Hello I just got the Vg-99 and it sounds very fantastic with the Stick. Go Roland

I have been reading and watching the demo videos on the VG-99 and I think that I will be getting one. I am having the trench cut for the midi pickup (GK-3, I think) in my XG. I would really like to hear about some of the things that you are doing with it and some demo sounds would be cool too.

Scott

Question: What "scale length" setting did you use for your Stick? I'm assuming "LP" which comes after 660MM. Do you notice any intonation issues between normal PU and divided? I wanted to know before telling SE to install a GK-3 on my new Stick. I had concerns seeing the scale length end at 660.

It's amazing what it does with altered guitar tunings, and I can run my NS through the normal input. Also, with the GK-3 PU only, do you get a natural Stick melody tone?

One thought I had regarding people who only play guitar - are they having to go out and buy bass amps to handle the bass tones this unit makes? Never had an issue with running my guitar through my bass amp, but going the other way might make a few guitar players I know nervous. Works way better than pitch-shifters & octave pedals.

Hmm thats a fair point, I hadn't thought of that, I planned to run a stick through my Boss GT-6 guitar processor and then into my pc. But when playing shows with it, I'd need an amp. I've witness my friend damage my old guitar amp with a downtuned 5 string bass, I'd rather not have that happen again. Considering I'd be tuning the stick to low B aswell.

Also, something really obvious from the second you pick one up: When, for example, you were to tune a string to a B can you play that B or does the dampener mean that your first playable note is infact a C?

I'm very much fascinated by this device and am hoping to find out how well it would work on the bass side of a Stick... perhaps pitch shifting stuff might not work well but if it can do all the regular effects/COSM and guitar/pickup modeling stuff with the bass frequencies that would be great. The maximum scale length issue was something I noticed when looking through the manual and hopefully it doesn't mean the unit is only optimized for guitar range instruments.

I think a dual VG-99 setup would be great but I did already find out from Roland that you can't use the USB interfaces of two units simultaneously on a computer, you have to use the other outputs. That would make it harder to "re-amp" sounds and change things later after recording but at least there is some flexibility with the analog and digital outputs as to where in the signal chain you want the recording signal to come from.

If I'm reading your question correctly, you are talking about the VG-99's effect on tuning?

I don't see how the MIDI pickup would change that, I can mute strings with my left hand on the guitar and it works just like normal pickups do. That would be interesting if I had a GK on my NS, as my setup has the dampener at a point where I can get a lengthy muted tone if I pluck the strings hard enough. Now if you add some delay/synth, you might be able to make some interesting percussive effects via the dampener.
If the VG-99 can accurately intonate a Stick, you could set up an altered tuning if you wished to reach the dampened tone or lower without having to re-tune the strings. Imagine the possibilities here - can't decide on matched reciprocal or classic Stick tuning? Do it via MIDI without retuning.

Without the VG-99 regarding a normal Stick, right now I only have an NS, but activating the damper on it should not be different from a normal Stick. The damper will mute that "open" note, so the next available note to get a tap and hold tone would be a "C" as you describe.

With regard to Rob's comment, I'm wondering that if in fact the VG-99 is optimized for scale length of a guitar, if it's possible to defeat that by going in through MIDI "IN" via a GI-20, would the GI-20 compensate?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a VG-99 NOT a Midi device? Yes, it uses Roland's hex pickup, but it doesn't convert the individual strings to MIDI internally. Instead, it runs each string separately through various effects, which produces very interesting results.

The only MIDI is an output from the VG-99, not internal.

If so, then why does the thing want to know about scale length for input?

You are correct it is a modelling unit it does not go through midi with the GK pickup. I will post a couple of videos soon with vg 99 running through my Stick.

I think the scale length is used by some algorithms like the pickup simulator (which allow you to change the virtual location of the pickup as well)... knowing how long the string is probably factors into the realism of certain processing. When I used to have a VG-8, changing the scale length parameter caused a noticeable difference in the tone of certain algorithms.

No, that part of my post was unrelated to the VG-99... you see, I don't actually own a stick...yet! But it was just a thought i had when brousing the tuning section of Stick.com. I meant to say that since there is no "open string" because it is dampened when you tune a string to a note then is the first playable note infact a semitone higher? Or can you tap on the dampened fret? Stupid question probably, but purely going on pictures I was curious.