Midi pickups

[Hardinge]

has anybody got a MIDI pickup for their bass?
I'm think about getting one as it would be very useful, I was wondering whether you need to get a special sound module or whether the midi pickup could be plugged into any MIDI interface and recorded into a program such as cubase.

many thanks

[Akira]

Most MIDI pickups do not have a standard 5-pin output, so you do need to shell out for a sound module to use it.

[deemo]

if you really want to use midi sounds, get a midi controller.

m-audio oxygen 8 v2 is great.

midi pickups are so shifty i've heard.

[Sablate McNuff]

Talk to Jean Baudin about that one.

I've never personally used midi pickups (I really just like the sound of the bass when I play), but they can be pretty badass. I know my friend's dad had one for a guitar and was doing some cool things with it, but I've never heard one used on bass.

[Raayl]

Talk to Jean Baudin about that one.

I've never personally used midi pickups (I really just like the sound of the bass when I play), but they can be pretty badass. I know my friend's dad had one for a guitar and was doing some cool things with it, but I've never heard one used on bass.

TS-just get a MIDI controller. Honestly, MIDI pickups on a stringed instrument are more or less reduced to mere novelty due to how touchy they are and how they are realistically un-usable. A MIDI controller will let you endlessly manipulate the instrument voices you're controlling, and you have constant software updates available to you. The controller itself remains the same, but as your knowledge of the software you use it with expands, so do the capabilities.

Plus-MIDI pickups on a bass are just plain stupid. End of story.

[BenJammin]

I'm going to agree with Sade completely on this one.

[Akira]

Didn't you only not get MIDI p'ups on your Stammy to keep the price down?

[Hardinge]

so MIDI pickups aren't worth the money?

I would only be using them to record ideas i had and composing stuff, learning keyboards or using power tab is gonna be the cheapest way to do that

[Raayl]

Didn't you only not get MIDI p'ups on your Stammy to keep the price down?

I wouldn't fault him for originally wanting all the frivolous "extras" on his already elaborately over-priced plank of wood with strings, only to later change his mind in realization of how absolutely stupid and useless some of them are.

[BenJammin]

I wouldn't fault him for originally wanting all the frivolous "extras" on his already elaborately over-priced plank of wood with strings, only to later change his mind in realization of how absolutely stupid and useless some of them are.

I love you too. :p

But, yeah. I did originally want them... like, 1.5 years ago. And then I realized they didn't track well and were kind of lame.

I'd much rather do my MIDI work with a keyboard.

Btw, I got Reason 4.0 and all installed and stuff.

[oak tree]

reason i'd get midi pickups on a bass is to do drums and violins/pads etc. for live looping stuff without having to take a bunch of keyboard gear, and to a lesser extend to subtly mix with my bass signal to experiment with new timbres and textures

[British Kid]

reason i'd get midi pickups on a bass is to do drums and violins/pads etc. for live looping stuff without having to take a bunch of keyboard gear, and to a lesser extend to subtly mix with my bass signal to experiment with new timbres and textures
thats what i would use MIDI pickups for.

using them in a studio setting or anything like that just seems pointless to me with plenty of good and cheap MIDI controllers available.

[Left Shoe]

they lag hard on bass, guitar can sort of handle them

[EADGC]

reason i'd get midi pickups on a bass is to do drums and violins/pads etc. for live looping stuff without having to take a bunch of keyboard gear, and to a lesser extend to subtly mix with my bass signal to experiment with new timbres and textures

This basically, and that's only because I suck at piano.

but if they're as bad as people say, I'd rather take the time to get better at keys and haul the gear around.

[oak tree]

Apparently the Roland GK-3b and GI-20 combo is supposed to have pretty good tracking if you can play cleanly enough, the only real complaint I've heard is that it converts even the tiniest inaudible things (like thumb moving on the strings when you move it over them to mute). It lags on low B strings too supposedly but is supposed to have pretty good response times right down to a low E. Of course there is a pitch shift function built into the gear though so you can just use high up notes where there are no tracking delay issues to record your drums and basslines too.

[Raayl]

reason i'd get midi pickups on a bass is to do drums and violins/pads etc. for live looping stuff without having to take a bunch of keyboard gear, and to a lesser extend to subtly mix with my bass signal to experiment with new timbres and textures

Yeah, that would be awesome if live solo bass wasn't absolutely stupid too.

[oak tree]

Solo bass is a niche and hobby market, it generally doesn't pay the bills but it is fun to do and to watch/listen to.

[Sammy_L_D]

it generally doesn't pay the bills

Music pays for bills?

[oak tree]

Quite a lot of peoples bills, actually.