Monthly Archives: May 2018

Single coil, double coil

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Today’s exploration is practical even if it is excessively wonk-ish.

Last week, I decided to update MIDI sequences for a few classic tunes by The Alan Parsons Project. Parsons and Eric Woolfson laid down 70s progressive rock tracks with serious groove: “I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You,” “What Goes Up”, and “Breakdown”. Classic in their own right are the guitar solos by Ian Bairnson. Bairnson contributed electric guitar (and the occasional saxophone!) to the Parsons/Woolfson wonder duo.

I’m striving for authenticity, so one of the first questions to ask is “What guitars and amplifiers did Bairnson use for the I Robot and Pyramid albums?” Fortunately, Ian has a page dedicated to his gear. Very likely, he played a Les Paul Custom through a Marshall 50 head driving a 4×12 Marshall angle-front cabinet. Thanks for posting this information, Ian!

The next hurdle is searching through the many tens (or hundreds) of synth guitar patches, amp simulators and speaker cabinet sims to find the most authentic audio waveforms and signal processing effects. Bang, we run into a practical and wonk-ish problem: Which of these many digital choices are likely candidates and which choices can we ignore? Unfortunately, manufacturers (at the very least, their attorneys) make the search difficult by avoiding any use of brand names (e.g., Gibson, Fender, Les Paul, etc.) in patch and effect names. Sometimes the patch/effect names are suggestive euphemisms, most times not.

For these kinds of sequencing jobs, I’m arranging on Yamaha gear, either PSR-S950 or Genos. Although I love their sound, it’s seems that Yamaha have deliberately gone out of their way to divorce patch/effect names from their real-world, branded counterparts. The number of candidates is small in organ-land, i.e., “Organ flutes,” as Yamaha calls them, mean Hammond B-3. The number of candidates in guitar-land is much, much larger and harder to discern.

Here’s some info that might help you out. Kind of decoder for guitar instrument and amp/cabinet sim names. Even though I looked to authoritative sources, there’s still guesswork involved. So, apologies up front if I’ve led anyone astray.

Single vs. double coil

This is a biggy. Guitarists are ever in pursuit of “tone.” Of course, a big part of tone is the electric guitar at the front-end of the signal chain. In this analysis, I’m concentrating mainly on solid body guitars and I’m ignoring acoustic, hollow-body and semi-hollow instruments.

Some might argue that player style, articulations and dynamics are the true front-end. If you want to argue that point, please go to a guitar forum. 🙂

For solid body, the choice of pick-up is important. If you’re not familiar with electric guitars, the pick-up is the set of wire coils beneath the guitar strings that sense vibrating strings and convert mechanical vibration to electrical vibration. The electrical signal is sent to a volume/tone circuit and then on to a guitar amplifier. A guitar may have more than one pick-up, say, one pick-up by the neck, one under the bridge and one in the middle between the two. The pick-ups may be switched into alternative combinations. Along with the volume/tone controls, the tonal possibilities are nearly endless.

Seems kind of pathetic to rely on only one or a few guitar waveforms (samples), doesn’t it?

There are two main kinds of pick-up: single coil and double coil (humbucker). The humbucker was invented and patented by Gibson as a means of mitigating the noise (hum) present produced by a single coil pickup. The sound of a single coil pick-up is often described with terms like “bright,” “crisp,” “bite,” “attack.” Double coil pick-ups are described as “thick,” “round,” “warm,” “dark,” “heavy.”

Due to parentage, Gibson guitars usually have double coil pick-ups. Fender guitars usually have single coil pick-ups. Naturally, the quest for tone has led to hybrids using both kinds of pick-up, regardless of manufacturer.

Reducing these observations to practice, when Ian Bairnston says he used a Gibson Les Paul Custom for his work with The Alan Parsons Project, we should be looking for samples (waveforms) of a double coil electric guitar, of which the Les Paul is an excellent example. Even if you couldn’t give two wits about synth patch names, use your ears an listen for a thick, round, warm, dark, heavy tone.

Detective work

OK, I’m a wonk and did a little detective work.

Yamaha arranger patch names are obtuse about single vs. double, etc. Worse, the voices are pre-programmed with DSP effects which mask the characteristics of the fundamental waveform. So, step zero is to be aware of the masking and turn off all EQ, DSP, chorus and reverb effects when listening and making comparisons.

Doubly worse is the lack of deep voice editing where we can deep dive a voice and discover the basic waveforms underlying a voice patch, including the waveform names. This is where my trusty Yamaha MOX6 synthesizer comes into play. I use the MOX6 to deep dive its patches and then compare patch elements against candidate voices on the PSR-S950 arranger. This always leads to interesting discoveries.

Although I refer to the MOX specifically, please remember that the MOX is a member of the Motif/MOX family. Comments can be extrapolated to the Motif XS on which the MOX is based, and the Motif XF/MOXF which are a superset of the Motif XS/MOX.

A large number of MOX programs have “Dual Coil” in their name. These programs are based on the “60s Clean” waveforms. Think of “60s Clean” as a family of waveforms with multiple articulations: open strings, slide, slap, FX, etc.

Other MOX programs are “Single Coil”. These programs are based on the “Clean” family of waveforms. If you listen and compare “60s Clean” versus “Clean,” you can hear the difference between single coil and double coil. The voice programming switches between the waveforms depending on key velocity, articulation buttons, and so forth.

The “60s Clean” and “Clean” waveform families make up the “Mega 60s Clean” and “Mega 1coil Clean” MOX megavoices, respectively. Please recall that a MegaVoice uses velocity switching, articulation switches (AF1 and AF2) and note ranges to configure a versatile voice suitable for arpeggio and style sequencing. Given the underlying waveforms, we can conclude that Mega 60s Clean is dual coil and Mega 1coil Clean is single coil.

Mid- and upper-range Yamaha arranger workstations also have MegaVoices, albeit they may have small differences in patch programming. The fundamental waveforms, however, are the same. Yamaha, like all manufacturers, recycle waveforms (samples). It’s not that older waveforms are bad; they provide backward compatibility and legacy support. Ever increasing waveform memory capacity makes it easy and inexpensive to include legacy waveforms and voices.

Given that conceptual basis, I did a little A/B testing between the MOX synth and the S950 arranger. Here is a summary of the correspondence between guitar voices:

    PSR-S950 Voice     MOX6 Voice
    -----------------  ---------------------
    MV CleanGuitar     Mega 1coil Clean

    MV SolidGuitar1    Mega 60s Clean
    MV SolidGuitar2    Mega 60s Clean

    MV SingleCoil      n/a
    MV JazzGuitar      n/a

    MV OverdriveGtr    Mega Ovdr Fuzz
    MV DistortionGtr   Mega Ovdr Distortion

    MV SteelGuitar     Mega Steel
    MV NylonGuitar     Mega Nylon

This is what my ears tell me when all of the EQ, DSP, chorus and reverb effects OFF.

MV SolidGuitar1 and MV SolidGuitar2 are based on the same waveform. The patch programming is different: different EQ, VCF and VCA parameter values. The default DSP effects are different, too.

Naturally, you’re curious about the missing S950 MV SingleCoil and MV JazzGuitar voices in the MOX6 column of the table. The MOX does not have equivalent voices. However, the Motif XF eventually added “Mega 1coil Old R&R” and “Mega Jazz Guitar”, both patches based on new single coil and jazz guitar waveform families. Indeed, the MV SingleCoil is great for that old rock’n’roll twang.

Hey, S950 owners! I’ll bet that you didn’t know that you have a piece of the Motif XF under your fingertips.

[I’m still categorizing SArt voices as single or double coil. Watch this space.]

Amplify this!

That’s it for the front-end of the signal chain. What about amp simulation?

The riddle of amp sim names is difficult to solve. Fortunately, guitarists are positively obsessive about vintage amps and the Web has many informative sites. (Too many, perhaps?) Armed with a few clues from the Yamaha Synth site, I forged out onto the Web and arrived at these educated guesses about amp simulators:

    DSP effect/sim      Real-world
    ------------------  ---------------------------------
    US Combo            Fender (Bassman?)
    Jazz Combo          Roland Jazz Chorus
    US High Gain        Boutique (Mesa Boogie Rectifier?)
    British Lead        Marshall Plexi
    British Combo       Vox (AC30)
    British Legend      Marshall (Bluesbreaker? JCM800?)
    Tweed Guy           Fender 55 Tweed Deluxe
    Boutique DC         Matchless DC30 (Boutique AC30)
    Y-Amp               Yamaha V-Amp
    DISTOMP             Yamaha stomp pedal FX
    80s Small Box       No specific make/model
    Small Stereo Dist   No specific make/model
    MultiFX             No specific make/model

The list compares quite favorably with Guitar World’s 10 most iconic guitar amplifiers:

    Vox AC30 Top Boost (1x12, 2x12)                 1958
    Fender Deluxe (1950s tweed)                     1955-1960
    Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier                      1989
    Marshall JCM800                                 1981
    Marshall 1959 Super Lead 100 Watt Plexi (4x12)  1965
    Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus (2x12)                1975
    Peavey 5150 (2004: 6505)                        1992
    Fender Twin Reverb                              1965-1967
    Fender Bassman (4x10)                           1957-1960
    Hiwatt DR103 (4x12)                             1972

Several of the amp sims include cabinet simulation, too. Here are my guesses:

    DSP Sim  Real-world
    -------  --------------------------------
    BS 4x12  British stack (Marshall)
    AC 2x12  American combo (Fender?)
    AC 1x12  American combo (Fender?)
    AC 4x10  American combo (Fender?)
    BC 2x12  British combo (Vox?)
    AM 4x12  American modern (Mesa Boogie?)
    YC 4x12  Yamaha
    JC 2x12  Roland Jazz Chorus
    OC 2x12  Orange combo
    OC 1x8   Orange combo

The abbreviations “BS” and “AC” are potentially confusing. “AC” suggests the (in)famous AC series of Vox amps. “BS” suggests “Bassman”. However, I don’t recall a Vox AC 4×10, while the Fender 4×10 is iconic. A Yamaha site spelled out “BS” as “British Stack,” so I’m sticking with “A” for American and “B” for “British”.

Back to Bairnson, I’m trying the British Legend amp sim with a BS 4×12 cabinet first, then tweak.

I hope you enjoyed this somewhat wonk-ish walk through synthesizer and simulated guitar-ville. In the end, it’s tone that matters and let the ears decide.

Copyright © 2018 Paul J. Drongowski

Review: Business class air service

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Ah, life has been busy. I’ve spent a fair amount of time traveling over the last few months. Soon, I’ll be posting code for a major new project that I’ve had in the works.

My post today is somewhat out of character for this site. However, I’d like to take the opportunity to review and compare recent experience on airlines.

In the last few years, my spouse and I have made several long-haul trips (5 or more hours airborne). After spending so many hours in coach on business, we decided that retired life should be easier and more pleasant. Thus, we have been fortunate to fly first- or business-class on long-haul flights.

My comments here compare JetBlue Mint, Virgin Atlantic, Delta and Alaska Airlines.

The Delta and Alaska flights offered what I would call “Mark I first class” which is typical for narrow-body (e.g., Boeing 737) ETOPS and domestic U.S. travel. Seating consists of the usual wide, partially reclining seats with which we are all so familiar. These seats are distinct from the lie-flat seats provided by Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue Mint. In comparison, the Delta and Alaska seats are suitable for daytime travel and are woefully insufficient for red-eye flights when extended sleep is desirable or required. The seat pitch (i.e., row-to-row spacing) is also critical. We have found that it’s easier to navigate in and out of a JetBlue Even More economy plus seat than the Delta first class seat.

The JetBlue Mint and Virgin Atlantic Upper Class seating is at a much higher level. Racking out in Mint or Upper Class reminds me of sleeping in a European semi-private couchette. In both cases, you have a small cubby for your stuff and the lie-flat seat. You can fully recline the Mint seat yourself while the Upper Class seat requires a little assistance from a flight attendant. VA provides a lower pad, pillow and duvet; Mint provides a pillow and duvet. The seats are comfortable enough for sleeping.

Mint seats are arranged facing forward in either pairs or a single “suite.” Upper Class seats (A330-300 and 787) are arranged in a herringbone such that you’re not absolutely facing forward. The herringbone makes it somewhat difficult to look out the window although VA keeps the windows dark during much of its flights (out of respect for those who wish to sleep, presumably).

Privacy in a Mint pair or Upper Class seat is moderate. People walking up and down the aisle(s) can easily look into your cubby. Privacy in the Mint suite is quite good; it even has a sliding door to close you off from the world. Quite frankly, flying in a Mint suite is about as close to the experience of a personal aircraft that you will get in a commercial plane. Kudos.

There are two bugaboos that I have with the lie-flat seats: where to put your stuff and what to do with your feet. All of the seats have (mesh) storage pockets, etc. I like the Mint pockets for stashing eyeglasses and the handy water bottle nook. The Mint suite adds a storage bin with sliding door and the ability to stash a day pack along side the seat although it’s underfoot when entering or leaving the suite. On VA, one can stash a day pack under the ottoman footrest. Otherwise, one is forced to dig into the overhead bin.

Feet. As mentioned in passing, the VA Upper Class seat has an ottoman for your feet (day or night). The ottoman has a safety belt and someone could join you for dining. (I haven’t see anyone do this except in jest.) VA insist on buckling this belt during take-off and landing. Undo the belt! It kept getting in the way while sleeping and is uncomfortable. On both Mint and Upper Class, foot space is kind of small (“cozy” at best). If you’re really tall and/or have big feet, good luck. Expect to wear socks and ditch your shoes for longer rest.

Virgin Atlantic offer sleep suits which are simply PJs. The fabric is a cotton/poly blend and the PJs can get quite warm in combination with the duvet. I recommend ducking into the restroom while on-the-ground boarding is in progress and changing into the sleep suit while the lav is still fresh. I changed into the upper, preferring to sleep in cargo pants with plenty of pockets to hold my stuff (especially tissues). Keep the suit and donate it after the flight.

Both JetBlue and VA give business class customers a small amenities kit which includes eye shade, socks, toothbrush, etc. I’m not ga-ga about amenity kits, so let’s just say that they do the business. The VA pouch is quite reusable for microphones and other electronic kit!

Speaking of electronic kit, if you want to play and record while you’re in the air, fly in a Mint suite. You have the usual fold-out table, but also two very useful side surfaces. The suite is positively loaded with USB and power ports and one could set up quite a large airborne studio.

The JetBlue in-flight entertainment system is pretty decent, supporting Sirius XM radio, DirectTV and a selection of movies. Unlike coach, Mint flyers have a touch screen and hand-held remote for navigation. The only niggle is there are so many DirectTV channels that scrolling from one end to the other takes a long time.

The Virgin Atlantic system looks and feels dated. It needs a major upgrade. The screen folds out into the center of the cubby. Although the screen responds to touches, I found it easier to navigate through the hand-held remote. The remote has a built-in screen which can display the flight map — handy for keeping tabs on flight progress when snoozing. The A330 for the return flight had an even older in-flight set and the remote, in particular, felt and operated like a poorly designed and worn video game controller.

Alaska Airlines have two options: an inflight tablet and GoGo Entertainment. The tablet is pre-loaded with shows and movies. I went with the tablet. Nothing super memorable other than the interface being kind of laggy.

Delta offer TV, movies and music through the touch-screen Delta Studio. Unfortunately, Delta Studio was down on the day we flew. So, I had to resort to Delta’s second option, GoGo Entertainment. GoGo Entertainment is an app that runs on your own device — in my case, an iPad. My only complaint is that the flight crew waited so long to announce the unavailability of Delta Studio that I barely had time to down the GoGo app to my iPad before take-off. Yep, once you’re in the air, you cannot download the app. The progress bar was literally racing the aircraft to the runway hold line!

Let’s get to the food. 🙂

There is nothing remarkable about the food on Delta or Alaska, with one exception. Alaska Airlines featured regional foods: salmon in the Northwest and Hawaiian on the legs to/from the Big Island. Nice. I noticed that Alaska has revamped its first class food service, so they’re trying. Stay tuned.

Wish I could say the same about Delta or any of the other large American carriers, save JetBlue. Domestic U.S. service has declined to the point where food service in South African Airways coach is better than most in the U.S. Very sad compared to the old days (late 60s and 70s) when first class service came on linen with a split of wine. Or, fond memories of the lox and bagels flight from San Francisco to the East Coast. Yes, folks, a self-serve, deli buffet in the galley of a DC-10 — in coach! U.S. coach has gone from economy to total rip-off. Revolt.

JetBlue Mint food impresses. After an opening bite, flyers have a choice of three items from a menu of five mains. Each item is a small plate. Presentation is quite good with each bite arriving in its own ceramic bowl/plate. The mains are followed by a sweet bite. Espresso and cappuccino are available and are prepared fresh (no instant!) in the galley. I tried the low-cal (call ahead) meal and found it to be OK although not as special as the regular menu.

A note to chefs: We need low-sodium meals as well as vegan, gluten-free, low cal, etc. Also, please pay attention to the dietary needs of people taking warfarin (Coumadin). There are a lot of us. Four of the five main entrées offered by JetBlue in May 2018 are high in vitamin K. I ordered the low cal meal in order to pass my monthly PRO-TIME test the day after my return. Vitamin K counters warfarin.

A note to JetBlue Mint customers: If you pre-order a special menu, your request will apply to all flights on the same itinerary. Flexibility here would be welcome.

VA’s Upper Class meal service is also good, but I put Mint above it. The food is good (for the English 🙂 ) although presentation could be improved. One chooses from a menu of options. I like an English-style breakfast and you could request an exceptionally hearty meal including a bacon sarnie. Unfortunately, the sarnie has been off the menu for me since the heart attack. How do the British eat this and survive? 🙂

Where Virgin Atlantic shines, of course, is its international Upper Class lounges. The lounge at London Heathrow is the mothership surrounded by smaller, cozy satellites (Boston and Johannesburg, in our case). The lounges are (almost) reason enough to fly VA. The food is good in all locations, consisting of small plates, salads and deli. I quite enjoyed the (South Asian) Indian food — on par or better than our local restaurants. The plates are cooked to order. The cooking staff at the Boston lounge are especially friendly and helpful. We dined early in Boston, making it possible to skip the in-flight dinner (not dessert!) and go directly to sleep on the relatively short, eastbound trans-Atlantic flight. Frankly, we couldn’t have made the trip to and from South Africa without the help and comfort of VA lounges.

As you can tell, I’m a fan of JetBlue Mint. JetBlue is trying very hard to offer a premium service for long-haul domestic flights. Their service compares quite favorably with business class service on international carriers. Further, they are providing a good experience without letting the ticket price get out of control. I hope that JetBlue puts a spur to the competition. Nice work, JetBlue!

Copyright © 2018 Paul J. Drongowski