Gear Giveaway: Sonuus G2M

I am pleased to announce our first gear giveaway on Troll Cave Music. We will be giving away one brand new Sonuus G2M Universal Guitar To MIDI Converter to a lucky visitor. (If you're not familiar, check out the Troll Cave Music review here.)


The people at Peterson Tuners were kind enough to provide the prize for this giveaway.

Rules
* Entries will be accepted by email only, between September 1, 2009, and 11:59 PM CDT on October 15, 2009.

* Giveaway is open to residents of the United States 18 and over only.

* Entries must be sent to trollcavemusic@gmail.com with "G2M Giveaway Entry" in the Subject line. The body of the email must contain your first name and a simple "Yes" or "No" as to whether you would like to be added to the Peterson Tuners email list.

* One entry per email address.

* One prize will be awarded. A brand new Sonuus G2M Universal Guitar To MIDI Converter, Approximate Retail Value $129.00.

* All submissions will be used for this giveaway only. The only entry information shared will be your email address, provided to Peterson Tuners, only if you choose to subscribe. At the conclusion of the giveaway, all submissions will be deleted.

* Potential winner will be randomly chosen from all valid submissions. Potential winner will be contacted by email within 24 hours of the close of the contest. If a response is not received within 3 days (72 hours), Troll Cave Music reserves the right to pick another potential winner in their place.

* Winners name (First and Last Initial) and City, State will be published on Troll Cave Music when eligibility has been confirmed. If the winner wants additional "bragging rights", they may optionally provide a photo for posting with the winning announcement.

Read the full post here!

Guitar Rig 3 GO - free for a limited time!

Anyone who has looked into Guitar amp and effect modelers knows that Native Instruments' Guitar Rig is one of the top players in the field. The biggest problem I have with the modeling software is that it is expensive enough that most home studios can't necessarily justify buying more than one. True, the modelers are a lot cheaper than buying the physical gear that they model, but as my regular readers know, I'm focused on the best gear for the lowest cost.

So I'm happy to share the new that for a limited time, Native Instruments has made available a free version of Guitar Rig, Guitar Rig 3 GO.

Free? What's the Catch?
As you might imagine, it's not the full version. Instead, you get a single stack of Guitar Rig components: Skreamer (distortion), Lead 800 amp, Lead 800 4x12 cabinet, and Delay Man (chorus & vibrato). Also included are the tape deck (for playing an mp3, aif, aiff, or wav file into the rig), and a tuner. Also, there are a dozen presets already in the browser. You can also create your own rigs and save them. So you're getting a single rack of Guitar Rig gear - which is pretty good, since in the real world, most of us have only one rig to play through, too.

How do I get it?
Guitar Rig 3 GO is being offered in conjunction with ESP Guitars. To get to the download, you must go to ESP Guitar's site here, and enter their contest to win an ESP Kirk Hammett LTD KH-602 guitar (MSRP $1,599.00 , street price $1,200.00). Follow the instructions to download either the PC or Mac version. They will email you the registration code and download link.

How do I use it?
Guitar Rig 3 GO comes as both a standalone and a plug-in version. When you operate in standalone mode, you can switch to a 30 minute demo of the full version of Guitar Rig 3, so you can get a good taste, if you want to upgrade. The plug-in mode (32 bit VST), works great in REAPER. Drop it on your track and go. I've used it along side POD Farm (and even in the same fx chain with POD Farm) without any problems.

How Long Does This Last?
The bad news is this promotion is only good until September 30, 2009. Be sure you go to the site and get your copy before then. Check out all the details at: http://www.espguitars.com/news/news_guitarrig.html. Make a note of the code at the bottom of the first screen. You will need that in order to get Guitar Rig 3 GO.

Read the full post here!

Troll Cave Gear

I've had a few questions recently about what gear I'm currently using in my studio, so I thought it was about time to give a quick breakdown on my studio equipment. I will update this list as I add or remove gear.

Guitars
Washburn Idol Series WI-64
Samick Strat (80's vintage, I think)
Daisy Rock Wildwood Artist Acoustic/Electric
Daisy Rock Mojo Jojo Guitar (for decoration, mostly)

Bass Guitar
Canvas Bass CTFB10

Microphones
Peavy PVi2 Microphone (XLR)
Battlerap.com branded microphone (1/4")
Radio Shack Realistic micphone (1/4")
3 or 4 random generic PC microphones (mini plug)

Interface Hardware
Line 6 UX1 (Blackface)
M-Audio KeyStudio 25
Steinberg USB-2-MIDI Interface (2 x 2)

Misc. Guitar Hardware
Danelectro Black Coffee Metal Distortion Pedal
Epiphone Studio 10S practice amp

Monitors
Audiovox Home Theater System (junk, but it's all I have)

Computers
Dell 3.4 GHz Hyperthreaded CPU, 3 GB RAM (primary), Win XP SP3
Compaq 1.4 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM (slave), Win XP MCE
Dell 933 Mhz CPU, 512 MB RAM (slave), Win ME

Software
REAPER (primary DAW)
Psycle (nice retro tracker)
Audacity (sample editor)
Session (junk)
MIDI-OX (great for monitoring MIDI signals)
MIDIYoke (virtual MIDI cables to connect MIDI programs)

VSTs
I have a massive collection of several hundred VSTs (all free except for POD Farm)
My current favorites are:
POD Farm
Independence Free
ShortCircuit 1
Tweakbench plugs
GTG plugs
Kjaerhus Audio Classic series
ArcDev Noise Industries plugs


If you are interested in finding out more about any of my gear (buying recommendations, reviews, etc) drop me a line.

Read the full post here!