Guitar Synth in Floyd's "Live at Pompeii?"

[James Guitar]

Hi:
Does anyone know what exactly Dave Gilmour is playing in one of Pompeii's studio bits when it shows him jamming with some sort of guitar synth sound? is it a modified regular guitar or is it some early guitar synth prototype? a mix of the two? neither? i'm really just curious that's all...
i'd give you the specific time in the film but my dvd's are packed up ready to move houses...
thanks in advance,
-J

[tINY]

Are you sure he's not just using an E-bow?



-tINY

[James Guitar]

yeh it's not an ebow. i own and play an ebow so it's def not that. he's playing the guitar, playing lines with his left hand, holding a pick in right hand. it's in the studio...
-J

[doorknocker]

I just watched 'Pompejii about a week ago. No idea what that synth is, but what puzzles me even more is the E-Bow-like thing Gilmour plays on 'Echoes'. Anyboy know what that is? It's not an E-Bow though as the pitch is changed with the device itself and not with the left hand, at least that's my impression....

I'm really amazed by the control that Gimour displays on the whole of that footage both musically and sonically. Awesome.

[James Guitar]

isn't that a binson echorec in that saucerful scene? GREAT shades on gilmour in that scene... isn't he futzing with the echo time there?
-J

[code green]

haven't seen this in quite some time (and before my slutty days) but i believe gilmour was using an EMS Hi-Fli guitar synth during this era...maybe the thing in his hand is the "pickup" for the synth????!

[Berolzheimer]

I don't know that there were any guitar synths at that time- maybe an ARP Avatar, but I think that came later. Probably he was patched into Wright's synth modules or some custom setup.

[mOjO FET]

Are you talking about the Director's Cut? Isn't that the one with the additional studio footage from Abbey Road's.
Unfortunately my DVD is also somewhere in a box cause I'm about to move too.

Doorknocker, do you mean the slide thing he does? I think he used some cylindrical or cigar shaped object as a slide. While sliding it up and down on the string he got this sustained singing sound. Great stuff! Gotta watch this again.

Michael

[James Guitar]

this is probably it...
http://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=77
scroll down and it talks about its potential use during dark side...

it looks like he's playing a regular guitar in the shot, so it must be an external pre-set system that's out of camera range (he's playing guitar and not altering any external devices as he plays). good call on the hi-fli! when i get my dvds back i'll try and remember to post a shot (that is after i unpack about 75 boxes!)
-J

[James Guitar]

Originally Posted by mOjO FET

Are you talking about the Director's Cut? Isn't that the one with the additional studio footage from Abbey Road's.

no, this studio shot is also in the regular non-director's cut.
-J

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by mOjO FET

Doorknocker, do you mean the slide thing he does? I think he used some cylindrical or cigar shaped object as a slide. While sliding it up and down on the string he got this sustained singing sound. Great stuff! Gotta watch this again.

Yes, that's what I mean. It's a kind of Hummingbird motion he does with it and it sure sounds great.

The DVD has both the 'Director's cut' and the 'Concert Movie' although I vaguely remember that there were other 'Abbey Road' scenes in the theatrical version that are not used on the DVD for some reason. The 'Director's Cut' adds new 'space-age' footage that doesn't really fit so I really prefer the Concert version.

There are great and long shots of Gilmour's hands at work, totally refreshing compared to today's 'nausea' edit aesthetics.

[chrisj]

I think the live stuff is simply an echo, akin to a Memory Man but probably tape instead. The studio thing you're talking about, that's nothing but an octave divider driving some synthlike filters. Not quite a guitar synth. Might even be octave divider driving fuzzes and wahs. It's absolutely an octaver, though. You're hearing almost entirely the octave (possibly a second octave down too- I don't remember it that well)

[James Guitar]

yeh, that defintion sounds accurate - still could be the hi-fli. here are some features of the hi-fli from the floyd site:

"features; top boost (30dB treble booster), octave shifter (1 drop), buzz (treble booster to octave effect), Ring modulator, sustain fuzz, solo/strum sensitivity control, bypass, modulation selector (rotary, phaser, vibrato and different types of auto-wah)."

sounds about right... but who knows. actually, you can hear someone modulate some sort of lfo-type thing for a second as gilmour plays it. he looks up and smiles when they do it so it's being externally controlled, IMO.
-J

[chrisj]

That would be it then (note the octave divider), but does it count as a synthesizer? I thought it was a bunch of stomp-boxes. The Hi-Fli is not?

[James Guitar]

good question. i don't think it would be considered a guitar synthesizer per se, but perhaps (and anybody with more knowledge/experience on this unit please feel to correct me) it's a *sound synthesizer*-type thing and it's being used on the guitar? so i guess that answers my question... sort of. it ain't a guitar synth but rather a synthesized guitar tone...?
-J

[Prufrocker]

It's a slide he's just rubbing it on the strings, at least that's what it looked like to me, and I've used it, with some moderate success.

[baikonour]

the slide is using in "echoes" is an heavy slide for pedal steel.

The black guitar is using in the studio was made for him by a british luthier, but I can't remember the name.
It sounds like the guitar is going through an octaver of some sort and/or triggering a synth.

[Crandak]

Sorry guys,
That technology doesn't exist on earth, it went back to the mother ship in the seventies.

[James Guitar]

here's a clip of it. the sound i'm talking about starts at 7:30 and the visual joins in at 7:45.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5CVglSzGus

[Blast9]

Originally Posted by chrisj

I think the live stuff is simply an echo, akin to a Memory Man but probably tape instead. The studio thing you're talking about, that's nothing but an octave divider driving some synthlike filters. Not quite a guitar synth. Might even be octave divider driving fuzzes and wahs. It's absolutely an octaver, though. You're hearing almost entirely the octave (possibly a second octave down too- I don't remember it that well)

yes... That's what it sounds like to me, although some of those overtones sound like a fifth or something.

Is it possibly a fuzz >>> An Electro Harmonix microsynth? I think they can do the octave thing, plus they have all those sliders to shape the envelope of the sound.

[Blast9]

Originally Posted by James Guitar

yeh, that defintion sounds accurate - still could be the hi-fli. here are some features of the hi-fli from the floyd site:

"features; top boost (30dB treble booster), octave shifter (1 drop), buzz (treble booster to octave effect), Ring modulator, sustain fuzz, solo/strum sensitivity control, bypass, modulation selector (rotary, phaser, vibrato and different types of auto-wah)."

sounds about right... but who knows. actually, you can hear someone modulate some sort of lfo-type thing for a second as gilmour plays it. he looks up and smiles when they do it so it's being externally controlled, IMO.
-J

Aha.... Didn't see this earlier. I reckon that's it!