I do most of my recording in my studio, but I do have a MacBook Pro loaded with Logic Pro for when I need to take it to the streets.  Like most of us who do this, I find myself taking a series of bags and cases with me.  I have a laptop bag, a gig bag with microphones and cables, and then a small portable rack for a few rack spaces worth of essential gear.  It’s certainly “mobile” in the sense that I can carry it all, and it all fits in my Subaru…but it’s unwieldy.

Well, it seems Kaces might just have a solid solution for doing something about it with its new rack cases:

Kases rack/laptop case

I’ve not seen one in person, but this looks like a great idea—fuse the laptop bag to the rack case.  It doesn’t really add much bulk to the rack bag, and seems a lot more ergonomic.  

What it lacks, however, is a pocket/bag for all the cables and mics and other accessories.  That might just have made the thing too bulky, however.  And it’s already pretty pricey: $129.95—$229.95 based on model (it comes in 2, 4, or 6 rack spaces).  So this isn’t a “one bag fits everything solution.”  But for what it is, and it’s price, it looks pretty elegant.  If any of you reading have seen or tried one, I’d love to hear your experiences with it!

I first heard of Overloud a few years ago, when the company was sharing a Winter NAMM booth with Redmatica, an Italian software music software company that I have done editing and writing for.  Overload was showing off their soon-to-be released reverb plug-in called Breverb, which has gotten high marks since it’s release.  Winter NAMM 2008, I saw them again, this time showing off a very interesting looking and sounding guitar amp and effects plug-in.  That plug-in, called TH1, is now shipping.

TH1

The floor of the NAMM show is never the best place to audition software, but it sounded full and dynamic and very “real,” like the best simulations do.  I’m a guitar software junkie—I’ve either owned or reviewed all of the current packages for one magazine or another, and I can’t wait to put this one through its paces.  Overloud has built up a great reputation for extremely high quality audio processing, so it will be interesting to see how TH1 fares!