The nylon string sound is certainly the equal of dedicated acoustic/electric nylon string guitars, such as the Gibson Chet Atkins model Classic Electric solid body nylon string guitar.
And the electric sitar patches are also rather nice. In fact, the VG-88 saved me the purchase of real 12-string and nylon string guitars, and an electric sitar. I like having examples of all of those available for their tonal colors when recording, yet none are instruments that I would normally play. But I actually wandered around the annual Dallas Guitar Show last April seriously looking for a good Classic Electric Chet Atkins model or affordable 12-string. And I've given serious thought to purchasing an electric sitar from time to time.
In other words, for the serious home recordist or working session guitarist, the VG-88 would be a great tool to have in the arsenal. As Kevin Shirley, who's engineered albums for Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and Aerosmith once said of the unit's immediate predecessor, the VG-8, "As far as newer equipment that's come in, I love this Roland VG-8 guitar synthesizer. That's fantastic. I've used that for a while, and I've always introduced it to guys in the other bands, and they always say, "You'll never see us touch them." When we did the Aerosmith album, I showed Joe Perry my VG-8, which I put a little pick-up on one of my Strats. He was like, "Nah, I'll never use that. If I use a 12-string, I'll use a 12-string." But if you see him live now, he's got a VG-8 hooked up. I love that. And Neal Schon uses it. And this new band with Jason Bonham, Healing Sixes, uses it." (For our Blogcritics interview with Shirley, click here.)
Limited But Usable Guitar Synth Models
While the emphasis on the VG-88 is modeling traditional electric and acoustic guitars, the unit has several guitar synthesizer presets, which are strongly reminiscent of Roland's original guitar synthesizers of the early 1980s. (Listen to Andy Summers and Robert Fripp's I Advance Masked from 1982, it's practically a demonstration disc for these early Roland guitar synths.) There are some great warm flute-like analog patches, and a patch somewhat reminiscent of the Polymoog synth that Gary Numan played on his classic hit "Cars". There's also a nifty, highly usable Hammond B3-style organ patch, and a terrific Pat Methaney-style patch called "12ST 5th", (12 string with fifths instead of octaves) for wonderfully huge chordal sounds.
Article comments
1 - Darren
It is interesting to see a review for an item that is nearly four years old, but it is a misnomer to call the VG-88 (or its predecessor, the VG-8), a guitar synth. It is in fact a guitar modeller and not a synth at all. For guitar synths, check out the GR range, such as the GR-33 and the GR-20. Sorry to be a pedant. ;-)
2 - Mark Saleski
i have a GR-50, though when i bought i the outboard pickup wasn't using midi, but some proprietary Roland signals.
works pretty well, though doesn't track nearly as well as this thing supposedly does.
3 - Connie Phillips
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