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RE: OT: Guitar Synth



I’ll weigh in on this FWIW. I have a wide range of interests in using MIDI – I started wanting easy transcription of whatever I played, for use in a sequencer or notation program. The degree of accuracy desired is high and very dependent on your technique as well as equipment, and it hasn’t a chance of picking up anything beyond pitch and duration.

 

Over time my interest has gravitated more towards what it seems Kevin is after, where accuracy is less important than ease of widening the sound world radically.

 

All that said, a few thoughts in no particular order:

1.       The RMC pickups are great. I have them in a Cumpiano custom classical and 2 Godins.

2.       Godins with RMC setup are fantastic right out of the box, but not cheap.

3.       The Ghost system by Graphtech is pretty much equivalent in terms of performance. However, I have found Richard McLish (RMC) to be more reliable and supportive of the luthier doing the install. Richard is a true gentleman who backs up his product.  All that said, the Ghost system I had put in a guitar last fall is splendid.

4.       I have a Roland GI-10 13-pin-to MIDI box, works well, less costly than GI-20 or the Axons. I think a GI-10 would track acceptably for you, Kevin. I personally long for an AX-100.

5.       No system I know will pick up “non-guitar” sounds and convert them in any useful way to MIDI. Bang on the box all you want, but rely on the pickup signal and mics to convey that sound to the audience or a processing setup.

6.       RMC and Ghost are piezo pickups with the characteristic piezo quack. Some folks find they can EQ that to a sound they like; I’m not among them. If that matters, be sure your selected setup allows your mag pickups to be routed separately or mixed in or both, as the Godins do. I imagine the other guitars that come MIDI-ready have similar options.

7.       Casio made an early MIDI guitar that does the pitch-to-MIDI right at the guitar. I left mine in a closet for years after I started playing Godins, BUT when I went through a defretting jag last year and defretted the Casio MG500, which I always liked just as a guitar, I started using the MIDI features again and found it is truly useful for (as discussed above) somewhat wild and woolly but still musical synth driving. You may find these cheap on Ebay, but I gather from a recent quick perusal of postings that many old Casios have developed some problems. Mine is still working as well as it ever did.

8.       Lastly, note that the way synths and samplers respond varies a lot.

 

Hal Dean

 

From: Tony K [mailto:bigtonyk@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 3:02 PM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: OT: Guitar Synth

 

 


I've heard lots of great things about RMC pickups.  I'm pretty sure Rich hangs out on the MIDI Guitar Yahoo group.  I haven't read it for a while, so I'm not sure if he's still there.

Tony

 

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 2:55 PM, David Hayes <stringfling@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Axon AX 100 or AX-50 with an RMC piezo pickup system. 

 

These pickups are the best, most playable way to do Guitar Midi. It's not some mass produced thing though... some guy named Rich makes them and it may take a while to obtain even the correct information about which is right for you. 

 

 

You'll need to email him what you have and ask what you need. Then  it may be easier to have the guy who runs a local guitar store near his work shop actually ride his bike over and get it and ship it to you rather then Rich himself. 

 

The guitar shop near his workshop is Subway Guitars, 1800 Cedar St. Berkeley CA 94703,  (510) 841-4106. 

 

Then you'll need to have your local guitar shop install, which means replacing the bridge with his and installing the 13 pin plug. The actual conversion electronics may not fit in your guitar... I have a separate box like this http://www.rmcpickup.com/polydriveii.html I plug into.  My bridge looks like this one: http://www.rmcpickup.com/powrbridgest.html . I have a PRS-513, but he's got pickups for all kinds of guitars... electric, acoustic, and nylon string.

 

I think the whole thing ended up costing me around $6-700 installed. A lot, I know, but to me it was the difference between using it or not using it. I tried Rolland's magnetic pickup and got way too many blips, bleeps, inconsistencies, etc. etc. for it to be truly usable. Nothing's perfect, but the RMC yields quite good results. Good luck!

 

 

 

On May 19, 2008, at 11:16 AM, Kevin Cheli-Colando wrote:



I sometimes feel like I ask far and away the most off topic questions here and yet, I find this community to be one of the best resources of information about a wide variety of things so I can't think of a better place to start most times.  That said, I wanted to ask any of the guitar synth players their advice on the best options at the moment.

I'm completely new to this so I'll have to start from scratch with the pickups and then the synth itself and so on.

What I'd like ideally is a way to use the guitar as a trigger for a wide variety of odd sounds and percussive elements.  I really love the feel of the guitar and like to play it in non-traditional ways (more like a stick with long strings instead of as a melodic instrument) so I would need something that can track odd strikes and picking strength and the like, something that can register a wide dynamic range.  Tracking doesn't have to be perfect or lightning fast but it would need to be 'musical'.  And how far back can I go in the technology and still have something that doesn't seem horribly dated or overly limited?  Oh yes, and price is always a concern.  The cheapest route is always best for me I'm afraid, but I don't want to waste the time and money on something that is too limited either due to its being inexpensive now

And then there is the pick-up/interface, what is the best way to get into the synth (GK pick-ups or pre-wired guitar) and so on.

So if anyone feels like having a go of this question and offering their opinions, that would be greatly appreciated.  I know I could look at guitar synth sites and forums, but I feel like the people on this list are coming from a pretty sympathetic space musically and all share an expansive view of the possibilities of music that I'm not sure really is as common out in the larger on-line world which is why I'm asking here first.

And if not, so it goes, I hope another OT question doesn't offend.

Thanks

Kevin


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