Gizmotron 2.0 Shipping

[Explorer]

In addition to the link posted earlier by ffata...



...there is a newer demo with even more orchestral-sounding material.



I seem to remember the guy instrumental in the new version posting about how to avoid the motor noise issues, including using the neck pickup. I didn't find the topic where he got into specifics, unfortunately.

In listening to that second video above, the only noticeable effect is the delay, but there might be all kinds of other processing going on as well. I'm going to do some digging to see if I can discover how the sound in the demo vids for the Gizmotron G2 were recorded

[Elantric]

The original Gizmotron made the scene in 1973, and was invented by 10cc members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. It's release for public consumption in 1979 was a disaster. Now improved and manufactured by Aaron Kipness, it may be time for a resurgence of Gizmo-mania. What do YOU think...?

[Now_And_Then]

The Gizmotron 2.0 is shipping, according to an email which I've just received from the manufacturer. However supplies are limited at the moment and there seems to be a waiting list. Buyers have been asked to limit themselves to two Gizmos.

Spare parts (wheels, mounting strips, springs, keys) are also available, as are kits to convert bass Gizmos to guitar, and guitar Gizmos to bass.

See page of videos here: https://www.gizmotron.com/videos

[Elantric]

Guitar and 5 String Bass versions

https://www.gizmotron.com/buy

[vanceg]

Guitar and 5 String Bass versions

https://www.gizmotron.com/buy

I just got word that mine is on it's way!!! wheeeeeee.

[Now_And_Then]

I just got word that mine is on it's way!!! wheeeeeee.

I hope that you are going to give us a full report about ease of installation and how easy or difficult it is to acclimate or acquire some facility and fluency playing it. With pictures and sound clips please! 

  I'd expect it to be able to drive a VG-99 or similar but would like to know for sure. It does not appear that a GK pickup and Gizmotron are "installationally-incompatible". In a few days, you will be able to know this definitively!

I have been wanting exactly, and I mean specifically, this device for, literally, decades, but now that it's here, I have some trepidation about actually making the purchase. I know that they say that they've engineered all the failings and problems of Gizmotron v1 out of v2 but, you know, I am sure that they mean well, but still...

What is the expected lifetime, in terms of playing time, of the wheels, I wonder. I am never been willing to buy a guitar that required special strings, so the eventual need to replace a very specialized part like the wheels is for me a cause of some small amount of discomfort in regard to this fairly costly device. (This applies to the "spring arms" too.)

Looking at the installation video on the official site, and the Buy page with the mounting hardware and guitar and bass conversion kits, it seems that it's possible to have one Gizmotron that can be moved from guitar to guitar, and from guitar to bass and back, pretty much at will. Of course this would probably not be a very quick procedure and would require some setting up once on the new guitar or bass, but still, it's potentially a very useful feature.

One problem for me, and possibly others, is that it does not seem possible to have the Gizmotron on a guitar with a Bigsby or similar. So in my particular case, I might well need to have a dedicated, non-vibrato, Gizmotron guitar. Bass guitars, almost always lacking mechanical vibrato, present no such problems. Maybe I'd un-retire my Brian Moore (with - I believe they called their 13-pin piezo system - "Synth Access") for this purpose.

The Gizmotron could be, and probably is, worth it but I am as yet unsure and undecided.

[Elantric]

My Common sense tells me the only chance for Gizmotron to work with 13 pin divided pickups will be with a divided Piezo bridge PU (RMC /Ghost)

The Gizmotron still employs a Motor and that generates a  magnetic Flux field at same pitch as the motor RPM.

GK-3 users must avoid the Gizmotron, as well as the fact the Sweet Spot for Gizmotron's spinning discs will be directly where the GK-3 resides.


FWIW/ VG-99 Users can get in the ballpark recreating Gizmotron sounds by trying this VG-99 patch created by user "Smash"
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=9989.msg98472#msg98472



And re/read Billbax's real use experience with Gizmotron

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.
! No longer available
Cheers,

Bill Bax

 

[imerkat]

Guess you can say the same thing about the Moog guitar and even the VG-99. I was contemplating buying the Moog guitar maybe this is would be better?

[Elantric]

http://nermark.com/reports/NAMM_Winter_2016/NAMM_Winter_2016_2.htm

Sometimes at NAMM you will experience a blast from the past. The Gizmotron was that blast for me at this NAMM. Created a long time ago by Lol Creme and Kevin Godly from the band 10cc, it has one wheel per string and when you press one or more levers the wheel will "play" the string, creating infinite sustain. I remember seeing 10cc in concert many years ago and the sound they got with the Gizmotron was truly exiting. It was, mind you, before the age of readily available synthesizers, so I don't know how I would have reacted if I had heard it for the first time today.

[Now_And_Then]

While waiting for VanceG to tell us how things are working out, I decided to see what recent videos I could find on YouTube, showing the device in the hands of actual purchasers.

Not too much to find, rather surprisingly. But I did find this, and I found it rather impressive:

[Now_And_Then]

 
Okay, here's what irritates me.

At the end of April, coinciding with NAMM, or some trade show or other (possibly the NY Guitar Expo; it's not important which) I got an email from Gizmotron LLC with a coupon code good for a  $50 discount, specially for me (well, and for all their other mailing list subscribers, apparently). So that I could buy a Gizmotron 2.0 for $399.99 for the guitar model or $389.99 for the bass.

For reasons too tedious to recite here (but mainly involving the prospect of some expensive veterinary bills), I felt that I should not, at this time, buy a Gizmotron. But I had to seriously consider the offer.

Now, a few weeks later, I get another email from Gizmotron LLC, announcing that the Gizmotron is now being sold at Sam Ash - for $374.99 ! * (And $10 less for the bass model.)

Aw, c'mon, guys.

I hate stuff like this.

It reminds of of the time that Elemental Audio had some huge sale on all its software and then, just a few days later, announced that the company had been acquired by Roger Nichols (in partnership with someone else) who then immediately proceeded to increase both the initial purchase price and the upgrade price for all their plug-ins by eleventy gazillion percent.   

Grrrr.



*Even if you live in Florida, California, or New York, and have to pay sales tax it's still cheap enough to make the $50 coupon code not merely pretty nearly worthless, but irritating.

From the Sam Ash site:
When I place an order with SamAsh.com, do you collect sales tax?
We do not collect sales tax for online orders, unless the orders are shipping to California, Florida and New York.

[vanceg]

I haven't reported back because I haven't installed mine yet.  Work (touring) got in the way.  I hope to install mine in early August when I get back.  But, I'm installing it first on either my 5 or my 6 string bass.  (My 6 string has string spacing close enough that I can actually get the Gizmotron to fit).

I likely won't be using it with my GK equipped instruments due to the issues that Elantric brought up with the Gizmotron emitting magnetic "noise" .  Besides, it sounded really nice on bass when I heard it at NAMM.

[Now_And_Then]

I haven't reported back because I haven't installed mine yet.   I hope to install mine in early August when I get back.  I likely won't be using it with my GK equipped instruments due to the issues that Elantric brought up with the Gizmotron emitting magnetic "noise" .

If I get one, I will be installing it on my currently-redundant RMC-equipped Brian Moore, so as to evade the consequences of the Gizmotron and the GK-pickup as pointed out by Elantric. I am still looking forward to hear what you do with it, whenever you get around to it.



! No longer available

Here's a new, and rather in-depth review, clocking in at 13:32: Regrettably the guy in the video has his nose pierced. Of course not everyone considers this as off-putting as I do. However, it is possible to position the video so that you can watch the video and not see it. Surprisingly, in spite of the nose-ring, he talks proper English, with almost no hipster or musician slang and only a bit of profanity.

The problem is that the sounds that he's getting out of the thing are not terribly impressive. In fact they are just terrible. I'm hoping that this is because of both his guitar and his miking setup.

Near the end of the video he uses the Gizmotron to drive a Mel9. Rhcole ought to like that! Although to be honest it does not sound very good.

I am not going to have to re-watch some of the earlier videos to audition the sound. Even if they don't sound as good as what I recall, they can't sound this bad. But if they do, there's no point in buying this thing....

Also

[admin]

https://www.cms-music.net/effects/gizmotron.html

[billbax]

That NAMM bass guitar demo sounds dreadful, and doesn't sound any different from waybackwhen 1970s. Been there with this teeth-string-bow technique, and it's nothing but a five minute novelty.

Listening to my iffy Gizmotron demo from 1980, you needed to overdub at least four Gizmos to make it sound ok-ish. Check out my review from a few years back.
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=13579.msg102863#msg102863

Gizmotron quartet 1980


I cannot see anyone seriously using a gizmotron in music production, as today we have many many alternatives with guitar. It's a 1970s dinosaur, and even makes me think of Fred Flintstone's bird beak turntable.  No offence intended.

Bill

[vanceg]

I can't say I use mine much. The new wheels are a HUGE improvment.  The plastic/rubber of the wheel and the shape of the nub on the wheel makes all the difference in the world, in terms of tone.  That said, it's a "gizmo" in the most real sense...

That NAMM bass guitar demo sounds dreadful, and doesn't sound any different from waybackwhen 1970s. Been there with this teeth-string-bow technique, and it's nothing but a five minute novelty.

Listening to my iffy Gimztron demo from 1980, you needed to overdub at least four Gizmos to make it sound ok-ish. Check out my review from a few years back.
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=13579.msg102863#msg102863

Gizmotron quartet 1980


I cannot see anyone seriously using a gizmotron in music production, as today we have many many alternatives with guitar. It's a 1970s dinosaur, and even makes me think of Fred Flintstone's bird beak turntable.  No offence intended.

Bill

[admin]

[admin]

[billbax]

Spot on Admin    Fixed-spool fishing reel Gizmotron - love it.
Still haven't heard a decent Gizmotron full production since when - some folks like to purchase novelties.