Who uses MIDI?

[BobKat]

Until now, the only thing I have ever used MIDI for was to use my 1986 Yamaha Clavinova to power a Kurzweil module, so that I could get more realistic piano sounds. Simple matter, really- just hook up the cable to the Kurzweil and go. Fairly brainless, which is good for me.

Anyway, I have always really loved the idea of doing a solo act- just going to clubs and coffeehouses and playing my guitar- it's the kind of thing I think suits me really well, as I am not a technically brilliant guitar player but I love to entertain- to me that's what music is all about. But most of what I love to sing has harmonies that are really necessary to the flavor of the song (Beatles, Byrds, Petty, etc...) so I have not done it. The only guy I have ever met that I would seriously consider doing a duo with lives in Arizona...: ( Soooo, where am I going with this?

Last week, I had the chance to snap up a Digitech VHM5 Vocalist *dirt* cheap. It's the original 1991 model. It sounds great and I have been goofing happily with it. However, the options for changing keys for the harmonies are somewhat limited. There's a keypad on the unit- obviously that's not an option. I can use a footswitch and step through the chord changes as I play- but I do not want that distraction. Or, it can use a MIDI instrument to receive chords or notes and change the chords accordingly. Which is great if you are a keyboard player.

Now I am trying to figure out what my options are. I could use a sequencing program to record a MIDI track with a click track and chord changes entered from a keyboard, and play that back in my ear as I play. The chord changes will act on the Vocalist. But the idea of the click track in my ear is not so attractive, and will take away from my monitoring of my live performance.

I have downloaded and tested a couple of programs that convert WAV data to MIDI in realtime, and tried that with my guitar as the input. It really did not track the chords as well as it should and I got a lot of false chords.

Does anyone have experience with a similar situation? I know the new Digitech Vocalist Live 4 can recognize guitar chords and do key changes on the fly, but that is out of my extremely tight budget. I was hoping to solve this with software. Anyway, if you got this far I appreciate it. And any recommendations you have on a good sequencing software for someone who wants to use MIDI in a live solo act would be very helpful.

[jdogric12]

Sorry, Bob, I'm stumped.

[BobKat]

To be more general: Do any of you use MIDI in live performance?

[hieronymous]

I would suggest the Roland PK-5 MIDI bass pedals, but you said you are on a tight budget, and they are expensive.

Sorry I can't help!

[tony_carey]

Bob, unless you use some form of sequencer with it, I think you are pretty well stumped. It would mean a click track, which takes us down the road of playing to a backing track & putting the harmonies on that (along with anything else you may wish to add). Midi sequencing on stage can be a nightmare....I know from experience! Unexpected power fluctuations can reset the device & it can also be prone to unexpected programme changes etc. As Hieronymous suggests, midi foot pedals may be worth a look at.