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Anyone tried/use one of these...?


Grassie
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I tried one of those, and it was frankly awful. Tracking was all over the place, even on a bass with light gauge strings and a high action - which is what you'll need, since the slightest mix of notes or harmonics will confuse the hell out of this kind of device. You also need near superhuman accuracy to ensure you play in a staccato fashion to prevent notes overlapping. I was suckered into thinking this might be something that could be used live, but I think most people would struggle to get a clean take with one in the studio!

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Completely agree. I was very disappointed with the Sonuus and couldn't get anything close to sensible note tracking with it. I guess it's possible to get it to work, otherwise how could they sell it, but it's definitely doesn't do what it says on the tin ("plug and play, fast and accurate, ultra low latency" etc).

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I had one. I managed to get fairly useful tones.
But you have to be insanely clinical with your playing but I found that to be the same with the Roland GK3B also.

I bought mine used and sold it for the same price. I think I sold it for about 30 quid. Worth it for that price, but not the 70 it retails for.

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1411558681' post='2560593'] I found it far simpler to learn some basic keyboard technique.
[/quote]

And then have to buy a keyboard... and a separate amp to play it through - hardly a quick and cheap fix! ;)

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[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1411558882' post='2560594']
And then have to buy a keyboard... and a separate amp to play it through - hardly a quick and cheap fix! ;)
[/quote]

Have a look at the price of the Industrial Radio system (which IMO is the only one that comes close to working properly) and then getting a keyboard and amp (although a modern bass guitar rig would be suitable) doesn't seem quite so bad!

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1411563616' post='2560664']
Have a look at the price of the Industrial Radio system
[/quote]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jeP2SnKXnk#t=44"]http://www.youtube.c...jeP2SnKXnk#t=44[/url]


Impressive stuff! Although I'm not sure I could find a use for that in my band... B) Can't seem to find a price though.

Ah - now I have... :o [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/218373-fsft-industrial-radio-midi-bass-sold/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/218373-fsft-industrial-radio-midi-bass-sold/[/url]

Edited by Conan
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The technology behind the Industrial Radio bass isn't new. The original was developed by Steve Chick in the late 80s and licensed to Wal and Peavey amongst others. Since using the frets to sense the note being played is the only way to overcome the latency involved with conventional pitch to MIDI conversion (which gets larger the lower the note), it's strange that all the other manufacturers of MIDI guitar and bass systems ignore it.

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I tried one a few times. Not brilliant, but adequate for some things. It works better if you play clean, possibly with a pick, run the bass through a compressor then play high up on the neck and use the MIDI device to transpose down an octave. It didn't track the low notes too well, and adding treble with active electronics tended to add overtones which confused it and made it go a bit "wobbly". Adding mids seemed to work pretty well though.

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