MIDI Guitar + Ableton: A How-To Instructional [pt. 1/2]

[extremeguitarshredr]

HAHAHAHAHA! thats the stupidist guitar in the world!! good vid though!

[smarfling]

I don't want a foot pedal, I just need to be able to set effects to be on at certain times (0:00-1:00 - piano; 1:01-2:00 - clarinet, 2:01-3:00 - harp, get it?). Is this possible with the gk-3, ax 50 and software alone? Thx.

[6footunder34]

Hey Im using a USB guitar lead to record, but i dont know how to set it up, help??

[handen]

@6footunder34 What's a USB guitar lead?

[chinkyeyez20]

How did you get you get your video on ableton

[handen]

@chinkyeyez20 I was using a program called ScreenFlow to capture the Ableton video on my Mac Pro, and Quicktime 7 to record webcam on my Macbook, then I just imported the webcam video into the ScreenFlow session afterwards, matched the time as best I could, placed it in a good spot, then exported the final video.

[chinkyeyez20]

can you play a real piano with ableton as well ...if soo how

[ersemola]

Another important question:

how your axon track your guitar? good or perfectly?

when i play usually i have tracking problems to E low string. i guess is normal, cause many peoples have it.it sound sometime, like a very litle slide..

sometime, when im plaing chods, i have some problems like if axon track too the harmonics of strings..

maybe i will be make a video and you can check it?

thx you very much!!

[handen]

@ersemola It tracks exceptionally good, but not perfectly... I have problems with the high e string unable to track sustained notes above the 9th fret for very long, but I think the low e issues most people have are common to all MIDI guitar systems. It has to do with how the low E vibrates at substantially lower rate, and since low freq = longer wavelength, the hexaphonic magnet needs more time to correctly determine the note value.

[handen]

@handen I read somewhere that back in the 80's when latency was generally terrible, MIDI guitarists would string their guitars with six 0.10 gauge strings, all tuned to the same pitch, and set their hardware do real time pitch transposition per string to get each one back in tune post-processing. This was because digital signal conversion response time is faster with thinner strings at higher tensions, and slower with thicker strings vibrating at a lower frequency.

[ersemola]

@handen thx again for the answer. today i got up the gk3 to low E, and at all track better that before, i have floyd so is hard to have all strings at the same distance. VERY IMPORTANT for me, is the pick. i have to use a medium pick very sharp. with the fat pick as 1,00mm the axon work no good cause a fat pick give more harmonics. im agree with you,if your guitar has a problem, axon will percept it working not proprely. tomorrow i will try to make a video and i show you. see you

[ersemola]

@handen hi. i solved my problem. dont ask me why, but the instruments, track now perfectly, if i use my thin fender pick, if i play guitar not so delicate as before, and if i use quantize = on. do you know the difference between, auto, on, trigged? i only understand that off i can use for instruments as violin, freetles bass ecc

[handen]

@ersemola But to more properly address your concern about how it sounds like it slides, I get that too. I don't know how to eliminate it other than to play 'less sloppy', if that makes sense, because yeah, the Axon is very sensitive to accidental harmonic overtones. Play around in the AX100 editor with the trigger sensitivity sliders in global and presets mode and you might be able to solve the issue there as well.

[ersemola]

hi a question. the distance between gk3 and every string, is below 1mm or above? when i use gk3, above 1mm, the tuner of axon ax100mkII work wrong, when all strings are on 1mm, the tuner work perfectly. however, many lute makers, told me that if it work wrong "it give me -3 cent less from 0", this mean that the axon work very very good, because it mean that is very more sensible than a roland. try to help me please. thx.

[handen]

@ersemola I've set up the GK-3 so that each string is as close to the hexaphonic pickup as possible without actually touching, so in that case the distance is 1mm or less. I'm not sure what you mean by "-3 cent less from 0" though... But to be honest, the tuner of my AX-50 is always wrong, so I don't rely on it; I tune with a regular tuner, and in the AXON editor program, under 'tunebase' I use the autotune button to account for the difference. Hope this helps.

[ersemola]

@handen hi thx. so i see, you confirm it. axon is very very sensible. if you install gk3 to less than 1 mm, the tuner dont work correctly. this is what i wroted: for to be in tune, you have to tune the string to the 0 of tuner. when you tune the guitar with normal tuner, the string is at 0 "center", but then check with axon and it is not, i have it like -3 cent.

[handen]

@ersemola I'll have to check and get back to you, but I think this is the same problem I have, that the Axon is a few cents out of tune when compared to a regular tuner. Whatever the reason for this, it doesn't cause me any problems.