Not electric guitar - Electronic guitar!

Rockerbob · #1 March 10th, 2006

This is from my dark MIDI period, quite a few years back - almost 20. I was fooling around with MIDI a lot and since I don't play keyboards, I got a guitar synth. This tune came from my MIDI and guitar synth experimenting days. There are no "real" sounds on this recording. Even the "guitar" is a synth. All the MIDI parts were programmed by me playing the MIDI guitar then sending the MIDI to several different sound modules. Except the drums which were programmed using a Roland Octapad. The title came from the size of the MIDI file when all the tracks were completed - 139K. MIDI data is small. My tunes these days, being all audio and almost no MIDI at all, are very large.

Anyway, all the keyboard, guitar and horn parts are synth or samples being trigger from a Roland Guitar synth.

nocat · #2 March 10th, 2006

Great arrangement...!!! Very inventive... Man. that must have been a blast...!!!!
Do you still have the synth-axe..?

Rockerbob · #3 March 10th, 2006

I still have it, but I don't use it much anymore.

strtblstr · #4 March 10th, 2006

That didn't sound to dark to me. great tune.

CanuckTodd · #5 March 10th, 2006

Rockerbob, the man of many talents! That transported me back to the 80s. I have to say I prefer the real Rockerbob playing real instruments and singing, but it was still creative and fun. Hard to believe all those sounds are 139K!

Rockerbob · #6 March 10th, 2006

Oh, the song is not dark, just the use of technology.

It was the '80s! When it's just MIDI tracks, the file are, or at least were, small.

si16 · #7 March 10th, 2006

Real interesting arrangement going on, RB. Lots to keep people's interest. I'm not a great fan of MIDI but some of those 'instruments' were quite realistic.

allthumbs · #8 March 11th, 2006

Rockerbob · #9 March 11th, 2006

Thanks for listening. I know it's kind of weird for guitar music. I feel that my time spent learning to use MIDI tools helped prepare me to not use them properly.

CanuckTodd · #10 March 11th, 2006

Hey Rockerbob...
Do you take requests? : )
Welcome to KROCK, the Mile High City's Rockerbob request line...
I heard a tune the other day that I think would be perfect for you. Last Kiss.
If you were performing live you could also bridge two audiences... Old farts who remember the original Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers version from 1964, and the Pearl Jam version in 1999 for the younger crowd. The song would suit your vocals well, not to mention the intense lyrics over top of a sweet melody line. It's a bittersweet song, but damn haunting.
You know the one..
Where oh where can my baby be? The Lord took her away from me..
She's gone to heaven so I've got to be good, so I can see my baby when I leave... this world..

Just a thought from one of your many fans looking forward to a new take.

Rockerbob · #11 March 12th, 2006

I love requests! All I ask is that they be submitted in writing, in triplicate, on the back of 100 dollar bills.

The truth is, I'm a lazy SOB, so I hate to commit to anything. Consider the seed planted.

PickNGrin · #12 March 13th, 2006

CRazy stuff! I like the real McCoy better too, but it does sound impressive because it sounds complex, like a lot went into it.
I've done "Last Kiss" -never recorded it, but I've done it live, its a fairly easy tune.

CanuckTodd · #13 March 13th, 2006

mail for your Last Kiss rendition...
Seriously though, I'd cough up a few bucks for a collection of Rockerbob tunes pressed onto a CD. I'm "old fashioned" so I prefer to actually spend money to buy CDs I like or I buy individual tunes on itunes.

It's great for people to post here for free in this friendly forum, but a lot of the stuff here is really very, very good and "ready for prime time."
If the money raised helps pay for strings, picks, recording software, microphones, or pop and chips (beer for those of age) to keep you going through the takes and retakes, hey, all the better.

Ok Clancy, commercial opportunity: Best of the Forum 2006: A CD with 20 of the best tracks from the past year. All tracks picked solely by you and Kirk, with input from the moderators. Charge $25 a CD and each artist gets a buck per sale and the Forum organizers keep $5.

CanuckTodd · #14 March 13th, 2006

The CD could also have text files with the tabs for all the versions of the songs, so that aspiring pluckers, pickers and strummers could work their way through their favourite tunes.