Anyone for midi guitar?

I've just bought a Roland GK-3 "midi" pickup, and is looking for a HW part to connect this to.
Out of curiosity I wondered if there are anyone else having a guitar synth here?
 
What do you have and how do you use it?
 
 
Myself, have no idea yet but my goal is to play midi notes on my guitar
Will use softsynts only, probably.

I had a Roland Guitar Synth many many years ago. The pickup just splits the audio of the individual guitar strings and sends them to a device that converts the individual audio channels to midi notes. One converted to midi, you can midi out to a soft synth. I would think you need a Roland GR55 or equivalent to connect the pickup to first. Then you can run midi from that into your soft synths.

Yes, I use midi guitars. I have two Godin midi guitars, one Multiac Nylon and one LGx-Sa. I also use three different midi guitar modules--two Axon AX100mk2 (one as a backup) and a Roland GI-20. Generally speaking the industry standard has become the Axon, but it is no longer made. It has by far the fastest tracking system. I use it for most midi guitar applications. Yet, I still use the Roland GI-20 for the nylon Godin Multiac because for some reason it tracks the nylon strings better. When I played live years ago in the 90's, I used the Godins, with Axon controller, then ran midi out into two rack synths, Roland JV1080 & an Alesis QSR rack synth. While the Axon has a Yamaha SB sound card in it with XM synth sounds, I do not like its sounds--very thin. The outboard synths are better. Now days, I use the Midi guitars for recording direct into the computer and triggering soft synths like Kontakt, Trillian (way cool on midi guitar), Omnisphere, etc..... I tend also to use it for jazz and progressive rock tunes. It is also good for recording the midi notes simultaneous with the guitar regular 1/4 inch output jack. This technique makes it easier to get some guitar and synth parts down tightly and in sync together in one pass. However, I use a keyboard for recording almost all of my other midi music. A word of warning. There is a major different technique required to play midi guitar. It is not for strumming or loose or sloppy playing. One must adapt a very, very clean style of playing, and I find that I play more like a pianist than a guitarist when using the midi guitars. It was always fun to see people's eyes open wide when the guitarist is playing trombones, or violins, or pipe organs. They look around trying to figure out who is playing synths or keyboards, when it is the midi guitarist. Just be ready to work at your technique and you will find a new world at your finger tips. Have fun! Cecelius2

I have the GK2 mounted on my Variax using a POD XT Live and the Roland GR30. Yea, I love the looks a lot of folks have when they are asking "whadaya mean the sound is in them boxes"? Funny as heck.

Find a used Axon controller.  They may not be in production anymore but they are still the best in tracking and midi out.

The Axon line of controllers all use the GK pickups and have a 13 pin input.  The midi out portion is the most important feature since most use a guitar to midi controller to trigger external sound modules. 

"Does it work the same way as the Roland?"

No.  That's why Axon are superior to Roland.  There's plenty of data available on the internet that covers the difference. just google; Axon Early Transient Recognition

Thanks for all the input guys, I have now received a GR-30 and installed my GK pickup and it plays nicely.
I did search for a Axxon, but they are quite popular (and unfortunately not common)
Most eBay auctions ended in over 600$.

I'm waiting for the new one from the inventer of Axon
[link=http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3444.0]http://www.vguitarforums....index.php?topic=3444.0[/link]

Until then, I'm learning this step by step :)

The GR-30 has quite good sounds, and the tracking (after some adjustmest of my guitar) is very good.
Midi out tracking is not soo good, but works for simpler melody lines and stuff like that.

you who have the Roland units, how do you set it up?
I've found a instrument definition file, is that just for selecting the sound in Sonar?
(sorry, never working much with midi....)

and, is it possible to use the GR-30 as a midi playback module?
or can it only playback 2 sounds at a time?