Susan Weinert: acoustic midi guitar


Now—it's already a bit unusual to play jazz on a nylon string guitar, but Weinert's acoustic setup gets even more interesting. Used to using synth sounds with her electric guitar, she wanted to have that option with the nylon string. It would give her a larger palette of tones to draw from. She chose the RMC Acoustic Gold system which is a 13-pin hexaphonic (separate output for each string) piezo pickup, with a Roland VG-8 Module for her synth sounds. Through the use of a Rocktron MIDI Mate foot controller and volume pedals, she can create any blend of synth and acoustic sounds that she wants. I've had the honor of hearing in her acoustic duo featuring her husband, Martin Weinert on upright bass. She may use 100% synth sounds for certain melodic phrases, but she never over-uses the synth effect. A lot of times she'll bring in a really warm, string-like pad along with the nylon string to add elements of space and texture. I've also been lucky enough to have her play with me on my CD, UnCovered. It's a collection of cover tunes, and we picked Sting's “Fragile” to really feature Weinert's nylon sound—but what she added with the synth sounds truly took the song to a new place. No matter what the blend is, Weinert is always true to the music.
full interview

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