Bottom Line Expectations From A Pitch To MIDI Guitar System......

Started by audiotrax, April 16, 2011, 04:55:10 AM

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audiotrax

OK, this might sound a little pessimistic, but after after starting off (long ago) with an ARP Avatar, and Roland GR-500, then a Beetle Quantar (which died on me - but it was the best overall) and still a GI-10 in my studio rig - here's a topic that I think should be addressed on "realistic expectations" with pitch-to-MIDI guitars.  Especially for new people who want to get into this stuff.

In my experience, here's how I sum it all up:  If you want to play conceptually like say, Vangelis or Jean Michael Jarre; Yes, by all means with some work adapting your fingers to work along side a sequencer, a guitar can drive synths to do that.

If you are fantasizing that your Roland system is going to let you play a synth like Rick Wakeman or Jan Hammer - fagget aboudit! It's NEVER going to happen with current technology.  :(

Those are the best examples I can come up with.  How about other people here?

Not that I think I'll ever be able to (or need to) play like the last two guys, having that frustrating brick wall in front of me is precisely why I've finally decided to stop messing around and once and for all save up for a Starr Labs hardwired guitar controller.
Owner of: VG-88, GI-10, Cubase 5, Kontakt, SampleTank, var VSTI's, Roland JV1080.  Strat with GK-2A, two Roland GR500 analog guitar synths

paults

I've been doing it pretty much as long as you have - I resisted the Avatar, and waited until the GR-700 came out.   For vintage synth sounds with effortless playing, the VG-99 has plenty of vintage COSM synths with no latency, and the GR-55 has a COSM GR-300 with no latency, and the internal PCM sounds have as little latency as possible with current Roland technology. 

Pitch to MIDI does have an inherent delay, and always will. The two cycles (cycle and a half?) can be felt on the lowest stings the most. But, there are many ways to minimize the issues.

The instant fix for latency is to string a guitar with six high "E" strings, and use individual pitch shift set up for the hex pickup to transpose them down to the BGDAE for stings 2 through 5.  Every note will trigger just as fast as the 1st string.  I've not listened to what effect this would have on COSM guitar sounds, but with the COSM synths and internal GR-55 synths, response would be great, and MIDI out would be greatly improved. 

No matter how you string it, system set up is really important to minimize false triggers and even out the string response. The guitar's intonation has to be right on, fret buzz has to be eliminated. Parameters with names like nuance, threshold, and sensitivity should be optimized for the intended way to play each patch. 

If someone can play their guitar with a clean tone just as fast and precisely as Jan Hammer, Al Dimeola, Eric Johnson, etc. , no problems remain at that point :)  But, for the rest of us, even after a perfect set up, Pitch to MIDI is absolutely merciless when it comes to technique. It attempts to convert every extraneous thing into pitches, and that's where some glitches will still come into play. 

The ideal controller for me would be like several products that have gotten at least as far as the prototype stage.  They used a combination of real strings (so it still feels just like a regular guitar) with wired frets (for instantaneous analysis of source pitch) and a hex pickup (to trigger the actual note on, and provide bend and vibrato data).   


Rhcole

Well Audiotrax I agree with you.

I've been in the guitar synth game a long time myself.

The GR-55 internally is the best I've found so far at playing fast notes, although even it is far from perfect. And strumming sampled guitar voices, forget it. Check my second clip posted on the Premier Guitar review that I wrote for what happens when you do that.

However, I now use MIDI outs primarily for delayed attack synth voices where I cover the strike or pluck with a GR-55 voice.
To me, that is the current state of the art.

Note that if you buy a Z-tar you will possibly need to modify your technique substantially.

audiotrax

"The ideal controller for me would be like several products that have gotten at least as far as the prototype stage.  They used a combination of real strings (so it still feels just like a regular guitar) with wired frets (for instantaneous analysis of source pitch) and a hex pickup (to trigger the actual note on, and provide bend and vibrato data). "

I had really high hopes for that Fret-X guitar.  I just now noticed that they've removed their single, year old video from You Tube, and their web site is down. So - either it's over, or there's about to be an announcement. (Bet not).

And I still can't find any reliable information on that new Fender Rock Band 3 Stratocastor.  It's mostly (except for bending) the technology you are describing.  The few videos I've found on YT are so hopelessly pathetic......always newbies who can barely fumble an open D, and haven't the slightest clue of how to use it in a studio.  Fender themselves are nearly silent on it's use as a MIDI controller (??) and haven't even tried to market it as such. Sorry for being so negative - but what's happened to that one?  If it can trigger fast notes for a stupid video game, it must at least track well - while still being a playable guitar with strings.

I still believe there is a market for a dedicated guitar controller.  In fact NOW more than ever, because of the acceptance and availability of fast, cheap computer technology. There are ton's of guitar players out there compared to keyboard players.  Most of them now have some kind of computer setup with alternate software instruments.  All that potential. 

Think about this:  go back in time and tell a piano player that there is a company that plans to offer a "piano" style keyboard that will allow you to retain all your technique, and let you play an unlimited number of sounds.  The catch will be - it's not really an ACOUSTIC piano - and it will take a change of thinking to utilize it. You will have to buy and adapt to a dedicated controller that looks and feels different.

I'm sure there WAS resistance from a lot of the piano establishment at first - but look what happened.  I still believe that if a big name company like Roland took a chance and came out with a slick looking hardware guitar based controller that really worked and allowed you to retain basic guitar techniques like string muting, hammer-on's and bending - it would be a hit.

C'mon, you KNOW the technology has been there for ages to move past pitch to MIDI tracking.  Where is the "Juno 60" for guitarists?  Does Roland or Korg have some kind of inside demographic knowledge that guitar players are all really the dumb and closed minded cliches' as they are portrayed on the cover "guitar" magazines?  (Think biker dude with clenched fist and leather gauntlets - then project out to where that image will be in 10 years...)

Even drummers (remember all the jokes?) have taken to playing electronic pads, and they are expensive and require at least some change in technigue. 

I've been waiting 30 years for this, and except for Starr Labs (whose controllers I still have some reservations about) NOTHING!  Are we guitar players our own worst enemy here or what?  Sorry - rant over.  Can you tell I am feeling frustrated?   >:(
Owner of: VG-88, GI-10, Cubase 5, Kontakt, SampleTank, var VSTI's, Roland JV1080.  Strat with GK-2A, two Roland GR500 analog guitar synths

Rhcole

Audiotrax,

I have an insider's perspective on this as I provided some consulting to a guitar synth company.

Bottom line- the market isn't big enough. If there were the $$ to match the technology hurdles, these would have been surmounted.

Your typical guitar player doesn't "get" guitar synthesis. The numbers have never been there.

Yes, it is a chicken and egg type of problem, but the simple truth is that most "high-end" guitar players like playing their expensive Les Paul/Strat/Tele/Whatever reissues or vintage guitars through point-to-point wired boutique tube amps. THAT is the current state of the art. No insult to this approach, by the way, but it is a very different mindset. Even the boutique pedal market is a different thing.

Guys who will buy and learn guitar synths are in the tiny minority. I promise you, that is why you don't see these devices from Yamaha, Korg, etc.

Only Roland has hung in there as a mass manufacturer.

drjoness2001

Pitch-to-MIDI Expectatons...have you checked out this video:



Tracked using the GI-20, and I find the results just astonishing. But I notice this just is a lighting fast picker, which I'm sure helps.


alfstone

By my point of view (I've been playing with this kind of toys since many many years now), the truth is in the middle.

I mean:

take an *average/good* guitar, with an *average/good* amp, and put it in the hands of an *average/good* (even amateur) guitar player, and very probably you will obtain an *average/good* result. This because the luthier and amp making technologies are absolutely solid, and they are - just the same, always the same technologies - OK for MOST of guitar players.

When we talk about guitar synths, guitar MIDI and so on, things change a lot. The video posted by drjoness2001, for instance,  shows that it's indeed possible to play fast, very fast, with a Godin + a GI-20 + an expander, but this requires for sure a very clean playing technique (and not many guitar players have it...) coupled quite probably with an absolutely PERFECT setup of the chain: guitar-GI20-expander.

The same with the problem of piezo pickups with GR55, when using the GR-300 patch: lots of troubles for most of us, me included, sure, but then you see this video:

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3660.msg24672#msg24672

...and you realize that at least ONE guitar player can play that patch very well and without any problem with a Godin on a GR55. So this means that the problem is very common indeed, but not general. An that there should be a solution.

What I'm tryng to say is that the approach to a Pitch to MIDI guitar system is completely different from the *not-MIDI-guitar-player*: in this last case you have almost everything ready out-of-the-box, while when playing MIDI guitar you have:

- to change completely your approach to the guitar and the way you play it (...clean, clean, and again clean playing...)
- to spend a lot of time with the setup of the "chain"

...and *maybe*....maybe...you will be lucky to have good enough results. And at this point the RHcole post is fundamental to understand the future of this issue: no big market, so no funds to solve the problems of an  *out-of-the-box-perfect pitch-to-midi* good for every guitar player.

So, at the end, we can only try to play cleaner and try the many options of the setup, without many hopes of a future perfect and UNIVERSAL pitch-to MIDI guitar system.

Please, excuse my English... ::)

Ciao a tutti!
Alfredo

paults

It is a small market, compared to the overall electric guitar market.  Most people just want to be able to play guitar.  Fortunately, Roland has had a long run of products, and has continued to sell enough of them for to keep releasing new ones.  Their approach of always keeping the guitar products one generation behind their synth line has allowed them to extend the product life of each sound generation technology, and create new products for the guitar community with less development cost.

The external pickup has turned out to be a great thing for Roland. That approach gives their products a much more universal appearance of usability than if they had their own line of guitars. The large number of small companies companies making compatible guitars has helped their business, and their cooperative arrangement with Fender has resulted in products for both companies.

The GR-55 has better internal sounds than to be expected at the price point (considering there are two synth engines + COSM), and they are more than good enough for live use. The internal sounds will also keep up with the player, as shown on the NAMM videos and the ones posted by users.  Many of them are just fine for recording, too.  It largely just depends on the genre. 

I think if Roland made a GR-999, with dual sound library quality sample playback engines for $2599, they wouldn't sell 1/3 as many of those as the GR-55, with its waiting lists and back orders. 


I don't think its necessary to completely change the approach to the instrument to get good results with MIDI.  Playing clean and optimizing one's skill for a particular style of playing (or being able to play way outside those conventions like Ribot or Belew) is just part of being a musician.  Getting near-flawless results with MIDI requires more effort than the intro to Smoke On The Water, but it doesn't require someone to be a superhuman quality player to be able to use it :)
 
When the sensitivity threshold/velocity curve/nuance/feel is set right for a sound, current technology can keep up pretty well with whatever the player can do. The slight delay will be there, but it is not that big of a deal to play slightly ahead of the beat.

If you want to play guitar synth like a guitar, the above Godin/GR-55 video is a great example.  It shows the internal sounds can keep up with a fast player. The player has a distinctive style, and he uses that style on guitar, flute, piano sounds.

If you want to be able to play actual keyboard parts on your guitar, this guy plays the piano on his guitar. Really well!

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3665.0

His video shows the internal pitch to PCM can keep up with complex fast changing chords, with moving bass and melody lines.

In a few years, the next GR/VG-nn will have better sounds than the 55, and may track better, if newer chip sets are used, but it may be a simpler, "easier to use" product, if Roland determines the 99/55 would have sold more if they were less complicated.  I suppose that will depend on the feedback Roland gets from consumer research.

In the meantime, keep watching for something new from an upstart.  Or, maybe the Axon technology will reappear in something with improved performance from a newer chip set. 


     

audiotrax

Hey guys, I just wanted to thank you all for the intelligent commentary here.  I really need to get some kind of website together where I can easily post audio examples of what I'm trying to do, so I can share some of these ideas and get some feedback from the community. Last summer my Roland keyboard died.  Due to the economy crunch I haven't been able to replace it yet.  At a loss for input into my studio gear I went back to the GI-10 and GK-2A system that I had kind of given up on years ago. 

To be honest - musically, having my keyboard die was one of the best things to ever happen to my creativity.  Not being that much of a keyboard player anyway (I'm a guitar player) suddenly a life times worth of chord and scale knowledge was opened up for me to sequence with all my computer gear!  I think I had put off using it because it just took so much work to get everything set up properly. I consider myself to be pretty fast, clean and capable on the guitar - and can work out anything I need to play and execute it. Not bragging, just giving some background.

Anyways, I was determined to make this guitar to Midi thing work beyond just slow string pads - and the more I pushed at it - the better it's become.  I've been hooked ever since :)  In fact over the last year it's had such an effect on my playing, I've kinda gotten bored with the guitar/rock thing I've been doing all my life, and have decided to pursue my other half: synth based soundtrack composition.

Back in the 90's when I had the Beetle Quantar I was lucky enough to nab a bit of scoring work doing commercials and some back-ground scoring.  I also released a CD of buy-out music that actually got a bit of critical acclaim in the industry.  It was ALL done with the Quantar except for the drums.  Anyways after it died, I went back to the rock thing, and decided (because nothing else seemed to track well enough) to just get by with a keyboard when I needed to play synth parts.

Sorry to make this so long winded.  I wish I could show you guys what I am trying to do with the guitar/synth thing now.  I think what's different about me compared to most of the examples I can find online, is that when I'm using it, I am not even thinking about guitar based lines at all.  I'm not interested in noodling about playing jazz'blues guitar licks and bendy rock leads.  (NOT that there's anything wrong with that).  What I am exploring are compositions based on melodies, chords and rich vintage synth type sounds that create an emotional landscape.  If anything I am trying NOT to play what is expected from a guitar.  Conceptually, I guess it's related a bit to Vangelis. 

I have created a pile of "unfinished" short musical pieces just exploring how far I can push the GI-10 with the Computer stuff.  I'm really happy with what it's opened up for me so far.  I don't think anyone would ever be able to tell that it was played on a guitar (not that that's the point).  I am hooked on the kick of being able to hear an idea in my head, or a favorite piece of music, and then picking up my GK equipped Strat and seeing if I can come up with a playing technique to achieve the end result.  With some editing, I've been able to do some very convincing moderately complex piano playing with finger picking.  But that's where the technology brick wall has got me to a point to where it's now just holding me back.

The You Tube example of that guy playing the Rag Time piano piece is a good example of what I'm talking about.  He's a great player.  It's an amazing trick of technology that he is able to get that from a standard guitar-with-strings instrument.  But in REALITY that's kind of what it is - a trick.  If this was a studio session - the response from that gear would be totally unacceptable to a professional producer - and I am not slagging that player in any way.  If you listen close, you can hear the GR55 introducing all kinds of little skips, false triggers and drags across his performance that basically throws up a barrier between his hands, and the the music.

I WANT to be able to pick up my guitar synth instrument and have whatever I play flow from imagination to fingers to computer hardware WITHOUT it skipping and holding me back by introducing timing lags and errors.  That's not too much to ask.  On NO OTHER instrument would such a thing even be considered acceptable. Can you imagine a keyboard player in 2011 playing a passage on his new Roland Korg or whatever company, and it only grabbing SOME of the notes accurately?  Unthinkable!  Only guitar players are left with "well gee whiz....it's pretty amazing how it makes a different kind of sound when I strum and follows some of what I can play. Look at me"! 

It's embarrassing actually to have to settle for that.

So - that's my beef with the industry. 
Owner of: VG-88, GI-10, Cubase 5, Kontakt, SampleTank, var VSTI's, Roland JV1080.  Strat with GK-2A, two Roland GR500 analog guitar synths

midiman

Quote from: paults on April 16, 2011, 12:09:04 PM

The instant fix for latency is to string a guitar with six high "E" strings, and use individual pitch shift set up for the hex pickup to transpose them down to the BGDAE for stings 2 through 5.  Every note will trigger just as fast as the 1st string.  I've not listened to what effect this would have on COSM guitar sounds, but with the COSM synths and internal GR-55 synths, response would be great, and MIDI out would be greatly improved. 


I have been contemplating doing something along those lines. My main reservation is thatall 6 strings would feel the same and therefore a bit odd. I know we can do some pitch shifting for the guitar modeling but anthing over an octave is going to be way too full of artifacts so I am thinking along the lines of using standard strings for the top 3 E-B-G and then using the same 3 strings but slightly heavier gauge to compensate - D(e)-A(b)-E(g wound) and shifting them an octave down for PCM tones and Guitar modeling

For example:-

E - 009
B - 012
G - 016
D(e) - 010  - -1 Octave
A(b) - 014  - -1 Octave
E(g) - 023w  - -1 Octave

Will inevitably produse some aritfacting for non PCM sounds but might be a compromise for certain situations. The tuning in itself might also prove interesting. I have a Shapely Wood travel guitar that is currently in 2 pieces. When I get a chance I might try and repair it and try something like that :)

I haven't had the experience of various guitar technologies that some her have had but have been experimenting on and off for the last 20 years. I have owned various flavours of Roland guitar synths - GR-50, GR-09, GR-30, GR-33 & GR-20. Pitch to MIDI has included Yamaha G50, Roland GI-10, GI-20 and VG-99. The GR-55 is a huge leap forward in my opinion. As far as sloppy technique goes I am up their with the best of em and have found Guitar Synthesis and Pitch To MIDI an often frustrating experience usually resorting to pads/stings/organs/choirs etc to fill out the sound. Pianos and the like a definite no no. The GR-55 is very forgiving and as far as playing piano type sounds it is very good. One of the songs we play is Desperado by the Eagles and pre GR-55 played it using acoustic guitar with strings layered over the top of it. Not anymore. The pianos sound superb and would have no hesitation using it live.

I haven't really used it much for Pitch to MID but the one experiment I did do indicated the lower strings whilst tracking the pitch accurately did suffer from a more noticeable latency then the higher pitched strings. This can be distracting when you are trying to record. Workaround is to string it as Paul suggested or using my alternate strings. 

Anyway, loving this forum.

Cheers

Tony

aliensporebomb

#10
My own experience (at least as far as the VG99 goes) proves that running MIDI over USB is much faster with better accuracy than running standard midi cables into a MIDI synth.

It's possible to do some fast crazy stuff but what I've found having all of this stuff is doing is making me more of a musician and less than a guitar player in terms of focus overall - in other words, I'm using it to create music rather than trying to impress people with fast licks:

Well, except for this:
http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/song_details/7466605
See around 2:05 onwards, it's a solo I did using HRM sounds with no tracking delay.  It's kind of a wank of a track and I don't really recall doing it
except it was more of a demo to see what could be done just whizzing around like a complete maniac.

Here's really what I'm using the Guitar-To-Midi stuff for though:



The preceding is my guitar into its regular stereo rig plus two channels of hexaphonic guitar from the VG-99 and two channels from the guitar-to-
midi feature into several different softsynths all LIVE with no overdubs whatsoever.  I can play this kind of stuff live, sort of "soundtrackish" types
of music and go nuts assigning different sounds to each string.

So what happened to your Beetle Quantar?  Do you still have what's left of it?  There's no way it can be repaired?
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

jwhitcomb3

I just did a quick search on the Axon patents (Andreas Szalay). Seems most of his US patents were assigned partially or entirely to Yamaha. Given the competitive nature of Yamaha and Roland, I would be surprised to see the licensed Axon technology showing up in Roland products any time soon (the Szalzay patents don't begin to expire until 2015).  If you're curious, go to Google Patents and search on:
5,717,155
5,780,759, and
5,929,360 (which is for a pressure transducer).
FYI, starting in 1995, Japanese patents had a 20 year term from the filing date (not from the date of issue). Szalay filed in Japan first, and claimed priority to them in his US patents.

I also found this one assigned to Roland:
5,367,120
That one expires in October of this year.

Elantric

FWIW -

Mr Szalay is in the final stages of R&D working with Fishman to release a new Wireless Guitar to MIDI PU system:

The Transmitter pod mounts to your guitar, and a USB Stick is the receiver, and you drive softsynths on your laptop.


They showed it off at MusicMesse 2011:



But I understand it will not ship until much later this year.

Details here:
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3444.0



aliensporebomb

Quote from: drjoness2001 on April 16, 2011, 11:21:10 PM
Pitch-to-MIDI Expectatons...have you checked out this video:



Tracked using the GI-20, and I find the results just astonishing. But I notice this just is a lighting fast picker, which I'm sure helps.

Carlos Eduardo Arrelano - that guy was a monster six or seven years ago - he was a regular at this site called "Guitar War" and he had a tune that basically was number 1 week after week after week.  He wasn't stoppable then and he sounds better and more musical now.  Thanks for the link!
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

audiotrax

I've seen the videos for that new Fishman wireless MIDI device.  It's truly some of the most amazing tracking I've heard yet from a pitch-to-MIDI system.  However, I just listened again and realised something; it sounds as though it works by very high resolution PITCH BENDING between notes to avoid miss-firing.  Which.......would make it basically useless for sequencing, manipulating and interpreting MIDI note data.  AGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!..........sorry  :'(
Owner of: VG-88, GI-10, Cubase 5, Kontakt, SampleTank, var VSTI's, Roland JV1080.  Strat with GK-2A, two Roland GR500 analog guitar synths

jwhitcomb3

Quote from: midiman on April 18, 2011, 04:15:58 AM
I have been contemplating doing something along those lines. My main reservation is thatall 6 strings would feel the same and therefore a bit odd. I know we can do some pitch shifting for the guitar modeling but anthing over an octave is going to be way too full of artifacts so I am thinking along the lines of using standard strings for the top 3 E-B-G and then using the same 3 strings but slightly heavier gauge to compensate - D(e)-A(b)-E(g wound) and shifting them an octave down for PCM tones and Guitar modeling

For example:-

E - 009
B - 012
G - 016
D(e) - 010  - -1 Octave
A(b) - 014  - -1 Octave
E(g) - 023w  - -1 Octave

Will inevitably produse some aritfacting for non PCM sounds but might be a compromise for certain situations. The tuning in itself might also prove interesting. I have a Shapely Wood travel guitar that is currently in 2 pieces. When I get a chance I might try and repair it and try something like that :)

Tony

A few years ago I strung one of my acoustic guitars for Nashville tuning (stringing using the second pair of strings of a 12 string guitar) for a recording project that required a 12 string. It worked great for that, but I also had fun exploring the chord voicings it presented. So why not string a GK equipped guitar for Nashville tuning, or some variant thereof?  You get the benefit of faster tracking via the higher pitched strings, and you can also still use the COSM and magnetic pickups. You can also get some nice keyboard-like chord voicings by narrowing the span of the notes. Of course, you can adjust the GR-55 to play the notes any octave (or whatever) you want.

I think I'll try this out on my backup guitar (a Dean Tonic with an Axon AIX-101 pickup), but leave the G string at normal pitch. I'll report back to let you know how it worked out!

midiman

Quote from: jwhitcomb3 on April 20, 2011, 09:57:53 AM
A few years ago I strung one of my acoustic guitars for Nashville tuning (stringing using the second pair of strings of a 12 string guitar) for a recording project that required a 12 string. It worked great for that, but I also had fun exploring the chord voicings it presented. So why not string a GK equipped guitar for Nashville tuning, or some variant thereof?  You get the benefit of faster tracking via the higher pitched strings, and you can also still use the COSM and magnetic pickups. You can also get some nice keyboard-like chord voicings by narrowing the span of the notes. Of course, you can adjust the GR-55 to play the notes any octave (or whatever) you want.

I think I'll try this out on my backup guitar (a Dean Tonic with an Axon AIX-101 pickup), but leave the G string at normal pitch. I'll report back to let you know how it worked out!

I'd be very interested in hearing how you get on. I still havent had the chance to sort out the travel guitar I have for it but when I do will be gving it a go myself

polaris20

Quote from: Elantric on April 18, 2011, 09:23:16 AM
FWIW -

Mr Szalay is in the final stages of R&D working with Fishman to release a new Wireless Guitar to MIDI PU system:

The Transmitter pod mounts to your guitar, and a USB Stick is the receiver, and you drive softsynths on your laptop.


They showed it off at MusicMesse 2011:



But I understand it will not ship until much later this year.

Details here:
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3444.0

Love the performance I've seen, and I LOVE the form factor. Pickup on guitar, tiny USB receiver, lightning fast tracking? SOLD!!!

audiotrax

Have to say I'm really intrigued by that new Fishman wireless MIDI thing.  I think they are kind of locking themselves into a design corner though if the only model they have forces you to use their pickup.  What about all the people out there who already have a hex pickup mounted on their favorite guitar, or all the Godin nylon string players? 

Still, I can't wait to see how this works out.  They should make a model that works with Ghost setups.

Owner of: VG-88, GI-10, Cubase 5, Kontakt, SampleTank, var VSTI's, Roland JV1080.  Strat with GK-2A, two Roland GR500 analog guitar synths

jassy

I hope they will do a version which accepts a 13 pin connector so every actual system can work with it.

jwhitcomb3

Quote from: midiman on April 28, 2011, 08:19:31 AM
I'd be very interested in hearing how you get on. I still havent had the chance to sort out the travel guitar I have for it but when I do will be gving it a go myself
I gave it a try, and it's a gas! I strung the guitar with E-A-D one octave up:  string gauges (hi E to low E:) 10-13-17-11-15-24

Then I set up with a user alternate tuning dropping the E-A-D strings one octave down. The bass tracks much better. I had lots of fun setting up patches with bass on the low strings and piano on the higher string (a little cross fading in the middle strings).

It was also fun to play regular keyboard and horn patches this way to get nice close chord voicings (of course, you can do that without re-stringing the guitar just with a user tuning, or the nashville tuning). For this it was best to use jazz chord voicings, because basic major/minor chords otherwise doubled two or three notes.

If you want to try this yourself, I have posted some patches in the GR-55 user patches - Jazz topic:

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3797.0



mbenigni

QuoteLove the performance I've seen, and I LOVE the form factor. Pickup on guitar, tiny USB receiver, lightning fast tracking? SOLD!!!

Ditto.  Want this.  :)  Have they said anything about price point yet?

P.S.  Does it also have a 1/4" in and broadcast guitar signal wirelessly?  That would be AWESOME, but probably too good to be true in this form factor.