Brooklyn-based musician, Nick Demopoulos, sits down with Rebecca Ambrose to talk about his DIY MIDI guitar thing – The Smomid.
Demopoulos plays it at bars and venues around the Brooklyn and New York area.
Brooklyn-based musician, Nick Demopoulos, sits down with Rebecca Ambrose to talk about his DIY MIDI guitar thing – The Smomid.
Demopoulos plays it at bars and venues around the Brooklyn and New York area.
I’d rather have that controller David Vorhaus had 30 years ago!
I get the idea behind the DIY thing but do we really need another midi guitar? I am an audio engineer in the Bay Area, (I do monitors and FOH) and you wanna know how many midi guitars I’v seen used in the past 3 years? ONE, and it was kinda lame. I guess I just don’t see the point, because all the signal in the end becomes control messages. So Launchpad, IPad, Lemur, midi guitar, or keyboard. The only true change is the approach to expression and showmanship, that being said nobody seems to be using them (midi guitars) live, and to play it around the house with no one to impress, I don’t see the point.
Sorry for being a negitive nancy, I just feel if all we are doing is figuring out new layouts for buttons or touch resistance instead of focusing on healing the broken ass music industry all we are doing is pushing buttons and changing resistance. I say put your iPad down for a week go back to doing something tangible. Am I, any one I know, or any one on here ever going to buy this guy’s new design probably not. it’s neat to look at, but not very realistic
But you’re forgetting – on stage, guitars are cool, whereas keyboards and tablets are not. Hank Marvin knew that in 1962. This is not a MIDI guitar, but it is a rather nice controller that – even as a prototype – looks cool and interesting. I get a lot of admiration for my single-strip CV synth controller, but may now have to make a multi-strip device like this, and give it a more “guitar” look. Nice one.
There aren’t any affordable MIDI guitars that work well. By which I mean play like a regular guitar and respond without glitches and “ghost notes.”
As soon as Fender makes a solid MIDI guiar that looks and plays like a Strat, you’ll be seeing them all the time.
Yes the world needs more MIDI guitars, but ones that WORK. The YouRock guitar is barely usable and the current HEX systems are flaky at best. The Z-guitars are too goddamn expensive and don’t feel enough like guitars. That’s about all the options available.
Hi, this is Nick, the guy in the video above. I just stumbled upon this and while reading the comments, just felt I had to respond to Negative Nancy. Firstly I appreciate your opinion and can relate to much of what you are stating. I think a lot about this instrument and me don’t come through in this video. One thing is you are right, you are never going to buy my instrument because I have no intention of making this a commercial product. I made it for me to play. You are right that all midi guitars are shitty to play and sound shitty which is why I made this mutherfucker. My instrument is not a midi guitar, but it is in the shape of a guitar (sort of). The advantage I have is that everything about my instrument is completely programmable so I can make my own sounds if I don’t like what I hear. Another point is that I am using this instrument to perform quite often all over New York. I also perform on guitar all the time with a long list of great musicians, so I am not just playing in a bedroom. One last point: I am quite happy that the music industry is broken and I don’t care to fix it. That industry never did shit for me but try and rip me off so fuck them. If you are a musician you should be happy they are falling apart. My main motivation is developing my own music, performing and composing.
I made a new controller by the way and I am working on a bunch of new products and music. Check my website for updates: http://www.nickdemopoulos.com
Take care, Nick D.
It’s a clever design. The proof that if one want’s some guitar like interface for synth control your better make it for yourself.
I had a look at the Vorhaus thing, it made me think of a show I saw years ago. You can see some here.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x678k5_chalon-dans-la-rue-2008-le-chant-de_music#rel-page-under-2
I always take flack for this from tech fetishists, but once again: Until I see a demo where the musicality of the sound coming out of these new instruments/controllers rivals a real instrument or traditional controller, they’re shite.