2 or more "midi" guitars into 1 synth

[kenact]

I know Roland makes a GKP-4 to plug 1 midi guitar into up to 4 synths, but does anyone know of a stomp box that will let me plug 2 or more guitars into 1 synth?

I have an LGXT and I'm thinking of adding a GK-3 pup to my Dano Baritone. I'd like to plug them both into my GR-20 and play them one at a time, without having to turn off and disconnect everything.

[Anderton]

I don't know of any footswitch, but a MIDI Merger box (as made by MIDI Solutions, try Google) would let you plug in both guitars and send the combined data to the synth. Whichever guitar you played would be the one to which the synth would respond.

[kenact]

Sorry I wasn't clear, I'm looking to take the output from two 13 pin GK pups into a single GR-20. Technically it isn't midi yet.

Thanks for the reply, if your the same Craig Anderton who authored of Electronic Projects for Musicians, amoung others, I've been reading your stuff for years.

[Anderton]

Sorry I wasn't clear, I'm looking to take the output from two 13 pin GK pups into a single GR-20. Technically it isn't midi yet.

Thanks for the reply, if your the same Craig Anderton who authored of Electronic Projects for Musicians, amoung others, I've been reading your stuff for years.

If the projects worked, then I'm the same Craig Anderton. If they didn't, I'm not :) so go blame that "other guy"!

[Anderton]

As to 13-pin switchers...sorry, don't know of any. Anyone?

[germanicus2112]

Could you possibly use a roland us-20?

It performs the inverse function, ie it allows you to use one guitar to drive two 13 pin units simultaneously.
It has one 13 pin input, and 2 13 pin outputs, allowing you to send your signal out of either 13 pin output, or both.

Maybe its possible to simply reverse the path?

[Nik]

I was under the imprression that the Roalnd US-20 can work in either direction - but I may be wrong.

[kenact]

If the projects worked, then I'm the same Craig Anderton. If they didn't, I'm not :) so go blame that "other guy"!

If I'm not mistaken, didn't you write for an electronics mag in the 70's? I remember building a phase shifter from one of them and combining a fuzz in the same box, but I replaced the 9v with an internal power supply. It was pretty cool and looked kind of funky. I fitted it into an old 6x4x3 transistor radio housing. I used it for several years.

Nice to finally "meet" you.

[kenact]

Could you possibly use a roland us-20?

It performs the inverse function, ie it allows you to use one guitar to drive two 13 pin units simultaneously.
It has one 13 pin input, and 2 13 pin outputs, allowing you to send your signal out of either 13 pin output, or both.

Maybe its possible to simply reverse the path?

I was under the imprression that the Roalnd US-20 can work in either direction - but I may be wrong.

Thanks, I'll ask around some more before I actually go out and buy one. Just curious, that unit has an A/B switch and a Both switch, I wonder what would happen if you selected Both? Could it go

BOOM :)

[NyteOwl]

Could you possibly use a roland us-20?

It...allows you to use one guitar to drive two 13 pin units simultaneously.
It has one 13 pin input, and 2 13 pin outputs, allowing you to send your signal out of either 13 pin output, or both.

Maybe its possible to simply reverse the path?

I was under the imprression that the Roalnd US-20 can work in either direction - but I may be wrong.

Thanks, I'll ask around some more before I actually go out and buy one. Just curious, that unit has an A/B switch and a Both switch, I wonder what would happen if you selected Both? Could it go

BOOM :)I seriously doubt it. Since the GR-20 processes guitar chords with ease, hitting the Both switch would merely cause it to process a few more notes. The key point is, you don't intend to play both guitars at the same time, so should you accidentally hit the both switch, you'd still be getting synth input from a single guitar, not two. Don't know about you, but I always back my guitar and synth volume controls down to zero when I put the guitar in a stand, so if you do that, you won't evn get a signal from the "idle" guitar if you accidentally hit the both switch.

[kenact]

I seriously doubt it. Since the GR-20 processes guitar chords with ease, hitting the Both switch would merely cause it to process a few more notes. The key point is, you don't intend to play both guitars at the same time, so should you accidentally hit the both switch, you'd still be getting synth input from a single guitar, not two. Don't know about you, but I always back my guitar and synth volume controls down to zero when I put the guitar in a stand, so if you do that, you won't evn get a signal from the "idle" guitar if you accidentally hit the both switch.

Thanks Jack. I was just being SILLY :)

[cincy_cosmo]

IF the US-20 can be used backwards, if BOTH is used, then the net result will be poor tracking as the unused guitar will pick up noise that will confuse the tracking. Remember the idea of the GK-2/3 is to divide the signal of each string. If a 'logical' sting combines input from two guitars, ie, two pitches, the tracking will not work.

I am not the authority, but I remember seeing some diagrams of home made US-20s a long time ago and I think they had a rectifier in the circuit. That would mean it only works one direction.

I could be totally wrong, but, if you buy one, make sure you understand the return policy of your store.

[AXEL276]

With the GR-20, you have to set the sensitivity for each different midi guitar. When I had my GR-20 I would have to do this each time I switched from my Godin XTAS and strat with GK-2A pickup. I have since sold the GR-20 and bought a GR-33 which allows you to store multi guitar sensitivity settings. So even if you could hook 2 midi guitars into one GR-20 your still going to have tracking/sensitivity problems.