An interesting find...

I wanted to share this with someone even though I know this is not the proper forum for this posting. I thought it might be of interest to some of you, especially Robo.

I've been creating my music without the luxury of owning a "real" electric guitar. I've been using the electric guitar sounds from my Yamaha keyboard. Although the sounds are not that bad, it is impossible to do chording and I wanted a larger array of sounds that would fit into a greater range of genres, giving me more versatility when creating my music.

Working within a budget I set out to find the perfect guitar for me. I decided I wanted a guitar with 2 single coil and 1 humbucker pickups with a 5 way switch for the most versatility in sounds. The Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster seemed to fit the bill.

I was about to order the Strat from an online retailer when I happened onto a web site that was showcasing a very unusual instrument. The more I learned about it the more intrigued I became and I had to see it for myself.

Of the many guitar stores in my city I found only one that carried this instrument and I immediately ran out to investigate. To say that I was impressed with its amazing technology and incredible versatility would be a huge understatement. I had to have it!

I returned home and ran a search on this instrument in the Cakewalk forums. To my surprise there were only only about 3 threads on it. However 90% of the posts were giving this instrument a thumbs up.

I decided to order it from an online retailer and am now anxiously awaiting its arrival via FedEx.

Anyway, I ordered the Variax 300 guitar, the PODxt amp simulator, and the Variax guitar Workbench software. The Variax guitar is actually 25 guitars (including acoustic guitars and a banjo) all rolled up into one neat little package. With the Workbench software you can create customized guitars for a limitless selection of sounds. You can change out and move the pickups to wherever you want them. You can also change the octave of any (or all) strings. You can even change out the body of the guitar. The PODxt is like owning about 35 different amps.

Some of you may already be familiar with these toys but I never even knew they existed until now and I'm truly amazed.

I've inserted a link to thier web site at the end of this post if anyone is interested in checking this out. The site is a bit difficult to navigate but there's some incredible toys there. Where's that dad-gum FedEx guy?!!

http://line6.com/products/

welcome to the digital world, friend!
I just went through the drumer's equivalent of what you did.

My long story short was I bought a roland td6v digital drum set with the intention it would be a supplement to my "real" kit.

Well, its sound, and the control of the sound is so superior to the acoustic kit, that I actually stripped the old kit of its good hardware, like foot pedals, and gave the shell kit away!

It used to cost about 300 bucks to add one cymbal to my set up, with a new stand and all. Now I have 200+ cymbal sounds, and even they are alterable with settings for ambience, reverb, decay, etc. Now don't get me wrong--there is still a joy to sitting down to one of those $ 4000 drum workshop kits and letting those gorgeous shells ring, but for my style of drumming, in small venues, the digikit is a much better alternative.

Now once you get that git-stick dialed in, if you should find yourself needing some KILLER drum tracks, look me up!

Yeah, I've got a PODxt Live and definately can recommend it. I wasn't too fond of the feel on the Variax (the neck didn't feel good enough to me), but that's all personal preference, and the sound is definately good on the variax. Best of luck, I think you'll definately enjoy it!

Joe