So for those who play guitar and aren't interested in a conventional keyboard here's my take on the state of the industry. Sorry if none of these are guitars.nix808 wrote:I was wondering if folks would like to post their next guitar links?
I'm happy with my quiver, but just like guitars
I look at these ones(unconventional)->
http://www.starrlabs.com/products/ztars/baby-z
http://music.yamaha.com/products/main.h ... ductId=189
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=275864
Also demos of your make would be cool too:) if you like
Okay....
BabyZ
I have the first one ever built. It's not working cost me $1200 back then now it's 600 They have since replaced the issue that caused mine not to work so maybe your's will last more than one year
Did not like the 16 fret limitation. Have medium/smaller hands Great playing for me I've never been better at sweeping on any other instrument.. Kind of really really light wright not much of a body but it has one which you'll find a must if you are considering the artiphon and then find out what a pain it is to try and play it as a guitar even with strap (which is a necessity)
No picks required (or allowed) It has two sets of "triggers" the first is a series of rubber strips that are primarily used as "string triggers" though can function as other things then closer to where the "fretboard" starts there are a secondary set of pads/triggers. All extremely programmable
Yep that's me..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqs2SlmCAhk
Check out all my ztar videos if only for a good laugh.
I will say this before moving foreward. The BabyZ changed my playing forever and for the better. It may not have the same effect on you. I'd been playing guitar since the mid 70's and I've been tapping since I saw my first EVH video. I practiced the hell out of tapping on guitar and it was a way of life for me in may respects. I didn't give myself the name Tapper Mike, it was given to me for my guitar playing style. I also was an early adopter to midi guitar back in the 80's. When I got the baby z I experienced a different "feel" approach to tapping with could not be recreated on a guitar. At that point I no longer had the desire to tap on the guitar and it didn't come back for years.... Because I was too busy exploring tapping on the ztar. If you get a Baby Z make sure to go for the joystick upgrade. Not only is it really handy as a joystick it's also handy as a leg rest. (wish I did)
I am seriously considering a Gotar from starr labs. It's cheaper It's got a wider range (24 frets as opposed to 16) And would work well as a desktop grid keybed. After having a linnstrument that died on me and using my Z6 as a desktop controller (even though it's plagued with issues due to age/wear)
Yamaha EZEG/AG
Absolute crap, We have a thread on this somewhere spanning several pages with an alledged tool that fixes some issues. The biggest issues being the range of the instrument and the very poor triggering from the strings however were never sufficiently resolved. I really disliked it.
Misa Digital Kitara
Honestly they had some interesting ideas especially using a linux os and all in one instrument but I never really thought it would take.
Linnstrument
Roger Linn and I did not get off to a good start. He is rather draconian when it comes to people using his hardware. He requires it be registered before use and leaves little in the way of support for used purchasers (on the other hand Novation was quite nice to me when I told them I purchased a used Launchpad pro providing me with many extras) He also was annoyed when I had mentioned a method to make use of MPE on windows daws / hosts by directing the midi channels out from the linnstrument into separate midi channels in using duplicates of a given instrument plugin. To him pc users are not worthy of linnstrument ownership. It also didn't help when my linnstrument died and he did nothing to help me. Sorry that's just the way it was for me. While I think the linnstrument can be a fine desktop instrument for many I really have no intention of ever owning one again.
That being said. Yes it works wonderfully as an mpe device. Yes if you have a rudementary understanding of playing in fourths you can learn this instrument. It will seem odd for the left hand as a desktop instrument as your left hand will operate in reverse from what it does on guitar. Upside down and backwards. Odd and uncomfortable at first but if you persist you should get the hang of it.
It's not a strap instrument unless you want to play everything right handed. Even RL has a rough go at it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnr0iE5pctc
Jump to the 17 minute mark.
The "cells" are annoying to me. You can't bar and you can't "spike" They are however grip-able so when you hit one you aren't going to slip off a note. When you do slide that rubberized plastic porous surface does not help you need more force to slide and more force means it grips your finger harder making it harder to slide. Even with all the control features hitting the cell center mass isn't always achievable. This can cause issues if you are using the bend/slide feature or the up down aftertouch features. Though I would say that I like the velocity response. It's not a drum machine with regards to cell/pad tension. Which is a plus Working with a pad grid arrangement takes a lot of downward force simply to sustain a note
Artiphon Instrument One
I wanted to love this thing. I realize that they wanted to make this as non-professional consumer friendly be all to the masses as possible. But somewhere along the line trying to be a be all for dummies failed me. There are no "fret markers" on the "fretboard and it's near impossible under low lighting to see where you are as a desktop instrument. As a psuedo guitar there are markers along the top but they are barely visible and there is one for every fret. The fret spacing is wide and it is not logarithmic. While with the Z6 it's much more manageable as the fret spacings are roughly the spacing of the 9th fret of a 25.5 scale length guitar. I constantly find myself not stretching wide enough to hit the mark either as a desktop of a strapped instrument.
As a psuedo guitar it has no body. As a result even with a strap what you get is a big stick that you need to brace with your left hand and support with your right. Maybe if you were raised playing a uke you could get used to it but I find it a damn nuance.. The string buttons require either finger nails or a standard sized pick to get anything out of. They don't react to direct onward picking only up/down. They actually do respond differently with regards to up or down picking or bowing (sort of)
LaunchPad Pro
This is my current midi controller. It's great for drums with a wide dynamic range and features polyphonic aftertouch pressure. I still having got the machine controller to properly work with Mixcraft Pro. Works great for Ableton Live. But Live constantly crashes when I try to load many of my plugins.
The midi note value does work with mixcraft. The pads are working well for me with some exceptions.
I do find myself using 1+2 (left and right hand)* approaches to chords and scales. Mostly because I don't like banging hard and stretching wide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7bxqy56X4k
Same concept only on a desktop.
I'm currently debating my next midi controller. It may in fact be a Gotar from starr labs.
Why a gotar after having issues with the BabyZ and the Z6? The Z6 was built in 1990 it suffered a lot of abuse from previous owners before I got it. It weighs a ton. The fact that it can even play after 27 years is a miracle. And not all the keys work anymore. I'm no longer interested in strumming / picking on a midi instrument. Much prefer tapping. On the downside using a gotar as a desktop tapper could prove challenging with the rounded buttons. I just started tapping on the z6 as a desktop and it's not like having a flat surface to attack. The other side of it is it's.... super synth weighted and short throw which I like. Sure dynamics (velocity range) is important to me but legato/speed is more so. And more important than that is Chord/Melody two part invention type stuff. Something I don't see fully realized on a LP Pro or two of them but fully attainable on a ztar.
The answer is way out of my range....
They don't make zb6's anymore but this may give you an idea of the "spread"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fih7NVZqPt0
A 12x24 grid controller offering 7 and a 4th octave range. when split it is two 6 and a 4th boards. The keys/buttons are considerably smaller making (for me) easier chording / scaling.
). Given there's much less editability (err, none) on this than on the YRG then a bit more tweaking would be required after recording.
