Sonic Cell for a guitarist

[Crusty_Old_Rocker]

Hi everyone,

Just had to say how impressed I am with the Sonic Cell.

This is a very powerful tool. I am a guitarist who is right into guitar and amp modelling (a la Line 6) and needed a backing track player.

I was looking at a couple of options and decided on the Sonic Cell.

Man, did I get more than I bargained for? This thing was meant to be a glorified drum machine with some strings and horns thrown in for the band. I now have what will be a pivotal studio and live performance tool. I can even get it to trigger my guitar effects during a performance without having to tap dance on pedals.

Although it has COSM built into it, it's just too difficult to access when I have the POD X3 Live, Vetta II amp and Gearbox Plug-ins at my disposal but it's great to know it's there if ever I'm looking for something different.

Anyway, I just thought it worth mentioning how the Sonic Cell is not just for the synth aficionado.

Cheers,

Crusty

[howreg]

I recgnize you from Line 6 Forums - What an honour - I also Play a Variax and a Felxtone 3

- I also have a Fanthom X and now the New Sonic Cell. Nice to see you in here. I absolutely agree with you this thing is amazing and I got it yesterday.

[nc]

I agree Crusty. For years I've used a GR-30 to provide an "orchestra" for a church choir. I bought the SonicCell to add more realism and options. It triggers great and was a big hit during this years Christmas show.

One tidbit about the COSM amp sim. I hated the sound at first, but then realized that you actually have to change the speaker cabinet manually. Once I figured that out I was pretty well pleased. But, like you, I won't be giving up my VG-88 or Boss GT8. It is nice to know it's there though.

[poppadaddy]

Hi SonicCell owner here. I'm Impressed too. I'm using Band in a Box 2008. Can you Briefly tell me how your using SonicCell i.e saving patches tunes. Good player here. New at midi. having a bit of a time. Thanks, Oscar

[howreg]

Hi there

I have a Roldand RS 50 midi into the sonic cell and also the audio out of the RS 50 into the Audio in of the SOnic Cell - that way I can have two sounds at the same time if I want and mix the levels between the two. I also use a Fanthom X not hooked up to the SOnic Cell. I use the Sonic Cell to oplay my backing tracks and midi files and use it as the sound source for the RS 50 when I want to reach out for an Extra sound. I mix my midi in Sonar nusing the Sonic Cell VST.

YOu can save patches and peromances and setting in the user banks of the SOnic Cell and you can also manipulate it with the software it came with.

It is a great machine.

[nc]

I'm still trying to decide which method I like best. The first show I did with the SonicCell I used 4 GR-30 user presets that ranged from a small string ensemble to a full orchestra sound. I started with my standard GR-30 patches that I had used for years and then set the unit to "mono" mode channel 1. This allowed me to use a different SonicCell patch for each string. It sounded great but the downside to this method is that you could only have one SonicCell sound per string. One other thing to note is that I was actually using the default performance template #1. It will use midi channels 1-6 and any effects settings that you want. When I change programs on the GR-30, the sounds on midi channels 1-6 will change to the new settings but your effects, panning, volumes, etc. will all stay on the template #1 settings.

What I've been toying around with (and will probably use next time) is setting the GR-30 to "poly" mode and using it to call up a performance on the SonicCell. The upside is that you can choose the key range for each patch in a performance. You can also stack multiple patches together until you run out of voices. Throw in the 2 sounds from the GR-30 and you've got quite a bit going on. Now the downside of this method is that your key range settings apply across the entire guitar. So if you're trying to include low-register sounds you can wind up with too much bass in a chord. Note: The SonicCell default channel that receives performance program change data is 16. So if I set the GR-30 to midi channel 16p, I can call up a different performance with each preset. Each patch that makes up that performance must also be set to midi channel 16 though. Of course, this is no big deal since you can still set parameters for each sound within the performance.

I didn't mean to write an essay here. That may be more than you wanted to know.

[javaj_]

Plug for the Sonic Cell User group
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/SonicCell/

But curious how the guitar players are using the Sonic Cell's effects. It would be great if anyon created a bank of performances utilizing input effects (I might try that myself). It seems that it has enough power to be a decent effects box on it's own (just lacks any specific programming for it).
If you have created any cool performance banks, could someone post them on the Sonic Cell group site?
Thanks
J

[ekkerman]

hai there ,
here's a question from a dutch recent sonic cell user ;
is it possible to explain in simple terms the routing and logic behind the effects if i use the ss only as a midi module (midi in ) and want to control by cc 91,92,93, numbers in cubase vst these effects.
the basic guide keeps on refering to go some pages back or forward and then repeating some not quite logical terms and its driving me nuts!!!grrrrrrr
are you at all knowledgable with this machine and able to help me ???
it would be a blast .
thanx in advance ...
you can also contact me at;

ekkerman@quicknet.nl

[javaj_]

You might want to join the Yahoo group and ask the question. I don't quite understand but also don't use Cubase.

[sheaj]

I recently got Sonic Cell, for use w/ keyboard and Sonar. I also play guitar, until recently acoustic but now taking up electric. For acoustic guitar I used my Roland KC-350 keyboard amp. A friend who's a pro guitarist advised me I'll want an actual guitar amp for the electric, since it'll be a key part of my e. guitar sound. But I just realized I can feed an e. guitar through Sonic Cell, use its Guitar Amp Simulator, and output to my KC-350. Cool!

Prior to this realization, I'd been shopping guitar amps, including modeling amps like Fender Super Champ. They make it pretty clear what amps are being modeled. In the Sonic Cell manual, it's not so clear. I can tell JC-120 is a Roland Jazz Chorus 120, I'm assuming Clean Twin is a Fender Twin Reverb, I'm guessing the ones that start w/ MS are Marshalls. Some "types" may be generic, rather than specific models, e.g., DISTORTION, FUZZ, etc.

[sheaj]

Oops, sent by accident before finished typing.

Can anyone shed any further light on the amps being modeled? For instance, what does MATCH DRIVE mean (presumably an overdriven amp, but what's "match" mean?). In BG LEAD, what does BG mean? In SLDN LEAD, what does SLDN mean?

Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks.

[javaj_]

BG = big
SLDN = sliding
my guess

[j.bargar]

no, no, no.

MATCH is Matchless
BG is Bogner
SLDN is Soldano

These are all boutique guitar amplifier manufacturers.

Matchless is an overdriven, overbuilt VOX AC-30 sound, a la Tom Petty, Beatles, Vince Gill, etc.

Bogner amps are more like overbuilt Marshalls with some different eq characteristics (Alice in Chans, Steve Vai)

Soldano is similar to Bogner, but different eq characteristics (Warren Haynes, Van Halen)

And to the poster who wonders what amps are what.....if you don't know what amp is what, its always safe to stick with a Fender blackface twin for clean and a Marshall super lead for dirty as stock sounds, and then deviate from those accordingly.

[nc]

BG is Mesa Boogie

[sheaj]

May I please have a recommendation on which speaker types are suited for which amp types? It's obvious that JC-120 speaker type goes with JC-120 amp type. I presume BG Stack 1 and 2 go with BG Lead, while MS Stack 1 and 2 go with the three MS1959 amp types. But what speaker type would be recommended for Clean Twin? For Match Drive? For SLDN Lead?

I'm not interested myself in the Metal, OD, Distortion, and Fuzz amp types, but someone else reading this post may be, so recommendations for those models would be appreciated as well.

Thanks!