Haven't given up on adding control pads to an ASAT

This isn't what I had in mind exactly but
it demonstrates the idea of adding other
transducers to a guitar is receiving more
and more attention.

[youtube]dd0y_u95e1M[/youtube]

[youtube]7BEaP0dt9J0[/youtube]

A used ASAT Classic tribute guitar would
be the ideal experimental guitar to try
hacking up.

There's a guy named Eric Loy in Dayton OH who blends fingerpicking on his Taylor acoustic with playing percussion on the top. The first video reminded me very slightly of that, although the guy in the video is nowhere near Eric's level of playing.

IMO, the second video is horrid in just about every possible way. I get the concept, though. Mounting a small set of pads and using them to trigger MIDI samples seems more like "performance art" than "playing" in my book, but I could definitely see potential if the pads were used to trigger loops in Ableton or some other software. Using them to record and sequence loops that had just been played could be pretty cool if done tastefully.

I've been thinking about getting one of the bass-to-MIDI converters from Sonus and using one of my basses to trigger the oscillators in a Moog Minitaur synth - essentially just using the bass instead of a keyboard for the input. I'm waiting for a Moog Sub Phatty (their new all-analog subtractive synth) that should be inbound soon. The audio in on that may end up meeting all of my synth bass "needs", so I'll see how that goes before I make up my mind on the MIDI conversion. One way or the other should work to get reasonably modern EDM sounds out of the bass.

I'm not sure about anything comparable with guitar, but I think running chords from a clean, bright guitar through some high quality filters and a bit of modulation could go nicely with synth drums and bass in electronic dance music. It wouldn't work for every song in every genre, but there would still be potential.

Ken

Well I don't have to hack up a tribute guitar now.
The GuitarWing Midi controller clips on the horn of a guitar.
The DAW shown in the video is Ableton Live.
You could use this setup to trigger clips for drum or
arrangement accompaniment or even controlling
a super looper that can flip back to previous loops.

I still believe some kind of midi controller will become
standard equipment built into some guitars some day
for the hybrid musician (DJ/guitarist). The ASAT is the
ideal platform for this. "Active finishes" will be coming
too.

[youtube]M1OJcnsNUn0[/youtube]