BMU wrote
Different patches for different strings...hmmm possibilities. ?
Absolutely! You can also change the pitch of any string, which is handy for dropping the octave of bass parts or raising string sections into a different register from the guitar sound. It's easy to get carried away at first, you do settle down and mostly end up using one voice or splitting bass and treble strings into different patches. I have a string patch that uses different sounds per pair of strings (5,6 - contrabass; 3,4-cello and 1,2-viola), but otherwise all my patches are single or dual voice.
However, we're talking specifically about the GR-20 here, which has been "simplified" and can't access all of these functions (or if it has them are preset into the patch). To get access to the usual gamut of guitarsynth features you need to look at the GI-20, which has a better pitch conversion engine and a much faster MIDI output, but no built-in sounds. The Terratec Axon adds a few features over the Rolands too - i.e. you can split a string into different sounds depending on where you pick. ?
You can also obviously layer sounds - putting strings or a pad over piano, etc.. I also do a lot of stuff where I layer synth pads over the guitar sound. You can also use rhythmic or arpeggiated synth sounds to spice things up a bit. In fact, listen to any of my comp entries that have synth or "keys" - they're all guitar synth, usually recorded as part of the rhythm guitar sound:
Junkyard Dogs - the three bass strings are layered with a bass guitar sound, shifted down an octave, the three treble strings are layered with a Hammond organ.
Heavy - Aside from bass and drums, everything else is one guitar (a sweep pad and an arpeggiated lead sound).
Industrial - all one guitar played realtime (including drums).
So the six mono channels do blend together allowing chords to be played right? It's not limited to one note at a time like say a flute or a sax?
Correct.
this also allows using a guitar as a MIDI input device into a sequencer like Cubase, to access soft synth sounds from e.g. Halion, correct?
Yup - I don't use a single hardware synth any more, but have a slew of softsynths and sample libraries. However, as mentioned, the GR-20 is a bit slow on the pure MIDI output side. It uses a "trick" to make the internal sounds faster (triggering the attack portion of the sound before it has figured out what the pitch of the note is), and most find it unsatisfactory for driving external synths. If that's what you want to do, rather look at getting a GK-3 (or Graph Tech GHOST) and a GI-20 or an Axon.
