NMSD (New Midi Setup Day)

[Jeff]

Actually it was a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to make sure I was going to keep all of it before I posted.






It's a Graphtech Ghost system running into a Roland GI-20 into my MacBook Pro with GarageBand, running stock instruments, EZ Drummer, and soon SampleTank 2.5L.

Simply put, this is an unbelievably cool setup, and the flexibility is positively insane. I can finally put to disk all that I've ever imagined in my music, easily, quickly, and stable as a rock. Tracking is great, and it's actually too accurate; it forces you to play better because it picks up everything! You can tame the sensitivity down, but I actually prefer it this way, because tapping with grand piano is quite fun.

It wasn't cheap; I bought everything new, so I paid around $850 for everything. But it's been a dream of mine ever since I was 15 and played the Roland GR-1/GK2 combo at a Chicago GC all those years ago.

Besides the durability of a floor unit and ease of use for live playing, I can't imagine why anyone would rather go with a GR unit instead of the GI--->computer. For studio use, the GI/computer combo is absolutely the way to go.

[noodles]

Cool.

Since you're keeping it, are you going to come up with a more permanent piezo install (like drilling the bridge plate)?

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by noodles

Cool.

Since you're keeping it, are you going to come up with a more permanent piezo install (like drilling the bridge plate)?

Nah. Not on this one anyway. I've seen the installs done by a guy over at SS.org (who's name escapes me right now) and while it's very cool, this works fine on this guitar. Had it not had the pickup rings, I would have gone through the bridge. But this is fine for me.

I'm planning a hard tail Warmoth strat with SA-SA-89 and a full Graphtech system (both midi and acoustic), and I'll probably do the through bridge drill on that one.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Jeff

I'm planning a hard tail Warmoth strat with SA-SA-89 and a full Graphtech system (both midi and acoustic), and I'll probably do the through bridge drill on that one.

Could you get the folks at Warmoth to do that installation?

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Leon

Could you get the folks at Warmoth to do that installation?

Probably not, but I'm having a tech put it together anyway, so no big deal. This will be my Swiss Army Knife Strat, since it'll do electric, acoustic, and midi sounds. The only thing it won't have is the Sustainer and Variax capability like Adrian Belew's Parker Fly.