So, end of day one with my new Modulus Q6-based midi system: a Graph Tech Ghost bridge and Hexpander driving a Roland GR-55. Made lots of discoveries and had some suspicions/second-hand knowledge confirmed.
First, the obvious parts: B-string tracking is pretty worthless for PCM (i.e., synth) sounds unless you're playing very long and slow notes, especially below the 7th fret. (But we all knew that.) What I find interesting is that a lot of people I see on YouTube don't seem to understand the difference between the PCM component, which is basically a pure midi note triggering a synth tone, and the modeling and pickup component, which is more like effects applied to an analog signal. I see people playing stuff, and they say, "It tracks great!" But in many cases, especially if any low frequencies are involved, they're hearing a "COSM" sound that is mainly a "live" signal or a modeled tone (which track perfectly) mixed with a PCM tone (which does not). When you hear the two elements together, however, it sounds okay.
So, second-hand knowledge confirmed: a midi bass setup like this works best when it's blending "real" analog tones with a PCM tone. When the crummy tracking that makes PCM-only sounds start to glitch comes into play in this scenario, who cares? Because the analog part is still coming through. Listen closely, however, and you discover that your PCM Mini Moog bass layer is glitching hard in the lower registers.
So that brings me to the next part: if you want to play a pure PCM sound on a rig like this, brace yourself. Say, for example, you're like me: son of a jazz keyboard player, grew up with a Fender Rhodes in the house, etc., and you want to play some nice chords on your new midi bass rig. Well, that requires some serious tweaking: string sensitivity, damper pedal mode, on and on. It is pretty cool when you get it close to dialed in. You can bang through the chords to Stella by Starlight and use the controller pedal as a sustain pedal: hit the chord, stand on the pedal, and play some tasty keyboard licks over top of the chords. Problem is, the tracking gets more glitchy the lower the actual pitch coming from the string. So if you're playing riffs on the A to C strings, you're mostly going to be fine, but things start to get wobbly on the A, even wobblier on the E, and pretty much suck on the B string.
I'm okay with the fact that you have to basically articulate (i.e., pick) every note: slides and slurs don't mean much to a PCM Fender Rhodes patch. You just get a glitchy "Huh?" from the synth. But wow. The tracking quality diminishes so significantly once you get to the E and the B, and is even flirting with glitchiness on the A, that you start to feel constrained. I seriously said to myself today: Hell, I should just learn to play keyboard.
Lastly, here's an interesting idea I tried out. Said to myself: Okay, this thing has serious problems tracking low frequencies. Makes sense. It's lower cycles per second, harder to read. So what if you swapped out your lower strings with higher strings? Instead of a B string at 120, put on a D string and tune it down to a B (octave of the real thing). Then, just set your synth to play that string an octave lower. Easy peasy. Then, what the heck? You may as well do the same with the E string! Put on a G string and tune it down to an E (octave of the real thing). Same with the A string: put on a C and tune it down to an A (octave of the real thing). You would now have a six-string stringed as follows: D, G, C, D, G, C! Sounds crazy, but it should work! Just go in and tune the lower D, G, C to B, E, A (because you can do this with a midi instrument). Great idea in theory, but guess what? The Graph Tech saddles hook up to a circuit board that has assigned frequency ranges for each string. Doh! So you can't rig your bass up this way, either. It actually works until about the 17th fret, after which the circuit board flakes out and you get nothing. Otherwise, it freaking works like a charm! You can totally play pure synth (PCM) sounds and get superb tracking and articulation without glitching.
Anyhow, sorry for the long ramble. I've spent a whole day messing with this new setup just to find myself thinking, Why don't you just stick to bass?
