This is connected to the Roland GI-10 which in turn has a MIDI to USB connection to the Zynthian.
Playing synthesizers using different instruments (compared to just traditional piano style keyboard) gives a new dimension and leads to interesting results. I am really pleased that I can now devote one guitar to being a dedicated MIDI controller.
To satisfy @wyleu, here is a quick sample of some Floydesque playing of ZynAddSubFX Companion - Solo.
And a bit of Lordish playing setBfree Booker T Jones.
(Yes, many of the same notes but not necessarily in the same order .)
What controllers do you use to drive your Zynthian? Pictures and sound sample evidence is desirable.
I am able to play blues style without latency being an issue. I have not tried faster playing and also need to adjust the pickup height to improve sensitivity. The triggering and release definitely impacts your playing style but I think that is a good thing in that it provides different composition. This is old tech, circa 1990s but it still works well enough for me.
Following up on my previous response, I have now played with more percussive sounds, e.g. piano and note that the latency is quite discernible. There is a delay between picking the string and the MIDI note-on event. I have not measured this but it seem to be in the order of a few tens of milliseconds, maybe 50-100ms. This changes one’s playing style which as I have previously stated is not necessarily a bad thing. Similar to the way one may play a pipe organ with its high latency one plays a guitar synth different to a guitar. It can enhance the composition. Playing slow attack synth patches is very rewarding and the fast attack sounds can be used to good effect. It just takes a little practice - much less than it took to learn to play!
I read that Hackett and Howe were disappointed with the tracking and reliability of guitar synths from this era which may have been why GTR didn’t persist. I was somewhat disappointed by the GTR album at the time. I expected far more experimental use of synthesizers but perceived the sounds on the album as similar to guitars with effects. It is true that all the background pads were also played with the guitar synths but still, I expected something different. I guess these were both guitarists and were doing what they liked. I want to hear the guitar sound very different.
Slaving away at the Alesis i/o panel, from morning to night setting up the parameters and blasting away with n’er but a thin whisp of peizoeclectric material wit’ hideous taste of zirconate titanate, bitter in our babe’s mouths. . .
Warning to: @mheidt this is rendered in a particular fine example of Yorkshire dialect and is best admired rather than analysed… . .
Think Jake Thackery
opn’n a 'ideous trench down to the core MIDI layer to mercilessly 'ack out the bare bass MIDI seam . . .
Well, that is clear then! I think you may have connected two metronomes through the trigger converter. Certainly an interesting and unorthodox method. I imagine it would lead to strange syncopation over time as they drift out of time. My Alesis D4 has only been used for traditional drum triggers. You have awakened an urge to connect sensors to other things. I wonder what tune my washing machine would produce?
I am certainly interested in the direction this is going. I saw a presentation on molecular genetics by Dr. Josh Neufeld earlier this year and couldn’t help but notice how his charts looked like sound waves. It made me wonder if you couln’t use sound to hear genes and gene sequences. It’s just another way of displaying and visualizing data - using our ears rather than our eyes. It was just yet another silly thought of mine that never left my brain until this post.
.)
I think you may have connected two metronomes through the trigger converter. Certainly an interesting and unorthodox method. I imagine it would lead to strange syncopation over time as they drift out of time. My Alesis D4 has only been used for traditional drum triggers. You have awakened an urge to connect sensors to other things. I wonder what tune my washing machine would produce?