The Yamaha EZ-EG Guitar Midi Controller Thread

[Markleford]

It occured to me now that I've blown $200 on an EZ-AG that I probably could have used one of those with my MiniZ Ztar. Live and learn!

Any $200 spent on an EZ-G shouldn't be seen as "blown" in any way!

I was considering affixing a Wacom pad to an EZ to play bowed string sounds with a stylus....

- m

[Shane Sanders]

It occured to me now that I've blown $200 on an EZ-AG that I probably could have used one of those with my MiniZ Ztar. Live and learn!

Any $200 spent on an EZ-G shouldn't be seen as "blown" in any way!

I was considering affixing a Wacom pad to an EZ to play bowed string sounds with a stylus....

- m

I think I'm suffering from an initial disappointment from the fact that it gives a 10-velocity to anything one frets, regardless of whether the strings have been played. If it avoided that problem right out of the box, I probably wouldn't "need" extra scripts to really enjoy it. Because I have a ztar, I have all I'll ever need for legato playing, etc, and so the EZ-AG has much less of an appeal as a left-hand only instrument for me. Hopefully I'll get this all figured out tonight.

I did like all the possibilities that are cropping up with your script and marc's script. For $200, this little thing really gives a guitar player a lot of options for getting ideas into a sequencer.

[Shane Sanders]

but they were really shit shane which is why you dont see them about much

Good to know. Do you happen to recall the name of the product or even the manufacturer? I'd still like to investigate. I think I could mount on on my ztar and have an ideal instrument. I can't afford to have string triggers retrofitted onto my ztar at the moment, not to mention that I'd probably have to ship it off and wait a while to get it back.

[Shane Sanders]

OK Shane we want to hear some kinda comparison between this toy and the Z6.
Actually I would like to hear about the Z6 period.
How is the software?
How does it handle the open string missfire issue.
Hammer ons?
Slides?
How about the joystick for bending notes?
Learning curve for a guitar player first picking up one of these things?
How about the getting used to the equal spaced fretts? (this is a big turnoff for me)
How about the strings? Are they like regular string?
I think I heard somewhere you can use any guitar strings. And if so how do you give it tension?
Are there any tuners on it to wind it up?

Gee so many questions, so little answers.

Thanks in advance.

Gimme a couple more days with the EZ-EG and then I'll get to these questions.

[Markleford]

I think I'm suffering from an initial disappointment from the fact that it gives a 10-velocity to anything one frets, regardless of whether the strings have been played. If it avoided that problem right out of the box, I probably wouldn't "need" extra scripts to really enjoy it.

Yes, out of the box it is limited (and sends the low-velocity on-messages), but it really comes alive with the scripts.

- m

[pendle]

This is a bit OT, but does anyone know what the name of the product was that allows keyboard players to strum strings? It was a box-like product with six real strings that you could put in your MIDI signal chain and introduce strumming into your synth lines that were being fingered on a keyboard. It occured to me now that I've blown $200 on an EZ-AG that I probably could have used one of those with my MiniZ Ztar. Live and learn!

that'll be the waldorf gecko ( or is it gekko)

[vurt]

I think I'm suffering from an initial disappointment from the fact that it gives a 10-velocity to anything one frets, regardless of whether the strings have been played. If it avoided that problem right out of the box, I probably wouldn't "need" extra scripts to really enjoy it.

Yes, out of the box it is limited (and sends the low-velocity on-messages), but it really comes alive with the scripts.

- m

this is true shane(altho i havent kept up with updates hehe)
try not to think of it so much as a guitar i guess,just think of it as a new way of inputting data,once you look at it this way it does become a more friendly beast.

[Shane Sanders]

This is a bit OT, but does anyone know what the name of the product was that allows keyboard players to strum strings? It was a box-like product with six real strings that you could put in your MIDI signal chain and introduce strumming into your synth lines that were being fingered on a keyboard. It occured to me now that I've blown $200 on an EZ-AG that I probably could have used one of those with my MiniZ Ztar. Live and learn!

that'll be the waldorf gecko ( or is it gekko)

Bummer, that's not it since it's just an arp. I'm looking for a piece of hardware that actually had 6 real strings on it that you fingerpicked or strummed while holding down the chord on a keyboard. It's an odd little box thingy...

[mbncp]

Bummer, that's not it since it's just an arp. I'm looking for a piece of hardware that actually had 6 real strings on it that you fingerpicked or strummed while holding down the chord on a keyboard. It's an odd little box thingy...

Remove the fretboard from the AG, cut some more plastic around, and I'll make you a plug that will 'mix' the strumming of the AG and play the keys played on the keyboard, adding a fith or sixth note if required.

marc

[AndrewSimon]

Bummer, that's not it since it's just an arp. I'm looking for a piece of hardware that actually had 6 real strings on it that you fingerpicked or strummed while holding down the chord on a keyboard. It's an odd little box thingy...

Once you figure out the script it should work like you wanted to.
It's really worthless without the script.
Try the mbncp script it is very flexible and you can tweek it until you find what you are looking for.
Then just save it as a preset.
Don't give up it can be a great toy but only with software manipulation.

Gimme a couple more days with the EZ-EG and then I'll get to these questions.

Take as long as you need.
I would also like to hear how flexible is a ztar software.
Can you tweek it to whatever you want like the mbncp script?

[braj]

It sure would be nice to get these scripts (I guess their equivalent) running internally inside the EZ guitars. I guess Yamaha would need to do that though.

My EZ is coming today, but my wife has to go into the office today unexpectedly, so no one may be there to sign for it

[Shane Sanders]

Bummer, that's not it since it's just an arp. I'm looking for a piece of hardware that actually had 6 real strings on it that you fingerpicked or strummed while holding down the chord on a keyboard. It's an odd little box thingy...

Remove the fretboard from the AG, cut some more plastic around, and I'll make you a plug that will 'mix' the strumming of the AG and play the keys played on the keyboard, adding a fith or sixth note if required.

marc

Cool. My ultimate goal would be to mount the "strummer" hardware onto my Ztar miniZ. I'm not wanting to use a keyboard. Having string-triggers on the ztar would be the most powerful option for me due to the superiority of the neck and fret-buttons. Ztars are built like tanks. Here's a picture of it to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. They sell one with string triggers, but at the time I really didn't need it since I had a Z6, too. Later I sold the Z6. Mine has a bunch of pads in place of the strings.

Here's a miniZ with the string triggers:


Notice that on a Ztar, each string has it's own screw mount. These serve the same purpose as the mute bar on the EZ, but with the added benefit that you can mute each string individually if you desire. The mounts also allow you to put any type of string guage you want and to adjust tension.

I may have another option, too. I have an old Suzuki midi guitar (very similar in construction to the EZ) with excellent string triggers. If I could find someone who knew electronic hardware, I'm certain that stuff could be removed from the Suzuki and re-housed onto the MiniZ. The drawback for the Suzuki is the neck since each string is a rubbery sensor strip that you have to press just a tad to hard to be any fun.

Looks like Harvey is coming out with a new model:

[Shane Sanders]

It sure would be nice to get these scripts (I guess their equivalent) running internally inside the EZ guitars. I guess Yamaha would need to do that though.

My EZ is coming today, but my wife has to go into the office today unexpectedly, so no one may be there to sign for it

For devices that are this simple, and mainly a breadboard and nothing more, I bet it wouldn't be unthinkable to have someone make a new eprom and breadboard for it. Finding that special person who knew enough about what they were working on (in terms of what MIDI is and what the instrument should do) would be the difficult part.

[vurt]

For devices that are this simple, and mainly a breadboard and nothing more, I bet it wouldn't be unthinkable to have someone make a new eprom and breadboard for it. Finding that special person who knew enough about what they were working on (in terms of what MIDI is and what the instrument should do) would be the difficult part.

does the name HAYDXN mean anything?
or even perhaps xoxos?

[mbncp]

It sure would be nice to get these scripts (I guess their equivalent) running internally inside the EZ guitars. I guess Yamaha would need to do that though.

Next EZ version will come with explorer included and you will be able to load your scripts either with a Compact Flash card, a usb key, or a wireless device which will be also used for midi playback (great for big jams on the net). The batteries will be automatically charged using solar cells (on the fret board) and strumming energy.