A question from an E-Bow user

[strashilol]

Hi folks,

I'd be really grateful if you could help me out on this one... I play solo parts almost exclusively with an E-Bow, which gives me the one thing I've always wanted - non-stop legato
Lately, I've been considering diversifying my sound (well, sort of) by using MIDI patches, and after doing some research on the web, learned about G2M (and yes, I had already known about Roland and Axon products before that).

Unfortunately, there's little to no info for E-Bow players about this curious product.

My questions would be:
- is playing staccato necessary when using a G2M? The guys in the instructional videos speak of "playing one note at a time", but I'm unsure if they are just dismissing chord work, or demanding an all-out staccato approach - the problem is, when playing with an E-Bow, notes tend to REALLY blend together, giving you an exceptionally smooth legato. I have absolutely no idea of how a G2M would react;

- in theory, using an E-Bow could be an advantage, because it completely mutes the two strings neighboring the one you're currently playing, and also allows you to play in a very clean way, since each note is actually produced by the movement of just one fretting hand, as opposed to "normal" playing, when a note is produced by both the fretting and the picking hands. Could anyone verify that?

Thanks in advance!

[james]

I've not tried an eBow, but I think it should work.

The "staccato" described is really only talking about 1 string at a time. You can smoothly vary the pitch of a note, or do slides etc.

For example, you can use a Theremin, which has a smooth variation of pitch to drive the G2M. There is an example in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWaNlcXuGmI

The only thing to note about the G2M, is that pitch-bend is limited to +/-2 semitones (to match most common guitar usage) so when you move further than this it will automatically retrigger a new note for you

[strashilol]

Thank you for the quick response, james!

The "staccato" described is really only talking about 1 string at a time. You can smoothly vary the pitch of a note, or do slides etc.

Thanks a lot for clarifying that!

For example, you can use a Theremin, which has a smooth variation of pitch to drive the G2M

Wow, I must've missed that part of the video...

The only thing to note about the G2M, is that pitch-bend is limited to +/-2 semitones (to match most common guitar usage) so when you move further than this it will automatically retrigger a new note for you

Well, I don't care much for bends, since E-Bow slides produce almost the same result

All in all, I've decided to try G2M, I'll post my experiences with it on that thread.

[strashilol]

I meant, of course, "on THIS thread"

[strashilol]

Well, I bought the device on Monday, but still haven't been able to make heads or tails out of it.

The first experience was astonishing. I ran a stand-alone version of MinimogueVA (http://www.home.no/gunnare/downloads.htm), which, as the name suggests, is a Minimoog emulator... I was floored. Ultra-fast tracking, no errors whatsoever, smooth slides, and pitch bends far beyond 2 semitones (!). To say it was perfect would be a huge understatement.

And then I began systematically trying out different brass VST plugins. DVS Saxophone, Linplug SaxLab2, the much-lauded WIVI Brass... Well, all of them sound horrible. If I plug a keyboard into my PC, eveything works fine. As soon as I switch to G2M, trombones and saxophones permanently go out of tune.

It happens as follows: while I play my notes in a really detached, perfectly staccato manner, trying to get an even, strong attack on each one of them, everything works fine (well, at least mostly). Of course, in that case the instrument sounds nothing like real brass, but still. Once I decide to allow myself a little more liberty and begin using slides, it all falls apart. Sliding to a note gradually increases the pitch at first and then suddenly stops halfway through, leaving me a couple semitones away from the target - though if I hammer-on the note afterwards, a correct MIDI-message is generated. Same thing happens with pull-offs, especially if I try to pull a note 1 semitone lower than the current one. I pull-off from middle to index, and a horrible out-of-tune sound is heard (naturally, a middle-to-index pull-off is always a weak one, so I think G2M interprets it as a pitch bend).

The problem is, I know the G2M tracks perfectly because of the aforementioned Minimogue experience... I also know that it's not the computer's fault, since plugging in the keyboard fixes the problem...

I'd say something is wrong with the bends, but then again, why does MinimogueVA work so good?

Any ideas? As always, thank you in advance!

[strashilol]

Well, I think that the problem may lie in the interpretation of pitch bends by the plugins themselves. If I understand the limitations of MIDI format correctly, G2M must transform guitar slides into pitch bends, right? Also, good legato technique will also be translated into bends... Seems like the brass plugins I've used so far do not process bend information correctly I cannot verify it though, since my synth is really old and doesn't do pitch bends at all

[strashilol]

So, anyone knows a good brass plugin that can handle pitch bends correctly?