Midi Steel - Print Tab Software

Ron Turner · Post by **Ron Turner** » 5 Jul 2008 8:00 am

I wanted to see if there is an interest in being able to connect your steel to your computer then playing into a software that saves and prints the tab. I have wired two Roland GK3 midi pickups together and working on my ClicTab software so it will do this. The pick ups are working great on my 12 string and the notes are picking up in my software just need to do some tweaking with the program. Something I have been wanting to do for a long time. I am hoping to have something I can demo when I get to Scotty's convention. Any thoughts?

www.clictab.com
www.ronturnermusic.com

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 5 Jul 2008 9:13 am

Ron...how does the program tell what pedals and KLs are being used?

Ron Turner · Post by **Ron Turner** » 5 Jul 2008 11:18 am

I am in the process of working on that. It will most likely have to give you a choice of positions to choose from as you play since there are so many same octave notes in many places on the steel. I am trying to find out if there is an interest for this since it will make writing tabs much much faster.

Gary Watkins · Post by **Gary Watkins** » 5 Jul 2008 5:23 pm

Ron,
I've got your Click Tab, and if this is gonna work any where near the way click tab has helped me, count me in on this too! Do you have a "ball-park" asking price yet? Please let me know so I can start saving for it. I don't have much of a "disposible" income, so I will have to probably sell something else that I have in order to get this. I'll tell you this much, I will not be selling my Click Tab!!

Thanks,
Gary Watkins

Ron Turner · Post by **Ron Turner** » 5 Jul 2008 5:41 pm

If you already have ClicTab it will be an upgrade to the existing software. That is my plan at this time. Plan B would be to create an Auto Tab software just for this purpose. The expense will be in buying the two Roland pick ups (approx $150 each) and the Roland unit that connects the pick up to your computer (approx $500). I'm checking with a dealer friend of mine to work out a wholesale cost for Roland. The only part I would be making money off of is the software which I would sell under $100. Keep in mind with a set up like this you can do a lot more than tab. I use mine to add piano and synth sounds to my recordings.

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 5 Jul 2008 6:31 pm

Ron-It sounds like a a winner to me. I remember when you sent me your ClicTab years ago to look at. I was highly impressed with it. Good luck ...al.

:)

Lefty Schrage · Post by **Lefty Schrage** » 8 Jul 2008 4:39 am

hi Ron,
I have ClickTab, like it, and think you have a great idea for direct conversion of something played on steel to tab (if the total cost is reasonable). I'd like to know more re how you use this to add piano to your recordings.
...lefty

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 8 Jul 2008 4:48 am

I think this would be great for hooking up to Buddy Emmons', Doug Jernigan's, or many other people's steels and letting them just rip. Then the rest of us slugs can study the manuscript for decades thereafter, trying to figure out what the heck just happened.

I don't think I'd buy the system myself (since I don't really need tab of my own playing very often) but I'd sure buy the tab produced by the system hooked up to certain other people's steels.

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 8 Jul 2008 7:49 am

I would be interested if it could work with my IVL system.

Ron Turner · Post by **Ron Turner** » 8 Jul 2008 2:22 pm

Jim, when I get it done I'll send you a copy to try out with your IVL. It should work.

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 8 Jul 2008 3:23 pm

Terrific!! I can't wait!!!

Robert Harper · Post by **Robert Harper** » 8 Jul 2008 6:27 pm

I would love it

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 8 Jul 2008 8:48 pm

I can dream...and hope you make it cross platform! There are a lot of us Mac users who'd love this.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 8 Jul 2008 8:53 pm

Maybe I'm missing something here... I think it's a great product idea, and I want YOU GUYS to have it, so I can learn how YOU play things. I ALREADY KNOW how I play things! So why would I want to tab my own stuff, unless I was selling it (which I occasionally do)? Somebody please 'splain to me why YOU would want to have this. (But, like I said, we BOTH want YOU to have it, but for different reasons...)

(Now that I think of it, teaching is another good application)

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 8 Jul 2008 9:33 pm

Jimbo, yes, my main interest is a better way to write tab. My way, using QuarkXPress, a page layout program, looks wonderful, but is very slow and tedious.

And haven't you ever forgotten how you played a certain riff? Be cool to play something tricky right just once, get it tabbed out by this program, check it for accuracy then and there, and forever after have an accurate and printable piece for your files, lessons, share with others, leave to your children as your priceless legacy, etc.

Ron Turner · Post by **Ron Turner** » 8 Jul 2008 9:36 pm

Not only would it be good for the guys who sell their tab but what if you played something really good like a cool riff and wanted to get it in writing so you could remember later how you played it.

chris howie · Post by **chris howie** » 8 Jul 2008 10:22 pm

Hi, Ron -
Jim Baron said he would put us in touch but it hasn't happened yet, so here goes.
Some years ago I built a prototype of a device which became part of your steel and captured your motions as you played to a built-in metronome. This info was stored in memory and then at the push of a button was printed directly on a printer as readable tab. I demo'd it at Scotty's convention and got some nibbles, but they didn't go anywhere. I believe it would be possible to convert my stored data into your ClicTab format so it could be used.
I also had been aware that only teachers and publishers would be interested, and also had thought of getting some Greats to sit down to an equipped steel and creating tab on the fly, which also did not materialize. I'm glad to see there is still interest in these ideas, and would like to establish some kind of contact where we can explore making use of what I have. Post a reply here, call me at 509-245-3777 or email me at chrishowie@centurytel.net. Thanks much!

Bill Stroud · Post by **Bill Stroud** » 9 Jul 2008 12:50 am

Ron count me in..
Bill

Long over due....

ed packard · Post by **ed packard** » 9 Jul 2008 5:26 am

Chris...I wondered when you would show up...I posted about your setup a few years back. Jimmy Day had one hooked up to his PSG as I recall.

Your pickup was ingenious...staples and refrigerator door magnets!!!!!!

I use the Roland pickups slanted across the neck (string spacing issue).

The pedal/lever position sensors are simple pieces of #22 plain string attached to the cross rods = rotate a crossrod and make a contact.

There is a group in the Vancouver Can. area that makes a piezo based system for individual string sensing (GHOST)Unfortunately the changer is on the wrong end to allow using these on the PSG...except for mine = changer on players left.

chris howie · Post by **chris howie** » 12 Jul 2008 7:56 am

Hi, Ed - Long time ago, hey?
Yes, I had built a unit for Jimmy, but he never took delivery, unfortunately. I had taken it to Scotty's convention and showed it, but didn't get any serious interest, so had to set it aside. I still have Jimmy's unit, and it has real magnets and coils in it! I would really like to resurrect this thing somehow. Maybe I can work up something with Ron - he sounds interested.
Great to hear from you - it was fun meeting you back then!

Ron Turner · Post by **Ron Turner** » 12 Jul 2008 8:03 pm

Chris, I will try and call you Monday to discuss. Right now my software is picking up the midi note number through the two Roland GK3 pickups and the Roland GR-20 Synth which connects to the midi in of my computer. I then transfer the note number to the guitar software based on the players tuning set up. Anyway we will have to see how it goes. I know I will most likely need your device hooked up to my guitar as I write code to the program in order to test it.

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Midi Steel - Print Tab Software

Midi Steel - Print Tab Software

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Hi Chris