Hot Hand™ Motion Controlled Phaser/ Flanger

[bwanasonic]

I while back I met Bob Chidlaw (of Kurzweil synth fame), and now chief scientist for Source Audio. At the time, he asked if I would be interested in coming in to *beta* test the motion-controlled phaser/ flanger he was working on. Today I had the pleasure of testing this pretty amazing piece of gear at Source Audio's offices. I had tried the Hot Hand™ wah briefly at a local guitar show, and was intrigued by the potential of motion control. When combined with the new phaser/ flanger, it is really pretty mind-blowing. The mind-blowing is courtesy of the myriad phaser/ flanger models Bob has programmed. There were a wide assortment of classic vintage phasers laying about (Maestro, Jet Phaser,etc), that were clearly the inspiration for some of the phaser models. What I found particularly interesting though, were the models that involved more complex and unique sounds. In addition to using the motion-control Hot Hand™ ring for a modulation source, the unit has a built in LFO, envelope control, and a sequencer. It also accepts expression pedal input.  In the couple of hours that I had, I was just able to scratch the surface of what this thing can do. The motion-control unit itself is pretty amazing, and something I'd love to be able to *interface* with other effects. I tested the *hardwire* model, but the wireless unit is making it's debut at summer NAMM. I stuck with just using it on the ring finger of my picking hand, but there are all sorts of other possibilities. It was a really great experience to get a glimpse behind the scenes at what's involved in getting a product like this to market, and to get a chance to pick the brain of someone at the bleeding edge of guitar effects design. Although he designs DSP effects (and designed the legendary Kurzweil piano patch), Bob collects and repairs vintage tube amps and effects. He's also an an *old-school* modular synth guy ( he was at the helm of an ARP 2600 when I met him). Check the link above for more detailed info and sound clips.

Kerry M

[StephenGiles]

Kerry, that sounds fantastic, I'll check the sound clips later - just getting ready for work as it's 7.35am here!

[Eb7+9]

wondering if the sensor is similar to this ...

http://www.memsic.com/memsic/products/technology.html

hopefully you guys are also considering a way to clamp the sensor to the headstock of the guitar instead of having it on a ring ...

[Mark Hammer]

You lucky bastard! 

Although a great many don't realize it, or maybe can't group their thoughts enough to put it into words, the dream of virtually all electric guitarists is to have the range of tonal expression normally available to them in their fret finger-tips and picking hand also available to them when it comes to other sorts of textures, colours, and sonic effects.  To be able to make the sound you imagine, exactly as you imagine (or if you're lucky, BETTER than you imagine), at the moment you imagine it.

Over the years, synths and synth designers have explored ways of making the keyboard instrument as responsive and expressive as what acoustic musicians were accustomed to getting from their instruments.  The number and kinds of modulation and control sources have steadily increased over the past 25 years, and the variety to be found on even the most ho-hum keyboard synth these days is little short of astounding.  So, it is thrilling to see that approach extended to guitar effects and permit real-time control of the sorts of things that were traditionally only the domain of post-production, and sometimes even there only the domain of the annointed few.

What sorts of changes were you able to see in your playing during those few short hours?  Or was it more a case of realizing that the perimeter of your playing wasn't large enough to permit exploiting such technology?  (I.E., insghts about what you could do, and insights about what you weren't personally ready to do).

This is one of the reasons why I've been a fan of Zachary Vex' work and others like him.  I like to root for the folks whose designs urge us to think about our playing differently.  On that note, I encourage peolpe to give a peek at this month's Guitar Player and see what Dweezil Zappa has to say about relearning guitar so as to be able to front a band playing Frank Zappa's music.

But I repeat....you lucky bastard. 

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I don't know if this unit is accelerometre based or not.
But it would certainly be a relatively simple matter to have a 3 axis accelerometer on a headstock, or your toecap, or whatever. And wail away. It's not rocket science. Just a matter of having everythng voltage controlled & getting the voltages back from the accelerometer. In fact I think this has been mentioned here before.. I hope so, because it may predate a patent if so.

[bwanasonic]

I'd check the Source Audio site to see what they reveal about the technology of the motion-sensor. As for the effects on playing style, I concentrated on the ramifications of using my hand/ finger. Headstock mounting would be interesting, but likely not as flexible, or as visually interesting from a performance stand-point. I was playing my Strat, and it was really cool to play Zoot Allures, and have the modulation follow movements of the trem arm. Finger mounting also allows for rapid movements within the slower movement of your hand/ arm. It's funny to reach over to increase the LFO speed, and realize you are the LFO! Of course there are all sorts of possibilities, like have the drummer put the sensor on one of his sticks. I could have spent the time I had just exploring the phasers/ flangers using the internal LFO, and I've always been a big fan of envelope control over flangers, but the motion-control really gives you a great feeling of control.

Kerry M