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Using this synth gives you some ups and downs. When used for playing a GS/GM midi file, it sounds rather convincing. But at a not so high a number of simultaneous note-events (well, quite simultaneous it never is with midi, but you know what I mean), it starts to 'bounce': some notes simply come too late. Like I said, when not pushed to those limits, it sounds well. But then, when you pick a patch that seemed so nice in a midi song and play it solo, the charm drops, leaving you with a very thin sound. There are only a few exceptions, like acoustic piano, distorted guitar, some brass.
Okay, then you read a nice suggestion on this site about layering sounds, and that shows a new dimension of the GMega. It is possible to assign a sound more than once to the same midi-channel, and change for instance the tuning of each assignment. An electric piano, using the same sound twice and detuning one of them 5 or 6 units, gives a strong, thick piano, with a chorus/flanging-like effect. I am still working on the strings, which somehow don't get richer when layered this way, but for the organs it works very well. Especially when you 'build' your own organ sounds with the pure sine-wave like you would do with draw-bars (so, use the second oscillator in a patch to produce a 5th or an octave and add the same slightly detunde patch or one with the same groundnote but a different addition in the second generator), it's hard to tell it apart from a real Hammond. That is, until you feel the need to speed up the Leslie: that has to come from a separate effect unit, for the Gmega only has 6 effects (6 versions of reverb, that is). And don't forget that fooling around with sounds and channel-assignments will not work well while playing back standard midi files.
There is another aspect I think is worth mentioning here: the GMega sounds sometimes surprisingly better in a live situation, where it combines nicely with other instruments in the combo, than at home. It has the opposite effect from the Yamaha TG500 I use: that module doesn't have weak sounds, at least not in the family of sounds I am interested in, when used in the studio. But when used on stage, it's strong, yet silky and polished sounds seem to stay separate from the other instruments, and tend to get pushed to the background. Whereas the GMega, using the same amplification equipment, has more presence (not meaning being loud) and 'feels' more like a part of the overall sound of the combo. But here too: when the rest of the instruments are silent, the standard sounds of the GMega (not layered as mentioned above) are too weak for soloing.
So. some days you can't miss it, other days you want to throw it away. Seems like a normal relation to me.
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