That’s why members of the three man band (Tony Karlsson, Bobby Amaro, and Dave Mattera) volunteer at Washington Middle School, along with community centers and other schools in La Habra, California, teaching students to play music.

The band speaks at a school about the importance of music education programs

The issue in La Habra, like many other communities across the country, is a lack of funding for music education classes and supplies. The band teaches for free on their own instruments because, although the school has some acoustic guitars, most don’t have strings. There are virtually no extra picks or accessories for the kids to use.

Now, in addition to teaching, Tony, Bobby, and Dave have taken on the added challenge of raising funds for the gear these kids need to learn their instruments. For example, the band recently played a show at a bowling alley, and much of the money taken in at the door will be used to buy guitar strings. They are also working with a local music store to match their donation.

Drummer Bobby Amaro watches over a "drum-off"

They’re making such a difference that they’ve gotten the attention of the Chamber of Commerce for the city of La Habra and Orange County, plus a few local politicians. They are now working together to get more music education programs started up at other area schools.

This is an incredibly inspiring story, which is why we are excited to team up with Nude as this week’s Pick Education partner. Through midnight on May 27th, for each guitar pick sold in the GearPipe Shop, we will donate one pick to the kids of Washington Middle School and La Habra.

If you’re new to GearPipe, here are a few suggestions:

Singer Tony Karlsson works with a student on his chord changes

I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t disappointed. We could have done a lot of good with the $2,500 prize, but it was not meant to be. Nevertheless, I think this program’s potential for good is too great to ignore, and I think now is the time in my life to start giving back.

Today is my 35th birthday, which demands reflection. I live a wonderful life. I have a loving partner. Her and I live in a nice house in a great neighborhood in a wonderful city. We have our health, great friends, and two odd, yet loving, dogs.

But I don’t perform many selfless acts, and I think this is my opportunity. Playing music is important to me, and I think it’s helped shape who I am today. I want to focus my life on giving kids the musical opportunities I had when I was growing up.

On that note, I am announcing that we will move forward with Pick Education. Expect an official launch in the next few weeks. We will be featuring the “get one, give one” model with guitar picks and, with luck, a surprise partner.

Stay tuned for more and thank for your support!

– Jeremy

Fuzz Box Girl is recovering, but as one of the many Americans without health insurance, her medical bills are piling up. In a nice twist to this unfortunate story, she’d written on her Facebook page about a band called The Broken Places, whose Christmas album she’s been enjoying during her recovery. The band saw the post, and offered to donate all of their December album sales to help her pay for medical bills. Fuzz Box Girl said it’s “sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” and I agree it’s a very generous gesture.

I will be purchasing a copy of the album, called Spirited. If you’re interested, check it out on iTunes.

Guitarists are especially spoiled, as there are a handful of excellent multi-effect and modeling guitar apps available. New to this arena is Positive Grid, makers of the JamUp family of apps and iOS interfaces. For the next 30 days, Positive Grid is offering free downloads of their JamUp Lite app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

I’ve been playing with the JamUp Lite app for a few weeks and the tones hold up to any other guitar app out there, and JamUp features some extra features, including the very first sound-on-sound phrase sampler an iOS devices. This app gives you access to 5 hybrid amps/effects, 16 user presets, the aforementioned sound-on-sound phrase sampler, an iTunes player with time stretching feature, a chromatic tuner, and will feature continual upgraded features. Oh…and it’s free!

“JamUp is the must-have guitar app on iPad or iPhone for guitar players” remarked Calvin Abel, Product Manager at Positive Grid. “It channels the traditional multi-effect pedal into one single mobile app with a good number of jamming and practice features, plus the stunning user interface and convenient form-factor, giving you the ability to completely transform your rig with this one app.”

Also available are the JamUp Pro app ($19.99) which gives you 24 hybrid amps/effects, and the JamUp Plug ($39.95), an ultra-portable guitar interface for iOS devices. With the JamUp Plug, attach it to your device, then plug in your guitar and headphones, and you’re good to go! For anyone (like me) who jumped on the ultra-cheap (quality, not price) GuitarBud cable when that came out, you’ll appreciate the ability to use your own guitar cable.

Check out the Positive Grid website for more info and a link to download JamUp Lite for free.

The Grand Prairie, TX company has just announced a year’s worth of giveaways; one per month, each a home studio recording bundle valued at over $1,000 MSRP.

To kick things off, their first recording bundle includes:

• Lexicon I·O|22 Recording Interface
• dbx db12 Active Direct Box
• Shure PG27-LC Condenser Microphone
• Shure SRH240 Studio Headphones
• Ultimate Support PRO-T-T Mic Stand/Boom
• Two RapcoHorizon Stage Series 20ft Mic Cables
• RapcoHorizon Concert Series 20ft Instrument Cable
• Dickies Stage Shirt with ProAudio.com Logo
• ProAudio.com Baseball Cap
• ProAudio.com USB Thumb Drive

You’re definitley going to want to bookmark their giveaway page and stop by each month!

Click Here to Enter

In a previous post, The Cellist of Sarajevo, I described how one Bosnian man became a symbol of peace and hope in a country devastated by war. He defied the violence, tragedy, and hopelessness surrounding him and transcended his reality with the use of a single instrument, his cello. He also has emphasized a profound, grander concept. Music is powerful.

It can elicit latent emotion, enhance an already present emotion, describe feelings you may not know how to articulate, and draw you out of a current time and space into an alternate reality. Just look closely at any musicians’ faces as they play their instruments. It doesn’t matter what instrument, it is obvious they are passionate about and moved deeply by what they are playing. They are raw, unguarded, and connected with their core. Consequently, we can connect with them on a personal level. This association is so potent and commanding, people spend valuable time and money chasing it for months, or even years, at a time. Watch this short video and examine the musicians as they play, but more importantly, actually feel the emotions this raises. Connect with yourself.

Music also requires and coerces collaboration. I find the best collaborations to be unexpected and unusual because, if executed in a careful manner, these are what can result in the most beautiful, harmonious, creative outcomes. Think of two artists you were surprised to see work together, but ended up producing music that was reminiscent of them both, yet created a novel, unique sound and vision. Personally, one of the best examples of this Alison Krause and Robert Plant’s Grammy-winning collaboration Raising Sand. These artists both have roots in blues and folk, but took alternate routes when it came to their distinct musical sounds. However, this album exemplifies what can emerge from attempting something different, from not taking the obvious route, and working together with someone you never thought you could or would. Listen to this one song off of this inspiring and interesting album.

Ask people what they can’t live without and, besides the obvious, I bet most of them will say music. Although we all have personal tastes and opinions about our choices in music, it is still one of the world’s ultimate unifiers. It has the ability to take individual, completely different units and transform them into a cohesive, beautiful whole. This statement is true for both individual instruments in a band or autonomous members of society.

Like music, building lasting peace requires being raw and unguarded with your emotions and unexpected collaborations. See what happens when you let your guard down and reach out to someone unanticipated, it could fail miserably, but it could be one of the best choices you have ever made.

If any of you have been thinking about getting into recording your own music, enter this one!

You could win 1 of 5 copies of Mixcraft Pro Studio 5, “an award-winning, feature rich multi-track recording studio that enables you to record audio, arrange loops, remix tracks, compose with virtual instruments, score and edit video, and add effects to create stunningly professional compositions.”

Click Here to Enter

I’ve posted a bunch of pedal giveaways recently, so I’m going to switch it up with a microphone giveaway.

Enter to win a Heil Sound PR 22 UT, a very versatile mic that has been designed for recording, live sound or broadcast applications. This is a worldwide giveaway.

Click Here to Enter

I don’t think I have to tell you how awesome Peterson Tuners are, but they are awesome. Peterson recently introduced the Stomp Classics – “the only foot pedal strobe tuner that combines the iconic look of the legendary Conn ST-11 Strobotuner with the convenience, reliability and portability of a rugged floor device.”

Sound good? Enter to win 1 of the 3 Stomp Classics that are being given away. BTW…this is a worldwide giveaway.

Click Here to Enter

The guys at GC Pro only run a few giveaways per year, but when they do it, they do it up right! Enter to win a Blue Kiwi condenser mic, worth $1,999!

Click Here to Enter

I feel like every time I post a microphone giveaway I point out that you can never have enough good mics. But it’s true. And I’ll say it again. You can never have too many good mics.

Enter to win a Shure Beta 27 side-address condenser microphone, worth $499, from ProSoundWeb.

Click Here to Enter

The Recording Hacks monthly microphone giveaway is doubling up for May! Blue Microphones has thrown in two killer studio mics for this contest.

Enter to win a Blueberry large-diaphragm, transformer-coupled FET condenser microphone or a Yeti Pro multipattern condenser mic with analog and digital outs.

Click Here to Enter

Even if you don’t have a home recording set-up, you should enter this one just so your iTunes sounds better!

Enter to win a pair of JBL LSR2325P active monitors, worth $500, from GearNuts.

Click Here to Enter

I posted a lot of guitar giveaways last week. But, what if you already have the tone and need to get it down on tape?

Mackie is going to give someone a great head start on a home studio. Enter to win a pair of MR8mk2 powered monitors & an ONYX Blackbird 16×16 FireWire recording interface.

Click Here to Enter

Win this!!!

The Rules:

• Must be 13 years of age or older to enter
• This is a worldwide giveaway
• Entry deadline is April 14, 2011, at 11:59:59 PM, Mountain Time

Here’s a better look a the baseball:

Limited-Edition Fender Baseball

Another month, another amazing microphone giveaway from Recording Hacks.

This month, you can enter to win a Lauten Audio Horizon large-diaphragm tube mic. This is a serious studio quality mic that retails for $999!

Click Here to Enter

If you do any recording, this is a MUST-HAVE. Or, if you own a computer (I’m guessing most of you do), this would be a great prize.

Music Connection Magazine is giving away a Glyph GT 050Q 1.5TB hard drive. This hard drive is heavy-duty and optimized for recording, but would work as safe storage for any important files.

Click Here to Enter

Today we’ve got a really great recording software giveaway from Cakewalk Software. They are giving away a SONAR X1 powered music studio which includes SONAR X1 Producer, a PCAudioLabs Rok Box i3 computer, and Groove 3 All-access passes ($1950 retail value).

Click Here to Enter

Unlike many Guitar Center coupon codes, this discount can be taken online, in-store, or over the phone. Just follow the link below to print off your coupon.

Electro-Harmonix Big Muff

For those under age 70, the sound of a distorted guitar might as well be violins. This “broken” sound is so natural to us, most can’t imagine popular music — especially rock — without it.

Fuzz (being different than distortion or overdrive…hang with me), is fifty! And to celebrate? We shall talk and write articles about this event. Check out fuzz connoisseur William Weir’s article in The Atlantic, “50 Years of Making Fuzz, the Sound That Defines Rock ‘n’ Roll.” This article includes some great sound samples of early fuzz adopters.

Also, from WNYC Public Radio, an excellent conversation with Weir and Mike Matthews, founder of Electro-Harmonix, who talks about the fuzz boxes he’s been building since 1969, including the ever-popular Big Muff.

Here’s chance to win a great all around microphone from Heil Sound. Enter to win a Heil PR 22 UT, a great mic for recording, live sound or broadcast applications.

Click Here to Enter

Recording Hacks has rolled out their March microphone giveaway, and it’s another good one! This month, enter to win a CAD Audio Equitek E100S supercardioid large diaphragm condenser microphone worth $479.

Click Here to Enter

I recently discovered the Music Connection Magazine Friday Freebie. I have to tell you, every week they have a great piece of gear to give away (note: you should bookmark this page)!

This week, win a Tascam DP-008 Digital Portastudio worth $449.

Click Here to Enter

There’s a lot of black magic in the audio cable business, and I always cringe when manufactures up-charge for features you’ll never hear. This is one reason I’ve always respected Ted. The guy makes great sounding, tough as nails cables, and found a way to make guitar cables cool, something that had rarely been done previously.

At Winter NAMM 2011, Bullet Cable introduced a new DIY patch cable kit, the SLUG Connector Kit. SLUG is far from the first solder-free patch cable kit on the market, but I think it’s the easiest to use, and the highest quality. Each SLUG connector only measures .470″ wide, smaller than other connectors on the market. Important? If you have a pedalboard, you know every fraction of an inch matters.

Each kit comes with 10 feet of cable, 10 SLUG right angle connectors, and the hex key you’ll need to build the cables. And building one of these cables is so simple! You stick the wire in the connector and tighten the hex grounding screw on the side of the plug (come to think of it, I have more confidence in this set screw than I do a fragile solder joint). That’s all there is to it!

In fact, Ted challenged me to build a cable in under one minute. His time is 48 seconds. Let’s see if I can do it!

So what’s the Pedal Juice all about? Taking a cue from the product’s Apple-inspired look, the Pedal Juice could not be simpler to use. Unbox the Pedal Juice; charge it for a few hours; plug it into your pedals. That’s it!

Depending on the number of pedals in your set-up the Pedal Juice can go up to 50 hours before a recharge is needed. You might be looking at the photo and thinking that you can only power two pedals at once (the third jack is used to charge the Pedal Juice). This is where that perfectly simple design comes in. If you have a large pedal board, position the Pedal Juice in the middle and daisy chain jumper cables to power the individual pedals (Godlylke’s Power-All cables would be perfect).

We now know the Pedal Juice is convenient, but is it better than just using the 9V power adapters that came with your pedals? In many cases, yes.

These days I do more remote recording that playing, where ground loop noise can be a big problem, so I was really excited at the notion of powering my digital recorders with the Pedal Juice. A few times a year I’ll record at conferences where audio lines from many rooms are pulled into a central location. In some of the older convention centers, ground loops can be huge obstacles for recording a clean, quiet signal. In fact, last year I recorded an event where the buzz was so bad, I had to run a dozen recorders on batteries for three days. Even with the Pedal Juice’s $150 price tag, this would have been a steal considering the small fortune I spent on AA batteries!

This brings me to my one small beef with the Pedal Juice. Although it is promoted as a power source for “portable recording devices,” the included cables don’t fit my recorders’ smaller-than-a-pedal’s 9V jacks. A bummer! I record on an Edirol R-09 and Tascam D-07, which are industry standard. However, I’m assuming this problem could be solved by hunting down the right 9V jumper cables.

Sanyo Pedal Juice with Fender Blender Custom & Fender PT100 Tuner

Without the chance to try the Pedal Juice on a recording session, I plugged in a few pedals. It works exactly as expected! The whisper-quiet performance provided a nice change from the sometimes noisy AC in my 80-year-old apartment. I left the pedals on all day and the LED indicator never even turned from green to red, noting 30-60% power left.

In all, I think the Pedal Juice is a great product for any musician to keep in his or her toolbox!

There’s something about Orange Amplifiers that whips this crowd into a frenzy!

This contest is the biggest giveaway Orange has ever done! They’ve teamed up with Guitar World to give away a Rockerverb 50 and 412 half stack, plus a Blue Microphones en-CORE 100i microphone and Lava Cable Retro Coil Cable Pack.

My friends, I have failed you, and I am sorry.

Apparently, Tascam is giving away a digital multitrack each week for four weeks. BUT, we’re at the tail end of week three! How did I miss this? I don’t know, but get on this quick! This week and next you can still enter to win a Tascam DP-03 8-track Portastudio digital multitrack recorder.

Click Here to Enter

Here’s an early morning giveaway for you.

You can win a Blue Microphones Snowflake USB microphone, perfect for podcast or voiceover recordings right on your computer. I have a Blue Eyeball which (I think) is the same mic plus a video camera, and like it a lot.

Well, we’ve made it to February and the good people at Recording Hacks have stayed true to their word about launching a killer mic giveaway each month!

This month you can add a Lewitt Audio Authentica LCT-640 condenser microphone to your mic locker. This thing retails for $1,049! Nice.

Click Here to Enter

Here’s an excellent giveaway that you might want to take with a grain of salt, as I’m not sure this site totally has it together.

GrooveZoo is giving away a bunch of recording gear. Thru July 1, they are doing weekly giveaways with gear packages worth $400-500. Then each month, they’re giving away the winner’s choice of three recording packages, all worth over $1,100. Check the link for more details.

Click Here to Enter

File this one under TOTALLY RANDOM!

I found a guy who, from what I gather, makes YouTube videos about video games. He’s somewhat popular, as he’s giving away a mic to celebrate his 800th subscriber. Up for grabs is an Audio-Technica AT2020 USB condenser microphone, a pretty nice mic that sells for $150! Subscribe and comment on his giveaway video to enter.

Sweetwater Sound is giving away a Universal Audio UAD-2 Quad Omni card for your recording computer. This thing is ultra-powerful and comes loaded with tons of plugins. The winner will get to choose a PCIe card or FireWire version. This prize is worth $5,600!

More about the Universal Audio UAD-2 Quad Omni card:

Plug Universal Audio’s amazing UAD-2 Quad Omni card into your computer and find out what your mixes have been missing! This powerful card delivers a huge collection of classic-sounding processing plug-ins that truly rival their hardware counterparts — at a fraction of the cost. You’ll be amazed by the UAD-2 Quad Omni’s outstanding collection of plug-ins from Manley, Empirical Labs, Neve, Roland, BOSS, EMT, Fairchild, Harrison, Helios, Little Labs, Pultec, SPL, Teletronix, and more (50 in all!). UAD-2 Quad Omni gives you all this plus the awesome DSP power you need to take the load off your CPU!

Click Here to Enter

Behringer has just launched a nice giveaway over on their Facebook page. Four grand prize winners will each have their choice of one of the following pieces of gear: a XENYX 1204USB mixer, a XENYX 1002B mixer, a pair of C-1 Condenser microphones, or an FX2000 Effect Processor.

Click Here to Enter

To kick it off? A Cascade Fat Head II ribbon microphone and a Cloudlifter CL-1 inline preamp. Serious, serious gear, my friends!

Get It: Click Here to Enter

For daily links to musical instruments giveaways, make sure you follow me on Twitter or become a fan of my Facebook Page.

I could seriously use this!

Filter Magazine is giving away an Apogee Electronics ONE, which is a killer little USB interface for recording. You can either use the built-in mic, the line input, or you can plug your own mic in to take advantage of the ONE’s mic preamp. The Apogee ONE sells for $249, so this is well worth the time it takes to enter!

Click Here to Enter

Microphone blog Recording Hacks has just announced they will be running a new mic giveaway each month during 2011. These guys are serious mic freaks, so they won’t be giving away Radio Shack gear!

To kick it off? A Cascade Fat Head II ribbon microphone and a Cloudlifter CL-1 inline preamp. Serious, serious gear, my friends!

Check Here to Enter

Not everyone can use this, but if you can it’s a killer piece of gear!

GC Pro is giving away an Apogee Ensemble, the first all digitally controlled, professional audio interface designed specifically for the Mac, featuring Apogee’s legendary conversion, Logic Pro integration, and premium technologies such as “Soft Limit, “UV22HR”, and “Intelliclock”.

Compatible with any Core Audio software application such as Logic Pro and Pro Tools 9, Ensemble is the ideal choice for professionals seeking a high-definition, integrated solution that’s incredibly easy to use. Ensemble features 36 channels of simultaneous audio, including 8 channels of Apogee’s legendary A/D and D/A conversion, 4 transparent, digitally controlled 75 dB mic preamps, 8 channels of ADAT I/O, 2 channels of S/PDIF coax and optical I/O, and FireWire connectivity to and from the computer.

Click Here to Enter

But, you probably know that I am extremely dependable when it comes to posting gear giveaways on Facebook and Twitter (and more recently, Tumblr). In fact, I started GearGiveaway365 over a year ago and have only missed a few days (he says as he pats himself on the back).

Not only that, but dozens of people have won gear. My guess is that members of the group have scored over $20,000 in musical instruments.

Since I know how to keep with a good thing, I’ve now added an email newsletter to the mix. I’m offering a daily email, which will be delivered each morning and will include a link directly to the giveaway sign-up page. Or, if you’re pretty good about following this already, get the weekly digest, just to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Click here to sign up!

The legendary rock ‘n’ roll photographer and subject of the new documentary Rock Prophecies shot Led Zeppelin’s first U.S. show at the Whiskey a Go Go in Hollywood. He shot Hendrix AND Stevie Ray Vaughan’s final shows. For over forty years, Knight has been what Rock Prophecies producer Tim Kaiser calls “the Forrest Gump of rock ‘n roll. He just had this knack for being right in the middle of history in the making.”

In this podcast episode Knight tells us that, all things being equal, he prefers when great guitars play a front and center role in these history-making events. “I’m guitar-centric. Everything that I’m really interested in has major great guitar in it, and I wouldn’t photograph bands back in the day that didn’t have good guitar.”

Knight also finds that some legendary guitars have taken center stage in his photographs. “Stevie Ray Vaughan and that beat up old Strat of his. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The first time I saw Stevie Ray and I saw that guitar, it was like ‘I need to photograph that guitar.’ When I did some studio shoots with Stevie, I asked if I could actually shoot some of the guitars because they almost had their own personality.”

“In a way some of the instruments themselves have become rock stars, like Blackie, Eric Clapton’s guitar, or Eddie Van Halen’s guitar.”

If you’re interested in watching the film (and you should be…it features interviews with and performances by Jeff Beck, ZZ Top, Carlos Santana, Slash, Panic at the Disco, Sick Puppies, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, and Steve Vai, among others), you can buy the DVD on Amazon and many other retailers, or watch for free during September and October on your local PBS station.

Want to hear more? Subscribe to GearPipe Podcasts on iTunes!

Check out the official Rock Prophecies trailer:

YouTube Link

Some info about the Heil PR40 Microphone:

The Heil PR 40 represents completely new dynamic microphone technology designed for a wide range of professional applications such as sophisticated recording, live sound, and commercial broadcast. Producing the widest frequency range available in a dynamic microphone, the PR 40 outperforms most condenser microphones, and can withstand huge amounts of SPL. At the same time, it maintains the 25 year Heil Sound tradition of superbly natural voice articulation.

• Absolute most natural voice response for talk show hosts, voice over applications
• Large low-mass aluminum voice coil
• Properly positioned hum bucking coil and heavy steel case insure maximum shielding
• Four rear ports exhibit excellent rear rejection and minimum proximity effect
• Widest frequency response
• Best kick drum microphone ever
• Assembled and tested in Illinois
• Leatherette carrying bag included

Entry Deadline: October 31, 2010

Get It: Click Here to Enter

For daily links to musical instruments giveaways, make sure you follow me on Twitter or become a fan of my Facebook Page.

Check out this video from a recent episode:

YouTube Link

• Save 10% on a single item at Guitar Center. This coupon is good thru 7/31/10, so you have to use it by the end of Saturday. It’s good for a discount of up to $500 on one item. If you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on a big ticket item, this might be your time!
• Score a FREE Paiste 10′ 2002 Splash Cymbal. Thru 8/31/10, buy a pair of Paiste Hi Hats or a 16′ or larger cymbal from the Twenty, 2002, RUDE, or Giant Beat series from Musicians Friend or Guitar Center and score a free splash cymbal. Download the rebate form here (PDF).
• Fender Original ’57/’62 Stratocaster Pickup Set for just $83.99! This could be a mistake, but The Perfect Guitar has placed this fantastic sounding set of pickups into their clearance center. The regular selling price is $159.99.
• Buy two Audix OM2 Dynamic Vocal Microphones and get a third microphone for FREE from All Pro Sound. MSRP: $447.00. Your Price: $199.00. Save $248!
• Save 64% on an ESP LTD SURVEYOR-414 4-String Electric Bass Guitar. Musicians Friend has a factory restock that’s on sale for $359.00, a savings of $640.00 off the $999.00 retail price.

Since that time, Linn has brought us many other cool products, including the AdrenaLinn multi-effects system for guitar, and now he’s out to reinvent another wheel with his LinnStrument (Linn’s rendering is to the right). Imagine a musical iPad app that can sense how hard you’re pressing down (adjusting the volume accordingly), and provides effects like vibrato when you pivot your finger back and forth.

For a more technical explanation of how the LinnStrument works, here’s some info straight from Linn’s website:

This design uses a fingerboard grid consisting of 6 rows of 24 semitones each, similar to a guitar. In acknowledgment of my wife Ingrid’s contribution to the engineering, we like to refer to this note grid as the “InGRID”. It also has two thumb control strips, one on each side of the fingerboard, to be used for sustaining fingered notes after release, strumming, bowing, blowing or restriking, and also has a wind sensor for added expression. (Ignore the 4 long, thin bars on each side; they were to be used as separate palm-actuated sustain bars, but I’ve decided that the two thumb strips work better for this.) This design is intended to be played from either of two positions:

Sounds cool, right? He’s built a killer prototype and shown it to the world through a YouTube video that’s had over 150,000 views. People are into the product. However, the LinnStrument may never see the light of day.

The problem? Amazon purchased the company, TouchCo, that produced the unique pressure-sensitive, multi-touch surface that the LinnStrument relies on and promptly took the material off the market. It’s a pretty safe bet that Amazon is planning to use the material on future versions of their Kindle e-reader (nothing related to musical instruments).

So, what’s a guy to do? Instead of hijacking the last load of TouchCo product to leave the factory, Linn wrote a very cordial email to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (you can read it on Linn’s website). The email was sent about two months ago, and it looks like there has been to reply yet from Bezos. Linn also says he’s on the hunt for a usable replacement material, but as of yet has not found one.

I’m going to keep an eye on this story and post any updates that come along. You can also sign up for the the Linn Design email list here.

I wouldn’t put money on it, but maybe Bezos has a soft spot in his heart for vintage Madonna and Michael Jackson tracks and will throw Roger Linn a bone!

se

If you’re a guitarist looking for an all-in-one recording solution, you may want to check out the OPC, which will start shipping in August 2010. The elevator pitch for the OPC is this: You have a fully functional guitar amp with legendary Orange tone. You have a full-on personal computer running Windows 7 and bundled with $860 in recording software. These are both in the same box!

If you’re a guitar amp spec geek, here’s a rundown of the amp section of the Orange OPC:

• 24 Bit Audio Interface with both guitar and microphone inputs
• 15 watt RMS per channel stereo amplifier (into 4 ohms) with 2 band EQ, – 2 x JBL 6.5” 55 Watt RMS Dual Concentric Speakers both mounted into an optimized cabinet for enhanced cooling and acoustics.
• Portable strong lightweight vinyl covered wooden case with an all aluminum powder-coated chassis featuring the same iconic design as a small Orange Amplifier optimized for personal computer use.
• Direct stereo line to the internal amplifier allows the OPC to be used as an amplifier and speaker for any playback device- from iPods to Microphones

Now, what comes installed on the PC side of the Orange OPC?:

• Installed with Windows 7 Home Premium (x 64 bit)
• Presonus Studio Orange Custom Edition (Professional level recording software offering powerful user friendly music creation and production application for artists of all levels)
• Acoustica Mixcraft – Full Version (Easy to use multi-track studio software to record audio, arrange loops, remix tracks, compose with virtual instruments, score and edit video, and add effects to create stunningly professional compositions.)
• IK Multimedia Amplitube 3 (Full Version of this leading guitar and bass tone gear modelling software. Over 160 ultra-accurately modeled sounds including brand new Custom Orange Amp models. Plug in your guitar; choose your sound and you’re on your way!)
• Toontracks – EZ Drummer Lite (market leading multi-sampled acoustic drum-kit library to create great drums track in just a few clicks )
• Licklibrary – Guitar Tuition Software (Exclusive to OPC, selection of free guitar lessons from one of the world’s largest guitar education brands delivered through a Licklibrary media player )

If you’re interested in more specs, specifically technical info about the PC, check out the Orange OPC product page.

The Orange OPC will sell for $1,499, and will initially be sold direct from Orange UK, Orange USA or from the Orange website. Orange’s Global Distribution network will expand later this year into general computer stores.

For another sneak peak at this amp, check out this Premier Guitar video from Musikmesse 2010:

YouTube Link

The most obvious example to many of us would be rock bands who make the leap form playing clubs to theaters to arenas. When you’re playing a small room, you can play intricate guitar solos and drum fills that would get lost in the reverberation of an building meant to host hockey games. So, as bands play larger rooms, they tend to play less notes, taking advantage of the sound of the rooms they find themselves playing.

This is the easy example that many of us have probably thought about. Byrne runs through some other great examples that may not be as obvious to us. How does the outdoor environment in Africa influence the rich African rhythms? Why did the music of Bach and Mozart differ so much? It may have had quite a bit to do with the rooms they knew they’d be playing their latest pieces in.

Very interesting. I hope you enjoy it!

YouTube Link

You should have skipped to the link at the bottom of the page to enter this mic giveaway. If you still need some convincing, check out some info about the killer condenser mic that ProAudio.com has up for grabs this month.

About the Sennheiser e965 Condenser Microphone:
The e965 is Sennheiser’s first large-diaphragm, true condenser handheld microphone. The innovative 1″ dual-diaphragm capsule means you can access both cardioid and super-cardioid polar patterns with the flip of a switch. Ideal for every vocal application, the e 965 truly combines the sensitivity of a world-class studio condenser with the ruggedness of a Sennheiser evolution stage microphone.

Features:

• Switchable pick-up pattern (cardioid / super-cardioid)
• Low-cut switch, which reduces ambient noise, rumble , and wind noise
• Switchable pre-attenuation (-10 dB) accommodates singers with powerful voices
• Capsule shock-mount efficiently rejects handling noise for superbly clear sound
• Excellent protection against moisture
• Astounding frequency response of 40-20,000 Hz
• An unbeatable 10-year warranty!

To celebrate, he’s pulled together a ton of great to gear to give away, including an IK Multimedia Software Bundle containing: AmpliTube 3, T-RackS 3 Deluxe & Sonik Synth 2, Mad Professor Forest Green Compressor, TC Electronic PolyTune, Cubisteffects Custom Modded PROCO RAT, and much more.

Entry Deadline: July 16, 2010
Get It: Click Here to Enter

For daily links to musical instruments giveaways, make sure you follow me on Twitter or become a fan of my Facebook Page.

However, if you’re an oh-so-trendy iPhone owner, TC Electronic wants to reward your coolness. They are offering up free PolyTune iPhone apps to the first 25,000 people who download it. UPDATE – They upped this to 50,000 downloads, but the promo is over. The app is now available for $9.99.

I just downloaded a copy for myself and it looks very cool! You can choose between guitar and bass tuning, with multiple drop tuning settings, 10 Hz calibration, and two different display modes. Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, the coolest thing about this tuner is that you can tune all six (or four) strings at once. Just strum and tune!

To take advantage of this offer, you can go to the PolyTune page in the iPhone App Store, or if you want to download it directly to your phone, just search on “polytune.”

This package is worth nearly $1,000 and includes:

• Tascam DP-008 – 8-Track Digital Pocketstudio: Tascam culminates 30 years of Portastudio Recording with the DP-008, a portable 8-track recorder for all musicians. Tascam’s DP-008 is an eight-track recorder that captures CD-quality audio, two tracks at a time. You can use built-in microphones to grab ideas, plug condenser mics into the XLR inputs or plug a guitar directly in to lay tracks. There’s even a metronome and chromatic tuner built-in for tight-sounding tracks. The DP-008 also allows you to digitally bounce tracks to make room for more, and touches like editing and undo make recording stress-free.
• Tascam VL-M3 – Powered Stereo Monitoring System (Pair): Tascam VL-M3 powered stereo monitors feature 3″ drivers with a front-mounted bass port and built-in 24W stereo power amplifier. In addition to being an affordable solution for beginners and musicians on a budget, VL-M3 monitors provide a “real-world” reference for music and post playback.
• Tascam TM-78 Condenser Microphone: Perfect for vocals, instruments and podcasting, this condenser microphone includes a cable and tabletop stand.
• Tascam HP-VT1 Headphones: These closed-ear headphones provide isolation while recording and rich bass response. The padded headset with includes a 1/4″ stereo headphone adapter plug.

Entry Deadline: June 30, 2010
Get It: Click Here to Enter

For daily links to musical instruments giveaways, make sure you follow me on Twitter or become a fan of my Facebook Page.