I'm Kind of a Big Deal - Retro T-Shirt by Lamborati

http://www.zazzle.com.au/im_kind_of_a_big_deal_retro_t_shirt-235641712786891122

Ron Burgundy: I don’t know how to put this but I’m kind of a big deal.
Veronica Corningstone: Really.
Ron Burgundy: People know me.
Veronica Corningstone: Well, I’m very happy for you.
Ron Burgundy: I’m very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.

From the hilarious comedy film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Pants Party - You're Invited T-Shirt by Lamborati

 Brick Tamland: I would like to extend to you an invitation to the pants party.
Veronica Corningstone: Excuse me?
Brick Tamland: [struggling] The… party. With the… with the pants. Party with pants?
Veronica Corningstone: Brick, are you saying that there’s a party in your pants and that I’m invited?
Brick Tamland: That’s it.
Veronica Corningstone: Did Brian tell you to say this, Brick?
Brick Tamland: No. Yes. He did.
Veronica Corningstone: Okay. No. I don’t want to go to a party in your pants.
Brick Tamland: Very well. Ian, would you like to go to a party in my pants?
Ian: No, Brick.

From the very funny movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Part 2 of the vibrato series. This week, find out how to properly play the mystical circular vibrato, and more…

Working on a bunch of stuff but I wanted to post a quick picture of the equipment to see how well wordpress on iPhone works.

Can you find the ’boutique’ solid state amp in the picture?
Chandler SDE in loooper, Lovepedal Echo Baby, and M13.
Disregard those whammy pedals on the left.
They are not the droids you’re looking for.

Sometimes there is a pedal that just sticks in your head for days, weeks, or even months.  Once plugged in, the sounds created by this pedal haunt your dreams and every waking moment that you don’t have your guitar in your hand.  Right now this pedal is the Digitech Whammy.  The absolutely stunning variety of tones, sounds, and effects that can come from this hot rod red box are enough to drive a guitarist insane…or drive creativity over the edge.  The Digitech Whammy pedal is the perfect tool for a versatile guitarist.  Let’s face it, it’s a lot easier to take an electric guitar and a Whammy to a session than it is to haul out the pedal steel, the guitars all tuned up and down from each other, and the sitar.  Just plug into the Digitech Whammy and you’ve got pedal steel licks, moveable harmonies, chorus, divebomb, and sitar sounds at your feet.  The Whammy pedal has gotten me out of many tough situations and helped me discover more ways to apply harmony and melody to a song than any other pedal on the market.  The first time a busted out a pedal steel lick over a jazz rhythm, the group I was playing with just stopped and stared.  “What?” I said.  “That was great, how do you make that bend with your Strat?”  I pointed to my Digitech Whammy and did a shredding solo, changing octaves up and down without moving my hand position and smiled.  “That’s how” I said.  From that moment on, I never left my Digitech Whammy at home.  I even bought an extra and one night in frenzy of creative energy, I even strapped one to each foot and hooked them both up.  My wife left me the next day but hey, I still have my Digitech Whammy.

The Digitech Whammy has made more of an impact on electric guitar than almost any pedal in history. Since its inception in 1991, the Whammy has graced the pedalboards of some of the most influential guitarists in music today such as; Jimmy Page, Tom Morello, Steve Vai, Dimebag Darrell, and David Gilmour. The coming of the Whammy brought a whole new world to guitar effects. The harmonizer and pitch shift functions gave guitarists the ability to emulate slide guitar, dive bomb, and modulate their signal like never before. This affordable harmonizer brought the sounds of high end studios to the stage without the crunch on the pocket book. Add to this the ability to control the harmonies and pitch bending effects with a built in expression pedal and suddenly the Digitech Whammy became the most versatile harmonizer ever made.
The Digitech Whammy is a multi-part harmonizer capable of delivering harmonies in 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 7ths, and octaves and the expression pedal allows real time bending in between certain harmony intervals for emulating lap steels or changing keys seamlessly in the middle of a solo. The pitch bend function allows non-tremolo guitarists to dive bomb like a Floyd Rose with a Les Paul or even a hollow body! The whammy function goes all the way from two octaves up to a thunderous three octaves down in the divebomb mode. The Whammy also features two detune modes; shallow and deep. This gives a beautiful chorused sound that is perfectly suited for shimmering clean tones and chordal movements.
All functions of the Digitech Whammy track extremely well. Some harmonizers and octave effects just can’t keep up with those lightening fast runs or shreddy solos, not the Whammy. The pitch tracking algorithm is spot on even at Malmsteen speeds and the harmonies don’t have that digital quality to them like a ring modulator. The divebombs are smooth with no jumping steps as the pitch descends or ascends.
If you’re looking for a great harmonizer or pitch bender, the Digitech Whammy is it. No other pedal in the industry can keep up with this one-of-a-kind effect. Imitate pedal steel licks, change intervals on the fly, divebomb, get Floydian chorusing, even imitate a Uni-Vibe; it’s all up to you how you utilize your Digitech Whammy. It will open up a world of creative ideas that you’ve never before thought possible.

Sometimes there is a pedal that just sticks in your head for days, weeks, or even months. Once plugged in, the sounds created by this pedal haunt your dreams and every waking moment that you don’t have your guitar in your hand. Right now this pedal is the Digitech Whammy. The absolutely stunning variety of tones, sounds, and effects that can come from this hot rod red box are enough to drive a guitarist insane…or drive creativity over the edge. The Digitech Whammy pedal is the perfect tool for a versatile guitarist. Let’s face it, it’s a lot easier to take an electric guitar and a Whammy to a session than it is to haul out the pedal steel, the guitars all tuned up and down from each other, and the sitar. Just plug into the Digitech Whammy and you’ve got pedal steel licks, moveable harmonies, chorus, divebomb, and sitar sounds at your feet. The Whammy pedal has gotten me out of many tough situations and helped me discover more ways to apply harmony and melody to a song than any other pedal on the market. The first time a busted out a pedal steel lick over a jazz rhythm, the group I was playing with just stopped and stared. “What?” I said. “That was great, how do you make that bend with your Strat?” I pointed to my Digitech Whammy and did a shredding solo, changing octaves up and down without moving my hand position and smiled. “That’s how” I said. From that moment on, I never left my Digitech Whammy at home. I even bought an extra and one night in frenzy of creative energy, I even strapped one to each foot and hooked them both up. My wife left me the next day but hey, I still have my Digitech Whammy.

This is probably one of the toughest choice to make for someone looking for a high-end digital processor. There are probably a million pages out there that compare these products but none of them helped me much when I had to make the same choice. Also, most of them are outdated and don’t consider the recent upgrades that both of these products have undergone.

Firstly, I have used both of these for around the same period of time as of now and I’m impressed with both, so it is a fair review. For the benefit of the reader, I’ll categorize the comparison into various fields and provide a basic overview of each. The main aim here is to help the reader make an informed choice and avoid regretting later.

Usage and accessibility: The POD X3 live has a flow diagram of the effects being used and a cursor arrangement to navigate and edit any setting. It differentiates between a double and single click and this makes things very easy. The GT-10 on the other hand lets you toggle through a 4 way nav + rotating button. There’s an EZ mode which is a very easy way to make tones but it limits the possibilities by a large extent. All in all, to get the same tone, GT-10 takes a lot more tweaking than the X3. My pick : POD X3 Live

Sound: If you love clean passages and subtle effects, the GT-10 is a great device. The X3 live is capable of great clean tones too but the GT-10 sounds more ‘real’ in this department.

If heavy distortion and high gain tones are your thing, then the X3 Live is a definite winner. You can create amazing distortion patches using the X3 Live. The GT-10 sounds frail when it comes to this area.

The GT-10 has some modelers that the X3 Live currently doesn’t offer.

• A harmonizer and a whammy. Line6 has a stomp called ‘bender’ which can be used as a whammy/harmonizer but the GT-10 beats it in this department.
• A sitar modeler. GT-10 has a fairly decent sitar modeler. It’s not quite possible to get the same sound on the X3 Live.
• A looper. The GT-10 has a 55 sec instant looper.

However, the X3 Live’s dual tone is an amazing feature. There are endless possibilities with it. You can check out youtube for videos about the same. I use it a lot and it should be seriously considered before making a decision.

Considering everything,

My pick:

For clean passages: Boss GT-10

For high gain stuff: Line 6 POD X3 Live

Durability: The GT-10 has a metal casing and has tough build like the other Boss products. The X3 Live looks breakable but it is pretty well built, however,  the foot switches in the X3 Live are more fragile as compared to the GT-10. I haven’t experienced any problem with any of the products. My pick : Boss GT-10

Recording: This is where Line 6 products totally rule. The X3 Live has an amazing clarity while recording. It is the best thing after a professional studio. GT-10 has the feature but nowhere close to what the X3 Live offers. My pick: Line 6 POD X3 Live

Online community and support: This another area where Line 6 is amazing. Line 6 customtone has a collection of amazing, stage ready tones submitted by various users and the ratings are generally accurate. Many signature tones by artists themselves are available for direct download into the processor. Also, softwares like Gearbox and Line6 monkey are amazing free tools for making patches on a computer. The GT-10 has software editors but the libraries and features are primitive compared to Line 6.  My pick: Line 6 POD X3 Live

Overall: It’s close but the X3 Live does it for me owing to the great quality, dual tone and the ease of use. I would readily suggest it to anyone who is confused between the two products. If you are very concerned about a harmonizer/whammy/ looper, then you can give the GT-10 a thought but you can always add a Digitech Whammy to the X3 Live, if needed.

Winnner: Line 6 POD X3 Live

If you have any conflicting thoughts about anything above, you are free to discuss it but I can guarantee you that the above article is an honest attempt at comparing the two and the X3 Live is better for me. Cheers!

Oh my God I just re-read the last post and I have to issue a formal apology I hit a whammy big time. Somebody needs to fucking tell me when my posts come out that fucking boring fuck!

FUCK YOU WHAMMY, MONEY STEALING SON OF A BITCH!

Any ways I had a pretty good day it started off like shit though wife woke up super early and tried to get me to wake up as well but I showed her! The power of my lazy pulled her back into slumber and we went back to bed so that was pretty good. She then decided that we were going to go to the wild animal park and at first I was all like fuck then as we got out of the house and landed straight into motherfucking traffic I was like double fuck. Eventually we made our way to the  wild animal park and I got to see some sweet ass animals doing wild animal shit and a good time was had by all and when I say all I really only mean me cause I don’t give a fuck about the rest of the people there.

I also came to a terrible realization of late, I haven’t worked on any of my scripts or any script ideas for a very long time I guess because of the move and starting school again I have gotten a bit off track but I am going to remedy that soon and plan on busting my ass and pumping out a few script ideas. I don’t know why it’s not like I have any body interested in what I have to offer but I do get a huge sense of accomplishment when I do finish one and since I have only finished the BUGS script and that’s only for a TV length episode (however I have been thinking about lengthening it up) I really need to finish some more.

Oh and if any one out there would like to read or sample some of my creative genius then by all means contact me and I’ll send you a copy of something I’m always looking for feedback, peace.

It’s been a long day, even though I don’t know why, really. I beat Guitar Hero Aerosmith on Hard, so I felt accomplished.

The broken whammy bar started working after what might be considered one of the most magnificent hours of my life.

Today, I received a packet of papers in the mail. Within those papers, I was informed that I’ve been accepted into the Conference All-State Women’s Choir.

Soprano One, son.

I texted Emma.

Emma and Kiener called me. Emma told me she was calling Lerew.

I called Mrs. Ripley. Mrs. Ripley was ecstatic. Mrs. Ripley says she’s going to tell everyone she knows.

I texted Heather. By then it was eight at night and I was on the way to Franklinville for my sister’s football game (she cheerleads) and I didn’t want to hold conversation across spotty service areas in a moving vehicle. Hopefully she’ll call me back when it’s good for her, and if I don’t hear from her by tomorrow afternoon, I’m calling for sure. I’m so excited.

Nothing could put a damper on that news, except I’m tired. I’m just downright exhausted, so my enthusiasm is going to be shelved until tomorrow. I’ll siphon it back into my system then and do something really productive. Earlier today I decorated and established my JCC and creative writing binders, and got the rest of my materials ready and in my bag for school. As of tonight, there are only five more full days before my last first day of high school.

I just want to live it. I feel like I say this every time I blog, but dammit, I want to feel and exist in every single moment I’m blessed with. I want to feel alive, I want to experience everything good this world has to offer. And some of the bad, because otherwise there’s nothing to measure the great against.

If today was any indication of where hard work and practice and dedication and passion can get me, though, I don’t think I’ll have too difficult a time living each minute of my senior year. I worked my ass off for that one hundred on the audition paper. Puccini might have been proud of me, even.

So. Conference All State, here I come. And everything else. Watch out. I have a craving, a burning thirst for life. I plan to quench it.

Kesän alennusmyynti!

Arolla paljon tuotteita kesäalennushinnoin, alla esimerkkinä Digitechin efektilaitteita:

DIGITECH EFEKTIPEDAALIT -25% !

WHAMMY 208€
DIGIDELAY  115€
GRUNGE  55€
HOT ROD 89€
HOT HEAD 55€
MULTI CHORUS 105€
BASS MULTI CHORUS 89€
SCREAMIN` BLUES 59€

JNE…

SUPERTARJOUS -50%

Digitech GNX 3000 guitar workstation 439€ -50%

Digitech GNX 3000

Digitech control 8 midi foot control 159€ -50%

Digitech Control 8

Disclaimer: Now Hypekillaz ain’t doing this because Thelonious is our brother, but because his music really is the shit. Go bump and support.

Blog: Thelonious Thoughts

Follow him here on Twitter

Download Here

Some songs are impressive throughout, while others ramp up the tension and build-up before unleashing a climactic killer moment. Sometimes, I yearn for a particular song just to hear that singular moment, when all the individual units of the track coalesce and lock in to reach an apex. Occasionally, I’ll even get this craving while listening to another song – in these instances, I am liable to forget what the desired song was by the time the previous one has finished, and I then spend several minutes scrolling through my library, in search of the elusive high.

About 3:20 into !!!’s Heart Of Hearts, the synced-up groove of whirring guitars, groaning keys and raw, ecstatic vocals lock into a repeated cry of “For a heart of, heart of, heart of, heart of hearts”, set to a snappy motorik beat and astonishingly pulsating bass. Suddenly, the whole contraption comes to a dramatic, pounding halt. A second later, all hell breaks loose, sonically, as the instruments bounce back in, but with ten times the soul and vigour. It’s a pretty spectacular event.

Elbow’s stunning Crawling With Idiot begins in a very low-key manner, with Guy Garvey’s breathy, sensual vocals set to a trickling piano chord sequence and a delicate guitar figure, alongside a subtle waltz time signature. Gradually, electronic burbles and coo-ing backing harmonies enter the fray, creating an oppressive, claustrophobic tone. Finally, at 2:45, a jarringly harsh guitar line drones in, gradually, bringing the song to a wonderfully chilling climax, as the sweetness of the vocals contrasts with triumphant organ and that unsettling guitar. And then the song ebbs away, gently, into bleak nothingness.

Far from being one of the characteristically long epics on the TNT album, Tortoise’s The Equator is an under-four-minute long diversion, travelling along languid guitar work and a fidgety, twitching beat. Halfway through, at about 2:00, a yearning, soaring guitar figure is cut across by a supernova of a whooshing sound, which leads into a gorgeous segment of the song, where the soothing synth wash in the background is complemented by finger-lickingly funky guitar strumming.

The Coral have a cunning habit of letting 60s-sounding psychedelic pop songs wander into spazzed-out freakouts, and Come Home is a prime example. A jazzy groove is strumming along fairly ordinarily; the vocalist is singing sweetly about magic and myths and sitting by the fire, when suddenly, a reverb-heavy guitar breakdown segues into a organ-led vamp. Gothic sounding vocals loom forebodingly; the jerky guitar piledrives in angrily; the drums get more chaotic; a searing lead synth whistles dissonantly. How very romantic.

4:00 into Blur’s epic album closer, Essex Dogs, after a passage of portentous reminiscence and messing around with a whammy pedal, emerges a torrent of freeform noise rock experimentation and some of Coxon’s finest guitar work. It’s a visceral, guttural thrill that can’t easily be topped.

EX-7 Expression Factory™
Not only does the EX-7 model 7 of he world’s most expressive effects it also combines them with 7 spot on distortion models.
The Expression Factory™, is the pedal that lets you modulate a whole pedal board of classic expression models. From Wah and Whammy™ to models of effects like the A/DA™ Flanger and our own highly collectable Space Station™ Synth Swell™.

Thanks to two-in-one concentric controls, you can tweak three key controls of each expression effect and season them with your choice of seven classic distortion stompbox models piped in from our DF-7 Distortion Factory™.

Add Flexible Output Mode™, cast metal treadle and sleek carbon fiber finish and you have an industrial strength tool for anyone who likes to tread a treadle.

http://www.digitech.com/products/Pedals/EX7.php

RESERVE Bank governor Glenn Stevens has increased pressure on the banks to scrap foreign fees for automatic teller machine withdrawals, once new industry rules start next month.

From March 3, banks will no longer pay each other a fee when customers use a rival’s ATM to withdraw money.

Instead, ATM owners will recoup their costs by charging customers directly, provided they display the fee before the withdrawal or account inquiry proceeds.

The RBA has argued that the new rules would increase transparency and competition, by making it easier for new ATM providers to enter the market.

But four of the nation’s biggest five banks have outraged consumer groups by announcing they would continue to charge foreign fees. It means customers will be slugged twice — once by the foreign ATM owner, and once by the customer’s own bank.

Mr Stevens yesterday told a parliamentary committee the RBA was powerless to stop the banks from charging the fees. But he warned there was no justification for them to do so.

“We cannot see any strong case for a foreign fee,” he told the House economics committee.

“The only cost to a cardholder’s bank associated with use of a foreign ATM is the cost of processing the transaction electronically — a matter of no more than 10 cents.”

NAB has announced it would charge 50c for each foreign ATM withdrawal, while ANZ, Westpac and St George will also continue to charge a foreign fee.

Labor MP David Bradbury said this was “reprehensible” behaviour by the banks.

The comments came as Vision Australia urged financial institutions to provide relief for blind customers hit by higher fees under the new regime.

The organisation’s general manager of policy and advocacy, Michael Simpson, said blind people often did not have a choice about which ATM they used, because only about a fifth of the nation’s 26,000 ATMs were audio-enabled.

“The main emphasis behind the reforms is to provide consumers with more information and therefore more choice about where and when they do their ATM transactions,” he said.

“But because only a small percentage of ATMs are audio-enabled, people who are blind won’t get the same choice.”

He said blind customers of credit unions would have no choice because none of the Rediteller ATM network was audio-enabled.

Mr Simpson said Vision Australia was lobbying banks to make all ATMs accessible to the blind.

He said NAB had already ensured its network was audio-enabled, but only a portion of the remaining ATMs owned by other banks were.

Mr Simpson said the necessary hardware was already included in most Australian machines. He urged banks and credit unions to reimburse their customers for any foreign fees charged.

theaustralian.news.com.au

Banks’ bad debts beggar belief
Banks: don’t blame us

Erstellt: 02/16/2009 um 13:30

AuraPlug hat mit Whamdrive ein VST Plug-In angekündigt, welches die Tonhöhe eines anliegenden Signals verändern kann.

Es wurde entwickelt um die Tonhöhe eines eingehenden Audiosignals in Echtzeit über einen externen MIDI Controller oder über die GUI steuern zu können. Whamdrive verfügt über 14 unterschiedliche Pitch Modi. Der Effekt verfügt zusätzlich über eine Distortion mit ‘Cabinet Simulation’. Zudem verfügt der Effekt über einen EQ der ziemlich stark in das Signal eingreifen kann.

Merkmale:
- Bodenpedal Design
- Echtzeit, ‘Low-Latency’ Berechnung für Live Performance
- Pitch Shifter mit 14 unterschiedlichen Modi
- Distortion mit ‘Cabinet Simulation’
- Tone Control
- Parameter können über MIDI gesteuert werden
- Einfach in der Anwendung

Preis und Verfügbarkeit
Whamdrive ist für Windows als VST Effekt Plug-In erhältlich und ist kostenlos.

Weitere Informationen unter www.auraplug.com.

Sagt uns Eure Meinung zu diesem Produkt auf unseren Audiofanzine Foren.

The last few days have been filled with discussions. Everyone I know seems to be in some kind of transitional employment state –

Cosmos to Sarah: We’re all living through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. It might end up being greater than the Great Depression. Cosmos, out!

–and it doesn’t feel so grand.

This post is going to end up on a positive note, I hope. But, first, I’m going to start with the “anger” part. Yup, I’ve finally reached that stage. I’m angry. You see, this was going to be the year. For years I’ve been fighting against the little beatsie called debt (it looks, in my mind’s eye, just like a Whammy from the game show Press Your Luck). I’ve been in debt to someone since I was 18, banks, car dealerships, the government, doctor’s offices, you name it. I was raised poor, dirt, deep down, in the grunge poor, and I inherited past due debts the same day I gained the right to vote and smoke.

I remember, as a child, hearing my mom on the phone with collection agencies, screaming drunkenly into the receiver, “What do you want? Do you want my blood? Do you want my kids? Is that what you want?” I knew what the words delinquent, past due and eviction meant probably before I even knew how to read.  As I grew up, I realized this was a horrible way to live, and even if I was destined to be in poor, I was okay with being a kind of “break even” poor, you know, no harm, now foul.

I won’t go into the years of fiscal up and downs, not here anyway. It’s just that, I’ve been really, really responsible with money my entire life. There was the one short period after gradschool when I went into default on a couple credit cards, but I pulled it together and got things back in order. That’s the extent of my “irresponsibility.”

If I was still employed, I would have been completely debt free (w/the exception of my student loans) before 2010. I worked my ass off to put money away. I set my mind to do it, and so for months and months my life has been going to work and coming home and doing more work and not playing or spending or living it up like a young women living in an amazing place should be doing. I put my nose to the proverbial grindstone and did whatever that means. Harumph.

Now, I have no job. I read the news and hear about corporate junkets and refurbished offices and jets, and those things are a drop in the bucket. And, then I have to hear about all of these poor homeowners who went into foreclosure, many of them buying into a dream they KNEW they could not afford.  And, on a day to day level, I have to try and not lose it on friends who just decided to stop paying their credit cards because “it all gets wiped in seven years anyway.” My taxes are going towards untangling this giant, nebulous mess of greed and poop (not to mention a number of wars), and for what? I mean, really, for what? I use my credit card to pay for the doctor when I don’t have insurance, and the asshat down the street uses hers to buy a pretty dress for a decadent party. I lose my job, asshat keeps hers. We both default, but not because we both can’t afford it. There’s no rhyme or reason in this damn world, none at all.

At this point, I seriously need someone to convince me to care about doing the “right thing” fiscally. I need someone to reset my moral compass because the needle is getting stuck at due “WTF?” I’m smart and talented and almost, almost, almost there, and now, I have no job.

Sigh. I’ve been drinking. It’s what I’ve been doing. I’ll be lucky if this comes out to be anything worth reading, but this is another stage to go through.

On to the less angry bit (don’t worry, I’ll get angry again at some point). I’ll say this a lot during this time: We are all in this together. I just don’t feel alone at all. Everyone is going though this with me, so it’s not so horrible as it could be. I spent some time with my neighbors yesterday. They’re in a rocky boat, too. We’re going to do some things, like we’re going to SHARE. That’s not a word you hear often these days, but it’s one we’re going to get to know. Food, Internet, day to day costs. We can all take up a bit of the burden together.

Community will get us through this, if we let it. I hope it does. I hope it does.

Now I’m off to get progressively drunker, which is something I just don’t often let myself do.

“Press Your Luck” was a classic TV Game show.  I used to love watching the little whammy characters come out and steal the player’s money.  It was frickin’ great….but I was like 10 so anything was frickin’ great.

From Wikipedia:

Press Your Luck was an American television daytime game show that ran weekdays on CBS from September 19, 1983 to September 26, 1986, where contestants collected “spins” by answering trivia questions, and then used the spins on an 18-space game board full of cash and prizes. The person who amassed the most in cash and prizes at the end of the game won. Peter Tomarken was the show’s host, and Rod Roddy was the announcer (although John Harlan and Charlie O’Donnell filled in).

The show was memorable for the “Whammy,” a red cartoon creature wearing a cape. The Whammy’s spaces on the game board took away the contestant’s money, accompanied by an animation that would show the Whammy taking the loot—but frequently being chased away, blown up, or otherwise humiliated in the process. The animated Whammies were created and animated by Savage Steve Holland and Bill Kopp, and voiced by creator/executive producer Bill Carruthers. Throughout the show’s run, approximately 80 different animations were used, and the Whammy became popular enough that at the end of many episodes, Tomarken would read a “Whammy poem”, sent in by a home viewer. “Whammy poems” would also appear after the first round of the Big Board or after the second question round before going to commercial on occasion.

Anyway, if you remember the show or you’re just now hearing about it for the first time, check out these clips and get ready to be entertained.

DigitTech präsentiert mit dem RP1000 Integrated Effects Switching System das neuste Mitglied seiner RP Multi-Effekt Produktlinie.

Gemäss DigiTech ist der RP1000 mehr als nur ein Multi-Effekt-Prozessor da es zusätzlich über einen schaltbaren externen ‘Stompbox’ Loop und einen externen ‘Amp’ Loop verfügt.
Der RP1000 verfügt zudem über eine Amp/Cabinet Bypass Schaltung welche die internen Verstärker- und Boxen-Effekte ausschaltet.

Der RP1000 besitzt über 160 interne Effekte, Verstärker und Boxen inklusive dem bekannten Whammy Effekt. Ein 20 Sekunden langer Phrase-Looper erlaubt dem Musiker Spuren aufzunehmen und mit weiteren Spuren zu erweitern – ein sehr effektives Werkzeug für Auftritte, aber auch fürs Komponieren und Üben. Die Steuerung dieses Loopers kann mit dem optional erhältlichen FS3XT Fusspedal noch erweitert werden.

DigiTech’s RP1000 Integrated Effects Switching System ist per sofort erhältlich und kostet $699.95.

I finally got the new Rockband2 guitar. Wireless, yay! It even came with batteries! It is a big improvement over the old strato, the neck seems thicker from front to back, but still seems paper thin compared to my GH3 Les Paul.  Yeah the faux wood, and fire burst looks cool. My biggest concern was the strum bar and whammy bar.  I’ve have used four other stratos and three of them had bad whammy bars where the spring breaks off and it no longer springs back.  The ones I got back from the RMA they still felt crappy, and some had noisy springs, and the whammy bar it self would slam against the body of the guitar. Others had what sounded like loose bits inside of it when you shook it, and I hated the mushy strum bar.

The new Strato is much better.  The whammy feels a bit more solid, and you don’t feel the spring squeaking and rubbing as you whack the whammy bar, and it doesn’t touch the body of the guitar as you go all the way down with it.  What they did with the strum bar was they shorted the “throw” of the strum bar. It still doesn’t CLICK like the Guitar Hero guitars do, but it no longer has that mushy feel that you haven’t moved it all the way.  Now it stops cold when you strum it up or down and it feels like you hit the note proper.

The auto-calibration isn’t really that great for me.  Audio calibration works fine, and I was amazed I had a 2ms lag time, which is barely noticeable anyway.  The video calibration was a problem, while it was able to calibrate, watching the green progress bar grow every time the screen flashed, it continued to say it couldn’t get a reliable reading from the guitar when it was done.  Seemed fine to me, and the calibration was ZER0ms. The real thing is to test this on my friends system who I KNOW has a lag delay on his surround sound (all surround sound system do!!), but he keeps insisting it doesn’t, and I know this since I keep missing notes on really simple songs that have a long rhythmic set of the same notes or chords (not rapid ones) and I’m always off, fucking up the song.  This should prove I’m right!

So WHERE the fuck is the juke-box mode on Rock Band 2?  If you leave the game on the main title screen where it asks you to press start, all it does is play that intro video (which I’m sick of now), and then it usually it’s plays a partal song of AC/DC’s “Let there be rock” and repeats.  Doesn’t change the song unless you restart the game.  Where the hell is the juke box mode so I listen to all this music I have (about 250 grand total) with out having to actually play it each time?