VG-99 - Choir (or possibly 10cc Gizmo - you decide!)

Started by Smash, November 27, 2013, 01:35:59 PM

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Smash

Right, first off don't go getting your hopes up - asking the VG to produce a vocal sound is one helluva an ask, and I'm not Asle when it comes to coaxing the unusual out of the VG99.

So  with that in mind, this is my attempt at a choir patch - the more I listen to it the more I think it sounds a bit like the Gizmo that Godley and Creme invented but anyway it is what it is. If you can find a use for it great otherwise it's an interesting curio!  :)

D-Beam and Exp1 on FC300 activate FREEZE

maxdaddy


rolandvg99

Cool! And what's really cool is that it responds to your picking attack. Nice one Scott. (As always :) )
To V or not to V: That is the question.

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Smash

Asle's still alive!! Where you been buddy?!  :)

Just listened to it again and now I'm thinking it's a bit vocoder-ish. There's a Steve Hackett track called Voice of Necam and I kept using that as a reference for what I was after.

rolandvg99

Quote from: Smash on December 17, 2013, 03:31:16 AM
Asle's still alive!! Where you been buddy?!  :)

Just listened to it again and now I'm thinking it's a bit vocoder-ish. There's a Steve Hackett track called Voice of Necam and I kept using that as a reference for what I was after.


Yepp, still alive. Have to minimize my guitar playing for a while because of some swelling around my lefthand wrist. Up for surgery some time in the new year. Keep the good stuff coming. :)
To V or not to V: That is the question.

My little Soundcloud corner

aliensporebomb

Gosh how did I miss this?  That is great and I also thought "Wow, voice of Necam!"  Very nicely done!
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Smash

Because I hid it in here, lol! I'd love to get anywhere near close to voice of NECAM - not actually sure how it was done - early sample, tape loops a la 10cc Not in Love - anyone know?

aliensporebomb

#7
Actually I do and it's a really weird story:

You know how multitrack audio recorders have the ability to do automation?  In the early days it was called flying faders. 

NECAM was a competing computerized automation process for Neve consoles among others.

This automation took up a track on the actual multitrack tape that was a time code of sorts.  It wasn't intended to be listened to.
But you could route this track to audio playback and you'd hear the bleeps and bloops and sounds of the code.

What they did is took that audio and heavily processed it to create that track!  Pitch transposing, chorus, flange, reverb.

And the effect is MAGICAL.  It's like the ultimate mellotron IMO.

I tried your patch - it's very nice I must say!

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Elantric

#8
Actually my recollection was the popular Neve NECAM automation used SMPTE time code FSK on one track to run the sync for the NECAM  EDL  Edit Decision List to run the flying faders which "played" the 2 inch 16 track analog deck of pre recorded overdubbed voices like a mellotron with individual panning and full stereo.

More below

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_Not_in_Love


The 10cc version[edit]

A collaborative effort built around a title by Eric Stewart, "I'm Not in Love" is notable for its innovative production, especially its choral backing.
The song was originally written around a Bossa nova beat, but group member Lol Creme suggested slowing the tempo, while another group member, Kevin Godley, suggested replacing the beat with a built-up wall of voices.
The ethereal sound was created by laboriously building up multiple overdubs of the voices of Stewart, Graham Gouldman, Godley and Creme singing a single note in unison. This multi-track was then mixed and dubbed down onto 16-track tape. This process was repeated across all 16 tracks to create a lush 256-voice "virtual" choir that could "sing" chromatic chords.[1] A number of these prepared multi-tracks were then cut into several endless loops, each of which contained the basic notes of the main chords used in the song. The chorus loops could then be played by using the mixing desk rather like a keyboard—each chord could be sounded by bringing up the fader for that loop. The instrumental break featured the repeated spoken phrase, "Be quiet, big boys don't cry...", spoken by Kathy Warren, the receptionist of their own Strawberry Studios where the band recorded the track. These whispered lyrics would later serve as the inspiration for the name of the 1980s band Boys Don't Cry.
In this pre-sampler period, the group was able to simulate a large polyphonic choir, creating a dramatic tonal effect similar to that produced by the well-known choir sounds of the Mellotron and Birotron, but with a far richer sound, and in full stereo. The same voice loop effect was used in Billy Joel's ballad "Just the Way You Are", released two years later.
Released in May 1975, "I'm Not in Love" became the band's second number-one single and stayed on the top spot in the UK for two weeks from 28 June. Largely expected to scale the Hot 100 summit, the record only peaked at number two in the US for three weeks, shut out of the top spot by a different number-one song each week (Van McCoy's "The Hustle", The Eagles "One of These Nights", and the Bee Gees' "Jive Talkin'").
In a BBC interview,[2] Eric Stewart told how the song began as a bossa nova version, but was ditched by the band after Kevin Godley and Lol Creme dismissed it as "crap". Although the band moved on to record "One Night in Paris", they noticed that studio staff were still walking around singing "I'm Not in Love". Stewart recalled: "I looked at Graham (Gouldman), and I said that song's a hit, you know. I don't know what's going on here, but I think we got to try it again. And blow me down, Kevin came up with the idea. He said, 'Let's do something very different. Now let's do a whole track and the whole backing track is voices.'"
The song, once complete, became instrumental in 10cc's launch to international fame. According to Stewart, the band was already being courted by Phonogram to leave Jonathan King's UK Records label and sign a new deal. He said: "I rang them. I said come and have a listen to what we've done, come and have a listen to this track. And they came up and they freaked, and they said, 'This is a masterpiece. How much money, what do you want? What sort of a contract do you want? We'll do anything.' On the strength of that one song, we did a five-year deal with them for five albums and they paid us a serious amount of money."




ffata

It's baaack!?!!

I listened to Smash's excellent choir patch demo again, and watched Elantric's post of the video of 10cc and "I'm Not in Love".
(plus I just watched Guardians of the Galaxy for a second time ;D)
One thing always leads to another and there inside of the wiki page of the original Gizmo near the bottom,
was a reference to a 2015 version of The GIZMOTRON 2.0!

from the wiki page...
In October 2013, GIZMOTRON.ORG, The Gizmotron Restoration Project, began re-manufacturing new replacement parts for the few remaining original Gizmotron units. The website has also reported that a newly manufactured "Gizmotron 2.0" will be released in 2015.

On the page are 3 video demos.
http://www.gizmotron.com/

I've wanted one of those ever since the ads appeared in Guitar Player waaayy back.
I went to an early Beatlefest, probably around '78.
The tribute band did A Day in the Life and "George" had a Rocky Strat with a gizmo on it.
It was impressive.

aliensporebomb

I've been following that development for a while now.  Yep.  Pretty cool.  I figure with modern electronics and miniaturization there could be some really neat modern take on the Gizmo.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Smash

I must admit I was surprised by how "unsmooth" the original Gizmo was - I never noticed the constant "drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" of the "mini plecs" against the strings on the demo records. The new prototype sounds how I always imagined it to in my head - smooth and quite magical viola/violin tones.

Does it impact string longevity?