On Thursday, 14 March, 2002 11:18 Laurent Olszer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote:
>> Oh, I do love the VG-8! > Wait a minute, I thought this kind of > gizmo was for sound patches (and > 8-vegetable juice cocktails). > It does tunings too? How is this > miracle accomplished? Do you need > a special e-guitar? Details please > on this potential lifesaver. > Thanks > Laurent The VG-8 is Roland's virtual guitar system (it has since been replaced by the VG-88, which Paz says isn't as good, but you can still find VG-8's for sale if you look around). To use it, you need an electric guitar - it doesn't have to be a really expensive one, but it should be one that stays in tune. I have a Squier Strat which only cost about $110 and it stays in tune like a charm. You only need the guitar for the purpose of making vibrations with the strings which are then sent via a pickup to the VG-8. Joni's guitar is a really expensive Parker Fly that is very lightweight which is important because of her back problems, but it contributes nothing to the sounds that come out of the VG-8 other than the string vibrations. I suppose if you need an e-guitar that you want to just play without the VG-8, it would be wonderful to have a Parker. Anyway, you also need the Roland GK-2A pickup. This is what sends the string vibrations from the guitar to the VG-8. And of course you also need a special cable to connect the GK-2A pickup to the VG-8 and a power cable to connect the VG-8 to the mains. If you don't want to buy a speaker, you can use the VG-8 with your stereo headphones, just what you will hear hear when you play will sound really different from what other people will hear, especially if you are in a tuning. In the VG-8, there are 64 "patches" (memory locations) for the user to store her/his own settings, and it's possible to have a different tuning stored in every one of the 64 locations. To change from one patch to another, you turn a dial or push a button. In addition to the 64 user settings, there are many factory settings, including Martin, Taylor and Ovation 6-string and 12 string guitar sounds and all kinds of heavy metal sounds as well as that funky sound that Joni used for Harlem in Havanah, and much much more - some really very nice sounds. You can get more info about vg-8s at this URL: http://www.vg-8.com Marian Vienna
