| Well, the latest thing in guitar controllers *isn't* pitch-to-midi.
It seems that no matter what, it takes a certain amount of time
for the electronics to figure out what the fundamental pitch is
of the vibrating guitar string.
In the current issue (July) of Music Technology, there's an article
on the Beetle Quantar Midi Guitar Controller.
Some quotes:
"The Quantar is a dedicated MIDI controller that is built entirely
into a Strat-type guitar - no additional boxes or converters are
required [sic] ...it tracked amazingly well and responded to all
playing styles (except harmonics) accurately, including muting and
damping.
"Instead of using a passive system like like the pitch to midi
conversion technology used in the Roland, Ibanez, Phi-Tech, Casio
and other products, the Quantar uses an active system based on sonar.
As a result, it can avoid the inherent limitions of the other systems,
specifically, note delays.
"...the neck is constantly being scanned to determine the position
of your fingers on the fingerboard. As soon as you put your finger(s)
down on a note (or notes) the system can immediately determine what
hote it is (or they are) - before you even pick the string(s)!
...lurking beneath the bridge cover is a proprietary bridge that
uses special transducers to send ultra-high prequency signals down
the strings - sonar technology. When you fret a note the signal
bounces back off you finger and the electronics determine its exact
position on the neck. The pluck only determines the velocity of
the note. Because of this technology the Quantar can be set to
a special Tap mode or a steel guitar Slide mode. String bends,
hammer-ons and pull-offs are also possible."
40 hr batter, global transpose, up to 12 midi channels simultaneously,
can save 99 configurations, pressure sensitive palm pad on bridge
(aftertouch on a guitar!), lotsa other stuff.
From what I've read, heard, and tried (the Roland GR-whatever) of
other guitar controllers, and from what I've heard of your playing,
sonar is the way to go.
On the other hand, the list price is $1295. Which ain't too bad,
considering (IMO).
Rodney M.
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| WJB,
I have been following this stuff pretty closely. I personally am only
interested in a guitar controller that can also make regular guitar
sounds.
If you have that same requirement, the short story is that it's
not here yet.
I'm not as familiar with the dedicated guitar controllers, although
I've tried everyone I could get my hands on. The only one that
I thought was remotely suitable was far too expensive (Synthaxe).
I haven't tried the new Yamaha (GC-10 I think is the model).
The main problems are 1) tracking which imposes a sorta speed limit,
but also can highlight minor flaws in your technique, and 2)
expression, such as bending, vibrato, picking, etc.
In playing these things, I sorta felt like I was playing a keyboard
in the shape of a guitar. I felt very very limited, and thought
that things these guitar controllers allow me to play would be
better accomplished by a keyboard player.
I suppose if you don't play keyboards, these things are great, and
I confess that even with the limitations they are a lot of fun
(playing a guitar and hearing a sampled pipe organ was a real trip),
but really you don't need much keyboard technique to do what the
guitar controllers allow.
I also couldn't imagine playing a whole song on what is currently
available.
db
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| If you really want a guitar controller (and are willing to mung a
perfectly good Hondo :-) ) it's not hard to build a
polyphonic-guitar-to-polyphonic-CV controller. Then route it into
any handy CV->MIDI converter and you have everything but pitch bend.
We had one CV for pitch, another for attack velocity, plus a gate.
Each of the strings was separately patchable and transposeable
electronically.
The circuit is real simple, the woodwork not particularly hard, and the
entire cost (when we modified a Cort shortstring bass two years ago)
about $50 sans the guitar. This was for a circuit that had per-fret
tuning (Dig that just-tempered bass line :-) ) but you need precision
resistors if you don't go for per-fret.
Send me a 'gram if you want to know how it works.
-Bill
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