Re: Dream Theatre tone
Yep. That synth sound is a synth. You hear a lot of guitar/keyboard solo trade offs like that in some earlier Yngwie stuff too.
For my tastes, I love keyboards and I love the sounds and atmosphere they can bring to a song. But I HATE it when they try to sound like a guitar with endless flying solos. All too often they end up sounding like a flat, whiny, single-coil wannabe tone. They sound great when they sound like keyboards, not so great when they try to sound like guitars.