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Gear Buzz: The Industry Insider

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SoundCravers · How To Build An Awesome Home Recording Studio For Beginners

Guides Reviews Catalog zZounds Links - Guitar Bass Keyboard Recording Computers Live Drums DJ Accessories Blowouts How To Build An Awesome Home Recording Studio For Beginners Mar 8 — By The Tweak So you want to build yer studio, eh dude, ahem dudette... (Cool! we need more dudettes round here.) Firs…

SoundCravers · Mailto:PuckettJp@aol.com

SoundCravers · The Noob's And Beginner's Guide To The Home And Project Music Studio

Guides Reviews Catalog zZounds Links - Guitar Bass Keyboard Recording Computers Live Drums DJ Accessories Blowouts The Noob's Guide Mar 8 — By The Tweak This is a guide for total Noobs, that have to do it THEIR WAY! And, the 1st test to see if you want to go further with making music on a computer.…

Recording

Microphones, vocals, instruments, gain staging and tracking technique.

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RECORDING

Effects! Using Effects in the Home, Project or Pro Studio

Using Effects in the Recording Studio How to Tweak Up Special Effects that will Transform your Audio by Rich the TweakMeister E ffects are everywhere in our gear. We have effects plugins of almost limitless possibility, rack mount effects units at nearly every price range, synthesizers with "built i…

How to Record Vocals in your Home or Project Studio

The Art of Recording Vocals How to get great sounding vocal tracks in your mixs by Rich the TweakMeister part 1 part 2 part 3 The Bell rings again. The Tweak briskly enters the classroom armed with coffee and his box of manuals. Some don't wait a second before shouting out newbie questions Tweak sig…

Keys to a Deeper Understanding of Music

Keys to a Deeper Understanding of Music by Rich the TweakMeister (this essay must be read carefully to obtain the insights) Metaphor is one of the most powerful devices of the human mind. We liken our experience to other experiences in order to apprehend them. Through metaphor we are able to underst…

Microphones under a Hundred

Mics Under a Hundred Sometimes you can get a lot for a little Ok, so you are on a budget. That does not mean you have to compromise your sound, if you make some good choices. Sometimes we can't afford the best gear. So here's a list of mics under $100. There are a handful of mics under $100 that you…

Review of the Shure SM81 Microphone by SoundCravers Lab

Review of the Shure SM81LC Great Mic for Acoustic Guitar by Tweak It has taken years for the SM81 to rise to the top of my GAL (Gear Acquisition List) but it finally did a few weeks ago. The package has arrived and the acoustic guitars are dusted and polished. Expectations high. Plug it in to the Fo…

SoundCravers · How to Buy A Microphone For Your Home Studio, Microphones For Recording Drums, Microphones For Recording Instruments, And The Best Microphones For Recording Vocals

Guides Reviews Catalog zZounds Links - Guitar Bass Keyboard Recording Computers Live Drums DJ Accessories Blowouts Microphones For The Home Studio Mar 27 — By The Tweak Contents ↓ Basics of a Home Studio Mic Cabinet Setting up Microphones Ambient and Close Mics Matching the Microphone to the job. Wh…

The Art of Pitch Correction

The Art of Pitch Correction Using melodyne, auto-tune evo, harmony processors by Tweak So many people are down on pitch correction these days. Its easy enough to see why. The commercial music houses have bombarded us with auto tweaked vocal performances, particularly in hip hop music, following the…

Studio & Acoustics

Rooms, monitors, cabling, patchbays, studio construction and acoustics.

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STUDIO & ACOUSTICS

All About Home and Project Studio Monitors

The Truth about Studio Monitors A Common Sense approach to uncovering the "Truth" about what we hear by Tweak Dynaudio BM6a MKII So lets talk about studio monitors. A thorny subject to be sure, with as many opinions as is believable. As with microphones and sequencers, the debate often turns into fl…

Choosing a Multi Track Recorder for your Home Studio

Choosing a Multi Track Recorder for your home studio What you need to watch out for when buying an MTR by Rich the TweakMeister The Alesis ADAT HD24 is a 24 track digital recorder. This kind of multi track requires that you buy a separate mixer. They are good for home studios that are called on to r…

Essential Concepts for Home Studios by SoundCravers Lab

Essential Concepts for putting together a Home Studio Hooking Up Audio MIDI Basics The Audio Interfac e Signal Flow of the Computer-based Mixerless Studio Signal Flow of an MPC Hip Hop Studio Signal Flow of a MultiTrack Studio Digital Audio Converters Sample Rate and Bit Depth Studio Monitors Assemb…

Everything you were Afraid to Ask about Cables

Everything you were afraid to ask about Cables for your home or project recording studio by Tweak One of Tweak's jungles of cables, in fact, one of the more orderly ones. Putting together a home studio requires a mind that can visualize, in a second, the signal flow of the entire studio from every r…

Female Vocalists that have recorded at TwekaHeadz Lab

Female Vocalists that have visited and recorded at SoundCravers Lab Christina Morgan at the Lab Oct 2008 Cynthia at the Lab Sept 2008 Fun Stuff Pictures of 270 Home Studios 10 years of Namm Show Highlights History of SoundCravers Lab Gear at SoundCravers Lab Philosophy and Music The Showroom Gifts f…

How to Build a Quiet Studio Environment by SoundCravers Lab

How to Build a Quiet Studio Environment that enhances musical creativity by SoundCravers Lab There is a lot of knowledge about how to build a home recording studio. Underneath most of this is an implicit assumption that a recording studio is something you build to keep sounds from going in or out of…

How to make money in your Home Studio by SoundCravers Lab

How to make money in your home studio Adam A7 Powered Nearfield Monitor The A7 matches the A.R.T. tweeter with a state of the art 6.5-inch woofer that introduces a new cone material combining high rigidity and high internal damping with low weight, resulting in an extremely accurate monitor with all…

How to Make Money on MP3.com

How We Made Money on MP3.com by Rich the TweakMeister Note: this article is dated. It is no longer possible to make such great sums of money on MP3.com. Vivendi universal first lowered the payout from around 6 cents a play to 0.5 cents a play, and now they have gotten rid of payback for playback alt…

Mixing & Mastering

EQ, compression, panning, effects, balance, headroom and final delivery.

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MIXING & MASTERING

All about Studio Compressors

What they are, and when, where and why we use them By Tweak Close up of the DBX 1066 , a full featured dual compressor/limiter/gate. Note the sections "expander/gate", "compressor" "output gain" and "limiter" for each channel. Not all compressors have gates or limiters You have no doubt heard people…

Elements of Home Studio Mastering

The Elements of Home Studio Audio Mastering How to use software processors to finalize your mix Though the picture shows Logic setup for mastering, you can achieve this with Cubase, Sonar, Performer or others just as easily. Everyone wants the best sound quality. That is perhaps one of the only stat…

HipHop Production and Mixing

Hip Hop Production and Mixing Tips Tools of the Trade: Sequencers and Rewire Devices --page 2 Hip Hop series page 1 2 3 Production vs. Post-Production The Production phase of a studio project is where the musicians are in the studio making tracks. That is, it is when music is being produced, created…

Mixing and Mastering

Mixing in the Virtual Realm of the Sequencer

mixing "in the box" and "out of the box" in the Virtual Realm of the Software Mixer How to Set up your Software Mixer for Optimal Music Production by Tweak It was a cold night in my alley shack TweakLab in 1988. I had my brand new KM802 8 channel mixer and I could finally connect my 4 little synths…

Post Processing for Vocal Tracks by SoundCravers Lab

How to Process Great Sounding Vocal Tracks Part II Post Processing Vocal Tracks by Rich the TweakMeister part 3 part 2 part 1 Now that we are past the recording process, the real fun begins, the tweaking! Here's where you apply the magic to make the vocal sound full, lush, and ring with great clarit…

SoundCravers · The Perfect Mix, Notes on Mastering, Post-Production Audio, and The Final Touches

Guides Reviews Catalog zZounds Links - Guitar Bass Keyboard Recording Computers Live Drums DJ Accessories Blowouts The Perfect Mix Mar 26 — By The Tweak Contents ↓ The Mix Process The Mix itself The Role of Compression at Mixdown The Role of the Software/Hardware Mastering processor Software Masteri…

SoundCravers · Tip: Headroom Is More Important Than Loudness

Guides Reviews Catalog zZounds Links - Guitar Bass Keyboard Recording Computers Live Drums DJ Accessories Blowouts Tip: Headroom Is More Important Than Loudness Feb 7 — By The Tweak Making your tracks "as hot as possible" is an analog throwback that no longer applies to digital. Recording at 24 bit,…

MIDI & Controllers

MIDI fundamentals, routing, controllers, timing and synchronization.

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MIDI & CONTROLLERS

Clock Sync, SMPTE, MTC and MMC

MIDI Clock Sync, SMPTE, MTC and MMC How machines stay in sync by Tweak The problem Audio and music happens in time. Many of your machines have an internal clock keeping track of what time it is supposed to do something. These clocks, unless made to receive code from an external clock, will be totall…

Guide to Compact MIDI Keyboard Controllers

Tweak's Guide to Compact MIDI Keyboard Controllers Figure Out which one is right for your desktop studio by Rich the TweakMeister Novation Remote 25SL 25-Key Compact USB Keyboard Controller Bigger is not always better . Especially when it comes to studio gear that has to compete for the small space…

Guide to Control Surfaces

How Tweak's Guide Works

How Tweak's Guide Works The Guide to the Guide Note the list of classes on the left this way is left <<<<---------------- You don't have to read them all in order, but I do explain basic concepts in the early classes and assume you know them in the later classes. So you think you know "your stuff"?…

MIDI 101 by SoundCravers Lab

MIDI Basics What it is, how it works, why it's important and how to hook it up in your home studio by Rich the TweakMeister MIDI 101 1. Understand MIDI data 2. How to setup a keyboard and sequencer 3. Configuring Ports, Channels, Tracks and Instruments Ok, professional mixologists, filter-heads, LFO…

Midi and Audio Equipment at SoundCravers Lab

Gear at SoundCravers Lab Computer Network Current Machines 1. Mac Pro 8 core 266ghz 3 1TB internal drives, 2TB USB Backup 16GB memory 4 video displays, inclu Apple 30" Cinema Display Parallels 5.0 running Windows 7 Logic 9, Cubase 5, Live 6, Reason 4 MOTU 896MK3+828mk2+ADA8000 Aggregate driver 2. Ma…

Original Midifiles and MIDI modules

Some Original Midifiles By Tweak General MIDI format copyright 2000 Rich's MIDI and Audio lab All Rights reserved Analogical An example of Midifile quality when you hire me! (5/97). QS owners, it will push your machines to the max! 64 voice MIDI module required. (5 Min) The Daystar An old but good M…

Rachid's Top 50 Wishs

50 Most Wanted Wishs for the Emulator Operating System Compiled by Rachid posted 5/5/99 Nr 1: Standard DOS disk format - 58 Votes For hard drives as well as CD-Roms, this coupled with .WAV and .AIFF should be a giant leap.. Author(s): Loads.. Nr 2: Save / export INTO an existing bank - 53 Votes How…

Synths & Sampling

Synthesis, samplers, sound design, software instruments and patches.

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SYNTHS & SAMPLING

20 Sample Playback Synths Compared

Multi-Timbral Synthesizer The Korg M50 is a low cost alternative to hi-priced workstations. Hi end features abound like the TouchView screen. Comparison Chart For Keyboards that use Sample Playback Synthesis The keyboards on this page all have onboard sounds. Other keyboards include Soundless Contro…

34 Articles on Software Synths and Samplers by Tweak

Basic Theory Understanding the Virtual Studio What is a Soft Sampler? What is a Soft Synth ? What are Software Processors Drum Soft Samplers Review: StormDrum Review of Guru Review of Stylus RMX Review of Battery 3 Review of Superior Drummer 2.0 Synths Korg Legacy MS-20 Review of Massive by NI Revie…

Access Virus TI Desktop Synthesizer and the Access Snow by SoundCravers Lab

Tweak Peeks at the: Access Virus TI Desktop and Access Virus Snow Access Virus TI2 Desktop Integrated Modeling Synth Tweak: A great choice for those doing electronic music. 16 ch multi timbral. Lots of voices, unlike other virtual analog synths. FX on every channel. Connects by USB2 to your computer…

All About MIDI Synth Modules

Who needs a MIDI synth module? In a World of Software, the Hardware Synth Module Fights Back by Rich the Tweak Modules at zZounds How MIDI Sound Modules Evolved To really appreciate what a synth module is I have to take you back to the beginning, So don your time travel suit and lets go back, back,…

Are Hardware Samplers Obsolete?

Are Hardware Samplers Obsolete? Hey Rich, I have an off topic question for you. What do you think about the use of hardware samplers over software sampling tools. I haven't used software sampling that often. I basically sample Gigasampler libraries with my e5000 (probably sounds dumb, but I do it an…

Defining Custom Bank Select Methods

Defining Custom Bank Select Methods Using Logic 8 I am going to show you how you get patchnames into Logic from your hardware synth. I am going to use the V-Synth GT as an example. Those of you who own the V-synth GT will find everything you need here to get your V-synth patchnames into Logic. If yo…

Evolution of SoundCravers Lab 2

by the Tweakmeister Rich The Evolution of SoundCravers Lab Page 2 Â Â back to page 1 Â Â Â Â up to page 3 Gear Notes from the 80's So, MIDI was hitting its first stride , and Yamaha, clearly the leader, saw where the money was and a few months later, the TX81Z landed in the rack. And yes, I programm…

Evolution of SoundCravers Lab 3

by the Tweakmeister Rich The Evolution of SoundCravers Lab Page 3 back to page 2 In 1996 I launched my website, called "Rich's MIDI Lab" after learning the ins and outs of PCs, DOS, Windows 3.1, and midi, html seemed easy. My dream was a total midi website for electronic musicians. Back then Real Au…

DAWs & Computers

Sequencers, recording software, computers, latency and production systems.

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DAWS & COMPUTERS

A Look at Cubase 5 by SoundCravers Lab

A Look at Cubase 5 New Features push Cubase towards the top of its game By SoundCravers Lab Tweak peeks behind the Steinberg curtain. Cubase Five-Oh. Wait a minute, Cubase 5 came out in 2001! So did a control surface called Houston (erm..Houston, come in, we may have a problem). And they did have a…

A Look at Pro Tools LE by SoundCravers Lab

Tweak Looks at Pro Tools LE 8 Systems by SoundCravers Lab under construction YouTube Video on Pro Tools LE 8 Many of you know me as a Logic person. That is undeniably true. But I have always been fickle, temporarily moving through all the sequencers. I've used Logic, Cubase and Sonar (cakewalk Pro)…

Ableton Live Version 5 upgrade

Ableton Live Review of Version 3 and Version 5 Version 3 Ableton LIVE 24-Bit Recording Software (Macintosh and Windows) Ableton Live is the music-production solution that allows you to spontaneously compose, record, remix, improvise and edit your musical ideas. Live brings your acoustic, electronic…

Acid Loops: Celestial WindowPane

The Celestial Windowpane CD Rom for use with Sonic Foundry's ACID, Cakewalk's SONAR and other sequencers that use loops like Cubase and Logic. CWP turns your application of choice into a Cosmic 21st century virtual Groove Box Applications: Trance, particularly "Space Trance", Ambient, Club Music, an…

Articles on Sequencers at SoundCravers

Articles on Sequencers at SoundCravers Ableton Live Review of the Ableton Live Ableton Live Version 5 upgrade Reason Articles Review of Reason 3.0 Review of Reason 4.0 Understanding and Using Reason REASON and Logic Logic Early History of Logic Logic Platinum 5 (last PC) L ogic Platinum 6.3 Review o…

Build A remix Studio

Build A DJ/ReMix Studio Tips on Building a remix station to Create or Remix Hot Dance music by Tweak Stanton SCS3 System DJ Controller Package TIME OUT! What is a ReMix? Speaking classically, a remix is where a producer takes the original multi track tape of a commercial piece and remixes a new mast…

Celestial WindowPane FAQ and Manual

Celestial WindowPane FAQ and Manual Thanks for purchasing Celestial Windowpane CD Rom from SoundCravers Lab. The disk has been a product of much hard work but was lots of fun. Now its your turn to have some fun. May you have some exciting journeys deep in the cosmos of our collective mind. I want to…

Create a Portable Music Studio on your MacBook

The Mobile Recording Studio A Midi and Audio Notebook Computer for Sequencing Anywhere and Everywhere by Tweak The holidays. A time of traveling, often to see distant relatives and friends, loved ones and a time of good cheer . ...well that is how it is supposed to be, anyway. But for the true tweak…

Interfaces & Signal Flow

Audio interfaces, converters, mixers, preamps and signal routing.

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INTERFACES & SIGNAL FLOW

Audio Interface Comparison Chart by SoundCravers Lab

Firewire Audio Interface Comparison Chart also see the PCI Chart and USB 2.0 Chart Soundcards and Interfaces 1 2 3 4 5 6 on a budget? See the "best of the cheap" How to Read this Chart This handy chart can help you narrow down your choice of a firewire audio interface. It can save you hours of resea…

Audio Interfaces and Soundcards

Audio Interfaces for your MacBook, iMac, and Mac pro

Audio Interfaces for your Mac Get the right Audio Interface for your Macbook, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Pro There are a few things to watch out for if you have a late model Mac. First, the PCI interfaces are not going to work with any of the Mac Pros, and of course not with any of the Mac…

Austin Summer Namm 2006 Report

Austin Summer Namm 2006 Report page 4 Alesis Control Pad Alesis was showing off a new electronic drum rig, shown with their new Control Pad, and optional accessories This is going to make the virtual studio crowd pretty happy with its small footprint and ability to assign any samples you want from y…

Choosing a Mixer for Your Home Studio

Page 1 2 3 4 Choosing a Mixer for your Home or Project Studio Which Mixer? Everything you need to know by Tweak Tweak: This is the back of a Mackie 1604VLZ3 a known favorite in many home studios. Understanding the back of your potential mixer is more important than the front. By the end of this arti…

Classic Analog Mixers --page 4

Page 1 2 3 4 The Classic Analog Mixers choosing a mixer Page 4 by Tweak Allen and Heath ZED428 28-Channel Mixer with USB Interface Tweak: This mixer is bound to make many home studio operators very happy. Note the model number (428). Here that means 4 bus, 28 channels. D on't think that because the…

Digital Audio Converters

Digital Audio Converters Basics of a Quality Signal Path By SoundCravers Lab Getting the maximum sound quality for your home or project studio is our goal. We all want professional studio sound, right? Well, pay attention to this article, as I am going to try to show you the most direct path to get…

Doing it with Digital: How to write music only in the digital domain

The Basic Process of Recording Tracks on a Computer Keep your tracks in the digital domain and get a better mix for less money by Tweak The home studio now has the ability to create music totally in the digital domain, thanks to the emergence of affordable digital gear, the evolution of midi/audio s…

INSTRUMENTS & PERFORMANCE

Instruments & Performance

Guitar, drums, live sound, composition and performance workflows.

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A Good Sounding, reasonably priced rig

Tweak's Guide to Recording Success Introduction For Noobs MIDI Basics Audio Basics Studio Rigs Studio Pics Past Studios Signal Flow System Guide Mac vs. PC Audio Interfaces Latency Install Issues Buy Gear Writing Music Inspiration Recorders Keyboards Controllers CC Events MIDI Routing Mixers Underst…

A Recipe for Song Construction Page 2

A Recipe for Song Construction By Tweak Page 2 Listen to the song at this point I muted the piano then copied the sequences to another track and assigned a low whistle from Absynth. When I added the Celtic Hammered Dulcimer I started feeling the song. But the song is far from finished, its just a dr…

Austin Summer Namm 2006

Austin Summer Namm 2006 Page 1 Cool Stuff Page 2 M-audio Page 3 Mackie, Boss, Akai Page 4 Alesis, Presonus Page 5 TC, Martin, Schecter Page 6 Guitars Page 7 Controllers Page 8 Drums Page 9 Open Labs, Yamaha Page 10 Wild Guitars Page 11 Misc Page 12 Last Page

Basic recording

Basic recording So, you want to record vocals and guitar? This brings us to Mics and Mixers and the possibility of going Mixerless First the mixer approach Most consumer soundcards either have no microphone preamps on the card or really bad ones designed for speech. If you want to get sound from a m…

Celestial Windowpane

Celestial Windowpane Notes on the Making of the Celestial Windowpane 10/1/99 I am making and editing loops like I am out of my mind. Upgrading the studio too with new stuff to make the most outstanding collection of acid loops ever made for the electronic artist. Originally my idea was just to make…

Choosing a Classical Guitar

Choosing a Classical Guitar One of the roles I play in this life is to teach high school students to play guitar. This page is for the person who wants to learn to play nylon stringed guitar, otherwise known as "classical" or "classic" guitar. Classical guitars are different from other acoustic guit…

EQ and the Limits of Audio by SoundCravers Lab

Understanding EQ EveryPerson's Guide to The Limits of Audio Newbie Class by Tweak The Cambridge EQ for the UAD collection. This is a full featured multi-band parametric EQ In these wonderful days of audio plugins and supercharged processors, it is tempting to ignore something as simple as EQ, short…

Gear Pics from Summer Namm 2006

Tweak's Summer Namm 2006 Report from Austin Texas page 1 By SoundCravers Lab Few climates compare to Austin Texas when it is near 100 degrees and humid. By the time I got downtown, around 11am, I was already drenched in sunshine and sweat. As I approached the Convention Center, the famous Austin lan…

Reviews

Reference reviews of studio hardware, software, microphones, synths and recording tools.

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REVIEWS

Building a Big Rig with the MOTU 896 Mk3

Building a Big Rig with the MOTU 896 Mk3 by SoundCravers lab Under construction There are a lot of audio interfaces to choose from these days. Many excellent values. This makes the choices difficult, even for the well researched studio creator. I hope this review gives you the information you need t…

History of the Yamaha Motif Series, by SoundCravers Lab

History of the Yamaha Motif Series, by SoundCravers Lab Restored local archive. Dead external/affiliate links and unavailable archived targets have been disabled. SoundCravers Lab electronic musicians cafe' Guide | Forums | Rigs | Reviews | Bookst…

Kaossilator Pro Review.html

New ways to shape your sound by SoundCravers Lab Korg Says: First came the Kaoss Pad, an effects processor with a revolutionary touch-sensitive X-Y interface that made sound manipulation more interactive and expressive than ever before. Then came the Kaossilator, a pocket-sized synth with basic loop…

Korg Legacy MS20 vs. Original MS20

Review of the Korg Legacy MS-20 Compared to the Original MS20 Synthesizer As many of you know, I have an original Korg MS-20 here in TweakLand. It is my prized synth, and it has been with me through the thick and the thin. I found it in a dusty corner of a pawn shop in the late eighties, barely work…

Review and History of the Roland Fantom G

Review and History of the Roland Fantom G The History of the Fantom Line zZounds Fantom Department Expand your Fantom S/X/XR or XV synth with Roland SRX Expansion boards Demo the SRX boards Roland V-SynthGT Synthesizer Keyboard workstations have been around a while. While definitions will vary, I de…

Review of Altered States by Zero

Review of Altered States by Zero-G The horror. You wake up in the middle of the night because someone is knocking on the door. "Who in the world could that be?" Should you open the door? You pause. Maybe you don't want to know who it is! Is it the police? Neighbors? Uh Oh. B-but Maybe! IS it is a lo…

Review of Antares Filter

Review of the Antares Filter by Tweak The Antares filter is more than just another EQ plugin. It's a powerful tweaking tool that cuts hard and deep into the fabric of your audio . This will make more sense when you understand exactly what the Antares Filter does so I try to explain this in no-nonsen…

Review Of Garage Band.htm

Restored local archive. Dead external/affiliate links and unavailable archived targets have been disabled. Review of GarageBand The Killer App of the decade? By Tweak, revised for GarageBand 3 Alas, when we buy a computer, we are used to getting simple little …