SynthAxe thingy

rpr

Seen pictures of these things, but haven't really gave it much attention. however i came across this on this demo on YouTube It's a bit daft/dated sounding and slightly bonkers, but for the first 10 minutes or,  strangely entertaining. Some of the sounds remind me of the cheapo toy Casio I have lying about.

I do wish the reviewer would contain his enthusiasm a bit tho,,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqdVQ9VdoAg

ICBM

I tried one once. It was probably the most unnatural-feeling instrument I've ever held, worse even than the Casio one with plastic strings or the Ashbory bass which you had to use talc on.

It was almost as bad as one of those fairground games where you have to do something using grippers that reverse your hand movements, or trying to cut the hair on the back of your neck using two mirrors.

I don't have much memory of the sounds...

I think I'd rather have a Firewood Ex.

octatonic

ICBM said:

I tried one once. It was probably the most unnatural-feeling instrument I've ever held...

Ehrm. Naaaah, I'll leave it.

ICBM said:

...worse even than the Casio one with plastic strings or the Ashbory bass which you had to use talc on.

It was almost as bad as one of those fairground games where you have to do something using grippers that reverse your hand movements, or trying to cut the hair on the back of your neck using two mirrors.

I don't have much memory of the sounds...

I think I'd rather have a Firewood Ex.

Agree.

They are notoriously fragile & virtually irreparable these days.

fretmeister

Holy Shit!

It's Neville!

chrispy108

The Wang Arm

johnnyurq

IIRC one of the Bee Gees used to sport one in videos back in the day, not sure if they actually used it for recording or live though.

mart

johnnyurq said:

IIRC one of the Bee Gees used to sport one in videos back in the day, not sure if they actually used it for recording or live though.

And Gary Moore: http://cdn.ustatik.com/_img/columns/Gary-Moore-Synthaxe.jpg

You can also find references to Jimmy Page and Allan Holdsworth playing them. Which just goes to prove that endorsements aren't everything!

Fretwired

fretmeister said:

Holy Shit!

It's Neville!

He put one up for sale on Facebook a while back ... it still worked and he had all the accessories. They're quite collectable now. Allan Holdsworth was the only player I recall using it as his main guitar.

DulcetJones

I saw a Genesis tribute band back around the time these came out and the guitarist had one.  He had nothing but trouble with it for the first couple of songs then he gave in to the angry glares from his bandmates and replaced it with a trusty strat.

OilCityPickups

I had a Casio MG510 exactly like this when they came out ... played it through a Kawai K1 module.


Absolute hunk of shit ... tracking all over the show ... put me off guitar triggered synthesis for good. Though I still like the 'idea' ...

johnnyurq

mart;43860" said:

johnnyurq said:

IIRC one of the Bee Gees used to sport one in videos back in the day, not sure if they actually used it for recording or live though.



And Gary Moore:

http://cdn.ustatik.com/_img/columns/Gary-Moore-Synthaxe.jpg

You can also find references to Jimmy Page and Allan Holdsworth playing them. Which just goes to prove that endorsements aren't everything!

@mart

Amen to that, not that I would recommend it because the Bee Gees used one, or at all in fact.

Every time I see or hear the Bee Gees I can't help thinking of the Kenny Everett skits. LOLsome indeed.