A Fender em parceria com a Roland, vem apresentar uma guitarra revolucionria.

A "VG Stratocaster", um instrumento incrivelmente verstil, que dispe de 37 opes de timbres, com 5 afinaes diferentes. - Corpo: Alder. - Brao: Maple "modern C" shape, Parafusado. - Escala: Maple, One Piece. - Trastes: 22. - Marcao: Black Dots. - Captadores: ...3 American Strat Single-Coil. ...1 Captador Roland GK. - Chave Seletora: 5 Posies. - Controles: ...Volume. ...Tone. ...Tuning: Simula Violo de 12 cordas, D Modal, Drop D, Open G, Normal e Baritono. ...Mode: Seleciona entre 5 distintos modelos(Normal, Stratocaster, Telecaster, Humbicking Pickups e Acustico). - Alimentao do sistema de simulao: 6V( 4 x 1.5V, AA). - Ponte: Tremolo. - Ferragens: Chrome. - Tarraxas: Fender. - Escudo: Branco(sanduiche). - Pintura: Verniz Brilhante. - Largura do Brao no 1 Traste: 4,5cm. - Acompanha: Correia, Cabo, Flanela, Alavanca, Chaves de Regulagem, Manual do Usurio e Case Deluxe. - Origem: U.S.A.

Muita gente, ao ler a biografia do Maiden ou o review de discos como o Somewhere in Time e Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, se depara com a expresso "guitarras sintetizadas" e acaba ficando em dvida. O que seria isso e porque us-las? Nesta matria falaremos sobre isto. Bom, guitarras sintetizadas so guitarras que, quando devidamente equipadas, reproduzem sons de sintetizadores e de outros instrumentos. Em idos de 1986, o Maiden se aprofundou na tecnologia da poca e gravou Somewhere in Time. Para, os fs mais ardorosos, foi um choque, porque eles deixaram um pouco de lado o peso dos lbuns anteriores e trouxeram sons novos. As guitarras ganharam mais brilho no som e o uso de teclados se intensificou nessa poca. As guitarras foram equipadas com captadores MIDI da Roland, algo extremamente novo e caro para a poca (ainda hoje, mas por ser novidade, era mais caro ainda). Com esse artifcio, eles ligavam as guitarras atravs de um cabo especial (MIDI) ao um mdulo sintetizador, capaz de reproduzir os mais diversos sons, desde pianos a flautas, etc. Um exemplo dessa guitarra, a Jackson que Adrian Smith usa no clipe de Stranger in a Strange Land. Ela foi usada poucas vezes ao vivo, sendo substituda por uma Jackson Strato, mais leve e mais confortvel para os shows.

Alm das guitarras, o baixo tambm foi ligado ao sintetizador. Voc pode ouvir claramente o baixo sintetizado no incio de Caught Somewhere In Time, msica que abre o lbum Somewhere in Time.
Em 1988, o Maiden explorou ainda mais esse recurso e incrementou ainda mais o seu novo disco com teclados e guitarras sintetizadas. Os teclados, percebemos por quase todas as faixas do lbum, sendo que est mais ntido em Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. J as guitarras sintetizadas podem ser ouvidas nitidamente no refro de Can I Play With Madness, tanto que nos show, Adrian usava uma guitarra equipada com os captadores MIDI para reproduzir os sons. Essa guitarra pode ser vista no clipe de The Evil That Man Do; parecida com uma Jackson modelo Kelly. Alm dos efeitos sintetizados, eles passaram a usar mais chorus (efeito que causa uma leve desafinao na nota, deixando o som mais encorpado, ideal para sons limpos ou solos), delay (efeito que consiste em repetir a nota, causando um "eco", de acordo com a intensidade - que pode ser ouvido claramente no solo de Dave Murray em The Clairvoyant), entre outros.

O Maiden foi uma, entre vrias bandas utilizaram sintetizadores (de guitarra ou teclado) em suas msicas. Um exemplo prximo, o A.S.A.P. (Adrian Smith And Project), banda que Adrian Smith formou aps sair do Maiden em 1990. Falando nisso, o principal motivo pelo qual Adrian Smith deixou o Maiden foi o fato da banda querer voltar a fazer um som mais cru, deixando um pouco de lado o uso dos sintetizadores. Adrian ficou insatisfeito com essa deciso do grupo, sendo que aps a sada, formou o A.S.A.P., uma banda que apresenta um hard rock bem oitentista mesmo, caindo um pouco para o pop. O uso de sintetizadores notado em todo o disco (nico) Silver And Gold. Outros pioneiros do uso de sintetizadores na dcada de 80 foram Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, Frank Zappa e outras bandas.

Roland GR-500, GS-500 and PC-50

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

Details: "Roland GR-500 and GS-500 Guitarset including controllers and cables. very rare because you won't find this combination anywhere! only a few where made in the past. As used by Mike Rutherford of Genesis and Alex Lifeson of Rush. Here is a description: ''This is THE first guitar synth ever made & it came out in 1977! It came with an Ibanez made Les Paul type guitar with tons of knobs to control various parameters of the 3 separate synth's that were built in to the module. The synthesizer module included Bass, Solo Synth, and String sounds based on previous Orchestral and analog mono-synths from Roland. There are plenty of sliders to adjust the VCO, VCF, VCA, and LFO sections. The guitar utilizes a special pickup system that is connected to the synth module via Roland's own 24-pin interface and controlled it using CV/GATE signals generated by the guitar's pickup system while playing the guitar. In addition to the modified pickup, there were magnets under the face of the guitar that could increase its sustain''

This is the complete set including the guitar, the PC-50 Preset Controller footswitch, 24-way cable and the synthesizer unit (GR500). The guitar has a very nice honeyburst finish. The playability is very good, with a nice comfortable neck and low string action. The sound is very very very versatile as you may expect. You can create anything with this one, Because of the Les Paul style body this guitar sustains for days and has a nice warm tone. I'm sure the guitarsynth experts know what i'm talking about. The condition is good. Just light playwear. Some scratches here and there, but nothing serious. A hardcase is included for the guitar. Here is another description for the high tech guitarplayers among us: The GS500 was a heavily modified Ibanez guitar, with a single humbucker plus a hexaphonic pickup for driving the GR500, individual on/off switches for each of the

four synthesis sections, switches to select the sound of the guitar itself, the synthesizer, or both simultaneously, plus EQ. All this appeared as a beautifully crafted, but very heavy instrument whose body contained magnets that fed the audio output back to the strings, thus creating an 'infinite sustain' system. The GS500 really was far more than just a guitar plugged into a sound generator!

If the GS500 had a limitation, it was that you could only connect it to the outside world using a heavy, multi-core cable unique to the GS/GR500 combination (shown in the above picture). Without this, you owned nothing more than a large, heavy paperweight. Given that there are now no spares left, you cannot even build a new one, and the similar-looking cable used for future Roland guitar synths was wired differently and does not work correctly. While players were to find this very frustrating, it had a huge benefit for Kakehashi and Roland when the prototype was stolen and then returned as 'unusable' just hours before its world launch in Australia.

The synthesizer module (shown below) was amazing, with five sound generation sections G, P, B, M and S that you could play individually or in any combination. These were the straight-

through Guitar, Poly-ensemble, Bass, Melody, and an 'external synthesizer' section designed to interface with and control an SH5, System 100 or System 700. The Polyensemble, which treated the independent outputs from the 'hex' pickup, was interesting, and produced what would later become Roland's signature 'bowed guitar' sound, but it was the Melody section that captured players' imagination because it was here that the real synthesis took place. Sounds were generated by a conventional VCO/VCF/VCA architecture reminiscent of the earliest SH-series synths, but with a number of very important bonuses. For example, the VCA was 'touch sensitive', and the output from the Poly-ensemble was an input in the solo synth's mixer, so you could inject the polyphonic sound into the VCF/VCA signal path. Another superb innovation was the output buss system that allowed you to direct the sounds generated by each of the sections to any one of three outputs as well as a global 'Mix' output.

In addition, the PC50 Preset Controller was a floor unit that allowed you to set up three mixes for the P, B, M and S sections and select between them using stomp switches. A fourth switch returned control to the guitar. I have never seen mention of the PC50 in any of Roland's documentation" via Johan

Thanks to Roland, guitars and synthesizers have had a long working relationship together. The GR-500 is a vintage guitar controlled synthesizer - before there was MIDI too! It was the first synth of this kind that Roland had ever produced, back in 1977. The synthesizer module itself was a simple analog affair with Bass, Solo Synth, and String sounds based on previous Orchestral and analog mono-synths from Roland. There are plenty of sliders to adjust the VCO, VCF, VCA, and LFO sections, but no memory to store your edits. The synth module is controlled by a "highly modified" guitar. Notice all those knobs on the guitar pictured above. It utilized a special pickup system that connected to the synth module via Roland's own 24-pin interface and controlled it using CV/GATE signals generated by the guitar's pickup system while playing the guitar. In addition to the

modified pickup, there were magnets under the face of the guitar that could increase its sustain. Performance accuracy was "iffy" but good for 1977 and pre-MIDI. As a piece of guitar-synth history, the GR-500 makes an excellent collectors item and may come in handy for the occasional growl or a strummed analog sound effect. It has been used by Tangerine Dream, Mike Rutherford of Genesis and Alex Lifeson of Rush.