You Rock Guitar

[chamelion]

Hi all,

Yesterday I happened to stumble upon a You Tube clip featuring a MIDI guitar controller called You Rock Guitar. At first glance it seemed a bit hokey because it has a mode that allows it to work with Guitar Hero and various game devices, but some of the actual playing people are doing with this thing is pretty awesome. The last MIDI guitar I had any experience with was so bad that you could hit a note, go and have a cup of tea and a lay down before the note decided to sound. Well almost. But this thing seems to have around zero latency, and a lot of very useful-sounding features. At around $300, it's either a bunch of junk, or something worth buying as a MIDI controller. I've been making local enquiries here in Sydney Australia, but no one here seems to have heard of it. It's worth taking a look at some of the You Tube clips just to see what it seems to be able to do - including a whammy bar that doesn't glitch, and a cool mod joy stick that gives a very realistic vibrato. I'm just curious to know if any of the gang has one, or knows anything (good or bad) about it.

Cheers,

Geoff

[mjc]

Hi Chamelion,

there's a detailed and very positive review in Sound On Sound mag: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug11/a ... guitar.htm

and some others online. It looks pretty good to me. After false starts with an Ibanez in the late '80s, a Roland controller in the 90's and now a VG99, I'm wondering what the heck I was thinking! MIDI is great and so are guitars. Perhaps You Rock is the perfect marriage? Go for it!

Mike

[Prime Mover]

Yeah, my buddy got one about 9 months back. At one point, I had forgotten to bring my bass to an open mic he was hosting, and he asked me to come up and play with him. I had my keyboard rig with Jambalaya running. I grabbed the You Rock Guitar, initiated an instance of Scarbee M-Bass and just started playing. Worked pretty well. Only thing that takes some getting used to is that you can't do fret-hand string muting (obviously). I think he got it for way under $300, more like $175 or something, but maybe I'm mistaken.

I mean, it's a frigging toy. It looks like candy, feels like trash, but it works.

[chamelion]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Much appreciated. And Mike, that review was pretty illuminating. I might just buy myself a shiny new plastic thingy for Christmas. I've played guitar for most of my adult life, but I developed a carpal-tunnel-like problem that's made it difficult to exert enough wrist pressure on either hand to play a regular guitar without pain. It may be that this little beastie, with a little practice, may be just what the doctor ordered.

Cheers,

Geoff

[mjc]

Good luck with it Geoff! Let us know how it turns out. I may put on one my birthday list. I'm forever explaining to my wife how it's simply impossible to have TOO MANY guitars.

Mike

[daniel.sneed]

[...]I'm forever explaining to my wife how it's simply impossible to have TOO MANY guitars[...]

Advice tested in real life: sell one from time to time and you're up and running!

[mjc]

Daniel

Sadly that trick did not work for me.
The outgoing were unnoticed.
The incoming, however........

Mike

[daniel.sneed]

Don't let it take you down. Look at this as an occasion to learn how to be a better actor instead!

[Prime Mover]

I'm forever explaining to my wife how it's simply impossible to have TOO MANY guitars.

Oh, I know how: each one comes with a guitarist.

[NazRat]

It tracks OK, but you generally have to be spot on picking and open strings are problematic. I think the more useful mode is the tap mode where you can play left hand only (right and upside down for you leftys). It takes some getting use to, but I think it tracks better - the only thing is you have to pick open strings. 1st position is problematic either way. The new version may have some improvements.