Using guitar synths (like the POG/HOG?) with synths ... nuts?

[llamastorm]

This may be a case of round-peg square-hole... but suppose you have an analogue mono synth.

 

Could something like an Electro Harmonix POG be used /suitably/ for chord type output, or are those things so tuned to guitar waveform kind of stuff that it would be really bad?

 

(Related question -- is there any good way to tell what pedals generally suck for synth usage in terms of frequency response -- so far I've only played with Moog, Frostwave, etc and have an analog delay incoming... but I'm not sure how careful I need to be -- I heard one comment about EH and "cheap guitar op-amps").

 

Anyhow, I like weird sounding stuff, and I'm probably not going to go that route, but wanted to know if anyone had ever tried it.

 

I've eliminated my interest in new synths and have found a new interest in just wanting to do weirder stuff with the stuff I have

 

Thanks!

[Yoozer]

If you want chords out of a monophonic synthesizer, you should record it 3 times playing different notes .

 

All kinds of DSP-based transposing at the end of the audio stream will screw with all the fidelity you'd think that analog mono had in the first place. I don't exactly know how the POG works (as octave dividers were there long before DSP), but I think they use something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_divider

[llamastorm]

Per analoguehaven's website they are both analog, I'm not sure if that's true though... I would assume so. So I imagine some frequency shifting + mixing, though reading the descriptions they /do/ seem digital in some ways.

 

Overdubbing for chords is kinda annoying and (for me anyway) kinda hard to do well -- so I'm not a fan. I like playing more so than recording stuff.

 

Plus, this way, in theory, you could play really dense chords in one pass... maybe

 

But yes, it could ruin things.

 

Any comment on the frequency range of random guitar-oriented pedals in general?

[girevik]

 

Could something like an Electro Harmonix POG be used /suitably/ for chord type output, or are those things so tuned to guitar waveform kind of stuff that it would be really bad?

 

 

I have a HOG. It can pitch-shift with chord input from guitar, which is rare for effects of this type. I can play a major triad going into the HOG, get a major 9th coming out, for example, though some chord voicings/note registers will produce a warbling effect on some of the generated pitches. I'm guessing you want to feed a monosynth into it and get chords? Sure, but the chords generated by the HOG will always sound organ-like. Also, the HOG is not an intelligent pitch shifter - you can't program it to generate C major scale harmonized chords based on what note you play into it - that kind of stuff is more the domain of processors by Eventide and the like. Eventides cost so much money that you're better off just buying a polyphonic synth. People who buy those for intelligent pitch shifting tend to be horn players, vocalists, etc. who can't or don't want to learn how to play keyboard.

 

I got my HOG so I could generate organ-like pads off of any guitar (no hex pickup required). I also use it to generate drones for practicing my cello. It's Wah and Filter sounds are usable, but nothing like the Hendrix wah sound - the filter can get very obnoxious (esp. with high frequencies) in a hurry, so I always take great care in adjusting the sliders in the filter section It can do Whammy also - some claim the sound quality is better than Digitech Whammy pedals, but I never owned one of those.

 

I've seen several keyboard players (John Medeski, and others who play in similar jam bands - Zawinul used them back in the day) happily use guitar pedals on real electric pianos. Problems with using guitar pedals tend to be when one is trying to pump bass instruments into them - that is why pitch shift pedals and fuzz pedals specifically for bass are made.

[llamastorm]

Cool, thanks for the answer on all of that.

 

Medeski's use of phasers/flangers and stuff is pretty cool.