Fishman TriplePlay Wireless Guitar to MIDI

Started by audiotrax, January 18, 2012, 08:09:15 PM

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audiotrax

Hey everyone, I've been scouring the Internet for any new information I can find about the Fishman wireless MIDI guitar converter. No such luck, so I decided to go direct to the source. I called Fishman today and spoke to one of their representatives. He was really positive about the forthcoming unit and seemed to be really pleased in my interest.

As I'm paraphrasing information from a conversation that wasn't meant to be public I'll just keep it simple with what I got out of them:

I told him I'm a member of the V-Guitar Forum online and he seemed familiar with it. He didn't reflect that he knew there was a lot of interest and speculation about the device already. I mentioned that one of the main concerns people have about it at this point is if they'll be able to use their existing hex pick up guitars or their Godins, as the beta pictures of the Fishman showed it comes attached already to a hex pickup. I asked them if they had considered that they might be losing a large part of the market that is already into guitar to MIDI converters, because this would prevent them from using gear that they had already heavily invested in.

He seemed a little surprised by this question, and said he would bring it up to the team and that there was a very good possibility they would offer several different versions of the product. 

On asking him why they came up with a wireless design that doesn't include the output from your guitars regular pickups, he explained that the purpose of the device was to make it very simple for people toget into, so they wanted to keep the MIDI functionality of the guitar a separate process. This way there would be less confusion for beginners, (guitar goes direct to amp, MIDI gets injected directly into computer), and that the same reasoning would tie into why it comes included with a hardwired hexaphonic pickup.

On the price (and and this is some really good news!), he said that their marketing team really wanted to keep the price below $300, and that they definitely want to have it on the market by summer 2012.

I think he could tell I was pretty excited about this. I really wanted to reinforce the point to him that we MIDI guitarists feel there actually is a very large market for an affordable, reliable method of getting our guitars into MIDI equipment. At this price point (!) we will be having access to the most advanced conversion software developed, from a solid reputable company, at a price point pretty much anybody could afford. Is this good news or what?? Finally, it looks like there could be a real game changer out there for the everyman. That's pretty much all I could get out of him, and he let me know he really appreciated my interest, and invited me to call back at any time if I have feedback or questions about their product. I am so looking forward to this summer!

Ahh yes and videos.  There should definitely be demo vids from the NAMM show coming to You Tube this week :)
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

Frank

#1
Anyone see it in action?

Elantric?

http://www.bestofnamm.com/products/view/tripleplay

DC23

Been a lot of discussion about it since last NAMM but I'd love to see a vid of it in action at NAMM!

Elantric

I will have a video demo up on youtube in a couple days.

Very Very impressive.

I talked to Larry Fishman who said
June 2012 release date and internal kit version will be available too.

Spider

#4
Quote from:  Elantric on January 22, 2012, 08:43:07 AM
I will have a video demo up on youtube in a couple days.

Very Very impressive.

I talked to Larry Fishman who said
June 2012 release date and internal kit version will be available too.

From Yahoo MIDI Gropup:

"I am still at the NAMM, but let me answer to some of the questions raised
here:

>> You'll need one of these for each guitar you have.
1.) The whole system clips on the guitar with a magnetic fixture, something
like the power connector of a MAC laptop, so changing from one guitar to the
other will be a matter of a few seconds.
2.) For a 13 pin system you need a GK-2 compatible pickup for each guitar.
It costs almost as much as the whole system here, so even if you have
separate sytems for each guitar it is much less investment than having 2 *
GK-2 + 13 pin cable + an AXON or ROLAND.

I deleted some messages, but I remember remarks like that:
>> "it looks like a toy"
The palm-size box which looks like a toy contains more than 1000 times
higher processing power than the original AXON.

>> Does it have fret, string and pick splits like the AXON?
It does not have pick splits, but fret splits and string splits are much
more flexible. While in the AXON the corners of four segments meet each
other in one common point, here two such points can be defined
independently, one for the lower splits and one for the upper. This means
that the lower and upper splits can overlap, even fully cover each other as
two layers, and the string split of the lower and higher range can be
different. This is possible because the lower and upper splits are
transmitted on separate MIDI channels, the lower on 1...6, the upper on
11...16. Burr used these features extensively in his demo.

Andras Szalay"

"Like Andras said, there are layers and independent splits for each. Burr stressed that in his demo. No pick splits.

And it's not glitch free. There are still glitches, not many, but they happen. Kinda like the Axon itself, maybe a little less.

Mike"

Spider

I'm waiting but... without GK-13 converter or USB to 5-din MIDI it would be only suitable for VST. So... nice but I would like to have wireless Midi coveter but still use GR55, external synth... and VST.

Elantric

Not enough bandwidth here at the hotel, but I will have a `10 minute video demo up tomorrow.

Wonderful product

Spider

Quote from:  Elantric on January 22, 2012, 08:54:28 AM
Not enough bandwidth here at the hotel, but I will have a `10 minute video demo up tomorrow.

Wonderful product


Good news Elantric!
Do you have an info about planned GK13/MIDI converter for use without computer?

aliensporebomb

#8
It sure seems interesting to me - what a revolution!  But, I'd like to see a way of pushing data from this to one of my 13-pin devices such as VG-99/GR-55. 

Hmmmm.  Thinking. 

Can anyone measure the height of the control pod the Fishman Triple Play has off the surface of the guitar?  That's kind of what I'm really
waiting for is a lower profile "wart".   I was hoping Roland would release a "GK4" this year with a lower profile box.

Either that or I need to knuckle down and get a RR strat and be done with it.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

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

audiotrax

This sounds REALLY cool, but I don't quite get what they are talking about here.  Are they saying there will be an alternate way of using this if you already have a gk equipped guitar?
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

Elantric

Quote


Good news Elantric!
Do you have an info about planned GK13/MIDI converter for use without computer?


Nobody was mentioning this at the booth. I'll ask today an take measurements.

res075oh@gte.net

Any chance of a group buy ahead of or coincidental with the public release?

Thanks,
James
.
.


Quote from:  Elantric on January 22, 2012, 10:37:34 AM

Nobody was mentioning this at the booth. I'll ask today an take measurements.

DC23

I'd be up for a group buy haha. I've got cash in hand now (been waiting for its announcement since September).

res075oh@gte.net

I'd be up for a group buy even without a discount.  That should be a way to get it as soon as it's available.

BTW, since I'm the village midiot perhaps someone can correct me; but it appears it must be used with a computer?  IOW, is there any reasonable way to drive a hardware synth with it without a computer?

Thanks,
James
.
.


Quote from:  DC23 on January 22, 2012, 05:33:45 PM
I'd be up for a group buy haha. I've got cash in hand now (been waiting for its announcement since September).

mbenigni

Not sure what the "Triple" in "TriplePlay" is meant to imply, but does this unit transmit both audio and MIDI, or just MIDI?  If it's both in one solution, then my credit card is ready.  Otherwise, I'll probably spend another year trying to wring every last drop out of my GR55.

JCRob


DC23

I believe the original prototypes had an audio transmission included, however, they subsequently got rid of it as they wanted this to be an extremely simple MIDI solution for anyone (far less confusing when you've just got one wireless transmission). So, I'd say that if you need an audio transmission, I feel you'll have to stick with the GR55.

Quote from:  mbenigni on January 23, 2012, 06:47:36 AM
Not sure what the "Triple" in "TriplePlay" is meant to imply, but does this unit transmit both audio and MIDI, or just MIDI?  If it's both in one solution, then my credit card is ready.  Otherwise, I'll probably spend another year trying to wring every last drop out of my GR55.

Elantric

#17

redlock

Wow.Thanks for doing that Steve.
Tracking sounds excellent. I didn't hear one glitchy note!!



Chema

Elantric, thanks a lot for this video, tripleplay sounds great, is the best midi converter anytime, isn't it. Thanksssss !!!!

DC23

Thanks so much for posting that!  I am sooo much more excited for it now....gonna start building up my VST collection so I have tons of sounds by the time this thing drops!  Also, I notices that Burr was using a couple of different foot pedals with the Triple Play.  Were those optional accessories branded by Fishman are was he just using a dedicated looping pedal and a another program change pedal, couldn't tell!

Elantric

#21
QuoteAlso, I notices that Burr was using a couple of different foot pedals with the Triple Play.

Burr was using a Macbook Pro running Logic as sound source.  He used the Logidy UMI3 foot controller for patch changes, loop on off, etc. within Apple Logic.

There is a Fishman TriplePlay OSX Control GUI app, and I assume a windows version will exist too.

I have covered the Logidy UMI3 foot controller before:

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=4153.msg28059#msg28059

scratch17

To quote the late great Etta James, may she rest in peace, " At last...."

This is obviously a game changer.

Count me in on a group buy. I have cash right now.

Steven
Hamer Duotone, Brian Moore i213, Taylor 710 BCE 

VG-99, FC-300, RMC Fanout
RJM Mastermind GT10
Kemper Profiling Amp
Radial JDV Mk3, X-Amp
Mesa Recto Pre + 20/20
68 Fender Bandmaster (AB763)
Marshal AS80R

UA Apollo X6, Twin X, Logic Pro, Luna, Melodyne Studio

Elantric

QuoteCount me in on a group buy. I have cash right now.


Save it for June 2012 - nothing is going to happen in the retail side until then.

Charles5150

What a demo, Burr really can play !

Amazing tracking, no ghost notes and it's wireless ! It's a present from the Gods of music

I'm thinking right now about firing those great guitar samples that don't sound right played from a keyboard because of the nature of the keyboard itself.....

With this thing, you only need a guitar and a computer to play anything anywhere.....