Re: Midi Guitars and Guitar Synths

[Phaedebk@aol.com]

Kevin,

    Hellay there, and well-met!  The fun thing about Synth Guitars is that 
there are quite a few out there, and a few more which tend to wander in 
and 
out of each other's territory.  The best tracking of the beasties is going 
to 
be from the Starrlabs crowd...  Flip side, is that it is really a keyboard 
in 
a guitar's clothing, and you loose the guitar portion, outside of the 
triggers and the "feel."  (It uses 6 switches per "fret" along with a set 
of 
6 string triggers to give it the guitar "feel" and open notes).

    Next up would probably be a RMC equipped guitar (piezo pickups) going 
through an Axon AX-100 or AX-100SB (has a Yamaha XG Sound board).  

    Followed by a HEX pickup (like a Roland GK-2a or Axon A1X) going 
through 
the same brain or converter unit.  Other converters out there are the 
Yamaha 
G-50, Roland's GR-30, GR-50 and finally the Shadow SH-075 (going in order 
of 
tracking speeds).

    If you're looking for something a bit more plug'n'play try checking 
out 
the Parker MIDIFly, BMC's MIDIAccess guitar, Godin's All Access, the 
Midiaxe, 
and the occassional Casio MG-510 (I have one of these as a back up, and 
they're great for slow sounds/lines).

    The big thing to do is to suss out whether or not you plan on using 
the 
guitar as a guitar that can also do synth lines, as just a synthesizer 
controller, or as a one man band instrument...  From there, it is a matter 
of 
cost to need and also the issue of how much time you are willing to put 
into 
learning the instrument/controls.  Whoops, almost forgot it also matters 
upon 
what places are nearby which can service your instrument/brain box...  
(Probably the most important aspect of this).

    For me, it's worth it to go with the RMC's and drop them into a Jazz 
guitar (check out http://www.dnai.com/~fatdog/jazz.html for pictures of 
the 
instrument) and then run it to a Roland GR-30.  Another slight push 
towards 
the piezo vs. Hex is that the RMC's honestly track much better than the 
Hex 
pickups, and can be used with different types of strings, whereas you have 
to 
stay with metal strings for the Hex pickups.

    Hope this helps out a bit!
    Tchus,

        Lee-ohki.