I have to remember to buy new tubes for my crusty vintage combo amp!

my bedroom studio

french toast octave FUZZ by danelectro

omg i love this pedal!
plugged into this transforms my guitar tone into a searing synthesizer tone that never leaves me disappointed.
i've read online that the french toast pedal is a copy of the vintage Foxx tone machine, and since i've never used that, i can't offer a comparison.
All i know, is that fuzz is the shit, and this pedal takes fuzz to a distant planet and back again!!!
for under $60 this pedal is unreal....i would have paid double, if it was housed in a more solid metal case, like my older danelectro FabTone...i guess the cost effective(cheap) plastic knobs and case will help danelectro compete in the global market....i don't mind if i need to buy another one as a back up...

Past Collaborations....

In the middle of the first decade of the 21st century i had been struggling to discover my place within the world and what i should do with music, and my home studio gear collection was top notch, everything needed to produce anything music & sound related waz set up in the spare room next to my bedroom.
I worked at setting up an online presence for my music production alter-ego: DextroSoundLab
At some point i posted an advertizment on an Ontario,Canada based musician resource web site called "overhear.ca" where i was looking for a collaborator.
A few people answered, but only one woman was serious and she caught the bus from Toronto and arrived in Kitchener, where i was lingering around the bus terminal wondering 'who' this musical woman was....and eventually i approached a dark haired beautiful woman who had seemed to be waiting for someone...and indeed, she was waiting to meet me.
Her name is Lilia Loria, and she was in Toronto on a visitors visa visiting her sister...originally she was from Dubai, UAE.

She later made a music video with this song, and i discovered it on youtube a few years after i had last seen her.

I used my Roland D2 groovebox & m-audio keyboard controller & Phatboy midi controller for all synth & drum parts, and captured her vocals with an Apex Tube condenser microphone, and a Focusrite twintrack pro recording channel strip....For effects i was using a Korg kaoss pad-2, and an Alto alphaVerb multi-fx for delays and ambience.
It was recorded to 1/4 inch multi-track tape on a Fostex E-8 eight Track recorder, and mixed down to digital master through an Alesis 3630 compressor/Limiter and burned to disc with an HHB Cd Recorder.

Thrift Store Scores...

While searching through a nearby thrift store in Waterloo, Ontario, which i made an effort to search through on a regular basis paid off for me on many occasions.
On one such occasion i discovered a Sansui AX-7 rackmountable mixer with built in analogue spring reverb plus Hi-Z inputs for plugging electric guitars in as well as microphones.
The device is amazing, the routing that is available on the back leaves the user with unlimited potential.
It has 4 mono channels and like most console mixers you can route the reverb to each channel individually.
The knobs are metal, and high quality, and the overall built quality is outstanding.
I discovered via a google search that the AX-7 was made during the late 1970's, and found a home within the audiophile's hi-fi system.
The multitude of RCA jacks on the rear enable the user to use this as the command hub for simplifying a complex line-up of hi-fi components.
I use it as a front end to my Roland CDX-1 Disc Lab, my multi-track digital recorder/Sampler.
The CDX-1 has 2 channel input capabilities, and the Sansui AX-7 helps route a 4 channel sub-mix into the CDX-1....with the option to process some or all of the 4 tracks with analogue reverb.
Basically it's a space saver for jamming in the bedroom with a roland groovebox or two and electric guitar.
Thanks to vintage hi-fi gear, this home recording hobbyist can have a good time!

PAX px-8 echo chamber:
My friend Mike found this 70's era tape delay unit in the garbage someplace in Waterloo....he later gave it to me.
Thanks to a google search and an effects database, as well as suggestions from another old friend i was able to discover that this unit used 8 track tape cartridges.
with a little hunting in thrift stores i was able to buy 5 tape cartridges for $5, brought them home, installed the tapes, and discovered that the heads on the device were dirty....i then cleaned and tried again, a little better, but the echo sound was really distant.
I am probably going to try and find a tech who will be able to fix this delay unit.
The tape based analogue delay will provide a unique effect to any sound source fed into it.
i just can't see myself throwing a perfectly good audio device in the trash, it will be a muission to complete.
more to come later....

Spring : Rebirth & Resurrection

Part of my Bedroom Studio.....i miss having a dedicated home studio 'room'....a luxury i probably won't enjoy until i realize my place in this world.

my newest addition to my studio

Sampling Synthesis is so much fun and the essence of freedom within sound design....my line up of sampling devices includes the Boss RC-20XL Loop Station pedal, Roland MC-909 Synth/Sampling & midi workstation & the Roland CDX-1 DiscLab Digital Multi-track/Sampling Workstation......
And now a new addition, the Korg Micro-Sampler !!!! a 3 octave keyboard/Digital Sampler created unlike any other sampling device on the market today or yesteryear.
I am not going to reiterate all the details that are on the korg website, i am just going to say that within minutes i had sampled some drum sounds and a guitar feedback drone sound and was triggering each looped sound with the keyboard.....instead of having a matrix of rubber pads, this device has the keyboard, and samples and/or Loops can be assigned to individual keys for triggering.
Since my Roland CDX-1 disc lab's sampler section is basically the Roland Sp-808 sampler with 8 rubber velocity sensitive trigger pads, i found this Korg unit to be
something completely different.
It is also designed for performance situations, which is ideal for me, since i record my improvisational performance of prepared sample material....sequencing the loops and sounds on the fly.
For now, i will hide from the winter cold and get to know where the korg micro sampler fits into my bedroom studio, and may post an update in the future.