Zoom G2

I have a G2.1u, and I love it. The acoustic effect is about average compared to others I think, but no turn-your-electric-into-an-acoustic type effect is really very convincing. It's a different sound to electric, but it's not the same as an acoustic. I can record some samples on it when I get home from work tonight (assuming everything goes to plan, which it quite often doesn't :roll:).

Hardware is great, you could run over it in a truck and it'd survive, but the rubber they use does have a very strong smell (I'm not fussed but some people don't like it, and it doesn't go away quickly. I've had mine since April and it's still noticable when I take it out of its box :))

I have a G2.1u, and I love it.
I know :) Your opinions and your samples were very important for my decision (I was reading a very long thread when other two members bought it). Thank you!

According to the specs the G2 and the G2.1u are equals, the second includes the expression pedal and the USB port. I have enough problems with my ten fingers so really I don't know if I can use my foot simultaneously :(

On the other hand, I ask for it in a couple of stores and the G2.1u price is the double of the G2! The expression pedal can be added posteriorly and the USB as well and, for example, the M-Audio Fast Track has a better converter. Now I'm using an old MD and my Mac with GarageBand for recording.
The acoustic effect is about average compared to others I think, but no turn-your-electric-into-an-acoustic type effect is really very convincing. It's a different sound to electric, but it's not the same as an acoustic. I can record some samples on it when I get home from work tonight (assuming everything goes to plan, which it quite often doesn't :roll:).
It should be great! :) But, please, don't be in a hurry! Remember we celebrate the "Three Kings" so we have until the January 5th to write the letter to Their Majesties (currently they accept e-mail too :wink:).
Hardware is great, you could run over it in a truck and it'd survive, but the rubber they use does have a very strong smell (I'm not fussed but some people don't like it, and it doesn't go away quickly. I've had mine since April and it's still noticable when I take it out of its box :))
I'm very sorry... I refer to the analog/digital and digital/analog converters and to the 32 bits DSP. The smell is not problem, my LP's case has also a very strong smell! :roll:

And... Could you ask a new question? I was reading the owner manual and I can not imagine what the Harmonized Pitch Shifter effect does. Does it generate "chords" in real time according to the defined scale?

Thank you very much!

According to the specs the G2 and the G2.1u are equals, the second includes the expression pedal and the USB port. I have enough problems with my ten fingers so really I don't know if I can use my foot simultaneously :(

On the other hand, I ask for it in a couple of stores and the G2.1u price is the double of the G2! The expression pedal can be added posteriorly and the USB as well and, for example, the M-Audio Fast Track has a better converter. Now I'm using an old MD and my Mac with GarageBand for recording.
You get Cubase LE with the 2.1 too...

The acoustic effect is about average compared to others I think, but no turn-your-electric-into-an-acoustic type effect is really very convincing. It's a different sound to electric, but it's not the same as an acoustic. I can record some samples on it when I get home from work tonight (assuming everything goes to plan, which it quite often doesn't :roll:).
It should be great! :) But, please, don't be in a hurry! Remember we celebrate the "Three Kings" so we have until the January 5th to write the letter to Their Majesties (currently they accept e-mail too :wink:).

Sorry, couldn't manage it tonight, I'll try again tomorrow. I get off work a bit earlier tomorrow too :D

Hardware is great, you could run over it in a truck and it'd survive, but the rubber they use does have a very strong smell (I'm not fussed but some people don't like it, and it doesn't go away quickly. I've had mine since April and it's still noticable when I take it out of its box :))
I'm very sorry... I refer to the analog/digital and digital/analog converters and to the 32 bits DSP. The smell is not problem, my LP's case has also a very strong smell! :roll:

Ahhh, you know more about that than I do :)

And... Could you ask a new question? I was reading the owner manual and I can not imagine what the Harmonized Pitch Shifter effect does. Does it generate "chords" in real time according to the defined scale?

Thank you very much!
No problem. The Harmonised pitched shifter lets you set an interval that changes intelligently based on the note and scale you're playing. So, if I set it to, say, the C major scale and set it to play a harmony a third up, when I play a C note it'll harmonise with a major third (E), but if I play an A it'll harmonise with a minor third (C).

I'll do a demo of that bit too :)

You get Cubase LE with the 2.1 too...
It's true! I forgot it! :P
Sorry, couldn't manage it tonight, I'll try again tomorrow. I get off work a bit earlier tomorrow too :D
No problem! Thanks again! :D
I'm very sorry... I refer to the analog/digital and digital/analog converters and to the 32 bits DSP. The smell is not problem, my LP's case has also a very strong smell! :roll:
Ahhh, you know more about that than I do :)
Comparing to the others, the G2s (and also the G1s) use more bits to dicretise the original analog signal (24 versus 16, they can model the signal with 2^24 levels) and they also use a greater frequency to get the samples (96 kHz versus 31.5 kHz). So the DSP receives a "better" or "more accurate" signal than the others. They use a 32 bit processor (DSP) so the processing can be better than other cases (here also depends on the software).

This is the theory... and the marketing! :D In the real world there also exists the noise and the uncertainty! :lol:
No problem. The Harmonised pitched shifter lets you set an interval that changes intelligently based on the note and scale you're playing. So, if I set it to, say, the C major scale and set it to play a harmony a third up, when I play a C note it'll harmonise with a major third (E), but if I play an A it'll harmonise with a minor third (C).
Why? :? It only uses notes in the scale... Let me see... http://www.chordsandscales.co.uk/ ... Mmm... Interesting! I remember the owner manual and there are a lot of parameters. I'm very slow with these things, I have to think...

Anyway, it could be used to play simple power chords with one finger, no?
I'll do a demo of that bit too :)
Great! Thank you very much again!

No problem. The Harmonised pitched shifter lets you set an interval that changes intelligently based on the note and scale you're playing. So, if I set it to, say, the C major scale and set it to play a harmony a third up, when I play a C note it'll harmonise with a major third (E), but if I play an A it'll harmonise with a minor third (C).
Why? :? It only uses notes in the scale...
Yep, that's why, it keeps all the notes in the key you've set.
Anyway, it could be used to play simple power chords with one finger, no?
Yes, but so could the basic harmoniser as the 5th is always 7 frets away from the root. The third is either 3 or 4 frets away, minor or major respectively, depending on the chord. When I record the samples, I'll do both to show the contrast :wink:

Thank you again! :D

Note
I was reading my previous post and I lay! :? The correct number of levels is 2^24 and not 10^24! Since we are using a binary signal, we are converting an analog signal to a binary signal, a sequence of 0s and 1s. I've edited the post as well. Sorry! :(

'Tis no problem, and I didn't even notice you'd used a 10 base instead of a 2.. . I knew what you meant from the power (I'm a programmer :wink:)

Me too! 8)

Right then, here goes:

All the samples are just the guitar plugged into the zoom and recorded on audacity via the zoom's USB connection, then normalised and output. No cleaning, balancing etc, just the raw effect :)

Sample 1:
First part (0.00) - My electric through the zoom, with nothing set on the zoom but noise reduction (for reference, as I like a muddier tone than most... old, heavy gauge strings tuned down 1/2 step)
Second part (0.19) - The same electric with the acoustic simulator turned on (all settings turned way up to show you the effect, it can be made a lot more subtle)
Third part (0.35) - My acoustic, with nothing set on the zoom again.
Fourth part (0.55) - The same acoustic, with the acoustic simulator turned on (impromptu experiment, thought I'd leave it in there :))

Sample 2: (Harmony notes set at equal volume to the dry notes - you can hear there's a slight lag as it counts frequency and works out what note it's hearing)
First part (0.00) - B major scale, no effects
Second part (0.06) - B major scale, intelligent harmoniser set to play thirds - it's choosing a major or minor third depending on the note so the harmony note is always in key of B
Third part (0.12) - B major scale, standard harmoniser set to play minor thirds, so some of the notes are outside the key of B. I chose minor thirds instead of major as then the harmony note on the B is 'wrong' and you can really hear it on the first and last note played.

Just shout if anything's not clear :wink:

PS: What kind of programming? I'm all PHP and Flash Actionscript now, and as little javascript as I can get away with :mrgreen:

Thank you! :D

Sample 1:

Very nice melody! What is it? Created by yourself?

I agree, the acoustic effect is not very convincing. It produces a sound more... brighter maybe? than the no-effects sample but it can not be compared to your acoustic! It sounds great! I was playing with an old copy of the Audacity which was installed in my Mac. The first sample goes to 14 kHz, the second one to 16 kHz and the real acoustic samples go up 17.5 kHz!

I was reading several owner's manuals and I don't remember who but somebody recommends the use of the neck pick-up which produces a "semi-acoustic" sound at least in my Epi LP.

I've also detected the typical artifacts produced by the compression algorithms near to the 0:20 or 0:22 (it sounds like a "drop of water"). I didn't detect new ones in the samples. The fourth part does not include artifacts so I think it is not inherent to the acoustic effect. I've read lots of reviews and nobody reports a similar fact so we'll find Mp3 algorithm guilt. :evil:

Anyway, it is one of the features of this multi-fx and as you said it were "average compared to others". Moreover it leaves the door open for my desired Seagull! :mrgreen:

By the way, your acoustic (and/or your fingers) sounds really good!!! What is it?

Sample 2:

A perfect job! I understood what the intelligent and standard harmonizer do!

And also scales, majors, minors, intervals and several things more! :D

I've read some books on music theory and somebody tried to explain the basics aspects when I was learning keyboards some time ago. But this sample is perfect to differentiate the major and minor sounds and also for understanding why the Am chord is the C major scale and no the A chord!

The Zoom G2 is the first candidate for my Christmas list. Yesterday I visited a store and the salesman recommended to me a DigiTech RP-250 but the reviews are worse than the G2 reviews.

Thank you very much!
Nuno

PS. Some time ago I was programming for the web too, I used Perl, Un*x shell script and simple JavaScript. PHP is similar to Perl, no? Also I used C, C++, SQL and several database languages, several assemblers, Pascal, Ada, Lisp, Prolog... and even HP calculators! I've a "long story"...

Now I use Matlab, I'm in several projects for controlling robots and robotic mechanisms by means of computer vision.

If you need something, don't hesitate ask me! :)

PPS. I wrote a lot! Sorry for my bad English, be patience. :)

Thank you! :D

Sample 1:

Very nice melody! What is it? Created by yourself?
No problem at all.

Yep, one of mine, glad you like it :)

I'm not quite sure what to do with it yet - I have a variation on that verse, a chorus, chords to go underneath it all and a rough idea of a vocal melody... only I don't think I can use all of them in one song and I don't want to get rid of any of the parts. Been playing with that one for months now :roll: :)
I agree, the acoustic effect is not very convincing. It produces a sound more... brighter maybe? than the no-effects sample but it can not be compared to your acoustic! It sounds great! I was playing with an old copy of the Audacity which was installed in my Mac. The first sample goes to 14 kHz, the second one to 16 kHz and the real acoustic samples go up 17.5 kHz!

Yeah, it's a useful effect, but it won't convince anyone that you were using an acoustic when you're not. :)

I was reading several owner's manuals and I don't remember who but somebody recommends the use of the neck pick-up which produces a "semi-acoustic" sound at least in my Epi LP.
I've read the same, but that was with the bridge humbuck as my neck pickup sounds awful by itself (I've wired it to create an out-of-phase sound when in parallel with the humbucker - which sounds great). It didn't sound any better for the acoustic simulator, so I stuck with the humbucker.

I've also detected the typical artifacts produced by the compression algorithms near to the 0:20 or 0:22 (it sounds like a "drop of water"). I didn't detect new ones in the samples. The fourth part does not include artifacts so I think it is not inherent to the acoustic effect. I've read lots of reviews and nobody reports a similar fact so we'll find Mp3 algorithm guilt. :evil:
Might well be. I can re-export at a higher bit-rate, or as a wav, but not until tomorrow or so.

Anyway, it is one of the features of this multi-fx and as you said it were "average compared to others". Moreover it leaves the door open for my desired Seagull! :mrgreen:

By the way, your acoustic (and/or your fingers) sounds really good!!! What is it?

It's a Stagg A2006, a copy of the Ovation with the funky soundholes... Incredibly cheap, but it was the best I played that day including some that cost about 3 times as much :) Wouldn't swap it for the world, it's my baby :mrgreen: Pic

Sample 2:

A perfect job! I understood what the intelligent and standard harmonizer do!

And also scales, majors, minors, intervals and several things more! :D

I've read some books on music theory and somebody tried to explain the basics aspects when I was learning keyboards some time ago. But this sample is perfect to differentiate the major and minor sounds and also for understanding why the Am chord is the C major scale and no the A chord!

The Zoom G2 is the first candidate for my Christmas list. Yesterday I visited a store and the salesman recommended to me a DigiTech RP-250 but the reviews are worse than the G2 reviews.

Thank you very much!
Nuno

No problem, glad to be of help.

PS. Some time ago I was programming for the web too, I used Perl, Un*x shell script and simple JavaScript. PHP is similar to Perl, no? Also I used C, C++, SQL and several database languages, several assemblers, Pascal, Ada, Lisp, Prolog... and even HP calculators! I've a "long story"...

Now I use Matlab, I'm in several projects for controlling robots and robotic mechanisms by means of computer vision.

If you need something, don't hesitate ask me! :)

PPS. I wrote a lot! Sorry for my bad English, be patience. :)
PHP is more similar to C than Perl, but they're all similar enough to follow one if you know another. PHP is the easiest to pick up as it's not strictly-typed and lets you get away with things like not declaring varaibles until you fill them etc. Lazy programmer's language really, but I still love it :)

And your English is great, and far better than my Spanish - I know nothing but a few swear words! (a relative of mine is Gibraltarian and swore in Spanish so we didn't what he was saying... we all picked them up pretty quickly :))

I wouldn't give up too quickly on the RP250 just because of other peoples' reviews, the G2 is nice, but the RP250 plays pretty nice once you tone down the amp modeling in the presets - most of them are way over the top. I've had one for about a month and it's very tweakable. :D

Yep, one of mine, glad you like it :)

I'm not quite sure what to do with it yet - I have a variation on that verse, a chorus, chords to go underneath it all and a rough idea of a vocal melody... only I don't think I can use all of them in one song and I don't want to get rid of any of the parts. Been playing with that one for months now :roll: :)

As guitar player I only have 4 months (and 2 years a long time ago) but I've heard a lot of music in my life, different styles, classical included. Tell me if you want I hear any draft! :)
I've read the same, but that was with the bridge humbuck as my neck pickup sounds awful by itself (I've wired it to create an out-of-phase sound when in parallel with the humbucker - which sounds great). It didn't sound any better for the acoustic simulator, so I stuck with the humbucker.

Mmmm... interesting effect!
Might well be. I can re-export at a higher bit-rate, or as a wav, but not until tomorrow or so.

No, please, don't worry! It's enough! It only was a test, we know that the problem here, probably, is due to the compression algorithm.

Thanks again! :)
It's a Stagg A2006, a copy of the Ovation with the funky soundholes... Incredibly cheap, but it was the best I played that day including some that cost about 3 times as much :) Wouldn't swap it for the world, it's my baby :mrgreen: Pic

Nice guitar! :shock: :D

I never played an Ovation-like guitar. I'll remember your sounds next time I suffer a GAS attack!
PHP is more similar to C than Perl, but they're all similar enough to follow one if you know another. PHP is the easiest to pick up as it's not strictly-typed and lets you get away with things like not declaring varaibles until you fill them etc.

I've read and modified some PHP code when I was tuning a wiki but I never used it for programming. I used to use Perl and SSI (Server Side Includes), the famous ".shtml", and somebody told me that PHP was equivalent. Yesterday I made some mess :?
Lazy programmer's language really, but I still love it :)

Me too :D Curiously I was evolving from very strong typed languages as Ada to languages as you describe. Matlab is very similar (from that point of view).
And your English is great, and far better than my Spanish - I know nothing but a few swear words! (a relative of mine is Gibraltarian and swore in Spanish so we didn't what he was saying... we all picked them up pretty quickly :))

:lol:

I wouldn't give up too quickly on the RP250 just because of other peoples' reviews, the G2 is nice, but the RP250 plays pretty nice once you tone down the amp modeling in the presets - most of them are way over the top. I've had one for about a month and it's very tweakable. :D

Hi Drewsdad!

I agree, sometimes the reviews do not correspond to the reality and depends on the experience of everyone. A reviewer in Harmony-Central compares both but really it was his experience. Fortunately, the DigiTech people has some samples on the web. Next week I'll hear and compare both.

Thanks!