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James Tyler Variax guitars have 11
tunings on a rotary switch, and you
can do custom tunings, as well. |
Of course you don’t use alternate
tunings—they’re a P.I.T.A. Even when
you’re recording and don’t have an audience
waiting impatiently, it’s still a major
hassle to re-tune completely, then return
to where you were. But that’s how it was,
because four modern options make alternate
tunings a practical reality. All of them
let you create custom tunings, too.
MIDI Guitar
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Roland’s VG-99 accepts the output from any Rolandready guitar or
pickup system, and provides both modeling and guitar-to-MIDI conversion. |
The notes you play end up as MIDI data
that drives a synthesizer, so in mono mode
(where each string goes to its own synth
channel), simply transpose each string’s
synth to create an alternate tuning. For
example, tune the synths driven by strings
4-6 up an octave for “Nashville” tuning.
Pros: You can transpose by insane
amounts, have different sounds (not just
tunings) for different strings, and retrofit
an existing guitar with a hex pickup
to feed a MIDI guitar system.
Limitations:
MIDI guitar comes with tracking
and latency baggage, and the notes you
hear won’t necessarily be what you’re
playing on your ax.
Gibson Robot/wilkinson atd
These systems physically retune your
strings, and while I first thought the automatic
tuning feature was silly (“C’mon, I
know how to tune a guitar”), it’s a huge
time saver. Pros: There’s no disconnect
between what you play and what you hear,
no alteration to the tone, and tuning down
makes the strings easier to bend. Limitations:
You can’t do tunings beyond how far
you can tune a real string, and it typically
takes around five to ten seconds to tune.
Modeled Transposition
The Line 6 Variax guitars, Roland VG-99
and VG Strat, Peavey AT-200, and Parker
Autotune MaxxFly use this technology,
where digital signal processing models the
sound of a transposed string for each of
the six strings. Pros: You can tune beyond
how far you can tune with real strings, and
changing tunings is instantaneous. Limitations:
The notes you hear will not be
the same pitch as what you play, you can’t
retrofit existing guitars, and sound quality
deteriorates with extreme transposition.
Hex Audio Outputs
with DAWs
If your guitar has a separate audio output
for each string, you can record them into
separate tracks in your DAW, then use the
DAW’s ability to transpose signals in nonreal
time (or use a transposition plug-in,
such as zplane’s Élastique Pitch). Pros: Can
give extremely high sound quality due to
non-real time processing, can tune beyond
how far you can tune with real strings,
and offers multiple mixing options (separate
delays, chorus, or envelope filters on
each string). Limitations: Can’t be used
live, and you can’t hear what it’s going to
sound like until after you’ve recorded and
processed the part.