Electric Bow effect

[Nightfire]

Anyone ever used/tried these? I heard they're very hard to control and practically useless. I was at a concert last week and the guitar player used one and got some pretty cool spacey sounds. Theyre about $70, whats your opinion on them?


Mike

[c7sus]

Some of the coolest things in life are practically useless.

Everything doesn't have to be practicle, does it????

[MadAudio]

Originally Posted by Nightfire

Anyone ever used/tried these? I heard they're very hard to control and practically useless.

You heard wrong. Probably from someone who expected to master a new tool in the span of five minutes.

The E-bow is great for making different sounds with your guitar, and can give you sustain for days.

BTW, the are two versions these days, the original E-bow, which is black, and the E-bow II, which is grey. Version two has a second setting from the original that gives different overtones or something.

[faderbug]

ebows are awesome but just difficult to master

[timthetortoise]

I've been using an actual bow and it works great. However, I'd like to try an e-bow as rosin on guitar strings != comfortable.

[BrentDomann]

I have an Ebow II. It is great. You can get the hang of using it in about 5 minutes, but just listen to the included demonstration cassette (if they still include them!) and you'll realize you have plenty to work on. There are some amazing effects you can get out of those little thingamabobs.

I find them more than useful for recording. Ever tried to get harmonic feedback in the middle of the night wearing headphones? Just keep that Ebow sitting on the edge of your DAW. On top of that, they do get some great spacey and ambient sounds for background stuff, and they can add something to a lacking solo without getting into the "I'll just try to beef this up by playing 800 notes too many" territory.

I think you can get one used for $50-$60, so keep an eye out for those.

[acidrock]

I've got one.You can get some very synth like sounds out of it,but much like a guitar synth you have to change your approach to what you're playing.

Definitely a useful tool,but not for everybody.

[mrface2112]

i LOVE my ebow. it's a great little tool and i don't know anything that gets the sounds it does. it takes a bit of work and experimentation to learn how to best get usable sounds out of it.

here are a couple songs i've recorded featuring pretty prominent ebow:

Roses By the Moon http://www.jalapenocornbread.com/mp3/roses_090606.mp3

The Parson's Lament http://www.jalapenocornbread.com/mp3/TPL_021707.mp3


cheers,
wade

[faderbug]

they also work on acoustic guitars btw.

[andydeedpoll]

just out of interest, does anyone have any idea how this thing works? like the physics behind it? i was arguing it out with a friend. he said that if you took an electro magnet that was oscillating at (for example) 80hz, then it wouldn't matter how long the string was (changing the fret position) - the note heard would still be a low E (the lowest string on normal tuning moves 80 times a second, apparently.) i was getting more and more fustrated because i Knew he was wrong :P because i've seen the ebow used before, but i couldn't get on a computer to show him it, and i didn't understand the physics behind it to explain it to him.

we got into it because we were discussing making a version of a lap guitar that used an electro magnet to give constant sustain - somewhat similar to the Odnes Martenot that Jonny Greenwood in Radiohead uses, but based on a string, not what-ever-technology-lies-behind-a-theremin .

so any ideas? i can't find much on the internet. he was trying to convince me that there was something in the ebow that changed the speed of oscillation between the magnets depending on the note you were playing. like it had some sort of pitch sensor in it, or something. i didn't know he was wrong, but i didn't think he was right either :P

ta!



Andy.

[acidrock]

It creates some kind of magnetic field that causes the string to vibrate.The pitch is determined by the fret just as it would be normally.You have to hold the E-bow above or near the pickup,otherwise the sound will be faint or not sound at all.

[rayc]

Remember the Gizmo - that was amazing. can't get the wheels for them now though so they are fading fast.

[Supercreep]

Like so many other gizmos, it does a thing that nothing else can do.


It's a good tool for the box.

[andydeedpoll]

Originally Posted by acidrock

It creates some kind of magnetic field that causes the string to vibrate.The pitch is determined by the fret just as it would be normally.You have to hold the E-bow above or near the pickup,otherwise the sound will be faint or not sound at all.

yeah, we knew that much - do you know why it has to be near the pick up to work?

sorry for all the questions (and kind of stealing the thread ) but i'm very interested to try and understand the ins and outs of this (if there are any more than 'its a magnet') as well as i can.

ta

Andy.

[faderbug]

it consists of an electromagnetic pick up, an amplifier circuit and a speaker coil.

the pick up picks up the vibration of the string - ie the pitch - that gets amplified and the speaker coil sends out an electromagnetic field vibrating at the same frequency.

[andydeedpoll]

Originally Posted by faderbug

it consists of an electromagnetic pick up, an amplifier circuit and a speaker coil.

the pick up picks up the vibration of the string - ie the pitch - that gets amplified and the speaker coil sends out an electromagnetic field vibrating at the same frequency.

sorry, just to clarify - you mean all of that is in the ebow? when you say "the pick up picks up the vibration of the string" - how are those vibrations started? by the electro magnetic pick up (so the pickup essentially has two roles - starting the vibrations of the string and then picking them up)?

i wish i'd payed more attention in electronics at school

thank you

Andy.

[gcapel]

You can have more control with a volume pedal when using an ebow.

[TelePaul]

Originally Posted by gcapel

You can have more control with a volume pedal when using an ebow.

Seconded, e bows rock.

[faderbug]

Originally Posted by andydeedpoll

sorry, just to clarify - you mean all of that is in the ebow? when you say "the pick up picks up the vibration of the string" - how are those vibrations started? by the electro magnetic pick up (so the pickup essentially has two roles - starting the vibrations of the string and then picking them up)?

i wish i'd payed more attention in electronics at school

thank you

Andy.

yes all of that is in the ebow.

basicly the slightest vibration of the string is enough to set off the feedback circuit, even when that vibration is not enough to make an audible sound .

i'm trying to explain this as good as i can but english is not my primary language so ...

[rory]

Whoever said they're hard to use and useless is either an idiot, shit guitar player, or both. They're great, extremely useful, and easy to use. I love recording tons of ebow overdubs, like an ebow orchestra.

[JB1979]

I have one. It's good at what it does, easy to get to work, but learning all the tricks it can do will take a while.

First things first, when using it for the first time cut the volume knob on your guitar back to about 3 or 4 and adjust from there.

[Nightfire]

Thanks so much for all the replies. Will try and pick one up over the weekend, you guys got me interested now.
And those soundclips definitely helped


Mike

[acidrock]

For the price you really can't get anything that will alter your sound as much.


Oh,and it's not digital.

[faderbug]

Originally Posted by acidrock

For the price you really can't get anything that will alter your sound as much.


Oh,and it's not digital.

it's even so analog that you can drop it about 100 times without it breaking down and it runs about forever on its battery.

also works on bass btw.

AND on a fender rhodes piano!!!!