Jump to content

I have a Peavey AT-200 Guitar with Auto-Tune here


Anderton

Recommended Posts

  • Members

I've written a review for next week's Harmony Central Newsletter (you do subscribe, right? It's free, and they don't sell the mailing list), but if anyone has questions...fire away.

Antares was sufficiently impressed by the review's analysis they're setting me up as a beta tester, so HC will find out about new developments pretty expeditiously as they've given me the okay to talk about most of what I check out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 91
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

http://www.musicradar.com/gear/guita...-565815/review for a quick review of this guitar.

 

Pros

Accuracy of auto-tuning. Awesome potential via future Antares software. Affordable.

 

Cons

Actual guitar is average. Auto-Tune is smooth but detectable on subtle bends/vibrato.

 

Verdict

The AT-200 may prove revolutionary for certain players.

My concern with these things, besides obviously how it sounds, is basic: how good is the actual guitar?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Guitarists tend to be a very traditionally-minded lot, with guitar styles, pickups, amps, etc. going back many decades. To truly wow guitarists, someone needs to make a really good guitar with these features, something that really impresses people. And even then, it will take a little while for guitarists to accept it.

That said, I think for certain applications, this could be a godsend. I know I've been in recording situations where we struggled to get several instruments solidly in tune with each other, so it's an interesting approach.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by UstadKhanAli View Post
http://www.musicradar.com/gear/guita...-565815/review for a quick review of this guitar.



My concern with these things, besides obviously how it sounds, is basic: how good is the actual guitar?
It's based on the Peavey Predator ST, which is sort of their poster child for cost-effectiveness. It's a very plain-looking guitar - bland headstock, simple dot inlays, that sort of thing - but it plays well, and (how's this for irony?) stays in tune well even without engaging Auto-Tune. I like its pickups a lot (you can use it as a standard guitar, it's not "Auto-Tune-only").

I tend to agree with most of the review, although the "window" where bending is corrected is VERY small - when they say that subtle bends are corrected, I'd say "super-subtle" bends. I found this a major advantage when fretting complex chords where it's really hard not to "push" a string just a bit sharp.

However, I'm really surprised they didn't mention the feature that absolutely, hands-down impressed me the most: the intonation stays perfect when you play up and down the neck. Play a chord, and the intonation is spot-on. This provides a "focus" to the sound you have to hear to believe; it's sort of like playing those tonic+fifth combinations that always seem in tune, except now all chords sound like that. It's not Just Intonation, it's still based on the 12-tone scale, but it's a dramatic change compared to playing any other guitar.

I'd also disagree that the "Auto-Tuned" sound is more like a single-coil sound. The Auto-Tuned sound is definitely lower in volume (I hope that some future software rev could address this), but the overall sound is duller than the passive pickups, more like humbuckers compared to single-coil than the other way around...at least to my ears.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Interesting, thanks. I'd love to try out one of these. If I go to NAMM this year (I currently don't have a pass), I'll check it out.

And yes, intonation is pretty big. I do have a Buzz Feiten system on my '67 SG, and that makes such a huge difference. I realize that this isn't the same thing exactly, but the difference between before and after is still very noticeable, so I can see where perfect or near perfect intonation would make a big impression on you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by Anderton View Post
However, I'm really surprised they didn't mention the feature that absolutely, hands-down impressed me the most: the intonation stays perfect when you play up and down the neck. Play a chord, and the intonation is spot-on. This provides a "focus" to the sound you have to hear to believe; it's sort of like playing those tonic+fifth combinations that always seem in tune, except now all chords sound like that. It's not Just Intonation, it's still based on the 12-tone scale, but it's a dramatic change compared to playing any other guitar.
They sorta address this here:

In the active Auto-Tune mode it's unbelievably accurate: the tuning wheels come to just about a perfect halt, meaning the note is very in tune. Any 12th-fret intonation issues are gone; even at the 24th fret, all strings gave a perfect reading (with the exception of the sixth string past the 17th fret - though we're not sure we've ever played up there before). A G# on the third string first fret is perfectly in tune, likewise an F at the first fret on the sixth string.
I do like that you can turn Auto-Tune off easily:

Plug in, and with the tone control pulled up (passive mode) it's a standard modern dual-humbucker rock guitar with a perfectly usable thick, high-output tonality. Push that tone control down, however, and you enter the virtual world. The green LED on the pickup ring lights up and the thick rock tonality of the pickups changes to a digitally created sound that, on our prototype, is a lot lower in output and much more single-coil-like in its voicing.
And according to the review, this is why you might want to turn off Auto-Tune:

Likewise, if you execute a very slow (sideways) upward bend, the bend kicks in - very smoothly and subtly - after the actual pitch of the string moves upwards a couple of cents. This corrective window can, of course, work in your favour. While in the real world a tricky high-fret chord may have a couple of slightly sharp intervals, in this digital realm they sound very much in tune.
And along with the inability to do classical-style vibrato and some drop-tune issues, if I'm reading that correctly, it'd be good in certain instances to turn that off. But it does seem like there's some upsides and potential here, so I look forward to hearing this and seeing what they come up with next.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by BushmasterM4 View Post
This is all software based tuning ? No mechanical tuners, like on Gibson Robots ?
Correct.

If software based how close to actual tuning do you have to be. Can you barely tighten a string and hit the button and its in tune ?
They spec five semitones; I haven't tried going down that far yet, but it implies that if you want really loose strings so you can bend the hell out of them, you could.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by nice keetee

View Post

$500? Wow! Maybe they should make an upscale guitar with the same AT system too?

 

This might be a test before they make an upscale version. But then again I have a Peavey Millenium Bass that is just wonderful and it was cheap !!! I remember the old T60 and 40's from the 70's and they were nice guitars. Peavey seems to always offer alot of bang for the buck.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by BushmasterM4 View Post
Peavey seems to always offer alot of bang for the buck.
Yes, and I don't think they've really gotten some of the credit they deserve for a variety of high-tech stuff they've invented over the years.

At the last Winter NAMM show, I saw Hartley Peavey and he said he wanted to show me something. Unfortunately I can't tell you what it is, but I've been waiting patiently for it to turn into a product...maybe the upcoming NAMM show? Hartley's a very sharp guy.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by nice keetee View Post
My Peavey Patriot bass was great!

On a humourous/wish

How about Auto Change Strings ?
Actually Gibson's Robot Guitar comes pretty close. There's a "string change mode" where as long as the string is in the slot and you give it enough tension to have just about any recognizable pitch, the servos will bring it up to pitch and tune it.

Will the age of the strings affect the AT affect?
I highly doubt it, unless they're so old they don't produce a certain number of cycles per second smile.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by Geoff Grace

View Post

One thing I like is that you can have alternate tunings at the push of a button. No more forced banter on stage while the guitar player changes the tuning for the next song.

 

We just have our roadies hand over the backup guitar with the alternate tuning already in place. icon_lol.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • CMS Author
Quote Originally Posted by nice keetee View Post
$500? Wow! Maybe they should make an upscale guitar with the same AT system too?
I attended the press conference at last year's NAMM show where they introduced the concept. I'm pretty sure I wrote about it in my show report. Antaries was working with two companies at the time, Peavey and Jackson. You could get a Peavey guitar with the autotune for about $600, or a Parker, I think, for like $2,900.

There were a couple of optional features that were standard on the Jackson and probably wouldn't be available with the Peavey. I don't remember what these were, but it may have had to do with the programmability for non-standard tunings. I think either one could be dropped a couple of frets from standard pitch, but only the most expensive version would let you re-program it for an open chord or off-brand tuning.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by MikeRivers

View Post

I think either one could be dropped a couple of frets from standard pitch, but only the most expensive version would let you re-program it for an open chord or off-brand tuning.

 

Perhaps on the guitar itself, but Antares' add-on packs will allow the Peavey to do pretty much unrestricted open tunings, including ones that transpose up.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • CMS Author

 

Quote Originally Posted by Anderton

View Post

Antares' add-on packs will allow the Peavey to do pretty much unrestricted open tunings, including ones that transpose up.

 

I guess they've come to their senses since last year. Or maybe I just didn't remember correctly. But I think this was one of the things, in addition to the design and build of the guitar itself, that separated the cheap men from the rich boys. Offering a full set of options that you can buy if you need them is good marketing for a relatively low cost product.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yeah. That's the one thing I don't like about guitar... it's not boxy, gridded out, or robotic enough.

wink.gif


I ran across a vid demonstrating these a while back and had to admit that it was a) interesting from a technological standpoint, b) possibly very useful as one of the house axes for certain types of commercial studios, but c) takes a lot of the sport out of playing guitar.

One keyboardist in the thread discussing the vid noted that, while he'd been playing guitar on the side for almost as long as keyboards, he didn't play often enough to keep up good technique and that he found using an A-T guitar to be a good, quick way of getting basic electric guitar parts into a song quickly and with minimum fuss.

Obviously, for those magical, the tone is in his fingers guys, something like this would be a rather mixed blessing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by blue2blue View Post
I ran across a vid demonstrating these a while back and had to admit that it was a) interesting from a technological standpoint, b) possibly very useful as one of the house axes for certain types of commercial studios, but c) takes a lot of the sport out of playing guitar.

One keyboardist in the thread discussing the vid noted that, while he'd been playing guitar on the side for almost as long as keyboards, he didn't play often enough to keep up good technique and that he found using an A-T guitar to be a good, quick way of getting basic electric guitar parts into a song quickly and with minimum fuss.

Obviously, for those magical, the tone is in his fingers guys, something like this would be a rather mixed blessing.
Without admittedly having never played or heard one, the above all sounds quite likely nonetheless.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...