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We’ve been dialoging with a user about the Antares/MIDI Designer integration. As a small startup, we learn a lot from our users. Here is user Marty, educating us on the Peavey AT-200 integration.

Antares writes their instrument emulation software in three ‘packages’ … Essential Pack ($99), Pro Pack ($199) and Complete Pack ($299) … each of which features various instruments, tunings and features.

The instrument samples are truly amazing, being taken from some very expensive guitar models costing tens of thousands of dollars, each. You really have to hear the sound produced by this software’s instrument samples to understand what this means for average guitarists like me.

Basically, I purchased my Peavey AT200 guitar for $420 from Amazon (they’ve since raised the price) plus $45 for a special midi Y-cable and $50 for a particular midi converter (that will permit two way midi and let software be transferred from the Internet and into the guitar) and $20 for the MidiDesigner software for my iPad 3. First, I had to emulate a Windows PC on my 15″ MacBook Pro since their software won’t be loaded on a Mac (yet?). Then their Internet software purchase and transfer into the guitar. I purchased the top $299 Complete Package and I’m hoping they add even more instrument samples, eventually.

Once the software is loaded (one time) into the guitar, you won’t need the computer except for upgrades. After that, you can use either what they call “fret control” … basically pressing one knob on the guitar and activating a feature by striking a particular string and while pressing down a particular fret in combination and then releasing that special knob … for instance, to activate the Acoustic Guitar model, press the guitars volume knob and strike a bass G note (sixth string, 3rd fret) and while it is ringing, release the knob.

Obviously, using the iPad with Midi Designer makes these tasks much faster and easier to accomplish than the “fret control” method does. The same midi box, Y-cable but now the iPad (with USB adapter) controls the guitar’s features simply and effectively. It also makes it simple to combine many features into pre-sets … you can select a guitar model’s pickups, select the pickup switch position, the tuning, string doubling style, capo setting, etc. and setting this in Midi Designer as a Preset which can then be activated either by tapping a ‘fret control preset’ or just pressing one of the available, numerical presets in Midi Designer.

The only reason I would like to have an iPhone version of the software is that I always carry my iPhone with me. But, I can easily live without it.