Could you live on $5 a day?

Here's another post from my friend Grammy winning Producer/Engineer Carlisle Young. It's about his early days working at Platinum Island Studios:
"By the 2nd and 3rd month of school, a third of the class dropped out and I started to second guess myself again. Selling crack for a G a week was an option but I’ve held out for this long and I don’t want to start selling drugs because I don’t want to end up like a few of my friends either dead or deported. The only thing that was good about Linden Blvd and Merrick Blvd was half chicken and fried rice and going back there will never be an option ever again. One of my teachers gave me 2 phone numbers to premiere studios that he thought would fit me best, Platinum Island Studios and Chung King Studios. Well the good thing was that Platinum Island was a few blocks away from my school and the day after my appointment, I was hired as an intern. My first day there I was dressed in a white button down, slacks and dressy shoes and I was handed a bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towel. I cleaned the entire halls and bathrooms and was going to make the most of this place. Platinum Island was going to be my home......."
Read the entire post here.

DDMF Chorddetector ($15)

Even if it's not 100% accurate I find this amazing:
"Chorddetector is an mp3/wav-player with an integrated chord detection engine. Just load the song whose chords you’re interested in, press play, and off you go! Chords will be displayed in realtime, so you can play along live with your instrument."
Cost: $15 with a demo available here.

Lexicon PCM Total Bundle

Lexicon has combined their premier Reverb Bundle and their new Effects Bundle into "The total studio package for those who demand only the best". Below are some screenshots from the Plug-in Bundle.
A demo (ilok2 required) can be downloaded here.

"A powerhouse bundle of heritage and innovation, the PCM Total Bundle is the ultimate studio plug-in package for creating professional, inspirational mixes within popular DAWs such as Pro Tools^®, Logic^®, Nuendo^® or any other RTAS^®, AudioUnit^™, or VST^® compatible host. Designed to bring unsurpassed sonic quality to all of your audio applications, the PCM Total Bundle will take center stage in your DAW."

       Features

• 14 sonically brilliant Lexicon effect algorithms
• Hundreds of versatile presets
• Multi-platform compatibility (Windows^® XP, Vista, and 7; Mac^®OSX 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, PowerPC and Intel)
• Formats that work seamlessly in any VST, Audio Unit, or RTAS compatible DAW
• Graphical real-time display for visualizing the effect in different ways
• Stereo/Phase meters for ensuring mono compatibility
• Presets can be stored in a DAW-independent format which allows custom presets to be transferred between DAWs
• Full parameter control and automation
• Input, output and feedback meters for quick assessment of audio levels within the algorithm
• iLok2 protected software (Requires 2nd Generation iLok USB smart key - not included)

$1995 at Audio Vengeance.