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Darin
Lokahi
USA
294 Posts |
 Posted - 09/17/2007 : 12:35:51 PM
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Is anyone aware of hardware and/or software that allows you create tablature of a song by playing it on a guitar plugged into a computer? Thanks!
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Darin
http://www.hawaiiguitar.com/ |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2007 : 2:20:19 PM
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HI DARIN -
Well, you actually answered your question in the subject heading: MIDI guitar.
You have three choices:
1) add a hexaphonic pickup & "brain" to your existing guitar. Choose Roland, Axion or Yamaha. Check any major online retailer or big music store.
Note: in order to get the pick-up to work properly on an acoustic, you may need to do major surgery and add a pickup from RMC. http://www.rmcpickup.com/
2) Buy a guitar already rigged that way -- like the "Roland-ready" Fender Strat or Godin Multiac with Synth Access.
3) Buy a dedicated MIDI controller that looks like a guitar, sort of. Currently, there are only a couple on the market, the hugely cool Ztar from Starr Labs, and the cheezy but cool Yamaha EZ guitar. I reviewed the EZ Guitar a while back. http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2006/12/20/three-cool-midi-controllers.html
Check out the review, cuz I included some info on MIDI guitars, and lots of links.
One thing: simply connecting your guitar to your computer via a USB insterface will not do what you want. You need something that does pitch-to-MIDI conversion so the scoring program can figure out what you played. USB guitar interfaces just get the output of your pickup into digital form so you can run it through effects or track it as a WAV file -- not the same thing at all.
I used to do tons of stuff with MIDI guitar-- and MIDI dulcimer-- including using it for inputting data into scoring programs. The system I used is obsolete and no longer works, dang
Good luck! |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2007 : 8:30:19 PM
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Midi Dulcimer? Mark, get down wit your BAD self! What's next? Innagodda da dulcimer, baby!I did a lot of live jams with a friend using this Roland gadget on a Takemine acoustic. He had horns, pianos, organs,drums all sorts of stuff in that magic box. Folks in the other room at the coffee shops would come in looking for the trumpet or sax player. I didn't play dulcimer with him though. Never did get the amplification not to feed back at his sound levels. Plus,in my lap it pointed right at the vocal mike. Howled like a Banshee !
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2007 : 08:27:40 AM
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Yep, MIDI dulcimer. I took a Blue Lion 4 string and added a Shadow hexaphonic pickup & multiplexor inside, run through a Shadow GTM6 into Roland and/or Yamaha synth modules.
I play MIDI dulcimer on three of my CDs - "Southern Light," "The Faery Hills" and "autumn."
You can hear a cut from "autum" using MIDI dulcimer on my MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/markkailananelson.
It's a slack-key-inpspired tune called "While You Were Sleeping." All the keyboard parts were played on dulcimer. While most of that CD was recorded live direct to DAT, this tune and one other have overdubbed parts.
Much of the TAB for "The Complete Celtic Collection" was entered using MIDI dulcimer-- I think I used MIDI guitar to enter one or more TABs in "Learn to Play Slack Key," too.
Funny, all this talk about MIDI guitar makes me hungry to try it again... |
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Darin
Lokahi
USA
294 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 06:41:15 AM
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| Thanks for all the info. Looks like the price tag is steeper than I expected for MIDI guitar. Perhaps I will have to venture the ways of the old fashioned manual input. |
Darin
http://www.hawaiiguitar.com/ |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 07:00:58 AM
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Hi Darin -
Not only is it expensive, but the learning curve is a pain. Plus you'll need to develop a routine to filter out all the extraneous junk in the MIDI stream that comes from the conversion process.
Far faster to get a real scoring program that supports TAB, enter what you play one note at a time, and have the program handle the rest. I use Finale, which is overkill, but it does a good job with alternate tunings. It is also one of the professional standards, which makes dealing with a publisher easier.
I enter the TAB, and have the program play it back so I can proof my work.
Tedious? You bet. |
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Darin
Lokahi
USA
294 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 4:48:09 PM
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| Any suggestions on good, inexpensive tab software with an easy learning curve? |
Darin
http://www.hawaiiguitar.com/ |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 5:14:31 PM
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| I like Musedit. Just right for me. Free demo on the web. Shareware. Low cost. |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
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