GI-10 vs GI-20 vs ???

[swarfrat]

So I'm looking for a MIDI converter for soft synth on a PC. I started out looking for Axons, but even kown dead units are asking crazy money on fleabay. Yamahas appear to be non existant. I just found out about the GI-20, but that one got away.

So what's the scoop on tracking for the GI-10? They at least seem to be plentiful. I'm using Graphtech Ghost on a VS100.

Should I hold out for another unit, or is tracking more or less equivalent among the various GI's and GR's?

[aliensporebomb]

I took a look again at the Roland Response to feature requests for the VG-99 and thought this was interesting, as Peter Swiadon reported:

"The VG-99 already meets or surpasses the GI-20 in terms of MIDI accuracy and speed. However, it is more critical on the VG-99 to set the string sensitivity properly for the MIDI features."

So if you have a VG-99 you already have a guitar-to-midi device equal to or better than the GI-20 but if you don't have anything there's always the used market for a GI-20 or a VG-99 or a GR-55.

Interestingly, there was a next to new GI-20 at the Music Go Round in Burnsville Minnesota the last time I was there but it was over $500.  But it still had the original box and looked like it had never been used by whoever had it.

[Elantric]

Should I hold out for another unit,

This thread has details on the most eagerly awaited Wireless MIDI controller developed by the same man that programmed the Axon Guitar to MIDI systems - it should debut at 2012 Winter NAMM at the Fishman booth.
 
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3444.msg25981#msg25981

[audiotrax]

Hi, I've had a GI10 for about 10 years now.  I absolutely love it.  I know there are more recent Roland units out, but honestly, in my opinion I don't think the tracking has improved much more than a hair.  And this thing tracks like a rocket.  I absolutely love it.  When people tell you that Roland pitch to MIDI systems don't work well, skip, track unreliably (unless you buy the GR55) etc etc - they have no clue about what they are talking about. 

98% of the complaints are from user error.  Either poor guitar setup/calibration or sloppy performance technique.  That is the bottom line truth.

I use mine every day for composition in the studio, and I am STILL blown away by what I can do with it, along with good knowledge of a DAW environment.  I could write a book on tricks that I've discovered to get it to translate performance ideas from my head to the studio.  (If you search on my user name, you can find several of my posts about the subject).

These are going cheap.  If you can find one GRAB IT!  The newer units do not actually offer much more, unless you are looking for something for live use that has sounds and controller pedals built in.

The only drawback with the GI10 is that you cannot store any performance setups in memory.  If you have more than one MIDI guitar that would be a hassle, because calibrating the pickup to your playing feel is CRUCIAL, and is an ongoing exercise in experimentation.

If I were to do this over again, I would go for maybe a GR33 because you can store setups per patch, and the expression pedals are built into the unit floorboard style.  A more recent unit will also cost you more.

Just keep in mind that guitar synths are not instant out of the box self gratification toys.  They take a lot of hard work, time, and adjustment of playing technique to get them to work accurately.  I find that they are not really live performance tools, unless you are playing simple pad type sounds.  With something like Cubase it's a complete re frame of thinking about how you play.  It's more like you have to think AHEAD of what you are going to play, and then edit it after the fact.  But THAT is exactly where the incredible power of guitar synthesis lies....

[Midiman57]

The GI-20 employs a new tracking algorithm which can lock pitch with a quarter of a waveform making it four times faster than the GI-10... theoretically.

[Elantric]

The GI-20 employs a new tracking algorithm which can lock pitch with a quarter of a waveform making it four times faster than the GI-10... theoretically.

Yet in 2015, all Roland Guitar to MIDI systems remain slower responding compared to the
Fishman Tripleplay
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=8427.0

[kenact]

The GI-20 employs a new tracking algorithm which can lock pitch with a quarter of a waveform making it four times faster than the GI-10... theoretically.

That sounds like the claim made by the Passac Sentient Six.

[BROCKSTAR]

The GI-20 employs a new tracking algorithm which can lock pitch with a quarter of a waveform making it four times faster than the GI-10... theoretically.

How true is this? I never had the gi-20... but I do own the gi-10 and use it daily now and find that the tracking is pretty much the same as the G2M inside the new boss sy-1000 that I had. I seriously notice no difference... so it would surprise me if the gi-20 is better?

[BROCKSTAR]

Below is comparison of the various pitch to midi technologies.  See Wayne Joness's website for his methodology: https://www.joness.com/gr300/MIDI_SPEED.htm

The G50 was the fastest and used the Axon/Fishman algorithms.
 

Ok so not a big enough difference between gi-10 and gi-20 at all... I can almost bet most wouldn't tell between most of these except maybe 1 and 10 which is a huge difference but then again this is in milliseconds... Playing correctly and accurately probably has more benefits then the ms time.