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Shadow MIDI Guitar systemArticle from In Tune, July 1986 |
It's finally here — the Shadow GTM6 Guitar to MIDI System. Jerry Uwins gets wired.
Guitarists tend, by nature of their craft maybe, to be a pretty conservative and techno-shy lot. Witness many supposed innovations — constructional, electronic and cosmetic — over recent years which have not enjoyed mass appeal, due, one could argue, to a realisation (made all the more vivid when it involved parting with large piles of cash for the privilege!) that one's basic competence and means of expression relies on two hands doing the right things with a set of strings mounted on a structure of (usually) wood. There has as yet been no mega-selling guitar which wasn't visibly derived from a Strat, Les Paul or 335-type concept. Acoustics don't change much either, do they?
Now that guitarists have, courtesy of ever-advancing technology, the potential to access the wonderful world of sound synthesis, any related discussion usually comes to the conclusion that it's fine, as long as (a) it's a magic box I can plug straight into; (b) I can still use my favourite guitars without seeing large wodges of precious mahogany routed out to accept onboard electronics; (c) I don't have to throw my playing technique out of the window and completely relearn; (d) it doesn't hurt deep in the purse; and (e) it works without giving me brain damage. The Shadow Guitar to MIDI System was launched, midst no little excitement, at the Frankfurt Fair earlier this year, and is just beginning to be seen in UK music stores. What exactly does it do, and to what extent does it fulfil my supposed criteria for success?
The system is packaged as a 19" rack-mount unit with foot controller, working in conjunction with a choice of special pickup assemblies — a complete bridge/locking tremolo for Strat-type guitars, a replacement bridge unit for standard electrics, and the one I received for review; a classic/acoustic system. In all cases disturbance to the guitar is kept to a minimum, and wiring in is said to be a job quickly tackled by someone who knows what they're doing. Depending on which version is relevant, the Shadow will set you back somewhere between £992 for the acoustic/classic to £1039 for the locking trem model.
Evidence of the pickup system fitted to the Suzuki jumbo supplied was minimal — the ends of the contact strip just visible at either end, under the individual plastic saddle pieces; a little box of tricks mounted inside the guitar body; a jack socket on the rim near the strap pin; and, because the system also incorporates a ceramic pickup, a volume control by the heel to mix the amplified acoustic sound with the synthesised voice. Used — via the control unit — merely as an electro-acoustic, the Shadow's pickup is very good. Even driving a couple of normal guitar combos, usually a no-no for a good electro-acoustic (in this case a Lab Series L7 and a Yamaha G100-115 II), it delivered a balanced, even response, retained the guitar's inherent tonal qualities, and responded well to Eq'ing.
Routing to the control unit is definitely a guitarists' plus-point. No multiconnectors here to clutter things up, just a simple stereo lead supplied as part of the package. One side carries the guitar sound, the other all the signal information required to trigger whichever synth or synths (the Shadow can accommodate up to 16 different units) are linked up. Now, because of factors associated with converting pitch to voltage, much breath has been expended about problems with delay, particularly in the lower registers (where the converter has to identify one complete cycle of the note before figuring out what pitch it is), and accuracy of the pitch itself with all those harmonics swanning about. Suffice it to say that with the Shadow I found the problem averted.
To the control unit itself. Round the back are two guitar outputs — electric and acoustic — and two MIDI outs depending on how many synths you're controlling. Me, I only used one — a Roland Alpha Juno 1 — so it was a doddle. For those with keyboards to spare, the system diagrams in the adequate but not too well translated (German to English) owner's booklet make set-up seemingly quite straightforward. Front-wise, there are inputs for your guitar and foot controller, a detachable control panel with a concise array of buttons, lights and LED display, and the all-important knobs for setting string sensitivity and dynamics. It is indeed detachable for remote use, but when I did thus, all the lights went out (Twit! — Ed.). It needs a lead to keep in touch with the rack module. Enquiring of its whereabouts, I was told by Barnes & Mullins, the UK distributor, that a special 25-core connecting cable is imminently available as an optional extra, costing about £50.
After switching on (and here you have the option of a 'cold start' which clears any unwanted memory and parameter information, and offers a factory-set piece of music from the built-in sequencer to confirm that everything's wired up O.K.) it's an easy few, but important, steps to whanging away. Amongst the buttons — the main two switching between 'Play' and 'Program' functions — is the ability to tune your guitar to the Shadow, the LED indicating numerically how much above or below A440 you are. It gives a leeway of ± 1 semitone beyond which horizontal bars show whether you're above or below those limits. This facility can also be used as a guitar tuner, displaying the exact tuning of each string. I used the Suzuki capoed most of the time, but once the tuning routines are completed that's not a problem. I made the error of getting stuck in before adjusting the string sensitivities and dynamics. Quel mistake! Gremlin sounds or none at all, random triggering seemingly from nowhere. What could have been a very short, turbulent relationship was happily reconciled by doing properly what I'd failed to do before. When sensitivity for each string was adjusted — albeit a slight compromise between fingerpicking and plectrum strength — and then finely tuned for touch sensitivity (assuming your synth accepts velocity information) via the dynamic control, the difference was profound. Sure, you have to watch your fingering and keep it precise (no bad discipline anyway), specially when triggering voices with a lot of percussive attack, e.g. demented Hammond, harpsichord, clav. etc., but this is the point where the Shadow starts showing its potential.
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Browse category: Guitar Synthesizer > Shadow
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Review by Jerry Uwins
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