It turns out that I could probably trade my Les Paul (which turns out to be a Custom Black Beauty) approximately straight up for a new Godin Multiac Jazz. Decisions, decisions...
For those who were curious about price, it looks like it's worth about $1500 - 1700 in trade. Gack!
Bob at Gand has also pointed me at a Kurzweil synth that's got some pretty good horn sounds for about $400. No keyboard, but it's not like I play keyboard.
I forget the exact model, but it's a half-rack unit model with no keyboard, which is why it's less expensive. The voices are supposedly not quite as good as some of the full-sized keyboard-bearing synths, but pretty good, according to Bob. He's offered to let me borrow it and try it out, which is the best way to find out, of course.
Yowzah! Take the trade. If I need a Les Paul (and I don't, not desperately or anything), I can get one new for a good deal less than $500... and I got very, very good Soundfonts for $30. :)
Sounds like a really interesting direction. Of course, I'd check the MIDI ports on the Kurzweil to make sure the Multiac can trigger them, and that they're 13-pin rather than 6-pin (either that, or inquire of Kurzweil, Godin, and Roland about 13-to-6-pin adapters), but you knew that.
Gotta say, that LP Custom Black Beauty sounds yummy. Alas, my gear fund's done been outGASsed for the summer, maybe the year. One possibly useful exercise might be to imagine yourself playing one or the other instrument 20 years from now, and then try to hear what you'll be playing, and see what draws you. But I expect you knew that too. I have no doubt that either way you'll be going in some highly creative directions.
It's a lovely little guitar, but I find that I'm almost never playing it. I suspect that I'll pick up the Godin much more often.
As far as the MIDI ports on the Kurzweil, you end up feeding them from the output MIDI ports on the Roland guitar synth. Apparently, this works, but there's nothing like testing it. :)
Of course, some synths can play themselves.
Gotta say, that LP Custom Black Beauty sounds yummy. Alas, my gear fund's done been outGASsed for the summer, maybe the year. One possibly useful exercise might be to imagine yourself playing one or the other instrument 20 years from now, and then try to hear what you'll be playing, and see what draws you. But I expect you knew that too. I have no doubt that either way you'll be going in some highly creative directions.
As far as the MIDI ports on the Kurzweil, you end up feeding them from the output MIDI ports on the Roland guitar synth. Apparently, this works, but there's nothing like testing it. :)