MOTM

In a message dated 4/22/00 9:08:57 PM, jwbarlow@... writes:

<< I seem to recall Sequential Circuits having a modular effects package with 
something like a P5 memory in the early 80's >>

I remember seeing one of these years ago...  another one popped up on eBay a 
few months ago.  Sold for a ridiculous amount of money, as would be expected.

Enclosed is a picture of the SCI unit.

Ivan

In a message dated 4/22/2000 10:46:59 PM, thudson@... writes:

>R. G. Keen has always done some interesting things. I really like his
>analysis of distortion effects.

I think you were the person who made me aware of him. I hope he starts to 
offer PCBs for guitar effects again.


>This does bring up an interesting problem I've toyed with the past
>few years. I actually have one of his redesigned fuzz faces. My 
>problem is that my Strats are all equiped with EMG SA pickups, which
>are active, so I don't get that original Strat->Fuzz Face sound (though
>I do get lots of killer Gilmore-esque type sounds). It is further
>complicated for those with Les Pauls or other humbucker equiped
>guitars. I would like to see input circuitry that would allow
>one to adjust their guitar output signal to match responses
>of other guitars. I don't know enough about this to actually
>design it. I do believe it is more than modifying signal strength
>or filtering to modify frequency response. It may be impossible
>to truely mimic lowly single coil pickups with active circuitry.


I liked Harry's response to this (on diy). If you've seen spec sheets from 
different PU manufacturers lately, they have a lot of different ways to 
compare PUs (DC resistance, impedance, resonant frequency, etc.). It seems 
like there is a lot of different ways to look at PUs. I don't know anything 
about EMG pickups and I don't really like active electronics onboard guitars, 
but I can see why people do like them.

I'm wondering if you've (or anyone here) has tried those new emulator boxes 
(Roland?) that can supposedly mimic all kinds of guitar/amp rigs. I'm 
completely skeptical about the claims of these units, and I similarly doubt 
that one can use a box to modify the behavior of a humbucker PU to act like a 
single coil and vice versa.

I don't know how much experience you've had with other types of PUs, but my 
favorite PUs in general are what are referred to as Deluxe Humbuckers from 
Gibson (both reverse Firebirds and Deluxe models of Les Paul and SG guitars 
used these). They seem to have much of the high frequency range of single 
coil PUs but with the humbucking crunch. I think these PUs have a large 
magnet that is common to both coils which helps them to act more like a 
single coil PU.

>I still think about a conversation we had some time ago about
>VC distortions and the idea of a two dimensional grid where each
>corner was a famous fuzz or distortion device and two voltages
>to control the location. An addition to this would be circuitry
>to compensate for differences in various guitar outputs.
>My corners would be:
>
>Tube screamer           Fuzz Face
>+-------------------------+
>|                         |
>|                         |
>|                         |
>|                         |
>+-------------------------+
>MXR Distortion+         Big Muff
>
>These are my four favorites. Imagine being able to use a joystick
>to move between these, or better yet, a couple of LFOs moving the 
>signal around this grid. Of course these effects don't really shine
>with static input amplitudes.


Well, if MOTM releases a Dual Coupled VCA (panner/crossfader) module, then 
three of them would work well for this very purpose, but then you'll need a 
bunch more of these modules to pan your guitar output, and other synth voices 
too.

>Thomas
>P.S. Can anyone on the list tell me about Portland? My wife and
>I are thinking about leaving Atlanta. What kind of music scene,
>etc.

Isn't that Trenkel country -- maybe a few others too?
JB

In a message dated 4/23/00 3:35:42 PM, jwbarlow@... writes:

<< >P.S. Can anyone on the list tell me about Portland? My wife and
>I are thinking about leaving Atlanta. What kind of music scene,
>etc.>>

<<Isn't that Trenkel country -- maybe a few others too? >>

I'm moving to Seattle the end of June, and am originally from that area, but 
it has been ten years since I've been to Portland.  Used to have a good 
underground music and jazz scene; not sure where it is at right now.

Ivan