[sdiy] Guitar Synth boards ready...

[harrybissell]

Hello Linium (et al)

I'd suggest that you look for the G-Vox guitar system and get the hex pickup from
that...
may be less fun than cloning, but I got mine off e-bay for $15.   You can throw
away all the
extra stuff and just use the pickup for that.

OTOH the opto idea has been done before and is workable too... except for the
problems of
string angle changing when you bend or trem (but sh!t I hate trems anyway :^)

I too... had renounced the P/V system for guitar, but I was challenged by someone
to clone the
360 Systems Polyphonic Slavedriver...

... which imho did not work acceptably well.   What I have come up with works
quite well (otoh I
lack the speed of McLaughlin or VanHalen to do a balls out test :^).

The system I'm now building is a prototype of what will eventually be a VERY high
end poly system...
probably about four times as complex as what I have now. The idea is to see if it
is worth taking it to
the next level.  I'm convinced that it IS worth going to this level...

So Linium...  may you receive a large legacy soon  :^P

otoh you asked about Hex Fuzz... I have built such a system as well.  It is WELL
worth the time and effort.
I used 12dB State Variable Lowpass Filters,  VCAs (per string) for noise gating,
Envelope Followers with
Lag and Attack Delay.    There are some photos over at Larry Hendry's site in the
AHMW folders...

It will NOT be crude. I made that error er... (twenty five)  years ago.   Each
individual sting will be  VERY
fuzzy...  BUT  when you sum them up, there will be six levels of amplitude...
think of a crude digitizing
system (integration).  The overall envelope shape is actually somwhat preserved.

Also... all the Intermodulation Distortion is gone. So a lot of the rudeness of
fuzz is removed. Hex fuzz is
more like a choral or string synth imho.

If I had it to do over again...  I would add two ADSR envelopes (three knobs like
minimoog style)... and use multimode filters... add some LFO per voice, and global
LFO (I'd use phase shifter technology -
NOT THE HORRID BBDS DO YOU HEAR ME ?  :^).

I'm going to use a Matrix 1000 or Matrix 6R to implement an advanced hex fuzz,
with MIDI trigger so that
I can get programmable sounds.  But that is along with the polyphonic P/V so we
are talking maybe within
a year or so.

I'd recommend building even a crude hex fuzz... the only thing is you MUST plan
for some noise gating.
Six fuzzes cracked up makes a hell of a noise floor

H^) harry


Linium wrote:

> Hello,
>
> It's nice to see there is some interest for guitar synth !
> I am building a hexpickup system for my electric guitar. So far it works for
> one string (it's an opto thing), i still have to clone it now. :)
>
> Well, it seems that Scott and Harry are far away ahead concerning the synth
> issue.
>
> As far as i am concerned, i am tempted to renounce to implement a tracking
> pitch system for VCOs.  (unless i get rich soon and can afford the new board
> from Harry of course, but i am afraid not).
>
> In my simple view, the sound of the strings would be treated individually
> (distortion/fuzz may be, or something else ?) then sent into 6 VCFs with
> enveloppe follower.
>
> Well i don't know, may be it will be to crude, less interesting ?
>
> I wonder what kind of filter would be ideal for guitar string. I mean 12 or 24
> db ? Low Pass or Band Pass (like whawha) ? Would be happy to know if some one
> has already made some experiment and has comments on all that.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Linium