This starts out kinda rough, but has some choice moments later on down the line.
Not having anyone to jam with, I made what’s turning out to be the greatest investment in my guitar experience since the guitar and amp themselves — the Boss RC-20XL Loop Station Phrase Sampler, or Looper for short. It plays back exactly what I want, when I want, without having to listen to it bitch about wanting to play something else, or faster, or slower, or it’s tired, or whatever. Turns out, I am my own best jam partner.
I also spent some time today putting my recording gear back in order. Previously, I had a fairly bulky and complex recording setup involving a dedicated laptop running Ubuntu Studio, which is wonderfuly robust and feature-packed, but required a separate laptop. This morning, I set up the required packages on my daily-driver Kubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex laptop and got the Jack Audio Connection Kit working properly with my (Sean’s) Alesis Multimix 8, being fed by my (Sean’s) Schure SM57 mic, close-miced to my (my) Fender Hotrod Deluxe. I’m getting lossless, high quality audio recording using Audacity, which I then align with the exported audio from the onboard mic on my mini-DV camcorder and then overdub the video with the now-synchronized audio for an HQ musical experience. Now, if only I could play as precisely. 