Confound it, I have no idea what he's using here: Adrian Belew

[Swimming Bird]

Hey all, I was perusing youtube and came across an old version of "Elephant Talk" by KC and, well, what the heck is that box that Belew uses to make the animal noise? About 30 sec in.

Also, a different, but equally confusing box. This one is at about 5 mins.

Thanks.

[Jazz Ad]

It sounds like a feedback loop on his fuzz but it could be anything really, from a standalone synth to an altered knob theremin.

[Swift713]

He used a Roland guitar synth among other things which had at least a couple adjustable LFO's. I'm not sure about that specific guitar but he had some with little sensors on them to adjust the LFO etc right on the guitar.That's how he got that elephant sound. I would guess that the box on the stand was some kind of digital delay with self oscillating feedback. But Belew can do amazing things with almost nothing - he really picked up where Hendrix left off.

[The Lurker]

Originally Posted by Swift713

He used a Roland guitar synth among other things which had at least a couple adjustable LFO's. I'm not sure about that specific guitar but he had some with little sensors on them to adjust the LFO etc right on the guitar.That's how he got that elephant sound. I would guess that the box on the stand was some kind of digital delay with self oscillating feedback. But Belew can do amazing things with almost nothing - he really picked up where Hendrix left off.

yeah, that's the roland, I think.

[Petary791]

I thought someone told me it was a Delay knob or something. I wish I knew a definite answer too though.

[Jumbotron]

I second the opinions of those above. I'd guess it's the roland, which he was using very heavily at that point, but you never know--it might be a bunch of pedals strung together. And he can get absurdly weird sounds just out of the guitar and amp--I've never seen somebody who had more control over his instrument.

[Swimming Bird]

Hendrix's heir indeed; that's a good way of putting it.

Which Roland is this? We're definitely not talking about GR-33 though...

[greenboy]

Oddly enough (or not), I don't recall. I read a lot of Belew interviews back in his Zappa and Laurie Anderson days, and around the time he did LONE RHINO and TWANG BAR KING, because I was a bigtime user of effects too. He was using a lot of stuff racked and floor back then, but the main thing I got from all his detailed descriptions of how he got certain sounds was that it was his experimentation and creativity that stood shoulders above compared to others who were using some or many of the same units.

So I kinda pay less attention to specific brands and units and a lot more to learning what I have, inside and out, and how it works in a different signal chains - hopefully to use it all to some good outcome ; }

[Swift713]

Those were the first or second generation Roland guitar synths. A friend of mine in school had one. They were pretty primitive and the tracking was horrible. You can hear a couple moments of bad tracking on Discipline but what Belew and Fripp managed to do with those things is amazing. They were pretty large floor pedals. That thing on the stand is not the synth.
I love when Fripp looks into the camera on that video.
Those four walk among us as gods.
Did I mention that I was a Crimson fan?

[Swimming Bird]

Ah, you see I'm talking about the thing on the stand. It made a rhino noise when he tweaked it. It seems that it is a single noise unit, but I'd love to know exactly what.


As for midi, I already use a GR-20, but yeah, props to the precision of Fripp & Belew for getting GR-33s to work well.

[matrok]

I'm pretty sure it's an MXR MemoryMan. My guitar player back in that era had one and could get sounds like that from it. That song (along with "I Don't Remember" from Peter Gabriel's third album) made me buy a Stick when one turned up in the local classifieds back in '81. wish I had devoted more time to it!

[niftydog]

My money's on an EHX Polychorus. Much better version here.

[matrok]

Oh yeah, the MemoryMan is an EHX unit as well.