Hi, I'm new to the forum so first of all let me say: Ciao !!! (I'm italian)
I'm evaluating the best way to use my bass-guitar to play synths.
I'm going to try Sonuus B2M in a couple of day and wanted to know if someone has suggestion for something similar.
What about software options?
What I need is something that can be used in live situation.
Thanks

 

You can do it cheap, or right.

Doing it cheap requires having active pick ups and plugging into a computer and setting up a synth on an effect channel. However the "correct" way is get go buy a Roland Midi pick up. It'll lower the value of your instrument and it's expensive but what you asked for is what it does.

I have one on one of my guitars and I can tell it what string I want to be read and etc. So I can tell my guitar to sound like anything because it's mapping it out while I play to midi.

So yeah that first method requires less and won't sound very good and will be difficult to find sounds you want as "effect only" [or what I suspect the B2M is just an input] Or take the time and money to get a midi pick up and do everything you want.

 

This is what one basically looks like, my is different looking for guitar [and year] but this is basically what a midi pick up is.

 

Even the roland have their problems and some pricey alternatives are better (zeta). A cheap (but very accurate) is YouRockGuitar (that I intent to buy). Its fast and you can do tap mode with 2 hands. Plenty of information on SOS mag and youtube.
Other alternative is one (I dont remenber) that is also fast but monophonic (look in SOS mag) and is a converter without the need to damage the guitar.

 

what is the latency like on a midi pickup? Close to real time? I play through a program called Midifier and it actually works really good, pitch bend and modulation envelopes are really right on, but introduces a latency that makes it almost impossible to use in real time... instead I record a guitar part, then run it through midifier while I record the MIDI, and then have to line up the audio and MIDI track. Kind of a pain, and I would love to be able to double track my guitar with a sampler or synth live in real time. That would be a cool performance tool. Would also be nice if something could pick up chords in real time, but that's probably just ridiculous right? I mean Melodyne is amazing enough, and it takes forever.

 

As soon as I get my hands on my guitarist Sonuus G2M, I will tell you my impressions. At the moment I know that is monophonic (but that's not a problem as I want to use it to fire some notes on a VST.
Will take a look to midifier too.
More complex midi pick-up are not a choice for me now (sadly)

 

Well, the latency issue is pretty much gone now.

Originally I bought my first one like 10 years ago and it was pretty bad. Basically I wouldn't pick up anything faster than say playing grunge rock. However the deal isn't the pick up itself. There is 0 latency in the pick up what causes so much trouble was the outdated interface boxes you used to have to go to before you could go out to anything else.

However if you get one that was made in the past 4-5 years it shouldn't be a problem. Now the interface boxes are fast and can firewire/usb into a computer. My original version wasn't so nice and I could only use the midi sounds from the interface box. Now I can load any vst up and use the guitar as a complete controller.

The best part of the midi pickup is live though.

You can select what strings to make midi active and which strings not to. I throw dubstep into some of my rock/metal and I can tell it that only the 4/5 string should be midi active. That way when I hit any note on those strings it'll make the midi sound while the rest of it only goes to my amp. So I can literally play 2 instruments at once live with it.

As for the damaging part it's just like that. You have to attach the pick up which is 2 screw holes. And the "sticky" part. I got my original one off my Martin Electrical which took hours to do. They're ment to stay on.


Defiantly going to check out some of the other things mentioned here though. I'm always looking for anything that works better.

 

Update, I ordered the Sonuus I2M, which looks like a combo of all their previous midi interfaces... was checking out all the product videos on Youtube, and there was one where the guy was controlling a sax instrument, and it just sounded amazing, and the latency looked quite nice! They are on Sweetwater, and everywhere else for that matter, for $149, will post back later after messing with it..

 

I tried the Sonuus B2M and it works great for what I have to do.
First I tried it with a ntebook and Asio4All: ... some latency issue, but when I tried with my audio card (M-Audio delta 66) it runs almost perfect, sure I had to play carefully, one note at a time but with good muting it opens to methe world of monophonic synth.

 

so, ... after a month of playing with Sonus B2M I must say that I'm quite satisfied with this product.
A cheap solution but it works.
I send the midi channel to Cubase (I'm looking for a better suited solution for live use, tried Bloxpander but after adding a folder to look for vst it freezes) and the analog signal to an octaver and than to bass amp.
For Drum and Bass / Dubstep bassline the monophonic midi out of the Sonnus is enough, for me.
*yes*

 

Guess I should probably post this here too....