Guitar Synthesizer: What's the latest, greatest, and best buy?

[2HBStrat]

I'm in a situation where I would like to be able to have sax, piano, flute, and other sounds from my guitar. What's the latest and most cost effective way of doing this? I remember controllers being pretty pricey years ago. Have prices come down? What should I look for?

Thanks!

[shakeshakeshake]

http://www.yourockguitar.com/

midi guitar, not a synth guitar but i bet you could run vsts with it

edit: i guess it has a synth in it too

[MojoMonster]

As for as I can tell Roland is the only company selling a controller at this time.
You can find used Axon's on eBay, but that seems to be about it.

In terms of which guitar/system to use, the choice is pretty limited.
There's the Roland GK pickups, Graphtech's Ghost system and the RMC system.

I know for certain Carvin uses the Graphtech systems, but I'm not sure what Godin uses.
RMC maybe.
Parker(Roland) and iGuitar/Brian Moore(RMC) seem to be the only other options.
The Parker MidiFly seems to incorporate a converter in the guitar itself and is related to Midiaxe, but their site seems to be gone, and it's expensive.

[sodapopinski]

i've seen the Misa guitar, it looks like a cool piece of gear...

[Gitarman]

Originally Posted by alexanderfumble

http://www.yourockguitar.com/

midi guitar, not a synth guitar but i bet you could run vsts with it

edit: i guess it has a synth in it too

I picked up one of those a month or so ago... neat little gadget, the internal sounds are just OK, the 'strings' are finicky, and I don't think it'd work very well in a live performance setting. It does make for a nice practice/ VST controller/ composition tool, however.

As a better option, The Fishman Triple Play looks very promising (especially at under $300):

[NyteOwl]

Not the latest or the greatest, but the most cost effective starting point I can think of:

Pick up a Roland GK controller and a used Roland GR-33, which is a much better unit than the GR-30 or the GR-20. Doable for less than $500, and you'll get all the synth sounds you're after.

[Timcito]

I have a Roland GR-20 that I use for recording, and I'm very happy with it. It was on the pricy side, though - about $700 (new), as far as I remember. I use two Godin guitars with it - a Multiac Spectrum and a nylon string Grand Concert. Both of them have 13-pin guitar synth access. Prior to having these guitars, I connected the synth pickup that came with the unit to my Ovation. It was okay, but there seemed to be a slight delay with some of the synth sounds, and not all the strings came through at equal volume. Having a guitar that's already rigged up with synth access has been a much better option for me, so far. I'm mainly an acoustic/nylon string player, but I think Fender makes an inexpensive Strat that has direct synth access.

[treeofpain]

The Fishman looks fine, but really no better than the Roland GK other than the wireless feature.

[shredmiyagi]

I abandoned guitar synths while ago and feel pretty good about it. Tried so many...

GR-09 worked well as a toy. Got it so cheap it was worth it ($120)... Sold it when got rid of all my hex pups, but I recommend this to folks who want to try synth guitar. Better yet, look for the GR-1, has some mojo in the tone unlike any of the other, later GR samplers.

GI-20 was a headache. Slow and erratic.

AX-100 was nice but when the ebay market for them went up, sold mine asap and no regrets. Just not worth it; endless options, programming, very quick tracking... need a perfectly set-up guitar, and even then as a midi player you lack any of the real guitar's expression.. and deal w/occasional ghost/glitch notes.

GR-55 was hyped big, and I failed to see any sig. upgrade over prior GRs, outside of the borrowed VG-99 modeling and bigger sound library. Still, what's the point? The modeling only masked the continued problem of guitar-sample-triggering. You still have to tip-toe around the neck to not get blatantly **** notes triggered. Worse yet... The samples aren't as good as the best on the market, and the standards have gotten really high for piano, string, etc. tones given the plethora of affordable VSTs. However, the midi convertor is quite good, not like Axon, but quite useable for soft synths.

Had a GK2, GK3, RMC piezo in a Godin Multiac, Ghost in a Carvin solidbody..

Had more fun with the VG-8 and VG-99, but still, as I started comparing the system to my buddy's Axe-fx Ultra... started to wonder why I'm bothering w/such an inferior system. The alt. tuning and pitch shifting is very neat, but again, there's a limited thresh-hold of resonance, fret buzz, etc that the hex/digital pickups tolerate... and it just wasn't worth compromising.

My most successful/enjoyable experience was the Roland G505 Strat style synth guitar, GM-70 rack/midi-convertor, and the GR-300. I naively sold all 3 for pennies in the grim 07-08 selling market, but I really needed money. While the GM-70 was slow, w/the G505 I never worried about bad glitch notes or just erratic behavior, and the on-board LFO/expression controls/buttons on the G505 were quite useful. Obv. the 300 was a nice analog treat.

The Misa touchpad looks like the best concept so far, but apparently the final product has been lackluster. Ztars look nice but high in the price range...

Can someone please just make a budget, cheap touchpad/picking + button/frets guitar controller that's just a plastic stick that costs under $300? I really don't need crappy built-in sound banks and extensive features. Just a usb and midi-out for god's sake, and be usb powered.

Anyway, most cost effective way to do what you want, again... is get an old GR unit (09 or 1) and a GK2 (strat) or GK3 (lp) used... spend no more than $200-250... have some fun, and eventually accept its limits for what they are, realize no matter how new a "guitar-midi system" will be, it'll be far from perfect, or rip your hair out!

[karma1]

Originally Posted by NyteOwl

Not the latest or the greatest, but the most cost effective starting point I can think of:

Pick up a Roland GK controller and a used Roland GR-33, which is a much better unit than the GR-30 or the GR-20. Doable for less than $500, and you'll get all the synth sounds you're after.

Good advice. That's what I would suggest.
I have a GR-33 and it sounds great and is user-friendly. However, if you found a GR-30 for a really good price, they are pretty decent units as well - not quite as good or have as many features as the GR-33, but fine, especially for starting out. I also have a VG-99 which is the top of the line option, but it's not cheap and it is probably way more than you need at this point.

[Rod]

Or better yet… buy a good synth. Just kidding.

[NyteOwl]

Originally Posted by shredmiyagi

I abandoned guitar synths while ago and feel pretty good about it. Tried so many...

...most cost effective way to do what you want, again... is get an old GR unit (09 or 1) and a GK2 (strat) or GK3 (lp) used... spend no more than $200-250... have some fun, and eventually accept its limits for what they are, realize no matter how new a "guitar-midi system" will be, it'll be far from perfect, or rip your hair out!

Okay, so your mileage did vary and your guitar synth efforts didn't work out as well as you expected, but advising the OP to invest in outdated gear and then expect the worst serves no purpose at all, other than to point him in the wrong direction. There are many of us with different guitar synth histories, so who can say what the OP's experience will be other than the OP himself after he gives it a go?

I still believe the GR-33 offers the most bang for the buck for an entry level guitar synth. Sure, it'll cost more than a GR-09, but a GR-33 is well worth the extra $100-$200 because it is far more versatile than the GR-09, and IMHO, stands a much better chance of retaining its resale value.

[magicaxeman]

Originally Posted by shredmiyagi

GR-55 was hyped big, and I failed to see any sig. upgrade over prior GRs, outside of the borrowed VG-99 modeling and bigger sound library. Still, what's the point? The modeling only masked the continued problem of guitar-sample-triggering. You still have to tip-toe around the neck to not get blatantly **** notes triggered.

The upgrade would have been the fact that it had 2 independent synth voices as well as cosm modelling and straight guitar giving a total of 4 simultaneous voices.
The tracking was improved as well and I don't know if you spent much time setting up the midi pup, but I did and have never had any of those problems.

[Stringrazor]

I used to use a GR-50 quite a bit. The tracking delay was tough to get over. Roland is pretty much the only company that stuck with guitar controller tech. I'd probably go for the GR-33 system if I wanted to get back into it. I have been tempted to try one of those YouRock toys though....