The rock ’n’ roll arsenal has never been more formidable than it is today. The simple guitar and amplifier have given way to brigades of special effects devices, modular amplification systems and sophisticated electronic enhancements of the raw, biting sound of electric guitar.

This effort at “broadening the horizons” of guitar playing is most evident in the area of guitar synthesizers which, although they have been in production for only a few years, transform the simple guitarist into a horn section, a string section, and an electronic wizard in one mighty stroke.

Guitar synthesis was the logical outgrowth of electronic keyboard synthesizers; indeed, guitar synthesizers might have come first had it not been for the problem of converting the pitch of guitar strings into a voltage that could be processed by electronic synthesizers.

Anyway, after much trepidation and gnashing of teeth, several companies burst upon the scene at roughly the same time with The Answer: a new type of electronic pickup for guitar that effectively isolated the signal of each guitar string and successfully (more or less) converted pitch into voltage. ^

The development of that pickup opened the door for electronic devices such as the guitarist had never seen, at prices unheard of for even the best new electric guitars and amps. Furthermore, these synthesizers were controlled by ^n array of bewildering switches, sliders and foot pedals, all bearing strange names, abbreviations, and electronic symbols that were totally unfamiliar to most guitar players. In advertising, a new age of guitar playing was heralded.

However, the implementation of these new weapons in the field of rock music proved difficult, to say the least. The guitarist was faced with having to make a sizeable cash outlay to obtain a guitar synthesizer, as well as the task of educating himself in the understanding and effective use of the instrument. Furthermore, several of the early models included the special pickup, which had to be mounted on the guitar as close to the bridge of the instrument as possible.

Obviously, in cases where the only instrument a guitarist owned was a vintage instrument, the notion of drilling two small holes in the top of the instrument was dubious, if not totafly repugnant. Also, since these pickups had to be used on solid-body instruments in order to be effective, those guitar players who preferred hollow-bodied instruments had no choice but to purchase another guitar before they could embrace guitar synthesis.

So, while it is true that some people, some of them famous guitar players, bought guitar synthesizers, and recordings began to turn up with guitar synthesizers as part of the show, guitar synthesizers went over in the mass market like the proverbial concrete canoe. Certainly the desire for new sounds was there, but the high cost and other prohibitive factors kept guitar synthesizers out of the hands of the vast majority of guitarists.

However, far from abandoning the idea of guitar synthesis, some manufacturers sought to solve the problems that beset the early synthesizers by reducing the physical size of the instruments, limiting the capabilities of the synthesizer to those which best served the guitarist, and, most importantly, solving the problems presented by the special pickup.

The Korg X911 is the best example of this second wave of guitar synthesizers. It is small, relatively simple, and requires no special pickup of any kind. Instead, the pitch-to-voltage conversion is done inside the X911, and it will work with virtually any electric guitar.

Basically, the X911 contains eleven mixable voices, each of which has at least one variable parameter. Six of these voices are preset, and five are variable synthesizer voices.

The six presets include: Electric Bass, Tuba, Trumpet, Distortion Guitar, Violin and Flute. All of these have a variable Tone control except the Violin preset, which has a variable Attack control.

On the variable synthesizer side, the X911 has two Pulse Waves, a Sawtooth wave, and two Square Waves. Each of these is accompanied by a variable Attack or Decay control.,A Balance control between the two sections controls the relative volume of each section, and one central Cancel switch deactivates all eleven voices at once.

The Input Volume is accompanied by a Level Attenuation switch, a Polarity switch, as well as Peak and Trigger LED indicators.

A three-position Octave switch extends the range of any guitar used with the X911. An Interval control enables the user to tune the synthesizer note to intervals of up to ajperfect fifth above or below the original guitar note. At this point it is interesting to note the Interval footswitch jack and the Direct Output jack on the front panel of the X911. The desired interval can be set by the user and activated by the footswitch as desired, while the Direct Output carries the unaltered signal to another amplifier. The result is two distinctly different sounds, emanating from two different amps, with one sound accompanied by a harmony note.

In addition to footswitch Interval capabilities, the X911 has three other footswitchabie functions: Portamento, Hold and On/Off. Portamento is sometimes known as “glide,” and the rate of ascent is adjustable by a rotary pot on the front panel. “Hold” is another way of saying “infinite sustain”; that is, the user plays a note, depresses the footswitch, and the note will hold until the switch is released. In the meantime, the user can continue to play other passages over the sustaining note.

Another variable of the X911 is the Filter cutoff frequency. In fact, while the operation of the X911 is basically monophonic, the user can employ the Signal Select switch to route normal or fuzz guitar sounds through the filter and envelope generators of the unit, thereby achieving polyphonic effects that are quite useful. Still another variable is the Touch Sensitivity of the X911; that is, the amount of pick attack that the guitarist must exert in order for the synthesizer to respond.

While the X911 is relatively simple to operate, it is not limited. There are interface jacks on the rear panel which enable the X911 to be interfaced with other synthesizers and sequences for expanded capabilities. Pitch Modulation and Filter Modulation can be externally controlled by a control voltage, such as is already available in the Korg MS01 pedal.

What the Korg X911 does is open the door to guitar synthesis for the rank and file of guitar players. The retail price of $550.00 is less than many echo and time delay units currently available. The simplicity of hookup and operation of the X911 is encouraging, rather than discouraging, to guitar players, and the interface capabilities allow those with the money and the inclination to proceed further into the area of guitar synthesis.

The current trend toward “minimalism^ in rock music seems to indicate that guitarists are far from abandoning the basic sound of guitar and amplifier. However, the return to smaller groups is not an entirely artistic trend, it is an economic trend as well. It is simply too costly to operate big bands on the road these days, and musicians in small groups will continue to be called upon for a wider variety of sounds from their instruments. For them, the X911 may be the secret weapon that wins the war.