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anonymous 13 May 2007

can anyone give me some input on this?
how realistic is it? i would like to hear a recording of the synth being used. i am thinking, you could make the midi sound less fake by Micing the speakers.

people get angry with me when i say midi sounds fake (i dont know why... I'm assuming its my ignorance,) so i dont mean to offend anybody 8)

Comments

sheet Sun, 05/13/2007 - 18:55

If you are talking about the original from the late 80s, it is a huge turd, sounds nothing like a guitar, plays even less like a guitar. If you are talking the MIDI trigger/sound module that is out now, I think that it has it's applications for live club work, but it is by no means 100% reliable string to string, nor is it a substitute for the real deal.

You would be better off with one of the Taylor, Line6 or other modeling guitars or modules IMO. I think that the whole concept is moot now that modeling guitars are cheaper and more reliable.

anonymous Sun, 05/13/2007 - 20:14

I got to play a Roland-ready Strat several years ago. The delay between striking a string and hearing a sound was something ridiculous--like 100 ms or more--and was my biggest complaint. The sounds from the module weren't bad, but I'd wager recognizably midi no matter how the source is masked.

But this was years ago, too, and I haven't played one since. Improvements have surely been made in the past 6 years.

BobRogers Mon, 05/14/2007 - 04:26

Pardon me if you already know this, but from the way you phrased your questions it's not clear.

Midi doesn't sound like anything. Midi is a digital code that turns sounds on and off. So any midi system has two pieces - one that creates midi code and one that reads the midi code and puts out the sounds using synthesis or samples. With the Roland (if I remember right) the unit that creates the midi code fits on the guitar. I think you can plug it into any midi sound module you want - for instance the "midi in" connector on any keyboard. It will trigger whichever sound bank is selected. The Roland system also comes with a rack unit that contains their sound banks. You can trigger it with the guitar or any other midi controller such as a keyboard or a wind controller. They have hundreds of sounds. I guess that you are questioning the "realism" of these. When I've heard the Roland used, realism was never the goal. The guitarists that used it would always choose a crazy synth sound or sometimes an organ or horn. These were always used in a sort of impressionistic way - there was no way they were trying to fool anyone.

What type of sounds are you trying to produce anyway?

Tommy P. Tue, 05/15/2007 - 11:19

lonestar19444 wrote: can anyone give me some input on this?
how realistic is it?....

Realistic depends on how close you hold the pure tonal characteristics of a guitar to your heart. To me, none of the synth controllers work well enough to translate expressive guitar performance. The modellers also leave me flat, due to the fact they are pulling the tone from the bridge saddle piezo's and then trying to process bad tone. Modellers also mute expressive playing styles...very frustrating.

But, if you want to arrange in a program like Finale or Sibelius, then a midi guitar is made for it.

If you want to explore new territory, a midi guitar or modeller may have something to offer.

Just remember, no-one has developed a logic chip than can outrun the human brain when it comes to psychoacoustics. What we perceive as music, is a human interaction with infinite possibilities. Computers can't touch that.

pr0gr4m Tue, 05/15/2007 - 12:35

It's as realistic as possible, but still not as realistic as a real guitar. If you've got a guitar and you've gotten all the sound out of it that you can possibly get and you are looking for something different, out of the ordinary, then you might want to check out a MIDI guitar.

To me, the best use of the MIDI guitar is not to play actual guitar sounds, but to use it to control/play other types of sounds.

With a good setup, you could use the MIDI in conjunction with the actual guitar output. For example, use MIDI data from the guitar to play a synth pad but also use the guitar sound to play leads or whatever over the synth pads. That does take some time to set up and practice to get used to but it's really cool. OR, lets say you are a guitarist and you want a flute track in your song. You can't play the flute cuz your a guitarist. So you pull out your MIDI guitar and use it to play a flute sound from a synthesizer.

Tommy P. Tue, 05/15/2007 - 13:44

True the breathy synth patches work better such as flute. I actually get a kick out of soloing with a fat saxaphone patch. Its gets to the point where I'm not playing guitar, I'm really playing sax. There is some expressive control, I'll admit.

As far as being realistic, how about a guitar player emulating a keyboard synth player and vice versa. Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer come to mind. Who's real? You can hardly tell them apart 8-)

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