YouRock MIDI Guitar Synth and Controller

I just did an interesting thing here. I performed a forums-wide search on "Yourock" and got one hit that dated back to this past May. The guy was asking if anybody owned one and if it could be used as a controller, I believe it was. Well, to supply a belated answer to that fellow, the answer is, "Yes it can be used as a controller."  That's because, when you get right down to it, that is actually what the YouRock is: a MIDI controller.
 
I guess I shouldn't be too surprised about my search results, since almost all MIDI controllers are keyboard-driven. But there have been Guitar-to-MIDI interfaces for quite some years now. Roland's GR-series MIDI guitar synths are all capable MIDI controllers, in addition to being performance-centric MIDI devices. Even though they've been around for at least some 15 years or so now -- probably more like 20, they still remain relatively obscure in the music production and recording business. I'm not quite sure, really, why that is, but it is probably due to a number of reasons, I'm thinking. More recently you have Fishman's Triple Play, and various other guitar-adapted MIDI devices as well, none of which I am familiar, truth be told. I do know a little bit about the Triple Play (colloquially known as the FTP), however, by scouring the Web for information on it. The FTP works brilliantly as a wireless synth and controller, with almost zero latency and minimal tracking issues.  However, one thing they all have in common is they are all add-ons. You attach these devices to a guitar. Well, in the case of the Roland guitar synths, it is possible to buy a Strat with the GK-2a pickup permanently installed. Or these days, you can even buy the installation kit and install it yourself. But they are still add-ons in the sense that they require an external module to operate. Hrm . . . well I suppose you could say that about any MIDI controller, since they are add-ons to the system that carries the soft synths.  But I guess the difference between a controller and a guitar that has a synth pickup attached is that the controller is complete -- it can directly interface with the soft synths, whereas the guitar controllers require the other piece to their individual puzzles before they are fully operational and able to behave as controllers as well.
 
There are very few MIDI guitar controllers in the true meaning of the word -- that is a device that functions as a guitar but one that can also interact directly with the software or hardware synths. Often these types of devices are a controller with onboard synth first and a guitar second. You have the almost insanely priced Ztars that use a pushbutton fingerboard that glitters and flashes like a 1980s disco ball. You have the Misa Digital Kitaria, something that looks like it might have been the result of a mad science fiction writer's daydreams, and of course there's the guitar synth from the 1980s, the £10,000 SynthAx, which looks like it could have been carried into war -- if the warrior was really, really big and carried horses in his spare time.
 
And then, a few years back, here comes along a device that looks like a somewhat improved controller for the console game, Guitar Hero. It's small, it's unassuming, it looks like a toy -- and in some respects, it's built like one. But oh how looks can be deceiving! This little thing is jam-packed with features. Its latency is just about zero and its tracking, once you get it properly dialed in, is outstanding. Are you a shredder? Well, shred to your heart's content, this little puppy will keep up. Stop on a dime and give you eleven cents in change. (the extra penny is because it felt sorry for you cuz you couldn't keep up)
 
Most recently, Inspired Instruments (the parent company) announced the release of the YouRock gen2. They fixed all the bugs in the 1st generation device, which really improved its performance by a great amount, although the latest firmware upgrades for V1 bring it into the relatively same performance levels as the gen2.
 
The YouRock gen2 has a street price of $249, which is amazingly low if you can set aside its looks and especially considering what it delivers. If the YouRock interests you like it does me, I would recommend that you visit their website (yourockguitar.com) to see if there are any dealers in your area. If not, you can obtain one from any number of mail-order outfits. Make sure you get the gen2 version, though. The YourRock gen2 comes in a box that should include several sheets of paper with promotional and setup information. It should also include a box in which you should find two cords -- one USB and one 1/4" phono guitar cord. There should also be a small plastic wrapped bundle that includes a strap and a set of 3 picks. What you don't get is the manuals and the software. So first thing you do is visit their webiste -- the address is on one of those pieces of hardcopy that comes with it. Register your product. You'll find its serial number on a sticker inside the battery compartment. It will start with YRG most likely. By doing this, your Updater will work properly when you run it. So anyway, download the software and the Updater.  Then follow their instructions. Make sure your YouRock is plugged into your computer via the USB cable and turned on before you run anything. Run the Update first. It will check your YouRock and see if you have the latest drivers and firmware. It will either tell you you're OK, or that you need to update one of the software components. Which you should do. You'll also see links at that same webpage to the manual and to another piece of information. You don't need to worry about that other one -- Sounds and Tracks and Demo Presets. That piece comes with your hard copy material. Go ahead and download and print out the manual -- it's only 22 pages long, but it's packed with useful information. Without it, you won't be aware of even half the things this device can do.
 
So as you might have assumed, I own one. Bought mine yesterday, after doing several hours of due diligence on the subject. So when I walked into my local Guitar Center to buy it, I knew more about it than they did. I gave them a crash course on the subject ;->
 
I haven't done anything of significance with mine yet. Just loaded it up with four "AA" alkalines, hooked it up to my favorite set of earbuds, and suddenly I was about as portable as a guitar player could ever hope to be.  No, I've been walking or lying around with it, practicing scales and arpeggios for the most part, getting used to the often subtle yet remarkably profound differences between this YRG-1000 and a guitar.  Because of the guitar's construction, where you have pressure sensitive pads for your left hand that retain the look and feel of strings on a fingerboard, and actual strings for the right hand -- "strings" that give the impression that they're just pieces of straight but flexible steel, maybe 0.60mm in diameter.  A couple of reviewers claimed that they were nylon, like what's used with classical guitars, but they were mistaken. These strings are clearly made out of metal and my guess continues to be that it is some sort of stainless spring steel. The strings can be tightened or loosened to improve feel, but be aware that this tightening and loosening affects the playability for the left hand. So, easy does it.
 
What I have found to be a remarkably profound difference between the YouRock instrument and a regular guitar of any value is the lack of crossways feedback between the two hands. I had never realized til now how quite subtle motions by the one hand can be so easily felt by the other and so sorely missed when it's gone -- and vice versa. One of the biggest problems I've been having so far is keeping my right hand on the same string(s) as the left. It is especially a problem when I'm playing in the dark. I don't normally watch my right hand when I play, but what's going on here is, when I hear that I'm off -- hearing one string droning on, which is the right hand playing the wrong string -- while the left is playing the melody. Because I can't see (because it's dark) I don't always know where to put my right hand quicly and accurately. My playing, as a result, becomes a jumbled mess. What troubles me most is my hands drifting apart at all. I never anticipated this. So it's gonna take time and practice before I'll be able to play confidently with no cross-wise feedback between the two hands. At least I'm having relatively few problems with tracking and latency. I can't out run it, and I have a few short but quick scale passages that I can get up to 184 or so on the metronome -- especially when I engage the YouRock's "Tap" feature. When that's on, the right hand becomes optional. Just touching a "strings" on the left side is enough to generate a sound. Heh, I've found that I can play scale passages faster and cleaner if I just use my left hand only.
 
As you might expect, there are lots of videos over at Youtube on the YouRock Guitar gen2 YRG-10000. Here's a link to YRG's subscribed paged. I dunno if you have to be a subscriber or not, but if you do, it only takes a few seconds to sign up.  This site is a good starting point. They have a lot of useful videos on the subject and if you scroll down all the way to the bottom, the discussions are quite technical. So there's a lot of "meat on the bones" with these videos.  Give them a watch -- they're worth the time spent.
 
http://www.youtube.com/user/YouRockGuitar
 
 

Cool beans! If it works. I visited their site, then tried the download link.   /!\ Address not found.
I did a bit of googling and found this:
 
http://www.gearslutz.com/...phonic-audio-midi.html
It had a link that was also broken, a  404 message to a different URL that they also own. At first I was thinking that it sure looks like they've rolled up the carpet and taken the sign down -- you know, closed shop. Gone home. For keeps. Horror stories of running out of investor capital were flashing through my head and then I realized something more likely is taking place. 0.9.2 is probably a very stable product and they've decided to release 1.0. So no more beta. The links to the products that cost money still work.
 
So I've been googling for videos of folks trying out the MIDIGuitar software, and I run across a video of David Walliman, who has nice things to say about it, but toward the end of his clip he mentions that, for soft synths, you can only use the one that's included and it only has piano as its lone voice. He says that you can load in other soft synths, but you're restricted to one minute when you do that.  Is this the case with you too?
 
You know, I've tried Audio-to-MIDI software before -- meant to translate audio into MIDI on the fly. Must have been four or five years ago, though. It sorta worked. Definitely was not ready for Prime Time yet.  So I guess in the fullness of Time these products have improved enough for possible general release.  When I google this concept, though, the only returns I'm getting are based on the jam.origins product.  I'd sure like to get my hands on a copy of it because I have a 30-day return policy with that YouRock and if it works as well as people are saying, then I really don't have any use for the YouRock, unless I want to abandon traditional guitar in favor of the synth. Not sure on that one yet, actually.
 
 
 

Thanks, scook. That was the same link I followed. I guess they fixed the problem.
 
Gonna go try it out now.