MIDI GUITAR and Mobile Rocking… blogs and comments
January 30, 2010 by admin
The You Rock Guitar is a full fledged MIDI guitar. It’s fast, accurate and everyone who touches it says the same thing… it “feels” good to play. Professionals who play it also say “It feels much better than I expected.” Part of that is the speed of the triggering, sliding, and articulation, some of that is the unique characteristic of the strings. Part of that is the unimaginable notion that a MIDI guitar this good can sell for $199.00 Suggested Retail Price.
Pitch bend is handled with the whammy bar, up and down. Muting is on the bridge. Sliding has two modes. An extensive MIDI implementation far outweighs it’s “Toy or Game market Price” It is meant to be very affordable, very portable and very flexible. It was not designed to replace your beloved wooden axe., so please do no compare it to your ‘79 Strat. That is an unsophisticated argument. The You Rock Guitar is a high speed MIDI Guitar that is the best in class…the fact that it never needs tuning and doesn’t hurt the un-calloused hands of a beginner is great for new to guitar gamers, but again, don’t let that confuse you with what a stunning MIDI controller this is.
We liked the idea someone mentioned about using it to trigger Ableton, we’ll have to do that. We’ll look for that MIDI map later. When asked about Guitar tunings. (Since our guitar never needs tuning) We responded with more alternate tunings than most thought possible… OK, except maybe Michael Hedges… but we thank him for the 10-15 of the very cool tunings we put in just from him, and of course we included digital capos, why not?
My partner and I I did a MIDI guitar in the 1980’s, called the Photon Guitar, we sold that to Gibson and as all too often they dropped the ball. It was pitch to MIDI. A technology, like the steam locomotive who’s time has come and gone. If you are using a Pitch to MIDI guitar you are always late for the party. If you think an attachment that costs more than
Yes, our thoroughly Mobile guitar was designed from the ground up to be economical to buy, but don’t confuse its price with its functionality. Gaming device, MIDI device, iPod device, USB device, BlueTooth, soon WiFi, built-in sounds, built-in jam loops, You Rock Mode for the learner. built-in sequencer for recording, we ain’t messin’ around. We’ve been doing MIDI since 1979 (when it was invented) We did a MIDI guitar 25 years ago. We’ve taken all that knowledge and a thorough understanding of gaming from the best companies int he business and we created the You Rock Guitar.
During last nights flight home, I took out my very portable You Rock Guitar, slid the neck into the body, plugged in my headphones and started jamming, the whole way practicing my G and D blues, the sound tracks of course built into the guitar. Sorry but that’s not happening on my Strat, not happening on any other guitar device on a crowded plane anywhere else. We are mobile music. We rock mobile MIDI. The You Rock Guitar is a true game changer… real innovation at every opportunity.
That all being said, we are smart enough to know that many of the greatest ideas come from the outside. So if you have any MIDI implementation ideas or features let us know. Our operating software, sounds, loops and MIDI programs are all easily updatable via USB on a Mac or PC… The rising tide of technology… floats all rockers.
Kevin Kent
CEO
Inspired Instruments
P.S. Yes, tapping and sliding, and the whammy bar all work great in spite of rumors by people who have not played the You Rock Guitar. We will do more videos, but we’re still recovering from back-to-back CES and NAMM shows and final production details. And yes, we are in production now. We will start shipping in February… currently backordered till April. Now let’s get rocking!
How about a Plug In Headstock Camera?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgmJs4y3ZRY
i have never doubted this product, and i am REALLY look foreward to
get mine yourockguitar i can see the possibilities with this.
mobility all the way!.
about the sliding and whammybar, watch this video…
0:20 he use whammy bar and sliding flawlessly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSaKhNsUhQo
Hi,
I cant wait to get a hold of one.
Speaking of tapping and suggestions.
I’m hoping for zone layering/splitting. Allow me to elaborate. Assume you in tapping mode and you want to send frets 1~11 to Channel 1 and Frets 12 to 22 to channel 2
Example this is me kicking out a bossa rhythm with my left hand only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn-FDsnKuEk
It would be nice if I could have another channel sent to a different patch in the upper range so I could push through a melody with my right hand.
Mike
Excellent idea. We’ll look into the zone layering/splitting idea. We’re wrapping up the first code release now, so we’ll have get some clear ideas of exactly how you want it. EG. Do you split at the 12th fret or on it? what about a diatonic split range based on the key? mmm.
Oh this is my favorite idea for head stocks so far… but I do like the glowing red eyes of a terminator skull too.
Octave splits may work on keys but I’m really not crazy about the idea. The guitar layout gives you more options.
One thing I’ve seen and done is split the lower two strings to a bass and the rest to a piano sound. it’s okay with alternating bass/chord for the flat or finger picker.
Personally I’d like to walk a bassline and support it with full chords. If the z had more range I’d stick the bass on the 12th fret and up but transpose the range back down.
What would be really nice is a separate app where by users could set up tuning and splits on there own. then they could usb the data into the yrg in the form of tunings.
A few other things.
You have A/B buttons while it would be nice if they were midi start /stop transport controls. or (I dont know what you have in it) a transpose control
You’ve got a joystick assign the four ways to different CC values. between two values down and left for example both cc’s are active synth junkies would love you for it. Again this is something you would need a desktop app for,
I am truly excited!! I see that the possibilities for this controller will be endless! Kudos to You Rock Guitar and mega thanks for making this technology affordable!!!
Is there a BEADGC 6-string bass tuning available on the YRG? If not I strongly recommend it.
Thanks,
Spacemonkey
We are doing a You Rock Bass Guitar, where we will do a lot of various bass tunings, and yours sir, shall be the first!
Thank you, it’s been a long and winding road and we are only now getting in the first shipment from our manufacturer, and we are already back-ordered till April! Rock on.
If the Bass Guitar were able to do lower tunings easily, it would give bassists some experimenting room without dealing with string changing and intonation issues. (Hint, F# is a lower note….)
Genius… I like that.