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HammerHead Rhythm Station

Hammerhead Front PanelI remember playing with the HammerHead Rhythm Station a long time back. It was a very cool tool to play back samples I wanted for a “collage type wash” (read a large lump of noise).

But HammerHead is really a simple TR-909-like drum computer program originally aimed at the dance-scene. You know the kind of thing … Techno loops, Jungle patterns or House beats, but it’s also suitable for Hip Hop, Triphop, Rap, Industrial and almost any other music you can think of.

It’s got six channels , 29 built-in drum sounds, six complete breakbeats and the possibility to import six samples of your own and trust me that is where the fun begins.

The site has a bunch of other drum tools and best of all Hammerhead is freeware.

Go make some noise.

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Have your song featured in Guitar Hero II

Working on the PT Barnum idea of “Every crowd has a silver lining” RedOctane has launched a competition in which budding musicians can get a song of their own featured in the next Guitar Hero II game.

This is a competition in which the winner gets their original song featured in the game. To enter simply submit your song at beaguitarhero.com before 11:59 p.m. PST on June 30, 2006.

Here are some of the rules.

# In order to be considered in the Contest, the Song you submit must satisfy ALL of the following criteria:

(a) Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Genres. The Song must be in the “Hard Rock” or “Heavy Metal” genres.

(b) Feature Guitar Throughout. Since the Game is a guitar-based game, the Song must feature a lead guitar throughout, have a strong bass or rhythm section and include a solo for the lead guitar.

(c) No Offensive Lyrics. The Song MUST NOT contain any swearing, hate speech or otherwise offensive, derogatory or lewd lyrics.

(d) Duration. The Song must be between 2 to 5 minutes in length.

(e) Original Song. The Song’s music and lyrics must be original to your band and may not be based on a song, music, story or other source not created and owned entirely by you or other members of the band. (f) Not Previously Published. The Song may not have been (i) previously published by a third party record label, or (ii) included in any movie or any interactive media game.

It’s almost tempting…

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RemoteMP3

So you got all this nifty new music for Christmas and I’ll bet you would you like to listen to your mp3 music no matter where you are? This is the thing for you!

RemoteMP3
is a tool that allows you to listen to your mp3 files from other computers. By running a simple installer, the RemoteMP3 server is installed on your computer. After you have done this, you can easilly use a web-browser to access your mp3 files and play them directly on the web! No plugins or extensions are needed (except the Macromedia Flash player, but lets face it you cant really avoid getting it these days with nearly all the newer browsers).

The cool part is that RemoteMP3 allows you to listen to the mp3’s, but it is not possible to download them. This is due to copyright and piracy reasons… and the fact they are all wrapped up in Flash helps a bit as well. Note! If your computer is located behind a half decent firewall, it will not be possible to access the mp3 files from the internet.

Also this is freeware, and uses the Apache Web Server as webserver, and SwiftMP3 by Olivier Debon to generate the Flash mp3 data. Licence agreements for both products can be found within the bundle.

This is a very clever piece of work and I am jealous as hell

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Exotic Guitars – The Instruments

Exotic Guitars – The Instruments

Dragon Lyre

The picture says it all really. It’s called a Dragon Lyre and I have to say that I thought I was over my guitar thing BUT then I saw this. Its made by Peter McGilton, a luthier with a Masters Degree in Fine Arts, and post graduate studies in classical instrument construction and an imagination.

Check out the rest of his work. Drop dead gorgeous pieces.

Also have a look at https://thatchspace.com/2006/01/11/guitar-eye-candy/