Where Can I Find Help With Guitar Synth Questions

[DonL]

I have always found this forum to be filled with friendly and informed players.
I'm thinking of buying a synth ready guitar (not sure which one) and a Roland Synth so I can add some color to our Church worship time. I know there must be a website where I can get some input from players who haved tried this, but I googled but could only find a Roland forum which required a seriel number to enter it. Any helpful suggestions ?

[Pvee]

I used a GR-20 for awhile with my Tele, and my Godin.

I did some tracks for a friends recording sessions.
I added Piano, bass, and Strings to a couple tracks for him using the Gr-20.

I didn't seem to track as well with the Godin as it did with the Tele using the split pickup that came with the GR-20.

But it was fun at a few jam sessions and I did some home recording with it.

I ended up trading the gr-20 and some other stuff to a friend for a Gretsch 6120.

[evhwolfgang]

I have a Roland GR-50, which is the older version. It tracks pretty well, but it does pick up any extranious string vibrations, so you have to make sure you play it clean. It's going to be better for flutes, horns, etc than for pianos and organs, primarily because you just can't get the same voiceings on the guitar as you can on a keyboard. You can play these instruments, but you aren't going to sound like a real piano player. Also, it's not going to sound very good coming through a guitar amp. Just like leyboard synths, it's going to sound much better with something that uses full range speakers. I have a Roland KC550 that I use for my guitar and keyboard synths and it sounds great. Good luck and if you have specific questions, please post. I've been using this thing since 91, so I know it pretty well.

[utah]

I use a Roland GR-33.

I find I get very good keyboard sounds/tones from my guitar synth. Piano can be tricky ( some low notes suffer from latency issues )....but I've used many of the 'piano' patches with good results. I've got some great organ patches on my synth as well. The GR-33 also has a variable foot pedal....and using the pedal in combination with the Organ patches, can create some interesting 'hammond' sounding results. In general, the keyboard parts played on guitar tend to sound very 'right-hand' oriented....as opposed to sounding as though they were played with two hands on piano....but tonally, I've fooled a lot of folks who've listened to my stuff into thinking that they're listening to real keyboards, and real horns for example.

As for a 'Roland-Ready' guitar. There aren't too many choices. Fender makes a Roland Ready Mexi-Strat...and Godin has a couple of choices. At least that's what I found, when I went looking for a Roland Ready guitar a year or so ago. I ended up not buying anything, and I'll just stick to using the Roland digital pickup on my G&L ASAT.

I've gotten a lot of use out of my guitar synth. A buddy has a GR-30...and he really likes his synth as well.

Here's a tune that I recorded which features my guitar synth quite a bit. Bass was played with a Fender Mustang bass. Acoustic Guitar was my Taylor 414ce. Drums on a Roland E-Drum kit. Everything else you hear was played on my G&L ASAT equipped with a Roland digital pick-up, run through a Roland GR-33 guitar synth. ( Synth strings, Rhodes Piano, Sitar, ARP, etc.....were all simulated on guitar using the guitar synth ).

http://www.broadjam.com/player/playe...ionINDEX=26233

Here's another tune I recorded, that again features heavy use of my guitar synth. Organ, strings, sax, synth washes...etc, all done on guitar synth.

http://www.broadjam.com/player/playe...ionINDEX=26233

[natx]

Sorry to dig up this old thread, does any one of you know if the GR-20 pickup (ie the GK-3) can be mounted on acoustic guitars like Taylors? I want to try....

[Sunbreak]

You can, but I think in general you'll get better tracking with something like a Godin or Moore....

[trion12]

Originally Posted by natx

Sorry to dig up this old thread, does any one of you know if the GR-20 pickup (ie the GK-3) can be mounted on acoustic guitars like Taylors? I want to try....

I have a GK-3 pickup mounted on a Martin OM and it works fine.

Aaron

[spider]

I've mounted the GK pickup on my Taylor 410 for a little bit. It sounded pretty good I thought. It sounded nice to back up the acoustic sounds with strings which was mainly why I used it at the time.
Tony.

[Yoder]

I have half-heartidly been looking for the same the past year. Not much out there.
Electric and accoustic: Godin
Electric: Brian Moore
Accoustic Nylon: Carvin
Here is a pretty Carvin Electric looks hot!

[Hotraman]

Try the Roland Users group.
The VG99 is getting good reviews.