Music Section:
Roland Fantom X : This is my workstation keyboard. If you're interested in a powerful sampler/sequencer, I really suggest you check it out. I know keyboard guys love to hate Roland, but for me, I found it a much better fit than the Yamaha Motif or the Korg Triton. These things rock!
Tascam US-122 : An inexpensive (around $100) USB audio interface. For an inexpensive unit, this thing's a real pleasure to work with. Low latency, good clarity, even provides phantom power. Direct monitoring, mono or stereo input/output, really useful.
KRK Rokit 5 Studio Monitors : What good is creating music if you can't hear it well, right? Well, these little guys sound fantastic. I know the idea of buying studio monitors is intimidating and easy to talk yourself out of in lieu of computer speakers or headphones, but trust me, it makes all the difference.
Line6 POD-XT : I'm a guitar tone snob and I was really, really reluctant to buy this because like a lot of guitar players, I was sure I couldn't get a good tone from a multi-effects processor. Well, I was wrong. This thing is all you're gonna need to get great (I mean GREAT) guitar sounds for recording.
Audacity : A surprisingly powerful, open-source (free) audio editing software package. It's not quite on par with some of the professional packages, but it's definitely worth checking out. Of particular note is their "noise removal" plugin. Awesome.
Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio 6 : I am a fan of Cakewalk. This is some excellent and not terribly expensive pro-audio software. Everyone seems obsessed with Pro-Tools, and while I'm sure it's great, this is serving all my needs at the moment and doing so for a very small fraction of Pro-Tool's price.
Computer/Technology Section:
The Gimp : An open-source (free) alternative to Adobe PhotoShop. There are a million photo/graphic editing tools out there, but the Gimp is where it's at. You can do anything with it. There's a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, you'll never use anthing else.
Apache Web Server : Apache is THE webserver, period. If you're running anything else to serve your website, you're waiting for trouble. This thing is open-source (free), easy to set up, and robust. It is a workhorse and will run happily for you. Worth looking into.
ProFTP : A fabulous (and popular) FTP server. Wanna send your blog to your webserver? Want to let people have an upload/download folder on your site? This is the simplest way. I'm not sure if it runs on Windows, but for Linux, it's the way to go.
GoDaddy : While I was quite happy with 123registration.com, GoDaddy just got me on pricing and ease of use. I added my new www.mike-kelleher.com, www.mike-kelleher.net, and www.mike-kelleher.org through them since it was so easy, and inexpensive.
RegisterFly : Is your ISP blocking port 25? Not allowed to set up an email server? Let these guys host your mailbox for you. Very inexpensive.
*Please disregard the above "credit/recommendation". Registerfly has undergone a major "meltdown" and are not a reliable service. Please see the EmailHosting link below.EmailHosting: While I've only just switched to them as a provider, they have made the process of moving from my previous provider quite easy. This is a good solution to those of you whose ISP's are blocking port 25 and thus not allowing you to run your own email server.
JAlbum : An awesome open-source (free) online photo album creation tool. This thing is so cool. Easy to use, loaded with skins, heck, it'll even create the thumbnails for you. You can add music, captions, everything.
Fedora Linux : If you're wondering why I keep saying "open-source" then you gotta look into this. Linux is a FREE operting system (like Windows). But, it's much more stable and safe (no viruses). Fedora was my favorite "flavor" of Linux, but as its versions got newer, I found it didn't support my really, really old hardware (a Windows 98 era Compaq). So, while Fedora is stil a great "distro" (short for distribution) there are some other great ones for older computers if you're trying to bring an old PC back to life. Too many to list here, but I'd suggest poking around on Distrowatch.
Thingamablog : In my humble opinion, this is the only way to go for blogging. If you're hosting your own blog, this is it.
NVU : Yet another fabulous piece of "open source" software. NVU is a free WYSIWYG HTML editor (plus a lot more). Before you spend a lot of money on Dreamweaver, FrontPage, or any of the 100's of other website design packages out there, give NVU a shot. It's very easy to learn and isn't bloated with features you'll never need.
Andreas Viklund : I know his "footer" is at the bottom of each of the pages, but I still felt I should mention him. I've never met him, but I found his "open source" web designs/CSS templates online, and find them to be fabulous. I can't believe someone this talented would willingly let his work be used for free, but he does. If you're looking for some great ways to improve your website/blog, check out his site.
Open Source Web Design (OSWD): The website where I found Andreas Viklund's wonderful work. I stumbled across thiis site looking for help in designing my own Cascading Style Sheets in one of my vain attempts to redesign my site myself. I found more help than I needed at this site, they have some amazing stuff, and it's all free (as in beer).
