Paul Vo Wond

Started by Elantric, January 29, 2015, 08:22:03 PM

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Elantric

http://gizmodo.com/paul-vos-physics-defying-wand-makes-guitars-sound-entir-1682661353


Inventor Paul Vo's latest crazy musical innovation is a hand-held wand that changes the sound of guitars like magic. Hold up to a guitar string, and the string starts to vibrate. Depending how you use the wand, it opens the door to a multitude of new sounds. Vo did it again.

The last time we checked in on Paul Vo he had just launched the Vo-96 acoustic synthesizer, a gadget, which when installed in an acoustic guitar completely alters the way it sounds. It samples the vibrations of the stings and then shoots magnetic waves back at them, altering their wave form. The results are striking and almost too outrageous to believe. It's not an effect—the very physics of teh string's vibration has been changed.


How Inventor Paul Vo Created a Little Black Box That Could Change Guitars Forever
Read more
The Vo wand is once again uses magnetic waves to alter the sound of guitar strangs, but this time it comes in the form of a the Vo wand, which is a "handheld sustainer." To me it looks a bit like an X-ACTO knife with the blade retracted. As its name implies its the device provides infinite sustain, but that's not what makes it special. Vo's last two instruments, the Vo-96 and the Moog Guitar, were both capable of infinite sustain. In fact there is a commonly used hand-held device called the EBow that also provides infinite sustain.

Paul Vo's Physics Defying Wand Makes Guitars Sound Entirely Different



What differentiates the Vo Wand is the level of control the device gives you over the sound. In the pure sustain mode, the Wand causes the guitar strings to vibrate uniformly, using much the same principle as Vo's other devices: Transducers in the wand sample the frequency of the string vibration and beam waves back at tit to keep it constant. It samples the strings and shoots back waves much faster than the string vibrations and much faster than the string is vibrating so there is no perceptible lags in the sound.

The Wand also has some unique playability features that give it a "feel." First of all, to solve the problem of needing to get the tip of the wand near the string without actually touching it, the sustainer has haptic vibration feedback that lets you know when you're where you need to be. This feature is activated with a little switch, so if you don't want to use it you don't have to.

Paul Vo's Physics Defying Wand Makes Guitars Sound Entirely Different

Furthermore, there are two playability features you can activate. In "pressure" switch actives allows you to alter how much power the the Wand is injecting into a string by squeezing the wand. With more power, the Wand actually activates higher harmonics in the string's vibration.

The Morphic mode, meanwhile, allows you to manipulate the Wand a bit like a tremolo bar. Hold the Wand stead, and the sound remains consistent. Rock it a little bit and the wave form will alter as if you were physically manipulating the string with touch.

Paul Vo's Physics Defying Wand Makes Guitars Sound Entirely Different

Vo showed a prototype of the Vo Wand at the annual NAMM show last week. It'll be available through a Kickstarter for $200.

In a lot of ways, this new evolution of Vo's technology makes a lot of sense: The Vo-96 and the Moog Guitar were awesome technological achievements, but they were too expensive. At $200, Vo brings his brilliant technology to a much wider user base.

Albert

interesting take on using magnetic fields to produce stringvibrations. Although I wonder what the practical real-life advantage is over an ebow (which is a lot cheaper) with decent playing-technique or a sustainer (more expensive)

GovernorSilver

Paul Vo came up with a more accessible (financially and logistically) incarnation of his Vo-96 technology - in what looks like a big improvement on the EBow's string exciter concept.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/38513516/wond-the-string-exciter-sustain-and-control-in-you

Elantric

#3
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/38513516/wond-the-string-exciter-sustain-and-control-in-you





Wond, the String Exciter - Sustain and Control in your hand!
by Paul Vo


This project will only be funded if at least $35,000 is pledged by Sun, Jun 7 2015 8:59 PM PDT.
Wond is a hand-held stylus that excites, sustains and controls vibration -- of your guitar strings or any steel-stringed instrument.

Asheville, NC  Sound Share this project

Paul Vo



About the Wond

The Wond is the most powerful handheld exciter, sustainer and controller ever invented. It is an intuitive, versatile magnetic plectrum for the strings of your guitar, enabling you to create infinite sustain and harmonics that will take your playing to a whole new level. Based on the technology behind the Moog Guitar (2008), and the Vo-96 Acoustic Synthesizer, the Wond represents the third generation of our patented collocated vibration control system to drive steel strings with an aggressive response — stronger and faster than you've experienced with any sustainer.



How Does It Work?

To use the Wond, simply hold it between your index finger and thumb, just above the tip where the coils are located. Place the Wond over the string you wish to excite. Pinch the Wond between your index finger and thumb to apply power to the string. The more that you squeeze, the more the string will excite.

The Wond also offers tactile feedback in the form of a vibration you can feel at your fingers as you play. The intensity of the vibration will increase as the string vibrates with more force. This allows you to touch-sense the strings with the Wond as clearly as you do when you are using a pick. You won't need to look! You can close your eyes and feel the music.

If you position the Wond at various locations along the strings from bridge to nut, you will bring out different harmonics. You can also use the Wond to 'brush' harmonics out of the strings by moving it like a pick, back and forth across the axis of the string.


Exciter Coils - These are the coils used to excite the string of your instrument. They are controlled by how firmly you pinch the Wond. You can also use the different switches on the Wond to control their behavior.

LED "Headlight" Guide/Slide – Dual purposed to offer a slide much like a traditional guitar slide. The durable notched tip allows you to slide notes on the string while manipulating them with the Wond. In addition, the Wond's "Headlight" LED helps you align Wond to the string visually – when the LED light falls on the string you are close to the sweet spot!

Multi-colored LED – Illuminates when the Wond is activated by the Pinch Control. The LED is also used as a battery charge indicator. It will glow less and less blue and more red as the battery depletes, giving you a visual warning of when to charge the Wond.

Pinch Zone - This is the area of the Wond that you pinch to excite the string. Pinching this spot governs the Wond's behavior. With Pressure mode set to Off, pinching will simply apply power to the string. With the Pressure switch On, the pressure you apply to the Wond is translated into a control signal to governing the Wond's power and harmonic response.

Morphic Switch - Selects between two different Wond behaviors that produce different sets of timbres.

Haptic Switch - In the On position, this will provide tactile feedback to the player through the Wond so the string can be "felt" as the Wond approaches the "sweet spot". This feedback changes according to how close the Wond is to the string and also according to the amplitude of string vibration. There is enough information in this tactile feedback to play by feel, even with your eyes closed.

Power Switch - Turns all power off to the Wond when you are not using it.

Charging Connection - Located at the rear of the Wond, this allows you to re-charge the Wond when the battery is low or depleted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I need to alter my instrument to use the Wond?

No! The Wond will work with any steel stringed instrument without modifications to the instrument itself.

Is the battery replaceable?

Yes! The Wond uses a custom replaceable battery and replacements will be available. Battery life is estimated at 3-5 years, so you won't do this often. Unless you are a technical type, we recommend finding a qualified technician to change it, as lithium cells can be accidentally shorted.

Will the Wond drive a bass?

Yes! In fact, it will drive just about any instrument with steel strings. Pianos, harps, violins – you name it! Different kinds of strings do respond differently, so please experiment!

Does the Wond need special strings like the Vo-96 and the Moog Guitar do?

No! The Wond will drive any string that responds magnetically. Of course, some strings are more magnetically responsive than others. The Wond will respond most strongly to strings with a lot of iron, steel or nickel content (like our special Strings for Acoustic Synthesis). Standard acoustic strings do have a responsive steel core but the phosphor bronze wrap adds an unresponsive mass, making their overall response somewhat tame but quite usable. Different brands of acoustic strings have different qualities of response. Most electric strings work great with Wond. Coated strings too. In particular, try D'Addario EXP for acoustic and Skull strings for electric. I am seeing new more responsive string formulas being introduced, because not just the Wond but all magnetic pickups work better with magnetically responsive strings.

The Wond has a slide feature built into the tip. How durable is this tip?

The slide featured in the Wond is made up of a strong, durable material. Under normal use, this should last for the lifetime of the Wond.

How the Wond Came into Existence

After developing the Vo-96, I wanted to design something simpler. Something that would enable everyone to enjoy the acoustic synthesis experience, but without the cost and instrument-level commitment of a Vo-96. I decided to build a single-channel system into a compact handheld enclosure, so it's lightweight, easy to handle, and puts ferocious excitation and sustain at your fingertips!

We took the first Wond prototypes (then still called the `Vo Wand) on the road to the Winter NAMM 2015 show in January. A trade show filled with musicians provided the perfect setting to road test my design. At NAMM I performed many musical demonstrations a day. This really allowed me to experience Wond as a musician. I also took careful note of the reactions of those who tried Wond for themselves. The results were fantastic!


Everyone really loved the sounds that they could produce with Wond. They loved the light weight and the possibilities for control the Wond offered. One could easily tease out harmonics and overtone-rich timbres by positioning the Wond various distances from the bridge. You could arpeggio a chord, and even do crazy things like using Wond simultaneously as a sustainer and a slide. It is a blast to play!

How to back our project:

1.   Choose Reward – Select a reward from the options on the right.

2.   Stay in Touch – Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you have. We will be emailing all participants with regular updates, production status, inside news and more.

3.   Relax – After the project ends, we will contact you to collect your shipping information. Until then, we ask that you help us by spreading the word about our campaign!

4.   Wond Arrives! - When your Wond arrives, we would love to hear from you! Visit our website and Facebook pages and post your pictures and videos of you showing what you can do with the Wond.

About us


Paul Vo (Left)  Creator of the groundbreaking Acoustic Synthesis technology behind the Moog Guitar, the Moog Lap Steel, and the Vo-96, inventor Paul Vo has danced upon the bleeding edge of technology since he was old enough to hold a screwdriver. His history of innovation covers a broad spectrum of tech, from influential creations for such legendary brands as QSC Audio and Yorkville Sound, to high-efficiency manufacturing processes.

Paul Vo's innovative designs have intertwined music and technology in ways others have only imagined, creating an entirely new and unimagined palette of sonic colors for artists to create with.

Michael Koehler (Right) A self-acknowledged technology disciple, Michael Koehler has spent pretty much his entire adult life in the music industry. A veteran musician and sound designer, Koehler's works have appeared in film, television, and online. His lengthy resume includes work in recording, engineering, product management, and numerous other facets of the music industry. His deep business acumen makes him ideally suited for running the day to day operations of the company.

Accolades

We recently appeared in the April 2015 issue of Guitar Player.  Editor Michael Molenda selected the Wond in his Top 5 Pick of Winter NAMM 2015!


GovernorSilver

I swear I did a search for "Wond" before attempting to start a new thread.  Somehow I didn't find this one. ???

Elantric

I saw a demo at 2015 Winter NAMM - when it was still called the Paul Vo Wand

He did a recent name change to "Wond"

GovernorSilver


vanceg

While this is, indeed, based on the same technology as the Vo96, it's really functionally more like an Ebow than the Vo96. 
The driver and pickup technology is similar to the Vo96.  But, the Vo96 is a much, much more complex device.  The Vo96 has 6 drivers per string, placed at various locations along the string.  The system is able to excite or dampen the string at EACH of these locations, enabling the Vo96 to control the harmonic content and sustain of each string.  The main point of the Vo96 is not as much Sustain as it is Harmonic and Amplitude control. 
The Vo Wond, on the other hand, is a single driver which excites the string at whatever location you place it.  yes, absolutely this means that you can excite various harmonics... but the level of control is entirely different than the Vo96.  Then again, so is the price point and ease of use ;-) 

They are very different products (not that you implied otherwise!) and fit different parts of the market, for sure.

(PS - Within a 6 weeks I should be able to provide sound examples and videos of the first installation of a Vo96 in a solid body electric...and the first install with a tremolo system)


Quote from: GovernorSilver on May 06, 2015, 12:45:48 PM
Paul Vo came up with a more accessible (financially and logistically) incarnation of his Vo-96 technology - in what looks like a big improvement on the EBow's string exciter concept.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/38513516/wond-the-string-exciter-sustain-and-control-in-you

maan108

...only few opinions :

It seems a good alternative to EBow (instead than VO-96) based on today technology (ebow has quite simple and cheap HW).
Response seems really faster than Ebow.
I dont understand "Morphic" feature and the real benefit of "tactile feedback".
Having a replaceable chargeable battery is a good thing but the question is : how much will be easy find a spare in next years ?
Guessing that street price could be more than twice  than Ebow ?


GovernorSilver

Quote from: vanceg on May 13, 2015, 08:57:27 PM
While this is, indeed, based on the same technology as the Vo96, it's really functionally more like an Ebow than the Vo96. 
The driver and pickup technology is similar to the Vo96.  But, the Vo96 is a much, much more complex device.  The Vo96 has 6 drivers per string, placed at various locations along the string.  The system is able to excite or dampen the string at EACH of these locations, enabling the Vo96 to control the harmonic content and sustain of each string.  The main point of the Vo96 is not as much Sustain as it is Harmonic and Amplitude control. 
The Vo Wond, on the other hand, is a single driver which excites the string at whatever location you place it.  yes, absolutely this means that you can excite various harmonics... but the level of control is entirely different than the Vo96.  Then again, so is the price point and ease of use ;-) 

They are very different products (not that you implied otherwise!) and fit different parts of the market, for sure.

(PS - Within a 6 weeks I should be able to provide sound examples and videos of the first installation of a Vo96 in a solid body electric...and the first install with a tremolo system)

You're right, I did not mean to imply or openly state that the Wond is the same as the Vo-96.  But he does say this on the Kickstarter page, and that's what I'm riffing off of:

Based on the technology behind the Moog Guitar (2008), and the Vo-96 Acoustic Synthesizer

GovernorSilver

#10
Quote from: maan108 on May 15, 2015, 10:43:35 AM
I dont understand "Morphic" feature and the real benefit of "tactile feedback".

Looks pretty clear to me.  From the website:

Morphic Switch - Selects between two different Wond behaviors that produce different sets of timbres.  TRANSLATION:  You get one kind of sound, and if you flip this switch, you get another sound.

Tactile feedback - means you don't have to look down to see if your handheld sustainer is in line with a string like with the Ebow, you just feel it with your hand.  If you play with an EBow you'll notice you have to look down once in a while to line it up with the string you want to sustain.

maan108

Quote from: GovernorSilver on May 15, 2015, 02:18:13 PM
Looks pretty clear to me.  From the website:


Thanks for your reply !!

GovernorSilver

David Torn having a play:

! No longer available

His comments posted on social media:

the Wond is very, very, very powerful, & is capable of unique staccato effects (which are not shown, so far);
as well, the Wond can help achieve some sustain effects which are oddly (& 'modernistically') beautiful..... which are also not shown, here, though their after-effects comprise that "looped"-rhythm which enters in the final approx. 20-30 seconds:
that improvised rhythmic "loop" is all Wond.
from my experience, i gotta say that this is not an eBow;
there are enough new techniques made accessible, here, to help further a player's desire towards truly personal use & expression with the Wond.
{it's absolutely fantastic, imo, on acoustic steel-stringed instruments, which i'd discovered the day before this video was shot.....}

slooky

might need one of these.

vanceg


alexmcginness

Basically this is a newr version of the old E Bow

http://www.ebow.com/home.php
VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.

GovernorSilver

Quote from: alexmcginness on July 09, 2015, 04:06:03 AM
Basically this is a newr version of the old E Bow

http://www.ebow.com/home.php

...in the same way a state of the art carbon racing bike is a newer version of the velocipede

alexmcginness

VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.

Now_And_Then

 Scheduled to ship in October. Uh-huh. I will probably get one. I never got along well with my Ebow and eventually got rid of it, but perhaps I will give this a try.

vanceg

#19
I received my Vo Wond today and, while I've only had about an hour with it so far, I REALLY like it. 

Some of you here may know that I'm a bit of a sustainer/resonator nut:  I've got every model of Ebow ever invented (edit - Except for one, which was never commercially available), owned a Moog guitar, built the only electric guitar with the Vo96 system in it,  have guitars equipped with Sustainiac and Fernandez sustainers, have both Vibesware and Vibesware JR resonators,  and have the Aescher dual channel hand held resonator and the Aescher 6 channel resonator.   I think that's every device like this that is on the market... )

The Wond is a great and unique addition to this entire world of sustainer/resonators. 
Here's s VERY brief and very initial review which assumes you have some familiarity with the pre-release marketing material about the Wond.

The Wond is extremely powerful:  The sustain/resonance of the string starts very quickly and is strong and clear.

It is not hard to hold the Wond over any particular string and finding the distance that it should be held from the string wasn't difficult.  Sometimes I found myself wishing I had the "guide rails" that a Ebow has, but I quickly realized that this would actually be an impediment to getting the most out of the Wond.  The Wond has a LOT of variation and different sounds it can produce.  Remember, I've only been using it for an hour or so, but it's clear that placing the Wond at various locations along the string and relative to the pickups as well as touching the Wond to the string, or angleing it relative to the string, can produce a wide, wide range of sounds.
Moving the Wond from one location to another along the string produced really distinct and interesting shifts in harmonics, for example.  Holding it over the pickups and changing it's angle produces some really neat overdrive harmonic sounds.  There is a LOT to explore with positioning the Wond and this is going to be where the "musicality" comes in.  LOTS of life in this device.

The Haptic feedback is useful - The unit vibrates when it's directly over a string. That said, I'm not really sure it's dramatic enough that I'll use it much... I've only had it for an hour.... who knows what I'll say in a month.

The Morphic mode is pretty cool.  Turning it on and off seems to concentrate more on harmonics.  Absolutely useful.

One thing you can do with the Wond is (kind of) use it as a slide:  You touch the LED side of the Wond down on the string lightly and get the string vibrating, and the Wond itself both drives the string and acts as kind of a slide.  Cool trick. 

Overall I really like the Wond.  While the comparison to the Ebow is inevitable, the Wond really represents a sizable jump forward in handheld sustainer/resonators.  I'm loving mine so far.

HOPEFULLY, If I can get enough time where I'm not traveling for my work, I will create a blog post or even a series of videos which compare various sustainer/resonator technologies.   Until then.... I'm off to play with my Wond some.




Elantric

Sounds like more fun!

FWIW - I got a mini 3" raw speaker with square frame
( a bit like one of these)

- and connected to a practice amp, and played slide with the raw speaker with interesting effect -

vanceg

Interesting side note for later investigation:  I'm finding that patches with pitch shifting or alternate tunings are not reacting well when the Vo Wand gets near the GK-3.  The GK-3 seems to be picking up interference from the Wond. I call it "interference" and not "signal" because it doesn't sound similar to when you put an ebow near the GK-3...which just sounds overdriven.

Synth Nicolas

Just got my Wond a week ago. Took some time to getting used to. It works much different than my Ebow. Starting to like it now. Here is a video:

! No longer available
gitaarles en basgitaarles in Weert
www.gitaarschoolweert.nl

GovernorSilver

I waited too long.

Now the Wond is on backorder. 

Synth Nicolas

One more for you then. Not for the faint-hearted! :)

gitaarles en basgitaarles in Weert
www.gitaarschoolweert.nl