Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: gwEm on June 30, 2008, 06:53:05 PM

Title: midi pickups which is best - gk2a, gk3, graphtec ghost?
Post by: gwEm on June 30, 2008, 06:53:05 PM

i was working on a track saturday night on guitar and transposing all the parts to synth.

was thinking at that moment it would be great to have a midi guitar.

is the tracking on these things reliable these days? will i need to adjust my technique very much? will it just work, or will i wish i hadn't bothered.

anyway, concerning the pickup itself, obviously an "already midi" guitar, or an internal kit would be best since the roland external kits are pretty ugly.

seems like theres three options - the gk2a, the gk3 (who knows what the difference is tracking wise?) it seems like the main problem is that you need 7.8mm space to squeeze it in. i don't mind the look of the external pickup only.

for certain popular guitars one can get a graphtec ghost bridge and a hexapander circuit board - looks like a great option. but is the tracking as good as the official roland?

externally, theres also quite a few options for decoders - axon and roland's own.

theres also quite a few options for guitars with midi already installed. any thoughts on one with a slightly 'metal' look to it?

obviously if the cost / effort / benefit ratio isn't worth it, might give it a miss.

Title: midi pickups which is best - gk2a, gk3, graphtec ghost?
Post by: Johnny Mac on June 30, 2008, 09:03:13 PM

I'm getting a Graphtech ghost bridge on my feline Gwem. That will be going into a Axon MkII interface. The Ghost system is supposed to be a great system and you can't tell the guitar has any thing like that in it by looking at it as the saddles are the pick up. There are no tracking issues I've heard about.

The Roland stuff is big a bulky and could get damaged but i think they're up to speed with tracking issues now.

The axon MkII is supposed to be the creme de'la creme of midi interfaces with zero tracking delay. Have a look on the website or youtube for the video demo as its very impressive.

As for technique changes, I think it depends what tone or sampled instrument your using.

I can't wait to get my hands on mine and record things from scratch!

Title: midi pickups which is best - gk2a, gk3, graphtec ghost?
Post by: Stevepage on June 30, 2008, 10:56:38 PM

Bit of a plug here but, If you decide to get a GK-3, let me know. I'm selling mine with a Midi cable for £70.

Title: midi pickups which is best - gk2a, gk3, graphtec ghost?
Post by: gwEm on June 30, 2008, 11:03:28 PM

johnny: thanks for the thoughts

is that an internal or external unit steve?

Title: midi pickups which is best - gk2a, gk3, graphtec ghost?
Post by: Stevepage on June 30, 2008, 11:06:02 PM

It's an external. Unfortunatly the internal costs an arm and a leg  :lol: