Paul Vo / Moog Lev-96 PolyPhonic Sustainer

Started by vanceg, October 21, 2012, 01:51:40 AM

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GovernorSilver

Upon further review, the link I posted doesn't add anything new to the CDM article.  My apologies.

thebrushwithin

It is still unclear whether it is sustaining...I really hope not, which means I could possibly mount it on my Godin nylon fretless, which would be a dream! Also on my harp would be incredible, or imagine a piano. He is quite the innovator. I'm so curious if the strings must be metal, or if it will work on any acoustic surface, not just a 6 metal strings.

Elantric

#52
I'm rather positive all these Paul Vo designs require steel strings - will not work with nylon.

FWIW - The Sustainiac Model B/C -  DOES work with Nylon guitars.
(Details here:)
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=7164.msg54372#msg54372

http://www.sustainiac.com/model-c.htm


http://paulvomusic.com/2012-forward-concept-for-the-future/

Quote2012 Forward: Concept for the Future

Below are pictures of a rather unusual object that attaches to any acoustic guitar having a standard sound hole. It transforms the guitar into a system capable of Acoustic Synthesis™.  It's the result of a personal R&D project I've been working on since 2009.

This work is leading to the Vo-96 Acoustic Synthesizer – to be announced soon!

Vo-LEV-3

This is my latest and most advanced vibration control technology. In November of 2012, Moog took the unusual step of announcing it publicly. They code-named it the LEV-96 concept product and enlisted the help of some great artists to test it out. Like a concept-car, LEV-96 is an experimental concept product.
• Click here to learn more... •
With the Acoustic Synthesis™ instruments shown above, there is no loudspeaker, no signal processor making the output sound different. You hear a basic acoustic guitar for the first time producing its true full sonic potential – as revealed by otherwise silent electronic motion control channels operating in the background.

Like the original Moog guitar this new technology physically changes the way the strings of an acoustic guitar vibrate – but this goes much further. The changes can be subtle, just making the guitar sound much fuller and richer. They can be radical, creating sounds you will not believe come from an acoustic instrument. Individual harmonics within each note can be articulated into a unique time-sequence of timbres or limitless harmonic arpeggios. Acoustic tremolo is possible! Detailed additive synthesis is possible – designed sounds produced by physical means! When you sit and play this instrument you want to believe there is a hidden loudspeaker, but there isn't. The sound emanates from this acoustic guitar in the same way as always. No demo video can get this across – you have to play this thing to see and feel what it is doing.

The pictures above are incrementally evolving versions of the LEV-96 concept product you can see being played in some of the video links at the side bar.  The numeral 96 refers to the number of individual harmonic control channels.  Each channel is capable of controlling the behavior of one harmonic partial of a string's timbre. 16 such channels are instantiated per string. 6 x 16=96.
• Click for more about Acoustic Synthesis™ •
With Acoustic Synthesis™ any acoustic musical instrument – any object that makes a sound – can be enhanced to bring out its hidden acoustic voice. Think also of  potential new instruments – playable objects of acoustic art.

So far I've worked mostly with vibrating strings. The musical instrument string is arguably the most ubiquitous means of making music. It's also the most difficult to vibrate coherently using electronic control. One idea I had back in 1979 turned out to be a great solution. I was amazed to find it was still unknown and patentable 20 years later.

Over the past 50 years or so we have accepted and become familiar with using synthesizers to create an endless variety of sounds electronically. I'm saying we are now beginning to extend this idea into the physical realm. We can make the virtual become real. We can artistically create new sounds by bringing out modes of vibration that have up to now remained hidden within the material objects we call musical instruments. Through Acoustic Synthesis™ the same sonic exploration is possible for other acoustic instruments and even creative objects of acoustic art that no one has imagined – not just yet anyway.

Analog Synthesis. Digital Synthesis. Acoustic Synthesis™: it isn't empty hype, this really is a distinctly different and new method of voicing instruments, designing new sounds, and making music.

Help me build awareness and incite unbridled experimentation in this exciting new field where the science of motion control meets music. This is serious and fun stimulation for your brain and heart, it's causing musicians to play more and making people smile.  I am hooked on it for sure.


thebrushwithin

I have dealt with Allan before, and his products and service are first rate. Thanks much for the info, i had not paid attention to that product of his, and I will be quite interested. Too bad it has wires not fit for practical stage use. The fretless nylon is a wonderful instrument. I have recently made an Oud patch on the VG99, but not yet finished. To have it sustain infinitely would be really inspiring. Thank you.
Mark

Now_And_Then


The Lev96 on the fretless model seems far superior to the standard acoustic guitar installations. But even in that case, the inability to remove the unprocessed guitar sound from the mix is a big, big problem and will always make it seems as though you have an acoustic guitar being doubled by, well, by something, usually but not always a keyboard.

I feel kind of bad about this, really: here we have a guy, Paul Vo, who is investing a great deal of time, energy, effort, and I am quite sure, money and who is really is doing very interesting things with guitars, and the fruits of his research simply do not excite me as the packages are fatally problematic. Putting the E-1 electronics in a $3000/$4000 guitar in which the finish alone adds maybe as much as $2000 to the price, ffs, and has serious quality control issues, requires proprietary strings, poor magnetic pickup sounds; or now the Lev96 that seems to be essentially a glorified ADT (automatic double tracking) machine that might well be for acoustic guitars only...

To me it is more than obvious and more than very painfully obvious that both Vo and Moog Inc need to conduct a thorough-going re-evaluation of their approach to guitar.

*******************

Maybe that's what I ought to do next: get a Kramer Focus for $100, take off the frets, mount a GK, and see what that does. I have in the past researched this topic and have been thinking about doing it for a while. Perhaps I actually should. If that proves useful, a better quality instrument can be fabricated...



Elantric

#55
QuoteMaybe that's what I ought to do next: get a Kramer Focus for $100, take off the frets, mount a GK, and see what that does. I have in the past researched this topic and have been thinking about doing it for a while. Perhaps I actually should. If that proves useful, a better quality instrument can be fabricated...

Suggest browse the excellent resource for Unfretted Fretless Guitars:

http://www.unfretted.com/loader.php?LINK=main





Now_And_Then


That's a first-rate site; in fact, it is where I did a great part of my research. Very worthwhile.

GovernorSilver

I love William Jeffrey Jones' Special Kay and Kronos fretless guitars:
http://www.divine-jones.com/

vanceg

I'm a little perplexed at the implications that Paul could have "removed the unprocessed guitar sounds from the mix" with the Lev-96.  There is no electronic output from the LEV96. There is no output jack, there is no output signal.  It's just the acoustic guitar that you hear.   That's kind of the whole point - You are hearing the strings vibrate (admittedly the strings are under the influence of a magnetic field which is changing the harmonic content on the strings).

Are you suggesting that the LEV-96 should have a electrical output - some output jack?  What would it output?  I suppose it could output the sound of the strings vibrating... but for this you could simply have a microphone in front of the guitar, or perhaps a piezo pickup in the bridge. I can't see why this wouldn't work.

I'm confused how the Lev-96 is at all like a double tracking device. Explain this to me.  The Lev-96 takes in signal from the strings, and then creates a magnetic field which is used to drive the strings. It's a sustainer. Like an ebow or sustainiac. BUT, it has the unique ability to send that signal to multiple drivers, which are located at various locations along a portion of the string... by sending more signal to one of these drivers than the other, the system excites different harmonics.  It can do things like switching from enhancing one harmonic to another harmonic, and do this in a rhythmic pattern, creating an arpeggio sort of effect.... But i'm still not able to conceive of this as a "doubling effect". Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you are asserting.

The point of the LEV-96 is that it provides really unique control to the harmonic content of a vibrating string.  It's a sustainer with a twist...that's all.

Also a bit baffled at what you mean by Paul Vo putting the E-1 into a guitar that costs $3000/$4000 with the finish accounting for $2000 of that.  The E-1 came out far after the Paul Vo model of the Moog gutiar. The electronics were designed FOR the Paul Vo model and then got put into the lower cost, more "stock" E-1 guitars when they were introduced. 

The tone/sound of the Paul Vo/ Moog pickups is unfortunate. I suspect that this is something they could improve on a little if they decided to try. 

I'm surely not trying to be argumentative - But trying to clarify some possible misconceptions about the Lev-96 and the approach that Paul seems to be taking in developing these products.


Quote from: Now_And_Then on February 20, 2013, 05:55:21 PM
The Lev96 on the fretless model seems far superior to the standard acoustic guitar installations. But even in that case, the inability to remove the unprocessed guitar sound from the mix is a big, big problem and will always make it seems as though you have an acoustic guitar being doubled by, well, by something, usually but not always a keyboard.

I feel kind of bad about this, really: here we have a guy, Paul Vo, who is investing a great deal of time, energy, effort, and I am quite sure, money and who is really is doing very interesting things with guitars, and the fruits of his research simply do not excite me as the packages are fatally problematic. Putting the E-1 electronics in a $3000/$4000 guitar in which the finish alone adds maybe as much as $2000 to the price, ffs, and has serious quality control issues, requires proprietary strings, poor magnetic pickup sounds; or now the Lev96 that seems to be essentially a glorified ADT (automatic double tracking) machine that might well be for acoustic guitars only...

To me it is more than obvious and more than very painfully obvious that both Vo and Moog Inc need to conduct a thorough-going re-evaluation of their approach to guitar.

*******************

Maybe that's what I ought to do next: get a Kramer Focus for $100, take off the frets, mount a GK, and see what that does. I have in the past researched this topic and have been thinking about doing it for a while. Perhaps I actually should. If that proves useful, a better quality instrument can be fabricated...

Elantric


Elantric


Elantric

#61


An in-depth look at the functions of the Vo-96 Acoustic Synthesizer by Paul Vo. For more information go to http://www.voinventions.com



We've been lucky to have had the Vo-96 Acoustic Synthesizer played by a wide variety of incredible musicians and sonic explorers. This video sampler will give you an idea of the wide-open possibilities. Learn more at www.voinventions.com

GovernorSilver

My bud is still awaiting delivery of his Vo'd up 12-string guitar.  He told me about it almost 2 years ago.

vanceg

I'm working right now on installing one in a solid body electric.  Should be done in about 8 -10 weeks.

Vance