Guitar synths (Don's rant)

[Peter Snow]

These guitar synths have limitations, but we tend to use them for what
they are good at and avoid what they are not good at.  Sounds obvious,
but when I first got my Ibanez XIMG (used, bargain) I tried to play it
just like a guitar despite all the warnings to the contrary - it's just
natural to do that if you are a guitar player.  That particular model
being at least one generation older than the current technology,
suffered from an annoying delay in pitch detection. However I soon
learned to use it for background string patches with relatively slow
attacks so the delay was not a factor anymore.  Same for any sound with
slow attacks.  This is important for me, not being a keyboard player. 
The only way I can get chords on a synth is through the guitar
controller.

The other "trick" I used was similar to what Don was saying about the
early Roland synths (GR-300) though I did not know that until now.  I
use the balance control on the guitar to allow the natural sound through
(clean or dist) and then roll-in some of the synth sound.  Then when I
play a note the real guitar sound comes in immediately and the synth
sound thickens it up nicely. Also covers up the occasional glitching.
It's not perfect, but it's better than (not) hearing that delay. It's a
compromise but I think these things will always be a compromise, using
the current technology. 

To my mind the big factor is price - how much do you want to pay for a
technology that is lacking? In the used market, these things become more
interesting.

Cheers,

Peter


tomg wrote:
> 
> The cool stuff...
> I don't know what sort of processing the gr-1 and it's sibling use but
> everything works. I just stuck the gk-2 on a old van-halen model
> strat. Pull-offs, hammer-ons, bends, trem-bar (all 6 strings at once),
> bla bla bla.... It all works..I can even play slide! Some of the cooler
> stuff is splitting the strings into instruments (one for each string) or
> instrument groups (say bass on the 6,5,4 and moog-lead on 3,2,1).
> What it's really good for is playing soft string pads behind gently
> played cords....just beautiful... and bass of course..
> 
> The bad stuff...
> Used with it's own internal sounds or sequencer it's fine. Used with
> external units it's slow, not unusable but slow.   It's not as smooth
> as I would like. The resolution zippering can be very obvious
> when bending a note or using the bar jumping too many notes trying
> to catch up, slide does not really slide...but hey these are minor
> complaints. The thing works and all (mostly) of the guitar tricks
> work.
> 
> The conclusion....
> After owning a guitar synth that works for about 5 years now I
> can say without hesitation that my dreams of using it as a midi
> controller are pretty much dashed. I thought I wouldn't play
> the keyboard nearly as much....well...because I am (was?) a
> better guitar player. This was wrong. I play keyboards even
> more. Frankly it doesn't sound right played on guitar. Hey! one
> of the fun things is triggering drums from guitar but it's just for
> fun. If I'm recording a song I use a keyboard.
> 
> So what's it good for?
> It's great for controlling it's own sounds live. You want to
> play that Yes solo from "owner of a lonely heart", a Styx
> style OB lead or accompany yourself with grand piano
> or bass. This works.
> 
> Is it worth it?
> When I bought it, I thought so...If I was in a guitar band
> It would be great for covering keyboard parts. There
> have been lot's of times I wished for one.
> 
> I don't know of a DIY path to something like this. To get
> all of the nuances from a 6 pole pickup probably requires
> many processors and tons of code.
> 
> Tom