MIDI Guitar... On the cheap.

quicklickpaddy

Lately the possibilities with MIDI guitar has started to grab my attention. There are just a few things that I'm having a bit of difficulty with finding enough info on.

First off - I've heard a lot about having to adjust your playing style and having to be incredibly accurate. Does this apply across the board or is it a matter of "the more you spend on a MIDI pickup, the easier it is to play"? Also, most of the threads I've read up on this seem to be at least 5 years old... Do the new systems have significantly better tracking? I'm looking at the GK-3 in particular - I don't know anybody with one so I can't just go find out for myself. Alternatively... Are there any other options short of buying a MIDI ready guitar?

Next, after I get the pickup (and install it and set it up correctly) where do I go from there? The Roland floor systems are appealing - but very expensive. Is it possible to just plug straight into my laptop? Or am I missing a step? Do I need a designated converter or is that something either the pickup or laptop can handle? I know that's fairly limiting in terms of moving anything outside my bedroom and changing effect on the fly but it will at least let me decide whether I want to pursue the idea further without dropping a fortune on it.

I have a lot more questions but they'll come once I get started!

rcaz

I'm really interested in this stuff too but I can't afford it yet...

The really **** thing is that Roland make those pickups with a proprietary plug on them, so if you want to get MIDI values out of it, you have to buy the pickup, the expensive pedal that takes their special plug, and then take the MIDI output from the pedal. You can use the pickup as a hexaphonic pickup and make your own box to split the 13 pins on their plug (this can be cool for take each string as a separate output - look at the stuff Enda Bates did with that), but if you want MIDI you need their pedal.

There are some other options too... The Axon AX100 takes the output from Roland's pickup and does a much better job with tracking apparently. Or there's the Sonuus G2M that takes a regular guitar's output and converts it to MIDI. Which seems like a perfect idea but I dunno, seems to simple or something... How can it convert 6 different notes to MIDI at the same time? Maybe it can't... A hexaphonic pickup would/should be able to do that though.

There are other pickups than the Roland one available I think but I can't find any now...?

punchdrunk

http://www.graphtech.com/products.html?CategoryID=2

check out graphtech

reniwren

Fast/slow tracking is all down to physics, but overtones and bum notes are down to inaccurate playing roland pickups and graphtech are polyphonic as the strings are separated Sonus G2M is monophonic so 1 note at a time only,
I have the Roland pickup on one guitar and one built in piezo's in a godin and they both track pretty much the same,

If your not able to play cleanly I wouldnt advise you spend the money on the systems, its really not something you can disguise with effects.

Martin.

goblin59

im doing a custom guitar project that has midi convertors.

Im using graph tech products too in mine too. some of their stuff is expensive, but I'd rather not have wires or an obvious midi pick up showing up on the body.

punchdrunk

I'm getting the Graphtech system to add an acoustic sound to a tele baritone I'm building
but I'm keeping the option of adding the Midi circuit in later,from the demos I've seen it looks like it tracks really well and is inconspicuous too

Thomas from Presence

I got a YouRock guitar off Thomann recently (they seem to be in Xmusic). It's a guitar-like controller rather than a guitar with midi pickups and crucially it's very cheap.

I've been down the Roland route before but find that it's just annoying. Non-stop missed notes and other rubbish no matter how you alter your technique.

The YouRock is cheap and fairly stable. Here's a track I did with it through Logic.

The secret to all guitar midi adventures I think is to not play it like a guitar when its emulating another instrument. Get your fingerstyle down for piano and keys sounds.

Banjo

I was looking at the YRG-1000 in the latest Thomann mailshot - is it any good? Does it feel flimsy? Have you had it long and has it held up well?

It's probably heresy to mention it here but the YRG-1000 is also compatible with RockBand and Guitar Hero if you're that way inclined. Hey, some of us don't have people to jam with and need a clearly defined reward structure and fancy graphics as motivation to practice

Thomas from Presence

It doesn't really feel like a guitar at all and it does take a bit of tweaking. It's main limitation is in dynamic range but for accuracy of tracking it can't be beat.

I just wish someone would make a midi controller like it (i.e. guitar shaped but fully digital) with a bit more thought like the old Synth Axe.

That'd be the best way to go midi with a guitar.

rcaz

That YRG looks quality! I figured it wouldn't be up to much compared to a real guitar, but for the price, what could we expect?

Aaaand it's on the GAS list...