Thursday, June 27, 2013

Godin xtSA Acoustic Setting

There are three modes of operation with a Godin xtSA:  standard electric (1/4-inch plug), MIDI (13-pin modified MIDI plug), acoustic emulation (1/4-inch plug).  You can use all three at once if you like but that's probably more demented than most would want to get.

The standard electric plug gives just as it sounds.  The signal is coming hot off the pick-ups and twist it as you like in the amplification stage.

The MIDI output is the fastest I have ever used and it tracks very accurately to what you're playing even when you're picking very quickly.  The output from that goes into a Roland GR-20 guitar synthesizer or similar.  There is a toggle switch on the body of the xtSA to select guitar alone / guitar and MIDI / MIDI alone.  There is also a switch that will send an interrupt to the GR-20 to switch voices in real-time.  The capabilities of this guitar are really quite exceptional.

The acoustic emulation is what I have used very little but I have been playing with that today.  The way it works is to send the signal off the pick-ups through acoustic emulation electronics, through a four-switch EQ on the body of the guitar, and on out to the amplifier.

I'm quite pleased with the sound and, assuming the Internet works, I will probably use it tonight.  This does not even faintly mean my intention is to get 'unplugged' but rather to play with the sound using the stuff I like using the most.  I'll do that more as the day goes on as sure as hell the Internet isn't working worth a damn now.

For some reason, the acoustic emulation on the xtSA does inspire one to get 'strummy' and I was having a good ol' time doing that.  I really don't care if it sounds like an acoustic guitar and I definitely don't want it to feel like one but I did like the sound and the EQ gives the ability to contour it quite a bit.

I'm not optimistic about the Internet but it was down altogether at this time yesterday so perhaps it will surprise me.

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