Polyphonic Guitar to MIDI VST/AU "MIDI Guitar"- BETA TEST

[glops]

Thanks for the new version, will try to make some tests this week-end !
And how to change the Piano to another instrument ?

[JamOrigin]

Tried the new Beta briefly tonight but found a couple of issues:
1. I tried unpacking the zip file (for Mac) using Archive Utility which is my default app on snow lepord but received Error 1 - Operation not permitted
Unpacked using The Unarchiver worked but I noticed there was no vst plugin file only an au component.

2. Not sure if anyone else is having any issues but I cannot get Live 8.34 to recognize the new component. I have currently installed live 9 beta though so it would be helpful to know if anyone else is having the same issue or if it is my machine setup. I did not try any other hosts today.

On the plus side, I ran the standalone version of 0.6 and the response seems very good. I did not have chance to test anything else such as the pitchbend. Also the tests so far on previous betas have been the vst plugin version within live so it would be unfair to compare unless it was a similar setup.

Anyway great work guys

Thanks for the feedback.

A new Mac zip has been uploaded that should unpack correctly. What version of Mac OS X are you using?

We will look into the issue with Ableton Live.

[Ainsoph]

Hi !
Would like to comment new 0.6.0 BETA (using Windows 8, Abelton Live,
and Omnisphere for testing ) :

- soft pitch bends in any range ( same settings as in softsynth ) results nicely
with very gentle bends , vibrato like , but a little more enhanced/intesive bends of any softsynth's "plucked string instrument"s (up and down) make unpleasant whole tone shifts

-also slidings(or hammer-ons or pull-offs) produce whole tones much heard , should be made more smooth transitions if possible

Otherwise you are doing surprisingly amazing job with software !

Greetings !

[Daggilarr]

I found the pitch bends to work well achieving smooth transitions, but this was a very brief test. I have yet to give this release a full work out

[Ainsoph]

I found the pitch bends to work well achieving smooth transitions, but this was a very brief test. I have yet to give this release a full work out

yes with slow attack sounds but try Plucked string instrument , such as nylon guitar sound of soft-synth or something similar , there are problems with bends and slides as i mentioned at my first comment

[JamOrigin]

I found the pitch bends to work well achieving smooth transitions, but this was a very brief test. I have yet to give this release a full work out

yes with slow attack sounds but try Plucked string instrument , such as nylon guitar or something , there are problems with bends and slides as i mentioned at my first comment

We are aware of note shifts that can occur in agressive bends, and will look into that.

Please dont confuse this with simulating legato playing with pitch bend commands - we did not try to implement this yet. When we get to it we probably need to make an option to switch between legato and glissando (slides/hammers/pull-offs) - the latter where MIDI Guitar excels.

[robogone]

I haven't tried this new beta yet, but when I did try it for an hour with the last version I had problems trying to get it to play right with tremolo picking - it couldn't pick up every note I played, even when slightly dampening the strings.

Has that improved or is it something to be worked on? I'm not talking about excessively fast tremolo picking, even just at a moderate tempo.

[JamOrigin]

I haven't tried this new beta yet, but when I did try it for an hour with the last version I had problems trying to get it to play right with tremolo picking - it couldn't pick up every note I played, even when slightly dampening the strings.

Has that improved or is it something to be worked on? I'm not talking about excessively fast tremolo picking, even just at a moderate tempo.

It's not a problem we hear often. I dont recall ever had problems tremolo picking any string as fast as I can. Please try the new version (its just two clicks now), be sure you are in tune and turn up sensitivity at pitch prediction 3.

[robogone]

OK will try that. Thanks

[derivative]

i have noticed that i get much lower latency (and higher accuracy) when i'm using the standalone version (beta 0.6.0) in combination with loopMIDI connected to my sequencer software which in my case makes the difference of MIDI Guitar being usable or not. using the vst plugin didn't do the trick.

*update*
couldn't reproduce this phenomenon a few days later although there still seems to be a slight difference between the vst plugin and the standalone version - which is understandable

[tboneUS]

A new Mac zip has been uploaded that should unpack correctly. What version of Mac OS X are you using?

We will look into the issue with Ableton Live.

The new zip worked fine. To clarify, I am running 10.6.8 and it was the au version of the plugin that was not recognized. The new file you uploaded included the vst plugin (32 bit tried) and loaded today' in live 8.4.2 without any problems


I have to try it over the weekend but I appeared to get a lot more false triggers on this version from harmonics rather than the actual note played even when triggering from a single string monophonicly from an individual strings hex pickups output. Also, I do have to confirm but when restricting the response to a single note ( by setting the sensitivity to on and 0 aft the required notes and 0 for the last note, effectively making the plugin ignore all but one note) I still appeared to get harmonics triggering falsely. I could restrict this effect in the last version. As I say I will confirm this weekend.

One technique I have used in the past to restrict harmonics false triggering was to filter outgoing midi notes (in a kontakt script) when a harmonic was received in a shorter time after the original note than would be possible to physicly play on a real instrument. In my cases I am strumming 1/8th notes so physicly if a harmonic is received for example 1/32nd note after the original it must be a false positive. Maybe some logical filtering could be added to prevent obvious triggers when strumming? Of course this technique could not be used from a polyphonic source as strumming triggeres notes from adjacent strings much quicker than 1/8th but helps when trigging monophonicly from a hex pickup.

[Daggilarr]

I found the pitch bends to work well achieving smooth transitions, but this was a very brief test. I have yet to give this release a full work out

yes with slow attack sounds but try Plucked string instrument , such as nylon guitar sound of soft-synth or something similar , there are problems with bends and slides as i mentioned at my first comment

Did a couple of quick experiments this morning and found no problems with bends when triggering software instruments that allow me to set the pitch bend range, so for example the nylon guitar in Kontakts factory library/band/guitar, no problem. In fact I found any instrument that had a pitch bend setting allowed a smooth bend, even piano!

I conclude from this that the bend information is getting to the software instrument from Midi Guitar and many problems can be resolved within the individual instruments settings.

My first guitar synth kit was a roland GR20 which had no pitch bend control at all, it was set within the software and matched to the internal sounds, when I tried to use it to trigger sounds in my computer (which it did) the biggest problem was lack of ability to 'match' pitch bend settings to the software instrument I was triggering. This is why I moved on to the Axon.

Midi Guitar now has this function (albeit monophonic for now)

I did try another nylon guitar (In Kontakt) that did not have a pitch bend setting on the front panel, but did find that I could add this if I drilled down into the settings, it was, however, glitchy.

As a general rule I have always been advised to match the the PB settings on the Synth Module (in this case Midi Guitar) with whatever software instrument I am controlling.

So far So good.

[AdmiralQuality]

My first guitar synth kit was a roland GR20 which had no pitch bend control at all, it was set within the software and matched to the internal sounds, when I tried to use it to trigger sounds in my computer (which it did) the biggest problem was lack of ability to 'match' pitch bend settings to the software instrument I was triggering.

I believe the Roland is hard wired to +/- 12 semitones. (1 octave). Just set your instrument to that and it should match perfectly.

This is why I moved on to the Axon.

Midi Guitar now has this function (albeit monophonic for now)

I did try another nylon guitar (In Kontakt) that did not have a pitch bend setting on the front panel, but did find that I could add this if I drilled down into the settings, it was, however, glitchy.

As a general rule I have always been advised to match the the PB settings on the Synth Module (in this case Midi Guitar) with whatever software instrument I am controlling.

Of course. MIDI pitch bend is a relative control, not absolute. So it only can tell the instrument how much of its bend range to bend, not how far that range is. So any solution, whether a hardware or software converter, is going to need the user to make sure the instrument and the converter agree on the pitch bend range.

(Haven't had a chance to try the new MIDIGuitar update yet but hope to get to it shortly.)

[Daggilarr]

A) I believe the Roland is hard wired to +/- 12 semitones. (1 octave). Just set your instrument to that and it should match perfectly.

B)So any solution, whether a hardware or software converter, is going to need the user to make sure the instrument and the converter agree on the pitch bend range.

A) Interesting, that Roland is long gone but thanks

B) This is the point I was making, and when I have the pitch bend message from the JamO software works well

[FrettedSynth]

Hello Ole

Thank you for the 0.6.0 update, I have to agree with others in saying this is by far the most exciting piece of software to come out in quite some time.

With a short test this is what I notice:

Pitch bend - Works surprisingly well set to two semitones, One thing I notice is it picks up the sharpness of a picked note (which is no surprise, all notes are sharp at the attack) but it blurs the attack of some synth tones.
Sometimes the pitch wheel sticks and does not reset all the way at note offs?

Velocity - Works really quite well, would be nice to still have the fixed velocity setting? I might be just missing it on the UI new glasses I still can't see all the best.

Preset and synth loader - Thanks for adding the preset selector, please consider adding load and save of .fxb and .fxp to this? BTW when I load a VSTi and then select No Instrument the loaded VSTi seems to remain loaded.

MIDI through - Again Thank you, one thing I noticed is when I play a keyboard through MIDI Guitar I get glitches that appear to be related to the graphics? If MG's UI is open or a VSTi with keyboard graphic is open I get pops and crackles at a very low CPU use? If I close both UI's the noise goes away?
Not that I would need to play a keyboard through, MG is great but I wonder if it will have the same effect using MIDI CC's? through? will test this weekend.

Last thing is when I have MIDI Guitars UI open and a VSTi if I bring MG's UI to the front a mouse over the VSTi will bring it (the VSTi) to the front without clicking. Not sure if this is a bug or intentional?

Peace
Joe