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
--
Till now
you seriously considered yourself to be the body and to have a
form. That
is the primal ignorance which is the root cause of all trouble.
-
Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950)
Sound and Vision: http://www.minds-eye.org
