Roland GI-20

I INSTALLED THE PICKUP ON A STRAT TYPE ELECTRIC.. WAS CAREFUL TO GET THE PLACEMENT RIGHT.. BUT HAD TO TURN THE SENSITIVITY SETTINGS RIGHT UP AND LOWER THE ACTION A BIT TO GET THE BEST TRACKING...I AM USING BANJO STRINGS IN A 5 STRING ARRAY SO SO THEY ARE PERHAPS A LITTLE LITER THAN AN ELECTRIC SET.. NORMAL OR FINGER PICKING PLAY FEEL SETTINGS SEEM TO WORK FOR ME....THE UP DOWN PATCH BUTTONS ON THE PICKUP HARNESSWORKED RIGHT OFF THE BAT BUT BUT I HAD TO TRY ALL MY NUMBERS IN THE GK VOLUME CONTROL CHANGE ASSIGN THINGY ..7 BEING THE LUCKY NUMBER THE LUCKY NUMBER .....

I SET IT TO POLY AT FIRST TO PLAY JUST ONE KIND OF SOUND AT A TIME AND MADE SOME NICE PATCHES .THIS IS THROUGH A YAMAHA KEYBOARD...I TRYED OUT THE LINE 6 GUITAR THE VARIAX BEFORE I BROUGHT THIS HOME AND FOUND THE SOUNDS VERY CONSERVATIVE ..THIS IS MORE TO MY LIKING MY OWN KEYBOARD SOUNDS ABOUT 200 GIVING MY OLD GUITAR AN AMAZING VARIETY OF REAL TONE COLOUR AND VERSITILITY THIS IS VERY NOTISABLE IN THE LEAD MIX WITH THE SYNTH MIX AND GUITAR SWITCH.......VERY MUSICAL MORE ARTISTIC.... OKAY IT DOES ALTERNATE TUNINGS NO PROBLEM...BUT SET IT TO MONO AND START PUTTING A DIFFERENT SOUND ON EACH STRING THIS IS AMAZING OKAY THIS IS WHERE YOU BECOME AN INSTRUMENT MAKER AT THE TOUCH OF A FEW BUTTONS ..AND THEINSTRUMENTS BECOME BANDS IF YOU ADD DRUM SOUNDS TO ONE OF THE STRINGS...SORT OF A WAY COOL STRIPED DOWN BAND THAT FOLLOWS YOU WHERE EVER YOU WANT TO GO..WAY COOL PRODUCT...MY HATS OFF TO THE ELVES THAT WORKED ON THIS

WOULD I GIG WITH THIS MAYBE NOT ITS NOT AN OPEN STAGE KIND OF THING TOO MUCH SETUP..A GUITAR SYNTH PEDAL WITH STRING SPLIT WOULD DO THE TRICK THOUGH....ITS GREAT FOR RECORDING THOUGH....

SEE ABOVE..........ITS A GOOD MATCH IT GIVES ME MY OWN MECANICAL BAND WITH A VERY UN-MECANICAL SOUND..........A PEDAL WITH ITS OWN SOUNDS, EFFECTS, AND STRING SPLIT; WOULD BEAT IT....

This is a response to Nala, below-
All three systems (Roland, Axon, Yamaha), work just fine. Your comments are completely false. If you had done some real research, and I mean actually play-testing all of the units for a good long time, you'd know this.

Piece of Cake I dont need to add much as everyone has said it for the most part. I just want to clarify that only the Roland MIDI guitar stuff works the rest is rubbish and snake oil. Stay away from Yamaha and Axon.

Works perfectly little to go wrong

Never had too even some of the older systems just keep on chugging for years and years

I did this is just to warn anyone getting into MIDI guitar to not listen to the BS about the marvelous tracking of the competitive products. If you have any problem with tracking you either have the GK pickup setup wrong or you have a problematic guitar (this does happen) These Roland MIDI product work right out of the box if you setup the pickup right. For problematic guitar use one of the Piezo bridge units. For anyone to say the other systems track better or even well they must be limiting there playing to 4 notes to the measure at 80 BPM. You have been warned and advised so, if you are trying anything other then a Roland try before you buy. Better yet get a full month trial I guaratee you will want to return it.

It's easy to use, but it will take you a certain amount of time to experiment with the right parameters for your guitar and synths... This the most important part. If you don't get it right, than your playing with guitar synth will be a nightmare. And let's not forget the guitar technique... You need a good technique and a fair amount of practice with your guitar synth.

No Sound - MIDI Controller

It's seems to be built too last...Metal case.

I mainly play Jazz. I really like this MIDI controller. I didn't want to buy a GR33 or VG88 because I already own some synths and a GT6, so the only thing I was looking for, was a MIDI controller. In my setup, the tracking is fast... The guitar I'm using is a Godin LGXT(an outstanding guitar) with a built-in synth access, a set of flat wound strings (.011-.050) and the tremolo is locked. I've also experiment with a few synths, and my Yamaha FS1R is by far my best synth to play with, it's really clean and tight. My Yamaha CS6X is not responding well with the controller. My Emu proteus and Yamaha MU15 are not that bad also. Some soft synth/sampler are not bad and the latency is fine with me (7ms-10ms), and the setup I'm using to play with soft synths is not quite simple : The GI-20 is plug in a "MIDI Computer" via a soundcard MIDI interface, than this computer has another midi interface (Opcode Studio64X) to communicate with the "AUDIO computer" which has a Yamaha MIDI interface. All in all, a great buy.

Took me ~20 min to set it up: mounting the G2B pick up onto Fender 2 string bass and hooking the MIDI wire to the sound module.

GI-20 is a MIDI interface thus produce no sound.

While tweaking for the preference patches, I have to turn the parameter knob like crazy, the settings supposedly saved, otherwise too much abuse on the parameter knob. Very old fashion and somewhat non-linear approach. I mounted the GK-2B on a Fender P bass (Anniversary). The control seems to get in the way of my playing style thus easily moved and falled of the mount. The knob switching between Bass>Mix>GK is so bulky.

haven't need to call Roland CS yet!

Easy to setup. Intuitive GUI. Bulky pickup controller. Overall, another DISSAPOINTMENT because the TRACKING is not as fast as I expected (I use all 5 fingers to pick the 4 strings). The Play feel and Guitar Sel Para are somewhat helpful in correlate personal preferences but Guitar sel is limited to only 4 settings which all have a very sensitive/loud E. I recently returned the V-Bass because it's NOT a MIDI controler, but I feel V-Bass system's tracking.feel is much much faster.