Re: [LAU] Suzuki QC1 Qchord Digital Songcard Guitar

From: Stephen Stubbs <theother1510@email-addr-hidden>
Date: Mon May 10 2010 - 01:00:39 EEST

Niels Mayer wrote:

 
The Q-Chord is quite interesting, and yes, I have one: http://www.qchord.net/
http://www.qchord.net/docs/qchord-manual.pdf ... alas half my strum plate is no longer working after taking it on a trip... (otherwise they're quite solid and I've had mine for years, including having kids "play" it).

It's got some very weird midi mappings... basically you have to send it's midi to a GM Synth and it uses all GM channels simultaneously. Perhaps to prevent "midi overload" while strumming, it appears to send out its strum plate midi over three different channels.. so unless you have all those channels on the same voice, you get a very odd effect (which i guess someone might use to good effect... each string ends up playing a different sounding instrument).

The worst part is you really can't turn off the "rhythm accompaniment" ... and even in "EZ-Play" mode (where the rhythm/backing crud is turned off and you can just play), it appears to output spurious midi anyways. Nothing that a little midi-filtering can't solve. I tried hooking this up to a Roland JP8000 to allow for some knob-twiddling while strumming, but it is truly a midi-mapping nightmare.----------------

Not encouraging news. My plan was to use the QC1 as a source for midi input into a sequencer, like Rosegarden 10 'Thorn'.

On page 41 of the Qchord manual it shows Channels 14, 15, and 16 are the Strumplate. I would like to record in Rosegarden on those tracks with the QC1 shown as MIDI hardware input device 1 (my MIDI is going through the Audigy2 ZS Midi daughterboard with the Soundblaster MIDI/Game Port attachment/cables; yes, I still like the old reliable hardware from nearly 20 years ago. GRIN). I would set 3 different Rosegarden tracks to use (on the Recording Filters section of the Track Parameters pane) Channel 14, Channel 15, and Channel 16. I would set the Playback Paraments for those tracks to my sound modules (outboard Roland Sound modules.)

Are you saying that the Qchord also sends out the 'rhythm accompanient' on those channels as well? The manual is stating that Channel 3 is Chord Plus (whatever that is), Channel 5 is Auto Chord 1, Channel 6 is Auto Chord 2, Channel 7 is Auto Chord 3, Channel 8 is Auto Chord 4, Channel 9 is Bass, and Channel 10 is Drums.

On page 34 of the manual it talks about Selecting Additional Strumplate Voices (appears to be the standard MIDI voice layout, with 00 for acoustic piano0, 01 for piano1, etc.) I would think that one could select 25 for Acoustic Steel Guitar, hit the Strumplate, and only the Acoustic Steel Guitar voice would send a MIDI stream out through Channels 14, 15, and 16. If I had Rosegarden recording the MIDI on those tracks and playing back to my sound module, possibly I'd hear the Acoustic Steel Guitar through my Roland sound module's output. If Rosegarden wasn't sending in real-time the QC1 MIDI stream to the Roland gear, I assume I could always hear what I was playing through the speaker/headphones on the QC1 for monitoring purposes.

Have you tried anything like that yet?

And if you using QC1 in single voice mode (as described on page 34), can you still use the chord buttons to have the QC1 play an F chord (for instance), and then strum or pick on the Strumplate and have the Acoustic Steel Guitar stay in an F chord?

Given the nature of my large hands with short, stubby fingers, I find it very difficult to cleanly play my Renaissance Lute. I've got a nice lute soundfont that I can load up into Rosegarden (or through another soft synth linked into Rosegarden if necessary). So I'm looking at the QC1 and Rosegarden as an alternative to my lute.

Do you think this is something that is possible to do with the QC1?

Thanks Niels,
Stephen.

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Received on Mon May 10 04:15:01 2010

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