Hey there folks. Just though I'd give you some history on me in general, and my journey through home recording hell. It been a long (and expensive) road. One in which I don't see getting any cheaper, or easier to come by, with the passage of time. I do what I can when it comes to my gear. I am not rich. I work, and pay bills just like everyone else. So whatever I have left after all that, is my budget for my recordings (which is sometimes zero...) I would love pro gear, and elaborate set ups as well, but it's just not in the cards for me at this point. But some day I hope it will be! I have been a musician for 18 years now. I am trying very hard to make it my career. I have 4 different music projects going on right now. I have a group named Hearts Aside with my girlfriend Candace Levi on vocals, and me on guitar, and MIDI production of drums, bass, orchestration, and synth. It is alternative, rock, pop, punk, ska, blues, and heavy metal geared "Radio" type music. I also have a group named Remorseless Music International with a friend of mine named Pauly Vengeance as from the U.K. as co-composer, and lead guitarist. I play rhythm guitar, and am the other half of the composing team. It is mainly instrumental heavy metal, and progressive metal. But also has hints of thrash metal, and speed metal. I do a side project of new age classical symphonic music, as well as a solo project of various forms of all the different styles I do in different groups. What I try my best to do is get a clear, quality recording. I've tried so many different mediums of recording. Yet out of all the money, and time, invested in learning the ins and outs of each piece of equipment still leaves me with low quality recordings. Due to my low quality gear. My recordings started back in the 90's with analog tape recorders. Which was fine for it's time. But in the days of the internet, all my music needs to be digital, so I can promote it to a wider audience. I tried the cheap rout, and just plugged my old analog recorder to the line in on my computer. As you can guess, it sounded terrible. The hiss from the tape was unbearable. The constant clipping and distortion from the lack of an interface made it just impossible. Since then I have gotten new software. I currently use Magix Music 15 pro. I tried again plugging my guitar in to the mic line of my brand new computer. Again sounded horrible. A little better without the tape hiss. But still just awful, with the constant clipping and distortion. So then I acquired a Lexicon Alpha audio interface. Solves my clipping issues. But isn't fully compatible with Magix. For some reason it won't record in stereo in Magix. I have to record everything in mono. Not a huge problem, but very annoying when one wants to pan. Works fine with Cubase LE, but Magix is much more advanced. So I am not willing to downgrade. Now that I can get semi-clear sounding recordings I am finding I lack tone. I love my guitar. No complaints there, as I just upgraded. But my pedals are lacking tone. I really need an effects processor with mold-able tones. I currently use regular analog stomp box style pedals. I use a DoD Death Metal Distortion, Digitech Grunge Distortion, FAB Chorus, FAB Distortion, and FAB Phase. While these are okay, they emit a high amount of humming while used with a single coil pick up guitar. As well as they don't have as many options for tone changes as a digital pedal. Which brings us to amps, and mics. I currently use no amp in my recording set up. Which gives me no control over the overall tone of my guitar. I have one amp that has a line out capable of this. It is a Crate G 200 watt combo. But unfortunately it has been a problem since I got it. I purchased it from ebay... Came to me broken, barely packaged, and has been in the repair shop 3 times now. Each time it goes out in the same fashion