Re: GR-30 vs Axon NGC-77

[S V G <vsyevolod@yahoo.com>]

     Mark,

     I have both the Axon AX100-SB and the Roland GR-33.  The GR-33 is 
okay... of course the
unmodified sounds suck for the most part.  With a lot of work I have 
gotten a few of them to sound
better.  And the tracking is okay, with some exceptions for the lowest 
strings.  Because of this,
I almost always use the synth sounds *behind* the actual guitar signal.  
Using it in this way is
very satisfying for me.  Running the guitar signal through a few effects 
also helps blend the two
sounds.

     The Axon AX-100SB is of course a newer version of the NGC-77, with 
internal sounds as well. 
You can usually find them on eBay for around $600 or so.  The tracking is 
far superior to the
Roland (I'm using a Godin nylon string Multiac with piezo pickups) though 
like the Roland, the
sounds are mostly sucky as well.  The Axon has designed their sound setup 
more as templates, so
you go to the template that describes most nearly what you want to do and 
then rearrange the
instrument layers within that setup.  In answer to your question, yes you 
will get noticeably
better tracking from an Axon, if my own experience is accurate.

     The Axon manual reads as if the original German was translated into 
Japanese and then Finnish
before being rewritten in English by third graders.  Basically I find that 
I don't yet have enough
MIDI experience to make much use of the Axon.  Hopefully this will change 
as I deepen my
experience with other gear.

     Any electronic musical instrument (or software program...) worth its 
salt will include a well
written tutorial.  Operating manuals just do not cut the mustard in my 
book.  Otherwise, we end up
with the majority of musicians tapping into 5% of what the instrument is 
capable of.  Like Andre
has recently noted here, many long time users of the EDP still don't "get" 
some of the basic
functions of the Loop III software.  While a video tutorial would be nice, 
for me a well written
tutorial would be essential (at least before I would consider investing in 
such a potentially
powerful tool).  Unless you are pretty proficient at MIDI programming and 
deciphering poorly
written manuals, I would steer you away from the Axon, despite the fact 
that it is more accurate
and powerful.

     Stephen



>>>I've been toying with the idea of replacing my GR-30 with an Axon 
>NGC-77 midi
converter.  I'm thinking that since I don't use the GR-30 sounds, I'd 
rather
just have a better Hex/midi converter.  Anyone have experience with the 
Axon?
Is it worth the extra cash (probably about $200-300 more used) for the 
Axon or
should I stay where I am.  I think the tracking on the GR-30 is actually 
pretty
good, I'm just not all that into it's sounds, but that's just my opinion.
Fripp seems to like them a lot.<<<

Mark Sottilaro





__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day
http://shopping.yahoo.com