"The Tube Amp Book" is the classic book on tube amp repair by the founder of Groove Tubes, Aspen Pittman. This has been the quintessential reference manual for guitar amp shops since the first edition in 1986. The book is now available in a "deluxe revised version" from Amazon at a substantial discount. I have not seen this edition but I own the 4th edition of the original and it has been well used.

The only MIDI interface for Apple iPhone ® and iPod Touch ®

CALABASAS, Calif.—March 19, 2010—Line 6, Inc. (line6.com), the industry leader in digital modeling technology for music-creation products, announces MIDI Mobilizer™, the only MIDI interface for Apple iPhone and iPod touch.

“We’re very excited to announce MIDI Mobilizer, the first MIDI interface of its kind,” remarked Marcus Ryle, SVP of New Business Development at Line 6. “It will connect MIDI musicians to the most portable platform ever, and allow them to play, record, and store any MIDI information.”

MIDI Mobilizer, a low-profile piece of hardware that fits into the standard 30-pin connector of an iPhone and iPod touch, together with MIDI Memo Recorder, the free app available for download at the Apple App Store, will present MIDI musicians with a host of solutions related to performing, recording and data backup.

Los Angeles, CA, March 18, 2010 — Roland is proud to announce that the V-Combo VR-700 Stage Keyboard (http://www.RolandUS.com/V-Combo) is now shipping. Featuring the best of Roland’s acclaimed Virtual Tone Wheel organ, full 88-key multi-sampled piano, and pro synthesizer sounds, the V-Combo is perfect for players who need an all-in-one keyboard for a variety of musical settings, including houses of worship, stage performances, and rehearsal studios.

The V-Combo provides an authentic sound and feel to satisfy any organ player. Using Roland’s Virtual Tonewheel engine, the V-Combo simulates the unique structure and distinctive sound of vintage organs. The new amplifier and rotary simulator faithfully reproduces the sound needed for jazz, rock, funk or gospel, while the 76-key waterfall action captures the feel of a vintage organ. Add an optional PK-25 or PK-7A pedalboard for a more console-organ type feel.

Many of us have downloaded mp3 or iTune tracks off of the internet. Many of us have streamed audio from the internet. Most of us have experienced the power of Dolby Sound either at home or at the theatre. The common enabling thread of these and numerous other technologies that we unknowingly encounter on a daily basis is digital data reduction or compression. Few of us really understand the underlying principles that enable these technologies that many of us have so fully embraced. At Electronic Musician there is a great article on the subject of Digital Data Compression. The wide variety of compression standards presents a veritable alphabet soup of acronyms and trade names, Dolby AC-3, Sony Atrac, Roland R-DAC, DTS, MP3, MP4, etc. So what are they and why are they used. Fidelity in digital audio is a function of the sampling rate and resolution of the digitization process. However, as sampling rate and resolution increase the data rate and storage space also increase. Transmission of the highest quality audio without compression would require massive amounts of bandwidth.

So much of todays music is based on the concept of sampling. Modern keyboards rely heavily on sampling technologies. It's easy for us to think of it as an exclusively digital technique and fairly recent phenomena. The truth is that sampling goes back to the 40's and was originally an analogue tape technique. Harry Chamberlin invented the process and produced the first sampler, the Chamberlin, in 1946. About 100 of the instruments were produced in 1950's. They proved to be reliability problems and maintenance hogs. The history gets a little muddled at this point with the Chamberlin's main salesman (a former window washer) named Bill Fransen inking a production agreement with some brothers named Bradley in the UK that owned a tape head manufacturing business. They seemed to be under the impression that Bill Fransen was the inventor and Harry Chamberlin was unaware of the deal. A business venture named Mellotronics was formed and UK production began. It did not take long for this to come to the attention of Harry Chamberlin and he flew to the UK to investigate.

With the advanced level of electronics that are found in today's digital electronic Music gear, we have a tendency to think that if it is not a mechanical issue then the repair is a simple board swap. However, to truly excel in the field of high tech electronic repair, whether it be computers, digital audio workstations, digital pianos or your latest flat screen TV, a strong understanding of basic electronic theory is requisite. That knowledge seperates the average bench techs from the master technicians. Nothing can substitute for that foundation.

Digital audio is continuing to remake the whole technology of music making. It has become the dominant force in the creation and processing of sound. On the other hand the distribution and routing of audio signals has largely remained in the analog domain. Digital technology is capable, however, of transforming even this process.

Electronic Musician has an article this month on the emerging technology of digital audio networks. This technology will have an impact on us in the near future. This could address things like how to we wirelessly connect multiple channels of audio to our remote amplifiers and speaker systems when routing via wires is not possible.

Those interested in confronting this brave new world can check it out further in this article.

MITA Goals and Purpose

Musical Instrument Technicians Association

Professional Technicians Organized
to Improve the Electronic Music Instrument Service
Industry

I. Purpose
MITA, International is a non-profit organization. The purpose of the
organization shall be to improve the electronic musical instrument
service industry by: