Korg X-911 Guitar Synthesizer

[MrChaficy]

for all musiciens see the gr55 by roland

[col79detroit]

Hi David,

Sounds great. I was wondering what amp you're running it through? There's one for sale in my area, and I'm wondering how it would work plugged directly into my 65 twin reverb. It's an analog unit right? Thanks for your time. -C

[MooseHeadMoosic]

Huh, it's kinda like a vintage version of the Misa Digital, in some weird way.

[drkam6]

it's neat...

[inthebasement2112]

is this thing mono or polyphonic?

[buchla300]

@inthebasement2112 monophonic

[xXxCrossoveRxXx]

pat metheny style

[universalmanchild]

does it track better than the ehx micro synth ??

[buchla300]

@universalmanchild I've never tried the EHX pedal.. if you play carefully the korg tracks ok, but you need to be accurate. 

[universalmanchild]

@buchla300 think i got a good idea now- thanks

[megafang]

@universalmanchild

ehx don't track at all cuzzzz

[RinghausenMusic]

Hi from Germany ,

nice Video ... i have the MS 20 , the External Processor its not soo good

All the Best Uli

[buchla300]

@RinghausenMusic Nice machines the MS series! I guess the X-911 is optimised for external control whereas the MS20 is really more for keyboard control and the interface is an addition rather than fundamental to it working properly..

Cheers

David

[synsuke]

Hi I got one. So Do you use any effectors before x911, for example EQ or Comp.? Because I make many miss tones, but I use singlecoil guitar.

[buchla300]

@synsuke Hi there. I didn't use anything but you could use a compressor to keep the signal level more even and you can adjust the level better perhaps..

Humbuckers probably work better too.

It's not going to track perfectly but if you are accurate it can track decently.

[synsuke]

@buchla300 thank you!

[buchla300]

@lunaboomboom as I said before, it's still very playable if you are careful. Not too bad. You have to change technique a little bit but I didn't find it too hard to do so.

[2685544526855259]

is it good for for nice techno, drum n bass sounds like of Pendulum ?

[Dimefan91]

This would be great to make space themed porno music xD

[buchla300]

@Dimefan91 you could be right! Any directors out there, please get in touch :-)

[NobuShagrath]

hey i have one of those an i still have the box the problem is no manual :( if you whant me to make an revieuw i will XD but i dunnow how to configure the thing

[Mantrada]

How does it handle chords??

[buchla300]

@Mantrada it doesn't! Monophonic.

[Martijnnaber]

I love this machine! Do you think, as a user yourself, (Ahaha) that this would fit right on a vintage synthesizer as extra synth layer? Thanks in advance :D

[buchla300]

@Martijnnaber I am sure it would. It has decent possibilites for interfacing and the filter is great.. someone has modularoised one, so it is patchable.

hem.bredband.net/elmuced/x911.­htm

[AfonsoGuitar]

Some latency?

[buchla300]

@AfonsoGuitar Yes there is but it's still very playable if you are careful. Not too bad. You have to change technique a little bit but I didn't find it too hard to do so.

[AfonsoGuitar]

@buchla300 I Lovet this Korg X-911, but the vintage synths are hard to find and expensive.

I'm considering about the Pigtronix Mothership Analog Synth pedal as a simple alternative.

[buchla300]

@AfonsoGuitar

I also have a Roland GR300/G-808 setup and that is brilliant. No latency but as you say..a bit pricey.

Maybe the Electro Harmonix Hog could be interesting?

[AfonsoGuitar]

@buchla300 Would Be perfect sounds like g303/g808 with GR300, because I play some Pat Metheny songs.

The effects of HOG that I heard on YouTube did not convince me.

The sounds of pedal Mothership is more similar to a vintage synth module I seek.

[cyagnusxi]

euros? damn I only have Dollars. :(

[JohnJamesMaloney]

Instirational!!!

[survivor030406]

that thing is awesome, I want one!

[tneri8]

Lots of possible live applications with this, thanks for introducing me to it!!

[Desmaad]

What would happen if you tried to play a chord on this thing?

[Presentboy]

how much did u get it for?

[buchla300]

@Presentboy I can't remember. I think something like 400 euros..

[ekalb2185]

guitar synthesizers are the future of sound for guitars, that's why I love synths

[pinksocko]

does this need a dedicated pickup?

[ake719]

i have one of these and i use it with drum machines... ;)

[desideratha]

Way to go! I got one too, however it's not working... now that I see you, I'll get it fixed.

[DJSoulVOX]

Yeah, I have one, too. I love it. It really does track really well if you're a clean playing like you are. Most people I know can't get it to track that well but I never thought it was that hard.

[verivorax]

I have one of these and I love it.. Analogue juiciness!

[mummycaesar]

did you need to use a preamp before the pedal, or did the tracking work this well straight off?

[buchla300]

Guitar straight in. You have to change technique a little, but it's pretty good considering!

[mummycaesar]

i just got one yesterday and the tracking is almost completely unresponsive - will have to get it fixed i guess!

[cisco9x]

Why didn't you just buy a Zoom G2

[prototek]

Great video from an obviously great musician who has superb taste in gear!! :)

[buchla300]

Many thanks!

[timjmoran]

when did Korg make a Guitar Synth? Is this a vintage unit? Somehow I think I missed this lil' box.. pretty kool. and no

Hex PU is required? wow.. fun.. where can I get one??

[buchla300]

They are on ebay occasionally as they are from the 80's I believe. No Hex pu required, so tracking needs care, but it works and is great fun. The sound is excellent I think.

[ReaktorFreak]

No hex means it's monophonic only ?

[buchla300]

Yes, mono only

[tomtomtrommeltom]

oh!

[ChristianAether]

That one i woud taste!

C.K.

[danceofthedruids]

Very GR-300 sounding. Amazing that you can run a regular guitar through this. Tracks real nicely. Just missed out on one on Ebay for $599.

(As comparison I do own the GR300 with the G-808 as well as the GR500 with the GS-500.)

Nice demo!

[buchla300]

Why bother making a point like that?

I could say trying to play Metallica solos is lame but if you want to, feel free..

[bcarr6615]

if you even are a musician, you're a very closed-minded one

[trylonperisphere]

Why do guitar players overdrive their amps? Why did Hendrix use a wah, octave box, and experiment with feedback? Why do players today use any number of effects? Because we want to do more with our instruments.

[DJBonc]

wow it tracks really well, doesn't it?

looks much better than the GR-500 and the MS-20.

[pmsan29]

amazing!!! i love the sound.

Incredible that they had this technology way back in 1980.

[vagtadeu]

I didn't like no one sounds... =/

[buchla300]

It's not for everyone. I prefer the Roland GR300 sounds myself, but the korg is still a great little box and I had a lot of fun with it.

Just not to your taste I guess.

[GuernB2]

what about the pigtronix mothership?

[buchla300]

I have no experience of that, but it looks fun!

[SuperDayv]

Wow that's so cool! I was just reading about Frusciante working with these so I wanted to hear exactly how they sound, looks like so much fun!

[Chumleh]

Great tone.

[wendlinka]

very nice sound, cool stuff!

[ramongonzalez3000]

Hi bro, any latency??

anybody are selling one? I want to buy it.

NINO.

[buchla300]

I actually sold it! Latency, yes a bit, but it´s fun and works all the same

Nice things. Sorry can´t help with finding one, but ebay seems to throw them up once in a while

[seppesantens]

Latency on an analog machine? Seems impossible to me...

[buchla300]

It has to analyse the guitar strings for pitch, so it takes a cycle or 2. On lower strings as the strings vibrate slowly, a few cycles is certainly noticeable.

So, I call that latency but the synth itself is obviously not creating that latency. The pitch detection is.

[seppesantens]

ok, thanks for the info!

[DONKEYFORRENT]

nice video, and great chops! I found one of these YEARS ago for $100 in a used shop and still fire it up on occasion.

if you REALLY wanna have fun - run it as a send effect on a vocal track...weirdo-comedy...

[ramongonzalez3000]

Hi bro, any latency??

anybody are selling one? I want to buy it.

NINO.

[agonaces]

thats a great little box!

looks and sounds very fun.

[metalzone2000]

yeah sorry man. I have used several guitar synths and cant standem.....I love the real things. The knobs, the sounds, the looks.....oh yeah.

p.s. you know anyone sellin a Korg MS-20?

[buchla300]

No problem!

I still love playing the Roland GR808. Limited, but you can play it properly.

MS20? Tricky for a sensible price and I haven't seen any for a while.

[metalzone2000]

man just buy a real synth. it's better. I can get those tons with an Eq a Wha and my Boss Power Driver. oh yeah and a ring modulator.

[buchla300]

I have a few decent synths..you could check my other videos..

I never got the arguments that "I can do that with xxx" because, I'm sure you can, but EVERYTHING has it's own charm and character.

[nzkobc]

How much did that cost you?

[buchla300]

Can't remember. Sold now alas (I think I got $500). I have a Roland G-808/GR300 which I use much more.

I agree. It sounds fabulous. Very cool box

[sleestack]

You can't do cv outs on the gr-300 though. I found a guy that made a box for getting cv outs on the gr-300 btw

[nzkobc]

Just fucking great. I heard a sample of this thing before on some website, and they person who did the demo must have not known the word "monophonic".

Sounds fucking fantastic. Sounds like I need to get one.

[Vtolus]

nice!!! a want one tooo

[synthesizer301]

this korg X-911 guitarynthesizer is a very

old model from the begin eighties and its not

polyphonic so its not possible to play cords

in that case a roland synthesizer from that time

is a lot better

[sleestack]

Sorry, I keep thinking of new ideas for these things. I just thought of another idea. Since the gr-300 tracks so well and the x-911 tracks really well with pure sine waves I have to wonder what it would be like plugging the gr300 into the x-911 with the gr300 outputting pure sine waves and then sending the resulting cv gate signals on the x-911 out to external gear.

[sleestack]

I just thought of something. What if you sent a pure sine wave through this thing? Would it track it? Would the timing of playing other synths with that set up be better than midi?

[buchla300]

I am sure it would track well. I can try it soon.

The thing is, it has cv-gate in (korg hz format) so to use with another synth, you can just use that.

But it should track another synth very nicely

[VUZOOKA]

duuude this one is a lot cooooler than I thought. and they say it tracks too awkwardly to be playable! no, this vid makes me want to seriously buy this little thingy! is it true that you don't have to install any additional pickups or anything to make it work? and did you have to buy this several times to find a working copy?

[buchla300]

Hi and Thanks!

No pickup needed. As I mentioned you have to pick cleanly and I compressed the guitar to even out the dynamics, but it's pretty good for a 30 year old guitar synth! The sound is excellent.

First one I have tried was this one, so I presume they are all like it.

Since I bought it, I haven't seen any on ebay though.

I do suggest finding one though. Very nice units.

[bostonstreet]

i got one and don't think i could ever sell it... when i was younger i used to run songs through it and tape them over...

also ran a gameboy through it. 7yr old noise musician?

[hartleytransform]

Sounded like you were going to break into Jingle Bells at 4:36!

[buchla300]

Maybe my next album should be a Christmas CD all done on the X-911. Whay do you think??!

[PhotoAnimationGuy]

sik

[sleestack]

How is the gr-300 better than this? Looks like its pretty great already

[buchla300]

Much better tracking. Very fast (faster than any midi system) You don't really have to change your technique. Here, I am trying to play very accurately and I am not sure I would use it live..The Roland I would have no problem taking on a gig.

The Roland has a great sound and some cool features.

[sleestack]

Thats interesting. Cool. Be good to play into a cv sequencer like an mc4. Like a melody. Does the gr300 only have one cv gate out?

[buchla300]

No CV-Gate out at all. Just a self contained synth unit. The predecessor (GR-500) had CV-Gate out but had terrible tracking.

[thedivinechemical]

Wow. I am totally synthsturbating to this. That first patch was especially nice. Sounded like the old cheese organ from The Doors.

[acousticore]

Is the Echo coming from the X-911 or a Delay unit?

[buchla300]

That's from an Eventide H3000. Sorry Should have mentioned that.

[sleestack]

does it use a pitch to cv converter like on the ms20? It looks to track really well.

[buchla300]

Hi!

I don't know if it is the same as the MS20, but yes, it's Pitch to CV.

Considering it is nearly 30 years old, I'm impressed with it. If you play cleanly and compress the signal going in, it's ok.