Now I have played around with an ... over my Roland boxes when driving external synths. If I hadn't been forced to become a good keyboardist over the years, I would probably buy an Axon. Wayne · DP 5.13, Reason 5, Logic 9, Melodyne 3, Live 7, Cubase 4.5, OS 10.5.8 on main desktop, 10.6.3 on laptop. Old analog gear, synths and guitars and heat-belching transformers and tubes. ... Wayne, Are you saying that the GI-10 converter ... More on motunation.com

Playing MIDI guitar requires a certain threshold of patience to achieve an optimized setup. There is no instant gratification. No perfection either. I decided to use numbers to quantify my impressions of the Axon AX100 by comparing it••™s performance to that of the Roland GI-10. More on motunation.com

I'll lump a list of all my guitar synth or guitar to midi gear.... that list will contain various classes of gear depending on how it works and what it does. I will call Midi Out as meaning it will drive a hardware midi synth (and not just a midi control) (All Roland or Boss). Pick-ups as either Straight guitar, G303 guitar, GK2 or GK3 to drive the synth. Roland GR300 ..... analogue synth, no midi out. G303 guitar GR50 ... LA synth, Midi Out. GK2 or GK3 p/u. GR20... synth(ish). Midi Out. GK3. GR55 .. PCM, synth, modelling. Midi Out. GK3. VG99... synth, modelling. MIDI out. GK3. GP10... more modelling. Midi over USB (I won't class as midi out though). GK3. SY200 and SY300... synth. Normal pick up. No midi out. (The VG99 and GP10 can be used as effect pedals with just a normal guitar pick up). I also have the FC300 as a midi controller for some pieces of gear. I love the GR300 for its few things it does, but love the G303 guitar even more. I will mention the SY200 and SY300 here as they are normal guitar pick up synths. No midi out. But some really great synth sounds..... and I feel where bass notes sound really good. The SY200 is limited compared to the SY300 but is small and can be powered by batteries. But still packs a punch. If one wants a really good and almost or no latency and no mis-firing bass synth..... look no further than the SY200 (or SY300). Now to the divided pick up with potential midi options. I am impressed at what the GR50 attempted to..... but I think Roland were way too ambitious for the technology of the time, and even ny today's standard such a gadget would be quite ambitious. LA synthesis is a tough cookie at best, but it was great to drive midi hardware synths so long as you played slowly and very carefully. The GR50 was trying to do way too much (I could even get it to drive 12 different synth patches as 2 different ones per guitar string on the hardware synths.... and each velocity controlled as to which played first etc..... impressive). I felt the over ambitious nature of the GR50 was its downfall as latency and mis-triggering needed very careful control. The GR20 was next...... very much simpler in what it tried to do compared to other GRs. I think that being less ambitious meant it was one of the best GR synths for driving midi out to control an external synth. I haven't used it for years though. The GR55......a bit of a monster that lies somewhere between the GR50, GR20 era, and the VGs. I always thought that the midi out to drive an external synth is not as good as the GR20s wrt ease and latency. The driving internal PCMs is better than the GR20, albeit with care still needed with fast playing on lower notes. But..... why play a grand piano patch like you play a guitar in a death metal shred ? Horses for Courses. The mixing of 2 PCM tones (with synth control), with no latency guitar modelling of electric guitar, acoustic (incl sitar), along with straight guitar ..... and all through a variety of signal paths. I feel that any latency issues become almost irrelevant compared to the massive tone options. I rarely use the GR55 for midi out. GP10 .... it has its uses, but mainly the fact of it being small, has its own foot switches/pedal (unlike the vg99), can be used as a general fx pedal for normal guitar.... but not impressed with its midi over usb. VG99....these were expensive, but poweful. You can use onboard effects with straight guitar or use the GK3 for Vguitar guitar/synth modelling...... and MIDI out. The inbuilt synths (no PCMs on the VG99) are pretty good with no latency of note (a patch with a slow attack does mean you can't be doing death metal shredding though), you can use 2 synths, or 2 guitar modellings or 1 synth and 1 guitar modelling from internal sounds without latency or mis-triggering. Of the equipment that I have the VG99 is by far the best at driving external synths via midi out. Maybe not being as synth-flash as the GR55 helps. I will be getting the new Boss GM800, but it is unlikely to replace my GR55 or VG99. There are certain laws of physics that are not easy to overcome; processing of the solutions minimises the problems of limiting laws of physics: my experience has shown that they more ambitious gear compromises the frequency to voltage conversion stability. Where you win on one thing, you may lose out on another. I suspect that even the new GM800 will not have some of the functions of the GR55 or VG99, just like the GR55 and VG99 lose out to each other on certain things. Setting up the GK pick up on the guitar and then setting the parameters of sensitivity for each string is a vital component of getting the best.... and there is subtle balance of getting that sensitivity right to allow a string to trigger a sound yet not too sensitive to cause a calamity. Adjusting playing style to the appropriate patch is important. And realising that bass notes may take longer to allow a stabilised recognition of frequency. To that end, it may well be best to play on higher strings and set the output to be an octave or 2 lower over the midi out to get the desired "bass synth" from a GK guitar to midi system. Speaking as a guitarist and electronics engineer who used to design synths and guitar effects Guitar to Midi (or guitar to true polyphonic synth) is a challenge from dot. More on reddit.com

Ooh, my bandmate and I have been down this path recently! I can tell you about what we tried and where we landed. TL;DR: Roland seems to have the fastest and most reliable of the hexaphonic systems. A GK-2 + GI-10 from the 1990's has worked better for us than any of the current Jamstik or Fishman systems. Here are more details on everything we've tried: - Fishman Tripleplay: Works ok, not the most reliable as far as tracking goes and the battery is annoying. Just meh. - Jamstik Studio Midi Guitar: Our experience has been pretty bad, honestly. Again, recharging the battery is a pain, the tracking is not nearly as good as their demo videos would have you believe, and the thing seems to just lock up every time we use it, requiring a power cycle to fix. Finally, the 3.5mm MIDI jack is in the worst possible spot--we've busted 3 or 4 MIDI adapters at this point, including one at a gig... And at this rate it's only a matter of time before the jack itself breaks. - Jam Origin MIDI Guitar 2: This one's not a hardware solution, it's a polyphonic pitch-tracking VST that actually worked way better than expected. We only tried the demo version and it was promising, but we are really looking for a hardware solution to ease CPU usage in Ableton. Definitely worth checking out the free demo before you buy any hardware though. - Roland Hexaphonic Pickup: This has been the winner for us so far. I was able to buy an older Roland GK-2 pickup and GI-10 MIDI converter for $150 from a friend, and it outperforms both the Jamstik and the Fishman, even though it is from 1993! And no battery to worry about! I'd definitely recommend the Roland systems, the GI-10 has been great, there is also a newer GI-20 to look for, as well as any of the GR floorboards with MIDI output. More on reddit.com