Rumors of a guitar designed by synth pioneer Moog are bubbling under the surface.
I found this at sonicstate.com.
Jason Danillo from Moog Music expertly demo’d a new product from Moog Music that is simply called:The Moog Guitar.
I am not a guitarist myself however I was very impressed with what I learned and heard about this product. I run the risk of sounding like a “salesperson” however I want to share with you what I learned and heard regarding the Moog Guitar.
My first impression of this instrument is that it was an electric guitar with built in (software driven) fx in the body of the guitar. And I would add, super CLEAN fx. And the infinite sustain, for example, was INFINITE with no noise, glitches, etc.
However, my guess about the theory of operation was mistaken. The guitar utilizes built-in ebows - I’m not sure how many are built into the guitar however there is a least one per string. As many readers here know, the ebow imparts energy to a string to set it into vibration and keep it vibrating forever.
The engineers at Moog took things to another level — for ebow technology can do the opposite: it can be used to remove energy from a string, too. Each string is independently settable - some can sustain, others can sound in the normal (unsustained manner), others can produce a staccatto pluck in fact, one of the sounds is a strum followed by a bow. This is all user-settable.
Jason strummed a chord and as the chord died down a “bowed string chorus” came up as if an entire string section was doubling Jason’s guitar part.
I remember the EBow when it came out in the ’70s but, I only messed with one a time or two.
The EBow is a hand-held electronic bow for guitar. The small battery-powered unit replaces the pick in the right hand letting the guitarist mimic strings, horns, and woodwinds with unbelievable sensitivity. The EBow produces a powerful infinite sustain, rich in harmonics for incredible guitar sounds.
How it Works
Welcome to the world of Direct String Synthesis™. The principal is simple: a focused feedback loop directed at a single string. This produces a powerful, infinite sustain, rich in harmonics for incredible guitar sounds. It’s like amplifier feedback with greater control and predictability, at any volume, even through headphones. This hand-held synthesizer provides an amazing variety of textures and tonal slurs — virtually an instrument in itself!
What I recall from messing with the Ebow was that it was a neat little effect but it wasn’t something I would use often enough to justify buying. But, they are neat to play with. The idea of incorporating them in a guitar using the sustain and the reverse effect, that could be pretty cool if it’s for real.
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Tags: ebow, electronic bow, Guitar, Jason Danillo, Moog
Sans Direction wrote,
Variations on the built-in eBow abound. Right offhand, I know the Fernandes Sustainer and the Sustainiac (and know someone who owns both). The big thing with the sustain is to combine the note with the fifth harmonic to make it sound like you’re high gain and feeding back, even when you’re at a really quiet level. It’s interesting for them to take it another way, and I hope to hear it.
Sans Direction’s last blog post..I’m Torn
Link | May 2nd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Pribek wrote,
I’ve heard the Fernandes and that, I don’t know, I can’t get interested it. The Sustaniac, I’m not familiar with at all. i object to the name. Sociosustainopath, that might be better.
I am kind of curious about Moog making a play though. One thing that I always noticed about the old Moog synths is, that different guys could sound different playing them. I may be assuming too much to think that would be the premise behind a Moog guitar gizmo but, that would make me look.
Link | May 3rd, 2008 at 2:19 am