Re: I coulda had uh ebowed V8

[Paolo Valladolid <pvallado@waynesworld.ucsd.edu>]

> about the e-bow and the roland device.
> it's physics dude. basically what yer dealing with is a midi pick-up 
>designed
> to respond to specific types of percussive vibration. If you were able to
> make this hexiphonic pickup more sensitive(by a huge amount) then you 
>might

I would say the hex pickup is actually _more_ sensitive than most 
electric guitar pickups; it seems to be able to detect low-volume string
vibrations more easily.  That's why if you run a Roland guitar synth
signal and an electric guitar pickup signal in parallel as you sustain 
a note (without Ebows or other string drivers) the electric guitar signal
drops off much sooner than the synth.
 
> be able to use it in this way. in most ways the vg is a synth more than a
> effect.
> from my experience with both the vg-8/gr-1/etc and the gk-2/2a pickup it 
>is
> not very practical to try to use the instrument in such a way.
> furthermore, the vg-8 is designed to replicate(as in replicant) complete
> guitar/amp/pickup and almost, even, technique ... if you could get the 
>e-bow

Actually, it can be made to generate sounds that are not imitative of
the guitar at all. 

Using teh Ebow to sustain a VG8 violin sound, for example, is a very
reasonable application.

> to generate enough response from mr. V then more than likely you would 
>not
> get any of the qualities that make the e-bow what it is.
> in my mind the vg-8 is an interesting piece that does away with much of 
>the
> physicallity of electric quitar.

Since teh VG8 uses the strings of the guitar as the sound source rather
than oscillators, I find that a _lot_ of the expressive moves that can be
done with normal guitar also work very well on the VG8. Unlike MIDI
guitar or guitar synths, the VG8 responds very well to things like pinched
harmonics and notes being plucked at different points of the strings 
(plucked close to bridge vs. plucked closer to or on top of the fretboard).
A middle C note fretted at one part of the fretboard definitely sounds
different in comparison to a middle C fretted at another part of the
fretboard with the VG8; impossible for MIDI guitar/guitar synth.


Paolo Valladolid
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