Guitar as Midi Controller

[ResonantTone]

Thanks for the tips. Maybe I'm chasing something that just isn't out there (yet). I fully intend to continue honing my keyboard skills but just thinking over the long term the advantages of using a guitar as midi controller would be big, especially for replicating other stringed instruments like bass, banjo, ukelele, mandolin, etc.......

Since you have an axe with Piezo's - how do you feel it captures vs using a real accoustic? I've played with piezo's in the store - and they sound pretty genuine. Just curious if you still mic up an acoustic when recording or if you use the piezos?

I never use the piezo's for recording purposes. They are cool.. and very convenient in a live setting, or when blending the piezo's and mags together on the fly (no pun intended)... but for recording, they just don't sit well usually. Acoustic guitars should sound like an acoustic in a room, and it's hard to get the piezo's to do that well. They just sound more like a pickup than a guitar being played to me.

The fender Squier vintage series are less than $300 and with a decent setup will get you decent tones. It will totally put things over for any rock or indie type track.

I own a squier vintage mod 5 string bass, and I got it used in perfect condition for a ridiculously low price. The quality to price ratio is practically unbeatable in that market.

Also, I think I agree with just about every piece of advice Andy gave. Really good insight on all this!


Andrew

[Kolstad]

I’ve had the Roland GR20 and an Axon hardware thingy, and used it with both built in 13pin systems and the Roland GK pickups. The Axon tracked better than the Roland, but I sold them when Jamorigin Midiguitar came out, as I found it to track just as good as the hardware setups. Can’t say I use it much, though. Mostly for leadsynths and orchestral instruments from time to time. Not really worth the time chasing it down for me tbh.

[davidira]

Thanks so much for the replies. My takeaways:

Piezo’s won’t replace my accoustic.
Odds are that tracking midi bass won’t be as good as my real bass.
Tracking midi with a guitar will be expensive.

I’m gonna put this on the backburner for now. Willing to spend the $$’s on the right equipment. Godin with a Boss unit is where I’m leaning, although I no longer have delusions of it replacing my acoustic.

[tresero]

I have the Fishman Triple Play, had the Roland (forgot which model).

The Fishman is way, way better, but you still need to be extremely clean or willing to do cleanup. The Roland, well, it basically sucked, although that was years ago so maybe a newer model will be better.

[mojobone]

I have the Fishman Triple Play, had the Roland (forgot which model).

The Fishman is way, way better, but you still need to be extremely clean or willing to do cleanup. The Roland, well, it basically sucked, although that was years ago so maybe a newer model will be better.

THIS. The Fishman deal is pretty convenient, and not too expensive, but if you can dedicate an instrument and mount a 13-pin pickup, you have more options. It's helpful if you approach the guitar either contrapuntally, or more like a horn, because there are a limited number of sampled instruments that are meant to be strummed, most of which can be emulated with the instrument already in your hands.

[tonedimension]

A bit late to the party but wanted to to chime in and share my experiences. As a guitarist, I've tried various forms of midi guitar technology over the past 30 years or so. The thing that has always been true of them is that performance is very closely tied to the payers technique. Tracking can be very good on a unit but if your technique is less than precise or you are trying to apply a technique that is inappropriate for a given instrument (i.e. strumming aggressively against a grand piano sample) you will become frustrated with the triggering issues.

I have tried the Fishman TriplePlay unit and it is decent but pretty much uses the same technology as Roland and all the others which is a hexaphonic split pickup and pitch to midi conversion. Again, technique is very important. I also tried one of the little toy midi guitar things called a Jamstik. For myself and another player, one with much better technique, it was a huge waste of time.

The thing I found that works reasonably well for me is the JamOrigin plugin. It's not perfect but it has no special guitar hardware requirements and the tracking performance is about as good as anything else. It's also much less expensive at $99.95. Whatever you choose you are most likely going to be cleaning up the random glitches that are inevitable whether you use a hardware-based solution or something like JamOrigin. Personally, I find less issues with the JamOrigin plugin so less random midi notes to clean up.

Again, playing technique is really the key to getting the most out of any midi guitar system. Sloppy playing will result in massively poor triggering. Failure to mute strings will do the same. Trying to match your playing technique as closely as possible to the instrument you are emulating will get you more joy.

All of the above are, of course, just one guitar players opinion along with years of less-than-gratifying experiences with things like Ibanez IMG2010, Casio PG380 (I still like these a lot), Axion AX100, Roland GR30 and the like with a Roland-ready Strat, Fishman TriplePlay pickup mounted to various guitars. I recommend trying the JamOrigin as a way to enter the world of midi gutiar. I hope this helps a little and I wish you much success with your music!

[MBantle]

My Buddy uses the Jam Origin midi guitar plugin which is an all software solution...He says it works well for certain things and is fairly inexpensive compared to hardware solutions

I guess YMMV depending on your guitar and playing style...Probably worth trialling the demo of it

+1 for Jam Origin.
Cheers,
Matt

[Kolstad]

Another great thing with JamOrigin is that you can try different guitars with it. Ive found that there can be a difference in tracking, so its worth fiddling and see what works best.

Also, trying out a bunch of patches, some tracks really, really well and others less so. Spending some time with it can definitely be satisfying in terms of finding new instruments and inspiration.

Go for it!

[lesmac]

The response of this [not triggering too many false notes] looks okay.
Pitch bending in future firmware updates.
https://playjammy.com/features/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPGfUNp ... e=emb_logo

[tresero]

The response of this [not triggering too many false notes] looks okay.
Pitch bending in future firmware updates.
https://playjammy.com/features/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPGfUNp ... e=emb_logo

Interesting, but I've been burned with hardware midi guitars before (think YouRock Guitar). Never played as well in real life as the simple examples. I have the Fishman pretty close to dialed in, so I'll wait for some real life user reviews.