I'm no pianist, I'm a guitarist. So working with sequencers means I either use a keyboard, or use a Midi guitar. My midi guitar is fine, but latency will always be an issue, so I've started looking for an alternate guitar-type controller that doesn't cost a huge amount of cash. So far, the most interesting thing I've found is the Jambass. It's designed to sit on the back side of a guitar neck and act as a bass controller. But I'm wondering of I could put it on the front side and make an instrument for guitar-fingered solos. It only has two rows (strings?) of buttons, but it could still be useful.

Anyway, before I go making a custom instrument, and anyone tell me if there is already a similar guitar-like controller similar to this? Ultimately, I'd like something that lets you use the left hand for melody and the right hand for rhythm/chords.[/url]

Sorry i can't help you, but thanks for that link, looks like what i need for live work.

There are the Ztars from Starr Labs but i think they're quite expensive.

Yeah, the vendor sent me a link showing a band that has used the JamBase with a Roland Handsonic and also a micstand. Here's a link:

Tada!

I think of all the lead singers who have pretended that their mic stand was a guitar (mostly 80's butt-rock). It least they could actually use this and trigger samples and stuff. Pretty cool IMO. The main problem I have with it is that you can't invert the 'strings' if you flip it to the front side of the neck. I think it does have promise though and I'd love to get one just to play around with. I bet you could make a pretty cool controller.

But I'd still like to get something pre-built.

Looking at that picture doesn't inspire confidence in the product, but it gives you a general idea how it could be applied.

I've been doing alot of research on this subject, and I'm about to take the plunge. From what I can tell, every "alternative" controller involves compromises. Pitch-midi converters (roland/yamaha/axon) don't play well with VSTi's because they send tons of pitchbend data and some erroneous notes; other systems don't allow for string bends or other forms of expressive playing (which is why we play guitar in the first place).

If I had the money ($1500+), I would get a Ztar from Starr systems -- it uses keys on the neck instead of strings so there is no tracking errors or latency. Since I don't have the money for that, I am looking at this from yamaha.

It seems to be based on Starr's technology. Though it is sold as a "learning guitar" it has midi in/out and has some pretty good user reviews (no professional reviews that I have seen). The downside is that it only has 12 "frets", but then it also has transpose buttons on the neck too. I think it's worth trying...

SecondSkin wrote:

I've been doing alot of research on this subject, and I'm about to take the plunge. From what I can tell, every "alternative" controller involves compromises. Pitch-midi converters (roland/yamaha/axon) don't play well with VSTi's because they send tons of pitchbend data and some erroneous notes; other systems don't allow for string bends or other forms of expressive playing (which is why we play guitar in the first place). If I had the money ($1500+), I would get a Ztar from Starr systems -- it uses keys on the neck instead of strings so there is no tracking errors or latency. Since I don't have the money for that, I am looking at this from yamaha. It seems to be based on Starr's technology. Though it is sold as a "learning guitar" it has midi in/out and has some pretty good user reviews (no professional reviews that I have seen). The downside is that it only has 12 "frets", but then it also has transpose buttons on the neck too. I think it's worth trying...

I'm in contact with Harvey Starr regularly, and though the EZ-EG is in competition with his instrument line on some level, he said they were OK. Basically, you can get some sequencing work done with them, but they are not road worthy at all. They lack any sort of in-depth feature set.

I've had Ztars for years now, and they are the way to go (combined with a breath controller). Get the Yamaha for now, but save up for the Ztar. There is a world of difference, including fairly important things like being able to set up velocity curves and all the continuous controller stuff you can assign to the pads, etc.

-Shane

Quote:

though the EZ-EG is in competition with his instrument line on some level, he said they were OK. I've had Ztars for years now, and they are the way to go (combined with a breath controller). Get the Yamaha for now, but save up for the Ztar.

Wow, thanks for the info. If I had the money, I would get a Ztar for sure. All those extra controllers are too cool (do you have the pressure controller on the neck?).

Right now a Ztar is about $1200 out of my price range (wish I'd have bought one when I had money), so I'm off to get an EZ-EG...

Please post back with your EZ-EG impressions. I haven't seen anyone comment on using it as a midi controller, this should be interesting.

SecondSkin wrote:

Quote: though the EZ-EG is in competition with his instrument line on some level, he said they were OK. I've had Ztars for years now, and they are the way to go (combined with a breath controller). Get the Yamaha for now, but save up for the Ztar. Wow, thanks for the info. If I had the money, I would get a Ztar for sure. All those extra controllers are too cool (do you have the pressure controller on the neck?). Right now a Ztar is about $1200 out of my price range (wish I'd have bought one when I had money), so I'm off to get an EZ-EG...

Yeah, I have a mini-Z now, and it has a ribbon sensor on the side of the neck (the part where the tiny fret dot markers are on guitars). It also has 18 pads (12 large, 6 small) for various controller data. I use the Yamaha BC-3 breath controller, though StarrLabs can include their own design as a special order.

I had a Z6 for a while, but got tired of the elongated neck. That was before he started making the necks that scale like a real guitar (with smaller buttons as you get higher up the neck). I wanted them to be all the same yet wanted the neck closer to the middle of my body so I could tap with both hands comfortably, etc. My mini-Z sits exactly where a classical guitarist would want it, though I only tap on mine since I did not opt for the string triggers the second time around. I sometimes miss them, but for what I do, pure legato and tapping is better.

Now that I think about it, I'd say a breath-controller would make the Ez-EG a lot more interesting if your synth patches are designed to take advantage of such. Even if you only mapped it to volume and a bit of filter, it would still surpass a lot of keyboard articulations.

-Shane