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Sorta OT: Why Did/Do Guitarists Reject Synthesizers?


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Spending more and more time working on electric violin and acoustic viola for sustained melody parts, and quite frankly, resuming my actual piano playing came hand in hand with reducing my use of the VG-99.

 

The tones available from a real bow on real strings are just the best thing ever. The instant connection of heart, soul and instrument will never be equaled by using reproductions triggered by digital or electronic impulses.

Real guitars also cover a lot of ground, from nylon string acoustic to 12 string to slide guitar to Stratocaster with whammy bar. It's all about that human connection/expression.

 

Synths, whether keyboard or otherwise, will never be that intrinsically expressive, ever.

 

True, and I've given up after years of trying. I don't think even MIDI 2.0 will succeed. Violins, guitars, saxophones, and other organic instruments are just too expressive.

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Synths, whether keyboard or otherwise, will never be that intrinsically expressive, ever.

The late Joe Zawinul could extract expressive beauty out of any synth or keyboard he touched. ;)

 

However, to the point, that's part of the reason so many KB players are tethered to acoustic pianos and electromechanical KBs. Those instruments facilitate expression.

 

OTOH, synths and electronic KBs in general require a different approach when it comes comes to expressivity. That's partially why musicians cycle through them. :laugh::cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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Spending more and more time working on electric violin and acoustic viola for sustained melody parts, and quite frankly, resuming my actual piano playing came hand in hand with reducing my use of the VG-99.

 

The tones available from a real bow on real strings are just the best thing ever. The instant connection of heart, soul and instrument will never be equaled by using reproductions triggered by digital or electronic impulses.

Real guitars also cover a lot of ground, from nylon string acoustic to 12 string to slide guitar to Stratocaster with whammy bar. It's all about that human connection/expression.

 

Synths, whether keyboard or otherwise, will never be that intrinsically expressive, ever.

 

My friend initially started the band by asking me to join to "fill out" the music, with herself on vocals and guitar. At first "filling out" meant taking on lead guitar duty. Then "filling out" meant playing bass and synth with VG-99. Then she found out that I was playing viola with a church orchestra, and wanted me to try playing viola with her music. I tried to explain that my role in the orchestra was to back up the principal violist - he played all the notes on the sheet music, while I played as many as my limited skill would allow at the given tempo. I was drafted into the orchestra by my viola teacher, who insisted it would be great training for me. In other words - I was far from pro level on the viola.

 

So my friend/bandleader was happy when I played in tune and didn't squeak too much. Playing in tune with decent tone (no squeaks, no unwanted harmonics, etc.) on a bowed instrument is hard. Really, really, really hard. I suggested switching my parts to synth to eliminate the intonation problems as well as wildly inconsistent tone. She refused and insisted she believed in me. She also vetoed replacing my viola parts with guitar. So I was left with little choice other than to spend more and more time fixing the problems with intonation and tone. That said, I'll probably get an NS Design fretted violin - fretted violins have been a controversial topic in the amplified violin/fiddle community but having played a fretted fiddle before, I am 100% certain that such an instrument will be a great fit for what I like to do, with this band and with my own stuff.

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Synths, whether keyboard or otherwise, will never be that intrinsically expressive, ever.

The late Joe Zawinul could extract expressive beauty out of any synth or keyboard he touched. ;)

 

However, to the point, that's part of the reason so many KB players are tethered to acoustic pianos and electromechanical KBs. Those instruments facilitate expression.

 

OTOH, synths and electronic KBs in general require a different approach when it comes comes to expressivity. That's partially why musicians cycle through them. :laugh::cool:

 

Shame Joe didn't live long enough to get his hands on an Osmose. We know dude would have made it sing, scream and shout.

 

I vacillate between Joe's and Lyle Mays' POV on synths. Lyle was not as enthusiastic about self-expression on synths but did value them for arranging/orchestration and production. Then again I also admired the extremes to which Sun Ra pushed his Moog and Yamaha synths. it was my mentor at the university who said I should check out his synth playing - he said "Don't be like the Arsenio Hall Show players". While dissing those players might have been harsh, I got his real point. :laugh:

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Synths, whether keyboard or otherwise, will never be that intrinsically expressive, ever.

 

I agree that acoustic instruments leave synths in the dust today, but can we be so certain that something is impossible?

 

Bowed instruments (beginning with the Rebab) have been perfecting tone and the human connection for two thousand years. Synths have been around for fifty. We are just babies. Please give us a chance to get potty trained before you write us off?

 

:)

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it was my mentor at the university who said I should check out his synth playing - he said "Don't be like the Arsenio Hall Show players". While dissing those players might have been harsh, I got his real point. :laugh:

 

The band leader on Arsenio Hall was Starr Parodi she studied arranging and composing at the school I worked. She tour with quite a list of big name artist then got the Arsenio gig a few years later. She moved into film scoring and doing solo piano albums with a shelf of awards. She's the president of The Alliance For Women Film Composers. Guess being a Arsenio Hall player isn't a bad gig to have.

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Synths, whether keyboard or otherwise, will never be that intrinsically expressive, ever.

 

I agree that acoustic instruments leave synths in the dust today, but can we be so certain that something is impossible?

 

Bowed instruments (beginning with the Rebab) have been perfecting tone and the human connection for two thousand years. Synths have been around for fifty. We are just babies. Please give us a chance to get potty trained before you write us off?

 

:)

 

I'm not writing anybody off although I disagree that Joe Zawinul could make a keyboard as intrinsically expressive as a talented string player. Listen carefully to great recordings by master musicians.

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/instruments/violin/features/best-violinists-ever/

https://www.cmuse.org/famous-viola-players/

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/instruments/cello/features/best-cellists-of-all-time/

 

There are subtle nuances of pressure and position when using a bow that are continuous, fluid and often subtle and sublime.

Perhaps if humans grow another pair of hands they can simultaneously generate subtle changes in pitch while also creating audible differences in frequency response, timbre and the degree of tension (scraping?) between the bow and the string while playing a keyboard instrument. I'll give you 1,000 years, I'll be long since dead by then.

 

I'm in full agreement with Governor Silver that viola is hard, I had one for a few years and tried my best to get good tones. Then I gave up and played guitar.

 

This is to say nothing of the greatest vocalists, that is a tall mountain indeed!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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There are subtle nuances of pressure and position when using a bow that are continuous, fluid and often subtle and sublime.

Perhaps if humans grow another pair of hands they can simultaneously generate subtle changes in pitch while also creating audible differences in frequency response, timbre and the degree of tension (scraping?) between the bow and the string while playing a keyboard instrument. I'll give you 1,000 years, I'll be long since dead by then.

 

Hey, I love bowed strings too. :thu: My father and my son both played violin. Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and Elgar's cello concerto are in constant rotation around here. Son is mostly on jazz tenor sax now and my daughter sings. I do too. It's not a competition between one kind of instrument and another. It's about our love for music right?

 

Sure it takes subtle technique to communicate delicate emotions. No argument from me on that. But happily, electronic instrumentalists may not need 1,000 years to be able to express themselves artistically. Would you be willing to check this out, beginning with the 35th minute? I am not saying you will like it. We all have different tastes right? :cool:

 

[video:youtube]

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it was my mentor at the university who said I should check out his synth playing - he said "Don't be like the Arsenio Hall Show players". While dissing those players might have been harsh, I got his real point. :laugh:

 

The band leader on Arsenio Hall was Starr Parodi she studied arranging and composing at the school I worked. She tour with quite a list of big name artist then got the Arsenio gig a few years later. She moved into film scoring and doing solo piano albums with a shelf of awards. She's the president of The Alliance For Women Film Composers. Guess being a Arsenio Hall player isn't a bad gig to have.

 

Agreed.

 

Starr and the other player were paid to play for his show. I don't think he would have paid just anybody.

 

That's why I personally don't diss pros like that who earned their jobs.

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There are subtle nuances of pressure and position when using a bow that are continuous, fluid and often subtle and sublime.

Perhaps if humans grow another pair of hands they can simultaneously generate subtle changes in pitch while also creating audible differences in frequency response, timbre and the degree of tension (scraping?) between the bow and the string while playing a keyboard instrument. I'll give you 1,000 years, I'll be long since dead by then.

 

Hey, I love bowed strings too. :thu: My father and my son both played violin. Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and Elgar's cello concerto are in constant rotation around here. Son is mostly on jazz tenor sax now and my daughter sings. I do too. It's not a competition between one kind of instrument and another. It's about our love for music right?

 

Sure it takes subtle technique to communicate delicate emotions. No argument from me on that. But happily, electronic instrumentalists may not need 1,000 years to be able to express themselves artistically. Would you be willing to check this out, beginning with the 35th minute? I am not saying you will like it. We all have different tastes right? :cool:

 

Thanks for that, I listened to your suggested segment, great stuff! I will go back sometime soon and watch the entire thing.

Meanwhile, my turn to request your indulgence. This is a piece I recorded about this time of year 7 years ago. Nine minutes and twenty seconds.

 

https://metapop.com/opossum-apocalypse/tracks/opossum-apocalypse-long-mix/180793

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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it was my mentor at the university who said I should check out his synth playing - he said "Don't be like the Arsenio Hall Show players". While dissing those players might have been harsh, I got his real point. :laugh:

 

The band leader on Arsenio Hall was Starr Parodi she studied arranging and composing at the school I worked. Guess being a Arsenio Hall player isn't a bad gig to have.

 

Agreed.

 

Starr and the other player were paid to play for his show. I don't think he would have paid just anybody.

 

That's why I personally don't diss pros like that who earned their jobs.

The musicians were pros. They were talented. The sh8t they chose to play was corny. I think that's what your instructor heard. :laugh::cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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Admittedly, guitars get a lot of mileage out of six monophonic oscillators on a plank of wood. :)

 

However, if I could express everything I ever wanted to express with guitar, I wouldn't have started playing keyboards over half-a-century ago. Inherently, yes, a bowed string has more potential expressiveness than those keyboards that have only on-off switches. However, what excites me about MIDI 2.0's potential has nothing to do with reproducing a string's nuances on a keyboard, but rather, to create new types of expressive outlets not available with today's instruments (of any kind).

 

The LinnStrument or GeoShred are good examples of "early days" instruments that let musicians take expressiveness in a different direction compared to strings or keyboards.

 

Then again, some of the most expressive music I've ever had the privilege to record was Kathleen McIntosh playing harpsichord. A harpsichord doesn't even have velocity response, but just her phrasing was incredibly expressive.

 

Instruments can only facilitate expressiveness. They're a subset of the musician's expressiveness.

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Funny thing, I'm a Guitarist from the "House Of The Rising Sun" generation, but at this point, my Synths outnumber my Guitars by around 3-to-1. Part of the reason is that I can find good, use Digital Synths, and even some recent Analog Synths, for much less than a good Guitar, new or used: I can pick up 3 or 4 used Synths for the price of one used SG, and I could probably fill the trunk of a small car with good, used Synths, for the price of a PRS.

 

Using a Guitar as a Synth Controller, with the Guitar signal being processed through MFX, is the best of both worlds for me. I get the expressiveness, and the dynamics of the Guitar, with all the features of whatever Synth I'm driving via MIDI. It's not perfect, but what is? I'm just grateful I've lived long enough to see any real workable integration between Guitar tech and MIDI gear.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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It's not perfect, but what is? I'm just grateful I've lived long enough to see any real workable integration between Guitar tech and MIDI gear.

 

I'm going to suggest this attitude is what helped keyboardists take to and explore audio synthesis. This adventurous attitude appears sadly lacking in a lot of guitar players who have complained that guitar-synth interfaces could not play like their favorite Strat and could/should therefore be ignored.

 

I am sure Wendy Carlos Williams was disappointed to find out that the keyboard-synth interface she was using in that MIT lab way back when did not play like her Steinway piano (and it needed to be re-tuned every 20 minutes or so - very un-piano-like). Yet she tried anyways and ended up making one of the most famous albums of synthesizer music ever produced.

 

Re: why keyboard players took to synthesizers and guitarist do not: The take-home message I am getting from this thread is that oscillators, filers, envelope generators, etc. work best with repeatable and consistent input values, and that is easier to do with a keyboard than with a plucked string. And that keyboard players were/are more willing to accept problems in their keyboard controllers in order to use synthesizers, while guitarists were/are more willing to forgo using synthesizers because of their imperfect guitar controllers. There may also be a playing/technical issue involving how synthesizers respond better to playing clean notes (cleanly articulated, i.e. not smeared, not slurred) which is easier to do for keyboard players than for guitar players.

J.S. Bach Well Tempered Klavier

The collected works of Scott Joplin

Ray Charles Genius plus Soul

Charlie Parker Omnibook

Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life

Weather Report Mr. Gone

 

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Then again, some of the most expressive music I've ever had the privilege to record was Kathleen McIntosh playing harpsichord. A harpsichord doesn't even have velocity response, but just her phrasing was incredibly expressive.

 

Instruments can only facilitate expressiveness. They're a subset of the musician's expressiveness.

 

And Thelonius Monk often said more with a well timed silence than many musicians can express with any/all of their non-silence.

 

Regarding synthesizers, there are many form factors and the ones that are tactile in nature speak to me. Tusker's video above shows an example of that, Pedro Eustache plays brilliantly on his Lyriccon analog wind synth.

I haven't tried the Linnstrument but it appears to be tactile as well and I am curious to give one a spin.

 

The same thing that draws me to guitar synth is the basis of it's quirky little problems, the strings.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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This adventurous attitude appears sadly lacking in a lot of guitar players who have complained that guitar-synth interfaces could not play like their favorite Strat and could/should therefore be ignored.

 

Guitar players by and large have pretty adventurous attitudes...see Bill H's post above, not to mention changing out pickups, different tunings, building their own guitars, and wrapping their heads around incredibly sophisticated multieffects like the Line 6 Helix or Kemper Profiler.

 

The problem with synth interfaces isn't because they don't play like a Strat. Suppose you bought a new synth because it made all kinds of amazing sounds that your other synths didn't have. Cool! However once you started playing, random keys could only play full velocity from time to time, while other random keys often caused keys you weren't playing to sound. The pitch bend wheel mostly worked, but sometimes the same degree of rotation didn't produce the same amount of bend. Even worse, the lower notes took 20-30 ms before you actually heard what you played. And, you had to hit every key on your keyboard in the exact center of a half-inch square area on the key.

 

I bet you'd hightail back to your other synthesizers really fast :)

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This adventurous attitude appears sadly lacking in a lot of guitar players who have complained that guitar-synth interfaces could not play like their favorite Strat and could/should therefore be ignored.

 

Guitar players by and large have pretty adventurous attitudes...see Bill H's post above, not to mention changing out pickups, different tunings, building their own guitars, and wrapping their heads around incredibly sophisticated multieffects like the Line 6 Helix or Kemper Profiler.

 

The problem with synth interfaces isn't because they don't play like a Strat. Suppose you bought a new synth because it made all kinds of amazing sounds that your other synths didn't have. Cool! However once you started playing, random keys could only play full velocity from time to time, while other random keys often caused keys you weren't playing to sound. The pitch bend wheel mostly worked, but sometimes the same degree of rotation didn't produce the same amount of bend. Even worse, the lower notes took 20-30 ms before you actually heard what you played. And, you had to hit every key on your keyboard in the exact center of a half-inch square area on the key.

 

I bet you'd hightail back to your other synthesizers really fast :)

 

 

And learn how to fingerpick, flatpack, play slide, scallop their fretboard, play 7 and 8 string guitars, play the fretboard with both hands, play the bass, the banjo and the mandolin and the list goes on... :)

 

Why do keyboards only have one of each note? That is not logical. I have 5 places I can play Middle C on a Strat. Just sayin'.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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it was my mentor at the university who said I should check out his synth playing - he said "Don't be like the Arsenio Hall Show players". While dissing those players might have been harsh, I got his real point. :laugh:

 

The band leader on Arsenio Hall was Starr Parodi she studied arranging and composing at the school I worked. Guess being a Arsenio Hall player isn't a bad gig to have.

 

Agreed.

 

Starr and the other player were paid to play for his show. I don't think he would have paid just anybody.

 

That's why I personally don't diss pros like that who earned their jobs.

The musicians were pros. They were talented. The sh8t they chose to play was corny. I think that's what your instructor heard. :laugh::cool:

 

Your thought is not far from what he was thinking, ProfD!

 

Their gig required them to form a human jukebox. When you're paid to be part of a human jukebox, you're likely to be focused executing your parts with a predetermined selection of presets. Your top priority is to please the person who writes the paycheck for your gig, so you feel less free to test the limits of the jukebox.

 

My mentor said those players approached synths/keyboard like the home organs of his youth. Just pull up a preset on the organ and play the keys. Don't try to do anything expressive other than what you do with the keys.

 

Executing your parts on the keys vs. playing your own music, with license to improvise as you see fit, is much more conducive to "playing the synth" - really working the knobs, expression pedal(s), etc. to bring more of the full potential of the synth to life. But you can only really do that if you're not locked into human jukebox mode. The few geniuses who can execute all their parts just like on the record, yet also have the creative energy to try adding personalized expression to cover tunes... usually get fired from the human jukebox type of gig.

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Cheap Trick.jpeg

Why do keyboards only have one of each note? That is not logical. I have 5 places I can play Middle C on a Strat. Just sayin'.

 

organwk01.jpg

 

WIN! lol :)

 

And... 5 necks with 5 places each to play middle C...

2517.jpg.9e233ee6529c72c4fdbd239f544eaa58.jpg

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Meanwhile, my turn to request your indulgence. This is a piece I recorded about this time of year 7 years ago. Nine minutes and twenty seconds.

 

https://metapop.com/opossum-apocalypse/tracks/opossum-apocalypse-long-mix/180793

 

Thank you for sharing your excellent music. My favorite part was the textural beauty with which you played the introduction on the guitar. I sense an appreciation of the Daniel Lanois/Eno/Fripp/Belew school even though the song is in a different style. Your relationship with the instrument comes through. It takes courage to put that out there. Well done!!!

 

So, a technical question ... Your notes mention a Fishman which claims to generate MIDI. But your tones also remind me of a pretty excellent guitarist pal who switched to Roland VG from Roland GR (analog synth), to process an underlying guitar sound through synthesis style circuits. When you add an Ebow and some delays and harmonizers it opens up a world. A pretty spectacular world. So I guess my question is, in addition to triggering MIDI, are you also shaping the guitar tone? Cause the latter sounds more like what you are doing, to these ignorant ears ... What is your signal chain?

 

And yes, the Fripp/Belew school are masterful sound designers and synth players in my view. I still love "Elephant Talk". Guitar players have embraced synthesis in their own ways. Well Done!!!

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Meanwhile, my turn to request your indulgence. This is a piece I recorded about this time of year 7 years ago. Nine minutes and twenty seconds.

 

https://metapop.com/opossum-apocalypse/tracks/opossum-apocalypse-long-mix/180793

 

Thank you for sharing your excellent music. My favorite part was the textural beauty with which you played the introduction on the guitar. I sense an appreciation of the Daniel Lanois/Eno/Fripp/Belew school even though the song is in a different style. Your relationship with the instrument comes through. It takes courage to put that out there. Well done!!!

 

So, a technical question ... Your notes mention a Fishman which claims to generate MIDI. But your tones also remind me of a pretty excellent guitarist pal who switched to Roland VG from Roland GR (analog synth), to process an underlying guitar sound through synthesis style circuits. When you add an Ebow and some delays and harmonizers it opens up a world. A pretty spectacular world. So I guess my question is, in addition to triggering MIDI, are you also shaping the guitar tone? Cause the latter sounds more like what you are doing, to these ignorant ears ... What is your signal chain?

 

And yes, the Fripp/Belew school are masterful sound designers and synth players in my view. I still love "Elephant Talk". Guitar players have embraced synthesis in their own ways. Well Done!!!

 

Thank you sir!! I have to be honest, it was an experimental piece both in sound design and in musical content. Each track was done in one take, just to see what would happen. It is not a composition per se, more of a random experiement done spontaneously with the object of learning more about digital recording and the possibilities available.

 

8 years ago and I didn't take notes. I don't remember exactly what I did to create the opening but it is my favorite also. Some of the rest is a bit clumsy or mundane but again, just jamming.

 

Briefly, all drums/percussion were played on a Korg Wavedrum Global and I made my own loops as well as improvised (or attempted to) any fills or floating grooves. There is a bass guitar, both 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars, electric guitar and guitar synth courtesy of the Fishman Triple Play. I played all parts and just started in putting sounds on it until I felt like mixing instead.

 

The Fishman Triple Play system is a wireless transmitter to a receiver in a USB dongle. The analog to MIDI conversion takes place in the transmitter, which has a rechargeable battery and a pickup you place under the strings close to the bridge.

The pickup is hexaphonic. It is possible to split the strings and assign them to different plugins. I've done that too but there isn't much need for it if you have lots of tracks to play with instead.

 

Once the receiver sends it to the computer, I can play any VST (only) plugin that generates sounds. If I record on a DAW, it generates a MIDI track and you can swap out plugins if you want as they will just play the MIDI track.

Where it gets tricky is that some plugins will only play notes in the tempered scale and others will track string bends. There are times when the glitches are actually fun and interesting and times when they are not what I want.

 

I do know that I was generous with effects plugins on mix down so part of that ambience that you are hearing is after the part was played. I do dig Lanois, Belew and others but I was abusing chains of delays in Fresno CA (what else is there to do?) back in the late 80's when I got a DeltaLab Effectron and then a couple of Digitech pedals and a Roland Space Echo. I have some terrible recordings of experiments from back then and I was not the only one doing such things. Certainly others beat me to the fame and fortune thing but I was recording songs with delay experiments a long time ago. This is over 30 years old, back when all us peons could get was a 4 track cassette deck. The story of a man who skins himself alive.

 

https://metapop.com/opossum-apocalypse/tracks/hula-boy/171612

 

It is possible that I ran my regular guitar pickups through a Tech 21 Sansamp simultaneously with the Triple Play and then blended them, I can't rule it out. I've done all sorts of fun things in my journey. A HUGE part of the joy of having a decent home recording studio is that there is no longer any reason to take anything too seriously. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. :)

 

I've never been put off by a good experiment. FWIW, I don't read or write music. I do have a reasonable understanding of music theory, if it serves my purpose I am happy to abuse what little knowledge I have. Hopefully that explains to the extent possible.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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RE: Guitar processing plus Synthesis . . .

 

Every sound in this track was played on a Godin Freeway SA, with the Guitar signal being processed through a Boss GT-10, and the Synth sounds coming from my old Roland GR-30. Yes, it's my very deliberate tribute to the sound of mid-70's British Prog Rock.

 

FWIW, none of the Synth nor MFX Patches are Factory Patches, I program my own sounds. Another reason I love Synths . . .

 

Winston Psmith Project - Feast Of Fools

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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RE: Guitar processing plus Synthesis . . .

 

Every sound in this track was played on a Godin Freeway SA, with the Guitar signal being processed through a Boss GT-10, and the Synth sounds coming from my old Roland GR-30. Yes, it's my very deliberate tribute to the sound of mid-70's British Prog Rock.

 

FWIW, none of the Synth nor MFX Patches are Factory Patches, I program my own sounds. Another reason I love Synths . . .

 

Winston Psmith Project - Feast Of Fools

 

Nice work, Sir Winston! The sounds themselves matter, how we got the sounds may be a point of interest for some but I don't think knowing how to make the sounds enables one to duplicate them. We all have our own way of approaching these things and our results will be different accordingly, both Hendrix and Knopfler played Strats and they could hardly sound more different.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Guitars ARE wonderfully responsive and so are keyboards. As Craig said, a lot of expression is about available technique, but tools need respect too. While I learned a lot from this thread, I was sad to see ignorant stereotypes being propagated: stereotypes about both guitars and keyboards. Not trying to be a dick, but it's important to not denigrate what we don't understand. We are all musicians. The search for expression is our shared journey. If somebody doesn't get an instrument, that's all it means. They just don't get it.

 

All instruments are real. There are no fake instruments. Technology is improving at increasing speeds. Digital response is often faster than the speed of human circuits. Digital sensors will outstrip purely mechanical ones before long. Why? They are cheap, accurate and anywhere there is a meaningful human gesture, you can place a sensor there. They can measure signals (e.g. light and magnetic fields) in a way that purely physical sensors couldn't so there is more potential bandwidth to exploit. A challenge will be how to to build a culture of conservatory-level technique while the tools are changing? Joe and Lyle are heroes who used the limited tools they had. At their time, aftertouch was rare and the beautiful Obie Four Voice's oscillator tracking was sometimes weak. I agree that Joe and Lyle would have loved to see Osmose or Touche! They could have shed tears over Zebra or Reaktor or Omnisphere. Or Prophet-X. Or Moog One. Or Kemper Profiler.

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Funnily enough, Lyle Mays also played guitar, and was pretty good at it according to Pat Metheny, though recordings of his guitar playing seem to be few, and all with Pat Metheny Group. I believe Pat, because whatever Lyle felt like doing, he excelled at it, whether it was playing keys, studying architecture, software development, or playing guitar.
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