Re: Roland VG8 Guitar system?

[Martin Shellard <martins@pwdu.demon.co.uk>]

The VG-8 is a processor but in a very extreme way. It reshapes the sound of
your actual guitar that is picked up by the GK pickup. Certain elements of
the original sound (sustain, dynamics etc.) are retained but a new harmonic
structure is imposed on it. You can use this to create a '58 Strat or new
and unheard of sounds too.
Since the GK pickup is actually 6 small pickups (one for each string) you
can use the onboard pitch shift to adjust each string's tuning regardless 
of
what the guitar is tuned to. This is after the modelling stage so it is
tuning the processed sound not the guitar signal.
The VG-8 is great at creating weird sounds from a banjo to a massive
underwater cavern (kind of...) it has a huge sound palette if you explore 
it
and can do things a regular guitar processor could never get close to, it's
a real instrument, not just another box.
afaik the sounds on vg8.com are just the VG-8 with no outboard processing.

btw David Coffin is something of a VG guru, held in great esteem in VG-land
and his patches are stellar, a great starting point for weird/loopy sounds.

Martin Shellard 


> From: Legion <Legion@voicenet.com>

> 
> I have one outstanding question that is confusing me though. People are
> describing this as a Modeling system and not a guitar synth. Does the VG8
> "overwrite" the sound of your existing guitar or does is sort of process 
>it?
> In
> other words I understand you can make it have alternate tunings but are 
>these
> tunings of your actual guitar or of what the VG8 is modeling?
> 
> I honestly don't have much need for more "guitar" sounds but the idea of
> making
> my guitar play "weird" sounds and "track" properly is very intriguing. 
>Can you
> program the VG8 to play strange sounds that are unguitarlike? I listened 
>to
> some
> of the WAV files on vg8.com and it certainly seems like it but I'm not 
>sure
> what's the VG and what's the effects and or original guitar sound.