Comments on: Servoelectric guitar is a keytar with strings

By: ben

ben — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:28:22 +0000

this is very very similar to the starr labs ztar http://www.starrlabs.com/products/ztars/z6-series/z6-sp like to the z6-sp but still an awesome instrument

By: tyco

tyco — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:05:02 +0000

I just read deeper and saw this:
“I spent some time investigating whether the frequency sensing could be done by monitoring the strings themselves but concluded to capture time was too slow both because of the inherent time window required for accurate frequency detection and the lags of the filtration needed to remove guitar string harmonics.”

Maybe one could use something like a VCO, but the reverse function (convert the frequency into a voltage)? Then it’s just a quick A/D conversion away from a frequency measurement.

By: tyco

tyco — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:38 +0000

It seems to me you could do away with a lot of the mechanical nonsense by hacking into the pickup to separate it out into each of the 6 strings. The arduino could then do an A/D conversion on each string, detect the current pitch and adjust as necessary until the pitch requested by the user is what comes out. Then the system is continually self-tuning, and you maintain the closed-loop feedback necessary for stable operation.

By: DeFex

DeFex — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:19:19 +0000

and he is a lot closer to completion as well :D

By: DeFex

DeFex — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:17:22 +0000

Wow this guy is doing the opposite from what i am doing. controlling the string tension for pitch, I
am changing the plucking/bowing to keyed instead.

neutron-sound.blogspot.com

By: John Smith

John Smith — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:33:59 +0000

Yup. Less time fiddeling with stuff that doesn’t matter (why did my clock stop? why can’t I read my ADC register? How do I calculate the stabilization caps? why am I doing this again?) and more time working on a fun idea like servo tuning or turning a waffle maker into a toner transfer oven.

By: F7

F7 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:26:54 +0000

displacing custom circuitry with an arduino is evolution.

whut

By: Adam Ziegler

Adam Ziegler — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:51:02 +0000

He wont go through any more strings then a pedal steel play does. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedal_steel_guitar

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:20:39 +0000

The Casio DG20 was a completely different beast – the strings were only note triggers and pitch selection was done by the frets which were touch sensitive. You could actually press the fret underneath the string and pluck it to get a note and I considered modding mine to move the ‘machine head’ anchor points down to the bottom of the neck but never got round to it. Horrible thing to play but ok for note entry into a sequencer.

This is more like the Transperformance or the Gibson Robot however they use it only for tuning not for actual note selection. Great for switching quickly between different tunings thereby eliminating the need for multiple guitars on stage (or bad players who can’t tell when their instrument is drifting out of tune :) )

By: Keith Baxter

Keith Baxter — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:16:44 +0000

Thanks for the link.

So far I’m only on the first set of strings. I guess there is no reason the stretching should matter. Metallurgists?

The tuning is okay because of the 1 inch steel pipe running along the backbone:) You have to do this so changing one string tension doesn’t detune the others.

The keyboard location is a bit uncool. What’s a minigun/railgun? Maybe something to use those capacitors for!

By: bobob

bobob — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:05:12 +0000

would be better with an arduino.

…oh wait,it has one already.

would be better with TWO arduinos.

By: keyharp

keyharp — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:05:18 +0000

Something like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs3aUCM8BX8 ?

By: alfie

alfie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:56:07 +0000

Similar sound to a Steel Guitar, but those are foot pedals and you need to know combinations of pedals and leg levers to make the thing work well. This you just have to push buttons and pluck a string. Sounds great! Look forward to seeing the keyboard along the neck of the guitar rather than on the side of the neck.

By: CapNBridgeman

CapNBridgeman — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:55:09 +0000

Casio made one of these in the 80′s
http://www.maketunes.com/articles/casio-dg20-digital-midi-guitar

By: nemo

nemo — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:49:48 +0000

The design is great, and an awesome general concept too. The music is nice to the ears :)