GT-R1 The Guitarist and Bassist’s Sketch Pad

Ah, I remember back in the day.

Attempting to work out what Vai, Satriani, Sheehan, Lee, Entwistle, etc were doing invovled a-not-so-cheap bit of kit that reduced the speed of the tape to make the parts a little easier to follow.

After that, those that had the cash, could go and buy small sampling devices that allowed you to record about 30 seconds and again slow the part down and keep it in pitch.

TASCAM’s brilliant GT-R1 not only allows you to change the speed of tracks without changing their pitch it does so much more!

Whack in your guitar or bass and record using the built-in amp simulator and effects.

Better still, the stereo condenser microphones allows you to record ambient noise, vocals, off the cuff jam sessions or anything else for that matter.

Noise….err…music is converted into MP3 or WAV format (16- or 24-bit) and the unit includes an SD card slot (1GB bundled in) and a USB 2.0 port for offloading files and charging the battery.

Other handy bits worthy of mention are the integrated metronome and chromatic tuner as well as the Line In and Mic in ports extra to the Guitar In.

It sounds like it will be hitting the streets for around €200 so well worth sticking in your gig-bag.