I have been trying to expand my synth playing vocabulary recently.. particularly with synth leads, both monophonic and polyphonic.

I was wondering if anybody had some advice. I find that most of my sounds tend toward a somewhat "horn" metaphor, like a Rick Wakeman minimoog. A little "blat" on the attack.. a sustaining sound with maybe a little filter envelope, and lfo pitch modulation available on the mod wheel.

Listening to different people, from Keith Emerson to Stevie Wonder to Deep Forest, I find that this is likely the "mean and median" sound. It is also the basis for most of the "lead synth" presets, and I find myself mostly doing variations on the theme.

Now I'd like to try to extend my vocabulary. I was wondering if any of you had suggestions. Perhaps some albums with unique sounds, or some sound design ideas for leads. Performance ideas would be good too, since some of the monophonic synth character appears to be related to note triggering, portamento and phrasing choices. I'd also appreciate any tips on interesting polyphonic synth leads (can't think of any).

Cheers,

Jerry

This message has been edited by Jerry Aiyathurai on 01-29-2001 at 09:51 AM

T Lavitz on his solo albums and the Dixie Dregs albums has a lot of good ideas that you can "borrow".

Sometimes he kicks in a device, such as a wah-wah pedal, distortion or whatever in the middle of a solo. It totally changes the mood and keeps the solo fresh. He also uses the pitchbend wheel very well.

One of the important aspects of soloing is phrasing and allowing room for space (silence). I am also a decent blues and jazz guitarist, so that's where I developed that skill...but it really does take a lot of experience to do that well. Actually, you can spend a lifetime learning that. As much as I love Rick Wakeman, he never leaves space and his solos can drone on and on. Like on his album "Official Bootleg". I still love the album none the less.

I think a lot of the effect units made for a guitar work better than onboard effects because they offer distortions, auto-wah, whammy bar effects, etc. They seem to be designed in a very creative way and some allow you real-time controls via a footpedal. I highly recommend those. Amp simulators like the SansAmps, Pod, J-staion, are effective for getting a tube amp sound. I'm partial to the SansAmp PSA-1. I put a Roland D-50 or a Moog Source through that and wail. My neighbors love me.

Any studio albums you would recommend? I have California Screaming, and I need to go back and listen to it again. In the first flush of ownership I lent it to a friend " here you gotta listen to this". It's still with him......



I have been using onboard effects. They are hard to control in a musical way. They go from zero to broken eardrums with nothing in between, typically. So I have been thinking about getting a filter (moogerfooger) or something. I hadn't considered a tube effect. Do these devices offer midi control? I'd like to control the degree of amp warmth/distortion I have so as not to lose the clarity of the synth's features (osc sync, ring mod, etc.). What are the advantages of the PSA1 over the G2 and the Pod?

Thanks,

Jerry


This message has been edited by Jerry Aiyathurai on 01-30-2001 at 11:13 AM

T Lavitz solo albums are mostly out of print and really hard to find. I like "T Lavitz and the Bad Habitz" and "Mood Swing". Used CD stores might have those but I doubt it. They are rare and hard to find. The Dixie Dregs album "Industry Standard" is fantastic, not just for his playing but it has Mark O'Conner on violin too.

I bought the SansAmp PSA-1 because I thought it sounded better than the Pod, has an effects loop, and most importantly has knobs for each function. It is expensive compared to whats on the market today but it's not quite the same. It uses analog technology and not modeling like the others. About $550 US. The Yamaha DG stomp has great tube amp simulations and is easy to program. I have know idea which one is best on synths and drum machines(yes, drum machines). Things like this are so subjective. I like the Pods, Sansamps, DG stomp.

Steve