SynthAxe
The SynthAxe is an electronic musical instrument that has been built up in the early 1990s by various manufacturers. The construction of the instrument corresponds to a normal guitar, additionally has the SynthAxe six strings and trigger buttons. In contrast to the electric guitar could produce digital tool usable with the music, so MIDI signals that are similar to those of a keyboard.
The musician David Foster used as one of the first in a SynthAxe song Playing with Fire on his album David Foster ( 1986). Known users of the instrument are Al Di Meola, Lee Ritenour and Roy Wooten. Wooten used a modified version to control various drum machine. In particular, Allan Holdsworth used the Synthaxe on the albums Atavachron, sand and Secrets.
The selling prices of Synthaxe were high because of the rather small numbers, so that the production of the instruments was set at the end. The musician Allan Holdsworth gave an estimate of about 1000 still existing Synthaxe worldwide.
Structure of SynthAxe
As a guitar also has the SynthAxe a guitar neck with six strings. In addition to the body are attached six trigger strings that are played with the right hand. These also, the tone is struck on a guitar. In addition, may be appropriate also to the instrument body, six additional trigger buttons. With the trigger button, the use of the clay may be varied.
Operation
The pitch is determined as a normal guitar at the neck of the instrument by gripping the strings. Here they are pressed on the ¨ fretwires electrically conductive, whereby a signal is sent to the instrument that converts the length of the tapped strings in the corresponding pitch. The trigger strings on the body are played with the right hand and registered via Hall sensors whose vibrations. The abutment of the trigger string or vapors generated either the start signal of the sound processing, the sound length and the amplitude (volume ) of the sound. From the two information of the strings and the strings trigger the SynthAxe sets the sound information together. This output signal can be fed as a midi signal directly into a synthesizer. Only there an audible sound is generated and passed to an amplifier.