| Gareth Sprach: "Conversely Bill, I've been spending a lot of time getting to know my GI10 with the hexpander piezo system. Using the midi to create loops and getting it to trigger a curtain of ambient sounds behind my playing in a new piece I'm writing at the mo, called The Ice Palace, (just as summers in full flow here ;). Anyway, I'm finding the whole thing is taking me to new realms of possibility though my music hs taken a decided turn towards phantasmagoria of late. I'm also in love with EnergyXT's live mode which is spoiling me with sequencing possibilities - I'm in heaven.." First of all what is the hexpander system,it hasn't crossed my radar, secondly, perhaps could you explain a bit more what you mean by using midi to create loops, are you writing sequences for synth sounds? I'm glad you are inspired by this, and I'm also curious about Energy XT teel us more. perhaps I'll dust of the old geetar synth at some point. Andy Sprach: Actually it's very simple. All you have to do is make sure the midi pitch bend range on the synth is 2 semitones. Yuck, so much for getting authentic glissandos of several semi-tones from a violin sound. My friend is not the most sophisticated techno guy so his review I take with a grain of salt. Related to that, if you bend more than a tone (even if it's just vibrato on a bent up note) then the G2 retriggers. double yuck, The Sonuus tracks really well, with hardly any warbling on sustained tones. ...downside is that it doesn't track so fast. triple yuck I've done slow tracking with my Roland gear and that's one of the things that frustrates me the most. I'll keep waiting.....Having said all that, I really do like the RMC pickup system that I have on my flamenco guitar. I think piezo elements if done right ,trigger with more stability than the roland gk pickups. The ones that don't trigger that well are the baggs made systems that Godin puts in there cheaper electrics. They look like RMC's but are definitely not of the same quality. Something about the mounting of these pickups in a tuneamatic style bridge makes them more prone to glitching and yodeling. Tuneamatic style bridges are somewhat notorious for having vibration issues that can interfere with stable tracking. Bill |