Dumb noobie MIDI question!

[Grewster]

Hi all - so I have this idea that I’d like to play some melody lines via a pitch-to-midi device (sonuus g2m) into something so I can achieve individual sounds like piano, flute, whatever. I know I can do this with, say GarageBand whilst recording, but I’m thinking of using it in a live situation….. is there a box that will allow me to select ‘oboe’ or ‘harpsichord’ on the fly whilst on stage?? Anybody?? TIA!

Edited February 5, 2023 by Grewster

[DTB]

I think any keyboard or stand alone sound module with midi would achieve this. Korg 05R/W Was a great little box and are cheap second hand. 

[mario_buoninfante]

You'd need to make sure that the sound generator you want to play via MIDI accepts Program Changes MIDI messages, and at that point you can use a MIDI controller (anything from a pad controller to footswitches, as long as they send the right MIDI msg) to load the preset/sound on the fly.

In order to better understand the details, you'd need to share more info about the sound generator.

Edited February 5, 2023 by mario_buoninfante

[mario_buoninfante]

BTW I was assuming you have the sound module and are looking for a way to load/change sounds on the fly, but I just realised you might mean you're after a sound module that does that.

[pete.young]

The latency with g2m and b2m is pretty horrible, and you need to be very clean in technique. I found that EQ-ing all the bass out of the signal helped a bit.

[BigRedX]

IME all but the very expensive pitch detection systems are all but useless in a live situation and very expensive ones require so much additional refinement to your playing that you might as well learn some rudimentary keyboard technique which willet you far better results much more quickly.

[Grewster]

Thanks guys - all comments and suggestions are understood and much appreciated! I should have mentioned that I would have been using a fretless, so I guess pitch-to-midi is a bad idea all round. Time for a rethink …. gonna try a BOSS SY200 and see what I can get out of that.

[ped]

Or a Roland GK system (with a GR55 or GR20) - no latency but you need a special pickup

[BigRedX]

29 minutes ago, ped said:

Or a Roland GK system (with a GR55 or GR20) - no latency but you need a special pickup

 

There always latency with pitch detection. That's simple physics, and the lower the note the greater the latency. You need a minimum of one and half cycles of a fairly clean signal to detect the pitch of the note. That's 37ms (at the very best) for low E on a bass which will be noticeable by anyone who isn't rhythmically challenged. That also requires the user to stick with the sounds from the GR55 or GR20 units because as soon as you add MIDI conversion to the equation in order to drive an external synth that adds another layer of processing and latency.

 

Some of the Roland devices get around this by using signal processing/modelling instead of pitch detection as this will only add as much latency as any other good quality AD/DA system, but that's not as versatile from a sonic PoV.

[ped]

Ah yes I was forgetting that the GK system does COSM modelling with no latency for many of the synth + effect sounds (which I used far more) as well as PCM for some of the more random sounds, which do have some latency.

[mario_buoninfante]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

...as this will only add as much latency as any other good quality AD/DA system, but that's not as versatile from a sonic PoV.

plus the processing time, that might not always be sub millisecond

Edited February 6, 2023 by mario_buoninfante