MIDIguitar 1: Fleshing out your sound

July 6, 2010 by Alan Ratcliffe

Recently on www.guitarforum.co.za I mentioned using MIDIguitar/guitar synth as an an alternative to backtracks for fleshing out the sound of performances. Pushed for details, I decided to use some of my weekly challenge entries to show the kinds of things I’m prone to doing with little provocation. In coming weeks, I’ll present a series of articles on MIDIguitar – pros, cons, requirements and possibilities, so consider this as a quick intro to some of the possibilities.

All the keyboard sounds in the recorded examples below are created from the guitar part in realtime without overdubs, so would be equally suited for studio or live playing. You’ll notice I always layer the synth sound over the guitar sound instead of using synth sounds alone – I like guitar sounds, dammit!

Arabic Ringtone
Instrumentation: Drums, bass, single guitar
Description: A simple string sound doubling the guitar.

Big Intro
Instrumentation: Drums, bass, guitar x2
Description: Swept synth sound with sustain pedal to keep the sound going while the guitar (and a delay) get busy over the top of it. Second, lead guitar only comes in at 0:48.

Melancholy Romance
Instrumentation: Single guitar
Description: Low, slow sweep only is synth sound to create moody atmosphere. Upper frequency gloss is not synth, but effected guitar (octave up pitch shift, reverse delay, phase & autopanning).

Junkyard Dogs
Instrumentation: Drums, guitar x3
Description: My favourite little ditty I’ve done in the last year. Guitar synth provides bass and Hammond organ sounds. Bass is on low three strings while Hammond is on three treble strings. Guitar and bass sound together create an interesting 8-string bass sound. First 30 seconds is all one guitar and drums only, then lead and harmony guitar join in at 30 and 50 seconds.

Heavy
Instrumentation: Drums, bass, single guitar
Description: Guitar has a very heavy synth sound added which makes even the two string intro fat and heavy. A second monophonic synth is layered in from 0:20 which uses an arpeggiator to provide some single note movement to the chords, making it sound like it comes from a completely different source. Wah sound is part of the bass sound, not a synth.

Industrial
Instrumentation: Single guitar
Description: Whoo boy… All one guitar, realtime. Low pitched “chuntering” pad from one note played with guitar volume down and sustained throughout the whole piece with the pedal. Interference is from normal magnetic pickups, from bringing guitar close to the laptop.  Second, layered synth sound switched in immediately after that – quite a complex sound (listen to the single open E string note at 0:30 – 0:43). Mostly I’m just playing percussive noises and things on the guitar which creates a host of false starts and occasional glitches from the synth patch. Quick (and badly ended) arpeggio and finish. Synth accommodatingly glitches by accident as the last note fades out (which is why I didn’t re-record to try get the arpeggio right).