Those of you familiar with our ethos will know that giving back to the users of our products is one of our major concerns.

The way we see it is; we’re involved in a cycle of inspiration. We would not exist without the inspiration we find in the creations of our user base, we grow because of this. This growth means we can provide more and more plugins and effects which (we hope!) inspire people to go on and experiment and create new music. This lovely little cycle goes on and on – and long may it continue!

We’re pleased to offer some exceptional artists the chance to become AcmeBarGig endorsees!

View and support our artists!

Rich is one of those musicians whose music can be categorized as a rare treat to the senses where the genre need not be at the forefront of his musical ingenuity and artistry.  When you first hear Rich you get this great sensation that you can forget about other things in your life, at least for the moment.  But once you get past that feeling and really take a listen to what he has to say in his lyrics, you hear the wisdom of someone who has experienced life’s ups and downs. If you go further and really listen to his compositions from a musician’s perspective you will realize the accomplishment of his artistry! Do I hear Toad the Wet Sprocket influences amongst others?

Rich is an articulate musician and composer. Having attended Musicians Institute in Hollywood back in 1993 certainly helped his musical abilities. He’s been playing guitar and writing music for over 20 years. Really take a good listen to Rich’s chord structures. They range from simple rock to progressive influences.  His guitar riffs are violin-like and one can hear hints of Jimi, Schon and even Gilmour. This distinction is what I can personally relate to as a guitarist. Rich is a genuine songwriter, composer, and musician that will inspire!

Nacio Chavez (a.k.a. Shredder)

Rich’s comments on AcmeBarGig effects:
“I am very impressed with the accomplishments of the developers at AcmeBarGig. The effects they are creating are detailed, innovative and forward thinking. I appreciate that ABG is not trying to copy other software companies in the race to sound exactly like everyone else. I’m a tone geek who is always chasing after new sounds. This software offers the tools to do just that! When it comes to clean guitar tones and that oh so slightly overdriven breakup, these plug-ins are quickly becoming a go-to solution for me! The newest effects available offer even more possibilities! The EAR technology within Cab Enhancer is mind-blowing! If you dial it in just right, you can achieve a very live sound that is open and 3-dimmensional. Brilliant stuff guys…really!!”

“..Amazing… Original fresh… As soon as you think you have categorized him, you think again and you haven’t…”
Ken McLaren

Recently, Rich won an international songwriting contest with the song, “The Truth is LIE”. Check it out here at Riffworld

You can hear more of Rich’s compositions at Rich Harrison’s MySpace and at Rich Harrison’s RiffWorld Page

He has been chosen to open for, or toured with the following bands as well. Prong, Deicide, Vital Remains, Testament, Into Eternity, UPO, Ohm, F5, Drowning Pool, Job for a Cowboy, and many more. At age 13 he received full endorsement from KranK Amps, Homebrew Electronics and KxK Guitars. He maintains them all still. He has appeared as special guest drummer, bassist, guitarist and vocalist on 12 CDs. His band KOAMA has 4 full length CDs done and The Tommy Gibbons Band has 2 full lengths done. He records and plays all the instruments on the Tommy Gibbons CDs and Man Terror and he engineered and produced them too. Tommy just graduated High School and has a music scholarship in Arizona, where he will attend. Goals: continue teaching, engineering and producing, finish college and hope to tour and support himself with music.

You can check out the sounds Tommy gets from DIG and BIG by checking out his track ADHD

Check out more at the Tommy Gibbons MySpace or check out his band KOAMA

Fateless Tears = Richard and S. Lee

When we first heard Fateless Tears here at ABG it gave Ken goosebumps and we were all loving the tone Richard was getting from DIG and BIG, half an hour of headbanging, virtual high-fiving and all-around ego stroking later and we just KNEW we had to endorse them and feature them here.

FT are a hard band to define, while they’re not as ‘in-your-face’ and heavy as some modern metal bands, they certainly know how to rock hard, and their ability to write understated, beautiful segments only heightens the impact of their heavier movements.

The most interesting and impressive aspect of FT, in our opinion, is their ability to draw influence from an extremely diverse group of musical genres and combine them into their own unique, cohesive sound.

The progressive nature of their song structures and ideas mixed with their wide range of influences means Fateless Tears’ compositions take you on a journey, one minute you’re floating along through skies of symphonic soundscapes with the understated sighs of gothic vocals whirling around you, the next you’re being thrown across the room by a barrage of double-bassing and swung around by the balls by the heavy metal riffage. These ups and downs are what make a Fateless Tears song so impacting and memorable, soulful gothic vocals combine with chugging heavy guitar playing and ethereal synths and orchestral soundscapes join forces with fluid, emotional guitar solos to form the basis of Fateless Tears’ compositions, mix in their multifaceted catalogue of influences and you can rest assured no two FT songs sound alike.

Fateless Tears are a striking band that can combine movements of sheer beauty and emotion with aggressive and exciting passages that really get you going, their music is understated and unique, often veering on the edge of disturbing, but never long enough to make you feel too uneasy, a wonderful and inspirational balance of beauty and the beast.

Listen to more Fateless Tears at their Home Page, Last.fm and MySpace

Michael is a musician that has, and shows, a lot of passion in his approach to music.  His ability to visualize a tone, a melody, a guitar riff or an expression from his heart is certainly a testament of an accomplished musician!
Nacio Chavez (a.k.a. Shredder)

Michael started playing drums at school. After picking up a guitar he decided to continue playing both instruments. In 1987 he joined the Hard rock cover band “Fingers Crossed”. After touring with this band for many years, Michael decided to leave in order to start writing and recording his own songs.

Michael’s debut album “Shouting Silence” was initially released independently, but was quickly picked up by US label Perris Records, which gave the album a worldwide release. The album received raving reviews:

• StrutterAOR: A great high quality AOR album with catchy hooks and memorable choruses – 9 out of 10 points
• Rock Avenue: Classy Album – Special tip
• RockReport: Lots of catchy melodies and big choruses Munich’s Hardest Hits: 9th best album of the year
• RockUnited: Definitely recommended to any melodic rock fan who likes the more progressive moments of Toto and the rocking moments of Journey and the a likes – 8 points
• Glory-Daze: Michael keeps the AOR flag flying high with ‘Shouting Silence’. Very Good! – 80 out of 100 points
• Peitersen.com: 4 out of 5 points
• Metal Rules.com: If you are into this genre of music then you will not find a better release this year
• AOR Dreamzones:  An excellent release and one of the best albums this year – 80 out of 100 points
• Melodicrock.com: Impressive, solid debut album worth checking out – 79 out of 100 points
• Sonny1968.de: 8.5 out of 10 points
• Get Ready to Rock: Worth the effort of tracking down – 4 of 5 stars

Michael’s playing style has been described by critics as a mix between Steve Lukather (Toto), Neal Schon (Journey), John Sykes (Whitesnake) and Dann Huff (Giant). So very melodic, with a lot of feeling and passion, a great and diverse tone as well as technically skilled.

Besides being a solo artist and band member, Michael is also a very well respected session and studio guitarist, as well as being much in demand as producer, engineer and composer.

Some artists and bands Michael has worked with:

China Blue, Michael Bormann (Jaded Heart), Lec Zorn Project, Phil Vincent, Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, Dokken), Tony O’Hora (The Sweet), Tony Mills (TNT), Lars Safsund (Work of Art) and Rev Jones (Michael Schenker Group).

Selective Discography:

• Phil Vincent: Passion and Pain
• Viteffe: Tribute to Vitesse & Herman van Boeyen
• China Blue: Twilight of Destiny
• Art.461: The Evolution of Movement
• The Lec Zorn Project: It Began In The Underground
• Tragik: Poetic Justice
• Michael Riesenbeck: Shouting Silence
• Abbing/Batink: Dauw
• Phil Vincent: Circular Logic
• Fanfields: A Fans’ Tribute To Toto
• Alibi: Natasja & Andere Stukken

Check out Michael’s track ‘Meant To Be‘ to hear ABG’s gear in action!

Here is what head of ABG Ken McClaren has to say on Michael’s abilites and contribution to AcmeBarGig:
“ABG is very fortunate to have such a talented and giving person such as Michael with us as our Artist of the month. Not only does he play amazingly well but is very giving with his knowledge and techniques to younger players at our forums. Thanks for everything Michael ABG would not be the same without you.”

You can read more at Michael’s official website at: www.michaelriesenbeck.com

If you have not heard of Keith Merrow, allow me to introduce; Keith Merrow, a power house capable of imposing heavy runs, menacing clean tight solos with un-mudded tone to die for metal guitarist! I am stating this as fact! Keith is the genuine deal and rare treat. If you love metal, then I dare you to listen to “Pillars of Creation” on a decent audio system and you will know exactly what I am talking about!
Nacio Chavez (a.k.a. Shredder)

Keith Merrow is a studio musician hailing from Portland, Oregon. His extreme style of guitar playing is a unique blend of traditional metal with a dash of obscurity. In May of 2009, he released a self produced E.P titled “Lonestar Transcend”. The seven song instrumental boasts some of the most catchy and technical chops heard by an independent artist to date. Keith Merrow has a sound that is original and heartfelt while remaining utterly brutal and true to his metal roots.

Check out Keith’s track ‘Titan‘ to hear him – he prefers Series 60 – and he will brutally blow you away

You can hear more of Keith Merrow at the following web sites:
Free EP Download
Keith’s YouTube Channel
Keith’s MySpace
Keith’s SoundClick
Keith’s Last FM

Version 2 of the Shred suite is almost upon us!

We have 2 more freeware versions of Shred lined up for you in the near future, then you can start looking forward to Shred 2!

Red Shift allows you to replace the tone of your guitars pickup with a huge list of different alternatives and really provides you the versatility you need without having to spend money on several guitars!

What’s more, Red Shift allows you to actually change the MATERIAL your guitar is made out of, got an alder body guitar with single coils that just can’t get you that metal tone? No problem, run Red Shift, choose a nice dense maple and some active pickups and your blues axe is instantly transformed into a screaming machine. The same applies the other way round, calm those high input squealing metal axes down and turn them into country twangers or sweet lucid blues machines. It doesn’t finish there though, we just had to go one step further and allow for some CRAZY options that would be impossible in the real world, our materials section doesn’t just cover woods, oh no, ever wondered how your guitar would sound if it was made of CONCRETE or even SPLEEN and HUMAN TISSUE?! Well for the curious amongst us Red Shift allows just that kind of experiment to take place without the rather disastrous effects a real world experiment would likely result in.

There’s still a bit to add yet though, we’re re-working our Artists pages, and we’ll also be adding substantially to our About Us page in the very near future so you can get to know us a bit better!

So, the new home’s a bit sparse, but we’ll be expanding very soon to incorporate a dedicated blog amongst other features!

We hope this new site is easier to navigate and more pleasant to use than our old rusty one!