GI-20 "The Best Guitar-MIDI Interface on the Planet", hmm...

[Lee]

Hello,

I'm an old road dog who stopped playing guitar for money just as midi was being introduced to synth players. Now my son is going to major either in jazz guitar studies, classical guitar and composition (big bite). I am looking at notation software, i.e., Finale, Sibelius, Allegro, etc. I am looking for a controller that will accurately trigger the notation via a fretboard. He plays keys as well but doesn't want to input guitar music via a keyboard. Is there a cost effective (cheap) way to do this and do it well?

Thanks,
Lee

[BobTheDog]

to the forum Lee.

Well i don't know about cheap but:

I would recommend an Axon http://www.axon-technologies.net/ for the converter, also you need a hex pickup of some kind.

You can get guitars with piezo hex pickups or fit a Roland GK3 to an existing guitar.

Cheers

Andy

[Lee]

Thanks for the info.

Sorry, what is a hex pick-up?

Thanks,
Lee

[BobTheDog]

Hex is short for hexaphonic pickup, also called divided pickups or polyphonic pickups.

It is basically a pickup with a separate output for each string that is then used by the converter to create the midi notes.


Thinking about it if you are not interested in doing this in realtime the new Melodyne DNA stuff can take a normal guitar recording and output midi for it, you can read about it here http://www.celemony.com/cms/forums.html?id=dna.

[GovernorSilver]

StringPort promises accurate notation, but at present it seems to be ready only for use with violins:

http://www.keithmcmillen.com/products/stringport/software.php

John McLaughlin used a Godin MIDI guitar to record his instructional exercises and "demos" (really, solos to be analyzed for instructional purposes) directly into notation software, for his This Is The Way I Do It DVD project:

http://www.godinguitars.com/johnmclaughlin.htm

This page says he used a Roland GI-20 MIDI Converter for his 2007 tour. You see, most MIDI guitars cannot output MIDI by themselves - they need to be plugged into a MIDI converter device. He may have used the same device for the DVD project:
http://www.godinguitars.com/johnmclaughlin_07.htm

The Axon AX-50 and Roland GI-20 are among your most "affordable" options. But the most affordable option of all is just to use a keyboard for note entry into the notation software.

[ReaktorFreak]

"You rock guitar" can be a cheap alternative maybe ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVaHA4ZfoG4

[GovernorSilver]

Good find ReaktorFreak! Totally forgot about the YouRock guitar and the Yamaha EZ guitar.

There's also the Sonuus guitar-MIDI converter, which is monophonic (ie. you cannot play chords with it).