Cheapo Delay

The processes of bringing together the funds for the Redline Project and acquiring gear that will be purchased with those funds are requiring patience and determination. I have scanned over tenths of miles worth of CraigsList classified ads, and I have made research trips to every Guitar Center within a 25 mile radius at least once.

With a week tucked away and only 51 short ones left, I do have moments of wondering if anything will come from this effort other than spending some money and keeping an online diary.

Regardless of the outcome, I am glad to report that I am feeling greatly motivated and fulfilled by the prospect of the Redline Project; a feeling that has been all but forgotten in recent years.

The wrestling match with my only piece of gear, the Alesis MultiMix 12 Firewire, rages on. I keep swinging with my troubleshooting tips and it jabs right back with static and pops and barely audible signal. A small victory: Last night, I glanced at a new dial that appeared to control an effects bank. I plugged in my guitar (currently a five-string with due credit to my buddy Eric who recently popped the thinnest one) and twisted the knob around. Hark! I doth hear the angelic echoes of cheapo delay, reverb, and flange.

With a single rotary dial, each note I play suddenly becomes eight or ten, bouncing thither and yon around the recesses of my headset. I play one chord over and over again, marveling at the sonic array that effortlessly unfolds. I am transfixed. Two hours evaporate as I lose myself in the asphyxiating swirl of sound. Midnight has come and gone, my fingers ache from the dig of the metal strings, and I am lost in music for the first time in a long, long time.