I saw BEAT last night

GuitarGuy08

Well-known member
Hello all,

I had a friend reach out and tell me he had an extra ticket to a concert and I went. It was Beat, playing King Crimson stuff. I personally have never really listened to much of their music, if any. It was really enjoyable! First half of the set was neat. The second half of the set was absolutely killer stuff. Apparently the second set was primarily from the 'Discipline' album.

Really enjoyed myself a lot. Within a few seconds of hearing them play, I leaned over and said 'Digital'.

You can just hear it man. It's so....Flat and 2D sounding. I've been to a number of concerts at this hall, including when I saw DT with AAL and Devin Townsend, and.... Yeah, the digital stuff fell so damn flat it was almost hilarious.

It kinda reminds me of someone recording what the band is playing and playing it back on a radio or something while they perfectly mime the playing.

If course, I fully get why they are using digital gear, the set list has really wild guitar sounds and I'd imagine it is 100x easier to use for the quick, extreme, transitions.

What threw me as well is that they had Roland JC amps that they were using to push the sound of their modellers instead of of FR speakers. Maybe that's why it all sounded extra.... Monotone in a way?

My experiences with JC amps over the years is that they yield an extremely neutral tone, and that's kind of how I would describe the whole sound of the band. The music can be loud enough to hurt your ears but no thump, no true dynamics, I do not see shapes and colors like with real amps, which is something I've only recently discovered 😭 😭

I'd imagine this concert would have truly kicked ass if they had some real amps up there.


All being said, I really, really enjoyed myself and will be seeking out this album to jam. If you have a chance to go see the show, I would recommend it if you are looking to hear something different or avant-garde.
 
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I think you are completely missing the point here. They have gone to great lengths to recreate the tones on those records, including similar gear. Listen to the records - the tones are unlike anything you would hear today. The gear selection is intentionally dated and key to recreating that particular sound. Those records were made with 1st generation digital gear. Using modern, dynamic amps would defeat the purpose of this tour - an authentic experience for fans of those records.
 
I think you are completely missing the point here. They have gone to great lengths to recreate the tones on those records, including similar gear. Listen to the records - the tones are unlike anything you would hear today. The gear selection is intentionally dated and key to recreating that particular sound. Those records were made with 1st generation digital gear. Using modern, dynamic amps would defeat the purpose of this tour - an authentic experience for fans of those records.
The gear selection wasn't dated, in that they were using modern digital rigs but yeah I see what you are saying.

My friend was around 15 when the album came out and loved it.


The point of my post was more that I was surprised I could immediately hear and feel the difference of the digital rigs.

This was my first time going to a 'fully digital' guitar experience, and I did not realize that when I went.

I get that was part of the sound for sure, I mean, video game raygun noises would prob be pretty difficult to pull out of conventional amps, especially at that time.

Yeah, it definitely sounded like people who were getting to do whacky and wild stuff for the time (80s) with fun digital gear, so I'd say they nailed it.
 
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