KVR Audio

Internal Exodus · Post by **Internal Exodus** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 11:42 pm

I wish the EG had was all black like the AG--I'd hop on these in a second. Although it would primarily be used as a MIDI controller, another huge factor for me would be appearance (in case I ever do any live work). It's just hard to mess with the epicness of some guy playing the guitar during a live show, but to have synth sounds coming from it as well? Too ultimate.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 12:21 am

SecondSkin wrote:
PS Vurt -- It's a blast to play with M42!

so youd go for an AG then if you were buyin new?

McLilith · Post by **McLilith** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 1:28 am

weezer182 wrote:I was watching Dave Letterman last night, and altough it was a repeat, Lou's guitarist appears to use one of these.

I'm pretty sure that the guitarist with Lou was using a Ztar, made by Starr Labs. These cost quite a lot more than the Yamaha models, and have a lot of extra features as well.

Starr Labs even make a double-neck version with both a Ztar and a traditional electric guitar in the same instrument. Prices start at $5395, for the double-neck model. Many of the single-neck Ztars are considerably less expensive than that, but all of the Ztars are much more expensive than one of these Yamaha instruments we've been talking about.

I wonder if Starr Labs has any ancestoral connections to Star Instruments (the extinct company that formerly made the Synare Drum product line)?

Shane Sanders · Post by **Shane Sanders** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 1:42 am

McLilith wrote:
weezer182 wrote:
I wonder if Starr Labs has any ancestoral connections to Star Instruments (the extinct company that formerly made the Synare Drum product line)?

Harvey Starr's company used to be known as the Starr Switch Company but he seems to have abandoned that in favor of Starr Labs.

-Shane

SecondSkin · Post by **SecondSkin** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 3:29 am

so youd go for an AG then if you were buyin new?

Yeah, probably, but I do like having the tremelo bar. I guess it would depend on how important that pitch bend is to your music and how your host handles secondary midi controllers if you want to use a joystick or the like (or the pb on your keyboard).

I wish the EG had was all black like the AG--I'd hop on these in a second

Painting (or even modding) the body would be no trouble at all. The electronic bits are merely bolted to the body and would be easy to take off for painting. With an electric drill and a little bit of time you could probaby put the controller itself on any guitar body you want to. I might do that myself someday.

This is a very cool thread. Can anyone tell me how it plays?

Look back to my original post. It really plays very well. It is far more expressive than I expected it to be, though you do have to play clean when playing sounds with sharp attacks. Since I've gotten it, my playing has gotten much cleaner.

I think yamaha's implementation of the fretted notes sound (fretting the keys without a strum produces a very low velocity midi note) has tremendous potential when used with velocity crossfades and some multi-timbral synths (such as M42). In any event it is a ton of fun.

I'm planning on posting a demo ASAP, but FLS and Live are not getting along right now.

Mark

SecondSkin · Post by **SecondSkin** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 1:25 pm

To anyone interested: I posted a "demo" song using the EZ-EG as the controller for all parts. It is available here.

I didn't use any of the internal sounds, if anyone is interested I will post some demos of those sounds as well. For right now the focus is on demonstrating the ability of the EZ-EG as a midi controller, specifically its ability to handle basic guitar playing and translation to midi.

Mark

WhiteNoise · Post by **WhiteNoise** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 2:39 pm

I just got mine after reading this thread - I decided to go for the EZ-EG even though it's more money (in retrospect, the EZ-AG probably would have been just fine.. there really is not much difference as far as I can see). I must say I'm pretty impressed with it. I own the DG-20 too, and I think I like the yamaha better. The builtin sounds are not bad for practicing and respond fairly realisticly. Using bars instead of strings was a great move, and feels much more realistic than cheap rubbery strings. Plus you can mute, but not anything fancy like palm muting stuff (that would be soo cool). I tested it out a bit with my Matrix1000 and it sounds cool - however the patches need to be very velocity sensitive to work right. I'll need to spend some time setting up some. This thing definately forces you to clean up your playing, because if you are sloppy like me, it's easy to trigger unwanted stuff. Anyway, I recommend it as a cheap midi guitar option.

BTW, I was able to fix up the strings on my DG20 - nylon strings work okay (though only the top two strings are thin enough to fit). I would imagine it might be possible to use something like thick fishing line as well. It's pretty easy to replace the strings.

Aleatoric · Post by **Aleatoric** » Thu May 13, 2004 9:43 pm

Most likely picking up the EZ-AG tommarow at a music store. Quick question, I read on page 1 someone said the fretter notes (not plucked/strum) show up as a velocity of 14 all the time. Does this mean the "key triggers" on the frets are not velocity sensitive? I got the impression else ware that you could simply play with your left hand on the fret board with full velocity range. Some please clarify the play modes when using MIDI.

mbncp · Post by **mbncp** » Thu May 13, 2004 10:57 pm

Frets play always at a velocity of 16 (EZ-AG). You need to trigger the string with your right hand to get different velocity.
Although the fretting notes can be interesting for some instruments, I usely remove them (note on and off) for other instruments (like pianos and so).

There are basically 2 modes:

Local control ON:
fret dn -> note on = 16
string -> note off , note on = string velo
fret up -> note off

this mode will also detect portamento (cc = 84)
fret dn -> note on = 16
string -> note off , note on = string velo
glide to next fret -> CC = 84 value = previous note played,
note on (new fret) velo = same as last note, note off (last note)
fret up -> note off

Local control OFF:
fret dn -> note on = 16
string -> note off , note on = string velo

each string has it's own channel 1-6, and each channel is always mono (except when portamento is detected)

In both modes, the EZ will also send sysex:
fret down, up : string number + fret number
string data : string number + velo

Depending of what we want to do, the best would just to read the sysex data, and reprogram the whole thing.
Unfortunately, I’m using mfx and it doesn’t support sysex on live events.
The new vst module architecture (cubase sx) does support it and I believe the next mfx wrapper will too.

Aleatoric · Post by **Aleatoric** » Thu May 13, 2004 11:27 pm

thanks, all is clear now. Seem the EZ-AG and a utility like MIDI PIPE will go hand in hand with me and Logic

Polychrome · Post by **Polychrome** » Fri May 14, 2004 12:52 am

I've had my EZ-EG for one day so far, and I'm happy with it, but a bit dissapointed about the lack of velocity sensitivity when triggering frets. I immediately started playing with extensive use of hammer-ons, and I guess I won't be able to get really expressive results using mainly hammer-ons instead of playing the strings.

The frets work killer when playing arpeggiated synths, since often you don't really want velocity to effect the output. I guess they would also be good at triggering drum sounds in cases where you wanted no change in velocity, like electronic kick drum lines and such.

Shane Sanders · Post by **Shane Sanders** » Fri May 14, 2004 1:26 am

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

Yummy.

Aleatoric · Post by **Aleatoric** » Fri May 14, 2004 2:03 am

I am going to buy a EZ-AG tommarow

The Ztars looks SO HOT, but that is way out of my price range but will proably pick one up after college when I am making "real" money! For now the EZ-AG seems like the best MIDI guitar controller on the market for that option and lucky for me I found a store thats got one still.

Shane Sanders · Post by **Shane Sanders** » Fri May 14, 2004 2:10 am

Aleatoric wrote:I am going to buy a EZ-AG tommarow

The Ztars looks SO HOT, but that is way out of my price range but will proably pick one up after college when I am making "real" money! For now the EZ-AG seems like the best MIDI guitar controller on the market for that option and lucky for me I found a store thats got one still.

yeah, I had a Suzuki XG-1m for a long time before I got a mini-Z and even though it was a toy, I could still get work done with it. The main thing is getting a facsimile of your idea into a sequencer. It's so easy to edit now that it'll still be a benefit to use.

-Shane

Aleatoric · Post by **Aleatoric** » Fri May 14, 2004 6:34 pm

Ok, got my EZ-AG today, loads of fun. Now anyone know a good utility for OSX to filter the midi notes below 16 (fretted notes) so I can play the AG like a normal guitar? thanks....can this be done with MIDI pipe? if so how?

The Yamaha EZ-EG Guitar Midi Controller Thread