The Yamaha EZ-EG Guitar Midi Controller Thread

[akulavolk]

Two questions/comments:

1) There's some amazing information in this thread, but it's become somewhat unwieldy. Over 107 pages last I looked. As a newcomer to the thread, it's tough to know what information is up-to-date, what's obsolete, and to just to get a "big picture" idea of what can be done to expand functionality of the EZ-AG. For example, I keep hearing about scripts, but (despite looking through dozens and dozens of pages here) haven't found a basic intro to what they do. What do they let me do with the EZ-AG that I can't do just connecting to my PC without them? Are there instructions for installation?

It seems like the concept of "stickies" would be great for this thread, or a FAQ based on it. Either way, an up-to-date summary would be invaluable.

2) Another vote for someone porting the scripts (since they seem to be valuable) to Mac.

Thanks!

[RunBeerRun]

The scripts can fix problems, and modify it in various ways, like velocities and tunings.

The problems with running the guitar's midi directly are: all strings transmit to different channels and fretting a note but not picking creates a low velocity note-on, making your playing sound bad.

I don't use a mac, but I would find some plugs to filter out the low velocity notes. On windows, there's ndcmidi vst plugs and piz ones.

[Markleford]

Didn't a user here start a EZ-*G wiki once?

And on the Mac question: given that the PC scripts are free, it's not really cost-effective for me to buy a Mac and learn the system for a port!

- m

[RunBeerRun]

This guy has an ez guitar page, and in the forum he condensed this thread. I don't know what's in there...here's the link: http://www.brokebust.com/ezag/

Also, if you're on a mac you could use hardware before plugging into the computer to modify the ez guitar, like an old Yamaha MEP4 midi event processor or a new but more expensive Midi Solutions Event Processor.

[RunBeerRun]

I got a Yamaha Mep4 midi event processor today. Didn't take long to punch in all channels down to 1, and filter out low velocities. Apparently you can only choose one velocity at a time, but luckily the fretted notes but not picked-

seem to only work at one velocity, so I just dialed around till I found it, it was like 10 or something.

It's got program change, which is nice because I've got in plugged into a Zoom Streetboxx which doesn't have prog change for the midi input.

The necks on these guitars are just great.

[RunBeerRun]

Hey does anyone know what actually causes these to have stuck notes?

The scripts are awesome, plays great. But using hardware only-there's always stuck notes.

I have a Yamaha midi event processor, and I turned off aftertouch, that seemed to help, I haven't had much free time to test. But it seems-as far as literally-that after I lift my finger off the fret sometimes-it doesn't do the note off even though it probably does report a note off.

My next try if that doesn't do it, is modifying another variable in the mep, to find the velocity when you release a fret, and turn that into a note off if that's an option.

[Markleford]

Hey does anyone know what actually causes these to have stuck notes?

If I remember correctly, every time you pluck the string, it sends out a new MIDI Note On message. However, it does *not* send a corresponding Note Off message until to take your finger off the fret of a plucked note.

As such, you might have 3 Note On messages to 1 Note Off message. Depending on how the synth handles note polyphony, this will leave two hanging notes. Some synths, on the other hand, only allow a single note per key, so the new Note On will act as if it received an implicit Note Off beforehand.

- m

[RunBeerRun]

Hmm. Well I've modified my Yamaha mep4 processor to not use aftertouch or pitcbhbend,

played for a good hour with various synths, no stuck notes anymore!

[RunBeerRun]

Here's a vid I made, using the Yamaha MEP4 directly into a computer, fast runs play smooth.

[Markleford]

Here's a vid I made, using the Yamaha MEP4 directly into a computer, fast runs play smooth.

Looks like you're playing that with all finger-tapping, with no picking. True? (I personally play that way)

- m

[ricardoleigh]

I just got the EZ EG last week.

After some tinkering, I got Apple Logic to play nice by creating some transformers and a voice limiter in the environment. By the way, I plugged it into the midi interface on the RME Fireface. I can't get the supplied USB adapter to work.

The 1st transformer consolidates the channels down to 1. this is because some of my plug ins will not trigger otherwise.
The 2nd transformer sends the note ons with velocity 16 to a c press which neutralizes it.
The voice limiter is between the 1st and second transformer and I adjust according to how I want to play. 1 voice for soloing. 3 to 6 voice for clav and electric piano.
I generally use the local off mode on the EG (press tuning and capo buttons together and select "off") which removes hammer ons and offs. I guess i could remove the transformer that removes the velocity 16 notes but it doesn't seem to hurt.
One thing I noticed is that the notes sustain(whether i have 1 voice or more).
It takes a little getting used to but I found that if you press the note that's sustaining again without picking, it sends a note off. If you don't know which note you pressed, just slide up or down the fretboard and it will turn off.
Otherwise, it's kind of cool to be able to control which notes sustain
Hope this helps someone.

[RunBeerRun]

That was all right-hand picked. It didn't show in the video cuz I have a small room and no room to back up and get it in the camera eye.

Here's a vid I made, using the Yamaha MEP4 directly into a computer, fast runs play smooth.

Looks like you're playing that with all finger-tapping, with no picking. True? (I personally play that way)

- m

[RunBeerRun]

When you press those 2 buttons together that turn off the speaker, the midi notes play forever. You definitely don't want that, just turn the volume down instead.


quote="ricardoleigh"]I just got the EZ EG last week.

I generally use the local off mode on the EG (press tuning and capo buttons together and select "off") which removes hammer ons and offs. I guess i could remove the transformer that removes the velocity 16 notes but it doesn't seem to hurt.

[Candiman]

I read most of the 108 pages and really appreciate all of the hard work people have done. My question requires someone with knowledge of intimate parts of this great machine.

As you know when you start up the EZ-EG YAMAHA scrolls up and down the necks LED's. It gave me an idea. I would like to be able to turn my EZ-EG into a billboard. So when I play with it live it streams text through the LED's.

I assume that means I would have to write a song via midi that has notes on those frets then upload it and play it back in learning mode.

Is it possible to write and upload your own learning songs or someway to hack it so that it will do what I envision?

Thanks so much.

[Markleford]

Is it possible to write and upload your own learning songs or someway to hack it so that it will do what I envision?

The lights are turned on and off my MIDI System Exclusive ("SysEx") messages. You can send these messages to the EZ by its MIDI In port.

The trick, of course, is to create an entirely new programming interface behind it to make it translated text to these messages.

- m