(800) 222-4700 • www.sweetwater.com Spring 2004 Issue Korg 24-bit /96-kHz Xtended Defi nition D32XD With the introduction of the new Xtended Defi - Audio Quality and Modular Design com mo date almost any input source. The front panel ni tion Series, Korg takes its popular D-Series of Xtended Defi nition means uncompressed 96-kHz / also offers a dedi cat ed guitar input. digi tal record ers into new sonic territory at a price that 24-bit audio record ing right out of the box. Reso lu tions Tracks Galore just a few years ago would have seemed impossible. of 48-kHz and 44.1-kHz (24- or The D32XD supports up to 16 tracks of si mul ta neous With advanced mixing, edit ing, and record ing capa - 16-bit) are also sup- re cord ing (the AIB-8 option is required) and provides 32- bil i ties, com ple ment ed by a huge in ter nal hard track playback. Each track contains 8 virtu al tracks plus drive, a built-in CD-RW burner and a vari ety a Master Track (also with 8 virtu al tracks of perfor mance enhanc ing options, the 32- so you can create multi ple mixes of any track, 24-bit / 96-kHz D32XD Dig i tal music) dedi cat ed to creat ing Re cord ing Stu dio ($3750 list) is the final stereo mix. That su perb ly equipped to bring all comes out to 272 total tracks your creative ideas to life. for the D32XD. Wow! I’ve personally found Mixer Mad ness that many of the other The D32XD features a 56-input, self-contained digi tal record ers have 14-bus digi tal mixer and each chan- in ter fac es that are, well, let’s just say not the nel features a full 4-band paramet ric most user-friend ly. Multi-layered, nest ed menus can get EQ with high and low shelving. The mind-numbing awfully fast. port ed. The submixer inputs can accom mo date 24 Thanks to the huge, tiltable TouchView dis play that D32XD also provides chan nels, each with high and low shelving or ga niz es a wealth of pa ram e ters and con trols into eas i ly 8 channels of fully EQ, and a fi nal 8-band fully paramet ric EQ is ac cess ed on-screen menus, the D32XD sports a clean, pro gram ma ble an a log avail able when record ing to the Master Track. stylish user interface that’s easy to work with. Dedi cat ed com pres sion (yes, ana log! ) Channel pairing is also available with multiple pan knobs pro vide realtime access to all effects param e ters, that can be applied to the inputs. con trol al go rithms. Stereo master, monitor, solo and as well as the indi vid u al EQs and sends. Flying faders There are 8 XLR jacks and 8 1/4-inch balanced cue outputs, plus 2 inter nal ef fect bus ses and 4 aux and full dynam ic au to ma tion seal the deal: this is one jacks with phantom power available, plus each input busses round out the mixer section. amazing all-in-one digital record er. features a variable trim knob and a 24-dB pad to ac- — Continued on Page 2 Focusrite Liquid Channel: A Sonic Cha meleon WHAT’S INSIDE: Not only did the 115th AES conven tion in New York witness the U.S. launch of four new Focusrite products, but also the unveiling of Focusrite’s groundbreaking Liquid Technology. The Liquid Channel ($3495 list) transports classic Pro Tools|HD Accel...... 3 front-end processing into the digital age, remov ing the need for endless patching, and adding fl uidity and reli abil i ty to the studio envi ron ment. Quite simply, the Liquid Channel is every mic preamp and compressor combi na tion in Eventide HD8000...... 4 history, all packed inside a single 192-kHz 2U rackmount device! Roland MV8000...... 7

MOTU MX4 Synth...... 8

Winter NAMM Report.....9 Wait, is this possi ble? Every mic pre and compres sor? You bet! A few years back, this would have seemed like science fi ction, but it’s now a reality and it’s no surprise that this was one of the hottest products at AES. It's so impressive that JBL LSR6300 Series ...... 10 it walked off with Pro Audio Review’s covet ed PAR Excellence Award. Okay, but how does this work? Through a combi na tion of cutting-edge DSP technology and good old-fashioned Tips,Tools & Techniques ..12 analog design. In terms of DSP, Focusrite employs a Dynam ic Convolution technique, utilizing lightning-fast SHARC chips applying unique level-depen dent impulse responses to every sample of audio (just try saying that two times Sweetwater Guitars ....14 real fast). However, while this is more than suffi cient to identically recreate a compres sor’s sonic behaviour, in order — Continued on Page 2 Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 2 Quench Your Thirst With the Focusrite Liquid Channel — Continued from Page 1 a “Harmonics” dial is includ ed to control this value. Hard-core vintage en thu si asts to pre cise ly replicate every subtle nuance, the preamp must physi cal ly match the way will love having total control over every sonic attribute. in which the classic unit interacts with a given mic. The Liquid Channel’s solu tion Naturally, you might ask how this is differ ent from modeling and other simu - lies in its analog front-end, which has the abili ty to actu al ly change its imped ance la tions we’ve seen and heard before. Modeling looks at the way a device works and and vary its signal path to either transformer or electron ic, perfectly repli cat ing the then relies on the generation of code to try to emulate the way in which a device would interaction charac ter is tics of the origi nal respond, usually in a limited set of situ a tions. preamp it’s rec re at ing, while still remain ing Convo lu tion, on the other hand, records exact entirely transpar ent. data about the way a device behaves and then As an example, many vintage high-end replicates that precise ly. preamps from the 1960s tend to sound differ ent But how does the im pulse response / with low-level signals than with high-level, not con vo lu tion pro cess work? A while back, to mention with differ ent mics. Focusrite has Focusrite set about driving a huge set of been able to accu rate ly rec re ate those sonic im pulse re spons es into the best collec tion interactions and, through the use of digital of vintage and modern compres sors and EQs front-panel controls, all param e ters can be ever assem bled. saved in one of 99 User Memo ries, meaning The device they used is dramat i cal ly that entire session setups can all be recalled at the touch of a button. A brand new dubbed the “Magic Box.” It outputs an impulse (an extremely narrow voltage spike digital EQ is also available. of amplitude which contains an infi nite number of frequen cies) which are sent to A USB connection on the rear panel links to a software application (for both the device to be repli cat ed (i.e., a vintage Fairchild). By measuring the output of Mac and PC) enabling the archiving of your custom presets, as well as providing the device itself, Focusrite was then able to calculate exact ly what the device has remote op er a tion of the unit itself. The Liquid Channel comes complete with 40 done to the spikes, then calcu late and exact ly repro duce every aspect of the device classic mic preamps and 40 classic compres sors, but it's infi nitely expandable since — fre quen cy re sponse, head room, dis tor tion, ev ery thing! the USB port also facil i tates downloads of further repli cas from a ded i cat ed website at Welcome to a new world of endless possibilities courtesy of Focusrite! Natu ral ly, www.ffl iquid.com. your Sales Engineer can answer any questions you may have, as well as provid e you To account for variances in amounts of second-, third- and fi fth-order harmonic with your special Sweetwater pricing on this amazing new product. distor tion (which we usually perceive as analog warmth) from one preamp to the next, www.sweetwater.com/liquidchannel Korg’s Hot New Xtended Defi nition “All-in-One” D32XD Multi track — Continued from Page 1 and 128 user effects programs. The effects programs song. By tapping on the beat you can use Tap Tem po to Automation and Navigation are based on Korg’s highly acclaimed REMS model ing control the tempo manu al ly. To ac com mo date 32 channels of playback using technol o gy, so you know the quality of the effects is truly After record ing, burn your creation to CD and give 16 faders, the D32XD employs dynam ic au to ma tion top-notch. it a listen. Arrange multiple songs in order, specify the to record and play back all of your fader moves. The Limitless Editing Abilities gap time between songs, and burn your CD all at once mix er sec tions of the D32XD can store 100 different You can swap, delete, move, bounce, normalize, using the Album Project feature. Mark points can be mixer “scenes” and recall them auto mat i cal ly during copy, reverse – even fade tracks in or out. Expansion and used to create track indexes when burning a contin u ous play back. Locate points – six in all – are used to defi ne com pres sion tools allow you to shrink or stretch a track per for mance (a live concert for example) to CD. As good-looking as it is ver sa tile, the Korg D32XD sets a lofty new standard for all-in- one record ers. For additional infor ma tion or to order a D32XD of your very own, call your Sales En gi neer now! — Michael Rief Superb Connec tiv i ty: the Rear Panel of Korg’s New 24-bit D32XD Multi track edit or loop points. An addi tion al 100 “Marks” can be to fi t into a specifi c time, with either fi xed or variable “I will order from you again. Every thing used to auto-locate back to any point in a song. You can pitch. The huge TouchView display makes it easy to zoom ar rived on time. (My Sales En gi neer) was very even name each of the Marks to help remind you what in on the displayed audio data and set your edit points kind and helpful. I will tell all who ask about part of your song they are pointing to – pretty slick! with great accuracy. Change your mind? No problem, the ex cel lent and prompt service I re ceived from him. I called at least 20 times and he had as all edits (up to the last 16) can be reversed using the Studio-Quality Effects the an swers for every question.” Up to 27 high-quality digital effects are available Undo command. — Eri ca Wilhelm Keeping the Beat si mul ta neous ly on the D32XD – 24 Insert Effects, 2 “Super! Professional, kind, courteous, ex- Master Effects (stereo) and 1 Final Effect (stereo). The As a metro nome reference or to help you build up treme ly knowledgeable, prompt quick an swers icon-driven display and dedicated control knobs combine a track, the D32XD contains a library of over 200 PCM to all my questions and needs from Sales and to make effect routing, selection and edit ing a breeze. rhythm patterns. Tempo maps allow you to preset any Tech Support.” — Bruce Wolfe A palette of 52 effect types produces 128 facto ry presets or all tempo (and pattern) changes at any point in the

(260) 432-8176 5335 BASS RD., FT. WAYNE, IN 46808 GreatSWEETWATERFAX: (260) Jobs! 432-1758 Great PRO [email protected] TECTSPeo ple! YOU Great WITH Pay! THE www.sweetwater.com Careers IN DUS TRY’Savailable FIRST (800)on AND the SweetwaterONLY 100%222-4700 Team!BEST VAL (800) UE GUAR-222- Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 3 HD Accel Supercharges Any Pro Tools|HD Sys tem Not surprisingly, many of today’s top albums have been created using a Pro Media Audio 9 and Windows Media Audio 9 Pro import and export (with Windows XP Tools system! Now, in keeping with the Pro Tools legacy, Pro Tools|HD Accel from systems only), special ized plug-ins, and other features. Digidesign offers the most advanced set of tools and resources available for audio Keep in mind that all Digidesign and Digidesign-dis trib ut ed De vel op ment Part ner produc tion and the fastest means of getting the job plug-ins have already been updated to fully support the HD Accel done. Replac ing the origi nal HD Pro cess cards in- cards, and that all plug-in install ers tro duced with Pro Tools|HD (your are included on the Pro Tools TDM 6.2 HD Core card doesn’t change), the CD-ROM, making the upgrade to Pro new HD Accel card ($4995 list) Tools|HD Accel pretty much a breeze. is includ ed with Pro Tools|HD 2 Premier Plug-ins Are Included Accel and HD 3 Accel sys tems. Along with the included standard DigiRack plug-in bundle, Pro HD Accel cards may also be pur- Tools|HD Accel systems include the latest HDpack plug-in bundle , chased separately and added to any exist ing provid ing up to thousands of dollars worth of premier profes sion al Pro Tools|HD system to supercharge its power plug-ins abso lute ly free! At the very top of the savings list, Pro and expand available options. Pro Tools|HD Tools|HD 3 Accel systems include over $6,600 in free TDM Accel seamlessly inte grates with the entire line plug-ins — making this core system the biggest bang for of Pro Tools|HD audio inter fac es and periph er als, your buck. so previ ous Digidesign hardware invest ments remain If your studio is currently based entire ly via ble. on a Pro Tools|HD system, you need to The Benefi ts of HD Accel call your Sweetwater Sales Engi neer In practical terms, the use of HD Accel cards results in and fi nd out just how afford able up grad ing can be. higher voice counts across all sample rates from 44.1 to 192 kHz. Check out the chart below, which shows the dramatic increas es in voice The new HD Accel card affords nearly twice the raw DSP power as counts, making this upgrade a “must have” for all Pro Tools|HD owners! the origi nal HD Process cards. Addi tion al Pro Tools 6.2 software opti - www.sweetwater.com/ptcoreHD3ac miza tions further enhances the overall power of Pro Tools|HD Accel systems. The real- world benefi ts: bigger Sample Rate 44.1/48 88.2/96 176.4/192 kHz kHz kHz In practical terms, the use of HD and better mixes Accel cards results in higher voice at any sample rate, Pro Tools|HD 96 48 12 counts across all sample rates and support for more nearly twice the raw DSP power. complex plug-in Pro Tools|HD Accel 192 96 36 algo rithms, increased Previous Max 128 64 24 plug-in counts, and an overall dramat ic leap for ward in day-to-day oper a tion al effi ciency. Keep in mind that the dedicated hardware archi tec ture of Pro Tools TDM al ways leaves your com put er with plenty of CPU power available to ac com mo date The Portable, Desktop VOX! additional host-based plug-ins or appli ca tions — provid ing the ultimate in power If you’re old enough to remem ber the so-called “British Inva sion” of the and fl exibility. 1960s, you’ll vividly remember seeing that row of Vox amps behind many of the Your Existing Plug-in Library is Supported super groups of the day, not the least of which was The Beatles. You’ll proba bly also remem ber desper ate ly wanting one, but the imports were simply too expen sive Since Pro Tools|HD Accel systems utilize the HD Core card, your exist ing HD- for most of us back then. compat i ble plug-in library is fully support ed. Simul ta neous ly, the presence of HD Accel Today, the compact Vox ToneLab ($600 list) faithfully models the fa- cards in your system means you imme di ate ly have ac cess to new HD Accel-exclu sive mous Vox sound you’ve always wanted, plus 16 other amp sounds ranging from plug-ins, such as Digidesign’s new Impact mix bus compres sor, as well as the host hard-to-fi nd vintage to high-end modern amps. That’s cool, but can’t a whole of plug-ins already available and compat i ble with the HD Accel cards, includ ing all bunch of other amp modelers offer the same sound? No, Digidesign and Digidesign Devel opment Part ner plug-ins. and here’s why: ToneLab doesn’t rely on modeling HD Accel cards also manage and perform the process ing tasks re lat ed to to simu late over drive. Instead, the Valve Reac tor running the Pro Tools mixer, which can be quite rigor ous with large power amp circuit includes real tubes — a mix es. This leaves the resourc es of your HD Core card available 12AX7/ECC83 dual triode — to achieve the to run your exist ing Pro Tools|HD plug-ins. warm, fat, tube amp sound you’re looking Pro Tools Software for. These are the same tubes you’d fi nd in Pro Tools TDM 6.2 software, which ships with all Pro Tools|HD many vintage amps and some of today’s systems and cards, is the fi rst release to support the new HD Accel hottest “boutique” amps. cards. Pro Tools 6.2 combines the impres sive 6.1 feature set with support ToneLab and the ToneLab SE (the foot pedal version, $750 for the new, 16-input 96i I/O audio inter face for Pro Tools|HD, Windows list) both boast advanced features like speaker cabinet model ing for an unmatched spatial sense even when you use the line output. In addi tion, “(My Sales Engineer) recommended a specifi c product to fi ll ToneLab provides an S/PDIF jack for high-quality digital recording and a familiar a niche in my studio. It was perfect and made a substantial contri - knob-based inter face. Yeah, you’re gonna want one. bu tion to the high-quality sound.” — Bob Kilpatrick www.sweetwater.com/tonelab

Access our 25,000+ page website day or night at www.sweetwater.com Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 4 New “Hard-Core” Hardware and Software from Eventide I love the new Eventide marketing campaign for their new Ultra Harmo niz er: preset sorting (you’ll need it if you’re lucky enough to have 1,000+ presets!). “Hard-core Hardware. When compromise isn’t in your vocab u lary!” Wow, if that For the H8000, Eventide went back to the drawing board and creat ed Mono lith ic doesn’t grab you, I’m not sure what will. Unless you’re new to music technol o gy, Tandem! Whew, that sounds like the headlin ers at WrestleMania, but it’s not. This you’ve heard of the compa ny and its proprietary Ultra-Harmo niz er effects proces sors, allows one large algo rithm to run using two DSP chips, provid ing users with max- though you might not be aware of the fact that Eventide creat ed the very first multi- i mum horsepow er for huge, complex algo rithms in clud ing 5.1 reverbs and ef fects. ef fects pro ces sor in 1980. Yet for all its complex i ty, edit ing is Aimed squarely at high-end simpli fi ed with “Building-Block users, the Eventide Effects Archi tec ture” and H8000 Ul tra Har- “Any thing-to-Any thing” mo niz er ($5995 list routing capa bil i ty. — hey, I said high- Naturally, it wouldn’t end) provides superb be an Eventide proces sor audio combined with without yet anoth er ex- over one thousand of clu sive: UltraShifter, the the compa ny’s best preset algo rithms, culled from over thirty years of devel op ing ef- most nat u ral-sound ing, formant-cor rect ed pitch chang er, op ti mized for voice and fects for live sound, broadcast, post-production and music record ing. If you can’t fi nd in clud ing au to mat ic pitch cor rec tion. the effect you’re looking for here, odds are it does not exist. You can lock your effects in time with the beat by way of MIDI, BPM, and Tap Sporting a Full-Feature Set Tempo. You also get a 174-second mono sampler (or 87 seconds of phase-locked You want features? How about 8 channels of 24-bit AES/EBU, ADAT and stereo ste reo) with advanced looping, editing, and layering capabilities, all supported by S/PDIF digi tal I/O with over 50 hot new 5.1 presets. Onboard are Eventide’s award- VSIG, Eventide’s PC graphic edi tor / devel op ment tool. Stereo XLR and 1⁄4-inch win ning reverb (talk TRS inputs are standard. Aimed squarely at high-end about smo-o-o-th), lush But Wait, There’s More . . . users, the H8000 provides choruses, FM panners, But hardware isn’t the only offering from this truly innovative company. For su perb audio plus over 1,000 sample-and-hold fi lters, several years now, users have asked (okay, begged and pleaded) for a plug-in that of Eventide’s best presets! vi bra tos, mod u lat ing brings their signature effects (namely, pitch-shifting and reverb) to Pro Tools TDM de lays, multi band com- systems. Ask long enough and you get (ta-dahh!) the Eventide Octavox Har- pres sion, phase shifting, micro pitch-shifting, vocoding and I’m not even done mo niz er eight-voice diaton ic pitch shifter plug-in for Digidesign’s Pro Tools TDM listing everything. There’s even a new search engine at your fi ngertips for easier plat form ($595 list). The Octavox allows World’s First Variable Control Microphone users to create anything from stacked harmonies The new Rode NT2000 ($899 list) is the latest brainchild from Australian and subtle, wide choirs mas ter mi cro phone designer Peter Freedman. At fi rst glance, the NT2000 might to musical rhythmic not appear to be anything more than your typi cal large dia phragm se quenc es. It’s based condenser mic, but take a closer look: Three knobs right on the on the multi-voice front of the mic allow contin u ous ly variable control over the polar pitch shifter from pat tern, the low-frequen cy fi lter and the zero-to-10 dB pad. This the compa ny’s affords almost infi nite control of the three most common (and fl agship proces sor, necessary) parameters that engi neers look to for getting the best Orville. The abili ty possible performance from a premium mic. to have eight voices of diaton ic pitch-shifting in a plug-in brings incredible At the heart of the mic is the Austra lian-de signed and new power to all Pro Tools TDM setups. Add to that signifi cant delays for man u fac tured Type HF1 gold-sput tered dual di a phragm cap sule. each voice, and you have estab lished a new benchmark for multi-voice The frequen cy and transient response has been custom-voiced to pitch-shifting on any desktop system. comple ment today’s modern record ing techniques, and yet still And They’re Not Done Yet! evoke the silky smooth charac ter of the legend ary mics built in Oh, and while they were busy creating plug-ins, the company thoughtful ly the 1950s and '60s. introduced the Eventide Reverb plug-in for Pro Tools TDM ($695 list), a Space here is limited, so you need to check out my compre- multi-effects plug-in that incorporates a pair of delays, pre- and post-stereo hensive review at www.sweetwater.com/feature/technotes , three-band parametric EQ, a high-quality compressor, and in keeping with complete with audio demo fi les that let you hear the NT2000 the times, a lo-fi effect. for yourself. Meanwhile, you can also call your Sweetwater The look of the Eventide Reverb plug-in is simple, presenting operators Sales Engi neer for addi tion al infor ma tion and (natu ral ly) with a single graphical user interface that features all of the tools in a single J.M. your special low pricing. — win dow. A unique snapshot feature provides an intu i tive way to capture or recall www.sweetwater.com/nt2000 pa ram e ter settings with a single mouse click. And naturally, the sound quality • Variable polar pattern control (from cardioid to omni to is equally com pel ling. fi gure 8) plus variable LF Filter and Pad controls For additional information and your special Sweetwater pricing on all the • 147 dBA maximum SPL (157 w/pad @ max) Even tide products, call your Sales Engi neer today. — B. Hoover • 136 dB Dynamic Range • Shockmount and Case Included www.sweetwater.com/reverb

SWEETWATER IS FACTORY AUTHORIZED! We fi x your gear right and on time with no excuses! Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 5

— and mostly by luck — we would 5335 Bass Road. ac tu al ly find the equipment that was When Inc. Maga zine announced “The Inc. 500,” de signed to do the job. a listing of Ameri ca’s 500 fastest growing compa nies in What a headache! I remem ber at the its Octo ber 1993 issue, we easi ly made the list with an time thinking, “There has to be a better astound ing growth rate of 1,732 percent! way of doing business!” Eventu al ly, I It was the fi rst of three consec u tive came to this conclu sion: if there years for us on that list, and was to be a knowledge able since then, our building has re tail er that carried the gear rapid ly expand ed from its I wanted and actu al ly under - orig i nal mod est pro por tions stood how it worked, I was going to what it is now — prob- Each time we start working on another issue of to have to create that compa ny. a bly the larg est fa cil i ty of its Sweet Notes, I try to come up with some excit ing news Well, that’s pre cise ly what happened. Sweetwater kind anywhere. Our warehouse about things we have in the works to make your music Sound, the record ing stu dio, became Sweetwater alone is now many times larger than technol o gy purchases fast, easy and conve nient. As an Sound, the music technology retailer. I hired several our origi nal building. And the growth contin ues. We are ex am ple, thousands of customers have already gotten key staff members who are still with the company to dra mat i cal ly ex panding our on-site show room and demo the Sweetwater Musician’s All Access Plat inum this day, mainly because they really under stood our space as I write this. Card. You just fi ll out the brief appli ca tion online and com pa ny’s “vision” and had the real-world product Today, Sweetwater of fers thousands of products from within minutes, you’ll be approved to get the the best names in the business. We have a staff gear you want and/or need and al ways with of over 160 people and are always looking to no payments and no inter est for at least add key person nel. Certainly, I’m proud of what 90 days. This is such a great deal, pretty this compa ny has accom plished and of the men much every one on our staff has their own and women who daily put forth the extra effort Plat i num Card. to guaran tee Sweetwater will be a domi nant But as exciting as that is, I want to take force in the indus try for decades to come. Yet, this opportunity to look back at our humble at the heart of our phenom e nal success, you’ll be gin nings. The reason? Well, 2004 just hap- fi nd our thousands of loyal custom ers. pens to be our 25th Anniversary. And those We built Sweetwater from the ground be gin nings? They were humble indeed. up to be a great place to do business with a In retrospect, I doubt anyone could knowledge able sales staff, afford able prices pos si bly have guessed how much the techno - and depend able after-the-sale support that’s logi cal advanc es of the last quarter centu ry second to none. That’s a concept that res- would change the way we make music today Sweetwater Sound in the early 1990s: Our studio includ ed a o nates with our custom ers, most of whom and just how neces sary a compa ny like Se quen tial Proph et T8, a Roland D-50 and the original Kurzweil have liter al ly built their own studio or stage Sweetwater would become. Certain ly no body K250 topped off with the “hot new” Macintosh computer. set ups from the ground up with products who walked through our doors back in ‘79 could have knowledge that was required. purchased at Sweetwater. pre dict ed how suc cess ful our retail di vi sion would The product that literally put us on the map was, Cele brat ing a 25th anni ver sa ry is pretty great for ulti mate ly become. as most of you know, the original Kurzweil K250. In a any business, but for us, we see it as the begin ning of an Sweetwater’s very fi rst address was on Getz Road, sur pris ing ly short peri od of time, we added staff and entire ly new era of rapid growth and constant ly evolving right here in Fort Wayne. Like many of you, I designed new products and grew so fast that we ran out of space. technol o gy. The fi rst 25 years were great, but the next 25 a studio to record my own music and then realized that, This led to the building of our current facil i ty here at . . . well, those are going to be spectac ular! as the only facility of its type in the city (or even the northern Indiana area), I could make these resourc es available to other musi cians. Naturally, as newer and better products were in tro duced and as our business grew, we added more gear. Sound familiar? But here was the catch: each time V E R S I O N 3 . 0 we upgrad ed, it was a downright painful expe ri ence. With the release of the hot new “software samplers” such as the Where could we fi nd the right products for our needs MOTU MachFive ($395 list), thousands of our customers can now ac- at reason able prices? Where could we get depend able cess our entire critically-acclaimed Kurzweil CD-ROM sample librar ies, advice from sales people who actu al ly knew what they like Ul ti mate Gui tars and Total Stereo Session Drums. And were talking about? It didn’t seem to exist. Certain ly not while Grand Pianos Version 3.0 is not re al ly “all new,” it’s jam-packed with almost 200 megs of on a local level and not even through the larger music brand new multisampled grands that include a stunning 64-megabyte version of our popu lar Bosendorfer stores in New York, Chica go and so on. Im pe ri al Grand, as well as a 64-MB fully-restored 1911 Steinway A3 and a 54-MB nine-foot Seiler Grand. As Quite often, we would purchase an item, only to a bonus, there’s a 1923 Guild Cabinet Grand, which is probably the world’s biggest “tack piano.” fi nd it didn’t do what we needed. And if we wanted to There’s a darn good reason that Sweetwater’s Kurzweil K-Series sample libraries earned perfect scores and return something, well it was like pulling teeth — only a prestigious “Key Buy” award from Keyboard magazine: its attention to detail. Check out our audio demos harder. Conse quent ly, al though our studio business was of these great new pianos online, and then call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer for your special low pricing. growing, it took much longer than neces sary and ended Owners of earlier versions of the Grand Piano Collection CD-ROM should call for special upgrade pricing. up becom ing ridic u lous ly expen sive as we had to keep www.sweetwater.com/pianocdv3 return ing gear that just wasn’t right for us, until fi nally

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Bringing It All Together: Production Work in SONAR Today’s producers have a huge array of tools at se lect ing any audio clip and pressing CTRL-L. This adds may want to create an EQ fi lter sweep on the drums as their fi ngertips, and they are presented with new choices a new dimen sion of control to your project, allow ing it transi tions into the chorus, or you may need to adjust every day: hot new audio plug-ins, hi-reso lu tion audio for fl ex i ble pitch and tempo changes. You can take any the compres sion level of a vocal track to make a specifi c hardware, control surfac es, must-have soft synths . . . audio and instantly beat-match with SONAR, allow ing word or verse stand out. The challenge lies in inte grat ing all of them togeth er it to follow even complex tempo maps. To automate any track param e ter, EQ setting or while maintain ing your work fl ow. . . . and EQ for All plug-in, simply right click on the appro pri ate track and SONAR 3.0.1 from Cakewalk Even the best record ings can choose create track envelope. You can then double- allows you to take your produc tion use EQ to help differ ent ele ments click to create dragable “nodes” which will allow you to the next level, ele gant ly com- sit in the mix. SONAR gives you to shape the enve lope. You can also right click on any bin ing the latest technol o gies six bands of paramet ric EQ per param e ter and select arm parameter. This allows you within one central ized workspace, chan nel with a range from to record auto ma tion in real-time from your mouse or mak ing it the heart of your studio. subtle sweeten ing to full-blown any MIDI-compatible control surface (for example, the Let’s look at some of the differ ent correc tive surgery. Mackie Univer sal). ways you can put SONAR to work Here are some uses for To Mac and Back Again for you. SONAR’s per-channel EQ: create SONAR’s support for OMF allows you to collab o rate High-Res Audio dynam ic fi lter effects for contem - with different studios or differ ent ap pli ca tions. That Getting a great sound out of po rary pro duc tion tech niques means you can trade fi les back and forth from SONAR SONAR’s high-reso lu tion audio with full control of reso nance in with Pro Tools, Logic, Nuendo, or Digi tal Per form er on engine starts by pairing it with a con junc tion with the high and Mac or PC. By swapping fi les between appli ca tions, you quality audio inter face. SONAR is compat i ble with the low pass EQ. High and low shelf settings can be used can take advan tage of the best features that each has to latest inter fac es from all of the high-end manu fac tur ers, to remove rumble or hiss from a track — use the peak offer, and collab o ra tion with other studios, regard less of includ ing Digidesign, MOTU, Echo Audio, M-Audio and and notch fi lter to dial in the exact frequen cies you wish the platform, is a breeze. more. to elimi nate or enhance. You can also reveal a graphic One exam ple of this advan tage is to use SONAR’s SONAR 3’s 24-bit / 192-khz record ing and playback EQ plot right on the channel for a visu al repre sen ta tion advanced MIDI sequenc ing or ACID-loop support to reso lu tion lets you capture every nuance, and because it of all of your track EQ settings at a glance. en hance a project started in Pro Tools. Com bined with has an inte grat ed low-laten cy mixer with effects moni - tor ing, you don’t need to worry about addi tion al hard- VST, DirectX ware. You can even combine SONAR with an inter face and ReWire like the Digidesign M-Box to create a mobile produc tion With support for all three pow er house. Plus, SONAR doesn’t limit the number of plug-in standards, you have inputs by tying it to DSP, so you can expand your system ac cess to almost all of today’s at any time with addi tion al soundcards. hottest soft ware syn the siz ers and effects. When you run You can take advantage of the VST or DirectX plug-ins from thousands of loop libraries on the with in SONAR, you can take mar ket today, and its inte grat ed advantage of 32-bit float loop-tech nol o gy allows you to calcu la tions, complete delay change pitch or tempo on the fl y. compen sa tion throughout your signal path, and vector- Powerful Loop Integration based auto ma tion. Using ACID-format loops is one of today’s most Here’s another appli cation pop u lar methods for quickly creat ing backing tracks for SONAR 3: use it to extend ReWire apps with audio SONAR 3’s support of Digidesign hardware, this means and textures. SONAR allows you to take advantage of recording, more fl ex i ble mix ing and VST and DX plug-in you can bring projects back and forth between SONAR the thousands of professional loop libraries on the market support. That means you can run programs like Proj- and Pro Tools without switching comput ers! today, and its integrated loop-technology is complete ly ect5, Reason, or Ableton Live in perfect sam ple-ac cu rate Conclusion fl ex i ble, allowing you to change pitch or tempo on the sync with SONAR. To insert a program via ReWire, sim- These are just a few of the ways that SONAR gives fl y or through markers. ply open SONAR’s Synth Rack, and add the program as you the power to record and produce music on your With Cyclone DXi you can chop up, rearrange, you would any other instrument. All of the neces sary own terms, no matter what tools you should choose and tweak indi vid u al slices of audio loops, allowing you tracks and routing will auto mat i cal ly be created. to use. What’s more, with support for all of the major to get unique sounds from your loop collec tion while Flexible Automation stan dards, you know that SONAR will keep you well still retaining the groove. You can also use Cyclone In today’s dynamic music, you need to be able to prepared for whatever tomor row holds. And that’s a dy nam i cal ly to trigger loops from a keyboard. SONAR adjust your settings throughout a song, which is why very comforting concept. also allows you create new loops from scratch by simply fl ex i ble automation is so impor tant. For exam ple, you www.sweetwater.com/sonar3pro Frustrated? Need help? Check out the world’s largest techni cal sup port database at sweetwater.com/support Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 7 Roland MV-8000: The New "All-in-One"Yamaha Hardware AW2816 Solution When Roland isn’t busy breaking new ground with port that can be used to transfer up to eight channels “all-in-one” studio is the same except for price. I’ve pretty products like the mind-boggling V-Synth (see the late sum- of digital audio to R-BUS equipped V-Stu dios or to much used them all, and the MV-8000 is not only the most mer Sweet Notes), they make good use of all the spare time ADAT-com pat i ble de vic es us ing the op tion al DIF- power ful, but also has a user interface that can’t be . . . by thinking of ways to improve on exist ing products. So AT In ter face Box. And with er, beat (pun intended — sorry). — M. Rief while there are other “all-in-one” hardware studios on the The MV-8000 At-a-Glance market, none can match the Roland MV- • Self-contained production studio with sampling, 8000 ($2,695 list) when it comes to sequencing, effects and onboard CD-RW drive speed when it comes to turning raw • 136-track sequenc er (128 MIDI + 8 stereo audio samples into songs. tracks) with realtime time stretch From Sample to • 16 velocity and aftertouch-sensi tive pads, Finished CD large LCD display and realtime control With the onboard CD-RW drive, knobs pro duc ers can create entire songs armed • 128MB RAM expand able to 512MB with only an MV-8000. The sampler can load for 101 minutes of total recording li brar ies ranging from Roland and Akai to .WAV time (or 50+ minutes of stereo) and ACID formats — all with just a few simple • Sampler compat i ble with Audio CD, com mands. Or you can record your own samples .WAV / AIFF, ACID, Roland S-700 Series and Akai directly into the MV-8000 via the stan dard phono MPC2000 Series inputs. Then it’s just a matter of tapping in some beats, • Independent 24-bit reverb, chorus / delay and arrang ing the song and adding effects before burning it multieffects proces sors plus master ing toolkit onboard all to an audio CD. Yes, it’s really that simple. Roland’s V-LINK technology inside, the MV-8000 • Convenient 3.5” fl oppy drive and 40GB inter nal The MV-8000 can load librar ies can be used to trigger and manip u late vid eo clips hard drive, stereo mic/line and phono inputs plus stereo when used with video equip ment available from ana log and digi tal master outputs ranging from Roland and Akai • VGA monitor and mouse op er a tion available soon to .WAV and ACID formats — all Edirol. Talk about covering the bases! www.sweetwater.com/mv8000 with a few simple commands! Don’t make the mistake of thinking that every Sequencing Heaven The MV-8000 sequencer can handle 128 MIDI tracks Yamaha Motif ES: Massive Wave (with 32-channel operation) and 8 stereo audio tracks that can be used just like a linear recorder. Program beats on ROM and 128-Note Polyphony the MIDI tracks and combine them with freestyle vocals These days, almost every product claims to take things to “the next level,” making that the most overused or acoustic instruments on the audio tracks, includ ing phrase in all of music technol o gy. Still, how else do you describe what Yamaha has done with the intro duc tion the ability to “punch in” at any time. Users can even sync of the Motif ES Music Production Workstations? Like the original Motif, these new entries combine the sonic audio to the sequencer’s BPM. fi re pow er of a synth, the hands-on imme di a cy of a digital workstation, the revo lu tion ary concept of an Integrated Multieffects and CD-RW Drive Sam pling Se quenc er (ISS) for total integration of audio and MIDI, and a user interface that puts everything The dream of a complete studio-in-a-box becomes a conveniently at the user’s fi n ger tips. And before we forget, they sound incred i ble! real i ty with four dedi cat ed effects processors and the on- The 61-key Motif ES 6 ($2,295 list), 76-key ES 7 and 88-key ES 8 feature the largest and most musical board CD-RW drive. The MV-8000 delivers 24-bit Reverb, Wave ROM ever available in a keyboard — a whopping 175 MB in 16-bit linear format! — plus an advanced sep a rate Chorus and Delay plus a versatile multi-effects new tone gener a tor chip that pro ces sor with COSM effects like guitar amp model ing, in cludes a gen er ous 128 mi cro phone and speaker model ing, along with unique notes of polyph o ny, new fi l- tools like Lo-Fi and Slicer. The onboard Master ing Tool ter al go rithms and mas sive Kit offers every thing needed to sweeten up mixes before DSP power (16 three-band going to CD. EQ, 8 Insert effects, 2 system effects and 2 master effects Onboard Storage in Song and Pattern Mode). While audio and samples are played back using the Im pressed yet? onboard sample RAM, the MV-8000 can also store its sounds Yamaha devel oped the core of the ES series from the ground up with an all-new tone gener a tor and projects to a robust internal 40GB hard disk. This and other advanced features. Yamaha’s MegaVoice technol o gy repro duc es stunning ly real is tic sounds, complete makes it easy to manage large sound libraries, once they with physi cal char ac ter is tics, tim bres and nuanc es of sampled acoustic and electric instru ments. Phrase Factory have been converted to MV-8000 format. It’s also a great delivers 1700 arpeggios and real time loop remix, making it easier than ever to create great tracks. way to load sequences quickly during live perfor mance. Improved hands-on control functions include larger knobs, sliders, transport controls, and a new ribbon When connected via USB, the hard drive can be access ed controller, along with templates that allow the Motif ES to act as a remote control surface for the industry’s most directly from a comput er’s desk top. popular software sequencers. Other features include support for 512MB of sample RAM, USB storage hosting and Options Galore second generation mLAN computer connectivity for future expansion. An upgrade program will be available for Add the optional MV8-OP1 expan sion card and you gain six owners of the original Motif to help them upgrade to the Motif ES. How cool is that? additional analog outputs, a digital input, plus an R-BUS www.sweetwater.com/motifes6

GreatTheSWEETWATER newest, Jobs! easiestGreat PRO TECTSPeo way ple! toYOU Greatbuy WITH gear. Pay! THE Apply Careers IN DUSonline TRY’Savailable at www.sweetwater.comFIRST on AND the SweetwaterONLY 100% Team!BEST VAL (800) UE GUAR-222- Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 8 MX4 Hybrid SoftwareYamaha Synth AW2816 from MOTU Hot on the heels of its Mach Five sam pling MX4’s basic synthesis architecture provides three os- Oscillator 3 serves as a frequen cy modulation software (already a best-seller), Mark of the Uni- cillators with modulatable waveform symmetry and hard (FM) source for other oscil la tors. Be cause it in- corn (MOTU) has dug deeper into their bag of tricks sync, two variable topology multi mo de fi lters, four variable cludes all wave forms, as well as the wavetable and and developed a unique, hybrid synthe sis engine that wave shape LFOs and four ADSHR enve lopes. You get all sym me try fea tures, it can pro duce a wide array of combines an incred i ble array of synth mod u la tion ef fects that ex tend from archi tec tures, includ ing subtrac tive, LFO rates into the audi ble range. wavetable, fre quen cy mod u la tion (FM), An inde pen dent funda men tal-tone ampli tude modu la tion (AM) and ana log os cil la tor and ring mod u la tor are emu la tion. Intro duc ing the MX4 ($295 in clud ed to fur ther ex tend the os cil - list), cutting-edge software that deliv ers la tor sec tion. the inti ma cy of a vintage synth, the Filters are critical to accu rate ly fl exi bil i ty of a modu lar synth, and the emu late vintage synths and the MX4 inno va tion of a virtual synth! has two resonant multi mo de fil ters As a plug-in, MX4 oper ates ef fi - (with modulatable overdrive) that ciently and provides unlim it ed voices, pro vide low-pass, high-pass, band- polyph o ny and instantiations (subject pass and notch fi lters with inde pen dent to the processing resourc es of the host slope from 6-to-24 dB per octave for com put er). Play back is sam ple-ac cu rate a total of 16 differ ent fi lter types, with support ing host appli ca tions, such mean ing you can ac cu rate ly du pli cate as Digital Perform er 4 (MAS), Pro ev ery thing from classic ARP to Moog to Tools (RTAS) and other Mac OS X audio hosts (Audio the standard analog waveforms, but each has adjust able Oberheim fi l ters. Units). MX4’s 32-bit inter nal reso lu tion provides wide symme try. This allows users to create every thing from pulse In fact, MX4’s unique Variable Fil ter Topol o gy dynam ic range, and it supports sample rates all the way width modu la tion all the way to waveform “morphing” allows users to easi ly arrange the fi lters and overdrive effects, like smoothly changing from a trian gle waveform in 14 differ ent confi gu ra tions that produce over 3,000 Each of the three oscillators to a sawtooth. differ ent fi lter topol o gies . Users can then further adjust can use a wavetable instead Each of the three oscillators can also use a wavetable set tings, pro vid ing a very wide range of fi l ter effects to of a standard waveform. instead of a standard waveform. Dozens of wavetables explore. Dozens are supplied and are supplied, and users can create their own, opening users can create their own! All of that sounds pretty impres sive, but we’ve up all sorts of sonic possi bil i ties. Oscil la tors 1 and 2 can real ly just scratched the surface here. MX4 has even up to 192 kHz. Users can work fast and intu itive ly in a be synced together to create the same hard sync effects more sonic fi repower up its (virtu al) sleeve, so for more single, effi cient ly orga nized window labeled with real- found on classics like the Sequential Prophet-5 and in for ma tion and your special Sweetwater pricing, call world values like semitones, decibels, etc. All settings are Memorymoog. Symme try and morphing are supported your Sales Engi neer today! saved with host software projects for instant recall. here, as well. www.sweetwater.com/mx4 Vintech X73i: Modern Inter pre ta tion of a Studio Icon The Aviom Personal Moni tor Receiv er Quite often, some of the most innovative audio products come from small com- With a better monitor mix, you can relax and concentrate on your perfor - pa nies that are building equipment inspired by classic designs of the past. Odds are mance. What’s more, you can safely monitor at a lower volume. Aviom has you’ve never heard of Vintech, or their new X73i ($1595 list), a class-A, all-discrete, developed a revo lu tion ary monitoring system that can transmit 16 channels of transformer balanced microphone preamplifi er with equalizer that is based on the audio over a single, inex pen sive, readily available cable — the same type of cable popular Neve 1073 module. While it captures all the special sonic charac ter is tics (Neve used in most comput er networks. enthusiasts will truly be hard pressed to tell the differ ence), the unit is construct ed Each A-16 Personal Mixer ($439.95 list) in the system can create a unique mix for each perform er, and each performer can have 16 instant ly recall able preset mixes. You can control channel volume, grouping, pan, stereo spread, master vol ume and even an onboard global EQ. By using the A-16T Transmitter ($749.95 list), audio from your main mix ing board is routed to the one-space, rack-mountable Trans mit ter which utilizing modern manufacturing techniques, allow ing Vintech to offer this product con verts the audio signals into digital data that can be routed to any number of at an incredible value. Now practically anyone can record with the classic sound of A-16 Personal Mixers in the system. You can have an infi nite number of Person al vintage modules without having to deal with infl ated vintage prices. Mixers and each can be up to 500 feet apart. The X73i features the same class-A mic pre as their origi nal X73 with all of the same • 16-channel select buttons with dual LEDs EQ parameters plus additional mid-range frequencies, selectable input imped ance, • Recall, Group, Solo, and Mute buttons 1/4-inch DI on the front panel, transformer balanced mic and line inputs, phase reverse • 16 user preset memory locations and phantom power switches, an EQ-in switch, 70 db of gain, high-quality Grayhill • Pan/Spread control with LED readout rotary switches and custom-machined aluminum knobs. • Channel volume control with LED level If you crave that vintage Neve sound quality, but don’t particularly want to take readout • Master Volume, Treble and Bass controls on a second job to buy one, we suggest the Vintech X73i as a sensible alternative. Hey, • Tabletop or mic stand mountable (using optional bracket) it’s guaranteed to perform up to your expectations or your money back. www.sweetwater.com/a16 www.sweetwater.com/x73i Great Jobs! Great People! Great Pay! Careers available on the Sweetwater Team! (800) 222-4700 Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 9

Most Winter NAMM shows usually have a PreSonus Central Station: Gathers couple of “buzz-worthy” products, but Winter digital, analog, Hi-Z, 44.1-kHz, 96-kHz, tape/CD, NAMM 2004 was jam-packed full of cool keyboard and other outputs and routes them all new technol o gy! For a compre hen sive recap to monitors at the same time. No more plugging of the products that excited us the most, check and unplug ging! out our full report at www.sweetwater.com/ Roland Fantom-X: Raises the winternamm04. In the meantime, we fi g ured standard for workstations. The basics include we’d whet your appe tite with a brief look at the 128-voice polyphony, 61-key, 76-key and 88-key best of the best. (Pro gres sive Hammer-Action) models with nearly BOSS BR-1600CD: Packing some se- 1GB of wave memory. Includes a gorgeous 88-key ri ous punch into their portable digi tal re cord ing split stereo-sampled piano, plus room for 4 SRX line, the BR-1600CD sports 8 XLR inputs, 16-track expan sion cards. A beauti ful color LCD screen! record ing (256 virtual tracks), effects, a 40GB hard Also available in a 1U rack-mount version that drive, CD-R/RW drive and USB port. can hold 6 SRX expan sions. Line 6 Variax Acoustic 700: This Roland V-Pro Series TD-20S-BK: beauty promis es to do for the acoustic guitarist Roland redesigned their V-Drums with bet ter what model ing amps, proces sors, and the origi nal sounds and components. TD-20 module has 500 Variax did for electric players. An astound ing ar- new sounds, superb sensi tiv i ty and in-depth V- ray of string mate ri als, body types, Edit ing. Redesigned mesh pads have improved micro phone placements, and more dy nam ic range and natu ral rim shots. New are offered. We can’t wait to get our V-Hi-Hat is so real it’s scary! A new ergo nom ic hands on one! stand hides the cables! Other V-Drum advances: DigiTech GNX4: The “does-it-all” fl oor effects box for guitarist / TD-6S: Kit with a mesh head snare, new gum rubber tom pads and cymbals and composers! Effects, a mic preamp, built-in drum machine and MP3 play- a vertical kick. TD-3S: Finally a real V-Drums Kit at a really low price — it’s back, 8-track digi tal recording plus PC software from Lexicon and more! afford able and fully expandable! Emagic Logic Pro 6: Apple and Emagic have consol i dat ed the Roland’s new VS8F-3 Plug-In Expan sion Board gives SRX-compat i ble best Emagic instrument and effects plug-ins and packaged them with the Roland studios the power of heavy-duty plug-in effects. With Massenburg, Antar es, latest OSX-opti mized Log ic Pro. Now, you can get every virtual instru ment Univer sal Audio, IK Multi me dia and McDSP already available, this card increas es and effect that Emagic has developed, along with Logic Audio. It’s all here: your creative op tions with your V-Studio! ES1, ES2, EVOC20, EV83, EVD6—you get the picture. Plus the aston ish ing Roland VS-2000CD: A V-Studio at a great price. Twenty tracks, 16- and 24- EX24 sampler! Add 53 effects, including the new Space Design er convo lu tion bit recording, 320 virtual tracks and re verb and you have an incred i ble package. Not ready for Logic Pro? a 40-channel digital mixer with 8 Logic Express 6 gives you 48 stereo audio tracks, unlim it ed XLR inputs. Option al support for MIDI tracks and 18 effects plug-ins at a great price. Comes with 3rd party plug-ins via the new the ES1 and EXSP24 Mk 1 sample player too. Compose, arrange, VS8F-3 Plug-In Expan sion Board. record and mix to your heart’s desire! A vocal harmo niz er, onboard drum Korg TRITON Extreme: This baby offers a treasure kits, a 40GB hard drive and CD-RW trove of sounds. It includes over 1,300 new programs, 50 come standard. drum kits and a whopping 1,280 combi na tions, plus just TASCAM 2488: The about every thing else that made the Triton such a runaway 2488 24-track recording work- best-seller. sta tion brings you tremendous Korg Legacy Collection: One of the coolest track count — for under $1,500! things we’ve seen in a long time! Software versions of the Record au dio at 24 bits, with 250 famed MS-20, Polysix, and WaveStation keyboards with a cool virtual tracks and power ful ed it ing Variax retro-looking hardware USB-MIDI control ler. The control ler even and looping functions. 36 channel mixer Acoustic 700 has patch cables that affect the perfor mance of the soft synth! 32- in puts handle 24 playback tracks, 8 ana log Korg Legacy Collection voice polyph o ny brings 21st Centu ry performance to these histor ic synths. inputs, a 64-voice internal MIDI tone gen- Mackie dXb•200: Perhaps the most intu i tive user inter face ever imple - er a tor and a stereo effects proces sor. Built-in CD-RW drive. mented in a digital mixing system, the dxb series sports a gorgeous dual touch-screen The TASCAM US-2400 de liv ers all the faders you’re likely to need in one interface, 96-kHz operation (optional 192-kHz), on-board automation / DSP, 100-mm box for under $2,000. There’s no skimping here – you get touch-sensitive 100mm Penny+Giles faders and FireWire I/O. It runs select VST plug-ins and controls Pro moving faders plus full control of pan, EQ, and other functions. A transport section Tools, Logic and other audio software. The optional UAD-1 Powered Plug-ins Card pro vides com plete DAW control and a joystick manages surround panning. adds instant plug-in access. Waves IR-1: This incredible sampling reverb offers total control of classic And coming soon, the dXb•400, with 96 x 96 channel I/O matrix (48 x 48 re verb parameters: size, early refl ections, decay, damping, and more. It includes 120 at 192 kHz) or a minimum 72 channels with DSP at 96 kHz (36 channels at 192 sam ples of acoustic spaces and classic analog verbs. kHz). Advanced surround sound mixing and moni tor ing will make this a formidable Yamaha i88X: This is an mLan A/D/A interface with 18 simul ta neous mastering board. Mackie’s new TT24 is a power ful digital live console, offering 24 mic audio ins and preci sion 24-bit / 96-kHz A/D convert ers. The mic pres were designed by in puts, 56 channels, 24/96 audio. On-board analog and digital I/O, full channel the same engi neers who developed the DM2000 and 02R96 con soles! It even includes me ter ing, digital recall, EQ, dynam ics, and effects all come together to virtually built-in ADAT Light Pipe and SPDIF I/O and more. — Don DeLong eliminate the need for additional expen sive outboard equipment! www.sweetwater.com/winternamm04

GreatWeSWEETWATER have Jobs! allGreat PROTECTS the People! hot YOUtest Great WITH products Pay! THE CareersIN DUS from TRY’S available all FIRST ma jor onAND themanufacturers ONLY Sweetwater 100% BEST Team! —VAL IN UE(800) STOCK!GUARAN- 222- Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 10 No More “Bad Rooms” withYamaha the JBL AW2816 LSR6300 Series It takes more than an accurate speaker sys tem need for today’s multi-format sur round pro- to have accurate response at the mix posi tion. The duc tion in clud ing LCR and Direct LFE in puts, key to accuracy is tackling the effect of boundaries, summed output for chaining multiple subwoof- standing waves and refl ections. The JBL LSR6300 ers, -4 dB alignment setting and JBL’s new RMC Se ries profes sion al monitors supply that accu ra cy system. in demanding music, post-audio and broadcast ap- If you need a larger monitor with high SPL, for plications. Each model provides ultra-fl at response, mid-fi eld, soffi t or behind-the-screen appli ca tions, extraordinary SPL capa bil i ty and technol o gy to the LSR6332 ($1399 each list) is your choice. optimize perfor mance in any size produc tion This three-way non-powered system can handle environment. All models are fully shielded, ready 200 watts contin u ous pink noise / 800 watts peak for mounting and are THXpm3 compliant. and will gener ate 112dB SPL at one meter. It incor - In developing the LSR6300 series, JBL exam - porates a 12-inch Neodymi um Differ en tial Drive ined each problem in the listening envi ron ment NDD dual coil woofer, 5-inch Kevlar midrange and then created the perfect solution. Even if you speaker and 1-inch tita ni um compos ite tweeter. work in a small control room, an LSR6300 system The LSR6328 The RMC System is optional, but if you have the will provide ultra-smooth, accu rate response at the LSR6312 Subwoofer, you can use its RMC system mixer’s chair. to calibrate your room. LSR (Linear Spacial Reference) Tech nol o gy bi-amped with a 250-watt LF ampli fi er and a 120-watt HF With the advent of multi-channel produc tion, en sures that the LSR6300 Series monitors sound fl at at the amplifi er. Wall mounting provi sions make the LSR6328P space limi ta tions may demand that the posi tion ing of a mix position. The exact geom e try of the wave guide, the perfect for instal la tion in multi-channel appli ca tions. speaker in a 5.1 mix (or higher) may be compro mised. inter ac tion of the woofer and tweeter and the network are The LSR6328P and LSR6312SP Subwoofer (see below) JBL’s LSR Series powered moni tors in clude con ve nient designed to provide a superb ly accurate listen ing window are both equipped with JBL’s bound ary com- of +/- 30 degrees hori zon tal and +/- 15 degrees vertical. in ge nious RMC System for pen sa tion switch es ze ro ing out bass prob lems that can be used to In developing the LSR6300 Series, at the mix posi tion caused offset the increase JBL examined each problem in the by room modes. A built-in in bass response lis ten ing environment and then 1/10th octave para met ric when a speaker created the perfect solution... equal iz er al lows you to cor- is placed near a As a result, refl ected sound which reaches the mix position rect prob lems below 100 Hz. wall, in a corner is ultra-smooth and accurate. The RMC Cali bra tion Kit or on a work The LSR6328P ($1339 each list) is the choice for gives you every thing you sur face. Sim ply stereo and multi-channel music and post-audio appli - set the Boundary need to identi fy problems LSR6312SP cations where accuracy and high SPL are critical. With and fi ne-tune your sys tem. Subwoofer Com pen sa tion switch which cor re sponds to your con- rul er-fl at +1-dB/-1.5-dB response from 50 Hz to 20 kHz, The LSR6312SP di tion and — voila! — fl at response is restored. low-fre quen cy extension to 36 Hz, boundary compen - ($1499 list) powered subwoofer is based on a 12-inch Call your Sales Engineer now for complete infor - sa tion and JBL’s new RMC System (which we’ll dis- woofer with JBL’s pat ent ed Neody mi um Dif fer en tial Drive ma tion and special low pricing on the JBL LSR Series. cuss in a minute), the LSR6328P gives you exceptional NDD and 250 watts of room-shaking power. An inte gral Then kiss your “bad room” goodbye. low-fre quen cy per for mance in any room. The system is bass-manage ment system provides all the features you www.sweetwater.com/lsr6312sp Strike Gold with the Eureka Channel Strip Online Product Fo cus The folks at PreSonus never cease to amaze us, consis tent ly hitting the bull's-eye with products that provide outstand ing perfor mance at phenomenal prices. Their latest, the Eureka Chan nel Strip ($699.95 list) continues that tradi tion. Featuring a Class-A transformer-coupled mic preamp with variable imped ance as well as a knob for tube saturation emulation, the Eure ka also includes an onboard compressor with variable Chances are, you already access the Sweetwater threshold, attack, release and gain controls. It offers a soft knee compres sion mode, as well as a hi-pass fi lter on website on a regular basis, but there’s another reason the sidechain for frequen cy dependent compression, such as de-essing. that it should be a regular stop during your web surfi ng, and that’s our monthly online prod uct focus . What’s so special about that? It means we’ve liter al ly plumbed the depths of our expe ri ence and resourc es to The Eureka, complete with an audio transformer on the input stage, offers a fully-parametric three-band provide you with more infor ma tion than you could fi nd EQ with overlap ping bands and switchable staging for the EQ and compres sor, enabling you to swap the order any where else on any given topic. Each and every month, of the EQ and compression. With instrument, line, and mic inputs (TRS and XLR) and an option al digital we tackle anoth er stu dio or stage essen tial, with tons of facts and fi gures, complete specs and (no surprise) prices output card capable of up to 24-bit / 96-khz output, the Eureka can handle virtually any signal you throw at it. that are hard to beat. The unit also has 48V Phantom power with an 80-Hz rumble fi lter, a 20-dB pad, a phase inver sion button and So check it out (if you haven’t already). With un- balanced send and return jacks for inserting outboard gear. How does it sound? Sweet as can be! lim it ed space, our website just keeps on growing, with www.sweetwater.com/eureka page after page of invaluable data and great prices!

FRUS TRAT ED? NEED HELP? Our Tech Support Team is just a phone call away: (800) 222-4700 Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 11 NewGear Direc tory for 2004Yamaha Headed AW2816 Your Way Yup, it’s that time of year again. There’s a def- hensive as ProGear, it takes a while to gather and distill i nite nip in the air — if not a downright hard freeze all the information, fact check it, do all the production — and the Sweetwater Marketing Team fi nally gets and then get it printed and shipped. There’s always to go home and see their loved ones, secure in the some hot new items that are literally released while the knowledge that all those 24-hour days have been well directory is on the presses or in the mail. That means we worth the effort. have to scramble our creative team yet again to produce Okay, maybe we’re exaggerating just a tiny bit, but this yearly supplement to ProGear. Luckily, they’re up everyone on our creative staff has truly been putting to the challenge! in a monu men tal effort lately, and it shows in every When you receive your copy, keep in mind that single page of the Sweetwater NewGear 2004 al most all the gear packed into this year’s direc to ries direc to ry. is actu al ly in stock in our gigan tic ware house. When Each year, we produce a massive ProGear di- you see exact ly the product you’ve been looking for, the rec to ry, and our 308-page 2004 edition happens to be item is proba bly right on our shelves, ready to deliv er the biggest and (if we may say so ourselves) the very right to your doorstep. best to date. The striking cover and inside spread were You should be receiving your ProGear direc to ry brilliant ly conceived and designed by Hugh Syme. soon (if it hasn’t already arrived) and NewGear is not Syme is not only famous (and rightfully so) for his far behind. Don’t have yours? Call (800) 222-4700 and in no va tive al bum designs for a few artists you may we’ll put one in the mail to you. Hey, it’s free, so give have heard of, like Aerosmith, Rush and Celine Dion, that copy you’ve been hanging onto back to your guitar to name but a few, but also happens to be a longtime up-to-the-minute supplement that covers the very player, okay? Sweetwater customer. lat est equipment from all the top manufacturers, One phone call is all it takes or you can request a Our ProGear directory has already started should not be too far behind. copy via e-mail to [email protected]. Seriously, ship ping, and the NewGear directory, which is an Any time you put together something as compre - what could possibly be simpler?

New Grace Design Monitor Systems The Native Instruments (NI) Audio engineer/designer Michael Grace originally began crafting “built-to-order” Komplete Instrument Bundle audio products for a small, devout following. Before long, the word was out: Grace’s Founded back in 1996, Native Instruments (NI) was one of the very designs outperformed many commercially available products. This led to the found- fi rst compa nies to exploit the possibilities of real-time sound synthesis on ing of Grace Design in 1994. Now the company proudly presents two new products Macintosh and Windows platforms. Its early market presence and techno log i cal des tined to do for control room monitoring what their mic preamp and headphone leadership have earned the company a special position in the booming market mon i tor ing systems have done for their respec tive categories. for audio software. For the standard DAW user, the m904 ($2995 list) is the essential moni tor ing Now, NI KOMPLETE nerve center, combining multiple balanced and unbalanced analog and digi tal ($1499 list) has hit our shelves in puts with precision level controls for two pairs of studio monitors and dual and is ready to dramat i cal ly headphone outputs. For the engineer working in 5.1 surround, the m906 ($5995 in crease the po ten tial of any com put er-based stu dio: Nine outstand ing, high-perfor mance soft ware syn the siz ers, sam plers and effects are united in one incred i ble bundle. The NI KOMPLETE package includes the full versions of REAKTOR Native Instruments list) is a power ful tool for managing and moni tor ing sur round audio sources. SESSION, KONTAKT, BATTERY, ABSYNTH 2, KOMPLETE package With balanced and unbal anced analog surround inputs, multi ple balanced stereo VOKATOR, NI-SPEKTRAL DELAY, FM7, B4 Organ and PRO-53 at a substan tial ana log inputs and digi tal 5.1 and stereo inputs, the m906 is designed to effort less ly savings over the combined list prices of the indi vid u al prod ucts. con trol large stu dio mon i tor ing systems. This incredible bundle is so comprehensive you will be able to explore any FEATURES INCLUDE: creative avenue, whether in the studio or on stage. The total value of all the • Ultra-low distortion 24-bit D/A conversion with 44.1- 192 kHz sample rates individual elements would normally be $2,625.90 if purchased separately, which • Sophisticated system calibration tools allow users to adjust input levels, interchan- nel balance offsets and control room levels through a range of +/- 10 dB still isn’t a bad deal considering the sonic fi repower a bundle like this puts at your • Word Clock input/thru provides external system reference clocking disposal. But if you call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer, you’ll be surprised at just • Grace Design’s new s-Lock two stage PLL (Phase Lock Loop) circuitry for low jitter how much you can save by ordering KOMPLETE right now! digital signal stability and sonic integrity Want to know more? Our own Jim Miller (Tech Notes) just got the NI KOM- • A pair of large, blue 7-segment LEDs show control room and headphone output PLETE package and is hard at work writing a full review for his Tech Notes Online level values. Two reference headphone outputs are provid ed col umn. Check it out by going to www.sweetwater.com/feature/technotes. • A balanced talkback microphone input is provided on the rear panel www.sweetwater.com/m904 www.sweetwater.com/komplete

GreatSweetwater Jobs! Greatprotects People! you withGreat the Pay! industry’s Careers fi availablerst and only on the100% Sweetwater BEST VAL Team! UE GUAR (800)AN TEE! 222- Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 12

Capturing the Wild and Elusive Electric Guitar Howdy podners. Welcome to the Sweetwater Recording Ranch. In today’s epi sode, like an AKG C414B-ULS ($2100 list). The reason? You can always EQ out unwant ed we’re gonna help you wrangle up a healthy dose of that most wild of beasts, the Electric high frequen cies, but it’s darn near impossible to create them when they’re not on the Guitar. We’re going after both the single-coil and humbucker breeds and an acoustic orig i nal re cord ing. For the ulti mate in spaciousness, you could even opt for a stereo or two, so grab a rope and a brandin’ iron and follow me. mic, like my personal favorite, the Rode NT4 ($899 list), which is set up in the Here at the ranch, sitting around the campfi re, I’m asked the same question over classic X/Y confi g u ra tion, tak ing all the guesswork out of posi tion ing a ste reo pair. and over: “I like my guitar sound, but how do I A decade ago, few people would have con- capture that on a digital record ing?” Though sid ered ribbon mics for recording guitars, but I seem to answer this one a lot, I can see we these days, such modern ribbons as the Royer have some greenhorns here so gather ‘round R-121 ($1195 list) and the SF-1 ($1395 list) and have a listen. are getting a good workout in studios. What’s Great live sound isn’t just the sum total of more, they’ll pull double duty for recording your guitar, pedals and amp, but also some- acous tics, as we’ll see in a few minutes. thing we call psychoacoustics, a fancy word for Getting Direct how we perceive sounds based on our listen ing Once you’ve chosen your “ambience” mic, environment. If you were to record your guitar you’ll want to run a direct box from your amp to from somewhere close to the back of the club or the re cord er. If you think of the logis tics, you’ll hall or whatev er, you’d proba bly be shocked at need some awful ly long mic cables for all this, how diffuse the sound is. But up on stage, with and be mindful of the dreaded ground loops. your guitar sound bouncing all around and My person al choice for the best electric guitar mix ing with the other in stru ments, it sounds direct box is the petite, yet power ful, Tech 21 pretty darn good. SansAmp Acous tic DI ($225 list). A simpler Binaural Microphones DI will certain ly work, but the SansAmp offers If you really wanted to capture the exact up every control you can possi bly think of, like sound of your specifi c guitar and amp as you full-range EQ with a sweepable midrange con- hear it from the stage, you could use a set of trol, gain and even mic emu la tion on one fully binaural mics set right about where your head vari able con trol. is, then play that audio back on a pair of refer ence-quality headphones. While binau ral I’m not sure if the good old Hughes & Kettner Red microphones are still available, their use has mostly fallen by the wayside because Box MKII Cabinetulator is still being manu fac tured. such recordings don’t sound all that great when played through speakers. Few people It’s a phantom pow ered little DI box that lets you switch own binau ral mics and don’t par tic u lar ly fan cy hav ing to only listen to record ings be tween a 4x12 and combo (2x12) cabinet setting. only through headphones, so what are our alter na tives? I’ve seen them on ebay for about ten bucks — a There’s Good News and Bad News... real bargain and they do get the job done. The good news is that with a combi na tion of some basic miking techniques Okay, now once you’ve record ed your tracks in and a direct signal, the acoustic space of your choice, you can take every thing Great live sound isn’t just the sum back into the studio and mix in just the right amount of direct total of your guitar, pedals and you can get pretty darn close to the sound you and refl ected sound. If your next question is, “Have I actu al ly done this amp, but also something we call myself?” the answer is "yes" and with terrifi c results. Yeah, I know it’s a lot of psychoacoustics — a fancy word for want. The bad news hard work, but ulti mate ly worth it. how we perceive sounds based on — natu ral ly — is our listening environment! that it’s not quite as All That Jazz easy as it sounds. Naturally, not every guitarist is into playing speed metal or classic hard rock. So let’s say that in a perfect world, you could record your guitar track in a club Some of you are talent ed enough to get deep into jazz stylings (I’m envious). In that or the local VFW, etc. First off, you need to be able to hear case, you’re probably less inter est ed in getting a big sound all the other parts, so you’ll need headphones and a long than captur ing a warm, inti mate tonal range. Here again, line and proba bly a headphone amp in the case of really you might be surprised at just how good a ribbon mic can long cable runs. Both the C•Que from Samson ($159.99 sound, whether you’re miking up your Polytone amp or list) and the HP4 from PreSonus ($129.95 list) are inex - lay ing down some acoustic tracks. pensive solutions (and you should own one or the other in We’ve just scratched the surface here, and there are any case). Then you would want to set up a mic that you many other tech niques, which include using one of the person al ly like for guitar somewhere about halfway out into newest, most sophis ti cat ed amp model ers, like the Line6 your acoustic space. That will capture all the thousands of Multiple Royer ribbon mics on an acoustic POD XT or the new VOX ToneLab (see page 3). You’ll refl ections off the vari ous room surfac es. def i nite ly want to check out my Tech Notes Online Here you’ll have to decide what mic to use. The Shure SM57 ($246 list) is an col umn, where I’ll be giving you a lot more infor ma tion on cap tur ing that elusive industry standard that pretty much every audio engi neer owns for electric guitar or elec tric — or acoustic — guitar tone. We’ll even discuss bass guitars and the latest bass work (and many own several). It’s rugged, dependable and doesn’t need phantom convolusion technol o gy for recre at ing ac cu rate room acoustics, so check it out at power. I personally prefer a condenser mic with an extended high frequen cy response, www.sweetwater.com/fea ture/technotes. — Jim Miller

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Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 13

MOTU 896HD 24-Bit /192-kHz FireWire Audio Inter face Okay, let’s see if we have this straight: you want permit. The 896HD is equally well-suited for both studio the 896HD’s main outs, headphone jack or any other an interface that contains everything you need to turn and stage appli ca tions, with or without a comput er. Huh? output, with vir tu al ly no mon i tor ing la ten cy and best your computer into a powerful 24-bit / 192-kHz digital No comput er? Read on . . . of all, no proces sor drain on your comput er. You can audio worksta tion and oh, what’s that? You want it As a comput er inter face, the 896HD even create sepa rate moni tor mixes for the main to sound incred i ble, but provides 18 sepa rate outs, headphones and other outputs. Control every - don’t want it to cost like thing from the includ ed CueMix Console software or a bazillion bucks? direct ly from the 896HD’s front-panel. No problem! Mark Need to hit the road? Just of the Unicorn pro gram the 896HD in the studio (uni ver sal ly known as with the CueMix Console software MOTU) has got you covered and then take the 896HD on stage with their brand spankin’ new 896HD for mixing/mon i tor ing with out FireWire Audio In ter face ($1295 list). a com put er. Bus levels can be To keep you smiling ear-to-ear, the 896HD provides adjust ed without the comput er 8 high-quality mic preamps, abso lute ly pris tine 192- by using the front-panel Moni tor kHz ana log I/O, 8 channels of ADAT digi tal I/O (guess inputs and 22 Lev el knob. they fi gure there might be a few of those out there) outputs, includ ing sepa rate The 896HD provides cross-platform compat i bil i ty main outs and a conve nient head- with Mac OS 9, Mac OS X (version 10.2 or later), The MOTU 896HD is equally phone out. From there you can add addi tion al Windows Me/2000/XP and all of your favorite audio well-suited for both studio send/re turn loops using the 896HD’s new CueMix DSP soft ware (like MO TU’s Dig i tal Per form er) and host- and stage applications, with on-board mixing feature, a fl ex i ble DSP-driven 18-input/ based effects via WDM/ASIO/Core Audio/Sound Man- or without a computer! 8-bus mixing and moni tor ing matrix that elimi nates the ag er drivers. Or you can use the includ ed AudioDesk need for an exter nal mix er or patchbay. work sta tion soft ware for Macintosh, with 24-bit and stereo AES/EBU. You can also easily expand your Go ahead and connect all of your studio gear, in- re cord ing/ed it ing and 32-bit mix ing/pro cess ing/ sys tem by con nect ing ad di tion al 828 or 896 FireWire clud ing mics, guitars, synths, keyboards, drum machines mastering. au dio in ter fac es as your needs (or, ahem, fi nanc es) and even effects proces sors. Then moni tor everything via www.sweetwater.com/896hd GigaPulse Convolution Reverb and “Roll-your-own” Sample Library Modeling VST Plug-in for Windows Does this sound familiar? You’re doing post-production and the client says There was a time when it seemed like the people with Macs had all the cool he’s not happy with the glass breaking sound effect you created. Oh great — now software, but oh how times have changed! With an industry giant behind it, Giga produc tion grinds to a halt. But wait! You have a SoundServe account, so you tech nol o gy (best known as the engine behind GigaStudio) has taken off in log in, fi nd the glass breaking sound that the client likes, download it, lay it in the all sorts of new and interesting ways. TASCAM’s GigaPulse ($299 list) is an track and you’re right back on schedule. all-new convolution reverb plug-in for Windows. Now you can build your own custom sound library from the world's largest da ta base of pro sound effects, samples, loops and multi-sampled instru ments. Running under the VST protocol, GigaPulse generates the most lifelike Search and au di tion rever ber a tion you’ve ever heard by using actual recordings made in real acoustic thousands of librar ies spaces, plus the tools to sample your own rooms! Breakthrough technology adds and down load only the microphone modeling, select able room position and tail extension process ing to sounds you need. Why the con vo lu tion en gine pay for sounds you’ll for detailed control over nev er use? the reverb sound. But the real revo lu tion is SoundServe is the the re verb quali ty – so key to over 250,000 real is tic that samples, royal ty-free sounds in stru ments and vo cals from the biggest and best sound providers, including: Sound Ideas, Zero-G, BBC, come to life. Q Up Arts, Sampleheads, and many more. Choose SoundServe-SL (music loops, riffs, instrument sounds, hits and one-shots in ACID, WAV and AIFF formats), SoundServe-FX Many of the record ed (stock sounds, foley, noises and ambiences in WAV and AIFF format), or SoundServe-M impuls es were made with orches tral music in mind, so there’s an impres sive col- (key-mapped instruments compatible with most samplers and formats like MachFive, lection of concert halls to choose from. Several Holly wood soundstages were also GigaSampler, EXS24, HALion, Soundfont, Kontakt, Unity and more). record ed for fi lm scoring with samplers. But not every one is conservatory-trained, Want to give it a test drive? Search and preview samples, sound effects, or multi- so there’s a collection of great drum rooms, reverb plates and echo chambers. samples at www.soundserve.com. Don’t have a SoundServe account yet? Get it There’s also a selection of some of the best signal processors ever made – from exclu sive ly from Sweetwater. For as little as $199.99, you can open an account and digital reverbs to vintage tube EQs – and a great set of modern and vintage start download ing exactly the sounds you need. You also get your own Sound Bay, mi cro phones from all of the top names in the business. As TASCAM releas es which is your own personal library of purchased samples, so no matter where you more libraries, the list of impulses is sure to grow. are, you can log on and instantly access the sounds you’ve purchased. www.sweetwater.com/gigapulse www.sweetwater.com/soundserve

MOVING?TALK TO AN EXPERT!MOVED? Our SalesCall, Engineersfax or e-mail know us their your stuff new and address can help and you don’t select miss exact anly issuethe right of Sweetgear! Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 14

In this issue of Sweet Notes, I’m going to take are actual photos of the specifi c guitar we have in a break from our tour of the company to talk about stock, not a “repre sen ta tion” of the model or color, something near and dear to me and relatively “new” but the real guitar that’s in our warehouse! to Sweetwater: guitars! Okay, we’ve actu al ly been You get what you see. Beyond being carrying guitars for years and years, but we haven’t able to see your guitar on our website, you have the really come out and screamed: “Hey, if you need addi tion al peace of mind in knowing that it hasn’t a great guitar at a great price, you need to call been handled by a hundred kids hammer ing out Sweetwater!” until the last year or so. speed metal riffs and rubbing it against pentagram- I wanted to take this opportunity to give you shaped belt buckles (and I mean that in the nicest our inside perspective on how a decidedly hands- way possible). on and seemingly low-tech product category like Your guitar, following its glamour photo shoot guitars fi ts in with a company that is so focused on hard-disc recording, high-end for our website, is most likely resting gently in its case in our temper a ture and humid i ty elec tron ic keyboards, and all manner of technology-based products. And the only con trolled warehouse. If not, it’s either on display in our sales depart ment being reason I say low-tech is the “modern” guitar has been around for well over half a loving ly admired by our sales crew or carefully placed and cared for in our gorgeous century. Howev er, there are some compel ling reasons to come to Sweetwater when in-house guitar room (also temper a ture and humidity controlled, of course) where it’s being guarded by our fi erce, guitar-loving sales staff and a rather large, ill-tempered Rottweiler named “Boomer.” We set you up! Before your guitar is shipped to you, we make sure it is all you expected (and hope- fully more) by inspecting it and setting it up before it leaves the shop. This is no simple “once over” — it’s a full on inspection and adjustment of every single detail on the instrument! A 46-point checklist is carefully fi lled out for every single guitar we sell before it ships off to you. Adjustments to the neck and action are made to en sure it meets its fac to ry you need (or really want — I know how we musicians often get confused with speci fi ca tions. We’re also able to adjust the action for person al prefer enc es or put the “need” vs. “want” thing, espe cial ly when communicating with our signifi cant on your preferred brand of strings. others) a new guitar — acoustic or electric. The goal is to allow you to take a great playing instru ment out of the case and We’re really not new to this! As I hinted at above, we’ve sold guitars start making music right away! for quite a while (since the early 1990s, to be precise). The fi rst brand we carried was So, if you haven’t heard the message yet, let me make it offi cial and write it in from a wonder ful Cana di an compa ny, Godin. This was a natu ral for us because, in caps (even though I know it drives our Sweet Notes editor crazy): IF YOU NEED A addi tion to all of the great guitars they build, they produced instru ments compat i ble GREAT GUITAR AT A GREAT PRICE, YOU NEED TO CALL SWEETWATER! with the synth products we already sold! So the MIDI-ready Multiac was a perfect for us — Rock and Roll! Jeff (VP of Sales) — and our custom ers. Not long after this came Paul Reed Smith (an unbe liev able “premi um” guitar manu fac tur er), Martin, Gibson and many more — most recent ly the full range of Fender® guitars and basses, classic designs that had a huge impact Sweetwater Captures Second REX Award on modern music. We know our stuff. Sure, we’ve built a reputation in the industry as being Awards are all well and good, and pretty much every music store can claim to have the technology experts, but every Sales Engineer is also a musician and a bunch of won at least one of some sort. However, when a compa ny is recog nized by profes sion als us are deep into playing and record ing the guitar. Some are downright dangerously from within its own indus try for its achievements, such recog ni tion is something to good and have a number of presti gious album credits to their names. We even have truly be proud of. In 2003, Sweetwater received the Music inc. maga zine REX Award a few hard-core “collec tors” (isn’t that ultimately what all guitarists become?) on for “Custom er Ser vice Excellence” for the second straight year. staff, one of whom actu al ly has one of his guitars on loan to the Smithsonian! We can This is the kind of award you win two years in a row by having every employee describe the way a specifi c guitar plays, sounds and looks in language that guitarists dedi cat ed to empha siz ing custom er service, from the under stand! people who answer the phone to We have a LOT of choices. Instead of one small room — or even a big the knowledge able sales staff and room — with guitars on the walls, we have hundreds and hundreds of amazing guitars the Tech Support depart ment all in stock from Fender, Gibson, Paul Reed Smith, Adamas, Guild, Takamine, the way to the speed and accu ra cy Ova tion, Rodriguez, Brian Moore, Parker, Martin, Line 6, Gretsch and of our shipping team. more! A signifi cant percentage of our warehouse is nothing but gui tars and amps, What’s more, just as we were going to press with this issue of Sweet Notes, we and it seems to be growing on a daily basis. received word that we were recognized by Music and Sound Retailer as the “Best You can see what you’re buying. Our website is the most complete Multi-Store Dealer for Keyboards” for 2003. in the business, and if you go to our guitar section, you’ll see that in most cases, there We’re proud of all our em ploy ees and thrilled to be honored again by our peers!

GreatOur huge Jobs! warehouse Great People! is home Great to thousands Pay! Careers of the available hottest onnew the prod Sweetwateructs. Call us Team! at (800) (800) 222-4700 222- Sweet Notes / Spring 2004 / Page 15

Last issue I told you about our plans mics from Rode (the NT2000 and K2 to launch on online version of this column tube mic), BIAS Peak 4.0, three Gui- called (appropriately enough) Tech Notes tarFX proces sors from Alesis, the Sound- Online. Well, since then, I’ve been keeping Serve sample archives, a special look at the busy writing the columns and putting togeth er new Sweetwater Grand Pianos Version art and, in some instances, audio fi les that 3.0 CD-ROM (see page 5) and more than a give you a taste of just what the gear I’m few other surpris es. Almost all will include discussing sounds like. au dio demo fi les. Yeah, it looks like I’m This is particularly good timing, as it go ing to be busy. coincides with Sweetwater’s 25th Anniversary (see page Sweet Notes. What’s more, being able to post audio fi les is Naturally, with all the emphasis these days on high- 5 for all the details). As the company changes to bet- a terrifi c plus. I mean, it’s one thing to write about how res audio, I have a number of columns planned to help ter serve its custom ers in this bright new digital age, cool a particular piece of equipment might sound, but you make the leap to 24-bit / 96-kHz and beyond as our website will contin ue to play a signifi cant role in being able to let you actually hear the gear for yourself, painless as possi ble. I’m also under tak ing a huge project: keep ing ev ery one in stant ly up-to-date on new products, well that is off the charts! the very fi rst look at all the major video edit ing software, ser vic es and spe cial pric ing. So far, I’ve written columns on the Alesis Ion and from iMovie to Final Cut Pro. If you’re even thinking An drom e da synths, as well as about creat ing your own videos (music or other wise), their ModFX mod ules and the you won’t want to miss this one! ProLinear 720 DSP active One fi nal note: as you may or may not know, mon i tors. I’ve also covered the Sweetwater maintains an open forum on our website TASCAM Pocketstudio 5, where customers (or even non-customers) can go to some Earthworks products like dis cuss ideas, insights and issues with the top minds the superb Sig ma 6.2 moni tors and artists in pro audio. You can also discuss specifi cs and, by the time you get this issue, about various manufacturers and the products they I’ll have also posted features on make. What an incredible resource at our fi ngertips! Paul Reed Smith guitars, the Recently, a number of people requested a Tech dbx DriveRack Studio and a Notes Forum, so now we’ve got one! I spend any- whole lot more. where from 15 minutes to several hours of each day Besides giving you hands-on answer ing e-mail with specifi c questions about gear I reviews of specifi c gear, I’ve used have reviewed in both my regular Tech Notes feature or the space to discuss a variety of my online column. I enjoy answering your questions on top ics that range from home a one-to-one basis. But a lot of your questions are darn the ater systems to high-reso - good ones, and I’m pretty certain that a great many lu tion au dio. I even had a bit of oth ers would fi nd these discussions both infor ma tive fun explor ing the rarifi ed world and enter tain ing. The affordable Alesis ProLinear 720 DSP active moni tors. of ultra-high-priced audio phile So please, wherever possible, it would be terrifi c if This year actually marks the beginning of my 13th year equipment — anyone out there in the market for a you could post your questions on the Tech Notes Forum. of working with Sweetwater! Time does indeed fl y. My $26,000 turnta ble? Yes, you read that right: twenty-six I’m positive that lots of people will appreciate it. You very fi rst Tech Notes column appeared in the Summer thou sand bucks, and that doesn’t include the cartridge! can get there by simply going to the Sweetwater home 1992 issue of Sweet Notes, so that’s a lot of columns Naturally, as our studios evolve, more I’ve written over the years, as well as contrib ut ing lots and more of us are recording music that is of feature arti cles, reviews and working closely with the light years beyond the old 16-bit / 44.1-kHz compa ny in produc ing the Sweetwater Sample Librar ies compact disc standard. Today it’s a 24-bit for the Kurzweil K-Series instruments. world, with sampling rates of 96 kHz and The initial plan was to have a new column posted even higher! And the best news of all is that about every week or so, but as most of you know, plans prices for just about all the gear we might want or need has been dropping steadily, It’s a 24-bit world with making it easier than ever to put togeth er sam pling rates of 96 kHz and your person al dream studio. higher! The best news is that But I’m certainly not forgetting about prices have been drop ping, those of you who make your music up on making it easier than ever to the stage night after night. Truth is, I often build your dream studio... wish I was up there with you, as it’s been an awfully long time since I’ve felt that often go awry, despite our best intentions. But I’m happy amazing rush you get when you plug in to announce that by the time you read this, we’ll be and hit the first big chord. There is no Mine, all mine! A fl ame-top PRS Custom 22 Soapbar. back on track. Here is the correct URL for the column: other feeling like it, partic u lar ly on those special page and clicking on the “Forums” button under the www.sweetwater.com/fea ture/technotes nights when every thing is work ing and everyone in logo at the top of the page. When you get to the Forum Having unlimited space on our website is going to your band is total ly in the zone! page, scroll down to near the bottom and look for the be heaven, as I always seem to have a lot more to say The list of upcoming columns and reviews is stag- “Tech Notes Online” Forum. Drop in and give it a try. than can possibly fi t on one page of a typical issue of ger ing. Right now, I’m working on reviews of two hot new Meanwhile, I’ll see you back here next issue!

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Sweetwater Employee Pro fi le

Name: ALEXANDER JENKINS Real Life Hero: My parents who encour age Position: Senior Sales Engi neer me to go for my “impos si ble” dreams and Start Date: May 1, 2000 knew I would be success ful with them Education: BA in Music Theory and Compo - Guilty pleasure of choice: Ben & Jerry's si tion / Sound Recording ice cream and a good movie Where are you from originally? Utah How would your boss describe you? What was your occupation before com- Loves his family, is very particular about the ing to Sweetwater? Recording engi neer and details and spends more time helping his piano retail store manager clients than he can actually afford to Why did you fi rst apply for a job at How would your best friend describe Sweetwater? Let's see, a job learning and you? A nice guy with a dry sense of humor talking about record ing equip ment all day What did you dream about doing for — and getting paid for it! a living when you were growing up? In Foreign Languages: Afrikaans and very the 5th grade I decided to be a fi lm compos er rough Spanish or photographer for National Geograph ic. Technical Strengths: Recording and mixing, confi guring hard disk and MIDI systems What in your life best prepared you for the work you do here at Sweetwater? Instruments you play: Violin, piano and guitar Jobs growing up that taught me the value of hard work and several years of experience in Gear you Own: Flat panel iMacG4, MBox (Pro Tools), Mackiecontrol, Mackie 24/8bus, the recording industry FantomS88, Oberheim Matrix1000, Kurzweil MK-12, Blueber ry mic, AT4033, CM700, AT835b What do you enjoy most about being part of the Sweetwater Team? Always shotgun mic, Mackie HR monitors, VoiceMasterPro, Penta, BlueTube, Avalon U5, Tascam having someone around me who knows an answer when I don't dual DATdeck, Yamaha acoustic guitar . . . and it goes on What’s the most important thing you've learned at Sweetwater? That the Family Info: My beautiful wife Angela and our two boys Mitchell and Adam one constant in this industry is change. Also, just because something is in print (or on the Other stuff we should know about you: I can balance a double bass on my chin. I Internet) doesn't necessarily mean it's true. enjoy snow skiing and anything outdoors. Now where are those Indi ana moun tains? Describe the most dramatic situation in which you provided the “Sweetwater Personal Motto: If you worry, you die. If you don't worry, you still die. So don’t worry. Difference” for a customer or the most unusual/creative solu tion to a custom er Favorite Magazine: Anything with nice pictures of recording studios or nature (Mix, problem: This is seriously a daily occurrence for me so it’s tough to isolate just one example. National Geographic and so forth) Everything I do is “above and beyond” what they have expe ri enced else where.