Debuting in the mid-1970s, largely thanks to Japan’s Roland Corporation, guitar synthesizers have long had their share of headaches, until Roland launched their VG-system in the mid-1990s. Instead of concentrating on synthesizing strings and trumpets, suddenly here was a unit armed with loads of great guitar-oriented sounds and effects, which tracked flawlessly. The original VG-8 debuted in 1995. Roland’s VG-88 lasted from 2000 until 2007, and used versions of the VG-88 can be found on eBay these days for $150 to $500. Its successor, still in production, was released in 2007, and dubbed the VG-99. It replaced the black stealth bomber doorstop floor box shape of the VG-88 and original VG-8 with a sleek silver table-top unit, which could also be rack mounted, or placed on an optional music stand, for manipulation during performance.
Roland’s VG-99 (which streets for about $1600 with the required pickup for your electric guitar, $100 less without the additional pickup) builds on their long-running line of VG-8 and VG-88 guitar modeling systems, but now in the form of a tabletop, not floor design and inside, three internal processors for some high-powered computing technology.
I wrote up one of the earliest reviews of the VG-99 for Blogcritics in 2007. I’m cribbing from that text, though with revisions to bring that material up to date.
The VG-99 requires a guitar equipped with an aftermarket Roland hexaphonic pickup (pictured at left mounted on a Gibson Les Paul) and 13-pin cable to connect the pickup to the VG-99, or a guitar equipped with a compatible factory-installed hexaphonic pickup, such as those made by Godin, or Fender’s Roland-Ready Stratocaster, which I used to test the unit. Some sources claim that Roland’s hexaphonic pickup sounds better on many of these patches than the piezo pickups used on the Godin units; check out the archives at the VGuitar Forum to see the pros and cons of this argument.
Like the predecessor VG-88, it’s also possible to plug an electric guitar with a conventional quarter-inch jack into the VG-99. Most of the more extreme modeling elements won’t trigger, but it’s a great way to make use of a trusty old Les Paul, Tele or any other non-hex-equipped instrument and drive basic amp sounds.
Speaking of amps, expect to find all sorts of simulated Marshalls, Fenders, Voxes, Mesas, Hi-Gains and Roland’s own JC-120. There are also a variety of modeled guitars, including Les Pauls, ES-335s, Fender Strats and Teles, steel and nylon-strung guitars, 12-strings, Jazz and P-Basses, and more exotic instruments such as Dobros, mandolins, and even violins. The two control buttons on my Roland-Ready Strat correspond with the treble/center/lead pickup switch on the Les Paul and the five-way switch on a (traditional) Fender Stratocaster; a nice touch.
It’s also possible to model a guitar completely from scratch, even with physical parameters impossible on a real instrument. While the parameters on the screen of the VG-99 are reasonably easy to tweak, A much more intuitive computer GUI allows tweaking the parameters via a PC and USB connection.
And there are all sorts of effects as well, plus the ability to manipulate wah-wah, volume and pitch (from dive bombs to B-Bender-style licks) via either Roland’s long-running EV-5 foot pedal, or more complex (and more expensive) FC-300 pedal board, and the controllers on the top of the VG-99 itself.
Taken from Roland’s keyboard synthesizers, these include a finger-sliding “ribbon” controller, which can be switched to control the pitch and filter settings of most patches. Perhaps more intriguingly, there’s also Roland’s “D-Beam”, which can also control many patches by waving a hand over the VG-99, or even a guitar neck. The D-Beam could provide the opportunity for some flashy stage gestures, vaguely reminiscent of Jimmy Page and his Theremin.
Also, it’s possible to manipulate many of the effects in the patches via the knobs on the unit, and in many of the preset patches, go from open to standard tuning and back again at the press of a button. For those who like to play rhythm guitar in Open-G tuning ala Keith Richards, but drop back to standard tuning for the solo, that’s easily accomplished with the VG-99.
I have been playing guitar for 36 years now. I realized at some point that with the digitalized toys like this I stopped making music and strated making only sounds. This while playing in a slew of classic rock/funk bands.
The best rig?
Guitar-cord-amp.
The technology is fascinating,yes, but detracts.
IMO of course.
Agreed! Did ‘roadie ‘ work for a coupe of local bands for while, 50 minute sets w/5 to get on/off the stage. Not a lot of time for goofed hookup sorting, not to mention re-programing a sequencer for an effects chain because the playlist was changed since rehearsal. You’re on stage to play, not flip switches and twist knobs.
I still think of this as the best rig, just a great guitar and a great guitarist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyPvr8AKVJQ
I realized at some point that with the digitalized toys like this I stopped making music and strated making only sounds.
It matters less what can be done; what really matters is done. This is where art comes in, content. To hear this, listen to the greatest (IMNSHO) guitar composer/performer Neil Young’s unforgettable solos. Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand.
Same instrumentation as everybody for the in part; mindblowing modern art for the out part. In IT we say “garbage in, garbage out”; the same works in reverse.
I bought an ES-335 and a Marshall 50 Watt greenback in 1973. As a crappy guitarist, I can assure you that my rig has great tone, but I cannot take sufficient advantage of it. My question is: what good music has been produced with this new technology? Anything?
Well if you think “the future of guitar” is all about modelling, how can you confine your comments to just Roland products? Pretty big oversight to overlook Line 6. Even bigger oversight not to mention the current pinnacle of this technology: Fractal Audio Systems Axe FX II. Not that I am sold on modeling, but the Roland stuff always sounded pretty crappy to me.
In trying (and failing) to love my Line6 PODXT Pro several years ago I realized the following: an amp radiates sound in all directions simultaneously. True the amplitude is loudest right in front, but the sound propagates like a sphere, with different spectral properties according to the direction (i.e., the back of the amp puts out less high-frequency tone, the bottom may interact with the surface the amp rests on and reflect accordingly, etc.). These amp modelers only give you a picture of the way an amp sounds to a mic at the grill. True, you can specify whether the mic is a SM57 or MD421 or whatever, but that’s not how it sounds to my ears.
An open back combo amp will “voice” differently than a closed back amp.If you use a combo, you really need an amp stand to keep the music ‘clean’ of oddball harmonics, mostly the bass side ‘buzz’ you can get off a hard floor.
Something to try with your PODXT, put a tube pedal in front of it. (something that uses a 12AV7 , or 12AX6), you’ll get a warmer sound out of your rig with it and you can switch back to straight solid state when you want a harder sound.
Nah, the PODXT is now in my studio rack, where it is relegated to quickly dialing up sounds for scratch tracks. Live, it’s just guitar -> cable -> amp for me (granted the amps are from Two-Rock, Bogner, and Matchless or some tasty vintage American/British selection). If I wanted to get into modelling amps in any serious way I would go with the Axe FX II or the Kemper Modelling Amp. The Line 6 stuff is garbage, and the Roland stuff is worse.
There’s no doubt playing through a classic tube amp and a great guitar with the right pickups searching for the perfect tone can be one of the peak experiences in the guitarist’s life.
Just for fun I’m adding some links to a few tracks which I did with a Roland GR33 guitar synthesizer, a Roland VG-88 virtual guitar module and a Line 6 Pod xt Live. Maybe not classic “Plexi” tones but I think they work. What do you think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaJhduHSdIo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXYGRpNF7Ig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMhXEiVEJP0
With all the latest in musical software available for the computer, it will not be long before we aren’t going to need musicians any longer. I recently witnessed an acquaintance create an entire composition, including all instruments and multiple voices using his computer and himself only. This is truly a sad state of affairs.
I for one, want my guitar to sound only like a guitar. As for the technology allowing one guitar to sound like any brand on the market, it might save the musician money. But, it is not nearly as much fun as owning and playing, your Tele, Strat, or Les Paul, when you so desire.
Being an engineer, I can certainly sympathise with the capabilities and gratifications of sounding like any of 43,560 different tone generators.
BUT. Also being a musician, I also prefer the sound of an instrument to the sound of a loudspeaker. Every one of those 43,560 noises must come from a gang of speakers. That means forcing your whole aural spectrum through the eye of a needle, or some other approximate cliche like a nozzle. And in most cases, that forcing involves help from the power plant to drive performance volume far above that ‘adequate’ to hear the interaction of participating instruments and the performance space.
And may I raise the point that most of the thousands of different instruments of the world are the result of thousands of man-years of development in using combinations of materials to produce very refined sounds in the hands of the players. Yes, they can be drowned out, or squirted through speaker-nozzles, but a significant part of the ingenuity of design and construction to produce subtile tones is thrown away in the process.
Guitar modelers are fun to play with but I would never use them for an important gig or recording. They just don’t sound the same as a good guitar/amp combo.
In reality they are a product in search of a market. Most bands have a sound based on a certain rig. You don’t really need to jump from one tone on a certain song to a completely different one on the next.
If I were to buy one, the Roland would be my last choice.
Modelling is a studio fad. Drumming went through this fad back in the 80s and early 90s, when some lounge bands used drum machines based on sampled sounds to save stage space.
As posted above, the guitar, patch cord and amp is really all you need. Modelling machines are merely high end sound toys.
All you guys poo-pooing this new technology should check out Adrian Belew. The stuff he’s done with King Crimson and on his own is nothing short of amazing. Technology is only as good as the one using it.
There is nothing like the feel when standing in front of a full Mesa or Marshall stack on 11, and solidly striking a down tuned monster open chord. This is why I have played for over 35 years. I have pedals. All time based or some type of crunch enhancer. The vibration in my skull still rings after these decades. You either get it, or you don’t.
I just need my Lee Oskar harp, a mic and amp.
I play lead guitar in a church Praise and Worship band and own two VG-8′s, one for home and one for church. I LOVE the tonal palette I get from the VG-8.
We play out of a hymnbook with 600 hymns and a contemporary Christian fakebook with almost 400 songs. We frequently don’t find out what 6 or 7 songs we’re playing till Saturday afternoon. If I’ve played the song before, I have a setting number written in and ready to go. If I haven’t, I’ve got them grouped by sets and can navigate quickly to the most appropriate sound for a particular song.
Our repertoire is a WIDE variety of music, ranging from high church hymns (synth settings), C&W hymns (banjo setting), hard rock (crunch and high gain settings), soft rock (12 string), blues (OD-Stack), reggae (funk), Do Wop (tremelo settings), etc. Between picking, slide guitar, finger picking and the VG-8 tonal palette, I avoid the Same Old Sound.
Acoustic steel-stringed guitar – Taylor, Martin, Gibson, Larravie, Gretsch, Ovation, Guild, and custom made by luthiers, are all you really need.
OK, I just showed my age.
Have an Ovation (mid bowl) and love it! Especially since it doesn’t dig into my ribs due to the curved body. Being able to play plugged or unplugged is nice too. Pick up a classical (nylon string) guitar; the difference is voicing is amazing. Besides, some pieces just sounds better on a classical guitar.
Have an Ovation (mid bowl) and love it! Especially since it doesn’t dig into my ribs due to the curved body. Being able to play plugged or unplugged is nice too. Pick up a classical (nylon string) guitar; the difference is voicing is amazing. Besides, some pieces just sound better on a classical guitar.
That’s Larrivée. Jean Claude is one of Canada’s finest exports.
Moderator: please remove the double post! thanx…
Here’s Robert Fripp of King Crimson doin the “Introductory Soundscape” with guitar synths in Japan in 2003. I found it haunting and beautiful at the same time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giKVNoTDvOE