January Birthdays 
On Friday, I ordered a used Dual 2.3GHz Power Mac G5 that will arrive on Wednesday. My intention is to set it up as a DAW, using the Logic Studio suite and Garage Band in iLife, as well as a couple of "instruments" from Native Instruments that I just have to have, for lack of owning the real ones (Hammond B3, Fender Rhodes, etc.). I've been looking at the "Interface for a Mac" thread, not too far down from this one, as to what peripherals I might want to use, which brings me to a question about the Fostex MR-8mkII that I already own.
How well will the MR-8 work as a peripheral, seeing as how it is intended to be a stand-alone recorder? Or should I eventually sell the MR-8, once I find the printed manual for it (I have a PDF version I downloaded from the Fostex web site)? I don't know how long it will take me to get into the groove of working in the Logic environment, but for what I'm spending for the Mac and software, I AM making a personal commitment to have a complete song recorded ASAP. I also have my Line 6 Guitar POD 2.0 and Line 6 Bass POD, as well as my Crate Power Block, so recording guitar and bass tracks shouldn't be much problem.
Until I get lucky enough to win one of them huge ($200+ million) PowerBall jackpots, I may have to continue dreaming about owning things like a Hammond B3, a Fender Rhodes, etc., so I'll have to get those fixes in the digital environment...unless it's more prudent for a future creation to have a Hammond M2 instead, and I have a for real one of those. After this week, I will have to become more religious than I normally am about practicing my guitar/bass parts, and looking to creating others for future tunes as well. Perhaps when we get to 31 December, this year, I can make a New Year's resolution that I may actually be able to see through to completion...record a Christmas album (a la surf instrumental, of course). 
Matt
—Fast Cars & Loud Guitars!
