The Yamaha EZ-EG Guitar Midi Controller Thread

[peter gill]

Hi, I've just bought an AG (It's excellent).
I am primarily a wind synthesist with a custom WX7 (midi sax). I have nearly completed building the Ag into a semi acoustic guitar and am in the process of adding a whammy bar made from a spare WX7 pitch bend switch that will connect to a MFC10 foot controller.

Would like to get into conversation with other users and have joined the group mentioned by RunbeerRun., I've included the URL for the group below.

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/EZguitars/

Regards Pete.

There's a Yahoo ez guitar group now, they haven't okayed me yet so I haven't looked around inside.

You can find it by searching for yamaha guitar, the title is ezag ezeg as opposed to ez-ag and ez-eg.

[/b]

[CapnLockheed]

Hi, I've just bought an AG (It's excellent).
I am primarily a wind synthesist with a custom WX7 (midi sax). I have nearly completed building the Ag into a semi acoustic guitar and am in the process of adding a whammy bar made from a spare WX7 pitch bend switch that will connect to a MFC10 foot controller.

Would like to get into conversation with other users and have joined the group mentioned by RunbeerRun., I've included the URL for the group below.

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/EZguitars/

Regards Pete.

There's a Yahoo ez guitar group now, they haven't okayed me yet so I haven't looked around inside.

You can find it by searching for yamaha guitar, the title is ezag ezeg as opposed to ez-ag and ez-eg.

[/b]

Well, you're quite the tinkerer aye? I want to get a second
EG to mod and bend...I don't want to start tearing up the
one I have now as I play it daily. I would'nt worry about
the Yahoo group. There's really nothing much going there.
This is pretty much where the action is.

Cheers.....CL

[peter gill]

I've just sent another Windlist (windsynth player) to the group. oops also!!!

Anyway if this is still where the action is Hi everyone.

An observation from a newbie, I noted some people in the thread complaining that they can't hammer off to an open string.

Unless I missed something while glancing the pages (lots of them) no one has offered a solution.

Don't use the virtual capo, but use a real capo. If you don't need to use a capo use one anyway on the first fret and drop a semi-tone.

If you do the above you can hammer off to open strings to your hearts content.

Regards Pete.

[quote=" the Yahoo group. There's really nothing much going there.
This is pretty much where the action is.

Cheers.....CL [/quote]

[peter gill]

Hi, you are probably right about the touch plate not always stopping the notes.

I have had the AG neck (same as the EG) apart and the neck strip is not actually physically connected. The strip has a square flap that goes through the neck and contacts the main board (spring like).

If indeed the Ez uses the human body as a conductor between the touch plate and the main board (the EWI4000s does this also) if the (spring like) connector had inferior tension through factory fault or excessive use, contact could be sporadic because of the neck movement.

The answer is to remove the neck and bend the square flap to increase pressure.

Regards Pete.

The touchplate doesn't always stop the notes from ringing. You don't need to get an attitude.

Reading the manual would help, EZ controllers don't send NOTE OFF, except when you touch the mute plate which sends a ALL NOTES OFF

I've had hanging notes when plugged in directly to hardware. These aren't intended to be Midi guitars.

[arturito]

Hi Guys, you can do everything (pulloffs, hammeron, etc ) with mbncp's EZEG suite.

[peter gill]

Hi, thanks for the info, I haven't yet delved into that program. Does the program reconfigure the EZ guitar or do you have to be hooked up to a computer?

If its the latter I'm looking for fixes without adding a computer/laptop to my gig rig.

Regards Pete.

Hi Guys, you can do everything (pulloffs, hammeron, etc ) with mbncp's EZEG suite.

[arturito]

yep its the latter, but worth trying!!

[RunBeerRun]

Get the NDCMidi plugs, there's one to route all info down to MIDI channel 1, and one to filter out low velocity notes, so it'll play like a regular guitar. Free plugs.

[CapnLockheed]

Hi, thanks for the info, I haven't yet delved into that program. Does the program reconfigure the EZ guitar or do you have to be hooked up to a computer?

If its the latter I'm looking for fixes without adding a computer/laptop to my gig rig.

Regards Pete.

Hi Guys, you can do everything (pulloffs, hammeron, etc ) with mbncp's EZEG suite.

Hi Pete, if you don't want to use a computer
in your live rig,(and I can't say I don't
blame you...I don't use one live either!),
there are several hardware devices that can
add more functionality to your EZ. Things
like Midi Solutions Event Processor:

http://www.midisolutions.com/prodevp.htm

Or Yamaha's MEP4,(which can sometimes be found for cheap on E-Bay)

Cheers.....Cristofe

[peter gill]

Hi, thanks for the info, I haven't yet delved into that program. Does the program reconfigure the EZ guitar or do you have to be hooked up to a computer?

If its the latter I'm looking for fixes without adding a computer/laptop to my gig rig.

Regards Pete.

Hi Guys, you can do everything (pulloffs, hammeron, etc ) with mbncp's EZEG suite.

Hi Pete, if you don't want to use a computer
in your live rig,(and I can't say I don't
blame you...I don't use one live either!),
there are several hardware devices that can
add more functionality to your EZ. Things
like Midi Solutions Event Processor:

http://www.midisolutions.com/prodevp.htm

Or Yamaha's MEP4,(which can sometimes be found for cheap on E-Bay)

Cheers.....Cristofe

Hi, thanks. nice to see someone thinks along the same lines as me. Midi solutions do some great kit, although they are very expensive for single function boxes (suitable for big midi setups).

I use a Yamaha MFC10 which I connect to either my Roland XV2020, Yamaha VL70m or my old Gem multi media expander.

The MFC10 is a Midi foot controller that can be programmed to do pretty much everything, with the option to add up to 4 extra external foot pedals.

With the above I could attach my spare WX7 pitch bend switch (potentiometer) to two jack plugs and program the upward movement PB 0-127 and the downward movement PB -0 to -127 for a whammy bar.

I would have needed two midi solution foot pedal controllers for the above £190 and thats the only function they would perform.

I paid nothing like that for my MFC10 and I can still perform loads more function, add more controllers to the guitar etc, etc.

By the way I enjoyed your music, sounds great, nice of you to share.

Regards Pete.

[tboulette]

Folks,

Just got a used EZ-EG. It worked fine when I plugged it in at work (running the Ableton Live demo), but I've just spent an hour at home trying to get it to work with Ableton, and I'm having trouble. The driver install (Windows XP) went fine, and Device Manager tells me it's there and working. Ableton, however, says there's no midi coming in while I play.

Any ideas???

Thanks.

[Markleford]

[...] but I've just spent an hour at home trying to get it to work with Ableton, and I'm having trouble. The driver install (Windows XP) went fine, and Device Manager tells me it's there and working. Ableton, however, says there's no midi coming in while I play.

You can also try to plug the EZ into any other MIDI input port you might have to at least make sure it's transmitting something: the interface that comes with the EZ-EG isn't specifically required for it to work.

- m

[tboulette]

You can also try to plug the EZ into any other MIDI input port you might have to at least make sure it's transmitting something....

Thanks. I double checked the guitar's functionality itself by running it into a Juno 106 I have lying around -- it seems to be working fine.

It looks like Windows is not recognizing the Yamaha UX16 midi interface (or whatever it's called) as a MIDI port, even though Window is saying it's working correctly. I also tried automatically detecting a controller in Reason 3.0, without result. I then plugged in the UX16 into the same USB port that my MIDI keyboard usually occupies -- still nothing.

[Markleford]

Thanks. I double checked the guitar's functionality itself by running it into a Juno 106 I have lying around -- it seems to be working fine.

Okay, at least we know that the EZ's output port is working...

Does your USB keyboard have an external MIDI input port? You might also be able to route the EZ through it: I route my EZ through my Edirol USB keyboard and it works fine.

I personally didn't have any problems with the UX16 (or whatever) when I hooked it up to my wife's laptop PC, so you probably also did install the drivers successfully (as Windows is reporting). Unfortunately, I'm not an Ableton Live user, so I can't provide much useful on how to configure a port correctly in the app!

Oh, and one last thing: check for stupid mistakes like using the wrong ports for both the EZ and the UX16! I know I've pulled my hair out before trying to debug my system, only to find I've plugged an Output port into another MIDI Out! (I never understood why the MIDI manufacturers spec didn't have specially molded plug ends to provide "matching" directionality)

- m

[tboulette]

Thanks for your suggestions, Markleford. Unfortunately, I've tried them already to no avail. My ReMOTE LE only has a MIDI out port.

When I was trying to get the thing working at work, I discovered the "dumb mistake" you describe, mixing up the IN and OUT connections.... You're braver than I am -- I was afraid they'd kick me off of here if I admitted to that.



I'm going to check in with Ableton Support, but I suspect this is a Windows and/or Yamaha issue....