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RE: AW: Roland VG8



I find this a very odd argument. Let's paraphrase it a little.

>I never really understood what pianists where trying to
>do or say or be with their synthesisers, but perhaps that's because I'm
>originally a guitarist.

?

Speaking personally, I enjoy playing guitar; I enjoy the physicality of 
it, of feeling the vibrations of notes in the hands. But that doesn't mean 
I like the sounds guitars make. Far from it, in fact. So I'll look into 
all sorts of devices, from stomp boxes to rack mounts to guitar synths to 
the VG8 to marry up playing the instrument I like with the sounds I want 
to hear. Quite simple, really. 

Continuing ...

"Rainer Thelonius Balthasar Straschill" <rs@moinlabs.de> wrote:

>Well said, mark! I never really understood what guitarists where trying to
>do or say or be with their guitar synths, but perhaps that's because I'm
>originally a keyboard player (well, I really can't play guitar at all,
>although I own two electrics and an acoustic and even a Yamaha guitalele
>(which is a funny thing), and even more bass guitars), but yeah, the idea
>might have been a "I want a keyboard sound, but without losing the
>expressiveness of the guitar playing", just as Kevin said...but the way to
>great synth tones are synths, and the best way to control them isn't a
>guitar equipped with some strange interface.
>

But then, the keyboard interface is simply an easy compromise; a row of 
on-off switches (with, latterly, the addition of velocity & aftertouch 
sensitivity). So keyboard synthesisers are really something of a 
historical accident. Buchla, for one, had different ideas about how they 
should be controlled.

(I also have a fairly ill-defined thought about the division of attention 
necessary with a keyboard, regarding the number of notes that can be 
played simultaneously versus the number of variables for each note that 
can be controlled by the player at the same time. Consider how many 
variables a violinist or saxophonist can manipulate at the same time (and 
in real time) compared to a pianist, for example.) 

- Tony


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