Signal Strength

Bass Guitar
MIDI Controller

If you're more comfortable with a bass guitar than a keyboard or if you're a bassist looking to add more depth to your sound, check out the Midi Bass guitar from Industrial Radio. Based in Australia, it's the latest brain-child of Steve Chick, the man behind a number of MIDI bass guitars since the late 1980s including the Peavy Cyberbass. Building on all that experience, Steve has come up with an innovative combination of pickups with sensors running the length of the neck in addition to tension-sensing saddles and the usual piezo pickups beneath the bridge.

Bass Guitar MIDI Controller

 
A quick look reveals a few extra controls and a small backlit LCD display on the upper body. A quick flick of a switch and the guitar can precisely control synths or samplers to add greater depth to your sound or produce entirely new sounds the like of which haven't been heard before.

Latency (the time between playing a note and hearing it) is as little as 5 milliseconds (one two-hundredth of a second), though this can depend on your playing style. The guitar connects to a control box with interfaces for a traditional foot-switch, a MIDI foot pedal, and the all-important MIDI output. This lets you hook up one or more synths or samplers or a Mac- or PC-based DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) with its additional virtual instruments. Additionally the Midi Bass guitar offers two magnetic pickups, balance control, and EQ.

From the manufacturer:

Both bass guitar and MIDI controller, the Industrial Radio Midi Bass gives you the ability to plug into and accurately control hardware and software synths and samplers direct from the bass. Now you can double your natural bass tone with classic, synth bass sounds or trigger any kind of sample or synth sound you can imagine.

Price is $3995, though the Midi Bass is currently available only direct from Australia, so remember to add shipping and any customs charges.

Links: www.industrialradio.com.au

Date posted: October 7, 2009
 

 

Share with others...

        

 
RSS  Make the news come to you: get our regular RSS Newsfeed. (Tell me more)

Got a story? Something you want to tell the world? Tell us about it...
 

Weebot

More