Re: Gr-33/VG8

[ArsOcarina@aol.com]

Hello,

FWIW, I just thought I'd pop in here with a comment or two 
about my own experiences with guitar synths. Though I've
owned only one (a Roland GR-1) I have played nearly all of 
the Roland products going back to the very beginning.
Like some of the current postees I had hoped for minimal
latency and great tracking before I'd put down hard cash
on the line. I got neither (really) but found out that -- to a 
great degree -- it (nearly glitch-free performance) depends 
upon a couple of things mostly: proper installation and setup
of the hex pickup (GK-2, GK-2A) and discipline in applying a
little cleaner than usual playing technique. Both can be a 
pain in the backside. However, you might be surprised at
how much difference it makes.

Many of the things that I'd originally gotten into MIDI guitar 
for I have never actually used. I'd hoped to use it to play
improv pieces into a computer and create written scores from
the MIDI files. It never happened. I'd hoped that having access
to good approximations of other traditional instrument sounds
might enable me to fill other musical roles. But a grand piano
sound (no matter good) played by a guitar still sounds like just 
that -- generally. There are idiomatic guitar playing techniques
that stick out like a sore thumb when the sound is another 
instrument. And there are idiomatic techniques for those
other instruments that one really must learn something
about in order to be even modestly convincing. Over time
I have learned to do this to some degree . . . but I mostly 
don't even bother anymore. 

I have more or less settled on the idea that the guitar is my
primary instrument and have learned to like the sound I am
getting. I still use some synth to "thicken" that sound a 
little (every now and then) . . . or (more often) I use a patch 
that is a pretty close functional replica of an acoustic guitar 
(or fretless bass) to double my electric sound. But, I almost 
NEVER play only the synth engine any more by itself -- unless 
we are talking about pads and large washes of sound (something 
that guitar synths do quite well without even trying. After nearly 
a decade of struggling with this hybrid mongrel of an instrument 
I have been definitely left dissatisfied with regard to what I'd
originally intended to achieve with it. I still use the thing and 
have SOME attachments to it's quirky/difficult capabilities.
But the honeymoon is long over.

More attractive to me are the COSM modeling capabilities
of the VG-88 and it's ilk. I am not quite ready to plunk down
my money again yet . . . but prices have com waaaaay down.
It's tempting. I have a keyboard synth that can do the other
stuff better than the guitar synth (even though I am quite
ham-fisted at keys). Sometimes all I use the GR-1 for is
as a pedal controller for my rack gear any more. I think
I might be better served to go back to the old X-15 "Ultrafoot" 
for that function. Maybe . . . maybe not. It's something to think
about anyway.

Cheers,

Ted Killian