Miracle Pedal?

[Inky]

Hi Guys!

Long time since my last post, but I have a question for the pedal users among us. I hear there's a wonderful and magical pedal that electronically changes the tuning of a guitar, without altering tension and stuff. Like, from Standard, to DADGAD, Drop D and anything in between. Is this true, or did I dream such a marvelous thing. I don't think so, because I know someone, who knows someone who reportedly uses one. What are they called, what's the price range, who makes them and where can I get one?

Ink.

[nicolaad30]

there are pedals that'll change the pitch of your notes, but I recomend that you try the Line 6 FM-4. Even thoug it does not makes pictch changes, it creates really nice effects...

[Aaron Cheney]

Yes, there is indeed such a pedal. It's made by Roland, and if memory serves it's called the VG8. It requires you to put a special pickup on your axe that fits between the normal bridge pickup and the bridge. Once you've done this, the pedal will do all kinds of incredible things: change tunings, even "delete" strings for a Keith Richards type setup with no low "E" string, pan each string seperately in a stereo field, 12 string and acoustic simulation, synth effects, all kinds of amp and mic modeling, all your standard effects like reverb, delay, chorus, etc, etc, etc....

It was released about 3 or 4 years ago at price of around $3,000 (again, if memory serves). It's a pretty trick little gizmo, but a gizmo nonetheless, at least in my book.

There also a device called the trans-trem, which is an actual mechanical device that can be retro-fit into a Les Paul and has a keypad that mounts next to the volume knobs. You press a preset button and the mechanical device actually changes the tension of the strings to a different tuning that you specify. You can have several different tunings as presets. It is a bizarre experience to press the button and watch your guitar's strings all retune themselves before your eyes! Downside: after the retrofit, your Les Paul weighs approximately 970 lbs.


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[Aaron Cheney]

One more thing...
Fender does make a "Roland Ready" strat with the special pickup already mounted in it.

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[Dethska]

I watched a guy use the transtrem system live. It worked really well. He'd change tuning in the middle of a song. It was really cool.

I always wondered if you could program in a real high tuning and snap all the strings at once? Whether by accident or on purpose.

[Wildwind]

I owned a Roland VG-8 for quite some time and used it extensively. Here's the high points -

It was introduced in 1995 for about $3,000 - at the end, it sold for less than a third of that. It was replaced by the VG-88 somewhere around 2000.

The VG-8 (and -88) models a bunch of guitar and amp models using Roland's COSM technology (for the amps) and some kind of waveform modeling (for the guitars). The VG-8 would work only with the 13-pin synth pickup (an add-on, built into the Roland-Ready Strats and a few other guitars); the VG-88 could accept a normal 1/4" input, but it was then essentially a multi-effector, not a modeler.

These units could do any open tuning you could conceive at the touch of a button. Artists like Joni Mitchell (who reputedly uses several dozen open tunings in a single concert) used this unit live to good effect. You could also do "real" 12-strings (not just adding an octave), which was one of its best tricks. The open tunings were also pretty cool. And you could do the 'electronic capo' thing, something I used a lot.

The VG-8/88s are pretty amazing boxes and still in use in a lot of studios (where mine ended up - a well-known producer bought it for that purpose), as they can model about any electric guitar, plus acoustics, dobros, banjos, and things like that.

The downside, at least of the VG-8 (never owned the -88, which was a pretty different unit internally I'm told - used some different technology or something), was the pitch-shifted tones could be a bit hard on the ears. At first you were enamored; after a while, you could "hear" the digital effect going on. It's hard to describe. Suffice to say that a real open tuning or capo sounded more organic, though not as handy. In a live situation, I doubt if anyone could tell the difference. In the studio, maybe, depending on the mix and the prominence of the instrument effected.

For live use the VG-8 was a dream. The electric guitar models were way cool and darn realistic. It did Strats, Rics, and 335s especially well. The amps were also quite decent (first gen COSM - not great, not awful). The FX were Boss - usable. You could instantly change from guitar to guitar, tuning to tuning, single amp to dual amp, acoustic to electric, 6 string to 12 string. Programming it was super easy as well, and you could quickly back up your patches to a PC and save them in sets (and share them with others) via a simple MIDI hookup.

The VG-8 required a full range amp to sound right (the -88 does not), but worked great straight to the board. Using outboard FX was tough, as they all had to follow the -8's processing in the signal chain due to the 13-pin input. There was sort of an FX loop, but I don't remember it working very well with any distortion units I tried to use with it.

Well, probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is.

Greg

[Aaron Cheney]

Originally posted by Dethska
I watched a guy use the transtrem system live. It worked really well. He'd change tuning in the middle of a song. It was really cool.

Seeing that you're from CO, you must have seen Dave Beagle. Great guitar player.


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[Dethska]

I can't remember at all who it was. It might have been him. I don't remember anything about the show at all, except for the sweet guitar.

What does Dave Beagle play? Is he a solo performer? Is he the guy that came up with the system? I seem to recall that it was invented around here.

[JR#97]

I spent a few days with a VG8 and loved it. Like Whirlwind said, after the "wow" factor wore off, I could here the digital artifacts. From what I understand, the VG8 sounds better than the VG88, but I've never had the chance to play the VG88 to confirm.