Guitar Wing on sale, can it be used to control BB?

The Guitar Wing is a MIDI controller that attaches to your guitar. I don’t know if it could be made compatible with the BB, I’m new to MIDI and it seems you would have to be able to program the wing to output the codes the BB is expecting, not the other way around?

If it could, it’s currently 1/2 price and could make for interesting experiments.

http://shop.lividinstruments.com/guitar-wing?utm_source=Livid+Instruments+News&utm_campaign=742967a567-Memorial+Day+Sale&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_dbe39db20b-742967a567-407283437

No one knows but from the website, I see two things:

  1. It can connect to my cell phone
  2. At least some of the buttons are midi programmable.

The big question is whether or not it can connect directly to the BB via Bluetooth LE. If I can connect to my cell, I should be able to pass through to the BB.

I ordered one just for the fun of it.

Thanks for sharing, FLR.

I’d be interested in hearing what you learn about this, Rob22315

According to the orig poster in this thread:

http://mybeatbuddy.com/forum/index.php?threads/cc117-tap-tempo-bug-version-1-85.5906/

It appears to be compatible to some extent although if you read on down tap tempo via midi is not working so well in the BB but I’d say that’s a BB issue, not a wingy thing issue.
However if connects via bluetooth then you need something for it to connect to that is then able to send the midi commands on to the BB. Orig poster does not say what he is using to do that. maybe an app like midi bridge perhaps.

I can definitively say the GW will control the BB. The GW won’t talk directly to the BB so my iPhone is the intermediary.

I got the GW for 1/2 price thanks to FLR and finally got it to control the BB. I’m using the Yamaha MD-BT01 wireless (BT LE) MIDI interface with the BB (no batteries needed for the MD-BT01 unlike the PUC which requires batteries). I programmed the GW using the programming app available from the Lividinstrument to send the midi commands that work on the BB. The GW programming app uses a scale of 0-127 (vice 1-128) so tune the numbers accordingly. I had to set the buttons to toggle to get them to work correctly.

For apps - Apple iOS doesn’t seem to recognize midi BT devices on its own. I used the Yamaha Digital Piano Controller to establish my connections to the GW and the BB.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/keyboards/apps/dp_controller/?mode=model

Another BB user (Mans Martensson) reports success using the PUC app.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puc-connect/id821789942?mt=8

Yamaha also has a utility app specifically for the MD-BT01 that might work but I haven’t tried it yet.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/keyboards/apps/md-bt01_ud-bt01_utility/?mode=model

To route the midi commands from the GW to the BB inside the iPhone, I used an app called MIDIBridge ($9).

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/midibridge/id449160859?mt=8

Mans said he used AUM Mixer successfully for routing - it appears to do that and a whole lot more but it’s $19.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aum-audio-mixer/id1055636344?mt=8

So far, the GW does basic song commands - start, fill, transition, muted pause, and outro. I haven’t gotten any of the tap tempo controls to work to date on either the GW or the midipad app on my iPhone so that’s still a work in progress. I also haven’t tried it live to be able to say whether or not the GW is better than the foot pedals.

I’m using a 6s plus iPhone running the latest version of iOS (9.3.2 I think).

Here are some updates from tonight’s experimentation.

  1. I got the tempo increase/decrease buttons working - turns out I had the wrong value for the two buttons. Once corrected, tempo up/down works on both the GW and the midipad. I set the buttons to momentary so the tempo will actually increase and decrease by 2 rather than one because two messages are sent on each press/release of the button. I can scroll through the tempos faster without losing any perceived granularity in the settings.

  2. The GW comes with a slider so I programmed that to control the main volume. There seems to be a bug in the GW in that the slider will only slide between 0 and 127. The GW editor gives me controls to change the min/max so I tried 0/100 which is what the BB uses. No luck, the GW won’t change to anything else but 0/127.

  3. Both the PUC and the Yamaha digital piano software will connect the BT LE midi devices. The Yamaha utility will connect to the MD-BT01 but not to the GW.

Next step will be to try it in a live setting.