Here's a fun place where I want you to name your hardware/software setups, and, if you have multiple configurations, what you use them for.
---Instruments---
1) Viola
- My viola has been with me since my freshman year of high school. It is an M. Herrman ToneKlar from the early 70's. It's an okay instrument, but it's seen better days and is in need of an upgrade (I just don't have the $5000 to drop on a decent new instrument right now). I use tungsten core wrapped in silver for my bottom strings and nickel plated silver for my top strings (for anyone that plays, I use Pirastro Obligato's for my C and D, a Larson D, and a Jarger A.
2) Violin
- I actually just got the violin from my parents. They were using it as a mantelpiece, thought it was a viola, and didn't realize it was a functional instrument until I pointed it out. It needs repairs and appraising, so I can't be sure of the value or quality until then. It is an R. Schmidt from 1963.
3) Guitars - I really cheaped out on guitars, since I use them so rarely and really only need them for the rare occasion that I need to accompany someone or put down some backup.
A) Acoustic
- I have a Mitchell acoustic guitar that I purchased for an educational methodology class last year. I just restrung it, but I can't remember the brand. I think they're from Door County, WI. It's an okay guitar, but I really don't practice enough to make good use of it.
B) Electric
- Ibanez GIO. I really don't have any information on this, other than the pickups are badly shielded and it feeds back pretty wonderfully.
4) Homemade instruments
A) Garbage Funnel - 24.5 ft of hose pipe slipped through an opening drilled into the bottom of a garbage can. I use either a Kelly french horn mouthpiece or a Bach trombone mouthpiece, depending on the sound and range I want. Nothing is sealed in place to facilitate easier cleaning (garden hose doesn't have a spit valve
)
B) Improvised Percussion - I know it hardly qualifies as an instrument, but on several recordings (mainly classical music), I've used music stands, chair backs, tabletops, and other metal rims as percussion instruments. It works fairly well, even though it looks lame. As a sidenote, a dot matrix printer makes a very recordable sound.
C) Toilet Harp - This is a work in progress. Even though the toilet horn (see A but replace garbage can with toilet) didn't quite work, I'm trying to use a porcelain toilet bowl as the resonating body for a string harp. I have the feeling I'll have to use something deeper, but I have a broken toilet to use, so I want to try it.
-----Software and Synth-----
1) LMMS - I replaced FL studio with LMMS after I realized that LMMS will save in most universal tracker formats, allowing me to swap between computers and my DS for tracking on the road. It also allows me to retrack and instrumentate midi.
2) ARDOUR - like protools. It only works occasionally, and I really only use it for mastering recordings after they are finished, because it's a bitch to do live recording with it (I don't have an ALSA driver)
3) DS Instruments/Tools
A) Electroplankton - Apparently this is a VERY popular synth for industrial style recordings.
B) Roland Drum Machine - it's a combination of several TS and TRS setups. pretty sweet
C) Jam Sessions - Acoustic guitar simulator. Yay.
D) Nitrotracker - it's a Fasttracker II style tracker. Allows me to swap files between LMMS and my DS for working on music on the road.
