Join the Q

Have you got what it takes to be a strumplate strumpet? Peter Forrest (Music Mart magazine) harps on about the latest incarnation of a classic toy-turned-serious-instrument ­ Suzuki's Q-Chord Digital Songcard Guitar.

LAUNCHED IN THE early 80s, Suzuki's Omnichord subsequently enjoyed a steady market.
    It was a sort of electronic auto-harp with built-in drum machine, and various models were introduced, intended for family music-making or superstar amusement ­ top producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno are reputed never to have boarded a plane without theirs in hand.  

    The attraction was obvious: a very neat self-contained machine weighing only a few kilos, 

offering the ability to    experiment with chord progressions and doodle away on the 'strumplate' ­ a sort of harp with touch contacts instead of strings ­ until something nice emerged.

    All those early examples employed analogue sound generation of course, and what the results lacked in authenticity they made up for via cheesy charm. As technology moved on, so did Suzuki, and the later models took advantage of cheap digital sound sources plus more powerful processors. 

    Now comes the Korean-made Q-Chord, still recognisably the same concept, but with all the extra power that current budget technology can provide. Visually, the shape

Consuming issues
The Q-Chord takes eight 'C' batteries. The optional mains transformer is probably always a better alternative, but even after 

a week of frequent and prolonged use, the batteries show no sign of giving up.

    There are 10 rhythm tracks on board, each with an intro/end pattern and fill. For my money the ones that work the very best are, as always, the steady state cool patterns ­ in this case, bossa-nova, new age and ballad. Press one of the 36 chord buttons and an auto-accompaniment starts up to complement the drum pattern.

    There's a fair amount of control over the elements concerned and by timing the chord changes loads of subtly different feels can be had, while the modern technology means the sustained strings really do change smoothly.

    Operating the curiously titled EZ Play button lets just the chords sound (which is strange, because the name suggests that this facility might offer the full auto-accompaniment deal), but even exposed in this way they sound very pleasant and very usable. Major, minor and seventh chords for each of the 12 notes are provided, while major and minor sevenths as well as augmented and diminished chords can be obtained by pressing two selectors simultaneously.

Double duty
Some of the chord buttons double as controls for other operational aspects of the Q-Chord ­ such as putting the strumplate up or down an octave, so it's crucial to have the manual handy until these methods become second nature.

    The strumplate has 10 sounds, accessed by repeated pressing of the relevant button and another 99 are available via a few more button pushes, and a two-digit LCD shows the number of the sound selected.     

    The harp-like nature of the usual strumming playing style means that some of these voices are more instantly usable than 

others, but it's also possible to pick out individual notes with care or to play chords simply by keeping two or three fingers in one position.

    The strumplate's reverb, vibrato and sustain functions are all programmable, but the real bonus is a pitch wheel, recessed into the right-hand edge of the instrument. This is sprung, with a slightly limited preset range, but is still very expressive and single-handedly makes the Q-Chord transcend all the old Omnichords. 

    Ordinary lines can be given a touch of magic or emotion, and with a restrained ballad beat, something of the feel of a Twin Peaks soundtrack is
achievable.

PERFORMANCE:
Even via the little built-in speaker, the Q-Chord sounds cool, but connecting it either to stereo headphones or to a stereo amp yields superb sonic results.

    As a self-contained musical instrument, the Q-chord is difficult to fault, but MIDI is also included. It can be used as an expander, but will also send MIDI information to other instruments or a computer sequencer. 

    The MIDI transmission channels are preset and only one MIDI lead can be connected

 at once, which is a bit of a nuisance, but this still gives huge potential for using further sounds, separating the constituent parts in the mix to add different effects and so on.

CONCLUSION:
I generally prefer old musical technology ­ the Korg MS-20 over the 2000 for instance, or the JP-8 to the JP-8000 ­ but for once there's absolutely no contest.  

    The Q-Chord doesn't just do loads more clever things than the old Omnichords, it also sounds better ­ and as for that pitchbend wheel, how did we ever do without one? This is another classic in the making