a separate pickup for each guitar string- *update*

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ubertar
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Post by ubertar » Sun Jul 20, 2008 5:54 pm

I did a new sample, this time with some distortion (someone emailed saying they wanted to hear how it sounded distorted):

http://www.ubertar.com/creot/stereo2.mp3
(Please forgive the sloppy playing).

I made a breakout box last night with a 7 pin in and six 1/4" outs. Once the 7 pin cable gets here, I'll install one of these pickups in another guitar, with a 7 pin output jack. Much easier to do, and much more control of the sound is possible. Eliminates all the routing necessary for switches or pots.

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Post by space_ryerson » Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:12 pm

Pretty interesting. You know, you could use one of these pickups in the bridge position, and make a second one with thicker gauged wire for the neck position, make 6 LM386 based preamps and build a polyphonic sustainer! Well, it's slightly more complicated than that, but I like to dream.

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Post by ubertar » Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:20 am

Yeah, I've thought about making some sort of sustainer thing... maybe someday I'll get around to it.

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Post by GooberNumber9 » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:14 am

That's pretty cool - especially the rhythm sections. It's like double-tracking and hard panning in a single pass. Certain parts of the "solo" sound like two guitars trading back and forth with superhuman timing.

Even if you didn't pan it hard left and right, it would still be awesome for feeding two different amps, etc. Does this pickup fit in the same space as a regular strat pickup?

For the cable, what about a PS/2 style mini-DIN cable instead of the much larger 7-pin MIDI style?

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Post by ubertar » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:18 am

GooberNumber9 wrote:That's pretty cool - especially the rhythm sections. It's like double-tracking and hard panning in a single pass. Certain parts of the "solo" sound like two guitars trading back and forth with superhuman timing.

Even if you didn't pan it hard left and right, it would still be awesome for feeding two different amps, etc. Does this pickup fit in the same space as a regular strat pickup?

For the cable, what about a PS/2 style mini-DIN cable instead of the much larger 7-pin MIDI style?
It fits in the same space as a regular strat pickup. Here's a pic:
Image

I'm not familiar with ps/2 cables... not a gamer. But so long as it has at least 6 pins plus ground, that'll work fine. Maybe that's actually what I have? I can't imagine it being much smaller than the 7pin din I put in the breakout box. It's not much bigger than the 1/4" connectors. I'll post pics of the breakout box soon.

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Post by ubertar » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:38 am

Here's a couple pics of the breakout box. The case is a tin that held a deck of playing cards, nice and small. There are three 1/4" outs on each side. I'm still waiting for the 7 pin cable I ordered, so I haven't set up a pickup for this yet. Probably within a week.

Image

Image

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Post by Holy Wolf » Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:18 am

ubertar wrote:I did a new sample, this time with some distortion (someone emailed saying they wanted to hear how it sounded distorted):

http://www.ubertar.com/creot/stereo2.mp3
(Please forgive the sloppy playing).

I made a breakout box last night with a 7 pin in and six 1/4" outs. Once the 7 pin cable gets here, I'll install one of these pickups in another guitar, with a 7 pin output jack. Much easier to do, and much more control of the sound is possible. Eliminates all the routing necessary for switches or pots.

Is this recording one track? Is it recorded using the break out box?

I think I need to fucking get these pups NOW!!

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Post by ubertar » Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:34 am

Holy Wolf wrote:
ubertar wrote:I did a new sample, this time with some distortion (someone emailed saying they wanted to hear how it sounded distorted):

http://www.ubertar.com/creot/stereo2.mp3
(Please forgive the sloppy playing).

I made a breakout box last night with a 7 pin in and six 1/4" outs. Once the 7 pin cable gets here, I'll install one of these pickups in another guitar, with a 7 pin output jack. Much easier to do, and much more control of the sound is possible. Eliminates all the routing necessary for switches or pots.

Is this recording one track? Is it recorded using the break out box?

I think I need to fucking get these pups NOW!!
It's one guitar, played once. I guess I could have recorded it to one stereo track, but it's two mono tracks recorded simultaneously, which amounts to the same thing. It's recorded with the strat above, with the left/right switches. With the breakout box, I'll have much more control... full individual panning control for each string, separate amp and effect possibilities for each string. When the cable gets here, I'll set up another guitar with one of these pickups to use the breakout box, and post another demo, which should blow this one away.

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Post by GooberNumber9 » Thu Jul 24, 2008 12:37 pm

ubertar wrote:I'm not familiar with ps/2 cables... not a gamer. But so long as it has at least 6 pins plus ground, that'll work fine. Maybe that's actually what I have? I can't imagine it being much smaller than the 7pin din I put in the breakout box. It's not much bigger than the 1/4" connectors. I'll post pics of the breakout box soon.
Not really related to gaming, it's the last standard for Windows-based computer mouse and keyboard interfaces. The same connector was used for AppleTalk and Mac serial connections for many years.

See here:
http://www.action-electronics.com/ppdin.htm

Basically, it's a smaller size in the same style as the MIDI connectors. (MIDI = DIN, PS/2 = mini-DIN).

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Post by ubertar » Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:18 pm

GooberNumber9 wrote:
ubertar wrote:I'm not familiar with ps/2 cables... not a gamer. But so long as it has at least 6 pins plus ground, that'll work fine. Maybe that's actually what I have? I can't imagine it being much smaller than the 7pin din I put in the breakout box. It's not much bigger than the 1/4" connectors. I'll post pics of the breakout box soon.
Not really related to gaming, it's the last standard for Windows-based computer mouse and keyboard interfaces. The same connector was used for AppleTalk and Mac serial connections for many years.

See here:
http://www.action-electronics.com/ppdin.htm

Basically, it's a smaller size in the same style as the MIDI connectors. (MIDI = DIN, PS/2 = mini-DIN).
Cool, thanks for the tip. It's too late for me, I've got the din stuff (still waiting for the cable) but others might want to go that way. The din isn't very big though-- it doesn't bother me. Plus the cable is meant for audio... the other one is probably fine, but I have no regrets. Good prices on the site you linked at.

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Post by ubertar » Fri Aug 01, 2008 12:25 pm

The 7 pin din cable finally came, late yesterday... so I installed a hexaphonic pickup in another guitar, with a 7 pin out, and plugged in to the breakout box. So far, I've just tested each output on the box to make sure everything is working right, and it is. It's kind of fun strumming chords with just one string at a time amplified. It makes you aware of what's going on on that string in a chord progression.

The best thing about installing this was there was no routing necessary. The only modification I had to do was cut a hole in the pickguard for the 7 pin jack. The jacks are only a little bigger than a 1/4" jack, and the cable is actually thinner than a 1/4" cable. I wouldn't go with a mini din, as has been suggested. The din is small enough.

The hex pickup is only connected to the din out, so it doesn't interfere at all with the original pickups that go to the 1/4". I set the 3 way switch so the middle position combines neck and bridge. So you can just plug in to the 1/4" and use the guitar normally also, or use the hex and the regular pickups at the same time.

I'll try to put up a demo soon... it'll take longer this time b/c there are so many possibilities with this.

Image
Image

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Post by ubertar » Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:07 pm

Here's my first experiment with 7 pin madness:
http://www.ubertar.com/creot/hex_demo1.mp3

Listen in headphones, if you can. I used a binaural plug for the panning.

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Post by Aj » Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:27 pm

Impressive. Is that latest clip just one live guitar take - with each string sent to 6 individually processed tracks?
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Post by ubertar » Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:38 pm

Aj wrote:Impressive. Is that latest clip just one live guitar take - with each string sent to 6 individually processed tracks?
Thanks, and yes.

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Post by calaverasgrandes » Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:54 pm

dude, now i have to buy like 5 more amps!
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