Is there a MIDI pickup that I can use to trigger VST instruments?

[thefyn]

I was looking at the Roland GK-3 but the refs mention it is only compatible with a roland.

 

USB would be nice too.

[ashasha]

I've been down this road even though it wasn't a long and successful journey.

 

First off the Roland stuff is just about the only thing out there except for an off the wall Yamaha which is basically a cheaper version and a pretty expensive one by RMS or something like that; at least in terms of pickups.

 

Regardless, none of these devices output MIDI data, they are all based on hexaphonic pickups which means that each string is picked up individually and the output goes to a 13 pin connector. This 13 pin connector then plugs into a device that can either take the signal and wave shape them (the VG series of effects) or convert them to MIDI data (the GR and GI series stuff).

 

The GR stuff is a MIDI instrument and you basically play those instruments in there, but the GI stuff is used to convert the signal and output MIDI data to feed your MIDI instrument (which can be ANYTHING). I believe that Axiom makes one as well and their may be some others out there. Either way they all use the 13 pin connector from the GK-style pickup.

 

So yeah, there are other companies, but they are all based off the same design and even the price is similar.

 

I've owned a Roland VG-8 since 1995 with a GK-2A equipped strat. It's a cool device and still works well. I also bought a GI-10 convertor and tried the MIDI thing....not so impressive.

 

The problem is polyphonic signals are really hit and miss and tracking is horrific. Basically if you play like me and use vibrato than you can forget about it being useful at all, it'll trigger all kinds of extraneous notes and get really frustrating really fast. If you can play really cleanly and in almost perfect pitch on every note than it's probably a really useful tool.