Back in October I reviewed Riffworks a software application designed to make recording your riffs a simple process so that you don’t get bogged down in the technology and lose that initial inspiration. They took it even further with Riffworld.com and RiffRumble which utilise Riffworks’ online recording collaboration features:

”RiffWorks recording software includes built-in online music collaboration and song posting - RiffWorld integrates these technologies into a modern social networking environment. Record quality songs with musicians around the world regardless of locations and schedules. Post your tunes. Win trophy icons and song contest prizes. All the world’s your stage!”

And the prizes are great by the way, check out the current Riff Rumble prizes, a Schecter C-1, a couple of Seymour Duncan pickups and some Instant Drummer sessions for your backing tracks worth over $1000.

Well now Sonoma Wireworks are releasing a FREE version of Riffworks called Riffworks T-4 available for immediate download for both Mac and PC! There are a few differences from the fully functioning paid version which I will outline below.

You can only create 4 layers in your recording rather than the 24 in Riffworks Standard.
You only get 1 InstantDrummers pack instead of the 9 you get with Riffworkds Standard.
T-4 doesn’t have a REX file player and doesn’t have ReWire functionality so that it can be used in conjunction with multitrack recording software such as Abelton Live.
The included Amp simulator plugins are AmpliTube® Duo LE & Studio Devil BVC rather than the full version of Amplitube 2 Live
7 effects (Wah, Multi-band Compression & Distortion, Modulation, Delay, Reverb, Compression, and British Style EQ)

”A free level of online collaboration is included with RiffWorks T4, which allows up to four musicians to collaborate on a song and chat simultaneously. RiffWorks loop-based recording workflow allows collaboration without latency or distance issues. As a track is recorded, it streams to other players and is perfectly in sync. All contributions are saved on RiffWorld.com and can be opened later in RiffWorks to continue recording. An unlimited number of musicians may contribute to a song (4 at a time).”

This is a pretty amazing piece of software to give away for free, you could be jamming with other musicians in a matter of minutes! Make sure you check out RiffWorld.com to hear some of the online collaboration possibilities already happening. Sonoma Wireworks have worked hard to make sure they have built a strong community around their software and Riffworks T-4 will really help solidify that community by making super easy multitrack recording with simple InstantDrummers backing tracks available to any guitarist with a computer! You never know I might be jamming with you later!

Riffworks Homepage.
Riffworld.com - Riffworks online collaboration community.
RiffRumble - Riffworks songwriting competition.

One of the most informative YouTube channels I’ve found recently is the ProGuitarShop.com channel. As you can see from the photo left and in more detail here, ProGuitarShop.com have created a studio setup for a consistent video and audio recording environment in order give an accurate representation of the products that they review. They have already uploaded 236 reviews and counting, so far focussing on effects pedals but there are going to be Amp and Guitar reviews down the line too. It is quite amazing just how many similar products are on the market so ProGuitarShop.com have set up a few reviews where they compare similar stomp boxes to help you decide which is the one for you.

There is a reason for them investing so much time in recording their reviews, editing them and uploading to a YouTube channel, they sell these products on their website ProGuitarShop.com and they have a huge range probably the biggest I’ve seen on the web. So why not head over and check out their range, careful though you know you can always use a new stomp box!!

ProGuitarShop.com on YouTube.

Anyone who knows me will know that I have idolised Joe Satriani since I started playing guitar 20 years ago, when I first started playing “Surfing with the Alien” was out and he was just about to release “Flying In A Blue Dream”. I think my brother and I saw Joe 3 times on the “Flying...” tour, the first and most memorable for me was at the Birmingham Hummingbird, not sure what it is called these days but it used to be an intimate sticky floored venue where you were able to get very close to the action which is pretty exciting when you are 13 or 14 years old! Well I might not get quite as excitable 20 years on but I have to say it was a fantastic gig last night at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre. For a start just like all those years ago I was in the standing area near the stage and the Enmore is quite a small theatre so you’re never far from the stage.

“What is your purpose?” came blasting out over the P.A. as Joe walked onto stage, the unmistakable intro from “I Just Wanna Rock” (Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock), it is one of the cheesiest of Joe’s tracks but he had to open with it really, its a great high energy rock anthem to get things underway! I’m not going to list every song because I simply can’t remember them all but he did play a lot off the new album such as “Musterion”, “Andalusia” and “Diddle-y-a-Doo-Dat” which all sounded amazing but what had me really excited was Joe and Stu Hamm jamming on the old favourites just like those gigs at the Hummingbird and Hammersmith Apollo all those years ago! “Satch Boogie”, “Surfing With The Alien”, “Ice 9”, “Flying In A Blue Dream”, “One Big Rush”, “The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing” and epic version of “Always With Me Always With You” and some tracks from “The Extremist” album, “Summer Song”, “Cryin” and one that really suprised me “Time Machine” from the ‘93 release of the same title, it’s a great track I’m glad Joe has resurrected that one! There were also a few tracks from “Super Colossal” including “Crowd Chant” which made me laugh because of how seriously people tried to imitate Joe’s playing, have you ever heard a 6ft beer swilling rocker trying to sing Joe’s crazy whammy harmonics? It’s not a nice sound… I think Joe only wrote that song to amuse himself!

I should make a special note of Stu Hamm’s bass solo, Stu has been working with Joe Satriani for as long as I can remember and is a really fantastic bass player. His played a solo rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California” which was awesome, unfortunately he then went into some crazy country thing that was all a bit too Benny Hill for my liking even though the crowd seemed to enjoy it! I think he was just having a bit of a laugh, I just prefer the technical stuff!

There were a couple of things that made this gig extra special. Firstly it was Joe’s birthday although this didn’t become apparent until after the gig, and secondly because I finally got to meet Joe and the band in an after show meet and greet!

So here is the proof me and Joe! Unfortunately he was being constantly hounded the whole time so I didn’t get to talk to him for more than about 10 seconds but I did get to chat to Stu Hamm for quite a while about his recent experience at a Birmingham City football match, Birmingham, England that is - my home town where I grew up. I also got a chance to have a quick chat with Tour Manager and Rhythm Guitarist (busy man!) Galen Henson who was really cool and the man with the most energy out of all of them, Drummer Jeff Campitelli. Jeff is a really great Drummer I was watching him play quite a lot because he seems to be into it as much as Joe, whereas you get the feeling Stu could play the whole set standing on his head and Galen tends to look a little bored at times (I would be playing the 2 chords from ‘Flying In A Blue Dream’ for 10 minutes while Joe shreds away!). This topped off a great gig, the sound wasn’t as crystal clear as I would have preferred but it was still pretty good and Joe still amazes me everytime I watch him play, aside from his incredible technique he has amazing feel and tone for a shredder and also seems to have a much more general appeal than say Steve Vai. If you are wondering whether to buy a ticket for Joe Satriani this time round don’t even hesitate this tour’s set list is too good to miss out on.

For those of you who are interested here is the entire Flickr set which some live video, more live photos and more pics of me hanging with Joe, Stu, Jeff and Galen.

Update: Regarding the rumours surrounding Joe Satriani and Sammy Hagar, Joe was happy to openly talk about it with someone backstage and said they have already written a few songs.

It amazes me just how many custom guitar builders there are out there, I always think I’m going to run out of guitar makers to feature and then I stumble across a company like McNaught Guitars. There isn’t much information about David Thomas McNaught on the company website so I’m not sure how long he has been building guitars but judging by the size of the model range I would say quite a few years. McNaught seems to be a fan of quilted and flame maple tops on his guitars, there only seems to be a couple that don’t use maple! The guitar pictured left is called the Phoenix Rising and features a mahogany body and neck with a Flame Maple bound Indian Rosewood fingerboard. The neck is a Set Thru-Neck™ (for more info on the McNaught Set Thru-Neck click here) with a double adjusting truss rod. This guitar also feaures a carved Mahogany top, a Tone Pros Tune-O-matic bridge and dual humbuckers. As with all McNaught guitars there are a whole load of upgrade options available such as custom inlays, body binding and tone chambers. Check out some of McNaughts intricate inlay work here, I like the piled skulls!

When I hear the name Arlen Roth I think of two things, both of which give my age away! The first is the ”Hot Licks” instructional VHS series which is something Arlen is most famous for. Hot Licks was set up in 1979 and originally was an audio cassette series and later through the success of the series Arlen moved to VHS with instructional videos from guitarists such as Eric Johnson, Joe Pass and Buddy Guy. The second thing I think of is that Arlen coached Ralph Macchio in the 1986 film ”Crossroads”, Arlen managed to create the illusion for non-guitarists that Ralph was actually playing and to be honest he did a really good job, it must be difficult to make someone seem like they can play when they can’t! Just for nostalgia’s sake here is the video of the final duel!

Anyway if you want to know more about Arlen’s life, career and music check out his website there is a wealth of information there. But onto the guitar. This “Leathercaster” was created by Delaney Guitars (previously featured on Guitar Noize back in March) and master leathersmith Tony Murga and it was presented to Arlen at Summer NAMM on June 21st.

”Tony outdid himself wrapping the body using aged leather and double stitching to create a true work of art. Mike [Delaney] cut an Alder body and bolt on maple neck with a fifties profile and threw in some hand wound Amalfitano TP pickups. He then aged the chrome hardware and finished the neck with his secret blend to give it a broken in feel. ”

Finland is a pretty amazing place. For a start its 5.3 million population mainly live in the south because the north is a subarctic climate and at Finland’s northernmost point, the sun does not set for 73 consecutive days during summer, and does not rise at all for 51 days during winter. I also just found out that Finland is made up of 187,888 lakes (larger than 500 m²) and 179,584 islands! This has absolutely no bearing on the post but I thought it was a pretty interesting fact! Now despite the harsh climate and according to my Finnish friend Kati the need for triple glazing and door frames that seal like fridge doors they produce some amazing talent. Finland seems to produce exceptional Rally drivers and Formula 1 drivers for instance. They also produce some great Luthiers. I recently featured Ruokangas Guitars out of Finland who have an impressive range of instruments and now I have discovered another great company, Amfisound Guitars. Scandanavia is well known for all things metal (albeit a little on the dark side) and have some interesting sub-genres like Melodic Death Metal, is that a paradox? Well anyway with all that metal being forged (ho ho) the Finns need someone to produce some axes worthy of their screaming solos.

I chose to feature the Arctic Kelo finish guitar because of its absolute uniqueness but be sure to check out all of their other models there are some great finishes. So first of all here is a quote from Amfisound about this finish:

”Getting bored with all those vintage and typical aged-style guitars which you can nowadays see everywhere?! Well, we did, so we wanted to develop something new and unique, something which no one else has and which truly represents the heart of our beautiful nature up here in the North. Kelo is Finnish and refers to a certain kind of old and dried-out silver-grey tree, which you can find in our vast forests.

The woods which are used in this series are maple and alder. We use our own special technique and “recipes” to make the wood look like original old Kelo wood.
The hardware, including the frets (YES, also the frets), are blackened, aged, and rusted, just like all the other metal parts in this instrument series.”

They wisely keep their aging process close to their chest but they do mention that a guitar with this finish will take at least 8 months. I assume that is on top of any backorder waiting time so don’t expect to get a custom job built anytime soon unless you happen to be a Happy Satanic Thrash band residing in the Arctic Circle! A nice feature for these guitars is that you can order hand forged ornaments made by a professional Blacksmith designed specifically for you, you can see an example of these ornaments on the photo above. If you prefer you can also substitute metal for wood and have the ornaments aged in the same Kelo finish.

Amfisound’s official site.

UPDATE
Some extra info I thought you would find interesting about how Amfisound started.
”The whole “story” started in 1997 when I and my company mate Sampo Leppävuori were accepted at the guitar building school in Ikaalinen. That is the only school in Finland where you can study guitar building. Already there, we decided to start a company together, and after graduating we began to plan and prepare everything, so that in spring 2002 we were ready to start with our company Amfisound. Sampo takes care of all our basses and classic guitar styles and I am more specialized in metal guitars and extreme designs.