InVettagating: Mark McCrite - October 2004 page 2

Hi, I did an interview with Mark McCrite, a professional Singer / Songwiter and working for Line 6 as the Product Line Manager for POD & Guitarport. I'll be touching the highlights of his professional career. What does he do for a living, how 's a day at work and who's he working with. During the InVettagation I also had a chance to meet some other great people like Erik Norlander, Lana Lane and Peter Verschuren. They also contributed to getting the whole picture. This is quite a read, but an interesting one and covering multiple pages. First of all I'd like to thank Mark McCrite for the time taken and his friends for filling in some background. Thank you Mark & Family, Lana, Erik, and Peter for giving me full access. You'll find appropriate links that'll add to the content when you want to know more about something particular.

Mark: In short, it's a lot of work and a lot to keep it all straight, but very rewarding. Day to day, I'm amazed at how complex the whole "GuitarPort world" is when you look at it from behind the scenes. Because GuitarPort, PODxt, Line 6 Edit, the Monkey, etc. all are so inter-related, making an update to any little component of the GuitarPort/POD universe always implies a much bigger project than you might think.

My job is to define the overall goals for the product lines I manage as well as each individual product related to the line. I have to make sure that during the development and release process, all functional groups are getting what they need from each other, everything is working smoothly, and that everyone inside Line 6 understands what's going on. The latter is probably one of the most challenging aspects of my job. I could write for ten pages on this, but I'd probably either bore readers or get in trouble!

Mark: Man Vinny, you're Vicious, allright, I can't refuse you so here goes nothing, ha, ha!

I think the best way to illustrate this would be to talk about a real project that you're familiar with. Here is a list of things that had to be considered or taken on when we created GuitarPort 2.0. Keep in mind that all of this was for a free upgrade. Each of these things were like mini-projects on their own and this list is only scratching the surface. While I didn't actually do the work involved with completing most of these tasks, I was responsible for making sure none of these kinds of details slipped through the cracks:

• Suggestions from both customers and employees had to be evaluated & weighed and a feature set for both PODxt and GuitarPort updates had to be arrived at & specified. This was really the most critical part of the process and involved a lot of people & functional groups with differing perspectives.

• The plan had to be implemented by Engineering, which took months. Of course, as it all came together, the specification would evolve and the rippling effect through all related products and subcomponents had to be dealt with.

• GuitarPort originally used models based on POD 2.0 technology and it had to be updated to use PODxt modeling technology - a huge effort! It also had to be able to deal with PODxt, which uses the processing power in the PODxt. This is totally different from GuitarPort, where the software does the processing. Both had to work seamlessly so that the difference is invisible to users.

• GuitarPort amp and effect panel graphics had to be created for all models in PODxt, even though they are not seen by users who own GuitarPort hardware

• All GuitarPort preset tones and GuitarPort Online tones had to be rewritten to take advantage of sonic improvements. All tracks had to be rebuilt using updated tones

• Everything had to be internally tested extensively before any public beta

• Box had to be redone to add ASIO support and Windows XP support to the requirements

• PODxt Manual update & GuitarPort help files had to be written, tested, approved, rolled into production, posted on website

• New sticker for the box hyping free lessons & free month promotion - these were different for PODxt box and GuitarPort. Even deciding on the right message for the sticker was a project

• New CD master for PODxt and PODxt Pro had to be created which contained GuitarPort, Line 6 Edit, drivers, and instructions for backing up programs and installation). The drivers, Edit software and documentation all had to be cross platform

• All GuitarPort hardware in the warehouse had to be updated with not only the new software CD, but new USB firmware (which must happen one at a time with a direct server connection!)

• Customer Service FAQ's had to be written for new GP & PODxt interaction & the basics of the GuitarPort update

• GuitarPort website had to be completely redone - new FAQ's, screenshots, sound samples, etc.

• Public beta forum established, maintained, etc.

• Training sessions for Customer Support and Sales teams were held

• Press release was written and a news story for both www.line6.com and GuitarPort Online was written

Okay I get the point, you're quite busy and really managing the stuff! So how long does an upgradeproject take?

Mark: They're all different, but we can talk about PODxt/Pro 2.0 & Model Packs project (it was all one thing) as an example. Start to finish, this project took somewhere between 6 months and a year from idea to realization, but it kind of started sooner than that and kind of hasn't ended yet. You have to keep in mind that it's all kind of one big evolving mass and it's hard to segment development cycles to one project or upgrade. Changing just about any small thing in PODxt means there will necessarily be an update to GuitarPort, Line 6 Edit, and maybe the Online Store, Drivers & Line 6 Monkey - and all of the people who work on those components are also working on new unannounced products or products in other lines.

PODxt Live's new live cabs and Tone Correction mode were originally intended to first show up in PODxt 2.0, but we felt like the update was substantial enough without the new live cabs and that it made more sense to test the new live modes during the test cycle for PODxt Live because testing a new hardware product would by definition focus a lot of energy in verifying behavior of the "POD in front of amp" scenario. While PODxt Live was wrapping up, we were simultaneously updating PODxt and PODxt Pro code to roll in the new stuff from PODxt Live - and this will be out soon.

We also intended to release a GuitarPort update that supported PODxt 2.0 & Model Packs right when they were first available, but then we'd have to go through specification/development/testing/release all over again to make it support PODxt Live and then again for GuitarPort RiffTracker. In the end we decided it would be best to just make one GuitarPort update that did it all.

(Mark's having a laugh) Mark: Well sort of, I guess you're referring to Rocket Scientists. Erik (Norlander) and I have known each other a long time. We went to high school together (I can't believe we've known each other for 21 years...) and have pretty much been playing in bands together from then ever since that time. Rocket Scientists is our project together - we've released 4 CD's and are actually working on a fifth as we speak. The style is reminiscent of Pink Floyd, ELO and ELP, but I try to infuse a sort of Beatle-ish angle kind of like Adrian Belew does for King Crimson. Erik started the band in '87 with some other high school friends and I was their soundman. I joined in 1989 as a guitarist/songwriter and became the lead singer in 1991.

Mark McCrite with Variax	performing with Rocket Scientists

A few years later, Erik's wife Lana Lane began making CD's and she used the same basic pool of musicians that Erik and I had used for Rocket Scientists. Both were only studio projects for the first 2 CD's, but in 1997 Rocket Scientists signed up Don Schiff (Chapman stick player) and Tommy Amato (drums), both of whom had played on the CD's, and did a tour of Europe. Lana accompanied us on the tour and took center stage for several songs. The same group of people with the addition of guitarist Neil Citron toured Japan in 1998 and 1999.

Erik and Lana have been making CD's and touring almost non-stop since that time. In fact, they're on tour in Europe right now! We'll propably get together again for some catching up when they get back. I'm pretty sure guitarist Peer Verschuren is on tour with them this time out. Peer did some tracks with us for GuitarPort.

Erik Norlander: Mark and I have known each other for about 20 years and have been working together in bands since high school. We've made 4 CD's together with Rocket Scientists and are working on a fifth one. We actually wrote and demoed the entire cd and will probably be finishing the album next year.

Lana Lane: Mark has written some great songs for Lana Lane as well. His songs because they're very melodic, which I love. He's the primary writer on songs like "Queen of the Ocean", "Project Shangri La" and "Gardian Angel" that we're performing live during our European tour now.

Erik Norlander: Mark did two Japanese tours with us and he's on the new Lana Lane DVD as a guitar player.

Lana Lane	Erik Norlander	Peter Verschuren

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