The Yamaha EZ-EG Guitar Midi Controller Thread

[Maruuk]

TGOB--Very cool! How do I register at the new site?

[CapnLockheed]

I'm still dreaming that Yamaha or somebody will take this core unit, throw out all the kiddie junk, strip it down and really make it rock solely for midi controlling, pure and simple. It would revolutionize the market.

Now where have I heard that before?? Yeah, we've been saying that
from day one. Myself and others in this group have written to Yamaha
imploring them to do just that. No one's gotten a response...imagine that! The problem with "revolutionizing the market" is that
,in the eyes of a company that makes most of its money on motorcycles,
that market might not be worth revolutionizing. That being said it
seems to me that the gap between an EZ-EG/AG and a Z-Tar is huge.
I'd gladly pay several hundred more for a pro level EZ.

Cheers.....CL

[Maruuk]

Yeah, I'm with ya on that! I mean, to rig my existing guitar for the Roland system is well over $600, and then you still get delays. The cheapest Z-Tar is now around $1100. A Yamaha Midi-X Zero-Latency guitar controller for around $400 would kick A. Give it a USB plug for going straight in, who needs an interface box?

[CapnLockheed]

Yeah, I'm with ya on that! I mean, to rig my existing guitar for the Roland system is well over $600, and then you still get delays. The cheapest Z-Tar is now around $1100. A Yamaha Midi-X Zero-Latency guitar controller for around $400 would kick A. Give it a USB plug for going straight in, who needs an interface box?

I hear ya' bro! I've got a Roland GK-3/GR-1 rig and its ok for playing
internal sounds...pretty good for stage use with a band but it does'nt
really do the trick when it comes to driving softsynths or pc sequencing.
I've also got a Shadow SH-075 rig that I use with my acoustic guitar
but it has the some of the same drawbacks. Also a Yamaha G50...same thing!

The USB is a great idea but I'd want to see that in ADDITION to midi
ports. I use a lot of hardware synth modules with me EZ-EG and I
NEEDS MY MIDI!!

Mebbe I'll just sell the whole kit-n-kaboodle and get me one of those
fine Z-Tars....I really like those doublenecks they make...13 pin
Roland on one side...buttons on the other!!

Cheers.....CL

[thegodofbass]

TGOB--Very cool! How do I register at the new site?

Right - I've enabled users to create accounts without approval - try and sign up!

Next I'll start making certain users "editors" or something... so they can insert pages and other content. Got anything you'd like to share?

http://www.brokebust.com/ezag/

[Maruuk]

Ok there seems to be really one major app with things integrated into it. But I thought I needed to load a midi router separately? This main app (EZ-EG/AG v.3.13) seems to do everything--is it now integrated with a router? Does it only affect the midi flow downstream of the app, or does it affect the internal sounds' performance as well? From the sound of things, it just affects the midi downstream (output). So my question is: is this all I need for now?

[Maruuk]

Ok, seems to be working pretty good. Now, how do I best raise the overall velocity level--my AG is putting out numbers down around 35-70, need to get it up in the 100-115 range. Tried just raising the minimum output to 100 which sorta worked, but ended up getting uneven results.

[Maruuk]

BTW, I recommend to players to try to play with your fingers both picking/arpeggiating and plucking block chords with your thumb and 3 fingers piano chord style. Much better and more versatile than strumming. Works killer on keyboard sounds.

[treatmentroom]

I've read through this whole thread and I only found a couple of mentions of Mac's. Do you guys know if anyone has tried using the scripts on an Intel Mac running Windows XP? Seems like it might work since all of my Midi/Audio interfaces work fine with it.

Markleford.... Just wanted to thank you for all your efforts. Once I get my EZ-EG in a couple of days, I'll be visiting that donation button on your page.

[thegodofbass]

The forum is up!

That's right - now there is a forum for the EZ family - please do visit and post a topic - you don't have to sign up but I recommend you do so that your post has a username and people know who you are!

EZ FORUM

[Markleford]

I've read through this whole thread and I only found a couple of mentions of Mac's. Do you guys know if anyone has tried using the scripts on an Intel Mac running Windows XP? Seems like it might work since all of my Midi/Audio interfaces work fine with it.

No successful Mac port for the script apps, unfortunately: they both use Marc's MIDIX ActiveX control.

- m

[Maruuk]

So nobody knows how to use the 3 velocity widgets to control velocity range?

[Markleford]

So nobody knows how to use the 3 velocity widgets to control velocity range?

Sorry, my app handles that on the code level (no gui), normalizes velocity for each string.

- m

[Maruuk]

So what do the 3 GUI velocity range controllers do exactly? If I set the output range at 100-127 doesn't it force every velocity input below 100 to be ourput at 100?

[Markleford]

So what do the 3 GUI velocity range controllers do exactly? If I set the output range at 100-127 doesn't it force every velocity input below 100 to be ourput at 100?

Not sure: I never got Marc's app to work due to some dll incompatibility.

The way mine works is to set a high and a low velocity both in and out, and the value is mapped between those. If IN=30-90 and OUT=10-127, then a value of 30 or less in will produce a value of 30 out, and 90+ in will yield 127. And that's for each string, just in case one isn't as sensitive as the others.

As for other values that might figure in, maybe one is a "median" value for the scaling? Or a minimum threshold which is filtered out?

Sorry, beyond my telling: hopefully someone else knows.

- m