A way to make single notes sustain.. a la Parisienne Walkways...

steveforward

steveforward

Inspired
Hi all,
Loving my FM3, I usually get my feedback live on notes, by standing in certain positions, but on live streams, with headphones, it's a little errr.. tricky...
My question is, is there a way to make certain notes behave like say a Sustainiac, or something similar, so you hold a note, tap a switch, and boom, the note holds indefinitely.. not using the Hold function on a delay block, but maybe something more natural sounding?
Thank you in advance guys!
 
steveforward said:
Hi all,
Loving my FM3, I usually get my feedback live on notes, by standing in certain positions, but on live streams, with headphones, it's a little errr.. tricky...
My question is, is there a way to make certain notes behave like say a Sustainiac, or something similar, so you hold a note, tap a switch, and boom, the note holds indefinitely.. not using the Hold function on a delay block, but maybe something more natural sounding?
Thank you in advance guys!
Click to expand...
I use real feedback on stage often also, and headphones at home, and headphones can’t do it. Even with the various pedals out there it’s not going to sound right. We’re used to how physics and acoustic coupling do it and, after experiencing that nothing else sounds right.

If you have studio monitor speakers then sit closer to them. They’ll still need to be turned up to move the air, but if you’re closer then they won’t need to move as much. If you don’t, then experiment with your regular cab or FRFR very close to you, because, again, the closer you are to the speaker, the lower the volume can be. You can still wear your headphones, just get the acoustic coupling working.

@Cooper Carter and @Marco Fanton have both demonstrated using feedback from their monitors in the studio in their videos.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
I use real feedback on stage often also, and headphones at home, and headphones can’t do it. Even with the various pedals out there it’s not going to sound right. We’re used to how physics and acoustic coupling do it and, after experiencing that nothing else sounds right.

If you have studio monitor speakers then sit closer to them. They’ll still need to be turned up to move the air, but if you’re closer then they won’t need to move as much. If you don’t, then experiment with your regular cab or FRFR very close to you, because, again, the closer you are to the speaker, the lower the volume can be. You can still wear your headphones, just get the acoustic coupling working.

@Cooper Carter and @Marco Fanton have both demonstrated using feedback from their monitors in the studio in their videos.
Click to expand...
Agree that nothing artificial really behaves like acoustic feedback. Closest is probably the electro-acoustic version of the Sustainiac, but it's a bit of a hassle, and not exactly like a super loud amp. Cool effect though. It's real feedback, just directly through the guitar headstock, not really loud speakers in the room.

One trick I've used in the studio, through studio monitors, is to compress the crap out of the guitar in the monitors, only, without recording that compression. It's pretty effective if you can get it set up right. It's "real" acoustic feedback, just at lower volume. Not usable if you're in headphones though.
 
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simeon said:
you can also do it by touching the headstock of your guitar to the speaker cabinet and get a direct vibration transmission
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Although this is a common "hack" used to generate feedback when SPLs aren't high enough, the amount of low frequency transmitting back into the guitar from coupling it to a loudspeaker often means you'll only get one specific overtone, and at a far lower pitch than you would by inducing feedback the old fashioned way. The possibility of moving through different resonances (ala "Flying in a Blue Dream"), is almost impossible as well. Not necessarily a bad thing if that's what you're going for though.

Worth noting that every single time this technique has been attempted with our monitors by a guitarist in-session, we've ended up putting headphones on them and sending them into the cab room to get the real thing. (Or by turning the monitors up to ridiculous volumes in order to do it traditionally.) It's such a common occurence that I now consider watching a guitarist stick their headstock on a speaker and then move the axe around in an attempt to change the note as one of the funniest, halfest-baked concepts I get to witness in music. It's even better to watch live.

Considering that the feedback we're used to is the result of an instrument reacting to standing waves in a physical space, it's incredibly difficult to induce artificially, let alone simulate realistically. The Freq Out pedal and Carter/Fanton hacks are super usable and incredibly clever work-arounds, but in my opinion, feedback is one of the few things that has yet to be effectively tackled in the digital realm.
 
Digitech frequout does a decent job but has limitations (ie don't wiggle the note while the Frequout is sustaining it), and of course is no replacement for real coupling. I have it in a loop with expression pedal to vary the amount that gets into the mainline signal. Can be reproduced by Axfx, but having it in a pedal is easy (would love to have a feedbacker block).
 
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