In as much as keyboardists have envied guitarists so much so that they try to give them a run for their money with things like the Minimoog or ARP Odyssey, guitarists have also envied keyboardists controlling over an orchestra of sounds spanning 27 keyboards on stage. Guitarists have answered in return through touch-style instruments and installing synth controllers on their guitars but controlling just one synth can't possibly beat the keyboard wizard, right? Someone has decided it's time to even the score and released Even Harmonic HMT1.

The HMT1 is a VST plugin that brings an additional level of control to the synth guitarist. Rather than directly controlling a softsynth with a guitar, the HMT1 goes in between the synth guitar and softsynth and brings the guitarist a whole range of controls such as turning off and on individual strings, routing any string to any MIDI channel, turning MIDI on and off with a MIDI foot controller, and turning pitch bend off for synths that do not respond to pitch bend well. You now do things such as playing six softsynths assigned to each string simultaneously, switch from one softsynth to another at a tap of a pedal, or even play a massive sound on as many softsynths your rig can handle with just your MIDI guitar.

As this new release celebrates Even Harmonic's entry into the realm of plugins, the HMT1 is available for FREE. You heard me right; you can download it for free via Even Harmonic's web site. As a VST plugin, it can be used by both PC and Mac users. Now I guess you can now tell Rick Wakeman that you don't need to dial up your guitar all the way up to 11; just make sure your MIDI guitar tracks to near zero.