3/18/2009
The Ugliest Guitar of All Time
The new Moog Guitar is one of the most amazing hybrid products I've ever seen. It sounds fucking amazing. I got the chance to check out the demo of it at the Austin Guitar Show this week. Sadly, it is also one of the ugliest products ever sold. Even if it was $300, instead of $7,000, I wouldn't want anyone to see me play it. It's too bad you can't get a retrofit for your own guitar. Maybe they'll offer that at some point. I only want the electronics, not the guitar.
What's up with it? Well, it's complicated. I'll let Moog explain it to you:
What makes this guitar so special?
The Moog Guitar Electronics add an unparalleled range of expression to the Moog Guitar:
FULL SUSTAIN MODE - like no other sustainer; infinite sustain on every string, at every fret position and at any volume. You may have heard sustain before but not with this power (we call it "Vo Power") and clarity.
CONTROLLED SUSTAIN MODE - allows you to play sustained single or polyphonic lines without muting technique. The Moog Guitar sustains the notes you are playing while actively muting the strings you are not playing.
MUTE MODE - removes energy from the strings, resulting in a variety of staccato articulations. The mute mode has never been heard on any other guitar; the Vo Power stops the strings with the same intensity that it sustains them. You feel the instrument transform in your hands.
HARMONIC BLENDS - use the included foot pedal to shift the positive energy of Vo Power in Sustain mode and the subtractive force of Vo Power in Mute mode between the bridge and neck pick-ups to pull both subtle and dramatic harmonics from the strings.
MOOG FILTER - control the frequency of the built-in, resonant Moog ladder filter using the foot pedal or a CV Input.
What is the difference between The Moog Guitar and sustainers?
1.) The Moog Guitar Technology is not a sustainer technology but a Harmonic Control System.
2.) In Sustain Mode, The Moog Guitar is like a sustainer on steroids. Previous sustainer technologies are limited both in their power and responsiveness.
3.) Unlike sustainer technologies, the Moog Guitar has the ability to simultaneously "listen" and "control" each individual string at exactly the same point. This allows the control system to affect the string coherently. For each pickup and string, there is a unique control system that is optimized for those harmonics happening at that point in time.
4.) This "coherency" gives the Moog Guitar a sustain capability that is un-paralleled both in power and responsiveness. There are no frustrating lags, or drop offs. And the sustain from the Moog Guitar is DIRECTLY related to what is happening on the string at that point, so it is very organic sounding and gives a feeling of connection to the instrument that has never before been felt.
5.) Sustaining is just the stepping-off point for the Moog Guitar. The same ability to coherently give energy to the string can take energy away. This is revolutionary: the ability to MUTE a string (or strings) changes the very way the string reacts to the wood and acoustics of the instrument. It feels like a different instrument in your hands when in Mute Mode.
6.) Combining the Sustain and Mute modes gives us the never-before achieved Controlled Sustain Mode. Players can sustain single-note lines while the Harmonic Control System actively removes energy from strings that aren't being played. This allows fluid violin-like lines and counter-point that are not achievable with sustainers.
7.) The Harmonic Control System allows the player to affect different harmonics that are being occurring on the strings in real-time.
8.) Because of the direct action of the Harmonic Control System on the string at the same point in space and time, the Moog Guitar fits perfectly into your playing technique, it responds naturally to the way you play - it becomes part of the acoustic nature of the actual instrument.
9.) The Moog Guitar expands the soundscape of the guitar in ways that no sustainer technology can approach. Like all Moog instruments, the only limit is the imagination and inspiration of the musician.
Ya'll Motherfuckers Said What?:
Post a Comment