Gizmotron 2.0 Shipping

Started by vanceg, February 08, 2015, 06:21:03 PM

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vanceg

In case you all haven't heard - or in case you never knew about this oddball piece of music gear history:  The Gizmotron is going to be making a return to the market.  This oddball "sustainer/resonator" from the early 70's has been slightly redesigned and a new version will be made available sometime later this year.

http://www.gizmotron.com/

Now_And_Then


I want this. This is what I have wanted for a long long time.

No pricing info, nor timeframe.

I see that they've mounted it on a Les Paul; I wonder if it can be mounted on a guitar with a Bigsby or other vibrato system. I am very interested to see how the device mounts at all.

thebrushwithin

QuoteI see that they've mounted it on a Les Paul; I wonder if it can be mounted on a guitar with a Bigsby or other vibrato system. I am very interested to see how the device mounts at all.

I used to own the original, and mounted it on a 68 SG, with vibrato. It would be interesting to hear it with modern gear (VGs, GRs, etc.), but I now prefer sustainers. The original was a bit finicky to setup properly, and also a little awkward to play. Maybe all of this has improved.

Frank

Here's what they told me (I'm a lefty):

"Hi, the Gizmotron 2.0 will be available in the summer for under $500. Thanks,

Aaron

PS - The Gizmotron should work left-handed, but mounted to a right-handed guitar strung upside down (ala Hendrix)".

Elantric

QuotePS - The Gizmotron should work left-handed, but mounted to a right-handed guitar strung upside down (ala Hendrix)".

Rather arcane restriction!

I await to see pics of the new Gizmotron

Frank

#5
Quote from: Elantric on February 12, 2015, 01:06:27 PM
Rather arcane restriction!

I await to see pics of the new Gizmotron
http://t.co/yIg7PQhvse


Now_And_Then



Funny picture. Unfortunately it really doesn't help me understand how it's mounted on the guitar.

Elantric

Appears to be identical the 1st generation GizMotron mounting technique

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gizmo




shawnb


Holy smokes it's Godley & Creme's Gizmo!   :o

(Featured all over the album Consequences.)
Address the process rather than the outcome.  Then, the outcome becomes more likely.   - Fripp

Now_And_Then


The second and third are two very impressive videos (I have seen the first video long ago). And this is exactly what I have been looking for, and I have been looking for it for over a decade. If this was available I mightn't have even bothered with all this GK stuff that I've gotten since.

In view of the fact that the G2 is a relatively pricey item, what would be really nice would be the ability to get extra mounting brackets and put those on various guitars, and so be able to move the drive unit from one guitar to another as required.  However as the actual workings and construction of the G2 are quite unclear to me, and the drive unit would probably need and almost certainly need substantial adjustment from guitar to guitar, this might not be possible. 

Note that all the rights to the original Gizmotron technology have expired and so required no licenses to obtain or royalties to pay. Apparently rights to the name have also expired but I am simply inferring this.



aliensporebomb

So excited about this.  I had the records but hadn't started playing until 1978 really and never saw a real Gizmo in the flesh but wanted one really bad just because "Consequences" and "L" and "Freeze Frame" were amazing records.   
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

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

shawnb

ASB, once again, I find we were truly on the same wavelength....
Address the process rather than the outcome.  Then, the outcome becomes more likely.   - Fripp

vanceg

I, too, love sustainers...but this will be a neat "gizmo" to add to my ever expanding collection of "sustainer/resonator" type devices.

I should be receiving an Aescher D1 6 channel sustainer in less than a week and have a solid body electric with the Vo96 system in the design/build process right now...but the Gizmotron is a bit of a different beast.  I'll be getting one for sure.



Quote from: thebrushwithin on February 12, 2015, 08:07:00 AM
I used to own the original, and mounted it on a 68 SG, with vibrato. It would be interesting to hear it with modern gear (VGs, GRs, etc.), but I now prefer sustainers. The original was a bit finicky to setup properly, and also a little awkward to play. Maybe all of this has improved.

thebrushwithin

Quote
I should be receiving an Aescher D1 6 channel sustainer in less than a week

Can't wait to hear your impressions of this sustainer.


Now_And_Then



http://www.aescher.eu/p9.html

I've never heard of this before. That's expensive. Very expensive. I haven't seen that amateurish a website since I don't know when. No videos or demos of any kind on Youtube that I could find. One mp3 track for their whole product range. Does not specify what kind of guitar or bass is making which sound. It's constructed "by hand in the EU" but I am not 100% sure that "by hand" is the best way to construct electronics but I will defer to the better-informed opinions of more-knowledgeable people about that. I haven't looked at the manual.

At nearly US$700 it seems very, very overpriced.

Frank

Quote from: Now_And_Then on February 18, 2015, 10:48:32 PM

http://www.aescher.eu/p9.html

I've never heard of this before. That's expensive. Very expensive. I haven't seen that amateurish a website since I don't know when. No videos or demos of any kind on Youtube that I could find. One mp3 track for their whole product range. Does not specify what kind of guitar or bass is making which sound. It's constructed "by hand in the EU" but I am not 100% sure that "by hand" is the best way to construct electronics but I will defer to the better-informed opinions of more-knowledgeable people about that. I haven't looked at the manual.

At nearly US$700 it seems very, very overpriced.

Expense is relative, the guy/guys needs to make a living.
The Moog guitar was 'expensive' but if your products are niche, low production, require R&D and not factory made in the far east then they'll never be in the golden 'under 200 dollar bracket'.
The exchange rate is also a factor here I imagine.
Everyone has bills to pay.

Frank

Quote from: Now_And_Then on February 18, 2015, 10:48:32 PM

http://www.aescher.eu/p9.html

I've never heard of this before. That's expensive. Very expensive. I haven't seen that amateurish a website since I don't know when. No videos or demos of any kind on Youtube that I could find. One mp3 track for their whole product range. Does not specify what kind of guitar or bass is making which sound. It's constructed "by hand in the EU" but I am not 100% sure that "by hand" is the best way to construct electronics but I will defer to the better-informed opinions of more-knowledgeable people about that. I haven't looked at the manual.

At nearly US$700 it seems very, very overpriced.

Since Vance's initial posting, I've read the manual and emailed the company with some questions.
I would concur with Vance that they are very communicative and open to suggestions; for example I asked if the power supply could be made external to the guitar/floor mounted/mains powered and the answer to all of these was yes.
So ostensibly you have a product that has it's 'driver' on the guitar but the bulk of the electronics/weight elsewhere.
In my opinion that is pretty flexible and useful customer service, it might not be the most economically savvy way of doing business but from an end user perspective it's very handy.
Try doing that with Roland/Line 6/Avid etc etc.
I do agree though, that the some more audio/video demonstrations would be a much stronger selling point.

Frank

I've just received another email stating that more demos are coming soon.

Now_And_Then

Quote from: Frank on February 19, 2015, 12:52:06 AM
Expense is relative, the guy/guys needs to make a living. [...] but if your products are niche, low production, require R&D and not factory made in the far east then they'll never be in the golden 'under 200 dollar bracket'.
The exchange rate is also a factor here I imagine.

If it's not expensive, why did you feel the need to explain why it is expensive?

Frank

#20
Quote from: Now_And_Then on February 19, 2015, 08:40:27 PM
If it's not expensive, why did you feel the need to explain why it is expensive?
I didn't, I said that expense was relative.
My point was, that I personally think the asking price is realistic, based on the company's overheads, ergo; not expensive. 
Although if I buy one and it turns out to be junk, my opinion may change.  :)

vanceg

Looks like the D1 is going to take another couple weeks.  The process with the builder has been super - The control systems are basically custom built so you can have them designed with whatever controls you want (all strings on/off, buttons for each string on/off, LPF or HPF mode for each string on/off...etc). 
I should receive the Ebow-like E10 (two sting ebow) and his hex pickup (potential replacement for GK3) in just a couple days.



Quote from: thebrushwithin on February 18, 2015, 01:55:36 PM
Can't wait to hear your impressions of this sustainer.

ffata

All six keys demo with speed control!

Gizmotron 2.0 Fully Functional Prototype (All six keys)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3d9U9lFE0Y&feature=youtu.be

GuitarNick

Quote from: ffata on March 26, 2015, 05:03:12 PM
All six keys demo with speed control!

Gizmotron 2.0 Fully Functional Prototype (All six keys)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3d9U9lFE0Y&feature=youtu.be

This is too cool! It looks like they 3D printed their prototype too.

billbax

I can see there's a lot of enthusiasm for the new gizmotron, but thinking a little deeper, there doesn't seem to be many serious recordings with it in use.

Bought mine in 1979 and musically got drunk on it. Had all sorts of plans to do a few classical string quartets, before realising what a difficult device it is to articulate.  Basically the gizmo only has about a 15dB dynamic-range, so delicate playing is off the menu.  Another irritant is the 'toothy sound', that's only cancelled out by recording three to four tracks playing the same part.

Essential Gizmo Processing:
* Four bands of Parametric EQ:  Notching out motor noise and string resonances etc.
* Compressor/Limiter + EQ side-chain 6dB Limiting:  A Comp/Lim might seem like a bad idea with a 15dB dynamic-range, although it helps to smooth out those toothy string resonances. Additional effects: All the usual suspects...Chorus, Flange, Phaser, Reverb etc and not forgetting a noise-gate of course.

Gizmotron Demo August 1980.

Cheers,

Bill Bax