Thoughts and views

Tryst of being a recording artist + sound engineer + song writer + guitar tech + pedal builder + electronics geek + Praise and worship team member + etc + etc One of the many things that you want to do in the little time you get (make) in between being a full time husband, full time father and a full time employee at a MNC is making those hours / minutes count… make it matter as they in my company… I have been enamored with this concept of making things as simple as it gets (KISS – keep it simple stupid – popularly known). Coming to the point… This is in context of having something recorded… like a song idea or something like a demo. One of the pains of doing this recording thingy alone is this... You need to click something on the computer and quickly get yourself setup in front of the mic and / or position your guitar correctly in front of the mic and the problem gets compounded if you are going to be playing the guitar and singing… Was wondering if there was somethin...

You feel like kicking yourself when y ou know you have a great piece of equipment, with the most amazing sounds but the usability is downright hard...KICK KICK KICK I picked up the Zoom-MS70CDR and instantly fell in love with it.. the sheer size of it,  for that much amount of power is actually insane... it is so small that it snugly fits in to any small sized pedal board. But the only draw back of this device is the usability.. it is not very good to say the least.. I wrote to Zoom and asked them if they plan to change anything about the usability, I gave them some suggestions too, but they came back with .. Dear Sir, Thank you for your suggestion. We do not want a price boost by the increase in functions and the chips for the converter. Anyway your opinion has been noted. We will forward your email to person in charge for future reference. Sincerely yours, ZOOM Corporation << I kinda felt.. okkkkkkkkkk... I understand.. Being the electronics freak, I wondered,...

My pedalboard becoming too cumbersome to carry, coupled with the fact that I needed to press a load of buttons to change one parameter on my VOX tone lab and seeing my dear dear pedals that I so caringly accumulated over the years gather dust.. I decided I am going to do something… scale down my pedal board and lo and behold when a friend wanted to sell his pedal train jr.. I thought maybe, just maybe, I can fit all the pedals I want in this little board (If not all, at least as much as I need to get though a Sunday).. So, this is my tryst with the Pedaltrain Jr. For someone who makes pedalboards, going for a stock pedal board like the Pedaltrain Jr was a big no no… but off late I have been way too busy to do something like this and when this board came as a used one, I thought , why not… The board that I got was kind a tall (I felt the board was way too tall and looked like it was on stilts… J ) The previous owner had raised the board to almost 2-3” taller than the standard ones...

Things you need (for 7 Panels) 1.    Ply wood – 12 mm – 6 ft X 4 ft = Rs. 900.00 2.    Labor charges to cut them into 3 inches slabs = Rs. 300.00 3.    Metal “L” clamps to make frame = 2” X 2” - 56 nos @ Rs. 5 each = Rs. 310.00 4.    Screws – “4 X 20” – CSK -  224 nos = Rs 200.00 5.    Fabric – behind the panels – 9 Meters @ Rs 40 per meter = Rs. 360.00 6.    Fabric  - Front panel – 11 meters @ Rs 100 per meter = Rs. 1100.00 7.    Small metal L clamps to make hanger = 14 nos @ Rs 5 each = Rs. 60.00 8.    Misc. nails and screws = Rs. 100.00 9.    Rock wool = 50mm thick – 64 Kg density = Rs. 2000.00 (inclusive of Rs. 500 – transportation) Tools that you need 1.    Screw driver 2.    Drill with the right sized bits 3.    Hammer 4.    Scissors 5.    Measuring tape 6.    Pencil 7. ...

My pedal board was becoming too big to handle (see pic)  and hence I was toying with this idea of using a processor (I know, some of you are making faces, nevertheless). While in Japan, I got to try the VOX Tone lab ST and I immediately loved it for its tone and simplicity. Needless to say, I picked it up. I used it at church and felt it could use some basic tweaks to make it even more simpler and effective. Now this is what I wanted (above and beyond the existing processor) ·          To carry it to church and setting it up, I needed to carry the processor in the box along with the power supply (wall wart) and the necessary cables. ·          I love delay pedals and delay pedals that have a “tap tempo” switch at that, but to my dismay VOX has a tiny little fraction of a switch as a tap tempo. ·          To make my tweak more fun, a good friend in churc...