Category Archives: Music

Is AI music toothpaste out of the tube?

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So, I guess I had no idea that AI music was as advanced as it is. I assumed the stuff I saw on social medial was from paid or sophisticated programs. I have been monkeying casually with text prompts at ChatGPT or Meta AI, and image generators at DALL-E 2, Craiyon, & in the PicsArt app for a while. Luma AI even animates photos in the creepiest way possible. I have recently started messing with Google’s Gemini, too.

While the first two AI song generators that popped up when I googled did not require me to download an app or pay any money, I was able to have them bang out a song in less than a minute. The second one even let me insert lyrics, so I used ChatGPT & Gemini to write lyrics. Of course I chose punk rock, and the subject matter was just me poorly describing the blog. This stuff is wild.

The prompt was: “World (and Lunar) Domination” a punk rock song about drawing mazes and writing goofy letters.

For some reason, I can’t seem to embed these ones. 🤷

AI Music Factory automatically spits out 2 songs from the same prompts.

All of the songs are generic pop punk, street punk, and a weird attempt at some uncanny valley-ish horns. They are formulaic pop punk, of which I could certainly be accused of doing when I was actively playing in bands. The weird part is that is not all that dissimilar from my actual creative output. The lyrics have some interesting ideas & hooks too, if I’m being honest. Does that mean I am a terrible and generic songwriter? Perhaps my lack of commercial success in that area speaks to that. 😆

Self-depreciating humor aside, I feel like I have been involved in the creation of some fun, silly, & kick-ass music, and I was never really doing it for financial gain or recognition. It was an itch that I needed to scratch. I needed to make art via punk rock.

The above songs are derivative of a thousand different punk bands, but the one vocalist sounds oddly like Bad Religion. All of it is stealing from something though. Is it scouring the whole internet? Is it using Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Music, or Amazon Music? Is it creeping on hard drives in home studios or at record companies?

I feel like this is really close to having the ability to be passed off as a real band. It even reminds me of Crotchduster,

Is it theft, or inspiration? I would not have picked up a guitar and tried to write punk rock songs if I had not heard the Ramones & the Misfits doing what they did. Led Zeppelin’s entire catalog is arguably not entirely derivative of everything that passed through Jimmy Page’s earholes. (I mean, George Lucas did the same thing with Star Wars – it was just Flash Gordon, The Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, & Dune.)

It can be argued that the music is soulless. I get that. I need music to move me in some way, in order to feel that connection. There are already lots of human generated songs out there that don’t really hit me that way. It’s terrible when a song evokes no emotion. I feel that way about Nickelback, even though it’s unironically cool to like them now. Ha ha.

In keeping with the theme of this post, I also used a bunch of AI image generators with various prompts about my blog, and got some weird weird wild stuff. None of them seem to accurately display text whatsoever at all… but the compositions, colors, & design choices are interesting. Is is stolen work though?

It was said that Robin Williams was notorious for stealing bits, but I have read/heard that he was always “on,” and just pulling in ideas and churning out jokes at a constant speed… he may not have realized that his thoughts weren’t entirely his own. But then again, were they? Everything we think, say, & do is a response to our own audio & visual input. (And, all the other senses.)

If AI is putting something out, and the way it “senses” is browsing the internet, what’s wrong with that? Is it stealing because it is not alive? Is it just a tool like a paintbrush or a calculator? Is AI song generation different than loops or sampling or guitar pedals that drastically change a tone?

Images generated by various AI image generators, with prompts pretty much just describing my blog.

🤘🐈‍⬛🎸

Because every single one of my thoughts also has an incomprehensibly tangential aside, I just did this as the idea came to me while blogging:

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍 𝖒𝖊𝖙𝖆𝖑 𝖐𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖌 – I had ChatGPT write those lyrics a long time ago to be silly. It deleted the chat from the history as it found the content to perhaps be “inappropriate.” Luckily I grabbed a screenshot. I just used my last freebie at AI Music Factory to make this, and unlike with the other songs, I actually downloaded the mp3’s because I find it wildly amusing. AI plays guitar better than Kerry King.

A gothic metal style painting of an adorable black kitten dining with a fork and a knife, created by Meta AI as an album cover for a song generated by an AI song generator.
“FEED THE KITTEN” album art by Meta AI
Claws like razors, eyes like night My little beast, always ready to fight Hungry and restless, a bundle of fury I open the can, to feed the furry Feeding my kitten, hear her growl Tiny teeth and a vicious scowl Feeding my kitten, blood and meat Ripping and tearing, nothing sweet Pouncing and hissing, she's always keen Greedily slurping, the viscous cream Bones and gristle, she loves the gore My little predator, always wants more Feeding my kitten, hear her growl Tiny teeth and a vicious scowl Feeding my kitten, hear her growl Tiny teeth and a vicious scowl Feeding my kitten, blood and meat Ripping and tearing, nothing sweet Pouncing and hissing, she's always keen Greedily slurping, the viscous cream Bones and gristle, she loves the gore My little predator, always wants more Feeding my kitten, hear her growl Tiny teeth and a vicious scowl Feeding my kitten, blood and meat Ripping and tearing, nothing sweet My little monster, a killing machine Feeding frenzy, a fearsome scene No mercy, no pity, no retreat My kitten's hunger, can never be beat!
“Feed The Kitten” by ChatGPT

So, did I just write a song? No. But… I had the idea for one. It, much like my own artistic output, was a silly idea. (I was always sad that Gasoline Dion never completed songs that we were working on, including but not limited to “667, Across the Street From the Beast” and the ever poetic line “Let me put my meat hook in your beef curtains.”)

I just let my 10yo daughter hear the metal kitten song. She laughed and said it sounds like everything else I listen to (she’s a Taylor Swift fan). When I told her it was AI generated in under a damn minute & that ChatGPT wrote the lyrics, her eyes got wide and was all “That’s not good…”

She immediately understood the implications. Anyone could make a hit album. We could all be Milli Vanilli. Even better, you could probably create a video avatar of an artist or band. I haven’t delved into AI generated video past the tiny Luma AI clips.

Would using AI as a muse, or to flesh out partial lyric ideas be “wrong?” Are we in an era like the early days of sampling where soon someone will figure out how to give artists royalties for music or artwork being fed into AI? I know there are already cases out there. I also know you can’t copyright AI images. Not sure about music, though? I know Mötley Crüe was accused of using AI to write songs.

Will commercials, social media, radio, TV, & movies forgo traditional composers and just make their own jingles, scores, & soundtracks?

It was fun to play with, but do I like it enough that I will pay for it? I doubt it. I can’t think of a practical use for myself other than making a fictional band or something… and who would want AI generated crap content right now? If I paid to put it on streaming services (if you can even copyright it), how would that generate income or even be sustainable? Live shows would be (for now) out of the question. I don’t think it would “feel good” to put that out, like it does to release actual music you created. Maybe kids will dig AI music in the future… or our eventual robot overlords might.

Because I can’t stop, Luma AI animations of AI generated images:

OK, I went back & messed with Udio again. I found where you could pop in the kitten lyrics from Chat GPT. I do not like the output nearly as much, but it’s still pretty wild:

So, what are your thoughts on AI generated stories, art, music, & video? Are we in the wild west? Do you use any of it? If you do use it, what sites/apps, and to what end? Please, hit up the comments!

Oh yeah, those sites automatically generated videos I could download too.

The Aquabats!/The Aggrolites/Lost Again @ The Roxian Theater (Pgh) 07/08/2024

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So, it’s been a long time since I have been to a punk rock show… or really any kind of show or concert. It’s been even longer since I was a regular attendee or participant in such shenanigans.

I got the opportunity to take my son to his 1st ever punk rock show on Monday at The Roxian (a place I have never been), and we had a blast watching Left Alone, The Aggrolites, & The Aquabats! Left Alone were awesome, and I have seen the Aggrolites open for Flogging Molly before so I knew they were killer. (Although, I can’t remember exactly when.)

I posted about it on FB a bit, but wanted to share it here too and see if it sparked any discussion on obtaining bootlegs (or official recordings) on shows you have attended.

Went to Setlist.fm, & made a playlist of all 3 bands’ songs last night on Amazon. We live in the FUTURE.

Check out my playlist on Amazon Music: Full Show Setlist – The Aquabats @ The Roxian 07/08/2024 with Left Alone & the Aggrolites – Set List

Although, this is slightly less cool than when I found an “Import” at CD Warehouse in Monroeville of the Bloodhound Gang at a show I saw at Metropol. I wish I had the Nerf Herder set from that night!

Somewhere, I probably still have cassette tapes of the Guns N’ Roses set from Three Rivers Stadium in the early 90s. Anyone remember those rock conventions where you could buy mad bootlegs that sounded like someone had a Radio Shack tape recorder jammed squarely up their keister?

I have legally purchased digital versions Metallica and Willie Nelson shows that I have attended. This shit ought to be standard practice for even smaller shows. I’d slap $ on top of the ticket price for a live recording of a show I attended, no problem.

Would you like to more easily be able to buy downloadable audio/video of shows or concerts that you attend? I know I would.

Looks like someone posted the sets from Monday on YouTube:

@aixelsyd13

It was a late night for my dude, but he pepped up with these songs! We were up front (at Ian’s insistence) for #LeftAlone , the middle for #TheAggrolites , then hung back for #TheAquabats ! All the bands put one hell if a great show, and it will be a killer tour. I’ll have to wade through video & post some tomorrow night too. Maybe on YouTube. #PizzaDay #RoxianTheater #Pittsburgh #🍕📆

♬ original sound – Eric Carroll

What should go on a 30 song punk rock playlist?

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So, I recently got my 9yo a guitar for his birthday. We’re belaying lessons until after his current soccer and lacrosse seasons, but I will be showing him a bit. He seems to like all kinds of rock, but I was telling him how easy it is to play most punk rock. He has heard a lot of Ramones, Misfits, etc. from me… But I got the idea of putting together a punk rock playlist for him.

Well, I tend to over-do things. I started a playlist on Amazon (yeah, already have a ton of Amazon stuff and I refuse to pay for Spotify) called Punk Rock 101. It grew quickly to over 300 songs, and that was without thinking much about it. I thought that was unwieldy, and no 9yo is going to sit still even that long.

I thought it would be fun to challenge myself to come up with a 30 song punk rock playlist… that jumps subgenres and provides a CliffsNotes version of the history of punk rock.

I made up an apparently divisive graphic of only 25 punk rock band logos. Apparently this was a bad list and not at all comprehensive… even though it was not even a playlist. Punk rockers on the internet have strong opinions. I reached out on a few social media platforms and groups, mostly to no avail, save for one private FB group and r/punk on Reddit. I was told my list was junk before I even made a list! Are these hipsters masquerading as punks?

There are not many rules.

  • 1 playlist.
  • 30 songs.
  • Punk rock.

It can be a comprehensive history of punk, it can lean into one era. What would the 30 “greatest hits” of punk rock be? Does any band get more than one slot? Which songs from which bands merit entry? I kind of started with “Blitzkrieg Bop”, “Knowledge”, & “Last Caress” because I feel like those are the most covered punk rock songs that I noticed throughout the years playing shows. Do you include crust, street, oi, hardcore, proto-punk, post-punk, emo, 3rd wave ska, japunk, skate punk, pop punk, “pop punk™”, Celtic, folk punk, rockabilly/pshychobilly, cowpunk, or bands like Devo and/or the Cure? Do the Decendents and ALL or Operation Ivy and Rancid both make the cut? You may hate Blink 182 or Green Day, but they inarguably introduced many to the genre. Do the Beastie Boys make the cut with their OLD stuff? Do Motörhead or GWAR make the cut? What about Me First and the Gimme Gimmes?

Hit me up with your list and/or arguments for or against certain songs or bands here in the comments or on social media. Just try not to slag my list that I haven’t even created yet. Type it out or link me to your list. Is the list too short? Too long? Let me know.

Honestly, check the Reddit thread too, lots of people put in some killer playlists & even linked some!

Once I whittle it down, I’ll come back & post it. I’ll try to put it up on Amazon Music, Spotify, & YouTube.

Reddit:

Intro to Punk 30 song playlist?
byu/AiXeLsyD13 inpunk

Twitter 𝕏:

Facebook:

Instagram:

Threads:

TikTok:

@aixelsyd13

If you had to make a #punkrock playlist to explain the sound of #punk from the beginning to now, but had to cap it at 30 songs… what would you put on it? Who am I missing here? What songs would you put on it? #Punk101 #PunkHistory #PunkTop30

♬ Blitzkrieg Bop (2016 Remaster) – Ramones

BlueSky:

🤘Bring it, punk rockers & music fans! 🎸

𝔄𝔯𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔷𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔯𝔱? 𝔚𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔪𝔢𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔢?

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OK, the creative bug has bit. I’ve opened two shops for maze merchandise, or at least tried to. I went to RedBubble and TeePublic. The TeePublic one seems to be live, but the RedBubble one is not (yet). [They’re saying to wait 5 business days.]

I’ll have a merch page here at the blog, but here are the links for now:

I appreciate your support of my artistic endeavors. I know money is tight for a lot of people right now. It’s cool if you can’t buy, or simply don’t want to. I can dig it’s not everyone’s style. Please, share the link if you’re so inclined, even directly to someone who you think may be interested.

If you do end up buying a T-shirt, book, or whatever. Please, give a review on the site… and post it on Social Media & tag me! I’m @AiXeLsyD13 on pretty much everything out there.

Crazy Tube Circuits | Unobtanium

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I obtained the Unobtanium! Well, I was gifted the Unobtanium through an Instagram contest. What is it? It’s like two Dumble Amps and Two Klon pedals all in one box.

Check out the narrative…

The Giveaway:

The win announcement:

I got it!
Here’s what they posted:

These Instagram stories may disappear:

I tried to save them to a reel:

Check out this killer pedal & all the demos/reviews here:

Check out my crappy video here:

Here’s what I used in the demo:

Anything I should try with it?

I have been toying with doing dumbass-style pedal reviews for a while, as my base instincts are to dime every knob. Would that be something anyone is even interested in?

🎸🎸🎸

The FedExpackage…
The box!
The Bubble Wrap!
The fancy packaging.
Pretty bag inside the box.
UNOBTANIUM OBTAINED!
How to not be a dumbass when using the pedal.

🎸🎸🎸

DC, Marvel, & @JamesGunn.

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James Gunn preparing to promote Guardians of the Galaxy while on the DC payroll.

I’m excited to see The Batman Flash movie! Michael Keaton is the GOAT. I remember the absolute fervor when he was cast. Everyone was sure he would fail, but he became an icon and ushered in an era of superhero films. Hearing Danny Elfman’s theme gave me chills I tell you.

And I’m excited to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. These were irreverent films full of insanity & heart.

I enjoyed the other Guardians movies, Gunn‘s Suicide Squad, and I think Peacemaker is the best DC television show ever. I think the soundtrack is better than the GotG movies really. I have really been enjoying the soon-ending runs of Titans and Doom Patrol too. I get that Gunn has virtually nothing to do with this Flash film, but I’m excited to see what he has in store for the DC universe… and have dug his contributions to Marvel.

Is James Gunn the key to Marvel vs. DC at the movies, or the Amalgam Cinematic Universe???

If you go way back and you’re into weird movies, watch the Troma classic Tromeo & Juliet and get a copy of the soundtrack.

Can we give the man a Star Wars?

Christmas Playlists

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Despite Halloween and Thanksgiving being more my favorite… I do enjoy Christmas & Christmas music, both traditional and decidedly not-so.

I resisted streaming for a long time, in favor of just popping mp3’s on to a thumb drive & listening in the car/truck. I’m still in a lot of remote areas, and I think I clung to a desktop setup for a while longer than the rest of the world.

Someday, someday, I will rip all my CD’s, corral all of my purchased mp3’s or FLAC files, & pop the stuff on some kind of server so I can call it up at will.

I use Spotify occasionally. I would use it more, but I refuse to pay for a premium account, and sometimes I swear songs vs. commercials are 1:1 if not 1:3. I refuse to pay for Spotify premium account because we have whatever all-encompassing Amazon plan gives you Prime and Amazon Music.

I’m still building my Amazon playlists… I may pay for one to move to Spotify lists over. Maybe. I’d rather just by records, CD’s, & downloads directly from artists.

I haven’t dipped into YouTube Music yet. I think I have 2 or 3 Pandora accounts, but they’re just frustrating these days when you can actively pick a song with other services.

I just reached out on a couple of FB forums asking for suggestions, and I’m still pouring through, but these are my playlists across different platforms…

I ‘m still adding/shuffling on the Amazon lists and they’re good for all-day playing. I might have to make one narrowed-down with my absolute favorites.

So, what’s on your Christmas playlist? Any glaring omissions? Any you love or hate with a passion? Tell me about your holiday music in the comments. Am I missing any good Festivus or Hanukkah songs?

AI Generated punk rock Christmas art.

Streaming related bands automatically?

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This stated as a Twitter post/thread, and is ending up here.

Am I weird for thinking this?

Streaming services like Spotify and Amazon Music need a feature that adds in related bands. I can tell Alexa to play Rancid, but I also wouldn’t mind Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards being in there, or Transplants, or Tim’s solo stuff.  Or even Rancid covers.

Streaming needs to get smarter already.  The Spotify “super grouper” feature picks the absolute worst songs from each selected artist.

Of course, I could just make a playlist.  But, with a band like Blink-182 in the news, I wanted to dig into Angels & Airwaves, Boxcar Racer, & +44.  I don’t know which songs to add to a playlist.

Also, if I want to listen to ALL, I could want to listen to the Descendents too.  What about Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver, Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds, Loaded, Neurotic Boy Outsiders, Slash, Slash’s Snakepit, Miles Kennedy & The Conspirators, all of it.

Snuff, Duncan Redmonds, Dogpiss, Guns ‘n’ Wankers would be another example.  As would Misfits, Danzig, Samhain, Son of Sam, etc.

Saying one phrase or typing one into a searchboith to be able to bring them all up.

Is that bandtoband.com still a thing?  That could be a reference for connected bands.

Teenage Bottlerocket & the Lillingtons.  Screeching Weasel & The Riverdales.  Ann Beretta, Foundation, Rob Huddleston, & Sixer.  Metallica & Megadeth.  Green Day, Foxboro Hot Tubs, The Network, & 300 other bands.

Even unrelated bands.  Can I just say “Alexa play songs by Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphys” and not confuse the shit out of it?

I have an Ozzy/Black Sabbath playlist on Spotify with a ton of great stuff, including a plethora of killer covers.  It took time to curate.  I have similar ones for Metallica, Misfits, Guns N’ Roses, & Rancid. I need to transition them all to Amazon Music… we have the family account there since we’re using the firestick. I like Spotify’s suggestions better… but I can listen to Amazon sans commercials. I refuse to subscribe to another service, sorry Spotify. Oddly, most of those transfer services have a paywall once you surpass an unreasonably low amount of songs. I don’t even my remember my Pandora logins.

I would think AI could have probably pretty quickly picked up what I was putting down & fleshed it out.

I wouldn’t expect it to go this deep, but it could link Flogging Molly to Fastway.

With Hip Hop too… say all the solo projects of the members of N.W.A.?  All that in one would be awesome.

Does something like this exist and I’m just not aware of it? I miss WinAmp.

I need to rip all kinds of older, local, & obscure stuff and put it on my own damn streaming server. I understand Google Music would let you do that before it collapsed? There is really a lot of stuff out there that you can’t stream, and some of my favorites don’t have their entire catalogs available to stream.

Help me out, audiofiles, music nerds, and techno geeks!

Spotify Pie & Iceburgify for AiXeLsyD13
AiXeLsyD13 Spotify Listening Habits

August is Falling :(

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If you don’t know about Pat Finnerty, you should. He has a YouTube channel and he does a series of videos titled What Makes This Song Stink? among others (Now there’s a podcast too!). He has some witty observations, harsh truths, and is just lampooning guitar guy videos on YouTube. The pedal mobile is a thing of genius and pure hilarious delight. He says what a lot of us are thinking. He catches some wild connections or callbacks. He takes a joke way too far, which has always been something I am a fan of. It’s defiant. It’s hilarious.

As someone who has made art for it to mostly serve as a creative outlet that happens to have a very small circle of people who may have enjoyed it to varying degrees… It’s nice to see this guy get traction.

Writing, recording, and performing your own stuff lends itself to a certain level of judgement of others’ art. There’s probably some narcissism in there, but not at an unhealthy level. It’s not necessarily mean spirited, but it can be. I remain humble and understand that my creative output is not for the masses. I cater to a very small crowd with very similar tastes and no hang-ups about production quality. You have to wonder though… on some stuff… Why is this objectively certifiable crap popular? It’s hard to pin. It’s hard to point out.

I have played with some awesome musicians that “get it.” I have encountered many who do not. We are not on the same page. You’re not wrong in your opinions, but then again… you are. Pat gets it. Pat & I would probably disagree on a lot of things…. but we’d both have arguments to back it up. I appreciate his overall music nerdiness.

August is Falling started as a joke, and took off. I am in awe and a bit jealous. I bought a T-shirt and downloaded the EP though. This “joke” output is quality stuff.

Do yourself a favor and dive in.

The Pedal Itch.

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So, we all know I have a thing for guitars. I like ’em weird and I like ’em cheap. Anyone who plays & reads about guitars on the internet knows about the reality of G.A.S. and all its warning signs.

The Falcondrive guitar pedal from Rude Tech & Eaglebones Falconhawk (Ian Fowles) of The Aquabats!
Rude Tech Falcondrive

I only have a few pedals. I mean, I could always use more. Right? I think the Falcondrive sparked this most recent attack. Eaglebones Falconhawk is the renowned stringman and Fender aficionado of the insanely fun band, The Aquabats!

It’s overdrive and distortion all in one… and I like all kinds of noise. I like high gain, overdrive, distortion, chorus, fuzz… all of it.

Eaglebones sounds great, and he’s a killer player… this takes two of his older beloved modified pedals and combines them all into one package. What’s not to dig about it?

Yeah. That got my interest piqued. Then between AliExpress and Amazon, I ended up in a cheap-ass pedal deep dive. I love cheap gear. But not garbage. We’ll say inexpensive gear.

Mooer E7 | Mooer Pitch Box RudeTech Falcondrive | Flamma FC01 Drum Loop

How do the algorithms know? They’re listening. They’re reading. They’re watching. They’re pressuring.

I have sort of always been looking at an EHX B9 or the Earthquaker Organizer (or the EHX C9, Bass9, Key9. or Synth9 really). Honestly though, let’s face it; Most of my guitars cost as much as or less than these inarguably awesome quality pedals.

I found a super cheap and entirely crappy sounding sort of competitor online, then I found a slightly less crappy but seemingly more useful competitor online… still also pretty damn cheap.

Obi Wan, doing the thing. 👋
“You want to buy the pedals.”

Behold the Aural Dream Organ Synthesis B & Organ Synthesis A. They sound like hot buttered ass.

That though, somehow led me to this, which does not sound super terrible: The Mooer E7 Synth. It is not quite as expensive as the big boys, but also doesn’t sound like a dying sound card from a Commodore 64. (Arguably, even that could be a valid fun sound to chase… but if you’re not going for that, then you probably don’t want it by accident.)

Why do I want a synth pedal? Because, for years when playing out in bands, one of the songs I always dug covering was “Cool Kids” by Screeching Weasel. It has two super short keyboard parts that I always just played on the guitar. I would be immensely amused by the 3½ seconds of satisfaction that would provide.

That’s how G.A.S. works, right?

That led me to the Mooer Pitch Box. I don’t even need a pitch box, but is sure sounds cool. And it’s cheap. Damnit. That just led me to the even cheaper VSN Harmonizer. And a drummer pedal! The struggle is real. The pedals have gained sentience and are conspiring.

Then, I found the Flamma FS01 Drum Loop, which looks like ridiculous amounts of fun.

Then there are the other pedals that I can’t forget. I love my Orange Micro Terror. Apparently they make it as a pedal now, The Terror Stamp. I use an A/B/Y sometimes to play through both the Micro Terror and the Fender Blues Jr. at once. It would be fun to Orange-up the Blues Jr., or to play the Terror Stamp into the Micro Terror to make the Orange even more Orange.

Gorilla TC-35 Tube Crunch guitar amplifier.

That got me to seeing about the recent Acorn Amps Solid State pedal made to emulate an old Peavy Decade amp made famous by Josh Homme. That made me nostalgic for my first amp, the Gorilla TC-35. It had a “Tube Crunch” knob, but no tubes. After I got a larger amp to be in a band setting… we used to use it as a PA at AiXeLsyD practice, and I think even at some living room and basement shows.

Gorilla Amps Logo

Is it possible to make into a pedal? I don’t have the skills. I have a soldering iron, but I am no good with it. I used to do drafting in high school, but I am lost on the schematics for electronics. It looks like at least two people have made the combo into a head (…OK, one was for bass). A schematic exists online. Someone even has a circuit board which emulates the circuits for the amp, but is small enough to fit in a pedal. Why make a $200 pedal for a $50 amp? Yes. Why? Also, why not?

I wrote all of that, and still don’t know the point. To relieve G.A.S.? I would guess it should only serve to exacerbate it.

My current guitar effects pedals: Quinnamp Dirt & Ernie DigiTech Trio DigiTech FX3X Planet Waves PW-CT-04 Ammoon Pock Loop LiveWire Solutions ABY Box Ernie Ball Wah
YesFX

I mean, I do have a few pedals. They’re not even on a board. I had them on the cut-off bottom of a milk crate, but then I wanted to remove one. They are fun, and they do indeed do things.

This, hive mind, is where I need your help. Do I want more pedals? Yes. Do I need more pedals? Also, yes. They are sure to spark creativity. Use your wisdom to teach me. Can anyone build me a TC-35 pedal? I can get my wife to Cricut the logo in vinyl! Ha ha. Which pedals should I go for? What would you go for? I’m looking for those people experienced with these cheap pedals all over the internet. Send me your thoughts, reviews, & opinions!