Design MIDI Interface Ion All Star Guitar

Question

Hi All!

I got Midi Designer in hopes of creating an interface for the "strumming" portion of the Ion All Star Guitar.

I purchased the Ion All Star Guitar for $30.00 on clearance in a local store in hopes of using it as a MiDI controller with iOS apps such iMini, Thor, Garage Band, Cubasis, Music Studio, etc. I was just starting my trek into iOS music at the time and had ideas that slightly exceeded reality.

Things I had hoped to incorporate were using the accelerometer to control vibrato, pitch bends, etc. Creating a strumming and right handed picking interface is the priority at the moment.

As guitar being the instrument I am fluent in, I also can play keyboards to a limited degree, but would really like to use guitar based MIDI control.

I am not sure how many musicians purchased the Ion All Star Guitar versus those who bought it more for what it largely is, a toy.

There is of course an obvious solution: purchase the Fishmann Triple Play or the Roland system for guitar based MIDI control.

I am on a budget and resources  to buy a professional solution are best used for car repairs, textbooks for my wife's class, etc.

I had attempted several times to create what I was looking for and without any success gave up a year ago. I am definitely a newbie using this tool and would like to change that.

Any help would be appreciated!
Boscovec

Comments

are you able to get the Ion MIDI controller to control apps to produce note-ons and offs? What kind of input can you get from the Ion to MIDI Designer?

Thanks!

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Wow!

That was fast!

Yes it effectively controls every app I have tried to use it with as for note information, note on, and note off. The neck is the "keyboard" of the thing. It works quite well as that. I do have a lot of "hammer-on" technique I use so I could compensate that way if I really want to.

It works in GarageBand, Cubasis, Thor, iMini, SynthX, Music Studio, WI Guitar, SunVox, and ThumbJam. Those are the apps I have played with it.

Midi Bridge makes an app that reads MIDI data that might be useful to try, just to see what the thing does generate.

I emailed Ion Audio support to see if there was any technical information such as firmware, actual MIDI data, etc. they could provide me. It appears to be a "one off" product that doesn't even get a mention on their "legacy" products page.

When I get time I will try MidiVision from Audeonic to see what actual data is passed from the All Star Guitar. It is free, so devoting some time is the only hold up.

I was hoping people in the community might have something to add. This is fairly soon for a post to get answered or viewed by a lot of people. The device was very inexpensive so I couldn't pass it up and if it could be made to do what I want it to, I am sure there are other guitarists who could benefit from this information.

Another thing I have planned to try with it is to get some conductive foam to make contact with the touch screen and insert wire into it to give an electrical contact and tactile feel to playing it. This is similar to trying to make a home made stylus.

I also purchased the Elago guitar pick stylus and that was a bit better than just my fingers on the touch screen, but still far from what I am after.


Thanks for the fast response.
Boscovec

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Well, one thing is that MIDI Designer has a log, too (More -> Log)... but really, if you can get the guitar to control what you want, MD would be great to add functionality to that. You could use the accelerometer of MD, but you'd have to affix it to your guitar somehow. That's actually been done before.

Have you seen this? http://mididesigner.com/qa/2384/accelerometer-controlled-guitar-effects