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From: galetti@uservx.afwl.af.mil
Newsgroups: comp.music
Subject: Re: Guitar Sounds (Guitarists read this...)
Message-ID: <1991Jun6.142520.23126@uservx.afwl.af.mil>
Date: 6 Jun 91 14:25:20 GMT
References: <NA3_ZD^@warwick.ac.uk> <1991Jun4.104901.1@dev0d.mdcbbs.com> <19669@csli.Stanford.EDU>
Followup-To: comp.music
Organization: Phillips Laboratory - Kirtland AFB
Lines: 62

In article <19669@csli.Stanford.EDU>, jkiparsk@csli.Stanford.EDU (Jonathan Kiparsky) writes:
> In article <1991Jun4.104901.1@dev0d.mdcbbs.com> pirk@dev0d.mdcbbs.com writes:
> 
>>The Guitarist I play with tells me 
>>I will *NEVER* get my keyboards to sound like a "real" guitar.
> 
> You probably won't. Look at it this way: in the course of a given solo, I'll
> hit the strings with a pick, my fingers and my fingernails, I'll be snapping

[Numerous variations in guitar technique deleted.]

I have to agree with you.  There really is no perfect substitute for a good
guitarist.  However, I do feel that it is possible to get keyboards to sound
close enough for a live performance, and maybe even for some recording
projects.

>>	It would seem to me that what we are looking at is a signal. Be it from
>>a guitar or a keyboard, the signal is what gets processed into the 'groovy'
>>guitar sounds. 

>> I guess the missing parts are the
>>mechanics of the guitar, ie: the natural vibrado of the string and how this 
>>affects the output of the pickups.
> 
> Among other things, yes.
> -jon

One of the most important ingredients, from my experience, is the intonation
you are using!  For leads, this is not an issue, but when you try to play
chords on a keyboard and you run these chords through a distortion device,
even the slightest disonance becomes evident.  The intonation of a standard
keyboard is tempered, and is quite different than on a guitar.  You can
play all the 5ths and octaves relative to a particular note, but when you
try to put in a third, fourth, or whatever, you'll get a nasty sound out
of the distortion device.  

So, the key is to use an alternate tuning that models the intonation of a 
guitar.  You can do this in one of two ways:  If you are actually going to
play the parts, you will want to tune the entire keyboard about a specific
key.  Note that only the chords that belong in the key will sound good.  For
example, if I adjust the intonation to the key of E, and then I try to play
an F chord, it won't work.  I've used this technique on an E-mu Proteus, and
it sounds very good, even to guitarists.

The other option is to divide the entire range of the synthesizer into six
regions, one for each string.  Then, tune each key in each range to 
correspond to each fret on a guitar string.  You might have to sacrifice
a few frets to get all six strings to fit into the range of the synthesizer.
Note that an arrangement like this would be nearly impossible to play, so
this type of tuning lends itself better to sequenced music.

Of course, it is also important to have a decent sound going into the
distortion device.  I use a slight modification of the "Rock Guitaro" sound
that comes with the Proteus, and I run this through a Boss DS-1 distortion
pedal.  Like I said, it sounds very good, but the point is, without the
right intonation, it'll just sound like a really badly tuned guitar.
-- 
  ___________________________________________________________________________
 /   Ralph Galetti                  Internet:   galetti@uservx.afwl.af.mil   \
|    PL/ARCB                        Interests:  computers, music, computers   |
|    Kirtland AFB, NM 87117-6008                and music, golf, sleep.       |
 \______________"I hate cliches--I avoid them like the plague"_______________/