Hand-held MultiFX Unit

NorioDS

The title might be a mis-leading but it's the best I could think of for describing what I'm looking for.

Essentially, the Korg PX5D does this. You can scroll through a bunch of presets, plug into speakers (or maybe even PA sys.) and, voila, you have a super-portable amp. Most importantly, it's fantastic for practising with headphones.

I've personally played with a PX5D (thanks Francis ?) and it rocked. A lot of the sounds were very usable and very authentic (at least to my untrained ears).

The other important feature of something like this is automatic backing tracks. The device comes with a bunch of songs that you can speed up, slow down, transpose to any other key and take bits out of (bass, drums, rhythm, etc). And they all sound really good!

It's the ultimate practising / jamming device and MIGHT even be good for gigs, I don't know.

This is probably the most important thing I could buy next, after paying off my current axe. So, besides the PX5D (which can literally fit in your pocket/hand), what else is there and what's the pricing look like?

NB: I currently use my laptop for this but it's not portable enough.

AlanRatcliffe

I currently use my laptop for this but it's not portable enough.

A laptop not portable enough? Hmm. Lazy you are. ? Either that or your cyberphobia is rearing it's ugly head again.

I don't know of anything else that does all that. Lots of things like the PODs which do the amp thing in a very portable package (there's even the new "Pocket" POD, but with MP3 playback and track minus 1 and all the rest, I think it's only a computer that could do it all.

The Little Fender G-Dec amps are interesting, playing backing tracks for you to jam with, but AFAIK, they don't let you do much other than choose a style and a key and then do the amp modelling thing.

NorioDS

Part of the problem with the laptop is 1) that mine is currently being used for business so setting it up each time I wanna jam is a pain in the butt, 2) it would be too expensive to get another (decent) laptop just to jam with and 3) it doesn't come with cool presets and stuff that make it plug'n'play.

Explorerlover

I was planning on bringing my GT8 into work and then play using headphones over December...Is there some place I can download a demo of Guitar rig etc to play through my laptop instead of having to carry all that stuff around? Also, I checked a bunch of guys here with guitar rig, any pros & cons I need to know about before purchasing?

Squonk

Pocket Pod, although a bit gadgety. Could be cheaper than the korg

AlanRatcliffe

Is there some place I can download a demo of Guitar rig

http://www.nativeinstruments.de/index.php?id=gr3demo&L=1
Demo session limited to 30 minutes at a time and you cannot save patches. ☹

any pros & cons I need to know about before purchasing?

I'm the number 1 Guitar Rig slut around these parts, but I don't know if it's going to be easier than a GT-8 in your application. You need a decent external interface like one of the Native Instruments ones or something like an Edirol - a laptop's built-in interface is, at best, horrible. Depending on your laptop, the GT-8 will probably boot faster than the laptop and has the built in pedal and stomp switches.

On the power side though, GR blows the GT out of the water. For solo playing and practice there are also the built-in "tape decks" so you can do basic backtrack recording or load in drum loops and backtracks to play along with - even speeding up or slowing down (within reason) while keeping the pitch. The metronome is a great practice tool too.

If you're recording in something like Cubase or Sonar, GR is the much better tool to use too - so You would not just be using it for work.

Explorerlover

"I'm the number 1 Guitar Rig slut around these parts" ....wasn't going to say it like that ?

I'll give it a bash. I have the BOSS Micro BR recorder I usually use for Cubase...it that interface enough?

AlanRatcliffe

I have the BOSS Micro BR recorder I usually use for Cubase...it that interface enough?

As long as it has a HiZ (high impedance) input suitable for guitar, that should do.

Explorerlover

Sweet....I'm sorted then.. Thanks