Jam Origin MIDI Guitar

This software can perhaps be best summed up with the phrase, "Jam Origin MIDI Guitar, where have you been all my life?!"
 
If you're like me and play the keyboard like somebody wearing boxing gloves, but can knock out a tune cleanly enough on a guitar, then this could be what you've been looking for.
 
Guitar-to-MIDI converters and MIDI controllers in a guitar-like shape have been around for some time, but have never been that good or affordable for me to take the plunge.  As Roland products are a complete non-starter for me, I'd recently narrowed the field down to the following:
 
1. Fishman Tripleplay Wireless Guitar Midi Controller
 
Bolt a slab of tech to your guitar, incorporating a hexaphonic pickup and wifi transmitter which talks to a USB dongle presenting a MIDI interface on your computer.  Polyphonic, works very well by all accounts but not cheap (£319 is the best price I've seen in the UK).

2. You Rock Guitar YRG-1000 Gen2
Guitar-shaped MIDI controller, originally a kickstarter project I believe.  £174.94 on Amazon.  Polyphonic, very low latency (no waveform analysis required), some issues with hammer on/off, pitch bending and muting, but the reviews I've read are good and the device does its job very well by all accounts.
 
3. Jam Origin MIDI Guitar
A fully functional demo is available, so I installed it and gave it a spin last night.  Then I immediately bought it.  The tracking is very fast and accurate, and this is with default out-of-the-box settings; the software can be taught what your notes sound like for even better tracking accuracy.  It's polyphonic, and can be run stand-alone or as a VST plugin.  Best of all, it's cheap, circa £65 in the UK (but bear in mind that the government slaps VAT on top of that).  Still, by far the cheapest solution, with no altering of existing guitars or the addition of guitar-shaped objects taking up space in your home involved.  32-bit and 64-bit flavours are available for both the stand-alone app and the VST plugin.
 
http://jamorigin.com/products/midi-guitar/
 
 
 
 

I've been meaning to try this for awhile, it looks like it's maturing since this thread:
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/MidiGuitar-Software-m2749780.aspx
 
Rocky

Exactly right, your playing needs to adapt to the instrument you're controlling.  Also, I found myself playing completely different lines to what I might usually play on the guitar.  I've ordered a little hold pedal which I'm hoping to use with evolving pads, arpeggiated patches and the like (you can hold down a keyboard key indefinitely, but a guitar doesn't have infinite sustain).
 
There is quite a good monophonic-only box out there which is even cheaper and a nice 'n' tidy solution, which is the Sonuus G2M.  Looks like it's about the size of a very chunky 9V battery.  Guitar in one end, 5-pin MIDI out the other.
 
 

How is that Sonus when soloing? (hammer-ons etc...)

ston
This software can perhaps be best summed up with the phrase, "Jam Origin MIDI Guitar, where have you been all my life?!"
 
If you're like me and play the keyboard like somebody wearing boxing gloves, but can knock out a tune cleanly enough on a guitar, then this could be what you've been looking for.
 
Guitar-to-MIDI converters and MIDI controllers in a guitar-like shape have been around for some time, but have never been that good or affordable for me to take the plunge.  As Roland products are a complete non-starter for me, I'd recently narrowed the field down to the following:
 
1. Fishman Tripleplay Wireless Guitar Midi Controller
 
Bolt a slab of tech to your guitar, incorporating a hexaphonic pickup and wifi transmitter which talks to a USB dongle presenting a MIDI interface on your computer.  Polyphonic, works very well by all accounts but not cheap (£319 is the best price I've seen in the UK).

2. You Rock Guitar YRG-1000 Gen2
Guitar-shaped MIDI controller, originally a kickstarter project I believe.  £174.94 on Amazon.  Polyphonic, very low latency (no waveform analysis required), some issues with hammer on/off, pitch bending and muting, but the reviews I've read are good and the device does its job very well by all accounts.
 
3. Jam Origin MIDI Guitar
A fully functional demo is available, so I installed it and gave it a spin last night.  Then I immediately bought it.  The tracking is very fast and accurate, and this is with default out-of-the-box settings; the software can be taught what your notes sound like for even better tracking accuracy.  It's polyphonic, and can be run stand-alone or as a VST plugin.  Best of all, it's cheap, circa £65 in the UK (but bear in mind that the government slaps VAT on top of that).  Still, by far the cheapest solution, with no altering of existing guitars or the addition of guitar-shaped objects taking up space in your home involved.  32-bit and 64-bit flavours are available for both the stand-alone app and the VST plugin.
 
http://jamorigin.com/products/midi-guitar/
 
 
 
 

I downloaded the trial and I too am blown away. It works well at 64 samples on my rig. I'm paying for the license. Thanks for the heads up. Does anyone want to buy a YRG? I much rather work midi with a real guitar and now I can.
 
Rocky

smallstonefan
I bought a You Rock Guitar last year - boxed it back up for RMA after about an hour with it.

Ditto.

I may still have that "we just met feeling" but Jam Origin Midi Guitar seems to be working really well here. I spent too much time trying to like the YRG. I should have sent it back like you guys did a long time ago.
 
Rocky

Jeff,
 
Check out the demo first before buying. Make sure it works for your specific rig.
 
Can be set up real close for your specific input, but not a magic bullet that will replace an almost magic Roland hardware or whatever. You will have to relearn the instrument to adjust to response and pitch bend. Bend, my opinion is still in the fractured, fragile alpha stage.
 
This said, the only software that can remotely do what it can do. Respect to these guys to have pulled off midi recognition from a blast of audio waves. Can't get this level of function anywhere for any price. If you can play slower and methodical, the program works tolerably well.
 
John
 
 
 

Have you guys figures out how to record the midi output of Midi Guitar to a midi track? There's not much documentation. Thanks
 
Rocky

i bought a license for Jam Origin's MIDI Guitar last night immediately after testing the demo version of the new beta 2.0.  as one who once had a Roland guitar synth (which was clunky and too slow w/latency when using soft synths) & a Sonuus device, the beta 2.0 version of MIDI Guitar test drive for me was awesome.  the only weird thing was if i would stop playing, sometimes the software would generate random sounds (which would stop once i started playing again).  can't wait for this 2.0 to come out of beta so that it has a vst (the beta is standalone only for the time being).  last night was the first time i ever played softsynths on a guitar where i actually had fun

Wow, got to get me some v2 action :-)

hi King Windom, your solution was correct! thanks for that. also, the crashes were not due to MIDI Guitar 2 but rather having Maschine 2.3 in the project.  once i delete Maschine, no more crashing

Guys,
 
Couple cool things about MidiGuitar.
 
They took out the manual calibration, but you can still fine tune the response by splicing in a transparent gain control in series before MidiGuitar to tweak the gain.
 
One of the best is FreeG. Free also as in free...
 
https://www.sonalksis.com/freeg.htm
 
Chosing the synth wisely, some great responses by putting an arp plug in the chain. Blue Arp only one of the freebies out there.
 
http://graywolf2004.net/wp/
 
Played around with MidiGuitar more closely, and it is a revolution in the making. Anticipating what they say will be done with bend and vibrato response.
 
John