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Re: Roland VG8






> Hi there,
> 
> Playing bass patches with the VG8 is quite strange; there are no delays 
>between 
> picking and sound, but it doesn't quite "feel" right. 

There is a little bit of delay on the VG8 when you are using the pitch 
shifter. Because a pitch shifter works by recording sound into memory 
and then playing it out at a different speed, the playback pointer has to
be a little bit behind the record pointer to keep it from catching
up. This delay is noticeable, but is not nearly as bad as that on a guitar
synth like my GR-50.

For instantaneous-feeling bass sounds, I use a Danelectro Chili Dog octave
pedal. It's kind of amazing that this little $40 pedal can do a bass 
better 
than the VG-8, but it's true!

>You can't really play a 
> guitar like a bass - the lightness of the strings changes things too 
>much - so I 
> tend to play a short scale bass I've got to remind my fingers what a 
>bass feels 
> like to play, so that I play bass, not just downtuned guitar. I suppose 
>it's 
> like trying to cover an absent bass player by playing your guitar 
>through an 
> octaver/octivider. (Damn, typing about "feel" of instruments is weird.)
> Hope that helps,
> 
> - Tony
> 
> Luis Angulo <labalou2000@yahoo.com> wrote:

But I like the VG-8, and it's great for looping. I have done a few solo
performances with the VG-8 and an Echoplex...you can do some very cool 
stuff.
One tune I did was "The Dance of Maya" by the Mahavishnu Orchestra. I 
would 
lay down the main riff, like in the mp3 on my VG-8 page:

<http://www.marksmart.net/sounddesign/guitarsounds/VG8/VG8Sounds.html>

Then loop that and play the melody over it. At the end where the boogie-
woogie riff gets combined with the main riff, you can use "Multiply".

I also did a virtual country band by laying down bass, guitar, banjo, and
pedal steel. I need to make a recording of that, it's pretty cool.

Anyway, if you get one, there are some patches on my page you can try out.

Mark Smart
http://www.marksmart.net