learn licks by playing a record over and over, and it was an awful process that wasted time and destroyed records. Today, we still need to study the professionals' work, and the way to go is computer playback. And here's how to get the tracks off vinyl and into iTunes. It's a nice, need-driven piece of software in a new rev.

Acoustica Spin It Again is a simple, quick, and affordable program to transfer records and tapes to your computer. (Click to enlarge.)

Digitizing your old vinyl and cassette-tape collection always seemed like a great idea, but the time-consuming tedium of separating and naming tracks, burning to two formats (WAV for archival, MP3 for the 'Pod), setting levels, making sure you have consistent levels, and cleaning up noise is a considerable deterrent.

The new 2.1 version of Acoustica's Spin It Again offers an intelligent process to ease the process for digitizing records or cassettes and burning them to CD. It quickly and automatically separates tracks; cleans up pops, clicks, and hiss; and lets you maximize levels for a good clean file. It can even record directly to an iPod or other portable MP3 player.

Spin It Again now supports Vista, lets you monitor your recording via your USB sound devices, and type in—or look up on the Web—track and album information while you're recording. The software uses that info to help it detect the tracks. It can also record twice as much data per session as previous versions: up to 13.5 hours of 16-bit/44.1kHz audio. Also new is a nifty bunch of preset speed adjustments that let you transfer 78 rpm records at 45 rpm. A good deal for $34.95.

www.acoustica.com

Johnson Guitars AK87/91

Originally designed for former Alice Cooper guitarist Kane Roberts, who affected a Rambo-esque onstage look, the AK87/91 is an actual, playable guitar that also really launches projectiles. It sports three flame throwers (including a Roman candle tube that shoots fireballs), two small bottle-rocket launchers, and one surface-to-air launcher to launch autographs into the crowd.

Johnson Guitars calls the AK87/91 "the biggest, baddest rock n' roll assault guitar ever conceived."

I held it. I aimed it. I flexed powerfully, channeling the force, and I actually strummed the strings (unplugged). One sad disappointment: the belt of .30 caliber machine-gun rounds does not actually feed a working firing mechanism. Apparently the cost of integrating a true .30 cal weapon into the instrument was prohibitive, not to mention the inconvenience of playing a guitar while it's mounted on a two-foot-high firing tripod. However, the pickups are Seymour Duncan Invader models, and the tailpiece is made by Taylor. All models are made in the USA, and Johnson urges fans to avoid the Chinese pirated versions.

Johnson also offers several beautifully crafted (no joke) guitars sculpted in the forms of Egyptian deities, supersonic spy planes, sacred emperor's dragons—both Chinese and Japanese—Russian MiGs, German Tornadoes, and many even more striking and unusual images. The booth was constantly surrounded by grinning, enthusiastic guys (though nary a female, oddly) voicing universal approval for the concept and execution.

Rick Johnson hand-builds, paints and signs all his guitars at his Yuma, Arizona factory.

www.johnsonguitarsusa.com