Midi guitar

[Guest MKII]

i'm considering venturing in to the world of midi guitar, so I'm looking for advice on what I need to have a very basic set up.

I have a sound module already, so am I right in guessing that all I need now is a midi pickup with the small controller that both attach to the guitar?

[...mole...]

i'm considering venturing in to the world of midi guitar' date=' so I'm looking for advice on what I need to have a very basic set up.

I have a sound module already, so am I right in guessing that all I need now is a midi pickup with the small controller that both attach to the guitar?

[/quote']

hmmm im not sure if there is a pickup made for straight to-midi. most of them are the 13-pin roland ones for the roland guitar synth.

i have a GR-20 and the GK-3 pickup. sounds were allright never got a chance to try the midi out on it though. Roland make the GI-20 which is just for straight to midi from the GK pickup.

to be honeest i think you would be better off buying a guitar with the GK pickup built, the godin ones and brian moore iGuitars use a piezo bridge for tracking instead of the roland GK pickups, which in my experience are pretty poor

all comes down to how much youre willing to spend and how much youre going to use it though.

[soundian]

Google

It's actually a useful link, not google

[Guest MKII]

Roland make the GI-20 which is just for straight to midi from the GK pickup.

That's the thing... hmmm !!!

Google

It's actually a useful link' date=' not google[/quote']

Thank you!

[Hog]

I have seen some semi decent price on Midi pickups on Ebay, maybe worth a try Bollywoodboy

[threeornothing]

Yamaha make an actual MIDI guitar. Looks very strange!

Can't see it being very playable.

I've been interested in getting into MIDI guitar aswell, theres a pickup thats cheap enough...but I think you need some of device between the pick up and your sound module (like the Roland GI-20)

Pricey shit I'd guess....

[shaun]

Yamaha make an actual MIDI guitar. Looks very strange!

Can't see it being very playable.

I've been interested in getting into MIDI guitar aswell' date=' theres a pickup thats cheap enough...but I think you need some of device between the pick up and your sound module (like the Roland GI-20)

Pricey shit I'd guess....[/quote']

i've played that, it's not very realistic at all.

[Guest MKII]

Yeah, I've played something similar to that yamaha years ago, horrible, just horrible.

[...mole...]

Yeah' date=' I've played something similar to that yamaha years ago, horrible, just horrible.[/quote']

one of these?

actually casio had the PG series of midi guitars, the actual guitars were made by ibanez and were strat style Casio just did the internal synth stuff im pretty sure they had a midi out.

they go for around 300-400 pounds on ebay though there pretty rare, supposedly pretty good quality as well, never played one myself so cant really say much more on them

http://jpsongs.com/troubadortech/casmgtr.htm

[soundian]

Yamaha make an actual MIDI guitar. Looks very strange!

Can't see it being very playable.

I've been interested in getting into MIDI guitar aswell' date=' theres a pickup thats cheap enough...but I think you need some of device between the pick up and your sound module (like the Roland GI-20)

Pricey shit I'd guess....[/quote']

You need a pitch->MIDI converter, like the GI-20.

EDIT: Try a WAV->MIDI converter.

[Guest MKII]

Why does everything to do with midi have to look so ferkin' horible!?

[threeornothing]

£495 for the pickup/MIDI controller bundle

Doesn't look too ugly either

[Uncle Mog]

Think there's a new midi Gibson les paul coming out, it'll be very expensive I'm sure

[threeornothing]

Isn't that the Gibson MAGIC technology which has been ongoing for years?

[HairyScaryMark]

MKII - what sound module do you have?

There is basicly 4 ways to go with the guitar synth idea

divided pickup - pitch to midi converter - midi synth

divided pickup - guitar midi system with built in midi converter

divided pickup - fancy effects unit system such as Roland V Guitar system

all in guitar sollution such as Roland Variax of Gibson Magic.

You also need a special cable to go with the divided pickup

Now my life story...............

I drilled holes in my Ibanez GRX70 to install a Roalnd GK2 kit pickup. Did quite a nice job but never properly finished it. Also need to attach the volume controls back on as they fell off.

Might get pictures if I actulaly get round to finishing off the loose ends (just visual things)

I also don't use my guitar midi system any more. Dosen't seem any point if I can play keyboards without the delay you get in converting low notes to midi etc. I am also a piano player.

My knowledge extends as far as.......

The note-midi idea has the problem that the sums involved in converting a low frequency to midi mean that there is a noticable delay. Some of the more modern unit such as Axxon and the new rolands apparently try to use tricks to make faster tracking. Harmony Central will tell you how sucessfull they are. I suspect the delay is still noticable though.

If you want to simulate the sound of other guitars you want a roland v-guitar system such as VG-8 and VG-88, it can do some synth sounds but it specalises in simulating other guitar-like instruments. The v-guitar system is really an advanced effects unit and does not convert notes to midi so there is no delay with 'tracking'.

The line 6 variax guitars are quite good also. I tried out my friend's Variax 600, the acoustic sounds aren't brilliant, the 12 string sounds awful though and the telecaster was the most impressive sound i heard from it. The electric guitar sounds were mostly good but the telecaster was the only truely exceptional one. I am also told you need the POD XT live to upgrade the guitar which is a tie you could do without (please correct me if i am wrong). It is a nice guitar but I think the next line might be conciderably better. It also uses a fairly standard output cable (stereo jack, i think) which dosen't allow you to switch any sound from a remote controller such as a midi floorboard.

Also note, the roland v-guitar system dosen't let you send more than one external program change through midi. This was another thing that put me off as my thinking was v-guitar + pre amp + effects unit = too many things.

I would have prefferred it if Roland brought out these units with a rack version to be controled through a floorboard, capable of controlling a rig of any size.

I am not bought over by any of these things. 500 (price of axxon) gets you an ENGL Thunder on special offer or a Peavey Classic 30 (i.e a very nice amp) or a very nice guitar. 500 can also get you a fairly good keyboard on ebay. The Roland V Guitar system costs even more than this.

[Guest MKII]

hm, on reflection, I think I'll forget about midi guitar!

[HairyScaryMark]

I think the midi guitar idea has a lot of potential but for the price and quality currently avaialable. I think it would be more worthwhile getting if you already have most of your dream guitar gear and want to add a wider variation of sounds.

Also, more bands should have keyboard players. There is a huge lack of them these days.

[Guest MKII]

Also' date=' more bands should have keyboard players. There is a huge lack of them these days.[/quote']

That's what I was looking to do, have key's sounds on guitar as I was trying to reduce my set up to just guitar, flute & saxophone... I'll just stick to using a keyboard etc.

[HairyScaryMark]

If you can play keyboards, you are far better off playing the keyboard rather than midi guitar systems.There is really no substitute for a real keyboard (for reasons i stated above) unless of course you hire a philharmonic orchestra and a ridiculous quantity of effects processors.

Some new keyboards and digital piano are also conciderably better than anything available for guitar (unless you were to hook up your guitar-midi converter to one of these units).