So far, the only guitars to benefit from the whole new horizon MIDI processing offered were the electric ones, either bass or common guitars. All you had to do was properly mount the so common Roland GK2 MIDI pickup on your guitar, stick the output connector on your axe, plug in and rock the house through a MIDI synth guitar processor of your choice, such as the popular Roland VG series.
Just now, it seems very weird how people could not think for many years about doing the same with acoustic guitars as well! What has stopped them from engineering up this piece of tech I really can't imagine - nevertheless, I must salute the joint efforts of Carvin (world-leader in musical gear, Steve Vai endorser) and Graph Tech Guitar Labs!
These two groups of devoted people have managed to bring new definitions to the conjoined "Acoustic" and "MIDI"
terms: the NS1. NS1 is basically a Carvin top-notch acoustical, nylon-stringed guitar tuned by Graph Tech. And tuning that was...
Besides the state-of-the-art overall construction of the guitar that Carvin has come with, we must consider the awesome piezo pickup inside the guitar and the active circuitry it pumps sound into: a three-band active EQ directly on the guitar itself and a finger away from the discerning guitarist, relying on stacked pots which not only control your bass and highs but also operate on your sound in terms of certain mids cutting or boosting so you can virtually "go anywhere" with the NS1.
Graph Tech provided with the key element needed for the completion of this awesome piece of acoustical tech and opening before it the doors to unlimited MIDI performance: the Hexaphonic pickup. As the name says it already, the Hexaphonic pickup is a MIDI pickup which will get signals not from 6 strings at a time but from each of them at a time.
Relying on the Carvin's paste expertise with string-to-string trimming, Graph Tech managed to create a MIDI pickup designed especially for the acoustic use and which finally allows for the ultimate level of control. By means of the provided 13-pin MIDI cable, the Hexaphonic-equipped NS1 will send MIDI signals to any of the guitar processors mentioned in the beginning (or others compatible), any MIDI - compliant DAW and so on.
Even more, it is the player itself who can decide the output balance between the common piezo-acoustical signal and the digital component. Now, imagine the possibilities: hum-free operation and virtually any effect addable in absolute perfect conditions, from the classic ones to the most synthesis-affected ones!
And if this isn't enough, you can simply plug a common guitar cable in your NS1 and play as if you never heard of MIDI synthesis/processing: the piezo pickup will still give you the warm and beloved sound Carvin has gotten us used to for so may decades now. For further information and more in-depth materials, you can go
here.
Available at a discount price ($1,299)
here.
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