Enter the world of guitar synths!!!

reco

reco

New member
Hey guys!
After a long break from the guitar, I have taken it back up........
BUT I do love synths so I got me a New Roland GR-20 synth with the GK-3 pickup. I love the thing, and I added a Boss GTT-6 for good measure.

My question is who here uses guitar synths?
What is your setup and do you use other moduals other than the GR?
Thanks as usual!
-Reco :eek:
 
I've been curious about this myself as I have waned to add horns and piano/organ to my sound but why use a keyboard as a controller when I can use my guitar. My main concern has been cost Vs. return. How much have you guys spent for your synth set up and do you think that it is a comparable value to a keyboard synth?
 
Be Loveless said:
I've been curious about this myself as I have waned to add horns and piano/organ to my sound but why use a keyboard as a controller when I can use my guitar. My main concern has been cost Vs. return. How much have you guys spent for your synth set up and do you think that it is a comparable value to a keyboard synth?
Click to expand...

Yeah I want one too. I have a keyboard controller, but I just can't play keyboards.

I've looked on eBay before, the pickup + control unit is like $300-400, which is a LOT more than a keyboard controller. I already have a synth.
 
I have a GK-2A on one of my guitars, and a GI-10. The GI-10 is just a MIDI interface, no sounds. The tracking is quite poor, which makes it difficult to get lines just right. It helps to turn off the pitch shifting, but for the most part, I don't use it much. I mostly get keyboard sounds (when recording) with a keyboard, and then clean up my sloppy playing in the sequencer. This is much easier, for me.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I have a Roland GR-30.

It's a lot of fun to play around with and I use it at the local "open jam" every now and then. It's decent for live use, but I wouldn't suggest doing any serious recording with one of these things. Believe me, I've tried and it just doesn't cut it. Too many latency and pitch issues to contend with.
 
I've been playing synths/keyboards for a while, and took up the guitar over a year ago. Im fascinated with this and would consider buying a GK-3 pickup (maybe in a cheap guitar), but I assume you need a guitar-to-midi thing like the GI-10 or GR-20??
The price of this would put me off. I'd love to play the sounds of my synth via midi on guitar, but the cost is the case with me too, considering Im a poor teenager who only played £200 $350 for his mex fender strat and marshall.
 
I like Buck62 have a GR-30, and it rock's!

I use it for recording and I have no probs with it. You have to practice, that's all. Just listen to King Crimson (later stuff) and you will hear the GR-30 and GR-1 in all it's glory.
 
It tracks much better than old ones!

I had been wanting to get one for a long time but hated the GR-1 I tried ages ago. you could realy feel the lagg.
I tried the GR-20 with the GK-3 and was happy enough with it to get it.
I use it as I said with a GT-6 and can get any tone I like realy.

Crimson and bands Like Orgy were the reason I got the GR-20.
They make so many odd tones with them and just ordanary guitars.
I like to mix the sound with normal tones and electronica ryhthyms etc.

For 600bucks you will be happy the only hard part was getting the pickup right on my guitar. I used the new mount braket on a tune-o-matic type bridge. But I would like to attach it diferently.

Go check one out you will most likely dig it!
Later
-Reco
 
I use a GK-2a pickup that connects to a Roland GR-50 and then a Roland U-220. The combination works well for both recording and live use.

Prior to this, I used a GK-1 and Roland GM-70, which also worked fairly well, but had slower tracking than the GK-2a combo.

One key point for both is pickup mounting. You want them close to the strings near the bridge. That results in teh best tracking and least issue with latency.

With any of these setups, it takes some time to find the sounds and styles that work best.

Ed
 
I used a GK-2A for years with a GR-50 until I got a Godin LGX-SA.
Best thing I ever did.

Tracking is much less of a problem - I have the ability ( or lack thereof :rolleyes: ) to play less clean than I had to with the GK-2A.

Mike
 
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I have a Brian Moore guitar with the 13 pin midi built in but i have no idea how to use it. I wanted it mainly befcause it was the only one that had a piezo pickup in it as well. So i was wondering which synth i should go with as well and also how the hell do i use the stuff??
 
Well, the 13 pin jack is not MIDI - it is a proprietary format used by Roland (and as far as I know a couple others - Axxon ?).
This will connect to a Roland GR series synth (or midi controller), and will allow you to send MIDI from there if you so desire.
It's really up to you for what you use as a sound module - there are the basic MIDI converters like the GI-10, that you would use to control (via MIDI) another synth, up to fully featured modules/synths like the GR-50/20/33.

Personally, I still like my GR-50. And you can often get them cheap. YMMV.
 
ensoniq synth plus GK pickup

so do you guys think it's workable using a non-roland synth (I got a ensoniq SQ1plus) with the GK pickup married by the G1-10 converter...any experience?... i am interested in this guitar synth thing as well because of the experimentality..
 
The synth brand is not important, only the sounds it creates. The GK pickup and controller generate the MIDI notes (which are not brand specific). The synth produces the sound from them.

I believe there is little difference in various synths as far as timing is concerned. Each will produce the notes very quickly. It boils down to what it sounds like.

Ed
 
Experimenting!!!!! YES!

I love to combine the sound of my GR-20 with soft synths or hardware synths and my guitar thru a Boss GT-6 and some times I run the outs of the GT-6 thru a Boss SP-303 for the effects(Like the Lo-FI)....
Layer it and its huge!
I like using it with sonar and the hardware when I'm recording.
I am thinking of modding My danelectro 1956 U2 to have the GK pickup on board and adding a Gibson mini Humbucker in the middle for a funky tonality.
Later
-Rik
 
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