Online Supplemental Text

Six-String
Six-String ($249) is a great-sounding and surprisingly programmablephysical model of a guitar. It is capable of a wide range ofguitar-like sounds, from fairly realistic electric and acoustic soundsthrough marimbas and floaty pads to wildly unrealistic distortedclanging. The bass, lead, and strummed sounds are equally satisfying,and if you listen closely you’ll hear subtle differences fromnote to note, which adds an expressive element you won’t hearfrom a sample playback synth. (Listento EM Web Clips)

Programming the Six-String starts with a choice of two basic guitarmodels: acoustic and electric. If you choose the electric, threeparameters for the pickup (highpass, lowpass, and resonance) becomeavailable. For the acoustic, the pickup model is replaced by three bodyresonance formants, each with its own frequency and gain control. Thegain can only cut frequencies, not boost them, which seems a littlelimiting. A Blend control lets you choose the amount of strings vs.amount of body. You can switch the body and the pickup on or off, butif you do, the acoustic and electric models are very similar. With bothtypes, you can move the pickup/mic position for each of twopickups/mics up or down the strings and control their relativeloudness, as on a real guitar. The picking position can also be movedto any position between the bridge and the middle of the string.

But that’s only the start of the fun. Other parameters,available on both models, let you control the strings, pluck, slap,pitch envelope, and synth-type pitch LFO. The strings section, forinstance, has parameters called Skip Harmonics, Boost Harmonics,Inertia, and Elasticity. The pluck section has nine parameters,including Velocity-controllable attack and decay time. Dialing up along attack produces a sort of brushed-picking effect. The Force knobboosts the output volume and adds a bit of amp distortion.

I had a lot of fun playing this model, and I’m sure that mixedin a track it could fool a lot of listeners. The pick sounddoesn’t have as much high-end bite or midrange pop as I’dlike to hear, but the body of the tone is exceptional. The Chorus Stratpatches have a beautiful sheen and the Blues Lead patches have just theright amount of crunch. The Classic Guitar sounds are more artificial,but in a good way: the body of the tone is tubby and a bit metallic,with tons of clean sustain. The same resonant quality is more realisticwhen heard in the Jazz Guitar patches. Watch out for the Sub Basspatch, though. It sounds rich, but it’s tuned a half-step sharp,a problem that’s all too easy to miss with a sub-bass.