I didn’t know there was a such thing as a hex pickup, but I am interested in reducing latency and tracking for live playing. I am running the latest Reaper 7 on a MacBook Air M4 (newest gen as of now). I can play with a NeuralAmpModeler plugin and not feel any latency, but introduce MidiGuitar 2 or 3 and playing to VSTi synths the latency is very apparent to me, despite the same sample rate and block size.
will a Hex pickup also correct for “ghost notes” or midi notes just triggered from string noise?
The reality is that even the most advanced pitch-to-MIDI conversion systems require time to complete calculations, albeit a blazing fast process. There is plenty of literature on the subject. The Vguitar forum is an excellent resource.
There is no commercially available retrofitted hardware or software system with under approximately 10ms latency for notes on the high E string. It’s even greater on the lower pitches. Add in processing time for your interface.
Whether or not you can tolerate this is a very personal matter.
All that said, MG3 Hex in combo with a GK pickup and compatible hardware is the best pitch-to-MIDI conversion experience I’ve encountered and I’ve tried everything that has been released since 1995 — except a Rob O’Reilly guitar.
I love hex and can’t go back. Beyond MG3 Hex, there are just so many things you can do with it if you’re thinking creatively about guitar. I would recommend it to anybody who has the bandwidth to deal with the additional complexity. But, I also suggest that you get comfortable with the regular MG3 tracker and then move to hex when you hit your limits.
Ok thank you. MidiGuitar 2 has been excellent for pads and thick luscious chorded stuff, but I have wanted to be able to play some piano parts.
I will look more into the gate setting.
when it comes to hex pickups as a product, do you have any recommendations? I’ve seen modular stuff on Sweetwater which would be more acceptable to me, versus wiring up a replacement pickup
does sweetwater carry options other than graphtech? the hexpander has many users, it works well for me.
the subsix is also an effective option, especially if you already have a 6+ channel audio interface.
generally though, you won’t experience a significant improvement latency-wise between hex and standard.
some hex benefits:
better for slide guitar
map specific instruments to fretboard zones
alt-tunings
tablature entry
mute selected strings
there is the ‘b’ string trick, which does shave off 2-3msec, this can only be done with hex. using all ‘b’ strings mg3 reports 4msec latency on my system. the same guitar with standard strings is usually at 6-7.
it’s about as simple a mod as you can get - replace all of your guitar strings with ‘b’ strings. but you do have to have a hex pickup.
pitch detection on lower notes requires a few extra milliseconds. this method eliminates those, and now that mg3hex has per string tuning one can re-tune the b strings to standard or alt tunings.
Hex helps a lot with complex 5 and 6 note cords. Hex helps with different setups (like mute open strings, zones and many other possibilities).Hex will not help with latency and tracking of single notes. Those issues can be worked out but no Hex is needed for that.
Hex sure makes a difference for me for everything, I have been a midi guitar guy going all the way back to the 70’s when we used a pitch rider. Triple play was where I was satisfied somewhat until I tried the hex with a GP 10 and no looking back
My way of using Hex might be convoluted, but it is super accurate and expressive. I have the Boss GK5 pickup going to the Boss GKC-DA that converts to the 13pin connector. This connects to the separate-strings.co.uk 13pin to analog out breakout that goes into 6 line channels of my interface. This allows me to use a very flexible cable with the GK5 pickup and dial in the gain for each string. As with others, I have used pretty much every other MIDI guitar system on the market since the early 80’s and this is as good as it gets (I even had the Rob O’Riley system but sent it back). I finally have a system that allows me to play and program MIDI in a way that I was never able to with a keyboard controller. Thanks @JamO for this wonderful system!
Do you mind sharing a few key points of why you returned the Rob O’Reilly?
I’m on the fence about it. Obviously the cost is one hurdle the other one for me is that I like the idea of saving everything in MG3 as a preset. One click and it’s ready to go.
It just didn’t play like I needed it to. I had 2 video calls with Rob and he even did some custom firmware. But the 2 big things for me were the pitch bends in MPE ±48 mode were a little latent from the pitch detection and it didn’t slide down notes well (some glitching). This might not be a big deal to some, but it really affected the way I wanted to play. The tracking was actually really good, but in the end, MG3 Hex was just a better fit and lets me use the guitar I want (not that their guitars are bad, they play excellent). Just more options with MG3 and it responds how I need it to. They do back up their return policy. I was able to really put it through its paces and still was able to get a full refund. Great company, and they have some other great options like the pads (they are amazing).
