Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

[TwilightOdyssey]

I know many of you use modelers such as the POD, Johnson, or Korg Pandora. I have a Korg PXR-4 myself, and it's great for day to day use: sounds good, can take a lot of abuse, and all that.

I've been tracking guitars this weekend for some new song demos, just very simple one guitar for the left & one for the right stuff, minimalist drum mic'ing, etc etc. For all these tracks I used the Roland VG-88 as a modeler - just taking my analog pickup (Gajic Hellchild in this case) and running through the COSM modeling ...

The VG-88 never fails to amaze me! It's clean, dead quiet, and has some really great tones in there. Setting up tones, effects chain and parameters, is a snap. Hook up a MIDI controller and you have an insane amount of control if you want. If you use a guitar with a GK pickup, then you open up the whole other side of what the VG-88 can do: virtual acoustics, mandolins, 12 string guitars, hollow and semi hollow body guitars, dobros, and others await.

I'm using it to dial in a simple JCM800 style patch. This should be easy, but most modelers just don't get it right. The VG-88 can dial up pro sounding models with ease.

I would recommend the VG-88 to anyone looking for a pro quality guitar modeler.

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

Care to post some clips?

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

Care to post some clips?

When this demo is done, I may post it ... still deciding on that front. I may do a demo specifically targeting the tonal capabilities of the VG-88, tho, when I have a couple of spare hours.

If you want to know a SECRET ... (step in closer) ... go here http://twilight-odyssey.com/music.html and play the song PLAZA DE TOROS. All of the lead guitars are (gasp!) done with the VG-88.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

the VG series is amazing, and i think the hex pickups needed to get many of the functions like individual string tuning actually scares people. I have been using Roland COSM for a few years (GP-100 and now, the GT-Pro), and I would certainly hop on the VG-88 thing if they had it in a rack. I have too many controllers on the ground already.

 

[AmirH]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

No offense or anything man, but those lead guitars sounded... hmm how to say this nicely... barely on par with the vamp? yeah... Not really amazing sounding by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Willis]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

No offense or anything man, but those lead guitars sounded... hmm how to say this nicely... barely on par with the vamp? yeah... Not really amazing sounding by any stretch of the imagination.

I think they sound great!

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

I think Boss is doing great things with COSM technology. I was actually looking very closely at the VG88, but with 5 guitars that I usually take to shows, outfitting them all with hex pickups could get pricey.

That's why I went with the GT-8. The effects sound great and the models are pretty much on par (to my ears) with the VG series.

 

[AmirH]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

I've heard entire albums done with podxt that sound better

I dunno- it's just it sounds so dry that I can just tell it's modelled. Part of that may be because I was listening for it knowing it was the vg-88 but it sounds quite "plastic" especially compared to other clips I've heard from him.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

I would certainly hop on the VG-88 thing if they had it in a rack. I have too many controllers on the ground already.

Very true! If you place the VG-88, FC-200, and GR-30 side by side, it covers about 5' in width!

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

COSM are the best chips out there IMHO- Have been using GP100 for years live and VG8s in the studio-

 

[Davey]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

when I have a couple of spare hours.

:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

when you... :laugh2:


have a couple of spare hours????



for all i know that might be next year


to quote PJ:

write riff monkey!!



death's acre, if you didnt know it was a VG, you wouldnt know it was a modeler at all.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

I've never heard of this modeller before Ben, this a high $ jobbie?

It def sounds good...and for recording I think modelers work really well, but...it still sounds like a modeller to me...they have this weird "distant" compressed sound...like a recording of an amp...then you are recording that recording? I don't know :shrug: But by the time ya get 'em in a mix of everything else, they sound pretty damn good.

One thing I'm finding..I can't play for crap through phones and no amp...there's no "interaction" between myself and the amp...no "feedback", and I'm having a hard time with that. Kudos for those like you who can...I'm gonna have to invest in a mic, I think.


BTW..great track..great playing...PJ wailed on that

 

[More-Gear-Than-Skill]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

COSM is in the roland cubes too, and i think it does a very very nice job.

 

[Sune]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

The VG88 is awesome. I have a demo video of it, it is in danish though, but that's only when they speak, you can still hear it.

for windows media player streaming: http://media.eskildsen.dk/eskildsen/Vg88/VG88DemoMedia9.wmv

Real player streaming: http://www.eskildsen.dk/Upload/HtmlArticles/Article1152/VG88Demo.ram

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

COSM is in the roland cubes too, and i think it does a very very nice job.

Yes to both.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

I'd be all over the VG if I fell in love with a guitar with a 13 pin output (e.g., Brian Moore). I can't bring myself to put a GK system on any of the guitars that I have today.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

I've never heard of this modeller before Ben, this a high $ jobbie?

Hmm, loaded question. A VG-88 and GK pickup will set you back about $800 (used) to $1k (new).

VG stands for virtual guitar ... it's almost impossible to explain, which is one of the reasons that I think it's not as popular as it should be!

Imagine what great drum or orchestral samples can do, and then apply that to guitar sounds. The VG-88 isn't really "modeling", it's creating real-time samples based off of a myriad of factors. It even knows when you play a pinch harmonic, and the tracking is wicked fast. Modeling is too simple a word for what the VG series does. And now there's a Virtual Synth out ... I WANT ONE!!

To address your other issues:

- If you are using models in the hopes of passing them off as mic'd guitars, then they will never do it, no matter how good the sample is. That's not my goal. I, personally, like the totally anechoic (meaning, "roomless") sound that I get when I track solos this way. It makes the solo more intimate sounding, the phrasing cuts through better, and it gives you a totally different sound to layer on all those cranked rhythm tracks.

- Playing through headphones. Definitely an acquired skill. I've heard your playing, tho, Jeff. You have chops. And I've read your posts. You have intelligence. With a little bit of elbow grease, you'll have it mastered in no time.

- For rhythm tracks, and even harmonies, I love the 'air' you get when you can hear from the cone forcing the daiphram on the mic to move. Double it, quadrouple it, or even pile 8 tracks up, and it just gets bigger and bigger. A single lead track always sounds lost to me when I do it. However, I also don't think I've come across a mic that I really like for tracking solos with yet. So, you have to take it with a grain of salt.

BTW..great track..great playing...PJ wailed on that

Thank you.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

COSM are the best chips out there IMHO- Have been using GP100 for years live and VG8s in the studio-

zionstrat, I've been thinking about picking up a VG-8 to add to my rig. It has things on it that the '88 doesn't, and some of the patches (like the Yes Rickenbacker bass and Steve Vai plug in) are jaw dropping!!

 

[JeffB]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

Hmm, loaded question. A VG-88 and GK pickup will set you back about $800 (used) to $1k (new).

VG stands for virtual guitar ... it's almost impossible to explain, which is one of the reasons that I think it's not as popular as it should be!

Imagine what great drum or orchestral samples can do, and then apply that to guitar sounds. The VG-88 isn't really "modeling", it's creating real-time samples based off of a myriad of factors. It even knows when you play a pinch harmonic, and the tracking is wicked fast. Modeling is too simple a word for what the VG series does. And now there's a Virtual Synth out ... I WANT ONE!!

Sounds WAYYYY too complicated for this redneck. I like "on" and 'off".. thats about my limit for technology

- If you are using models in the hopes of passing them off as mic'd guitars, then they will never do it, no matter how good the sample is. That's not my goal. I, personally, like the totally anechoic (meaning, "roomless") sound that I get when I track solos this way. It makes the solo more intimate sounding, the phrasing cuts through better, and it gives you a totally different sound to layer on all those cranked rhythm tracks.

Interesting way of looking at/hearing it. NO, I'm def not looking at modelers for that..for me it's just away to get some clips up of things, and analyze my own playing problems, and then work on them.

Playing through headphones. Definitely an acquired skill. I've heard your playing, tho, Jeff. You have chops. And I've read your posts. You have intelligence. With a little bit of elbow grease, you'll have it mastered in no time.

well thanks...you are too kind! I tend to be one of those 80s posers when I play (not purposefully..it just happens! :laugh2: ) ...so headphones don't help when I'm having a Jake E. Lee moment

 

[Mincer]

Re: Roland VG-88 IS AWESOME!

COSM are the best chips out there IMHO- Have been using GP100 for years live and VG8s in the studio-

Ahh another GP-100 user! I really loved mine, and I got a deal on a new GT-Pro, which has the latest COSM in it- 2 chips! So each patch can have 2 'channels' you switch with a footswitch, or,. get this, picking dynamics. Go from JC-120 to Triple Rect by how hard you pick...crazy stuff.