The majestic Synthaxe October 18, 2008 5:46 PM Subscribe
In the wide world of synthesizer guitars, the Synthaxe may well be the choicest both in its aesthetics and its raw awesomeness could. John Hollis tells us what we're missing. Some guy demonstrates it. Allan Holdsworth whips it out in concert. Also, a music video from Lee Ritenour's Synthaxe-heavy Earth Run album.
posted by colinmarshall (25 comments total)
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That should say "raw awesomeness count" above. No way to edit on MeFi, I presume? posted by colinmarshall at 6:02 PM on October 18, 2008
One of the times I saw Allan Holdsworth live in the 80's he was opening for Chick Corea, and he played the Synthaxe. This era of course is when the Yamaha DX-7 ruled the roost. (Though I was more into the analog sounds of the Moog and the Fender Rhodes Chroma and Chroma Polaris at the time.) While it was an interesting instrument, I felt like Allan Holdsworth played the guitar just fine, and the Synthaxe really didn't add a lot. In fact, it seemed to add a certain amount of sterility.
Of the many things that doomed the synthaxe from the start, it's obvious that the ergonomics were off. Ass John Hollis says, the thing is heavy. Then the price, and the bulk of it. It was an interesting synth controller, and quite technologically advanced for the day. It tried to solve some issues as a controller as far as dynamics and expression, but in the end it was just a synth controller. Kind of a retrofuture modern now. I felt like the stuff Fripp and Belew were doing at the time were much more interesting. posted by Eekacat at 6:09 PM on October 18, 2008
No way to edit on MeFi, I presume?
Ask the mods nicely and they might have mercy on your soul.
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Man, Wikipedia is getting all snooty in it's old age. posted by Eekacat at 6:33 PM on October 18, 2008
I don't understand exactly why this sucks so hard. Robert Fripp can play the hell out of a Roland synth guitar - one of the ones that's an actual guitar with a hexaphonic pitch to midi pickup - and it sounds great - like the stuff on the Discipline album. But that's a real guitar with pitch to midi fittings.
Oh man, fleetmouse, the Sylvian/Fripp stuff is awesome. I'm a huge sucker for Frippertronics too. I have "Let the Power Fall" on vinyl, and he does a beautiful piece of Frippertronics on the Fripp/Sylvian album "The First Day" called "Bringing Down the Light". Yeah definitely Fripp is a better musician. But, it also shows that the Synthaxe really wasn't all that expressive despite all it's engineering to be that way. posted by Eekacat at 8:03 PM on October 18, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]
Really not terribly on topic, but gently loving YouTube considers Puerto Rico a different country and your link "music video" there is "not available in [my] country". Gentle lovers. I so like an Internet that distinguishes between countries when serving (or not serving) content, especially when it's wrong. posted by Michael Roberts at 8:48 PM on October 18, 2008
Jesus. If Hillary Clinton is mom pants then John McCain is a Lee Ritenour synthaxe solo. posted by bunnytricks at 9:03 PM on October 18, 2008
Now we're talking. Bring Moog filters and features to the STRINGS. Reckon this'll be a popular item! And they didn't forget the most important feature:
If Hillary Clinton is mom pants then John McCain is a Lee Ritenour synthaxe solo.
Hey, Dennis Miller joined Metafilter! posted by P.o.B. at 4:09 AM on October 19, 2008
I really enjoy a blast of Holdsworth — he was amazing in the Tony Williams Lifetime, for example — but the Syntheaxe stuff just doesn't do it for me tonally. The dynamics are flat, the sounds are lacking in character, and it doesn't do anything a MiniMoog didn't do better and fatter. Ditto for McLaughlin and Metheney — I don't want denatured keyboard sounds, I love the guitar! posted by Wolof at 5:26 AM on October 19, 2008
There's also the the ZTAR, but the Moog guitar looks more interesting.
My pet theory about the Synthaxe and synthesized guitars:
Had John Bonham not died in 1980 and Led Zeppelin survived to record a follow-up to In Through The Out Door, you'd be hearing tons of synthesized guitars from Jimmy Page. I can't guess as to how the 80s-era Zeppelin would have sounded; perhaps it would have been as sterile as Allan Holdsworth, or closer to 80s-era King Crimson, or even along the lines of Judas Priest's Turbo.
The same theory holds true for Yes, had they managed to make a follow-up to Drama with that same hybrid Yes/Buggles lineup as on that album. posted by stannate at 4:17 PM on October 21, 2008
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posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:59 PM on October 18, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]