Conference napalm::commusic_v1

2817.0. "Gibson Widget MIDI Guitar System" by RGB::ROST (Ashley Hutchings wannabe) Fri Jan 10 1992 11:33

    From USENET.  A review of the Gibson Widget MIDI guitar system.
    
    						Brian
    
From: dcampbel@timshel.austin.ibm.com (David L. Campbell)
Subject: Review:  Gibson Widget MIDI Guitar Controller (long)
Date: 6 Jan 92 23:20:20 GMT
 
I've recently replaced my Pitchrider 7000 (complete with non-functioning
G string!) with the new Gibson Widget MIDI Guitar controller.  Some people
here have been asking about this unit, so I thought I'd share my experiences
with you.  I've had it for several days now but I've played with all
its different functions so I know my way around it pretty well.
 
The Widget consists of two major components.   The first is the control
unit which mounts on your guitar.  It is about the size of an electric
shaver and has a numeric keypad (with two function keys), a volume knob,
a "dynamics" knob, and three LEDs.  All parameters are adjusted using the
keypad and LEDs -- there is no LCD display.  The control unit mounts on
your guitar from the end strap pin.  A short cable connects it to the hex
pickup.  The pickup is mounted in the usual place -- right next to the
bridge.  It can be mounted with double-sided tape, but it is best to
mount it with screws (thus requiring you to drill two small holes into
your guitar.  Ouch).  The control unit looks pretty cool mounted on your
guitar -- very high-tech.  The construction is good and if you have a
black guitar or black pickguard, its not too visually obtrusive.
 
The control unit has jacks for the hex pickup and the signal from the guitar.
A special 6-pin (?) DIN cable connects the control unit to the other major
component, the distribution box.  Thankfully, the cable is long enough for
stage use.  It runs the MIDI output and guitar signal to the distribution
box and returns power from the distribution box to the control unit.
The distribution box is about the size of a stomp box and has a MIDI output,
a guitar output, an input jack for the control unit and an input jack for
the AC adaptor.  Most of the work is done in the control unit; the
distribution box only seems to exist to provide a single place to make
all the cable connections, and to send power to the control unit over
the special cable.  It would be a drag to have all those cables hanging
off your guitar.  Better still would be to make the distribution box
rack-mountable.  I might end up doing that myself.
 
As a side note, when I saw a picture of the Widget, I suspected that it was
actually a unit made in Germany called a Shadow (the same kind that Steve
Morse uses).  My suspicions were confirmed when I opened the control unit
to have a look at the circuit board (which incidently, seems very nicely laid
out).  Printed on the board -- "SHADOW".  The original manufacturer's name
is printed on the special cable as well.
 
So, the most important question -- How does it track?  Well, very well, I
think.  A fellow here on the net posted a small review of the Widget that
said it wasn't sensitive enough.  I've not found this to be a problem at
all on mine.  My suspicion is that the unit in question was defective,
improperly adjusted, or the synth patches used were not optimal for guitar
synth (this can make a *huge* difference).  The Widget tracks *considerably*
better than my old Pitchrider, and much more "guitaristically".  It does not
track as well as the high-end controllers such as the Zeta (~$2700).  But
for a selling price of between $500 and $600 that's understandable.  Proper
adjustment is crucial.  If you've not adjusted the Widget properly (using 6
adjustment pots -- one for each string) it can generate little random notes,
double notes, or lose notes altogether.  Pretty typical stuff for pitch
conversion units.
 
One thing I want to point out for folks who are thinking about getting into
guitar synth:  Give the technology a chance.  When I first got my Pitchrider,
I played with it for about a week, then I abandoned it.  It just didn't let
me play the thing like a guitar.  A couple of months later I picked it up
again out of boredom, only this time I did alot more tweaking with the
controller, the synth sounds, and my playing technique.  I stopped trying
to treat the thing like a nifty effects box and approached it from a non-
guitar perspective.  I had a blast and came up with some fairly striking
stuff.  I now view the guitar synth as an entirely new instrument, with its
own vocabulary and mindset.
 
Okay, back to the Widget...
 
The Widget has four playing "modes":
 
   1) poly, pitch bend off.  All strings transmit on the same MIDI channel.
      Bending strings results in discrete half-step "jumps" in pitch.
   2) poly, pitch bend on.  All strings transmit on the same MIDI channel.
      Bending strings is tracked continuously.
   3) mono, pitch bend off.  Each string transmits on its own MIDI channel.
      This is used for driving several synths or driving a multi-timbral
      synth.  Bending strings results in discrete half-step "jumps" in pitch.
   4) mono, pitch bend on.  Each string transmits on its own MIDI channel.
      Bending strings is tracked continously.
 
With mono mode, you can assign different sounds to each string.  Pitch
bends are tracked okay, but it could be alot more accurate.  This is the
weakest part of the system in my opinion.  One reason is that the bend
range on the Widget has only two settings: 4 half steps and 8 half steps.
4 is a very reasonable number for bluesy sorts of guitar bends, but I haven't
found much use for 8 yet -- maybe its supposed to track whammy bar stuff --
I'll have to find that out.  I'd rather be able to set the pitch bend range
to an arbitrary value.
 
Tracking is considerably more accurate with pitch bend turned off.  This is
because playing fast runs can result in the Widget interpreting consecutive
notes as pitch bends instead of new notes.  This sounds wierd on synth
patches that have an animated attack transient, because you lose the entire
transient on these notes.  This is a problem that I've seen with all pitch
conversion MIDI guitar controllers.
 
In poly mode, the Widget is hardwired to transmit on MIDI channel 1.
Likewise, when operating in mono mode, the individual strings transmit
on channels 1 through 6, with the high E string on channel 1 and the
low E string on channel 6.  Once again, I'd like to make the channel
assignments as I see fit, but the truth is that I'd use those same assign-
ments 95% of the time anyway.
 
The numeric keypad is used to send program change messages to your synth(s)
and other MIDI gear.  This is a cool idea.  Its nice to have the program
select buttons right on your guitar.  The volume knob on the Widget control
unit sends controller 7 messages to your synth to adjust volume.  If your
synth doesn't respond to controller 7, you're out of luck.  The "dynamics"
knob adjusts how sensitive the Widget is to the dynamics of your playing.
It comes in handy when you're mixing the synth sound with your regular
guitar sound, since you'll generally want the synth to have the same
dynamics response that your guitar has.  Currently, the dynamics control
does not do enough when set at full throttle on my system -- there's still
a big jump in output between soft picking and medium picking and not enough
of a difference between medium picking and hard picking.  Note however,
that I've not noodled with my synth's velocity sensitivity on several
of my favorite patches.  I suspect this will improve things considerably.
 
There's a transpose function that is nice but fairly inflexible.  You can
transpose the MIDI output 1 to 3 octaves up or down.  The unit of change
is the octave -- you can't transpose by a fifth or whatever.  Thats a drag.
However, most synths can do the transpose themselves so in practice its
too much of a problem.  The control unit also has a tuning mode that allows
you to tune your guitar.
 
One thing that they don't tell you when you get into guitar synth is
how your MIDI system will integrate into your regular guitar rig.  This is
important, because noise will almost certainly be a problem, particularly
if you have a high-gain guitar amp.
 
It took a bit of experimentation, but I've managed to include the Widget
in my rig with a minimal amount of noise.  The big issues are to keep
MIDI and AC (or AC adaptor) cables separate from instrument cables, and
to *always* use good shielded instrument cables.  Crummy cables really
pick up on MIDI and AC adaptor interference.  I physically separate my
guitar setup from the synth stuff and that helps alot.  The output from
the synth is run into the PA system.
 
For working with a band, I've been using the program change buttons on the
Widget for synth patch changes only.  For changing guitar preamp and effects
programs, I use a MIDI foot pedal.  This works well since I don't use
guitar synth on every song and even where I do use it, its only in small
sections -- otherwise, I'd rather have all program changes accomplished
from the foot pedal.  I fade the synth sound in using a volume pedal
attached to my synth; the guitar output is kept constant.  I don't use
the volume knob on the Widget very often.  This is good because the reams
of continuous controller messages spewing out of the Widget when I use
the volume knob cause the dreaded "zipper" noise in my guitar amp.  I've
not been able to eliminate this yet, but its not very loud so I haven't
really put much effort into it.
 
Overall, I suppose that I'd rate the Widget a B or B+.  I wouldn't give
it an A because of the inflexibility with pitch bend range and transpose,
the pitch bend tracking accuracy, and the fact that the distribution box
isn't a rack unit.  Its strong points are its price, good note tracking,
good construction, and handy features (program change keypad, built-in
tuner, volume knob, etc.).  I feel like its very much worth the reasonable
selling price (~$550).  Be warned however, that if you've never played
a guitar synth, you should try one out before buying any guitar synth
setup.  Some folks just can't tolerate the lack-luster tracking of pitch
conversion controllers.
 
 
Your mileage may vary....
 
 
 
David.
-- 
+----==== opinions expressed do not represent those of my employer ====----+
| David L. Campbell, IBM PSP Austin       | "After all, he was the walrus. |
| INET: dcampbel@ajones.austin.ibm.com    |    I could be the walrus too." |
| IBM TR: dcampbel@timshel.austin.ibm.com |               FBDO             |

    Hi, any COMMNOTERS used the Widget? I'm interested if it tracks faster
    than the Roland GK-2 ? or even my dinosaur the GK-1 ?
    
    Jim