Mark Wingfield

Most modern guitar sounds continue to exist in the instrument-pedals -amp world. Mark Wingfield is one of the few to explore the possibilities that spring to life when you attach a hexophonic pickup to the guitar. In his masterful use of Roland’s VG-88 and soft-synths in a laptop he remains almost alone among purveyors of the instrument. He was kind enough to take time out of a schedule so busy it doesn’t allow for Facebook (or maybe because it doesn’t) to wax eloquently on his path towards this approach to the instrument as well as modern music in general.

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Guitar-style MIDI Controllers: SynthAxe Redux?

We recently reviewed the i2M audio MIDI interface, which works amazingly well in a monophonic capacity. But if you need polyphony with perfect tracking all the time. The best solution is still a fretboard controller.

Perhaps you remember the SynthAxe: a synthesizer controller constructed roughly in the shape of a guitar, where notes were triggered by pushing down rows of buttons arranged like frets on a fingerboard? Between the average guitarist’s lack of interest in all things synthesizer and a price tag of $8-$13,000 dollars, it is no wonder it never caught on—Allan Holdsworth notwithstanding. But for the last couple of Winter NAMM shows, two companies have been showing products that recall this relic of the Eighties. Misa Digital and You Rock Digital are betting that the increased interest of guitarists in all things digital, combined with a lower price point can revive the concept.

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