GT Solo Assignment - June 2008


light487
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light487
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05/31/2008 3:52 pm
Well it's June already and this month we have a heavy metal track to play with. I know there's still a couple of days left for submissions on May 2008 solo, and I still have to finish mine as well but for once I have the next month's backing track done on time. So I am releasing it now rather than waiting for the 2nd of June, which is when the final submissions for the month of May will be closed off and voting will begin.

It's a fairly standard tune without much to confuse people I hope. It's in the key of Eminor as far as I can work out.. yes.. I know I wrote it but it's all power-chords so it's sometimes hard to tell what key it is in for me. :cool: The tempo seems to be fast but really it's only 10bpm faster than last month's track which was 120bpm. The reason it sounds fast is because of the double-kick drums.

I'm trying a new file-hosting site to see if we can get more joy and less pop-ups out of it.. so let me know if there's any problems downloading from this site:
http://www.mediafire.com/?h9zj5ibjnyj

I've also put it on SoundClick.com but of course they reduce the quality of the mp3, so try the first link before you get the SoundClick one.
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6592419

Oh yeh.. the track just kinda ends without any sort of lead-out.. so may be you can get creative and fade it out or something.. makes it easier to loop for jamming to if it's like this, then you can loop it over and over till you get the right feel and then do something with the ending.. I dunno.. lemme know if you want me to edit it and add an ending.
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# 1
mpaq
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mpaq
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06/01/2008 3:15 pm
The first download link works fine for me. Really good track, I doubt i can play on it since it begs for some fast runs which i cant do, but i'll play with it anyway, if nothing else but for practice. Thats what this thing is all about right..coming out of your comfort zone and trying new things.... I'll give it a shot
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FingerSpasm
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FingerSpasm
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06/01/2008 10:16 pm
Very nice track Light.
# 3
WrigglerUk
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WrigglerUk
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06/04/2008 3:43 pm
Sounds like the stuff my kids listen to... :mad:

I'm in a hotel in Geneva right now, 1000 miles from a guitar.... I can hear what I want to play, you bet when I get home it'll not happen :rolleyes:

Thanks for your efforts... missed out last month 'cos Im here!
Can you play "Far Far Away?"

Yes - how far would you like?
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Silimtao
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06/14/2008 3:53 am
How do you guys record your tracks? I did a search in the forums but couldn't find much. I have an Audigy Soundblaster soundcard with input for guitar, but it sounds like crap- didn't link any of my pedals though. Any cheap/free software? Maybe output my amp to the soundcard? I think some drivers or something got corrupted cuz there was a time right after I built my pc and plugged straigt in, it sounded great.

That's a smoking track you did, Light. Is that a straight E5 power chord playing throughout? I was playing in E and A minor (don't ask me what modes; I've hit a wall with theory lately). And a coupla other scales, and it seemed to fit. I can make claims to playing fast, but never playing well, lol. Your track made me pull out my Ibanez RG, and it just made me want to rip. I'm no shredder, but it was fun playing over the track. I recorded myself with my Blackberry, lol (son's on the desktop now).

Anyway, any suggestions on how to better record? Software? I definitely can record, but it sounds like crap- can't capture the sustain and dynamics of sound I want. I just may have the guts to upload something.
Silimtao-The Way of the Little Idea

I want to die peacefully like my grandfather. Unlike the other passengers in the car, screaming and crying. (unknown)
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light487
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light487
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06/14/2008 10:34 am
Hey all..

So sorry to have left things to slide like this. I've played my guitar about 4 times in the last 2 weeks, not including my weekly Church gig.. It's been so hectic with the apartment purchase but good news it that it settles on Tuesday so hopefully I will under less stress and will have more energy and focus to not only play but keep the ball rolling here.

Slimtao - I use a free recording package called Reaper. You can get it here: http://reaper.fm/

Another free one some people use is called Audacity, which you can find here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Reaper is a proper recording package, where as Audacity is more of a sound editor so both will do the job but Reaper is more suited to music production. The only thing is you really shouldn't be plugging your guitar straight into your computer's soundcard. You could do your soundcard some damage. The cheapest thing I have come across to get your guitar/bass plugged into a computer, with a satisfactory quality, is called a StealthPlug. You may need to fork out more than you were wanting for this but I still use this even though I have a proper audio interface device now.

It's exactly like having a standard guitar lead that ends in a USB plug. Mine came packaged with some decent recording software but I prefer the free Reaper package simply because it is faster, cleaner and easier to use. You should seriously consider getting one of these if you are on a budget and want to start doing some recording. There may be other budget alternatives out there but I can't comment on them because I haven't tried them.

You can find the stealthplug info here: http://www.stealthplug.com/
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sensibleanarchy
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06/14/2008 2:03 pm
Thanks for the info Light. I don't plug directly into my soundcard, there's an interface that connects to it with all the in/out ports and the panel is right in the front of my pc. It's made with 3/4" inputs for guitar; it's just that for whatever reason, my guitar sounds like crap through my pc. There's even modelling effects- but they're not working either, so I've been debating a usb interface- I was looking at Line 6 Pod something or other for about $150 US, but I'm thinking, if there's something wrong with the soundcard it may not make a difference.

I'm going to reinstall the drivers and software etc and see what happens. I'll take a look at Reaper if/when I can get things working. Even my 5.1 speakers aren't fully working, so hopefully a reinstall of the software/drivers will fix things, but I get the feeling this will be one of those weekends where nothing goes right....I'll be going to a Guitar Center later possibly and maybe look for a cheap usb interface or the StealthPlug as you recommended. Will let you know. Thanks.
# 7
light487
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06/14/2008 3:27 pm
That "interface" you are talking about is simply wires running from the front panel to your soundcard, or your motherboard's sound input/output circuits. It can still cause damage as most guitars (and even more so basses) output hi-gain signals. To hear it properly through that socket, you need to have a pre-amp that outputs a low-gain signal. I used that setup years ago before USB devices were available for guitars, and when proper audio interfaces (at least for PCs) were prohibitively expensive.
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Silimtao
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06/14/2008 6:11 pm
Originally Posted by: light487That "interface" you are talking about is simply wires running from the front panel to your soundcard, or your motherboard's sound input/output circuits. It can still cause damage as most guitars (and even more so basses) output hi-gain signals. To hear it properly through that socket, you need to have a pre-amp that outputs a low-gain signal. I used that setup years ago before USB devices were available for guitars, and when proper audio interfaces (at least for PCs) were prohibitively expensive.

Well, the soundcard is about 3 yrs old right now, and I discovered linking my microcube's output to the pc gives me some effects and ambience. If I toast the soundcard...well, it's time for an upgrade anyway. My local Guitar Center has the StealthPlug for $99 US, but the one with a full suite of software for $149 looked lots more versatile, but they're out of stock on that right now. There's other usb links-ups, but I have so much junk hanging out, I'm not sure I need more. I think I'll go with what I have, then I'll have to try to figure out how to properly record. But then again, I can be an impulse buyer, so who knows what I may come back with. Thanks for the info. Hopefully I can get something going.
Silimtao-The Way of the Little Idea

I want to die peacefully like my grandfather. Unlike the other passengers in the car, screaming and crying. (unknown)
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Silimtao
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Silimtao
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06/14/2008 7:13 pm
Light, are you able to link pedals and stuff through the Stealth?
Silimtao-The Way of the Little Idea

I want to die peacefully like my grandfather. Unlike the other passengers in the car, screaming and crying. (unknown)
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light487
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light487
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06/14/2008 9:10 pm
Originally Posted by: SilimtaoLight, are you able to link pedals and stuff through the Stealth?


Yes you can. You use a standard lead from your guitar to effects, just make the last lead the stealthplug which goes into the USB port.

Eg. Guitar {Normal Lead} Wah Pedal {Normal Lead/Patch Cable} Multi-Effects {StealthPlug} Computer

The StealthPlug that I got came bundled with Tracktion 2.0 (recording software) and Amplitube 2.0 (amp modelling and effects processing software), so you may not even need to do that except for the wah pedal may be.
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Silimtao
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06/14/2008 11:25 pm
Iboughta Toneport ux1. It was on sale for $ 90. The salesman recommended it even tho it was cheaper. What a pita it's been to install. A gazzilion driver updates, finally recognized then blue screen and start all over again. May return it.
Silimtao-The Way of the Little Idea

I want to die peacefully like my grandfather. Unlike the other passengers in the car, screaming and crying. (unknown)
# 12
Silimtao
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06/15/2008 1:41 pm
Originally Posted by: sensibleanarchy
I'll be going to a Guitar Center later possibly and maybe look for a cheap usb interface or the StealthPlug as you recommended. Will let you know. Thanks.


Hey sensibleanarchy and to anyone who may buy the Line 6 Toneport UX1. I bought the UX1 at a Guitar Center: There's a 15% restocking fee if you return it, but if you unlock the Ableton software, you can't return it at all. I was surprised the salesman was honest enough to tell me that. Also, you can only have the Ableton recording software on ONE computer.

I opted for the UX1 because it was $10 cheaper than the StealthPlug, and the salesman recommended it because it had lots more modeling sounds as far as effects and different cabinet choice. That's the good news.

The bad news is, if you're not somewhat pc saavy, you'll NEVER be able to install Gearbox, the GUI that enables you to even use the thing. As part of the setup, you need some native Windows drivers, and you get prompted for a l6tpux1.dll- but where to find it? Even Line 6's support forum doesn't answer the question properly.

Also, you don't hear anything out of your speakers, you either have to have a set of headphone with a 1/4" jack, or an adapter that accepts a mini-jack.

Now the possibly bad news: You wont be able to record ANYTHING unless you're able to to send the output signal from the head phone jack or, using rca jacks from the outputs on the rear of the unit- how many people have pc's with rca line ins?

Anyway, I'm able to do it by feeding the headphone signal (using a guitar cable with a 1/4" jack to a 1/4" line in I have on my soundcard).

I got fedup trying to install on my desktop after 5 hrs, then tried it on my laptop which took about 15 mins. It was able to find the .dll file on its own, but that's where I discovered the recording problem. My only option is to get a line with 2 male minijack plugs to feed the signal from the unit's headphone signal out (which would need the adapter to accept the mini-plug) to my laptop's mic input. The info on the box is very misleading- "Complete Hardware and Software Recording Solution"- not quite.

Anyway, now that I have everything up and running, it does sound great, but there seems to be some latency problems. I'm going to see what processes I can kill to take some of the load off the cpu. If you don't understand anything I've said- DON'T GET IT. I read a Harmony Central user give a bad review because he wasn't able to get the thing running at all. The needed .dll is in the Toneport folder, but you're not going to get if the Gearbox installation is incomplete, which was the case on my desktop. I kept loading the .dll from the Windows system 32 folder which is the incorrect version. If I didn't notice this on my laptop, I'd be heading back to GC to return the damn thing.
Silimtao-The Way of the Little Idea

I want to die peacefully like my grandfather. Unlike the other passengers in the car, screaming and crying. (unknown)
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light487
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light487
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06/15/2008 2:06 pm
It's the same thing with pretty much all the audio interfaces I have. You can't hear it through the soundcard because the input drivers are ASIO and won't allow you to run the output through DirectSound. Not sure if Macs can do it as I don't have a Mac.

To record, you need to grab some recording software (that's why it was bundled with Ableton Live.. but I didn't like that package).. for example, Reaper, and then tell it to use the input from the interface. I'm sorry to hear you had so much trouble with it.. have you tried downloading Reaper and then recording into it with only the USB connected? I don't need to route anything via RCA cables. The headphone port is for monitoring the sound while you work.

It drove me nutso trying to get it to output via DirectSound but I am used to it all now and I don't mind that it doesn't do that. I bought some decent powered monitoring speakers as a work-a-round but I find that I actually prefer to use the headphones because I can be as loud as I need to be.

My usual setup goes: Guitar {StealthPlug} USB Port. I have Reaper running, with audio settings set to input from StealthPlug and output via StealthPlug. In Reaper I use the Amplitube plug-ins the most to model the sound and apply effects but Reaper comes with a bunch of standard effects anyway; and there is plenty of free VST plugins around.

Getting used to Digital recording is a little tricky at first but I'm sure that if you endeavour with it, you will thank yourself later.
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Silimtao
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06/15/2008 2:47 pm
Hey Light, don't you ever sleep? I forget the time 'tween Down Under and East US; anyway it's 10:30 a.m Sunday here.

I installed reaper on my laptop, but was so happy to finally have the the unit running I didn't try to record anything there. It would be nice if it would recognize the unit so I don't have wires running all over the place. But it was 4 a.m.! But being the OCD person that I am, I went back to the desktop and was able to install there- without the upgrade after upgraded I was prompted to do for the drivers and utility called LineMonkey or something.

I was able to do some recording using my soundcard's recording program. I love your track! It makes me think of a car chase- would sound good as a soundtrack for a chase scene in a movie.

My fingers are so tender now playing my Ibanez since they have 9's on 'em. I'm used to playing my Strat with 12's on 'em and it feels like I've been playing on razor wire. A couple of 'em are literally bleeding, lol!

Even though I'm so sleep deprived I'm going to install reaper on my desktop.

Your track makes me want to speed, and I'm not a shredder. If I get up the nerve, I'll upload something. You were right in suggesting I get usb interface- no way in the world would I have been able to record anything remotely decent. And the Port does have some cool preset, etc. It was just maddening installing it. In time I'm sure I'll love it; betcha I wouldn't have had the problems I had if I had gotten the Stealth, but it was all the different sounds that sold me on the TonePort- or whatever it's called. I'm delirious right now.

Thanks for all your help. Well, learn something new every day.
Silimtao-The Way of the Little Idea

I want to die peacefully like my grandfather. Unlike the other passengers in the car, screaming and crying. (unknown)
# 15
Silimtao
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06/15/2008 9:50 pm
The learning curve seems pretty high (plus I'm lazy that way; I always think I'm smart enough to figure things out myself)- a 200 pg. manual!

Another Toneport rant- if you remove it from one system to another, it gets recognized as new hardware and you have to install that dll file I was talking about. I read that from some other reviewers also. Oh, well, it does sound good. I'm deciding whether to spend the extra $$ for some plug-ins. It does sound kind a digital, but metal guitar sounds that way to me also. But on some tube setting it sounded pretty warm and round.

I've used my Microcube as my monitor speaker, but you're right, it does sound better through headphones.
Silimtao-The Way of the Little Idea

I want to die peacefully like my grandfather. Unlike the other passengers in the car, screaming and crying. (unknown)
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Silimtao
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06/18/2008 2:25 am
OK, this is my 2nd futile attempt at trying to record with the Toneport I just bought. I tried Reaper, Albitron- whatever the name is of the recording software that came with the Toneport, Cubase, Sonar, and couldn't get a signal to record. I finally used Audacity. Playing the backing track (kick's butt, Light!), with Gearbox, the Toneport GUI and controls for the Toneport- the track kept stuttering and stopping, and to make things worse, I couldn't hear very well the backing track or what I was playing, but knew Audacity was capturing something cuz I could see the bars moving, and I didn't mean for the guitar to be so up front. Anyway, this is my 2nd take, I know it sucks and is sloppy, and the guitar is out of tune. The signal is way over-driven, and I have no idea where the phaser effect came from. This isn't where I wanted to go when I first heard the BT, now the stinking runs are stuck in my head. Anyway, I wanted to upload something because I haven't let anyone really listen to me play in years, and this is my first shot at metal- sounds more like...I don't know what...; whatever. I figure why be part of a guitar forum if you don't get feedback from other players? All comments welcome- be brutal I can take it. I know it sucks, but here it is: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=845858&content=music It only last for about 1 min because Gearbox just stopped playing. Turn your speakers down, cuz it's LOUD. If I can't get the Toneport to work right, it's going back to the store.
Silimtao-The Way of the Little Idea

I want to die peacefully like my grandfather. Unlike the other passengers in the car, screaming and crying. (unknown)
# 17
Superhuman
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06/18/2008 8:55 am
Hey man,
I have no speakers on my work pc but regarding your difficulties recording... sounds like you have latency problems (causes the stuttering). This can be addressed by adjusting the buffereing in the setup for whatever sequencer you are using. To get the most out of the Gearbox package you should post for advice in the Reaper forum. There will be loads of users with that setup that can help you get set up quickly - should just be a matter of a few clicks. Best of luck getting things sortewd anyway.
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Silimtao
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06/18/2008 12:07 pm
Originally Posted by: SuperhumanHey man,
I have no speakers on my work pc but regarding your difficulties recording... sounds like you have latency problems (causes the stuttering). This can be addressed by adjusting the buffereing in the setup for whatever sequencer you are using. To get the most out of the Gearbox package you should post for advice in the Reaper forum. There will be loads of users with that setup that can help you get set up quickly - should just be a matter of a few clicks. Best of luck getting things sortewd anyway.

Heya Super,
It's Wed. morn here, and I stayed up all night Sun until 4 a.m. Monday troubleshooting. I spent my whole day at work on Monday going through Line 6's forums, half asleep, lol. There's lots of issues with the Toneport. When it works, it works great- soundwise anyway. My problem right now is getting the backing track to play and me play at the same time. I messed with the buffering size first. I've come to the conclusion that I may have too many in/out audio devices getting in the way on my pc- souncard, tv tuner card, onboard soundcard, and various players. I disabled a number of hardware, but I think it's SoundBlaster audio card that's the problem- if you don't set it just right, you get nothing- there's settings for gaming, movie watching, music and on and on. But the Toneport have problems also- I've had to install and reinstall it about 15 times at least, and I can't upgrade to the latest drivers either, another known issue. Then I get error messages and blue screens of death. I feel like I'm gonna lose my mind. When I do get sound out of the Toneport, I can't record; when I can record, I can't hear exactly what I'm playing. It's a vicious cycle. Anyway, I'm going to buy the proper 1/8" lines and try on my laptop.Anyway, I wanted to upload something to get over my fear of playing. What I uploaded wasn't meant to be a final submission, I just wanted to get myself out there, like when someone has a fear of public speaking, you just get out there and do it.

I saw in your other post your setup- nice. Anyway, time to go to work. Thanks for the feedback. The only program that I can get the BT to play back on and record so far is my soundcard's recorder. That's why I used Audacity to capture what I played. My first take was 40 seconds, before Gearbox (Toneports player) froze, then my 2nd which lasted about 1 min . It was 3:45 a.m. by then, so I said, F-it, I'll upload it. I think this will help me to play more, as opposed to just noodling around. If everyone think's I suck, no problem; I think I suck, lol. I can talk technique and everything else, but I came to the conclusion a long time ago I did, lol. As long as I'm having fun, right? Gotta run, later, and thanks again.
Silimtao-The Way of the Little Idea

I want to die peacefully like my grandfather. Unlike the other passengers in the car, screaming and crying. (unknown)
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light487
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06/24/2008 2:21 am
Been working on my solo for this month. I have to admit that I am a little stuck on this one. I've found some decent mods to apply to my sound but coming up with enough solo material to make it less boring than it currently is, is the real challenge I am having. I should have something fairly decent done in the next couple of days...
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