Recently I bought a new Beringer (cheap) rack mount multi effects unit in an effort to have a cleaner easier set up for coffee house gigs. (I'm doing my 1st little stick feature next month) Rather than run several Zoom peddles into my Rane AP13, into a Mackie mixer into my powered speaker I'm running the Rane into an old rack mount Roland line mixer into the powered speaker with the Beringer in the Rane effects loop. No peddles and far fewer wires to deal with on the gig, everythings pre-wired.

ANYWAY .......... The sound I'm getting now is much "richer" than I was getting with my other set up and for the cheap $ ($99) the Beringer is awesome sounding. But to get to the point ... while fooling around with the unit I just had the inspiration because of the sound to start playing "Wish you were here" by Pink Floyd. The sound seemed perfect and the song itself seems custom made for the Stick because it features two acoustic guitars playing simple but nice parts. I don't think i would have ever thought of doing this song if it weren't for the new SOUND that inspired it. I WAS going to do all originals at my up coming gig but have decided to add "Wish you were here" to my song list. It just sounds too good to leave it out. (I still need to get it under my fingers)

Have any of you ever been inspired to play .... or write a song simply because it seemed natural with a sound you discovered?

Absolutely. A long time ago I had a riff that was cool but needed something more; other than what I could do physically. I turned on a single quarter-note repeat on my delay pedal (which hadn't been used before this point), and the rhythm came alive. I got that excitement that happens when you know true inspiration is arriving. The riff turned into a song in just a few minutes, and it was called "Awakening". It was my first composition on the Stick, and I play it to this day. It wouldn't have happened if that delay pedal hadn't been there.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OVsNgIxFTc[/youtube]

Real nice tune Matt!!! And nice smooth confident playing too! Outstanding!

Thanks, Ray. This is a good topic that I'm sure others will chime in on. Because of that song and just one other, the delay pedal always has to be in my pedal board. All the others just use my TC reverb pedal. Maybe another song will need that extra drive someday. Glad you liked it!

I agree. That is a cool tune. Most use of delay gets very muddy, because the player tries to do too much with the melody. You kept it simple enough that the delay actually enhances the performance. Good job.

Hi Ray,

This tune was definitely inspired by the melody effects patch:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG6LNiUh8XE[/youtube]

RSS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG6LNiUh8XE

I had used this combo of compression, chorus, delay and reverb for a while and one day hit on this melody while it was on.

This video is also a great example of what happens when you start off a tune too fast . Needless to say I was very excited and honored to be finally starting my set at the Allaire Festival, the next tune was a little calmer...

There's a studio version on Lift for those interested.

What's holding your stick up?

That's a wooden block made by John Taggart of Tagg Guitars in Las Vegas. He makes these wooden interfaces custom for the Stick. The block then threads to the top of a cymbal stand. Once it's mounted, you can adjust it in all directions as well as as for proper height. I wear my Alto and use the stand for the Grand when performing live. We play a lot of festivals where we have to run our merchandise table as well as play. It's nice to be able to walk away from the instrument so you can handle your sales!

GREAT song Greg!!!

Ray - I most definately get inspired by effects! That doesn't mean I have to use them all of the time but sometimes they're just the 'spice' needed to trigger creativity. WYWH is a great song - been playing it for a little while. Actually a number of the Pink Floyd tunes can be adapted to Stick quite nicely.

Ray - is the effect unit the Virtualizer? I have two of those and despite their low cost they actually sound pretty good. I used them with my SP-13 - one for each side. I've been meaning to try them out on the Coda R amp (great amp but the effects are a bit lacking for me)

Dave