Guitar Nerds Anonymous

Long shot and a big ask, but does anyone have an acoustic guitar I can borrow till Christmas?

For various reasons my parents are no longer able to visit before then and they were going to bring more of my stuff back down.

I'm starting to feel a bit lost without a guitar and don't really have a way of getting mine back before then. Any old piece of shit would be very welcome, steel strings would be a bonus.

Thanks!

Also, if anyone would be interested in a white Gibson Les Paul Custom, with a Gibson 1980s plastic hard case and a couple of subtle differences to a normal custom (nicer volume/tone knobs and a different colour pickup switch surround, both of which are original I think), let me know.

I would absolutely hate to see it go but I haven't swung it in anger in a couple of years, it's doing no-one any good under the bed at my parents' house, and time tough. And if I could pass it on to someone reliable who would shred it like it deserves maybe it would be for the best.

sorry man would love to help. have a bass you can borrow if that help relieve the cravings.

Long shot and a big ask, but does anyone have an acoustic guitar I can borrow till Christmas?

For various reasons my parents are no longer able to visit before then and they were going to bring more of my stuff back down.

I'm starting to feel a bit lost without a guitar and don't really have a way of getting mine back before then. Any old piece of shit would be very welcome, steel strings would be a bonus.

Thanks!

Fender semi any good? SE5, in hard case.

Long shot and a big ask, but does anyone have an acoustic guitar I can borrow till Christmas?

For various reasons my parents are no longer able to visit before then and they were going to bring more of my stuff back down.

I'm starting to feel a bit lost without a guitar and don't really have a way of getting mine back before then. Any old piece of shit would be very welcome, steel strings would be a bonus.

Thanks!

Fender semi any good? SE5, in hard case.

This One

That's a beauty! Hopefully I'm now sorted, but thanks a lot for the offer.

Hi Nerds.

I'm sure i've made this claim before but it's time to finally, oh god finally, make the switch to recording on a computer. Recording alone on my ancient Tascam hard disc 8 track with no editing and not even a pedal to allow dropping in means that one mistake can mean going back and restarting the whole take again. Last night after 300 takes of a long fast and new picked guitar part (the vast majority of which were 90% there) I finally cracked and threw my finger picks at the Tascam and stomped off. Decision made. With a DAW it might have been the work of an hour, maybe even minutes, to stitch a few good takes together. But I'd wasted the best part of two days on it and had nothing to show but a headache and sore fingers.

For most of the time i've had that 8 track i've been in bands so was recording in studios of varying quality and only using the 8-track for my rough home demos. Now I'm in a situation where my home demos are the finished product. I feel can no longer put off making the change to PC or Mac and appropriate software

My muso/producer friends have been repeating "getamacgetamacgetamac" at me for literally years, but I must confess whenever I had money I'd spend it on bikes or guitars and amps knowing that I could always find someone to record me. So I've always had crappy old laptops that weren't up to the job of recording music on. My best effort to date was last year buying a cheap Mackie USB pre-amp... which it transpires (despite the manufactureres claims) is totally unusable with a PC.

SO! what to people use? Is it still Mac all the way or are the new generation of laptops closing the gap? Will i still be limited by software choice with a PC? What's the haps?

Cheers,

A

Here's my view: I spent the 90s using a PC and cracked software and somewhere about 2005 I made the switch to a Mac and a legit copy of Logic. I've spent more time making music since making the switch than I ever did before. It's not that Macs are better, either processing or software wise (though I do think Logic's plugins are pretty much unbeatable in the OTP PC world), they just seem to go wrong less, fewer IRQ conflicts, less bloatware to get between you and the music - stuff like that.

Ultimately it's like any other tool - it's the way you use it which makes it an instrument - but if you can get a Mac I'd definitely say it was worth it.

I did my album on a copy of Logic, one of those Mackie soundcards, and an old iMac - it never stuttered or hissed or glitched. Well worth it.

How're you finding the Variax? I thought it was a great idea but can't imagine how the thing would sound.

I did just pick up a Line 6 multistompbox thing, it's brilliant, instant Robin Guthrie.

The sound is great. As a recording device it is perfect. I've had the 500 for years, and love using it. I have never liked Fenders to play, so it's great to have a guitar which sounds exactly like a strat or a tele, but feels like a Les Paul to play. I do mean exactly, too. I cannot tell them apart. Also of note are the acoustics, which sound like miked up ones rather than piezo pickups, and the Rickenbacker 12 string model, which is just magic. The Les Paul models sound just right, but although they are louder than the Fenders they are nothing like as loud as my LP BFG.

The 700 sounds identical, but is a better guitar. Have been enjoying my first ever tremolo (in 24 years of playing)

Here's my view: I spent the 90s using a PC and cracked software and somewhere about 2005 I made the switch to a Mac and a legit copy of Logic. I've spent more time making music since making the switch than I ever did before. It's not that Macs are better, either processing or software wise (though I do think Logic's plugins are pretty much unbeatable in the OTP PC world), they just seem to go wrong less, fewer IRQ conflicts, less bloatware to get between you and the music - stuff like that.

Ultimately it's like any other tool - it's the way you use it which makes it an instrument - but if you can get a Mac I'd definitely say it was worth it.

I did my album on a copy of Logic, one of those Mackie soundcards, and an old iMac - it never stuttered or hissed or glitched. Well worth it.

Interesting. I also use a PC, and in fact shelled out on a custom made music PC from Inta Audio.
Windows 7 has taken a lot of pissing around to get my hardware to perform as it should, and I always wondered if I should have bought a mac, but being forced to switch to Logic always put me off. I also have a lot of favourite plugins that I might need to replace, as Macs don't do VST.

Studios nearly always have Macs with Pro Tools, so if you want easy compatibility, that's the way you need to go.

..as Macs don't do VST.

Um, yeah they do.

Um, yeah they do.

Oh. I thought you had to use AU plugins.

Thanks gents. Valuable input. I'l see what's in the budget after Christmas. If I'm honest I think I've always known the answer was Mac and Logic. I also know that my father in law is knocking up a pretty powerful PC for my missus to use for her photos so I was kind of wondering if I might just be able to use that...

Thing is, everyone I know who makes music professionally uses Mac and Logic or PT. Everyone I know who has made the switch to Mac over the last decade or more has evangelised relentlessly. In fact, actually I can't think of one person I've recorded with in the last ten years who still uses a PC for music.

I guess I just wanted to double check as I've got the impression in the last year or so that some new laptops had really brought the competition back to Apple and wondered if there was any new developments I needed to know about.

Some hobbyists use PCs and cubase...I'm sure they claim they're brilliant.

However, I wouldn't piss around. Mac and logic is capable of phenomenal recordings.
Once you've got a decent machine and interface, you can then get anal about sound treatment in the room you're recording in.

Now I'm wondering if I can hackintosh my pc and get a moody copy of Logic for it

Mind you, the thought of converting years of Sonar projects doesn't appeal.

Not unless it's suddenly become 2003

If you can spackintosh a PC with either of the last 2 current Mac OS you should be able to install Logic Studio, it's only £130 well worth it considering it's what used to cost £4-500 or something daft

Some hobbyists use PCs and cubase...I'm sure they claim they're brilliant.

However, I wouldn't piss around. Mac and logic is capable of phenomenal recordings.
Once you've got a decent machine and interface, you can then get anal about sound treatment in the room you're recording in.

Yeah that's what I thought. Ha. Cheers man. I already have some okay bits and love p*ssing about with multiple mics and odd placements in different rooms. But yeah am looking forward to building up a simple but good quality set up in it's own little space (spare room ahoy!).

Ta.

My experience with making music on a Mac was less than stellar, but that was a G4 iBook. Not too keen on Windows, either.

As far as software goes, I've heard and read positive things on Cockos Reaper, which I believe is now usable on both platforms, and not too expensive either.

Any opinions on the Ibanez MTM 2?

My experience with making music on a Mac was less than stellar, but that was a G4 iBook. Not too keen on Windows, either.

As far as software goes, I've heard and read positive things on Cockos Reaper, which I believe is now usable on both platforms, and not too expensive either.

I've been using Reaper and have found it excellent actually. I don't do anything fancy, just basic multi-track recordings and it works admirably. Not too pricey either as you say.

Yeah, Reaper is definitely first in the field of new sequencers.

If I were starting computer music from scratch and I had a good idea that I'd mainly want to do multi-tracking (rather than epic processing and plugin use), I'd start with Mac+Reaper. Logic isn't very, well, logical, and it's a pain in the dick to route things. Reaper is, by all accounts, much simpler, the sound quality is at least as good, and it looks cleaner and the ethics of the thing are fantastic.

The only thing Logic really has over Reaper is the quality of the bundled instruments and plugins, which are second to none imo. If you're not interested in using them and all the bundled presets (again, fantastic), Reaper is the way to go, even if it's just at first - that way if you don't get along with it you've not lost anything. Again, imo imo.

The sound is great. As a recording device it is perfect. I've had the 500 for years, and love using it. I have never liked Fenders to play, so it's great to have a guitar which sounds exactly like a strat or a tele, but feels like a Les Paul to play. I do mean exactly, too. I cannot tell them apart. Also of note are the acoustics, which sound like miked up ones rather than piezo pickups, and the Rickenbacker 12 string model, which is just magic. The Les Paul models sound just right, but although they are louder than the Fenders they are nothing like as loud as my LP BFG.

The 700 sounds identical, but is a better guitar. Have been enjoying my first ever tremolo (in 24 years of playing)

That's amazing to hear - I think I was expecting to hear that it was a bit like their amp sims, i.e. good for sketching but you have to be careful about using 'em on a record. Fantastic. I look fwd to having another thing on the 'try, buy, muck about with' list.

Logic isn't very, well, logical, and it's a pain in the dick to route things.

How so?

How so?

Most DAWs allow you to create tracks and use them in whichever way you want - as single tracks, busses/groups, or sends. Logic won't allow you to just do that in the mixer or arrange page - you have to go into the Environment and build the damn things if they're not already there. Similarly you can't just move tracks around on the mixer page - guitars together, drums together, sends in order, etc. - you have to change their order in the record page in order for them to be changed in the mixer page. Shit like that. No big deal but when you first get it, it's a pain to get set up.