Keith McMillen Strong Arm guitar sustainer

Started by thebrushwithin, January 26, 2014, 08:05:25 AM

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Now_And_Then

Quote from: thebrushwithin on November 04, 2015, 05:57:50 AM
My past experience with the original Gizmotron, does not even approach the satisfaction I have, with any of my Sustainiacs, Fernandes, and especially the Moog E1-M. The StrongArm's potential seems great, but "we'll see"!

Quote from: thebrushwithin on November 04, 2015, 05:57:50 AM
My past experience with the original Gizmotron, does not even approach the satisfaction I have, with any of my Sustainiacs, Fernandes, and especially the Moog E1-M. The StrongArm's potential seems great, but "we'll see"!

Obviously I don't know the particulars about your experience with the original Gizmotron, but on their site. http://www.gizmotron.com we find a link to this article, http://www.vintageguitar.com/18431/gizmotron/ which explains why the original was doomed to failure. Even the people who manufactured v1 said that the guitar Gizmotron never worked. 

"the guitar Gizmotron 'never worked right.'" (quoting Musitronics engineer Mike Beigel)

"The product, though desired by many musicians at the time, simply could not be reliably manufactured and further – even at best – only worked on some notes of the instrument, guitar or bass,"  (quote from Musitronics engineer Mike Beigel)

"Getting the Gizmotron aligned was a task. Keeping it working was even more difficult. The Gizmotron needed constant adjustment, was temperamental depending on how hard the keys were pushed, and was awkwardly fragile. Those Delrin-plastic wheels, in particular, wore out in the blink of an eye."

Gizmotron 2.0 has been completely reengineered and is manufactured out of completely different materials.

Even before I ever got my first GK device, if there was one guitar accessory / effect that I wanted, it was the Gizmotron. So I am really looking forward to this.

(Incidentally, I had a Fernandes Sustainer - for about a week, because it was unsuitable for my purposes. There was a slight "fade out / fade in" as the original note ended and then the sustained note began. I recall someone telling me that they never experienced this but they might have been using the guitar with an amp and cabinet, whereas I always go direct.)

thebrushwithin

QuoteGizmotron 2.0 has been completely reengineered and is manufactured out of completely different materials.

Even before I ever got my first GK device, if there was one guitar accessory / effect that I wanted, it was the Gizmotron. So I am really looking forward to this.

(Incidentally, I had a Fernandes Sustainer - for about a week, because it was unsuitable for my purposes. There was a slight "fade out / fade in" as the original note ended and then the sustained note began. I recall someone telling me that they never experienced this but they might have been using the guitar with an amp and cabinet, whereas I always go direct.)

Yes, I am sure they have corrected the old problems, but I did have mine working properly, after a lot of time fighting it. However, it never sounded as good as when they recorded with it (which blew me away, at the time), so I decided it was one of those mistakes for my use. Maybe the new one will hopefully be exactly what you are after. All of my guitars with sustainers, have a slight delay with the sustain, except the Moog, but only when it is in full sustain mode (all strings at once). The demo KMI Labs has out, is also having a slight delay to the sustain, that I can hear. It hasn't been a problem for me though.

Now_And_Then

Quote from: thebrushwithin on November 04, 2015, 11:01:36 AM
All of my guitars with sustainers, have a slight delay with the sustain, except the Moog, but only when it is in full sustain mode (all strings at once). The demo KMI Labs has out, is also having a slight delay to the sustain, that I can hear. It hasn't been a problem for me though.

Oh well that's good for me to know. Thank you for that info; it could conceivably save me some significant money!

vanceg

I was able to try out the Strong Arm sustainer at NAMM this year.  Unfortunately, it's not shipping and there is no timeline for it shipping. KMI has indicated that they are currently hoping to make a deal with a major guitar manufacturer to include the Strong Arm on specific models of instruments.  It sounds like KMI isn't planning to sell retrofit kits directly, but rather simply license the technology to someone who will make complete instruments with it.

Overall the sound quality was good and the sustainer did, indeed, sustain each note of the instrument separately.  Unlike when I use a Sustainiac, I was able to sustain entire chords. The tone of the sustained sound was vary 'natural' - it sounded like very much like the same timber that the guitar had without the sustainer on.  Those who use the Sustainic or Ebow know that the tone of the guitar changes a little when you use these devices.  I'm not saying that this is a good or bad thing... I'm just trying to note a difference that I hear between products you may have used, and this device which you likely have not used yet.   The result of this tonal "evenness" was that holding notes felt very natural and un-effected.  It just felt like the note magically didn't die out. I didn't feel like I had another tone, another timber that was fading in underneath the note I just picked as I often do when I am playing clean with the Sustainiac. 

I found that the sustained sound wasn't quite as powerful as I'd like.  It seemed like I would pick a note, the attack would die out..and then the sustain would kick in kind of gently as the attack died out.  There seemed to be a pretty big volume difference between attack and sustain.  This is in contrast to some of the Sustainiac installs that I have tried in which the sustain is every bit as loud as the attack (side note - MOST sustainiacs that I've tried do exhibit a marked difference in level between attack and sustain - others seem to be quite equal... I attribute this to the quality of the installation and the power available from the Sustainiac's battery).   I'd really like to feel that the sustain kicked in more immediately and that the volume was closer to the original picked note.

The controls for the Strong Arm are simple - there is a "drive amount" pot which controls how much the string is being driven by the piezo elements in the bridge.  There is also an accelerometer which switches the Strong Arm into "harmonic" mode (emphasizing higher harmonics) when the instrument is tilted.  That is a nice interface in that it's quite natural to move your guitar around in and have tone of your 'feedback' change.

It is REALLY important to note that my time with this device was VERY limited and that it is not in it's final form which will, as some point.  be available for purchase.  It may be that I completely change my assessment of it when it actually ships.   I'd buy one right now if I could...

GovernorSilver

Thanks for the update.  I guess it's not DOA quite yet.

Headless68

Vanceg - did you get to try the KMI midi guitar while you were there?  the video's on youtube are super bad at showing its capability

vanceg

Quote from: Headless68 on January 27, 2016, 03:22:27 AM
Vanceg - did you get to try the KMI midi guitar while you were there?  the video's on youtube are super bad at showing its capability

Yes that's the Stringport and I covered it in another post. 
The video is really, really bad.  KMI is not known for their impressive product demos.
The crux of my 'review' is that:  i did play it. It looks like it has potential.  It's not at all a completed product.  They are looking to find a company who will build the entire guitar.