New member into Extreme Signal Processing

[Winston Psmith]

I'm a new member, and an ancient gearhead, looking for other geeks into bizarre effects, loopers and guitar synths. Not strictly a "noisician", but I'd rather listen to great noise than bad music. Would love to share Stupid Guitar Tricks. Anyone interested?

[p90jr]

I dig "noise" and slip it creatively into stuff when I can. I'm afraid I just abuse the same effects I use for anything else and slides, bolts, ebows and whatever else and an Akai Headrush looper. I have an old beat up Electro-Harmonix Big Muff that can be a nice doomsday machine if you just open it up completely.

 

I am interested in the Death By Audio line of effects pedals made by Oliver Ackerman, who is the guitarist in a cool noisy band named A Place To Bury Strangers. I've also been putting off getting a Zvex Fuzz Factory. They both seem a bit like cheating, though... I'm starting to hear them used, exactly the same way as the first people who used them, all over the place, so my restless nature with that stuff is kicking in, I guess.

 

Earlier today I was listening to the Ambitious Lovers. Arto Lindsay's untuned, distorted out 12-string Danelectro sounds great in the midst of that slick brazilian jazz pop.

 

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17aTVDLchoI

 

[p90jr]

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCjvkZRLviw

[Winston Psmith]

Sweet! Thanks for the quick reply, & the video post. I've got both versions of the Headrush myself, and I've already used up one Ebow; the switch finally just gave out. A lot of my gear was state-of-the-art back in the 90's (Lexicon Vortex, Digitech Space Station, Roland GR-1, Boss GT-3), but I can't reproduce a lot of those sounds on newer processors, at least, nothing like the Vortex. The GT series is useful, but you hit the right wall of processing pretty quickly.

[p90jr]

I can't imagine that keeping up with the latest thing really enhances creativity, since most people overuse whatever something does easily, and, well, the whole point of this kind of music is NOT to do what everyone else does.

 

If an eBow turns up cheap I buy it. They're not very durable, really. One of mine has had a pampered existence and is coming apart.

 

I'm probably more into the Nels Cline, Marc Ribot, Sonny Sharrock side of things, the guys who could probably make acoustic guitars sound demented, but I do like Adrian Belew, David Torn, Henry Kaiser, Fripp, I'm a huge Andy Summers fan, Elliott Sharp...

[p90jr]

I think I phrased that incorrectly, since all of the above (especially Elliott Sharp) can make an acoustic sound otherworldly and demented if they choose to...

 

[video:youtube]

 

I guess I meant more "guitar created noise" than processed guitar noise...

 

hell, that's probably not a good description, either...

[Caevan O’Shite]

Hey, WPsmith! You should check out the Sustainiac Model C "Acoustic-energy" Feedback Sustainer mad-scientist feedback inducer from Maniac Music. (Not to be confsed with their- and Fernandez'- magnetic pickup/tansducer sustainers.) The one that (temporarily) clamps a vibrating-transducer onto the guitar's headstock, to induce musical acoustic feedback.

 

I've got one and it rocks! FANTASTIC for direct recording/headphones/digital-modelers.

 

It's a bit of a chaotic beast, a wild ride when cranked up (and you'll probably NEVER run it wide-open, lotta feedback-gain on-tap), the guitar really vibrates from it and becomes a big wooden speaker! But it can be controlled quite nicely much of the time. Always a bit of chaotic randomness in there, though, in a good way. Damping, muting, and fretting-pressure intonation chops are a must to get the most out of it- and to keep it from getting the best of you!

 

To give you an idea of some of what the Sustainiac can do in a completely D/I application, here's a "rhythm guitar" track, Li'l Brother Midnight (transferred to my cheesy old PC by less than ideal means), going-

 

LP > Sustainiac > DigiTech GNX4

 

-using a clean-toned model/program, and originally recorded on the GNX4. I'm not sure if I was using the bridge-pickup, or the neck-pickup through a floored Fulltone Clyde Deluxe... Can't remember which and it sounds a little like either!! (It was a semi-improvised test-run pass that I decided to keep, "live"/first and only take, untouched.) Sustainiac used somewhat mildly for a loud/clean-amp feedback sort of thing (the 'verb and ping-pong echo are the GNX4).

 

Also, the Foxrox Octron is a killer analog octave-fuzz pedal; goes great with the Sustainiac, too.

[Scott Fraser]

I'm a new member, and an ancient gearhead, looking for other geeks into bizarre effects, loopers and guitar synths. Not strictly a "noisician", but I'd rather listen to great noise than bad music. Would love to share Stupid Guitar Tricks. Anyone interested?

 

Lotta effects processing going on in my rig, which is all about making electronic music with guitar as the source. Basically I have 3 parallel chains, each on a volume pedal, consisting of a 12 second delay/looper feeding a multi-effects processor. Much of the time it's not really recognizable as guitar. And most of my gear is pretty old too, since I can't find any modern effects which do what the old ones do.

 

Scott Fraser

[Scott Fraser]

I'm probably more into the Nels Cline, Marc Ribot, Sonny Sharrock side of things, the guys who could probably make acoustic guitars sound demented,

 

Check out The Acoustic Guitar Trio - Nels Cline, Jim McAuley & the late Rod Poole. There's one CD on Derek Bailey's Incus label (recorded here in my studio) and a live recording on Long Song Records out of Italy. All acoustic & a real revelation of what can be done to take the acoustic guitar way outside the expected.

 

Also Jim McAuley's two CD's are very worth investigating as well.

 

Scott Fraser

[Winston Psmith]

I'm probably more in the Fripp/Belew camp, although I've never joined the Guitar Craft folks; seemed a little cult-like, at times. Love Nels Cline and the late Derek Bailey, and E Sharp, of course. I credit E Sharp with bringing us into the post-guitar era; about 12-15 years ago, he did a "guitar" concert, featuring guitar sounds he'd recorded into a Mac, and processed through MAX software. He never actually picked up a guitar during the entire concert; talk about high-concept.

 

I run 3-4 pedalboards at any given time, lots of ring modulators and filters at the front, pile of delays & loopers near the end, and a bunch of noise toys in between. I have an old, faithful Boss GT-3, but nothing gives me the flexibility of a line of pedals. Before I finally got a guitar synth, I suppose that I was also using signal processing as a form of synthesis, and I still like the textures I get with that technique. (Running a nice ring mod sound through a swept filter, for example.)

 

I have a sort of funny Derek Bailey story. Back when Pat Metheny & Derek Bailey released the Sign of Four album, I was working in a music store, CD's, not MI. A lady came in one day to return the CD, with a strange look. She told me that she was a Pat Metheny fan, and she had most of his CD's, and that there was clearly something wrong with the disc in her hand, which she held as if it were a poisonous snake. I asked her if she had ever heard of Derek Bailey, and she said "No." I took the disc back, and suggested that she pick something else altogether. I have seldom seen anyone so clearly frightened by an encounter with new music.

[Winston Psmith]

Thanks, Caevan! I really enjoyed the sort of "swell" effect that comes through on that track. Is any of that from the GNX?

[Caevan O’Shite]

Thanks, Caevan! I really enjoyed the sort of "swell" effect that comes through on that track. Is any of that from the GNX?

 

All of the swelling feedback is the Sustainiac making the strings vibrate sympathetically, often with some buzz against the frets; there's some moderately subtle digital reverb and analog-flavored digital "ping-pong" panning delay, courtesy of the GNX; other than that, just a clean, warm amp-model with moderate compression.

 

The Sustainiac Model C also does fantastic feedback for lead lines and such, morphing into high harmonioc overtones if you want, and sounding much more like feedback from a loud amp than the types of sustainers that replace the neck-pickup.

 

Add some means of "swelling in" the front-end of notes, like with the guitar's volume-knob, a volume-pedal, or swell-effect like a Guyatone SV2 or Boss Slow Gear, and the Sustainiac will help you do incredible "backwards guitar" effects live in real-time.

[p90jr]

I'm probably more into the Nels Cline, Marc Ribot, Sonny Sharrock side of things, the guys who could probably make acoustic guitars sound demented,

 

Check out The Acoustic Guitar Trio - Nels Cline, Jim McAuley & the late Rod Poole. There's one CD on Derek Bailey's Incus label (recorded here in my studio) and a live recording on Long Song Records out of Italy. All acoustic & a real revelation of what can be done to take the acoustic guitar way outside the expected.

 

Also Jim McAuley's two CD's are very worth investigating as well.

 

Scott Fraser

 

Yep, I checked the AGT out, and a lot of Poole's stuff, at the time of his tragic death. Great stuff.

 

You run in awesome circles, Scott. Have I seen your name connected to the Kronos Quartet somewhere, or is that another Fraser?

[p90jr]

Hey, WPsmith! You should check out the Sustainiac Model C "Acoustic-energy" Feedback Sustainer mad-scientist feedback inducer from Maniac Music. (Not to be confsed with their- and Fernandez'- magnetic pickup/tansducer sustainers.) The one that (temporarily) clamps a vibrating-transducer onto the guitar's headstock, to induce musical acoustic feedback.

 

I've got one and it rocks! FANTASTIC for direct recording/headphones/digital-modelers.

 

It's a bit of a chaotic beast, a wild ride when cranked up (and you'll probably NEVER run it wide-open, lotta feedback-gain on-tap), the guitar really vibrates from it and becomes a big wooden speaker! But it can be controlled quite nicely much of the time. Always a bit of chaotic randomness in there, though, in a good way. Damping, muting, and fretting-pressure intonation chops are a must to get the most out of it- and to keep it from getting the best of you!

 

To give you an idea of some of what the Sustainiac can do in a completely D/I application, here's a "rhythm guitar" track, Li'l Brother Midnight (transferred to my cheesy old PC by less than ideal means), going-

 

LP > Sustainiac > DigiTech GNX4

 

-using a clean-toned model/program, and originally recorded on the GNX4. I'm not sure if I was using the bridge-pickup, or the neck-pickup through a floored Fulltone Clyde Deluxe... Can't remember which and it sounds a little like either!! (It was a semi-improvised test-run pass that I decided to keep, "live"/first and only take, untouched.) Sustainiac used somewhat mildly for a loud/clean-amp feedback sort of thing (the 'verb and ping-pong echo are the GNX4).

 

Also, the Foxrox Octron is a killer analog octave-fuzz pedal; goes great with the Sustainiac, too.

 

interesting, how did I miss this gadget?

 

When I'm on a computer versus my phone I'll check out your tune. Anxious to hear it.