Musical Instruments

In the midst of all the blinking lights and touch-screens, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find some really beautiful workmanship. Not just injection molded plastic and brushed metal, but wood and other natural materials crafted into instruments that I’d be extremely pleased to handle and play.   A stop by the Tanglewood booth prooved to be one of those times.

If, like most home or project studio owners, you’ve opted to use a computer as the center of your studio, then you’ll most likely be hearing a lot about audio interfaces.    For the typical home user, the sound card on your computer is just fine. Unfortunately, for a studio owner, you’ll very quickly find that the onboard sound system is inadequate for your needs. They’re typically noisy, they lack inputs and outputs you’ll most likely need and they can be inefficient in the way they translate analog and digital audio.   That’s where audio interfaces come into the picture. An audio interface is a piece of dedicated hardware that you connect to your computer. In the most basic sense, the interface is the audio middleman between you (the real world) and the computer. 

Learning to play a new instrument is exciting, but it can also be a daunting endeavour. This blog will discuss how you can set yourself up for success.

The Roland FP-90X is an excellent keyboard for either home use or live performance. Thanks to its realistic action and sounds, it will serve you well for years to come.

You can always count on Roland to announce products at NAMM that garner a second look. They’ve created quite a little buzz around a couple of new offerings that Best Buy is planning on carrying: The FP-30 Digital Piano and the Roland Boutique Series are going to have people talking for a while.

It never hurts to model a new guitar offering after a classic played by one of the instrument’s greatest heroes. And so it is with Fender’s new Hendrix Stratocaster. Based on the guitar used by the game changing innovator of the six-string, this may just be the Fender you’ve always been waiting for.

If you have a guitar player in your life and aren't sure exactly what to get them for a gift, this blog entry may be able to give you a few ideas and get you headed in the right direction.

If you create content with your mobile device, IK Multimedia has some interesting tools to get the best possible audio and video quality.

I have a confession to make. The first time I went camping as an adult was two summers ago. Before that, I was seven and my parents shipped me off for the weekend with my Brownie troupe to learn all sorts of life skills and earn all sorts of badges. I cried the whole time. But when one of my closest friends convinced me to join her annual camping trip—which meant no electricity, no WiFi, and no plumbing—I decided to put my tiara away for a few days and suck it up; and as it turns out, it was one of the best times I’ve ever had.

Although NAMM wasn't in person this year, the Believe in Music Week was a success, and a lot of new products were revealed virtually. Here are some of the most notable ones.