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back on track

Started with guitar playing again. It’s been a while since I last picked up the guitar and actually played for a while. It has always been a bit of a drag to get started. You see we don’t have a very big house so all equipment has to go into storage places like; bags which you can never find (for cables), closets which are used for more then guitar related stuff and so on. So eventually the guitar started to gather dust.

Thankfully for my dad, who is a collector of stuff bless him, I got introduced with AmpliTube and amp modeling on the PC. It was not long thereafter that I got a present in the form of the iRig from him. This little app+device has been slowly changing my life, in a positive manner. I started to realize that this is perfect for an amateur guitar player who lives in a tiny house with three (sweet but devilish ;-) ) kids. Now the only things I have to store away are my headphones and my iRig cable, the iPhone never leaves my side.

Besides the iRig I also have the StealthPlug. I already had this one but this was a nightmare on my laptop, (latency, not installing, and having linux as a primary os). But now I’m running OSX on my nice and shinny mini mac and it’s amazing. I can have all the sounds that I want and finally start practicing again. Its time for me to get back-on-track and hopefully become a proper guitar player, all thanks to amp simulation and bright minds who made this possible. I recently discovered that Peavey also has an app out for the iPhone and has its own interface for it. They claim its better then the iRig cause it has low-crosstalk, or whatever it means. I might save up to get that interface soon but for now I’ll be rocking it using the iRig.

Some might hate amp simulation and the fact you do not need any cabinets etc anymore. I, on the other hand, embrace it and think this will change the music industry quite significantly. The quality of simulations is getting better and better. Costs are minimal compared to complete rigs and, when you are an amateur with no band, it allows you to make professional sounding music right from your lazy ass couch.

All I can say is, keep rocking and try some of these apps out….they are awesome.

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