My Visit To Guitar Center

 This week I spent some time in the Hobby Lobby of Music, Guitar Center. I am a musician, so I do stop by here quite a bit, but today I'd like to share some feedback about equipment I use or recommend that I have purchased here. 


Favorite Keyboard at the Moment

Korg SV-1

 This simple looking set of keys is not you average digital piano. Fellow musicians who have also played guitar understand that each and every guitar has a unique personality and vibe. The SV-1 is a perfect example of such an instrument. This keyboard does in fact use digital samples much like other digital pianos, but the electronics of this instrument is what sets it apart. The SV-1 contains all of the mechanical parts that an amplifier uses, including a valve and a built-in tube. This gives it a true vintage sound of an old rhodes or electric piano by capturing those overtones for the purest effect. It is currently going for $1,499 but truly worth every penny in quality.

Portable Recording Equipment
 

Tascom DR-05

Zoom H4N

To the left is a Tascam Dr-05 portable, digital recorder that I myself recently purchased to record covers and original songs I'm working on. I bought this item because I wanted something inexpensive, but better quality than the usual handheld voice recorder. I found the built-in microphones to have very good sound quality. I am not enough of a professional audio engineer to rate the sound quality on an extremely technical basis, but I do have a fairly good pair of ears, and according to them, I am very happy with the sound quality of the DR-05. The Zoom H4N is reasonably better with bigger microphones and a three track output, but at $399 versus   $99 and my current needs, I went with the Tascam.

Blue Ribbon Woodpecker Studio Mic

This is a high-end microphone that I was personally able to test at my friend's recording studio. The sound quality is amazing, but I mostly wanted to highlight the rich detail it has in this pic. Pretty fancy for a mic!  (and no, not because I'm a Pecker myself.)  There is a cool proximity effect that, if used properly, can really enhance the bottom end tomes nicely. It already has a dip in the middle of its response curve, so you don't need to overdo it on the equalizing. It can run you around $1,299 so it's not quite on my Christmas list but someday, we can hope.

There are countless amounts of toys I could talk about from this place, but I am currently just working with the Korg SV-1 and Tascam for my YouTube/social media purposes. Other than that, just practice, practice, practice. What type of instruments or equipment do you use? Why do you prefer it? If not related to instruments, what kind of gadgets excite you when it comes to music, such as speakers, music downloading websites, stereo systems, record players, etc.?