Roland GK-3B / GR-55 with fretless bass?

[Rosie C]

 

Lately I've been getting quite into MIDI and inevitably my attention has come around to a MIDI-enabled bass. I only have one bass guitar (!) which is fretless, so I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of using the Roland system with fretless?

 

[Hellzero]

I did many times, but it always ended with a whole resale as I didn't see the point of all this.

 

That said, it works very well latency wise and I don't see why it wouldn't work with a fretless bass as it's only about converting a note into data for the MIDI system.

 

Listen to Uzeb and Alain Caron as he's been using (6) strings MIDI fretless basses since the beginning in the ... 80's (when the latency was delirious especially with a low B).

Edited 4 hours ago by Hellzero

[ped]

The GK3b isn't a MIDI pickup - only if you use a GR55 or VB99 etc to do pitch to MIDI conversion, with associated lag. Using the native Roland gear, there's no conversion happening so it's almost entirely lag free and just like a magnetic pickup. 

[Hellzero]

The Roland GK3B is indeed an hexaphonic (per se a pickup for each string) pickup like ALL so-called MIDI pickups @ped, but it allows you to use a MIDI system so is often referred as a MIDI pickup for some reason.

 

It was not @Rosie C enquiry. 😉

[pantherairsoft]

I used a GR-55 with the GK3B pickup on my old Zon Fretless with no issues at all. It was a fun system.

[ped]

17 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

The Roland GK3B is indeed an hexaphonic (per se a pickup for each string) pickup like ALL so-called MIDI pickups @ped, but it allows you to use a MIDI system so is often referred as a MIDI pickup for some reason.

 

It was not @Rosie C enquiry. 😉

 

Yeah I guess it's a useful shorthand but I don't think many players using the GK system use it for MIDI. I tried it once and gave up because the VB99/GR55 have such great effects and options anyway.

[Rosie C]

13 minutes ago, pantherairsoft said:

I used a GR-55 with the GK3B pickup on my old Zon Fretless with no issues at all. It was a fun system.

 

This is good to know, thanks! What does it do if you play a pitch that is between notes? 

Edited 4 hours ago by Rosie C

[pantherairsoft]

3 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

 

This is good to know, thanks! What does it do if you play a pitch that is between notes? 

I had a lined fretless, so didn’t really run into this too much. Unfortunately, we’re going back maybe 8 or 9 years, so I can’t really recall the specifics.

[Rosie C]

1 minute ago, pantherairsoft said:

I had a lined fretless, so didn’t really run into this too much. Unfortunately, we’re going back maybe 8 or 9 years, so I can’t really recall the specifics.

 

No problem  

 

[ped]

6 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

 

This is good to know, thanks! What does it do if you play a pitch that is between notes? 

 

@Rosie C are you looking at actually using MIDI or using the GR55?

[Rosie C]

1 minute ago, ped said:

 

@Rosie C are you looking at actually using MIDI or using the GR55?

 

Both. Initially the GR55, but as it has a MIDI OUT port and I have a shiny rack-mounted Roland synth, inevitably I'll want to try plugging a MIDI cable between the two   

 

[BigRedX]

34 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

This is good to know, thanks! What does it do if you play a pitch that is between notes? 

 

Depending on how it is set up, you can either quantise to the nearest semitone or use pitch bend information to achieve the precise pitch being played.

 

Controlling synths by using pitch detection has always been too much of a miss IME. Admittedly the technology has come on a long way since the early days, but at some point you are always going to run foul of the laws of physics which says that the very best pitch to synth systems still need at least one and a half wave cycles to accurately detect the note being played. On a bass guitar this means that you will probably be able to detect the latency in any note with a fast attack below open D. This is why you find lots of slow attack sounds being favoured in the demos of such systems. On top of this you need to have a much cleaner playing technique, because ghost notes, struck muted strings and lots of other things that are not noticeable in normal playing are going to introduce glitches into your synth part. 

 

When I first started looking at guitar synths I quickly discovered that modifying my playing style to suit was going to take longer than learning enough rudimentary keyboard technique to be able to play the sorts of parts I wanted to on a synth. 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by BigRedX

[ped]

7 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

 

Both. Initially the GR55, but as it has a MIDI OUT port and I have a shiny rack-mounted Roland synth, inevitably I'll want to try plugging a MIDI cable between the two   

 

 

Ah nice, yeah I did the same, once, then didn't really bother gain as the latency was too off-putting.

[Woodinblack]

Generally in the normal corse of events, the Roland system estimates the closest note very fast, and then corrects that assumption or the difference between the actual note using pitch bend. When playing it with the internal synths of the GR55 or whatever it is pretty good, however, if you are taking it out of the system via a plug to another synth you add another lump of delay and it doesn't work so well. 

Although I seem to remember you had an older roland sound module, in which case it is probably the same thing that is in the GR55 anyway.

 

 

[2pods]

Roland claim faster pitch to midi from the GK5B pickup (new serial connected cable etc) and their Boss GM-800 and/or VG-800

I would have a look at them before going for a GK-3

...but there is still always the physics.

 

Have a wee look on vguitars.com 

 

HTH

[itu]

Misa Quadwave would solve the latency issue. 

[BigRedX]

9 minutes ago, itu said:

Misa Quadwave would solve the latency issue. 

 

It might if you could actually buy one.

[Rosie C]

1 hour ago, 2pods said:

Roland claim faster pitch to midi from the GK5B pickup (new serial connected cable etc) and their Boss GM-800 and/or VG-800

I would have a look at them before going for a GK-3

...but there is still always the physics.

 

Have a wee look on vguitars.com 

 

HTH

 

Thanks, that does help, though it provokes GAS as well  😕

[itu]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

It might if you could actually buy one.

I asked the seller few weeks ago if he has any, and got one. Ask him.