Circa Vita

The long-awaited headphone repair was completed yesterday, and I went to pick it up today. Amazingly, it came back brand-new, i.e. replacement as a whole!! It came back in a commercial packaging material, with all the accessories including an adapter plug tip and a leatherette bag that I lost somewhere long time before. So I've got a brand-new MDR-7506 out of my 10 year-old, broken headphone plus 90 bucks. Cool!! It was brought in like this.... BEFORE AFTER

This heavy mod Fender Custom Shop Strat has been my main guitar for quite a long time. It's just that I invested too much on this cat to take it with me everywhere I gig. I mean, I would not be able to reconstruct in case of theft. Has 3-piece body and v-shaped neck just like Eric Clapton. It's not a Relic but is with normal wear and tear over twenty years adding a nice aged appearence to it. Yeah, I like how an aged lacquer face looks. What makes it a real "one of a kind" is the pickup configuration it has: Bartolini V90s, Seymour Duncan Little 59, Bartolini V90s, Seymour Duncan JB from neck to bridge. It has a 3 position strat pickup selector and another small 3 position flip switch that is activated when the strat PU selector is at the middle position to deliver signals from Bartolini PU/PUs as selected on the small flip switch. On the back of the head is the old Custom Shop logo. Crocodile Locking Pegs were not so popular when Sperzel was in fashion back in ten ye...

Another element of the blog is the posting related to my translation/interpretation activities. This includes column postings exploring translation/interpretation technicality or seeking helps/opinions concerning some specific topics. Ever since I started translation/interpretation back in 12 years, I've been self-taught with respect to the translation/interpretation, seeking resources mainly from the books commercially available and from the Internet as required, while cumulating experiences in on-the-job, tried-and-true practices over the entire career. I commenced to offer truly commercial or paid services when I was hired on the location in the US at a language service company, and eventually became a freelancer after working as an interpreter for a company in Japan. Well it started off as a source of little pocket money to check out some concerts, and is full-fledged in the fields ranging from musical/entertainment-oriented materials to legal, financial, ecological, and some m...

One of my favorite Alto solos.

It says "Thomas Pridgen and Tony Royster Jr. in a classic drum shed circa 2005. Courtesy of GospelChops.com. Unreleased footage from SHED SESSIONZ VOL. 1. " Well one thing about gospel music is that it constitutes the grass roots ground where all those young musical talent to grow while serving and worshiping God. And look how far they're reaching out once fledged out there. We don't have any occasion in Japan, or probably elsewhere.

Amid the world trend where everybody is just trying to sample real Rhodes or Wurlitzers, this one stands out for its synthesis approach to achieve the VST to act like a real instrument. Everybody should see its benefits by checking out the uploaded demos.

One of the best free Piano VSTis. It sounds great but I prefer GPO included in SONAR I use.

A "Super Standard" tone module for free. It's just unbelievable that I can get it for nothing lately....

This is the virtual synth/efx that sums up to nearly 6 to 7 grands if you'll get the hardware version of them at their MSRP back in 10 years. Today, it is just 200 dollars as I earlier informed. It comes with a dongle/iLok that may impose issues if you have installed this in your laptop to bring it over to your recording session, but you left your key back home!!

A piano module that is so real.... so real that it even simulates the piano sounds that I can afford in real life.... The commercial version of it is just astonishing as you check the demo. This free one also has the same fidelity but on a honky-tonk piano. I love it along with their Rhodes!

It doesn't say that it supports VST on the top page, but it does in its "Project" page. The screenshot reminds me of some historic aplications...

I ended up on this free DAW ware as I browse. It looks like just about enough to benefit all those VST resources in music production if you can afford 20 buck upgrade which will enable 8 track 1hr audio.

I really can't maneuver this GUI. Maybe it's not for guitar dudes like me... Web reference suggests that this plugin is highly accredited. I really do not know this GUI preventing me from fully appreciating this plugin, but I don't see any advantage so far... Can somebody enlight me a bit?

A full-fledged guitar rig sim for free. I like the pedals, especially its overdrive. The set back may be its footprint though...

O Jeez! It's so nasty that this goes for free!! AradazAmp is created by an Indonesian student, Arie Ardiansyah. It looks like he's also a guitarist of a local band, but what is smoking is not his guitar, but his PC, and it was reported on his blog that, his PC died the other day. I kinda understand why... O I just found that he is also a Blogspotter! Probably I could leave notes for Mr. Ardiansyah sometime... But hey if you have any extra buck for him and his genious works, he's accepting donations. Is he aware the fact that a free VST guitar amp sim of this quality is like a strafe taking out all those pricey sim softs!? It's just too good to be true guitar amp sim and I am unable to find anything of better quality yet. There really is no spot to be pointed out on this sim, but if I dared so to do, I would suggest to improve the behaviour in case where the guitar volume is less than ten.

KORG Trinity Pro with HDR Option This is one and only key I have. It cost me all the recording and synth rigs I had back then. It was around 4 grand in Japan and 7 grand in the US back in a decade. However, with its advanced and integrated DAW functionality, it was a good deal; it really eliminated my synth rack, hard disk recorders, and audio mixer. I traded in all the BOSS stomps together to make it 4 grand. All my music sample is made out of this keyboard without any external recorder/ synth. As a matter of fact, those recordings were from my Berklee days where I was exploring the world of composition first in my lifetime. It is still my main keyboard only with its MIDI functions. Though still there is a big enthusiasts' community of this key, I should admit it sounds and looks obsolete today, and if you wish to have the equivalent synthesis, you can have it installed on your PC: Korg has released a software bundle called Legacy Collection which includes its Wave Station, M1 syn...

Picture to be posted in the first opportunity I go to my parent's place. This is my main electric from Fender Custom Shop with heavy modification by Guitar Violence. Somehow, the cat ends up in my parents' place so I've got to go get it... Modification includes; 1) two humbuckers (Duncan Little 59 and Trembucker JB) plus two single coils (bartolini V90S) 2) pearloid 3-ply pickguard 3) crocodile pegs 4) pre-Gotoh Wilkinson VS-Vintage Bridge I'll cover it again when the pictures become available.

A classic nylon string guitar of a luthier of world fame Manuel Caceres of Casa de Alcangel Fernandez. This is the only guitar that I have with today's price tag in six figures... I wouldn't even think about having any autograph on it like I did for Godin...

I took this guitar to play nylon string guitar parts on the stage and recording. No mod whatsoever and I use it "as is." The only mod that I used to have was the autographs by five members of the Rippingtons on the top, including Russ Freeman who said "I do not want to do this.. You know, we make records and playing gigs with this..." He's darn right and I decided to wipe them off with enamel remover from CVS that I bought on the way back from the concert on the day. But I still love their music though. I wouldn't say this can replace the traditional classical nylon string guitars, but it just sounds so great when plugged to an amplifier or DI.

Gibson ES 165 Limited Edition in 1991. Its Gibson 59 model pickup is quite powerful and, in my opinion, boomy. There is a minor scratch on the neck. That's about only the degradation it has from the original condition. Actually the maple on all over the body is quite beautiful and is getting more and more beautiful as time ellapses. Has an ebony bridge from Germany and that's the only mod for this guitar. It works excellent with a little Fender amp as I mentioned in a previous posting. The only con about this guitar is, it's too heavy.

A schecter made in Korea I presume. I found it about a year ago in a second hand suparstore in Chiba, and finally bout it when the price went down to 400 bucks. Well it sounds and looks great for a 400 buck guitar. The body is a sort of shallower than other full acoustic guitars such as ES or L, about 3" to 4", resulting in less bottom. However, it does sound louder than I thought probably because the top is about half thick of my ES165. First I thought the maple pattern was a print, but turned out to be real maple that is only on the top. Not bad at all, isn't it?

The second Ibanez. I got it professionally tuned up and modified (PUs, wiring, fret wire replacement....) Pu configuration is Duncan 59 Trembacker, Bartolini V90s, and Duncan JB Trembacker from neck to bridge. I prefer this one to the RG only because the number of frets being 22 allowing pickup placements closer to Fender Strats. I am contented this guitar sounding very close to my Fender only that this has two studs on the bridge resulting in less sustain; six screws has more sustain, you know... You see the JB installed upside down only for the coil tap wiring's purpose. As a matter of fact, 59 is installed upside down as well that nobody can tell because there's no Duncan logo on it. The sound sample of my musics are all recorded with this guitar.

This is the first Ibanez I bought. After the application of several additional oil stain, it has this nice oiled mahogany texture. Only that I could have only 22 frets, this Ibanez could sound just right for me: Current 24 fret nect inevitably shift the neck pickup a little closer to the bridge, resulting in more muffled "half tone" (tapped bridge + middle) compared to the original Fender Strats. But we never know... Probably I could start a mod project with this guitar... I tried numbers of PU configurations on this guitar before I applied the best out of them to my Fender Custom Shop Strat. And I figured I like Bartolini V90S that is on this guitar also (the white PU in the pictures)

SM57: A microphone that represents rock guitar sounds together with Vintage 30 cab... I really do not need any other things before exploring outside of this killer combination... C3000: I bought this for Full Acoustic Jazz models, turned out to be the mic for all the acoustic instruments/vocals. I am not so much knowledgeable of any other studio quality microphone except for U87 that we had in the recording studio of a music production company where I used to work for, but I would say C3000 is very bright and strident at times compared to U87 but I love C3000 better somehow. C-2: I work on my podcast recording with this microphone that comes in a pair. I split the pair and share with the other narrator to maintain persistency in the quality. We really do not have to be in a same studio lately to get the stuff recorded... The sound file is delivered to my SkyDrive account over the Internet and kaboom! I have all the required parts recorded elsewhere. It works wonders for minimum invest...

This I bought from one of my friends in my law school days in Japan, getting some inspiration from great Don Cherry ... I have been thinking that probably I should change the mouth piece after trying out some and finding one for my thin lips.

Only a few tube guitar amps have been produced in Japan, and this little 5-watt Japanese Fender is among them. It resembles the Tweed model from original US Fender, but is even smaller with a 5" speaker that even works better with its 12 AX7 and EL 84 than more popular 12" in my opinion. I sold the Ampegs before taking off from Japan, but kept this little guy only because it is small enough to fit in my parent's loft with all the other things I left. It works second to none with full acoustic guitars in a guitar trio sort of setting causing NO feedbacks as is always the case when you use Twin or any other amp with 12" speaker that I never use without setting "Bass" tweak at 7 o'clock i.e. zero. Everytime I flip the power, I recall the night I picked this cat out of the store - probably every guitarist can recall that kind of night - I was all sweat and panting just coming back from the nearest ATM where I drained the balance in the last minute having fi...

I took it from a music store near my previous office in Shibuya for about $200. I'd always wanted this when I was in Boston, but hey the best place to buy Japanese stuff is, without a doubt, Japan. So I decided to have it once I come back. The cab type of Yamaha DG was behind my guitar hero Allan holdsworth for a while. But I bought two Fender Hot Rods because I really never liked any digital amps I used. I had two Ampeg Reverb Rocket 212s previously, that proved to be too bulky to fit in 240 sx that I used to drive. So once in the US, I seek a little smaller ones. Hot Rods fit into the luggage compartment of 87 Merc Couger and 97 T-bird with two guitars (Godin/Ibanez hard cases) and a pedal board (with GT-5 and ROD,) being disguised from the outside of the car and reducing some theft risk. The tone characteristics of DG Stomp is somewhat different from the digital preamps of today, since it is not really "fully digital" so to speak, and how it reacts to the intonation yo...

Another instrument of my daughter that she got for her second birthday present. I thought this instrument is called melodica in general... turned out to have so many aliases including 'melodion (Suzuki), melodia (Diana), pianica (Yamaha), mylodica (Sound Electra), "melodihorn", and clavietta.' (Wikipedia)

My daughter's ukulele that I bought new at a second-hand franchise called Hard Off. The franchise can appear to be a thrift shop when you first step into one of their locations to see their inventories... But rather they are operating on fully commercial basis, and do have some new merchandises like this ukulele. Sounds great for 20 dollars. The franchise also has a large musical instrument sections in some of their locations where you can find decent used instruments. There's a Martin D-20 that I've kept my eye on for about a year now... Hope I won't find it gone before I grab it.

How's it going everybody! Today I ask you to double-check your perception about PC pianos. I remember I was very much discouraged to use it when I heared the first note or two out of my PC back in five years or so.... But alas the PC pianos today are far ahead of those standalone electric pianos. just check out the Pianist Dave Rich explaining how great it is and how it surpasses the standalones while noodling his PC piano: http://www.truepianos.com/videodave.php And best of all, it goes for just about 200 bucks!! And even there're some other really good piano VSTis for FREE!!.. and, and, and..... So if you've already had your PC to browse my blog, and hopefully a CASIO for your kid's birthday present or other MIDI keyboard you can get at ebay or wherever, then you are all set and can start playing today! * What you need to play Steinway or other great pianos on your PC are: 1) An ASIO-enabled Audio/Midi Interface unit You may NOT need one if your PC's audio driver ...

O I wish I could play like John... Somebody told me his first commercial recording was made for a Japanese trumpet player. Well he's also a big name here in Jazz/Fusion sort of stuff in line with his world fame but I'm not sure if his discography starts off from the recording in Japan.

All-time favorite funk quintessential. It looks like this footage of Night Music is uploaded from the recording of Japanese cable that I see in the captioned logo. He's the uncle of Snoop Dogg, right? Nobody would be surprised to find that.

Man I loved playing in gospel bands! That's about one thing I cannot help missing... Generally music here in Japan is not so much accessible as in the other countries, or at least in the US where live music can be found just'round the corner in your favorite pub or church. They Japanese don't need music somehow... Whether you're a music lover or a player, you'll bog down a big time once you find yourself being stuck here.