Category: Blog/News

Ambient Guitar Looping with Ebow #1

I’ve been an Ebow user for quite some time. I’ve been through a few. Even had one of the old school originals with the automatic shut-off feature. Ahhh…

I put the device down for a while, but have been spending more time with it in recent months, looking to improve my ebowing skills. Many players I have heard don’t use it for very complex melodies because it is cumbersome to switch strings, but with a little practice it can be done. I hope to post more examples in the future as I work on and hopefully improve on my string switching capabilities.

This piece is a simple guitar loop with delay, followed by a layer of Ebow.

Equipment used:
Carvin Holdsworth signature model HF2
Morley Steve Vai Little Alligator Volume Pedal
Avid Eleven Rack
Heet Sound Products Ebow
Strymon Timeline
tc electronic Ditto

Signal path — Carvin to Eleven Rack to Effect send to Volume Pedal to Ditto looper to Strymon Timeline to Effects return back to Eleven Rack.

Ambient Soundscape for Winter (hint: Carol of the Bells inspired)

Last week saw multiple days of snowfall where I live. Unusual. Headed out for a walk down by the river. So quiet. So peaceful. And yet melancholy. As I walked, the motif from “Carol of the Bells” began to run through my mind in tempo with my footfalls. I got out the iPhone and began to record video. When I got back, I headed for the studio and recorded a wintry soundscape loosely based on the song. Hope you enjoy it!

Equipment used:
Carvin Holdsworth signature model HF2
Morley Steve Vai Little Alligator Volume Pedal
Avid Eleven Rack
Strymon Timeline
tc electronic Ditto

Signal path — Carvin to Eleven Rack to Effect send to Volume Pedal to Ditto looper to Strymon Timeline to Effects return back to Eleven Rack.

https://soundcloud.com/chordsoforion/wintersoundscape

Looping with Many Layers

So I have this nifty little tc Electronic Ditto looper. I did a little experiment to see how many overdubs I could do before things got too muddy, hopefully having a somewhat musical result. I did go a little overboard, bring in an Ebow towards the end. See what you think!

Equipment used:
Carvin Holdsworth signature model HF2
Morley Steve Vai Little Alligator Volume Pedal
Avid Eleven Rack
Strymon Timeline
tc electronic Ditto
Ebow

Ambient Soundscape 1

In the midst of a busy, busy week leading up to Thanksgiving (here in the USA), this little soundscape managed to emerge – a looping piece that is targeted to be part of a larger piece. Let it roll through your head and take you to a calm place.

4 looped guitars sent through the Timeline…

Equipment used:
Carvin Holdsworth signature model HF2
Morley Steve Vai Little Alligator Volume Pedal
Avid Eleven Rack
Strymon Timeline
tc electronic Ditto

https://soundcloud.com/chordsoforion/soundscapeloop1

Anno Domini (Demo Version) – Strymon Timeline / tc electronic Ditto

Another tune for the “album.next” project. I am not much of a looper-type guitarist, but I do have a tc electronic Ditto, a simple looper that even I can understand. Also, the Strymon Timeline includes a basic looper capability. This song uses them both. Consider it my contribution to Christmas.

Equipment used:

Carvin Holdsworth signature model HF2
Morley Steve Vai Little Alligator Volume Pedal
Avid Eleven Rack
Strymon Timeline
tc electronic Ditto
Drum plugin – Rayzoon Jamstix

Signal path – Carvin to Eleven Rack to Effect send to Volume Pedal to Strymon Timeline to Effects return back to Eleven Rack.

https://soundcloud.com/chordsoforion/anno-domini

Ambient Song Idea #5 – Carvin Holdsworth Fatboy / Strymon Timeline

In the continuing pursuit of the “album.next” project, I’ve put together another video (and audio-only) of a song-in-progress. Sometimes song ideas arise from the use of effects pedals, and this was one. I was playing around with some of the default settings of the Strymon timeline and chanced upon a preset called “Dry Ice”. It worked reall well with the musical idea I was working on. We’ll where this one goes…

Equipment used:

Carvin Holdsworth signature model HF2
Morley Steve Vai Little Alligator Volume Pedal
Avid Eleven Rack
Strymon Timeline

Signal path – Carvin to Eleven Rack to Effect send to Volume Pedal to Strymon Timeline to Effects return back to Eleven Rack.

http://soundcloud.com/chordsoforion/ambientsong5

In the Wilderness – Name Your Price For This Album!

By now, some of you know that chords of orion is a musical “identity” that I (Bill Vencil) created to house my ambient/electric music. What you may not know is that I really really like to play acoustic guitar. And you may not know that I released a solo acoustic guitar album a few years ago under my name. I play an absolutely gorgeous Lowden O35 and a Tacoma baritone. Oh yeah, one electric track snuck in there somehow, played on my trusty Allan Holdsworth “Fatboy” Carvin.

So here’s the deal – I am putting this album on sale at BandCamp – name your price, starting at FREE, until the end of 2013! A holiday gift, as it were. And a chance to hear another side of my music. Please go get it and enjoy!!

the bride (song idea) – Carvin Holdsworth HF2 Fatboy / Strymon Timeline

One more song in progress for the new album. I am pretty excited about it and am looking forward to finishing arranging the song and recording it for real. Working title is – the bride. Loving the Strymon Timeline’s delay effects…

So fire up the video or listen to the SoundCloud track and see what you think!

Equipment used:

Carvin Holdsworth signature model HF2
Morley Steve Vai Little Alligator Volume Pedal
Avid Eleven Rack
Strymon Timeline

Signal path – Carvin to Eleven Rack to Effect send to Volume Pedal to Strymon Timeline to Effects return back to Eleven Rack.

https://soundcloud.com/chordsoforion/thebride

Electro-Harmonix OD Glove

Does the world need more people doing effect pedal demos on YouTube? I dunno, but I did one. I will probably do a few more. Hope you will forgive me.

Anyway, Electro-Harmonix recently introduced the OD Glove overdrive/distortion pedal. I decided to try it out as the price was very very affordable. By the way, if you don’t play guitar, and are not familiar with overdrive pedals, just know that they are designed to introduce harmonic distortion into the amplified guitar signal. The cool thing is that distortion can have a very musical sound if the electronics are designed properly and the guitar player knows how to utilize it.

Anyway, the OD Glove is a more modern sounding distortion pedal with a “Marshally” thing going. I could write a bunch of text about it, but I think it is better to let you see and hear it. Hop you enjoy…

seasonal trajectory – Carvin Holdsworth HF2 Fatboy / Strymon Timeline

Another song for the album is in progress. The working title is – seasonal trajectory. I got into a volume pedal thing for this one. I am a long time fan of Phil Keaggy’s early work with the volume control on his Les Paul. He was able to get a great trumpet sound that really blew me away as a young guitar player. Here’s an example of his work with Paul Clark:

Hmmm. Maybe I’ll be able to play like him when I grow up. In the meantime, my humble contribution to the ranks of volume pedal guitar music…

Equipment used:

Carvin Holdsworth signature model HF2.
Morley Steve Vai Little Alligator Volume Pedal
Avid Eleven Rack
Strymon Timeline (awesome delay unit!)

Signal path – Carvin to Eleven Rack to Effect send to Volume Pedal to Strymon Timeline to Effects return back to Eleven Rack.

https://soundcloud.com/chordsoforion/seasonaltrajectory