VG-99 conversation-lag tested

Started by GeePeeAxe, April 21, 2010, 12:10:57 PM

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GeePeeAxe

Just made a test with audio and midi recorded at the same
time in Sonar. No matter what "feel" I adjusted the avarage
lag between the first audio wave and the midi-note-on was
on open strings:

E6 string = 45 ms
A5 string = 35 ms
D4 string = 27 ms

The "feel" settings work like gates. "Feel 1" lets most of silent
notes through. "Feel 4" or "strum" filter most of silent notes out.
If "chromatic mode" is off, you can send bend-data to midi, but
you´ll have problems with retriggering notes. Pity... The bending
range is fixed and there is no octave-switch at all. Not good...
Chromatic modes 2 and 3 worked fine for me with hammer-ons
and pull-offs. OK, playable in most situations!

So far I can say, the VG-99 is not for advanced midi-guitarists.
The GTM feature is nice, but only for beginners or occasional
playing with midi at home. I expected more for my money, but
the other things the VG-99 can do still make me happy.

I don´t think that the USB-midi is any better, so I will not spend
my time on testing it.

Cheers,
Djordje
www.midiguitar.de

paults

My *ancient* Roland GM-70 has been one of the best pitch to MIDI convertors I've had . The Axon tracked just slightly better, in fact.  I sold my Axon, but still have three GM-70s :) 

I couldn't get any of the GR synths to work as well with MIDI out, and the GI-10 didn't seem to have enough parameters to adjust.

The VG-99 works really well for me.  The GK physical setup, and the measurement and sensitvity parameters all make a big difference.  The different Feel settings are suited to different kinds of synth sounds.     

aliensporebomb

I posted a long response over at the VG-8 forum.  

Copied:

Quote
Djordje:

Thanks for your findings. I guess I'm going to have to disagree with
you as I've found the MIDI very usable in the VG-99.

Here's a youtube video of a live piece done with six channels of audio: my
standard guitar rig going to a mixer, the VG-99 going to
the same mixer and the midi out to several softsynths:



That was all live, one pass no edits. Computer is a PowerMac G5 2.5 dual with 7
gigs of ram, 4.7 TB of disc and running Garageband for that test.

I did some tests on the 99 because people were
complaining they could not play fast without mistriggering so I
recorded this little MP3:


That's just a little piano and strings patch
That's about as fast as I can flat pick I think.

The full piece was here:


Which is just the "keyboard" track solo'ed.

Here's what the DAW saw the line I played as:
http://pod.ath.cx/vg99/midi/mysticascore.jpg

I also did this:

That's regular distorted guitar along with midi crotales, bells,
a piano. Kind of a Zappa thing there but not as good.

The one thing I found is it didn't translate bends in the mode I was
in (whatever the VG-99 default is). Not that I bend a lot while
playing lines that are meant to be keyboard-esque - an acoustic
piano sounds ridiculous when you bend a note.

But then again, I've recently found ways to make the VG-99 make "synthesizer"
sounds without using MIDI at all, and not using the internal synthesizer waves
either:



I don't really need synthesizers. When I heard Bill Ruppert's demos I thought
for sure he had to have been using synth waves but you can get "synthesizer"
sounds out of regular guitars if you process them enough.

Another example: looped example of five different custom patches:


Pod Luxe Strings, Pod Organ Follower, Crystalline Pod, Pod Luxe Orchestra, etc.

Anyway, questions? Just ask. I'm totally sold on the VG even though there are
some limitations to the MIDI side of the machine, just not as many as some
think.

I really want to get my hands on an Axon to see how that tracks.

-t

Phil Carnell at the same forum responded:

Quote"Did you perform the test via midi cable or over USB ? I find over USB the GTM
function is quicker to track than all other Roland pitch to midi systems ( not
tried Axon though) - it is however less forgiving with false triggers so you
have to play with those GTM parameters until you find what works best for your
playing style.

Cheers
Phil"

I don't know about your Djorge but I am using the USB MIDI and it is fast for me.
The lower strings are not quite as fast but it is more than acceptable.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

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