Some new equipment, and a new clip!

So my plan of constant updates on the new album hasn't gone quite to plan, but all will be back on track after November when I come back from tour (check out the blog on the home page to find out more about that).

In the meantime, a couple of updates. First of all, I've recently gotten my hands on a 6 string. That's not a typo. Only 6! It's an RGX350DX, and it plays pretty damn well. Here's a little something I recorded with it just the other night.

Also...I finally got around to ordering myself a Roland GR-20 + GK3 which will be going on this guitar. I'm massively excited to see what I can do with this thing. So hopefully I'll manage to get some kind of video review or demonstration up pretty sharpish. But I have some killer ideas for it. Watch this space...

Almost good to go, but first...

Finally - cracked a problem that's been kicking my ass for the longest time: recording "what you hear" with a FireWire audio interface. Some of you might know that it's all but impossible, even using Virtual Audio Cable, or Total Recorder. Turns out, however, that Goldwave can just...do it, where WaveLab, SoundForge, etc. could not! For anyone else trying this, I can highly recommend this software. It also has some awesome analysis tools.

So the plan is to leave everything recording (camera + screen capture + audio capture) and hopefully be able to provide you guys/non-guys with a good look at the process for writing the album. Granted it might well be me just sitting in a chair going slowly insane but, it might be useful to someone.

So as a little filler in the meantime - and to make up for not having found a place for the FAQ yet - here's a breakdown of what I'll be using!

Computer:

• AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
• ASUS M4A785TD Evo 785G Mainboard
• 4GB Kingston DDR3 HyperX
• Western Digital 649GB SATAII 7200rpm

Audio Interface:

• M-Audio FW410

Monitors/Headphones:

• Beyer DT250 Headphones
• M-Audio BX5a Monitors
  

Effects:

• Line6 POD X3 + FBV Shortboard

Controllers:

• Radium 61 MIDI keyboard - now this, is pretty old. I have an Oxygen 25 that's pretty cool, and I'm considering going up to the 49 or 61 key version. It has transport controls for your DAW, and all the controls are high resolution (where currently only my Data Entry slider and Mod Wheel are).

Software:

• Cubase 5.5
• Record + Reason 4
• Superior Drummer 2 + Metal Foundry primarily, but I will also be putting the other SDX/EZX's to good use as they were so kindly supplied to me by Toontrack
• POD Farm 2
  

Guitars:

• Ibanez RG2228 / RG1527 / RG7420 / RG7321
• ESP B155 5 string bass

The BRJ 8 *will* be used in production, just as soon as it gets here. There are also some other exciting things still to come, but more on that later.

That's it for now. The next thing I need to do is try out this capture business. See how it impacts on recording.

The sound of CS3!

So here it is! The Chimp Spanner Production Diary! I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but the main news feed wasn't the best place for it. So I'm kicking off with a brief clip of the new mix...very shortly I'll have a little inside info for you as to what's going on in the way of soft/hardware. Because afterall, who doesn't like a little geekout!!