Anytune Pro+ Review

Anytune Pro+ is one of a number of transcription tools for guitar, along with software such as Ronisoft Amazing Slowdowner, Sevenstring Transcribe, Riffstation and a few others, the aim being primarily to slow down tricky bits of guitar playing and be able to notate them. One of the key features of these apps and programs is the ability to loop sections, slow them down (whilst retaining pitch) and tune recordings to the record (i.e make learning tunes by those who tune to Eb easier, like Jimi, Stevie, Nuno and Eddie). It seems that Transcribe has one other feature which is great as it uses frequency analysis to break down the frequency content into pitches and chords. This is fantastic, but for me is one step too far as it take away from one of the key elements of transcribing, and that is improving your ear. I always think of it like attempting a crossword, but where the answers are given at the end of the paper, it is so easy (maybe it is just me) to get a bit stuck, and rather than really figure it out....look at the back and cheat. I see this feature of Transcribe as the equivalent of this, but I am sure I might use it at one point!Anyway, back to Anytune.Anytunes is a very comprehensive tool for analysing guitar playing (and of course for other instruments too, I recently read of someone using this for learning drum parts). One of the main things I love about it (on the iPad) is because it is so easy to drag loop point with your finger and actually see the wave form, I love waveforms, so it is so easy for me to set up points to loop around. The next thing I really like about this is the 'trainer' function, think of this like a personal trainer at a gym getting to work harder up to a certain speed. In the app, this is known as Step-it up, basically you enter a start and end tempo and Anytime gradually increases the tempo as your loop around, getting you closer and closer to your target speed, a great tool for practising I think!! Along with this, there is a Loop Delay feature, so you can pre/post roll looping to give you some time to think before the loop starts again!In terms of slowing down music for transcription purposes, you can slow down the piece without changing the pitch down to around 0.05X the tempo and up to 4X the tempo and as mentioned before you can adjust the pitch to tune to a different key.  Like other transcription tools you can also save your loops, but along side that you can also add 'Audiomarks' to label parts of a song, e.g. Intro, verse and also add comments (you can share these with your mates via email...that is pretty cool.) Along with the slowing down tools, you can use the FineTouch EQ to cut out parts of the song (eg reduce bass etc) to help you pin-point the guitar lines.There is a 'LiveMix' function, which enables you (if you have an iPad interface, e.g. iRig) you can play along with the track in really time, I haven't tried this with AudioBus, but I am sure it will work, so you could use this as a backtrack player at a gig for example.Anytune Pro+ is SO easy to use and had some many useful features! I still have Amazing Slow Downer on my Android phone, and use it from time to time when trying to figure bits and pieces out, but for the serious work it is Anytune now!Enjoy.PeaceNeil

SE Electronic X1R Ribbon Microphone Review

I was looking for both a ribbon mic for recording guitar and also a figure of 8 microphone to experiment with some Mid/Side recording and hey presto, the SE Electronics X1R popped up in my search engine and best off, it was very very reasonably priced, so I had to give it a go. It is known that ribbons tend to sometimes sound a little bit on the dull side, but that they do have a certain smoothness and warmth which is why they are used, and also used for broadcast too. I think that this dulling of the high end is useful particular for guitar recording, where they get rid of some of the ice-pickiness of a tone. I was also particular keen to try it on an acoustic guitar too, hopefully to add some warmth to the tone.Looking at the microphone itself, the casing is all made of metal and it does look very rugged, I also like the fact that the microphone comes with it’s own specific clip. As mentioned above the SE X1R has a figure-of-eight polar pattern and according to the specs can handle SPLs up to 135dB, which is pretty damn loud! That is quite impressive, so no problem in front of that 4 x 12 stack!As it is a ribbon mic, the output level is actually quite low, so a good preamp is probably needed with low noise, or perhaps a line amplifier, I felt that this was a bit of a problem on the recording I made, as the gain from the Presonus didn’t give it enough oomph!Just recently used this micing up a 4 x 12 cab for a local band recording session and was very impressed with the results. I paired it with the standard SM-57 and together they combine to give a really deep and present guitar tone. Clips to follow!I think that this is a good all round microphone and I am looking forward to using it with a better preamp for something like voice, as I think it would certainly bring a smoothness to the table. It works really well on Electric guitars, and in combination with the M5 it gives acoustic guitar a real depth. Nice one, and I am a happy camperHere is a comparison between the SE X1R and the Rode M5 SCM microphone, whilst obviously not comparing like for like here, it hopefully puts the mic into context when compared with other microphonesPeaceNeil

Yamaha MG Rec&Play Review

So here is a little post about this useful little app that Yamaha just released for the MG Series of mixers. I have been using the MG 10XU, a fair bit for the acoustic duo North and South and will be doing a review of the mixer very soon. But the great thing about the MG Rec & Play application enables you to record 2 tracks direct from the stereo bus in Wav format (up to 96kHz!), this quite a few applications, but I like the fact I can record the 2 track output from gigs directly. It also means that rehearsals and song writing sessions can be recorded directly from the desk. Whilst there are many other options to doing this, it is a quite a nice (and importantly free) was of achieving this.The app also allows you to play back tracks and songs too, so this would be useful if you work with backing tracks. Not sure how easy it would be compared to other playback apps, but it is a nice feature. Downside is that it is only for iPad/iPhone at the moment, hopefully it will be available for Android phones at some point. Also, it would be good if you could somehow control the effects section with in the mixer too or even mute the stereo bus (see my full review for that issue!)EnjoyPeaceNeil

Review : Boss GT-100 Version 2 released

So the update to version 2 for the Boss GT-100 has been released. It is a relatively straight forward procedure to update the unit, and I take my hat off to Roland for continuing to support the GT-100 and not write it off for the sake of producing a new 'flagship' unit, here is a little review of my first thoughts since the update. There is also tough competition from Line 6 (now acquired by Yamaha, which should be interesting), Digitech and of course the high end and very expensive Fractal AXE-FX and Kempler Profiler, so this might explain why Roland are keen to develop the unit given the R & D time taken to get another product to market. Whilst the GT-100 doesn't compete with the AXE or Kempler, it is great to see some very careful and well thought out additions to the Roland. For my full review of GT-100 version one, please click here.The headline features of the GT-100 Version 2.0 update, include the addition on Boss' new Multidimensional Processing MDP effects, such as the Tera Echo and Multi Overtone. I am particular looking forward to using this as part of my duo (North & South), as it adds fills out the sound. There is also an acoustic guitar simulator, I have only played with this for a short time and it seems to work, trying it live will be the test of this. There is also an improved rotary effect, which again is useful for creating organ sounds when live looping.I am particularly interested in the guitar to midi function, this is very useful for me. Whilst I have the Roland GR-55, having the GK-2 is a pain (okay it's not really a pain it is a fantastic piece of technology, but the caution me never really trusts it for a live gigging situation). The guitar to midi is only monophonic, but it is great for getting lines down into a computer, and also for transcribing songs. Again, I haven't really tested this, but I will follow up when I do.There are a couple of new amp models, but I tend to use the Natural Clean now for most of my recording because it sounds really good, this plus a different stomp box in front gets the the tones I like. There is no information on line, but one of my criticisms of the GT-100 was the speaker simulation, and I can't really tell if this has been updated, it doesn't sound like it to be honest.Finally, Roland have produced a Mac editor that actually seems to work and looks like it has come from this century! The Boss Tone Studio is a graphical interface for PC and MAC and it works so much better than the other attempts out there.To sum up, well done Roland, fix the speaker sims, power supply and XLR output and this will be one hell of an awesome toolEnjoyPeaceNeil

Review : Boss GT-100 Live : Initial thoughts!

Recently I have been gigging using the Boss GT-100 direct into a PA, due to playing in a few quite small rooms and I wondered how it would perform in these situations (and if I could actually get used to it!) First off, I should say that I am very happy with the unit for recording, and will be putting up a full review at some point, and on the whole it is a very versatile unit and there are a couple of features which I totally love!! Here is a little sound clip of the GT-100 recording of a improvised solo over Steve Vai's Tender SurrenderI was quite happy with that, especially when mixed in the rest of the track.What I will be discussing here is how it performs direct into the desk and not how it performs as a pedal board into an amp (I am yet to try this live, but I will!). On the whole, I am quite impressed with the unit, it performed really well. The set up was as follows, guitar into the GT-100, this fed directly into the PA and I then got a feed directly into my monitor. It was a strange at first to have no amp sound, but with the GT-100 set to Line/Pa output, it actually sounded very full and as expected from setting up patches at home, there was a lot of bass which I had to dial out. Dialling this out was quite easy thank to the controller knobs on the front panel which are linked to main parameters of the amp. I thought that this was really useful addition and made it feel like using an amp (even if I did have to bend down a lot further!). Having said that, I did find the controller knobs problematic in another regard as they turn very, very easily and there were a number of times during the gig when either my massive foot or my lead got caught on one and managed to turn it. This ended up with my pedal assigns changing a couple of times and that was pretty annoying. I guess I could technically tape them down to prevent this. (*) Using the GT-100 means that setting up (and loading in) is SIMPLE!! One little flight case and guitars, and the one cable and plug the guitar in.SoundsThis is the most important thing and I found on the whole it sounded pretty good and very consistent. It wasn't a valve amp, it doesn't respond like a valve amp, but does anyone in the audience really notice? Probably not, so in that regard it is only me whom is really bothered. Sound plays a crucial role in one's performance and if the player isn't happy it can impact on their performance, and I am actually quite affected by this, but having said that, I found that on the whole the GT-100 performed very very well, and that some of the issues I had will be fixed with time and tweaking (and reading the manual perhaps!)Firstly, I should describe how I approached using the unit, which might have some impact in my experience and might be different from someone else's. I am not someone who tries to replicate in great detail the exact sounds found on recordings, I like to get a ball park sound, and try and get the effects reasonably right. As such, I tend to have a kind of simple is set up. I mirrored my previous set up running pedals directly into a clean amp in the modeller and this worked well, although I got the benefit of a second amp should I want to use it (and I did). Basically, I choose a clean amp model (the Advanced COSM Natural Clean model), which I think sounds fantastic as my base amp, and the Stack Crunch as my 'slightly' dirty channel. I think that modellers do clean very well, and this model is quite responsive too, and if you add a boost you can actually get some nice crunchy, full tones, but they aren't too responsive to volume control interaction, but I still think they pretty fantastic.So I had my set up running some pedals into the amps models, and then a couple of time based effects after the amp (something I can't achieve with my Blues Junior but can with my Egnater due to the effect loop). Before the amp I had the (Wah on the expression pedal), Compressor, OD (set to Mid Boost), FX 1 (Phaser), FX 2 (T-Wah) and then I had Channel 1 (Natural Clean) and Channel 2 (Stack Crunch), after the amps I had the Chorus (I don't use it and wish you could assign it to something else), delay and finally reverb. I set up one patch for the whole gig and set the unit to patch mode (a great feature, just like the Nova System)In preparation I did tweak the amps more detailed settings such as speaker cab and mic positioning. On the whole the speaker modelling was shockingly bad in my opinion, the only thing that seem to work was the 'original setting'. I know I have been spoilt by having some fantastic speaker modelling software (Live G in Digital Performer) but this was pretty ropey in my experience. Having said that I was reasonably happy with the 'Original' setting and with a bit of movement of the microphone and microphone choice, I was happy enough!I was also particularly impressed with the Stack Crunch model, and it does sound very powerful and throaty through the monitoring system I used, paired with a OD drive pedal (I am using the mid boost model at the moment in this set up, but did try the OD-1 model previously), I found I had a great rhythm tone and and a great saturated lead tone! It is still early days, but I think this really has potential for exploration, and on top of that I even got a compliment of my distorted tone. Another factor which is important for live use and something I found particularly heartening with the GT-100 was how it seems to sit well in the mix. This is probably because I wasn't drowning the stage with amp noise, but also how the actually amp sounds. With the GT-100 you also have the added bonus of being able to turn everything down using the expression pedal (depending on where you place it in the chain) without loosing the tone of the patch (if you put it last), this is very useful as you can just adjust the overall volume slightly if it is over powering in some songs. I did have a slight issue with the volume pedal being too sensitive to my big feet, but I have just looked in the manual (first time) and found that you can adjust this. So using the Accel/CTL pedal I was easily able to switch between a lovely clean sound and a nice crunchy rhythm sound. Kicking in the OD (mid boost) pedal, gave a nice blues tone with the clean amp and a nice saturated lead tone with the stack amp, this worked perfectly for me. I would like the option to add in another distortion pedal, but I can just use another mirrored patch for this (which I will). I did have a few problems with inconsistent levels but this is just a matter of tweaking and getting things right, but there was a bit of a jump between the two channels.Using the GT-100 in pedal mode, basically I have one pedal board to work with (until I switch patches), to engage pedal mode was very simple and just needs you to press the two Bank Up/Down buttons together. I didn't have a problem with this, but I did have a problem with the controller knobs mounted on the front panel. When pressing FX2 (or Bank Down) switch I kept catching the small controller knob with my foot, it is very sensitive and in pedal mode if you change the value with these switches it actually changes your pedal assigns. So you go to press what you think if assigned to FX1 and you discover that it has completely changed it's assignment. One thing I really, really, really (Really!) love about the GT-100 is the multi-assignment of parameters to one of the controller pedals, this is fantastic because you can set up the pedal to change multiple parameters with one pedal click. For example, you can increase the level and gain of an overdrive and also increase the delay time and level for a solo, all with one pedal press!! Now that is so cool, and the potential is quite limitless. I am looking forward to exploring this more, especially for setting up certain triggers within songs.One this I will say though the Touch-wah sounded great at home but like a demented duck live, it sounded horrible, will have to tweak. I should add I have tried a number of envelope filters and I think I am very partial to my EHX Q-Tron, so I am probably bias! Also, I switched off the Loop pedal and used this as another assign (more useful perhaps!). Oh and yes I hate the power supply, ROLAND why can't you make it an IEC connection? Would it really take up that much space? I hate these flimsy laptop PSUs!!!!! I hate them, and I have ZERO confidence in them live, they trail all over the place, and are very very flimsy and won't take being accidentally stomped, pulled out or worse if they break, you can't just swap them out for another cable! This plus the fact there is no balanced XLR output, means this unit isn't a professional as I think it actually is. This is very disappointing.I thought it would be easier to sum up some of the key points in a bullet list.Pros

• Consistency in sound reproduction. i.e. sounds sound the same from gig to gig!
• Multi-assignment of parameters (this is awesome!)
• Switching between Patch and Pedal mode, a little bit easier than my beloved Nova System (only a little bit though!)
• Connivence! Oh yes this is so convenient, light and takes seconds to set up!
• I really love the Wah pedal, easier to engage than the cry baby's I have and no 'clunk' on switching.
• The clean sounds sound fantastic and work well in a live setting, they also work well when driven with FX pedals.
• Some much room for exploration.
• You can jump right in without reading the manual (but it helps!)

Cons

• Controller knobs turning by accident! (*)
• Getting the balance between levels (okay probably my fault this one!)
• NO balance XLR OUT WTF to that!!! I am pretty shocked at that omission, which meet you need to use a DI box or an XLR to Jack lead (not ideal!)
• Power supply is pathetic and why can't it be an IEC connection? cost??
• Okay, yes, it just doesn't feel quite right, especially when adjusting volume on the guitar in the crunch range
• I had issues adjusting the volume pedal, I think there must be a volume curve somewhere to set this to my big feet, but I found that the volume jump at the end of the range a bit too much.
• Wish I could assign the Chorus effect to something else (I hate chorus!)
• Oh the speaker modelling is SHOCKING, sorry but it is pretty hideous, it seems the best result you get is by just leaving it on original! (then again maybe I have been spoilt!)

I would say that some of the things I have put down as cons are about 50/50 my fault and the unit! Also, it goes to show how easy the unit is, as I have done all of this without once using the Manual, and of course I will put my hands up and say that some of the issues are down to me!I am very very very very excited that Roland have continued the development of this unit and are about to release a Version 2.0 free software upgrade for the unit, particularly for me that this includes audio to midi implementation, this is pretty phenomenal! Well done Roland!!Things that I am looking forward to trying

•  Using the GT-100 directly into my actual amps (I hope that I can switch channels on my Egnater with it too!)
• Trying two of the same amp models but with different settings (I.e. The Natural Clean model with the gain cracked in channel two)
• How much fun and ease in performance the multi-assign makes this, I have a lot of things I want to try!
• The acoustic simulator!

SummarySo in a nutshell, for me it perfectly possible to gig with just the GT-100, I do miss the 'moving' air, control of dynamics and tone of my other amps. But being brutally honest, this produces a close approximation and is a lot less hassle when it comes to loading out. I mean my existing set up is already pretty minimal, but this is even more minimal, and if they had included an XLR input it would have been even quicker!! The other thing that I am being brutally honest is that apart from the people reading this, 98.7% (I made that up, it is probably more like 99%) of people at a gig won't notice or even care what the guitar sounds like or what is generating it, as long as it works with the band and as a player you can deal with it. I have to say the GT-100 ticks those boxes. Does it sound exactly like I would like, well no but then again I am fussy, and again having said that, once the band fires up and temporary threshold shift kicks in, even as a player you start to loose definition in your hearing. I wear earplugs and so I am always getting a reduced (in the mid-frequency range at least) sensation of what the amp is actually doing. So, the GT-100 is a good solution. It is an extremely versatile unit and the ability to multi-assign parameters to a footswitch is fantastic, on the whole the effects are very good (sorry but I do prefer TC Electronic Effects and my Nova System, but until they make the changes I would like to the Nova System then this is the one) and the amp modelling in the advanced selection is pretty fantastic too. I think it is a good solution and it helps keep stage levels down too (always something to please the sound engineer!). I will certainly be using this a lot more in future!!EnjoyPeaceNeil (*) I just randomly opened the manual and found that you can actually lock the knobs! Job done!! I am more impressed now.

NAMM 2014 New Boss ME-80 Guitar Multiple Effects review

A new announcement from Boss for NAMM 2014, here are a few quick review thoughts! This really does look fantastic, I had an ME-70 for a while, but quickly realised it's limitations and I wasn't particularly enamoured with the sound palette. It seems like Boss have been beavering away to come up with something new, and this is it. I really like the fact it has eight effects with eight switches. I think that is pretty massive and is extremely practical, with nothing else on the market offering that level of flexibility at that price point. Every unit so far has been a compromise on which effects you can switch on and off and which presets you are switching between. (obvious exception being the Line 6 M9, but that doesn't have amp modelling). Like other units such as the Nova System (again no modelling), I think it might be nice to have a dedicated switch for patch to manual mode switching, that doesn't involve holding combinations of switches down. Even the GT100 has this, although you can assign an external switch to switch modes, which is useful. It is also obvious to see some of the missing features which enable it to be placed at a lower price point and not interfere with sales of something like the GT100, such as 4CM functionality.All in all, from the brief reports, it looks like a really simple and flexible unit to run directly into an amp if you just want effects, and something you could use with some of the amp models, should you need to. I think it is a great forward progression for the ME series!From the Boss Press ReleaseMobile, battery powered, and filled with a diverse selection of flagship-quality BOSS amps and effects, the ME-80 is the ideal compact tone processor for performing guitarists. A friendly knob-based interface makes it simple to dial in great sounds in seconds, while easily selectable operation modes offer the flexibility of individual stompbox-style on/off or instant recall of complex multi-effects setups. Unique new footswitches deliver twice the control of previous designs for efficient and intuitive effects switching, patch selection, and real-time sound shaping while playing on stage. The free BOSS TONE STUDIO software unlocks even more tonal possibilities, providing a cool graphical interface for tweaking and organizing sounds on your computer, plus a web connection to BOSS TONE CENTRAL for direct access to free gig-ready patches created by top pro guitarists and much more.

• Compact and powerful floor multi-effects with a simple knob-based interface
• Eight simultaneous effects categories, each with multiple effects types
• Dial up tones with the ease of using your favorite stompboxes
• Includes a massive selection of top-quality effects, from classic BOSS stomps to the latest MDP effects
• Updated flagship-level COSM® amps derived from the GT-100
• Eight multifunction footswitches and expression pedal
• Manual mode for stompbox-style on/off; Memory mode for switching complete patch setups
• Delay section includes Phrase Loop function with 38 seconds of recording
• Runs on six AA batteries or optional PSA-series AC adapter
• USB audio/MIDI interface built in
• Free BOSS TONE STUDIO software allows you to edit and organize tones on your computer, and also preview and download free patches directly from the BOSS TONE CENTRAL website

 Peace Neil

TC Ditto x2 Looper announced - review

Wow a great announcement from TC Electronic, they have just announced the new Ditto x 2 Looper, so here is a quick first thoughts review. The original Ditto was a fantastic looper with it's simplicity and size. The Ditto X2 looks to add in just enough functionality to make it truly fantastic, but still maintaining ease of use. I personally think the link to Jamtracks is really fantastic addition, and will have a great impact on learning (and playing along live if you want too).Obviously it isn't as fully spec'd as some of the other offerings from Boss, Digitech etc, but I think the strong point is the simplicity of operation and for many guitarists (who aren't full on loopers), it has just the right feature set. I am kind of glad that it doesn't have the awful drum tracks that most of the other offer (maybe a simple click would have been good?). I am sure that will complain about the 5 minutes looping time, but really? I think that is pretty impressive and a good amount of time (remember the early loopers only have seconds! It is the immediacy of looping that TC have targeted here, particularly targeted at the guitarist (well only the guitarist!).All we need now is a new Nova System II, with amp modelling to be the perfect accompaniment...come on TC make my year! PeaceNeil