Harry's Rant was: Guitar synths (Don's rant)

[Don Tillman]

   From: WeAreAs1 at aol.com
   Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 21:35:05 EDT

   For some reason, I can't seem to find the original message of Don's
   from which this was paraphrased.  I hope I didn't carelessly delete
   it - I'm really enjoying this thread, and I'm always interested in
   Don Tillman's thoughtful posts.  

Gosh, thanks.

   However, it should be noted that the Roland GR-300 floor module
   doesn't quite work exactly that way.  It does indeed use a
   distorted and lowpass filtered version of the guitar's string
   output to analyze for pitch-to-period conversion, but it doesn't
   put that distorted string sound into the audio path either before
   or after the VCO has settled on a stable pitch.  

My understanding of the GR300 is limited.  Thanks for supplying the
details.  

   Nevertheless, Don is quite correct that the GR-300 system has
   essentially zero delay (taking into consideration its slight attack
   ramp in its VCA/VCF envelope).  If you ever get the chance, try one
   sometime.  You'll be amazed at how much it's like playing a
   "normal" guitar, especially if you've been beating yourself up
   playing any of the modern-day MIDI guitar synths.  It's no wonder
   that Pat Metheny, one of the truly great musical geniuses of our  
   time (and a very savvy and demanding techno-nerd), still uses it on
   every recording and in every concert.  If you've ever seen him play
   his orgasmic masterpiece "Are You Going With Me?" on that axe, you
   know just how emotionally expressive and incredibly musical a
   guitar synthesizer can be.   

I'll say.  This is where Pat Metheny takes a guitar synth and stands
up and testifies.  It's scary when a musical performance can control
your breathing.

(Everyone else, the album is called "Offramp".  It's great.)

I think those of us looking to build a better guitar synth should
think of the GR300 as a reference.  Do something that's even better
than this.

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California, USA
don at till.com
http://www.till.com