Hello, Everybody. My latest version of a MIDI Guitar is ready for public scrutiny. Give it a view and Like, Share, Subscribe, Contribute, and Comment if you are impressed by what you see.
Please feel free to pass this on to your Contacts. Post it to your local Craiglist, and on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Thanks In Advance,
– Ron
p.s. a big Thank You to the many people who helped me with this project. At the risk of leaving someone out, that includes:
dave_dore
Corky
dsteinschneider
brad robinson
FredProgGH
derek
humphrey
RackedBrain
hermanoantequera
bbob
Thanks, Fred and Corky. This being a “Preview”, I didn’t want to get into stuff like that latency is 13 milliseconds maximum, worse case scenario. The Monophonic / Polyphonic issue is one of those yes / yes, that is, the commands are sent out one-at-a-time (monophonic) but notes keep playing on the computer until their stop command is received (thus polyphonic). The “limitation” is that only one note can play per string, although the same note can play twice – once per channel – if so requested on neighboring strings. So you can have “Pictures Of Matchstick Men” ! Oh noooo!
I don’t want to be critical but the part where you play your piece along with the backing- it sounds like the melody you’re playing live is a half step up from where you would expect it to be. Am I imagining that?
Thank you but by all means please be critical, FredProgGH, that’s the only way to improve. Here’s the link to all the collateral for this song. I’ll compare the (all) version to the Youtube video. I did find myself challenged by some samples that sounded a few cents off, even a few half- and whole-steps off. So maybe I’m playing kinda harmonically. I’ll look into it. Here’s the link (with me, it’s just a hobby). Let me know what you think. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwkoozE3ehszaUJkd2Jfb0M2dGM
Sorry about the delay, FredProgGH, I’m getting swamped. So far the video has gotten 48 Views, and I’ve received an offer to demo it to some techies here in Austin, Texas, USA.
I placed my Ibanez GU40 Tuner near one of my laptop’s speakers and found both samples to be perfect As. On MuseScore 3, the Violin is playing A5 (2 steps below middle-C) as perfectly in tune. And so is the DSK Violins C6.wav sample set on Grace to Tune 0st, Fine 0, and Root C3.
Would there be a way to sample the actual clip? I noticed that sometimes my speech is out-of-sync with my lips (I’ve found I can understand a foreign language better if I see the speaker talking, hence the half head shots).
Some guitarists may be put off by the ‘plucked’ strings not being actual strings, and I see no reason why they couldn’t be(?), but if they were it would take you close to being a SynthAxe.
That is true, but also (being a guitarist too) the midi vsts allowing real guitars to produce sounds from other instrument vsts is progressing to reliability very quickly. I would dare say 98% of guitarists I know would not learn a stringless instrument (purists), and really don’t want their guitar to sound like anything but a guitar. I would think this would be more for non-guitarists, almost in a “Rock Band” gaming genre, or keyboardists wanting be a front person. In another way, many guitarists have no clue how to play orchestral strings, organs, pianos, and brass. To those, the feel of the guitar strings, harmonics and bends is essential in their playing style, and will be frustrated very quickly.
Ron, I am glad you are getting good reviews on your product, and I like it. Hopefully it will soon find it’s market. Keep us updated, and I wish you good luck.
The SynthAxe sold for $13,000, when it did, not often. It does do a lot though. Wow.
Something that needs to be said is that these are not guitars. They look like guitars, and kinda act like guitars, but they are controllers. They let you get out front, away from behind a keyboard or drum kit. And, with WIFI and batteries, you can engage your audience … but not with guitar sounds, with orchestral sounds and the like. These are meant to augment traditional instruments with sounds like a brass section, a string ensemble, backup singers, okay even lead sax or oboe licks. So they have to find their niche.
FredProgGH, the sound track for Castles In The Sky starts at 9 minutes. I played along with my acoustic guitar and both the backing track and the lead(s) are in the key of E (4 sharps). Maybe the song is treading on some Music Theory rule(?). I dunno, I can never stay awake during those lessons.
Hey Ron, I noticed you only have 5 frets on this. Is that because it is just for testing, or would that be the extent of it? Also, are the fret notes equal to notes on a real guitar? If so, that would require a keyboardist to be fairly familiar with a guitar, correct? Just curious.
Even as a non-guitarist I think I’d prefer to move that plectrum around a string than have to hit a flat surface.
If MPE gets a foothold then I can see more controllers like this arriving. I’m already deeply in love with my Roli Seaboard 25 and thirsting for the four-octave (and wish it were five!) version.
FredProgGH, give me some time and I will Import Castles from the video into Audacity, isolate the first A, in measure 15 (“fair.”), repeat it a few times, and see what the tuner calls it. If there is a problem, I’d rather catch it early, so no problem. – Ron
Corky, the “guitar” IS limited to 5 frets. With 6 strings, that totals 30 notes. The Arduino Mega can take a 34-pin “header” on one end. So that is a limitation. The Arduino is so fast that it could handle 25 frets, so that’s not a problem.
The open string notes are equal to a real guitar: EADGBE,.BUT, you can make them anything you want. I intent to put up a video showing how to noodle around (playing only safe notes) by transposing the key to match the sheet music. So the player doesn’t need to know all those (pentatonic or other) patterns, just half of one. Instead of moving the pattern on the fret board, change the key.
Also, the intent is not to replace a band member. I see a new player doing the background for The Thrill Is Gone, Vehicle, Dancing In The Moonlight, Jet, Knock On Wood, Traces, etc.Not the lead guitar parts, although it could do sax on Stormy, Traces, and others. . .
Just got back from learning about Roli Seaboard 25 and MPE(MIDI Polyphonic Expression). Kool, Many guitarists are keyboard-challenged though. Also, I’ve tried to keep CV30 as simple as possible. All the options are on the computer, not the “guitar”.
The fixed portion of the strings are actually square rods. Their orientation leaves a corner facing out, so that the pick can slide against the left side and the right side. Trust me, vibrating strings ATE MY LUNCH for many, many months. I would have been done a year ago had I not been so stubborn.
FredProgGH, well I made about 11 copies of the one note in the first half of measure 15. A4Note
The tuner can’t decide what to call it. The underlying chord is a B7. So the note in question is not really isolated. The command sent from the CV30 to the laptop is correct though. If you can find the error, I’d like to know.
