Multiple Midi Pickups

[Thethirdapple]

Having only recently embarking down the dark path of using a guitar as a midi controller, I wonder if anyone has simply installed multiple pickups? Similar to a standard pickup setup…

 

This video and the work presented by PHRED, is super dreamy but way outta my league. So im thinking of modding a basic guitar with multiple midi pickups of varying technology.

 

Too crazy or already done?

 

EDIT additional info: Have been doing pitch to midi thru pedal and app, but I recently picked up a gk2 and gr50 rack unit, and thinking of adding more gk pickup units on a guitar than just the one.

Does this make sense?

 

 

 

 

PEACE

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[KuruPrionz]

It all depends on the magnets. 

Three hum buckers like that could cause serious intonation problems if the magnets are strong. 

For that matter, raise the pickups on a Strat way up and you will not be able to correctly intonate it either. 

 

One of the biggest reasons I switched to EMG active pickups is that the magnetic draw is extremely low so sustain is increased and the intonation can be very good. 

[RABid]

4 minutes ago, KuruPrionz said:

Three hum buckers like that could cause serious intonation problems if the magnets are strong. 

 

I had never thought about that.

[KuruPrionz]

6 hours ago, RABid said:

I had never thought about that.

As a guitar technician with 40+ years of experience, I've had it happen more than once. I would adjust pickups so that they would not cause intonation problems and customers would raise them back up and then complain. It gets tiresome after a while. 

Again, a big reason I switched to all active EMG pickups on my guitars, very low magnetic field. 

[Winston Psmith]

@Thethirdapple- Short answer - there's probably little or no benefit to trying to rig multiple GK PU's onto your Guitar, unless you're trying to use 2 GK's to cover the range of an 8-, 9-, or 10-string ERG.

 

If you really want to expand the range of sound, and arguably, control that you get from your GK-equipped Guitar, get a MIDI-to-USB connector to drive Virtual Synths inside your computer, or get a MIDI Splitter Box and start looking for affordable, used MIDI rack modules to accompany your GR-50

 

I'd be glad to expand on this, or exchange PM's - I've been playing some form of MIDI Guitar or Synth Guitar since the early 1990's - but I have to get ready for a day of work right now. Just after 8:30 AM U.S. East Coast time here, so I can check back this evening.

 

Two small points - A Guitar with a 13-pin GK PU driving a Roland Guitar Synth is NOT really a MIDI Guitar rig, as the 13-pin connection is not a MIDI connection.

 

Also, the MIDI tracking on the various Roland GR models definitely improved over time, at least up through the GR-33. The GR-55 is a very different animal, and FWIW, I've avoided it.

 

Time to run, talk soon . . .

[Winston Psmith]

Here I'm iz . . .

 

My apologies in advance if I'm going over things you already know, or already have.

 

First off, the Jerry Garcia/Doug Irwin-inspired Guitar in that video has some truly Byzantine wiring, above and beyond the Hex PU Out. Let's just leave that as it is for now.

 

Second, the GR-20 is the least "intelligent" of the GR Synths that I've used, in terms of depth of programming, both in terms of onboard programming and outboard MIDI Control. While the idea of an "Entry-Level Guitar Synth" may seem oxymoronic, the GR-20 was clearly designed for players who dislike or disdain Menu-diving. It does, however, work as a pretty straight-forward Guitar-to-MIDI Converter. Moving on . . .

 

I have to admit, I was very unhappy with almost everything about the Roland GK-3, which led me to buying Guitars with either the GHOST Hexpander or the RMC Piezo system already built in. YEMV, of course.

 

One issue with mounting any 13-pin PU, whether Roland, Yamaha, or Axon, is the spacing between the Bridge and the Bridge PU. Fitting even one GK-style PU can be problematic, even more so when the GK PU would block the screw heads for adjusting intonation.

 

Also, if you have a Guitar with a particularly wide, flat Neck Radius, adjusting the Hex PU to match can be a PITA.

 

Next up, consider the discomfort and inconvenience of having two of those plastic GK modules mounted onto the top of your Guitar, with two of those 13-pin cables hanging off of them.

 

I have to expect that you might also run into issues with having two sets of HB's mounted so close together? Since each Hex PU is really a set of 6 discrete, minuscule HB's mounted into the plastic frame, you'd be crowding 12 HB's right against one another. I can envision issues with magnetic fields, phase cancellation, "BOB"-knows-what else, although I'm honestly just speculating on that. Someone else might better be able to explore the EE issues.

 

Another potential issue is that Roland never made any kind of Merger for 13-pin PU's. If you have two GK PU's mounted onto one Instrument, you're still going to need a separate 13-pin device for each PU.

 

If you want to control more than one Roland Guitar Synth, or other 13-pin device from your Guitar, that's another matter. Roland offers an A/B/Y box called the 

US-20 Unit Selector. I have one, and it works very well, although the price has gone way up from when I bought mine!?!

 

Roland also made a 1-In/4-Out GK splitter, but it hasn't been available for some time now. It was designed more like a Splitter box than an A/B/Y switch, so it wasn't ideal for performing.

 

 

If the goal is to expand your access to sounds, the MIDI Out jack is your friend. With a Mac and a MIDI-to-USB connector, you have easy access to all the Virtual Instruments within Garageband, just to start with. I would expect that you can find similar Soft Synths and Virtual Instruments within a current PC.

 

If you love hardware Synths, like I do, get a MIDI 1x4 MIDI Splitter box, or, if you're more ambitious, get an 8-In/8-Out MIDI Patchbay, and start connecting outboard MIDI gear.

 

I try to avoid using MIDI Thru, because you can accumulate a few milliseconds of lag time by running through successive MIDI devices. Likely not critical for jamming with yourself, but if you're trying to sync to a Sequencer or any other MIDI Clock device, it can be a problem.

 

That's probably more than enough of me, for now. I hope any of it is helpful . . .

 

[Thethirdapple]

@Winston Psmith Awesome!!! Thank you… We will be back at the studio later this month. Family road trip… modern day walt whitman style, our toes in some grass and head in the sky.

In terms of midi networking and routing to the rest of the studio: yes, this is always the goal. The roland gk “synth module” and cpu which initially receives the input is not the final sound source. A variety of synths and further modulation is waiting to be driven by some sort of guitar like input. 
 

Without going all the way back to the beginning, as the studio tech on this project I do want to have a decent foundation prior to even looking at contemporary solutions which may fit the bill. Assembling an instrument/ studio gear in DIY fashion is a great method for me to also gain proficiency with the instrument. In the case; guitar.

 

Looking forward to sharing some ideas and asking lots of questions…

 

soooo much to learn!

 

 

 

 

 

PEACE

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