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PG Music PowerTracks Pro Audio 12 MultiPAK 2009 for Windows Reviews

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PG Music PowerTracks Pro Audio 12 MultiPAK 2009 for Windows

  • Includes PowerTracks Pro Audio 12 plus RealDrums Sets 1-3New features to the PowerTracks Pro Audio seriesAudio Chord Wizard Version 2.0RealDrumsThe ability to ReMix/ ReArrange existing .mp3 filesPrecise “Floating point” tempos (e.g. 120.514 BPM)Copy/Paste Song Lyrics to lead sheet,MIDI Normalize,Split MIDI Drum notes to tracksAuto- SEQ BackupAutomatic Audio Cross Fades,Enhanced notation and audio editingSupport for the Tranzport Wireless DAW ControllerRealDrumsEasily learn to play MP3 songs by s

PowerTracks Pro Audio 12 MultiPAK 2009 for Windows includes PowerTracks Pro Audio 12—a fully featured music sequencing and digital recording program—with over 20 powerful features new to the series, such as Audio Chord Wizard 2.0, re-Mix/arrange features, and Vista Support. It also includes RealDrums (Sets 1-20), which gives you the ability to instantly create audio drums tracks with real recordings of top studio drummers. It also comes with the first two sets of RealTracks, which give you a

List Price: $ 199.00

Price: [wpramaprice asin=”B002785OL8″]

PG Music Band-in-a-Box EverythingPAK Win Crossgrade from any Version (2011 edition) Reviews

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PG Music Band-in-a-Box EverythingPAK Win Crossgrade from any Version (2011 edition)

Save BIG when you buy today!

List Price: $ 399.00

Price: [wpramaprice asin=”B004M81K6O”]

More Music Notation Products

Finale 2011 LabPack (5-user) Reviews

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Finale 2011 LabPack (5-user)

  • Compose, arrange, notate, and print engraver-quality sheet music
  • New Garritan sounds with an updated Aria Player, plus external sound library support for VST/AU instruments and effects
  • New improved lyric entry and spacing, and easier staff layout
  • New music education worksheets, expanded percussion playback and much more
  • Multiple options to enter your music using a MIDI keyboard, computer keyboard, mouse, mic, or scanner

From inspiration to applause, music comes alive with Finale. Easily compose, arrange, notate, and print publisher-quality sheet music that plays back with world-class sounds. Whether you’re creating orchestral film scores or .MP3 files for your iPod, Finale offers you the power, flexibility, and freedom to create any music you can imagine. Finale 2011 frees you from software constraints so you can focus on music. This new version includes many new features including: improved lyric entry and spa

List Price: $ 850.00

Price: [wpramaprice asin=”B003RDVG7I”]

Sibelius 6 First – Easy Music Notation Software Reviews

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Sibelius 6 First – Easy Music Notation Software

Single English Edition. Software-Sibelius. With CD-ROM. 5.5×7.5 inches. Published by Sibelius.If you feel more comfortable with a guitar or keyboard than the intricacies of musical notation, Sibelius First software is for you. The program features easy-to-use templates and plug-ins that help you create lead sheets, guitar tablature, and complete scores. Simply play your MIDI keyboard or MIDI guitar-or use your computer mouse and keyboard-and Sibelius First turns your music into notes and chord s

List Price: $ 129.00

Price: [wpramaprice asin=”B00487YJAI”]

Related Music Notation Products

Notation Technologies Play Music PC Reviews

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Notation Technologies Play Music PC

  • Turn your computer into a music studio!
  • No Music theory knowledge needed.
  • You can also use any MIDI keyboard or any MIDI instrument to insert notes and play back your song.

Turn your computer into a music studio! Notation Technologies has revolutionized the music notation software market by creating Play Music…the easiest music composition software available. No Music theory knowledge needed. Play Music’s user friendly interface will easily guide you through the composition process…simply click on the instrument sound you want (Up to 24 at one time!) and Play Music will play back your song with those sounds! Add lyrics and text to your song to complete your mas

List Price: $ 49.95

Price: [wpramaprice asin=”B00007BGSE”]

EarMaster 5 Reviews

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EarMaster 5

  • Ear-training software with instant interactive feedback on answers
  • Standard and Jazz tutors with over 650 lessons; customizable exercises
  • On-screen guitar, piano, violin, bass, and others; variable tone range–from soprano to bass
  • Sing, play, or clap answers into a microphone; automatic guitar tuner and metronome
  • Plays in any of 128 instrument sounds; progress reports; designed for all musicians

If you want to sing, improvise or jam with complete confidence, you need to recognize all the sounds around you. Ear training can make this possible. Making music with others will become easy and fun! EarMaster is your personal teacher. It is easy to use and provides instant feedback. EarMaster includes a Standard Tutor with over 400 lessons as well as a Jazz Tutor with over 200 lessons. Both will guide you and automatically increase in difficulty as your ear improves. Create your own customized

List Price: $ 59.95

Price: [wpramaprice asin=”B001DF3OOU”]

SMG Review: AweSome Musical Instruments’ Telecaster Hyper-Mod™ Control Plate

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FROM GOOD TO AWESOME

Innovative products are often conceived when seeking to improve upon an existing design. In the case of Thomas Wnorowski, he recognized that the tonal possibilities residing within his Strat copy fell far short of their potential, so he set out to do something about it. By replacing the standard pickup selector with a series of individual switches, he more than doubled his palette of sounds. Today Thomas boasts a number of mods for getting the most out of one’s axe, a patented Pickup Tone Multiplier™ (PTM) switching system, and a company that lives up to its name: AweSome Musical Instruments. We shared with Thomas a sad tale of a stock Telecaster that only offers three tones. Shaking his head with understanding, he sent over his Telecaster 2-pickup Hyper-Mod™ control plate to break us free from our tonal restrictions.

PRESTO CHANGE-O! IT’S A SUPER TELE!

The entire mod is contained in a single unit. A black acrylic control plate serves as the base for a stacked master volume and tone pot, and three toggle switches. The genius behind the mod, the PTM switching system, is mounted to the bottom of the plate and sits within the control cavity. This unit installs as easily as one can imagine with a solderless connector block replacing the time and trouble of traditional methods requiring soldering tools, a steady hand, and a good dose of patience. I literally had the mod installed within ten minutes and that’s because I took extra time to desolder the leads from the stock plate rather than just clipping them.

DOUBLE YOUR TONES – DOUBLE YOUR FUN

A standard Tele offers three tonal pickup options: bridge, neck, and bridge/neck in normal phase wired in parallel. With the Hyper-Mod™, three more possibilities are opened up allowing for the maximum number of configurations from this two-pickup setup: bridge/neck in reverse phase wired in parallel, bridge/neck in normal phase wired in series, and bridge/neck in reverse phase wired in series. With the newly modded Tele running through a Blackheart Little Giant Half Stack and a touch of reverb, I recorded some short passages to give you an idea of the expanded spectrum of sounds.

1. Bridge (stock)

2. Neck (stock)

3. Bridge/Neck Normal Phase Wired in Parallel (stock)

4. Bridge/Neck Reverse Phase Wired in Parallel (mod)

5. Bridge/Neck Normal Phase Wired in Series (mod)

6. Bridge/Neck Reverse Phase Wired in Series (mod)

THE FINAL WRAP

Be All That You Can Be is a slogan proudly promoted by the US Army. Were it not under their legal jurisdiction, AweSome Musical Instruments would have every right adopting it for their core business which turns the equivalent of guitar caterpillars into fully matured tonal butterflies (work with me here – I’m waxing poetic). I would really like to see the control plate offered in chrome, rather than the singular choice of black acrylic, as it’s more common to stock and I imagine there are others, such as myself, who simply prefer that look, but for the greatest tonal options from your Tele with the least amount of hassle, this is the way to go.

It should be noted that for those of you with 3-pickup Tex-Mex or Nashville Teles, AweSome offers a mod that septuples (7 times!!!) your choices for a total of 35 possible tones.

DIRECT PRICE – $127.97 + shipping


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SMG Review: EMG’s ST12 Prewired Drop-In Pickguard for Strats

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A LITTLE HISTORY

EMG, Inc. is well known throughout the guitar community as a leader in active pickup systems. What you may not know is that the company, which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary, originated as Dirtywork Studios, then Overlend, before settling on its current name, which is short for ‘electro-magnetic generator’. What you may also not realize is despite a strong reputation for active pickups, EMG also offers a variety of passive pickups. Included in these offerings is the ST12, a complete system designed to drop in to your Strat with minimal fuss.

MINIMAL FUSS…

The ST12 comprises two humbucking OC1 (open coil) pickups: bridge and neck. These are pre-wired and built into a choice of white or black pickguard. Controls include a 3-way pickup selector, master volume, and master tone. Installation is easily managed thanks to EMG’s Quick-Connect system.

With no soldering required and the only wiring requiring replacing the stock input jack with the included replacement jack, installation was a breeze. It literally took me longer to unscrew and pull out the old pickguard than to install the ST12.

MAXIMUM IMPACT…

Giving the ST12 a test run, I ran the axe through a Blackheart Little Giant Half Stack. The bridge pickup performed with clarity and leanness without ever sounding too bright or thin. True to the signature Strat sound, aggressive picking came through with punch and there was a quality to it that begged to be shifted into overdrive. Flipping to the neck pickup, the tone filled out with a round and heavy bottom end (for those of you who like that kinda thing…). The character came across more mellow but there was still a bit of that punch. Depending on your perspective, blending the two pickups could be thought of as rolling off the lower frequencies of the neck setting for a more balanced tone or inflating the bridge setting with fullness and a more dynamic frequency range. All in all, the ST12 offers three voices different enough from each other to provide versatility while maintaining familiar qualities that provide a cohesive palette of tones within a single unit. A standout quality at all settings is the clarity and quietness. Hum-free is a beautiful thing.

THE FINAL WRAP

If you’re looking to experiment with different sounds for your Strat and would rather spend more time playing and less time hunched over your work bench with your soldering iron – or worse, paying someone to do it for you – the EMG ST12 is worth a look. Not only can you maintain your stock pickguard as is, it will take you less time and hassle to install the entire unit than replacing a single pickup the old fashioned way.

The sounds are a bit on the generic side, but maintain some classic Fender Strat characteristics. For clean, clear, noise-free output, you can’t do much better than EMG.

Street Price – $189

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SMG Review: Epiphone Limited Edition Riviera Custom Royale P93

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Getting down with the Epiphone Limited Edition Riviera Custom Royale P93!

EPIPHONE GUITARS

The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Music Company, who also owned Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson’s main rival in the archtop market. Their professional archtops, including the Emperor, Deluxe, Broadway and Triumph, rivaled (and some contend surpassed) those of Gibson.

OFF THE RACK

The Epiphone Riviera has a warm, vintage tone that is perfect for instrumentals or clean based styles.  A double cutaway, semi-hollow body gives this guitar the classic style that many guitarists have long loved and continue to play. The three P-90 single-coil pickups produce the raw tone that many blues and rock stylists seek. The P90′s traditional combination of high output and brilliant tone is still considered a favorite among many top musicians. The Bigsby tailpiece delivers superb vibrato and has been guitarists favorite for decades. A pearl white finish and gold hardware add a touch of class to the vintage design. The neck is not the fastest, but let’s face it, it’s not meant to be. The smooth comfortable action is very grippy and fits the hand nicely. The Ltd Edition Riviera Custom Royale P93 would be a nice addition for any serious musician looking for a classic axe.

THE SPECS

  • Double cutaway semi-hollow guitar
  • Laminated maple top Arched with hand-scalloped bracing
  • Sound post Laminated maple back & sides
  • Set mahogany neck
  • 1.68″ nut width C-shape neck Adjustable truss rod
  • 24.75″ scale length Rosewood fingerboard with mother-of-pearl inlays
  • 12″ fingerboard radius
  • 22 frets
  • 1-ply binding on fingerboard and body
  • Three Alnico V P-90 pickups
  • 3 volume controls 1 tone controls 3-way toggle pickup selector
  • Tune-o-matic bridge
  • Bigsby vibrato tailpiece
  • Gold hardware Grover tuners Pearl white finish

THE LOW DOWN

The Epiphone Riviera is an awesome, classic guitar that has powerful clean tone and perfect for blues, rock and country. With its smooth playability, you will get a lot out of this guitar. The three P-90 pickups will blow you away with all the clean tone combinations you can create. The Bigsby is always a great addition to any axe, delivering just the right amount of twang and vibrato. The semi hollow design makes this guitar light and comfortable. I found that the Ltd Edition Riviera Custom sounds best through VOX amplifiers. Test one of these babies out for yourself and discover the many brilliant tones you can create with this monster axe.

Pros: Bigsby tailpiece, P-90 pickups ,light weight, classic tone.

Cons: Thick neck.

Street price – $500 – $549

Till next week, thanks for reading and keep on shredding!

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SMG Review: Gibson Dethklok Thunderhorse Explorer

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GIBSON GUITARS

The Gibson Guitar Corporation is an American manufacturer of guitars. Gibson also builds: Epiphone, Kramer, Valley Arts, Tobias, Steinberger, and Kalamazoo guitars.

Company founder Orville Gibson made mandolins in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the late 1890s. He invented arch top guitars by using the same type of carved, arched tops found on violins. By the 1930s, the company was also making flattop acoustic guitars, as well as one of the first commercially available hollow-body electric guitars.  In the early 1950s, Gibson introduced its first solid-body electric guitar and its most popular guitar to date—the Les Paul. After being purchased by the Norlin corporation in the late 1960s Gibson’s quality and fortunes took a steep decline until early 1986, when the company was rescued by its present owners.

OUT OF THE CASE

Inspired by The hilarious Adult Swim Cartoon Metalocalypse. This axe is played by lead guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf. The Dethklok “Thunderhorse” Explorer is equipped with two Gibson BurstBucker humbuckers that are both powerful and articulate. These Heavy Metal masterpieces will have you chugging away till your fingers bleed! The thick sustain is long lasting and makes your tone as versatile as any guitar out there. The set mahogany and rosewood neck is both fast and comfortable. This is definitely a great metal axe with all the trimmings, for less then you would expect to pay.

THE SPECS

  • Explorer body style Mahogany body (non-chambered)
  • Set mahogany neck Slim
  • Ebony fingerboard
  • 22 medium-jumbo frets
  • White swirl acrylic dot inlays
  • Gibson BurstBucker 2 bridge pickup with Alnico II magnet
  • Gibson BurstBucker 1 neck pickup with Alnico II magnet
  • 3-way pickup selector
  • 2 Volume/1 Tone control with black top hat knobs
  • Chrome mini-Grover tuners
  • ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge/stopbar tailpiece
  • Corian nut
  • 24-3/4″ scale
  • 1.695″ nut width

THE LOW DOWN

The Dethklok Explorer is a phenomenal axe that you will enjoy for the rest of your days. This axe might not be for everyone but for those who can handle the larger size of a Gibson Explorer, you will be in Metal bliss. It seems to be a bit lighter than the classic Gibson Explorers, but not by much. If you are into Explorers, do yourself a favor and check one out ASAP! Who knows how many of these bad boys Gibson will produce. So go out and get you some Skwisgaar magic…. and shred the night away like the master himself!

Pros: Mahogany body, fast neck, awesome sustain, powerful tone, great feel.

Cons: N/A

Street Price – $1600 – $1950

Till next time, thanks for reading and keep on shredding!

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