The Yamaha EZ-EG Guitar Midi Controller Thread

[mbncp]

The oldest is 11xx and the newer 76xx.
I did once open the guitar, but never the part with the string mechanism, but I doubt that dust could influence the mechanical parts (spring ?).
I think it's more a parameter adjustment problem, or the string is badly adjusted.
Btw, what readings do you have (lowest and highest possible values for each string, without pulling to hard on the strings) ?
On mine the low values are pretty much equal, but with some strings I can hardly go over 100 - 110 (velocity values, not volt )

[luka2807]

sorry to say, but my pc is still not here...I am playing ez-ag solo (without scripts and midi out)...as soon as I connect it to my audiophile MIDI IN port I will inform you about the readings

it seems to me that sensors for strings are tracking up&down movements of strings and not in&out although normal guitar strings is usually vibrating in&out also...it is possible that my fingerstyle technique is pushing the strings more "into" guitar which is hard to detect with sensors (probably optical encoders)...i have to say that these situations when a string remains silent occur quite rare and it is not a big issue but i would like this unit to last because there will be no replacement

regarding the dust maybe it is possible that optical encoders (if thats what they are using) are covered with dust...i dunno

[mbncp]

Ok, couldn't resist, here are some picture. http://homepage.hispeed.ch/mbncp/EZ-AG/default.htm
If you look at the 2 last pictures (now pic 6 and 7) you can see something like a round thing (pastille in french ), which I suspect to be a mic, but not sure.
The stuff that is kind of blue on the picture is actually some transparent glue or something.
Anyway, hitting that glue thing, the "mic" or any part around does trigger a velo, the harder the higher. But moving it doesn't do anything. So unless it's some miniaturized "touch" probe I believe it's just a simple little microphone. After all, that's what is used with other guitar to midi gear.
But as it doesn't have to analyse the frequency and the strings are short, we get a better response time.

yamaha should put you on commision

Hmm, with my caustic post at the Cubase forum yesterday and the posting of these pics, I'll be already happy not seeing one of their lawyers at my front door

EDIT:
Ooops, forgot to say that the part with the speaker and the strings should be easy to flip 180° to make a left hand guitar, the only problem is that the wires are too short so you would have to extend them (about 10, probably mono small wires).
But I don't see an easy way to handle the frtboard without an app, as there are only 5 wires, 4 white and 1 red, so I don't think it's just a question of crossing them

I also jut added some new pics including the fretboard

[luka2807]

looks cool in pieces ...i got your point...it probably isnt some sort of encoder but mic or something...i suppose dust can not hurt the mechanism...maybe some electronic wizard can help us here

[goyya76]

hi guys - EZAG owner here too! just a quick question, looking at the fingerboard unmounted: does anyone think that a fingertip could do the same job of the rubber key? (maybe the two black spot on which the key acts are to far for a single finger....) it would be cool to have a touch fretboard instead of those buttons!

[mbncp]

>> i suppose dust can not hurt the mechanism
indeed but I noticed there is a bit of grease on the strings ends, but I don't think it could influence much the picking (unless it's -40° where you live ).
Btw, it's very easy to open and close back the EZ_AG. For the fretboard there is a little plug that can be remove quickly.

>> does anyone think that a fingertip could do the same job
You would need to play with wet fingers as each of these black box is like a E, with the middle bar broken. For each fret there are two of them, but only one needs to have a contact. Anyway, if your idea is to play directly on the board, it's not easy as there are the small leds in between, making glissandoooooos very painful.

[luka2807]

i have just tried these strings thing again...and yes if I touch strings softly/gently (with fingers or pluck) ezag does not produce sound at all, while normal guitar in this situation regulatly produce a sound (soft but still pretty audible)...it seems that strings are less sensitive then they should be normally...or is it my playing style?

i have to say again that i still havent tried ezag with PC...i am still playing it "dry" - headphones directly to ezag...so i did not have a chance to try to tune strings velocity via MIDIX file

[luka2807]

sorry for being annoying to others who are not intersted in technical side of yamaha ezag but one thing comes to my mind when discussing "string sensitivity"

is it possible that "by factory preset" there is certain lower treshold (minimum velocity) which triggers the sound module within ezag...so if you are using ezag as controller you are not experiencing any anomalies while used as a tone generator it shows "less than optimal string sensitivity"

can anyone confirm that ezag (whan played with its own sounds and without PC) is not trigerring sounds when played softly/gently?...if I compare it with regular acoustic guitar, yamaha ezag is silent when played softly while "normal" acoustic guitar produces sound which is pretty audible

I will not use ezag as tone generator but as a midi controller, but being able to track nuances in playing style and having "good" expression is crucial when used as controller

[luka2807]

bump

[CapnLockheed]

I have some ideas.....somethings I would like to add are:

1)1/4" audio out

2)program change +/- (that does'nt also change onboard sounds)

3)program change +/- that will allow full internal GM bank
sounds to be accsessed.

4)midi channel merge switch - to allow all string outs to
be merged to a single channel - the Casio DG-20 has this
feature.

I've got the AG's schematics and if I'm successful
in developing any of these mods I'll document them
and post them to our Yahoo group's files section.

That's if it ever arrives....I've just spent the last 24
hours bitching at UPS. My package was shipped from Tempe
AZ on the 9th...for reasons unknown it was "re-scheduled"
to be delivered several days later than it should have been
final it supposedly arrived here in Knoxville and was
"out for delivery" on the 16th....UPS reps swore up and
down it was on the truck and even if took till 11:59pm
it would be delivered that day. It was'nt. Then tracking
showed it as rescheduled to be delivered yesterday...it
was'nt. Now they're finally admitting that maybe they
misplaced it and they're calling it an "exception"....
....GRRRRRRRR!!!

Okay...I'm done ranting now and I feel much better!!

Cheers.....CL

Could you please send me the schematics to fjal1972@telefonica.net ? I'm lefty and i want to see if some kind of "rewire" could solve my problem so i can play with no computer attached. Thanks a lot !!!

Thought the doc I had was ez-ag schematics. What I've got is
the ez-eg service manual.

Cheers.....CL

[MrHen]

Thank you anyway!!
Best regards!

[luka2807]

sorry for repeating the post, but...
can anyone confirm that ezag (whan played with its own sounds and without PC) is not trigerring sounds when played softly/gently?...if I compare it with regular acoustic guitar, yamaha ezag is silent when played softly while "normal" acoustic guitar produces sound which is pretty audible

thanks

[Batninja]

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Hi guys

I just recently bought an EZAG and am playing thru a Yamaha QY70 - bliss!

I too though had a problem with a string volume, the top E was considerably lower in volume than the other strings.

I took the back off and saw that the grey foam on the top string had been badly applied so that it pressed against the bulb microphone thingy (see the previous posters pics at http://homepage.hispeed.ch/mbncp/EZ-AG/default.htm (http://homepage.hispeed.ch/mbncp/EZ-AG/default.htm)

I cut the foam away slightly so that it was well clear of the plastic bulb and this really helped. The top E string is now almost (but not quite - maybe my imagination?) the same volume as the other strings. In other words the gray foam was dampening the bulb microphone.

Although I tried this on another EZAG I bought (but returned) with a quiet 3rd string and it did not seem to help as much.

Hope this info helps

Bats

[RunBeerRun]

You might want to check out "Kable" in the developer challenge forum, I think it might work to benefit Ez guitar use, I just visited the online manual site and haven't tried it yet.

[tommyspi]

OK, so I'm a more MIDI ignorant than I thought I was. I'm trying to use my shiny new EZEG as a controller for my boards. I've played with it into both my AN1x and my CS2X. In both cases I get MIDI data sent only off the high E string. ??

I tried plugging it into my PC into Logic Audio and pulled up a VSTi and had all 6 strings working fine. Fun little toy. But I really want to use it, without PC, into my keyboards.

So why do I get data flying off all 6 strings when I send MIDI to my PC (standard MIDI cables into a standard MIDI M-Audio card), but not into my keyboards, where only notes played on the high E come across?

Help! Thanks.

---Sorry if this had been asked and answered previously. I tried going back quite a few pages, but never saw this question come up.