SynthAxe!

Ok, so this is from the '80's, but I'm glad I didn't see it or I would have had to get one.  Hehe... 
 

As cheesy as this thing is, I find myself strangely drawn in by the quietness and the clarity of that video presentation.
 
By comparison, most product reviews these days are an assault on the senses - usually, after 30 seconds, I've reached my limits and only heard superlatives...

sharke
Allan Holdsworth at the end there!

"It's really amazing!" he says at the end. Tho I think he was referring to the price...
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SYNTHAXE-MIDI-Guitar-Controller-SYSTEM-w-Cases-owned-by-Jeff-Baxter-16912-/171248572023?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item27df35d677
 
Is this the most expressive (if not the most expensive) MIDI controller I've ever seen? If they had been moderately priced and had evolved into something more compact and better looking it might have caught on.
 
***
Wikileaked: When originally produced, the SynthAxe was priced at 10,000 pounds (approximately $13,000 US dollars) and eventually sold for about $8,000.00. It was such a sophisticated and expensive piece of machinery that few were sold making it difficult to keep the company afloat.
The SynthAxe is no longer produced and it's very difficult to locate used units (fewer than 100 were made).
*** 
 
After all. it IS just a controller.

Interesting, but most of that can be done on a regular keyboard synth, and those were probably a lot cheaper.
But it could be played differently though.
And played easier with some types of playing style.
 
and they had digital in the '80's. And analog to digital and all of that.
So the quietness would be to me nothing new, funny how some people want tape sounds but usually that ends up noiser.
Oh, well.
 

Back in the day, I got to see Holdsworth do a pre-concert SynthAxe demo/Q&A/meet and greet thingy, when I guess SynthAxe was sponsoring his tour or something.
 
And then a great concert (and he always has a hellified band).

Hi,
 
Like this is any different than that guy playing an iPad in concert on his encore?
 
It's a matter of time. The teaching of the mechanics in an instrument will be a thing of the past!
 
It's my opinion that a lot of this is the main issue with "teachers". But so few teachers are interested in helping the kids learn via their touch and preferences, and try to mold the person to something they are not, and this causes the younger generation to say ... ciao baby!

I went from listening to SynthAxe, to Weather Report, to Return To Forever, to now Liquid Tension......nice progression.
Thanks Craig!!