Playing trumpet on a guitar

[henryque]

This is crazy but I must admit interesting...

 

[video:youtube]

[J. Dan]

There are some forum members who use divided pickups MIDI to synth modules. What's unique in the video is using it also with a breath controller, though it's fairly common in the Keyboard world to use breath controllers along with the keyboard to play wind/brass type sounds. Adds a level of expression to the performance.

 

What's pretty cool about the divided pickups is that you can do alternate tunings, assign different sounds to different strings, etc.

[desertbluesman]

Looks and sounds way cool to me. I was heavy into Guitar To MIDI back in the mid 1980's, but that thing surpasses all of what I had going for horn sound accuracy.

[whitefang]

Yeah, way cool. I imagine there's a sax module along with it too.

 

It's the breath controller thing that gets me though. I mean, would it work without it? And I've been known to COUGH occasionally while playing. Would THAT affect it somehow?

 

Just askin'-------

Whitefang

[Winston Psmith]

@Whitefang: It should be noted that the guy playing "Trumpet" is using a collection of Sampled Trumpet sounds, not trying to emulate a Trumpet with a hardware Synth and a Guitar. With any decent Controller, and a little technique, it's going to sound good. He doesn't need the Breath Controller, but it adds a degree of control over Wind & Brass sounds not usually available with a Keyboard or Guitar Controller, making the Brass or Wind sound behave more like a real Brass or Wind Instrument.

 

What I don't really see is how the Breath Controller integrates with the MIDI Guitar, even less so if you're using a real Guitar, instead of a Guitar-shaped Controller?

[J. Dan]

What I don't really see is how the Breath Controller integrates with the MIDI Guitar, even less so if you're using a real Guitar, instead of a Guitar-shaped Controller?

 

yeah many keyboards have a wind controller input, but if you're using a regular divided PUP on a guitar it wouldn't have that input. The answer would be to use a box from somebody like MIDI solutions that takes the input and merges it with the MIDI signal from the guitar MIDI interface prior to going into the synth module/sampler.

 

CLONK

[Winston Psmith]

@J. Dan - Thanks for that link! Checking on the backs of my older hardware Synths, I don't see any BC In jacks, either.

 

You do have me wondering, however, if anyone made a BC with a standard 5-pin MIDI Out? That might allow me to perform a MIDI Merge, with one of my MIDI Patchbays.

[J. Dan]

I've never seen a BC with MIDI out. Older Yamaha Keyboards were the most common keyboards to have BC inputs on them. Outside of that, I believe Kurzweil may have but I'm not sure. That MIDI solutions box will handle the merge function if you wanted to go that route.

[Danzilla]

I can't find any videos of it in use, but I recall reading an interview many moons ago with Rick Nielsen, and this sax-shaped guitar has a breath controller for use with the synth pickup in it. Or it could just be there for show; one never knows with Rick.

[Winston Psmith]

I remember the old Casio Digital Horn, shaped like a Saxophone, and keyed like a Recorder. Poor thing had an identity crisis, but nonetheless, it was a cheap MIDI Wind controller. Of course, I'd wind up trying to play Guitar with one hand and the Casio with another . . .

[whitefang]

I dunno......

 

So many "wind" sounds are possible I guess; clarinet, oboe, bassoon!

 

Wonder how soon(if not already) before someone shows up with a BAGPIPE one?

Whitefang

[Winston Psmith]

I dunno......

 

So many "wind" sounds are possible I guess; clarinet, oboe, bassoon!

 

Wonder how soon(if not already) before someone shows up with a BAGPIPE one?

Whitefang

 

@Whitefang - believe it or not, Bagpipe would be pretty hard to manage. You've not only got the Chanter, the part that you really play the tune on, but the 'bag' is pushing air out through the Drones. You'd either need to play with two hands, or have a looped "Drone" sound going in the background. I've tried setting up a Bagpipe patch in one of my Synths - not fun nor easy.

 

OTOH, you could try an order one of these - EHX BAG9

[J. Dan]

I saw a cover band years ago that played the flute solo from Jethro Tull on his guitar via MIDI - it was pretty cool.

[nordstrom]

He doesn't need the Breath Controller, but it adds a degree of control over Wind & Brass sounds not usually available with a Keyboard or Guitar Controller, making the Brass or Wind sound behave more like a real Brass or Wind Instrument.

 

What I don't really see is how the Breath Controller integrates with the MIDI Guitar, even less so if you're using a real Guitar, instead of a Guitar-shaped Controller?

 

I actually have the same breath controller and sample library he uses, even though I use a keyboard instead of a guitar. The breath controller makes a huge difference in terms of realism when playing any brass/woodwind library. It is impossible to achieve the same using modwheels, pedals and other controllers.

 

There is no need to integrate the breath controller into the guitar. They both are MIDI controllers; the guitar sends MIDI note on/off messages and the breath controller sends MIDI CC messages for expression, velocity, aftertouch, and so on. The samplemodeling libraries also have a large number of parameters that can be controlled by MIDI CCs.