As long as there has been MIDI, there have been guitarists and bassplayers attempting to tap into that fantasy world of sounds and expressions. Most of these attempts ended in frustration and failure due to the lack of a pitch recognition system that was precise enough and more importanly fast enough to keep up with a guitarist´s technique and the massive amounts of sound information to be translated into MIDI data.

Researches have revealed that at the very instant that a guitar string sounds, it is already too late for pitch recognition to begin, regardless of technology or method used. And so ends the story of the first MIDI controllers that were always frustrating guitarist with their long delays on their MIDI output.

Question: How can we recognize the pitch of a string before it fully sounds? The Axon Engineers have successfully developed an early recognition system that analyses the impulse that occurs at the very instant a string is played. This system recognizes the pitch of a string before it fully vibrates. Dynamics and length are then computed as the string continues to sound.
The following manufacturers offer 13pin pickup systems which are also compatible with the AXON:

Roland
www.roland.com


GK-3 (Pickup for Electric-Guitar)
GK-3B (Pickup for Electric-Bass)

GraphTech
www.graphtech.com


Ghost System

RMC
www.rmcpickup.com


Poly-Drive I

List of guitar/bass-manufacturers that offers MIDI ready guitars/ basses with integrated 13pin piezo pickup system