Today's Top Stories:

  TASCAM Introduces New, Upgraded Portastudio 2488
When looking for the best "bang for the buck," project studio owners have been turning to the ultra-affordable TASCAM 2488 since its introduction. Now the company's 24-track/24-bit workstation has been updated and given a new name: 2488neo. It has a bold new look, but as we know, looks aren't everything, particularly in the audio industry, so TASCAM added brand-new mastering effects that will allow users to create punchy, polished mixes. Like its predecessor, the 2488mkII (which is still in-stock at an amazingly low price that includesa headphone/mic pack and $20 rebate!), the 2488neo has eight microphone inputs, seven effects processors, 3-band EQ with parametric midrange, an 80GB hard drive and best of all, the simple user interface common to all TASCAM Portastudios.

The onboard 80GB hard drive is enough for recording hours of 44.1kHz/24-bit recording. The mic inputs, four with XLR connections and phantom power, can be assigned to any track for recording large ensembles. A high-quality reverb effect, multieffects with guitar amp simulation, and up to nine compressors are also included. The new mastering effect includes multi-band EQ, compression, and limiting for thoroughly professional-sounding mixes that can be burned to the built-in CD recorder or transferred to Mac or PC computers through the USB 2.0 jack.

For more information, pricing, and availability, contact your Sweetwater Sales Engineer today.

  Updates and Upgrades
An important update has been released by Sonnox and is now available for Oxford SuprEsser Windows XP RTAS users. This is version 1.0.1. Please note that VST Windows and Mac versions are not affected by this update.
This new update addresses the following issues :

• Pro Tools would sometimes display an error when multiple instances of SuprEsser were de-instantiated.
  
• Various user-interface graphics bugs have been fixed.

• Support for Multiple FireWire cards (multiple FireWire bus support).
  
• Fixes to greatly reduce the "Processor overload" occurrences.
  
• Preset load speed in the PCM96 have been improved and it is now much faster when using the box in stand alone mode.
  
• Various DAW crashes/hangs have been eliminated.

  Guitar of the Day
Gretsch has understandingly been most famous for its hollowbody guitars, like the Chet Atkins Model 6120 and the 6122 Country Gentleman. Many young guitarists today don't even realize that the company made a solidbody. In early 1954, Gretsch premiered its single-cutaway Jet series, which remained in production right up until the end of the Baldwin era. Although nobody in the company would ever say so, it's clear that this was Gretsch's answer to the Les Paul, which made its debut about two years earlier. However, despite their overall appearance, these were not solidbodies at all, but rather semi-solids, with the top, back, and sides all built separately. The arched top was constructed of multiple layers of pine, maple, mahogany, and spruce, while some even had a top layer of Nitron plastic drumshell material. Today's Guitar of the Day is a reissue of one of the rarest of the Electromatic Model 6128 Duo Jet models, with a Cadillac Green finish on the top and a stained mahogany back, sides, and neck.

Just like the original 1954 Duo Jet, this re-creation comes standard with a pair of reissue Dynasonic single-coil pickups, which are capable of delivering a massive midrange punch, tight bass, and a smooth top end (Gretsch did not introduce its own humbucking pickups until 1958, when the original Filter'Trons were introduced). The Duo Jet also features the Gretsch Tone Pot circuitry, which gives you three preset tones on one 3-way toggle switch (the other switch is for pickup selection), plus authentic CTS/Switchcraft electronic components. It's also equipped with a period-accurate Synchro-Sonic bridge, Grover Sta-Tite tuners and a real B3G Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. Because of its unique semi-solid construction, this Duo Jet is light enough for extended periods up onstage. The mahogany neck is perfectly balanced and comes with a premium rosewood fingerboard and vintage "hump-block" position markers, which were normally reserved for only the most expensive guitars in the Gretsch line, like the White Falcon and White Penguin models. Gold-plated hardware completes the picture. Your new Duo Jet ships in a deluxe hardshell case right to your door via FedEx, and like almost all our products, this one includes free shipping.