Introduce yourself...

[Germanicus]

Currently using a midi guitar/modelling setup.
Current live setup is a Roland VG99 system driving soft synths/soft samplers (M-tron, Gigastudio, Kontakt, B4) running off a vista based dual core inspiron.
I have a gr33 and a gr30 as backup systems and a rack mounted yamaha g50.

I play in two groups at the moment (instrumental prog rock):
www.myspace.com/steamtheory

For guitars I usually use either my Godin xtSA (in the shop at the moment repairing the polydrive) or a variax 600 with a gk3 pickup.
I have several guitars with gk2a's and gk3's mounted (Agile As1000 and Agile AL-3500 and a backup Variax 300). Ive found that a properly tweaked gk will pretty much track just as well as my godin, especially with the vg99. Im more partial to the GK's now as the vg99's moddelling sound much better using the magnetic gk pickups as opposed to the piezo in the Godin. I also have a pod x3 live as a backup for the vg99's modelling. I play into a boss rc50 (with a guide track sub output to our drummer) outputting to a traynor k4.

[wst3]

pretty cool bunch of folks here!

I've been playing guitar since the early 1960s, nuff said about that!

My first adventure with guitar controlled synthesis was plugging a guitar into an ARP 2600 at a music store. I couldn't afford the ARP, but I did pick up a Korg MS-20 when a local retailer bailed out, and used that for a few years. But of course both of these were limited to a single input (still a cool approach for some things!), and I had to give the whole hex pickup thing a shot, so the next purchase was a 360 Systems Spectre, which led to an ARP Avatar, and that led to a Roland GR-300 and the GR-303 controller, as well as GK-1s strapped to a couple of other guitars.

At this point I took a break for buying things and spent some time trying to figure out how to get all these things to talk to each other. The solution that worked best was to take the output from the per-string compressors in the GR-300 and use that signal, scaled accordingly, to drive the Avatar and Spectre. It worked out pretty well.

The GR-700 was probably the next big thing in the marketplace, but for some reason it just never appealed to me, and I skipped straight away to a simple pitch to MIDI converter, in my case the IVL Pitchrider 7000 MKii. As luck would have it the same pick-up point in the GR-300 did a great job of driving the Pitchrider, so the little IVL pickup ended up back in the box. It's a bit cumbersome for live use, but it's no big deal in the studio.

Not long after that I ended up getting a Yamaha G-10/G-10C rig... it isn't a guitar in the strictest sense, and I still have a love/hate relationship with it, but it is remarkably accurate.

Both of the pitch-to-MIDI converters are used to drive an Akai S1000, a pair of Yamaha TX-81Zs, and a Ensoniq ASR-10. Of all my synthesizers and samplers these seemed to be the best fit. I have spend some time experimenting with software synthesizers, but for whatever reason I'm just more comfortable with hardware at the moment.

And then, for reasons that escape reason, I picked up a GR-700, used of course. Not sure why, and if anyone knows the whereabouts of a "MIDI Input" modification kit for the beast I'd be thrilled!

The last investment in this aspect of noise making was a VG-8. At the time I was hired to develop an aftermarket kit to provide a hex output from a piezo bridge (it never made it to the marketplace), and since I was going to buy the VG-8 anyway I made the plunge. It's probably my favorite of all the devices, even though it is not a synth and it has no MIDI output. It's just fun!!

That's my current "rig"... all of the above are still in my studio, and still working! These days the Spectre and Avatar are mostly driven by the ARP 2600, which in turn is driven by a little MIDI -to-CV converter, but the GR-300 is still in use, tied to the VG-8EX with a US-2 switch and the BC-13 converter. I've considered getting an up-to-date pitch-to-MIDI converter, I've considered the VG-99, but at the moment I'm pretty much content.

I use pitch-to-MIDI primarily as a way to input data to my sequencer (Sonar 8), although I would not rule out live use if the situation called for it. I still use either the GR-303 or a GK-1 equipped guitar for input, driving the GR-300 which drives the Pitchrider.

That's the nickel version...

Bill

[costas]

Hi Bill - Welcome! I'm looking forward to those schematics you promised in the piezo thread

[costas]

Currently using a midi guitar/modelling setup.
Current live setup is a Roland VG99 system driving soft synths/soft samplers (M-tron, Gigastudio, Kontakt, B4) running off a vista based dual core inspiron.
I have a gr33 and a gr30 as backup systems and a rack mounted yamaha g50.

For some reason I only just noticed this - that sounds like a pretty awesome set up - and reliable enough to gig? Has it ever crashed in the middle??!

[arkie-boy]

Hi,

I usually hang around the Axon forum but there is a lot more to playing guitar synthesiser than understanding your controller - it's good to see a wider range of gear over here especially as over there pretty much everyone on the Axon board seems to own a Motif rack! You'll also find me on the guitar and vintage gear forums on Sound on Sound under the same handle.

My first guitar synthesiser was a GR700/G707 and I've owned a string of Roland units. I recorded a couple of albums and several EPs taking the place of a keyboard player with my guitar synth in the late 80s and early/mid 90s but kind of gave up on it when the band folded - I felt I needed to move on musically. About a year ago I realised it was this that made me different from the 10 other guitarists propping up the bar saying they could have played that solo better so I bought an Axon.

Currently I have an AX100 MkII running a collection of hardware. I'm looking to get back out live again with it as soon as possible.

arkie-boys-rig.jpg (92.91 KiB) Viewed 427 times

You can hear some of my more recent stuff (synths played from a keyboard, sadly) here.

Steve

[costas]

Good to see you here Steve. I had a listen to your stuff - Impressive! And you get extra marks for having a bottle of brown sauce in your band picture, I like brown sauce

I'd love to hear the sounds you can get out that rack...

[arkie-boy]

I'd love to hear the sounds you can get out that rack...

I'll try to post something. Really it's what you would expect:

* The Oberheim is a proper analog synthesiser - real circuitry and no digits in the signal path and sounds very, well, Oberheim-ey. I've owned her from new (there that shows my age...) and I think it defines my sound. But she's an old lady and needs an external effects unit so I plan to replace her in the rack with a Supernova when I can afford it.

* The Wavestation in it's SR guise is a pain to program so I'm ashamed to say I tend to use the presets. I'm hoping to get a Behringer BCR2000 to address this.

* The Yamaha is a much underrated sampler with excellent sound quality, filters and effects and is an absolute steal on eBay at the moment. However there are a couple of limitations for live work so I have an E-Mu 5000 Ultra on its way to replace it*.

One of the things that's nice is layering sounds from such radically different hardware, all summed in an analog mixer. Kontact is a nice bit of kit - I've played with the free player - and I have Logic 8 with MainStage. But despite having a decent sound card (Lexicon) I don't get the same quality of sound out of software digitally summed and rendered through a single set of D-A convertors. Layering the Oberheim with anything digital sounds wonderful. Digital usually means detail and coupled with the Oberheim's warmth and bass response you can make a really big noise.

The photo is in the 'Selly Sausage' on a nameless Sunday morning. Probably on the day we recorded "Rocket Science'. I'm the one with the longer hair. The sauce goes well with a sausage and bacon sandwich...

Steve

* Anyone who wants chapter and verse can PM me. Especially if you want to buy mine! The limitations only apply if you plan on taking it on stage!

[DMt]

Well, I haven't a clue, I'm a confused old git who probably should be using a four-track cassette, an SM57 and a Copicat, really. But the midi guitar thing has fascinated me for years, on and off. Mostly I was discouraged by the atrocious tracking and horrible keyboardy articulation of the sounds; but since I [ahem] set the input levels on my Yamaha G-50 correctly, and the more recent converters are just about coping with the bass end, and since Costas and Kontakt 3 have apparently got the legato thing sorted now, I'm all agog to spend a ton+ on the K3 upgrade [and rather less on Gtak].

Kit;

Ergo P4 laptop [SiS chipset - argh!] plus
RME Multi & Digifaces

Various desktops inc.
P3 & DS2416/SW1k, P4 & DMX6

XGworks 3.0 [no, don't laugh]
Kontakt
Massive

G-50
An1x [soon!]
AN200
MU-10 with XGGold [sufficient on its own for 6-channel gtr synthifying, get one if you can]

[Vic]

Hello, Just getting into midi guitar basicaly because I have heard so much negative in the past from users. I still hear some negatives, but allot more positives these days, so it is my guess that things have improved over the last few years. I was looking for a midi controllerl (looking at the AxonMK2 but alas they no longer offer support and am not sure that I can get all the firmware I need for it) when I came accross the GTAK video on utube. I still don't know if I am going with the Axon, but I do have the Ghost saddles and was told that Axon is best with these. But which ever way I do go , I will now get this software along with native instruments Kontackt 4. I was not going to go with native instruments initialy because I wrote them and got no answer so I took it as a bad sign for the company, but then they came out with Kontackt 4 and I realised they were not a company in that was in trouble and going out of business any time soon. As to their support, I suppose it could have been an oversight. Anyway. These forums here are pretty slow for postings and I don't expect to see another post anytime soon but was wondering if the user groups are more active. I was not allowed access. I don't know why? but, if ya get a round to it, I would like to be included so I can get a better feel for this place and it's wealth of knowledge. Best to all of you, Vic

[valdrighi]

@ wst3

hi!

how are you?
do you still have your roland g-303?
would you like to sell it?
if you intent to sell the guitar, please, contact me:
sandrowpimentel at gmail dot com
thank you very much for your time and attention.
all the best,

sp

pretty cool bunch of folks here!

I've been playing guitar since the early 1960s, nuff said about that!

My first adventure with guitar controlled synthesis was plugging a guitar into an ARP 2600 at a music store. I couldn't afford the ARP, but I did pick up a Korg MS-20 when a local retailer bailed out, and used that for a few years. But of course both of these were limited to a single input (still a cool approach for some things!), and I had to give the whole hex pickup thing a shot, so the next purchase was a 360 Systems Spectre, which led to an ARP Avatar, and that led to a Roland GR-300 and the GR-303 controller, as well as GK-1s strapped to a couple of other guitars.

At this point I took a break for buying things and spent some time trying to figure out how to get all these things to talk to each other. The solution that worked best was to take the output from the per-string compressors in the GR-300 and use that signal, scaled accordingly, to drive the Avatar and Spectre. It worked out pretty well.

The GR-700 was probably the next big thing in the marketplace, but for some reason it just never appealed to me, and I skipped straight away to a simple pitch to MIDI converter, in my case the IVL Pitchrider 7000 MKii. As luck would have it the same pick-up point in the GR-300 did a great job of driving the Pitchrider, so the little IVL pickup ended up back in the box. It's a bit cumbersome for live use, but it's no big deal in the studio.

Not long after that I ended up getting a Yamaha G-10/G-10C rig... it isn't a guitar in the strictest sense, and I still have a love/hate relationship with it, but it is remarkably accurate.

Both of the pitch-to-MIDI converters are used to drive an Akai S1000, a pair of Yamaha TX-81Zs, and a Ensoniq ASR-10. Of all my synthesizers and samplers these seemed to be the best fit. I have spend some time experimenting with software synthesizers, but for whatever reason I'm just more comfortable with hardware at the moment.

And then, for reasons that escape reason, I picked up a GR-700, used of course. Not sure why, and if anyone knows the whereabouts of a "MIDI Input" modification kit for the beast I'd be thrilled!

The last investment in this aspect of noise making was a VG-8. At the time I was hired to develop an aftermarket kit to provide a hex output from a piezo bridge (it never made it to the marketplace), and since I was going to buy the VG-8 anyway I made the plunge. It's probably my favorite of all the devices, even though it is not a synth and it has no MIDI output. It's just fun!!

That's my current "rig"... all of the above are still in my studio, and still working! These days the Spectre and Avatar are mostly driven by the ARP 2600, which in turn is driven by a little MIDI -to-CV converter, but the GR-300 is still in use, tied to the VG-8EX with a US-2 switch and the BC-13 converter. I've considered getting an up-to-date pitch-to-MIDI converter, I've considered the VG-99, but at the moment I'm pretty much content.

I use pitch-to-MIDI primarily as a way to input data to my sequencer (Sonar 8), although I would not rule out live use if the situation called for it. I still use either the GR-303 or a GK-1 equipped guitar for input, driving the GR-300 which drives the Pitchrider.

That's the nickel version...

Bill