Vongon Rosetones is a new 12-voice polyphonic resonant string Synthesizer in a pedal with polyphonic pitch tracking.
Classic guitar pedals usually focus on delays, reverbs, or distortions. However, some manufacturers, such as Vongon, are exploring new avenues.
Vongon has today launched the Rosetones pedal, a stereo FX pedal that lies between a polyphonic resonant string Synthesizer and a resonator bank.
Vongon Rosetones
Rosetones is a new 12-voice polyphonic resonant string Synthesizer in a guitar pedal. Polysynth, yes, but it’s not one that is primarily played on a keyboard. The Vongon Rosetones pedal is designed to envelop the guitar in string-synth textures.
At its core is a 12-voice chromatic resonator bank that continuously observes your audio, waiting for the right note to come along. When a particular note is played, the corresponding delay line is excited, creating a lovely sympathetic resonance.
The engine is tweakable with just a few knobs: mix, tone (dark or bright), sensitivity, modulation, low-to-high octave, and feedback. Adjust the sustain and feedback for long glacial swells, huge decay trails, and short percussive bursts.
The slider control lets you shift the resonance voice so you get additional harmonies, chord inversions, and other tonal tricks. With the modulation knob, you can animate the resonator bank by adding motion and depth.
More Tweakability
Vongon also built in two distinct FXs to the Rosetones. Chorus gives a subtle multi-voice detuning to the engine to create ensemble-style width. Vibrato, on the other hand, adds a pitch-drifting effect to the resonator.
Tweak the sensitivity and feedback parameters to customize the resonators. More precisely, it shapes how strongly the notes excite the resonators and the length of their sustain.
No guitar, no problem. Rosetones also features a TRS 3.5mm MIDI input, allowing you to plug in a MIDI controller and use it as a standalone 12-voice string Synthesizer. You can save settings in nine hardware presets.
First Impression
A unique stereo pedal with an experimental approach. I’m pretty sure very few guitarists run their instruments through resonators, and more through fuzzy distortion. But what you get out of it sounds interesting.
It adds a nice extra layer of organic heaviness to the signal. Sometimes delicate, sometimes powerful, sometimes drifting into feedback. There’s not much to see of it as a MIDI synth yet, but I’m also looking forward to the demos.
Vongon Rosetones is available now for $449.
More information here: Vongon
Available from my partner
Be the first to comment