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the most reasonably priced mpe controller in the world
I live in Mexico, and about 3 months ago I happened to see a yrg guitar on amazon.mx, new in the box....I paid about $53 at the time. I've been using it quite a bit in mixcraft and it plays very well. For anybody else having access to amazon.mx , the price now is about $65 , and that's a steal. It's version one so the strings are quite poor triggers, but tap mode is exceptional. An artiphone cost 4 bills btw. Just go amazon.mx and search for yrg 1000. It's brand new. Better hurry 'cause I might get another dozen.
Comments
Yes, they were lovely little controllers for their day, particularly in tap mode. Not MPE, though.
well it does string swells really well. The velocity is very sensitive. And it plays solo strings well. Since tap mode is essentially one handed, the vibrato is accessible, as well as the thumbstick controller. The keys/frets are so sensitive , it's quite easy to emulate cello, esp inside a mix. The sound is much more flexible/variable than a key based midi controller, like a real instrument. And like other instrument note arrangements, like isomorphic on the ipad, the guitar note arrangement offers another way of attacking the music, as an alternative to keyboards. I'll choose the yrg over a keyboard for background melodic tracks inside a mix. Looking back at cello tracks I've recorded with keyboard midi vs the yrg, it's far more melodic. However placing it out front, maybe the ipad wins. I haven't tried geoshred/swam yet but ifretless sax and thumbjam cello played with vk are probably better. I'm working on trying to integrate the ipad however with not great results.
Unfortunately it won't work with the GeoSWAM instruments, which need an MPE controller. But I do completely agree about tap guitar controllers being vastly preferable to keyboards for solo lines (and almost anything else that doesn't require full keyboard range, two-hand polyphony, and/or hand independence). The YRG 2 was a significant improvement on the original model, but I can't now remember whether that was primarily the (still rather unconvincing) strings; certainly I always used it in tap mode exclusively. The Artiphon Instrument 1 blew it completely out of the water, and I haven't touched the YRG since that came out, but as you say the YRG remains a brilliant bargain if you don't need MPE.
MPE maps notes to channels 2-15. Channel 1 is ignored. If this controller can be set to channel 2 or above it will sound notes in any GeoSWAM instrument. Maybe the device has the option to select the MIDI output channel but if not there are several IOS apps that can
accept channel 1 input and switch it to another MIDI channel with very little latency.
I love these GeoSWAM instruments more than any other sound in the iOs ecosystem, but I still can't get over how mindbogglingly stupid (and quite frankly, disrespectful to the customer) it is that they just randomly decided to ignore midi channel 1 and 16. For what? FOR WHAT!!!! These monophonic sounds (Ie, by definition NOT MPE.... Multi POLYPHONIC expression) could do everything they do now if midi channel 1 was the only channel it accepts. I'm not sure how it works with other MPE controllers, but with Linnstrument I regularly use channels 1 and 16 with MPE synths. I might split the controller into two different sections, 1-8 and 9-16, and use a flute on one side and a violin on the other side. I might want to control 16 instruments at once with channel per row mode. But in the wild wild world of SWAM land, I'm only allowed to program 2-15 in channel per row mode or in split mode. It just.... really puts a fowl taste in my mouth. And it's not even like this idiotic feature prevents non-MPE controllers from using these sounds. Literally it's as simple as changing the midi channel to 2. Fucking ridiculous.
But yeah... that's a neat find on the Mexico amazon, @McD . I wonder what country is best for scoring deals on in the amazon marketplace... A new use for my VPN?
Oops... I got into the habit of thing channel 15 is the top possible channel but when the first is called 1 the last should be called 16. So, GeoSWAM responds to channels 2-16.
The Monophonic GeoSWAM instruments are still MPE because they use the additional benefits of MPE which include the +/- 2 octave pitch bends which make the glides/slides/glissandos possible along with the small finger variation control of vibrato.
Now, we can assume from the Noise SWAM instruments that the 3rd party SWAM company requires this from GeoShred's implementation. I'm just glad the simple re-routing to channel 2 works for my external controllers and MIDI generator apps. That one feature really open up GeoShred with GeoSWAM instruments in the AUv3 packaging as a powerful instrument in a DAW.
Change is often a request for anger but these changes have more benefits than downside for me. Look into a MIDI channel switcher and you'll be very happy with the small inconvenience.
I was pretty upset when I missed the fine print for my SWAM violin IAP purchased in Roli's Noise to learn that:
I rarely use it as a result and didn't buy any more of those instrument IAP's but I'm going to end up with all the GeoSWAM instruments because they are so expressive compared to your Korg Module, BeatHawk or Pure Synth Platinum instruments.
For keyboard players GeoShred added an optional portamento that can be triggered by low volume (velocity) input between any 2 notes. If this controller allows for velocity input that might be worth turning on to slide between notes. It's not a perfect imitation of the physical gesture on a string like instrument but it's something you can integrate into your playing style.
@sclurbs ....go to amazonmx and see if they will ship to US. When I do it in reverse, i.e. buy from amazon US and ship to mex, I have to pay about 1/3 in mex taxes but the shipping is minimal . As amazon has this route set up, if there's no import taxes in the US, it'll only cost you ....guessing....around 20 bucks to ship it there.
and further looking at the question of whether this is mpe....it's got bends, slides and hammer-on, as well as custom tunings. Lots more than a normal keyboard controller
This one?
https://www.amazon.com.mx/GUITARRA-YOU-ROCK-GUITAR-YRG-1000/dp/B003DC78FW/ref=lp_15025844011_1_1?srs=15025844011&ie=UTF8&qid=1604594103&sr=8-1
It's quoting me $1418. But envío GRATIS!