Re: OT RE: FC300 and VG-99

[Mech <mech@m3ch.net>]

This is the last forwarded message of data I've posted on the VG-99. 
This one details a few more annoyances I'd encountered...

(once again, to those list members who deem this data as OT, i would 
to thank you for your patience.  and i hope your index fingers aren't 
getting too sore from using the 'delete' key.  :)

        --m.

>Date: Sun,  9 Sep 2007 00:40:52 -0700
>From: Mech <mech@m3ch.net>
>To: vg-99@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: A Few More Minor Quirks....
>
>A few more non-laptop-related things here that aren't quite on target 
>with the
>VG-99.
>
>1.) Effecting your Normal Guitar output.
>
>It does not appear that you can use the Guitar Output jack in conjunction 
>with
>the Guitar Input.  I wanted to have a simple effects loop to add a couple 
>of
>stompboxes onto the Normal Guitar pickup, just as I do with the VG-8EX, 
>and as
>I believe you can also do with the VG-88.
>
>Nope.  On the VG-99, that actually results in a horrible feedback 
>loop.  If you
>plug in a passive pedal with no gain amplification, then you get 
>absolutely no
>audio.  Be prepared, however, if you try it with a more active pedal that 
>can
>do gain amplification or impedance matching (I tested with a Sansamp 
>Paradriver
>and a Yamaha Magicstomp), since it's going to give you howling, beeping
>feedback.
>
>If you want to effect the guitar's normal pickups with anything besides 
>the VG
>or laptop effects, you'll need to run a 1/4" guitar cable out of your axe,
>through your pedalboard, and into the Guitar Input jack.  This is in 
>addition
>to your normal 13-pin cable.  Yes, that's a pain.

[Addendum: I later found out that this is also how the VG-88 is set 
up.  With the VG-8 (the other unit I own) there's no problem with 
using the Normal Guitar Pickup outputs and the Aux Inputs as an 
external effects loop.  This is a know issue for VG-88 owners.  --m.]

>
>2.) Cannot really control the morph rate on Humanizer.
>
>Rather than the obnoxious (IMNSHO) "talking guitar" effects, I'd wanted 
>to use
>the Humanizer's formant filters on some ambient pad beds from the synth.  
>I've
>discovered on other devices that setting a slow fade between vowels 
>usually
>works -- and sounds -- very nice for these sorts of sounds.
>
>There's a design error on the Humanizer that prevents you from doing this,
>however.  You see the "rate" control isn't actually controlling the rate 
>that
>one vowel morphs into another.  Instead, it only seems to control the 
>delay
>before the vowel changes from one to another -- the actual rate of 
>change seems
>to remain the same.
>
>So, let's you wanted an "O" filter to change to an "A" over the span of 
>two
>measures.  In an ideal situation, the sound would morph slowly between 
>vowels
>over the course of 8 beats.  With the current implementation, though, the
>filter sticks fully on "O" for 7 beats, then suddenly jumps to "A" on the 
>8th
>beat.  :P
>
>I'm currently experimenting with workarounds.  I'll let you know if I can 
>get
>around this properly.
>
>3.) String panning is NOT retained through COSM Amp models.  (Vance, 
>you're
>gonna hate this one.)
>
>Since this has come up in the past on the list, I did a thorough test 
>when it
>occurred to me that this was happening.
>
>I took one of the generic COSM Guitar models on instrument Line A (I 
>turned Line
>B off entirely).  I panned strings 1, 3, & 5 hard left, while 
>panning 2, 4, & 6
>hard right.  Then I removed all other effects and devices from the chain 
>so
>that we're only testing COSM Guitar through COSM Amp.
>
>Unfortunately, every single Pre-amp model in the VG-99 failed to preserve 
>the
>string panning that I'd set up.  The stereo image collapsed into mono 
>every
>time I switched on the COSM Amp.
>
>Also, you need to be careful with which effects you're using here as well.
>After I determined that the COSM Amp exhibited this problem, I turned it 
>off
>and tested the Effect Chain.  About 1/3 to 1/2 of the effects there 
>also failed
>to retain the string panning, collapsing the image into mono again.  The 
>good
>news here, though, is that the effects that squash to mono are pretty 
>much the
>standard stompbox effects that you would expect to do this -- compressor, 
>wah,
>etc.  About half the effects -- including things like delay, reverb and 
>EQ --
>preserve the string panning just fine.  Effects like the 2x2 Chorus, 
>which are
>supposed to generate their own stereo image, appear to squash to mono but 
>then
>output stereo.  But that's the point of those effects, IMHO.
>
>I don't think that the effects doing this are necessarily going to 
>give anybody
>major heartburn, but the Amp models are a problem here.  The obvious 
>workaround
>is to use both Lines A & B, with one panned right and the other panned 
>left.
>However, this eats up a whole guitar line just to retain stereo through 
>the
>Amps, and you can thus forget about any creative layering.
>
>A bit disappointment there, considering the this question had been asked 
>of
>Roland point-blank, and answered in the affirmative.  Unfortunately, the 
>rep
>who had tackled this question was either mistaken or misleading.  :(
>
>More as I find 'em....
>
>       --m.
>
>--
>_____
>"I want to keep you alive so there is always the possibility of
>murder... later"
>
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