Jamstik Studio MIDI Guitar (Orange Matte)

For years I wanted a MIDI guitar, but they were always far out of my reach. (Probably because I wanted a Parker Fly MIDI) But this one is perfect for me. I got it in bright orange because I have everything in bright orange.It came with a lovely braided USB-C cable for charging, TRS-MIDI and a cable for plugging it directly into an amp, as well as plectrums, tools, strap locks...but no strap, oddly. Bare in mind, I previously bought a guitar for less than a 10th of the price and got a free strap included. Swings and roundabouts I suppose. The carry case is also lovely, and the lining is velvety smooth to keep the guitar in pristine condition.The guitar tone is solid. It's a normal HH configuration. Then when you pull the knob out, you get an SS config. Mind freaking blown. Still, you only get a single tone control when using HH/SS configuration but honestly, it's no big deal.Jamstik do make a Studio Classic which is more like a traditional guitar - a Super Strat style guitar with the same MIDI system built-in, but at a higher price. I'd say spend more and get that if you want a guitar first and MIDI second.The MIDI is the centre piece of the JAmstik Studio. I plugged it into my MicroKORG using the included TRS-MIDI adapter and started jamming. In my experience, there was very little latency - it was indiscernible. (Some patches have more latency than others. I'm not sure if this is the guitar causing this or not.) It tracks pretty well, too. There are occasional hickups here and there with some notes misfiring or not firing at all, but that is to be expected with something that converts an analogue signal into a digital MIDI signal - it will never be perfect, but it sure is close. You can adjust the MIDI pickup to get it to get it just right, but I found it to be completely fine right out of the box.Where this guitar really shines is when you combine the electric guitar sounds with the MIDI sound. And yes, it plays them both at the same time. It sounds amazing to have a distorted guitar lead sound and then a synth sound over the top in sync with one another. Also, a clean sound with a bit of delay/reverb complements a soft synth sound with a slow attack to make a wonderful smooth transition, but without any of the messing about in post to do it. Do be aware that doing this can be disconcerting. The slightly different rates of the strings vs the oscillators of a synth can seem to wobble or swirl when played back if the strings are slightly out. Also, if there is latency with the MIDI part, it can throw off your playing wildly. But again, this isn't something that happens often and will depend on the synths and effects you use.This thing is a really powerful tool, despite it's limitations. I can see myself using this for all kinds of lead lines and just being my go-to guitar for making music.The manual says to tune it to Standard Tuning. But whatever - I tuned mine to drop D and it didn't explode. However, it doesn't seem to detect anything lower than low E when used for MIDI (without software - I believe this can be changed in software)I haven't used the software they bundle with it, nor do I have the intention of using it. But in the DAW I used, it came up as a standard MIDI input device and I was able to record MIDI into it without any real hassle. I also can't comment on the Bluetooth functionality of this guitar. (There's a sentence I didn't think I'd write.)I'll give it 4 stars - there's not much else on the market like this, so it's hard to really compare it. But the lack of tone control and a strap given the price makes me only very slightly disappointed.*Edited because I didn't read the manual.

The media could not be loaded. The best!

I find this a great comfortable instrument and better playability than I expected. You have to be willing to set it up both physically and technically within the software. Some sounds in the creator app aren’t as good as the original Jamstik + but I’m still playing with it to be honest.

Superb midi tracking -- best I've ever tried, solidly built & compact guitar. Nice action didn't need much adjustment from the factory. Plays more like a 3/4 size guitar.

Fantastic Idea and Perfectly Presented. This will be used by me till my dying day.

This guitar is good-looking, fun, versatile, decent-sounding, and extremely useful for MIDI workflows. The companion app is very easy to use. I’m absolutely in love with it. Also, kudos for the Jamstik support team for being always so responsive and proactive. You guys are awesome!

This guitar is really cool! From researching Jamstik in the past, I was worried that the guitar would feel more like a MIDI controller, or even more like a toy. However, taking it out of the package I was immediately put at ease. It has the look and feel of a high quality regular (albeit headless) guitar. And as I discovered after that, it has the sound and playing experience of a regular guitar, too!The lack of head on the guitar gives is a very modern and sort of edgy appearance. It's also smaller than all my other guitars, but only by a little bit. Enough to make it more portable and easier to not knock things over in the studio, but not so much that it feels like you're playing a miniature instrument.So, for studio work or traveling, it's really nice, and it holds its own with a lot of good normal (e.g. non-MIDI, non-headless) guitars. But on top of that, you get an entire world of MIDI connectivity and accurate tracking that opens up so many possibilities that it's almost mind-boggling.The tracking is really accurate, and controlling other virtual instruments (or even FX) with it is a really unique, and really awesome, experience. This is great for guitarists in the studio, and it's also great for studio musicians in general who want a new type of controller that offers new possibilities.If I were playing out at a gig, and if I just needed a regular guitar, then I would probably just take one of my normal guitars, but that being said, if the Jamstik Studio is your primary guitar, then there is no reason you couldn't use it as a normal guitar for playing out. Where it really shines is in the studio for any combination of recording, jamming, or sound design.Tuning the guitar is pretty simple, but it does require a tool and could be just slightly easier. Still, it's much easier to tune my Jamstik (and keep it in tune) than with my floating bridge guitar, you don't need to keep the tension balanced across the strings, you just need to tune each string correctly using the provided tool.I haven't had to re-string the guitar yet, and I'm not even sure if it uses normal strings or not, so I will update my review if I run into any challenges when the time comes.If you're looking for a MIDI guitar, or if you're a guitarist looking to inject some fresh sounds into your songs without learning a new instrument, I really can't recommend the Jamstik Studio highly enough.

Had some issues with my initial order not shipping with the battery and had to purchase my own elsewhere. They sent me a link to their supplier, who was out of stock. So I had to track one down on my own. It was a pain and took over a week.As far as the guitar itself, I only wanted this to use as a midi controller. So I didn't care how it sounded and wasn't that concerned with how it was going to play, but after some setup, it plays fine.As a midi controller, it's.. also okay. The latency isn't great, but it's manageable for simple parts and it's easier that finding the chords on a keyboard which is nice.I also use Ableton, which has compatibility issues with MPE, so that's another issue, but it might be better with other DAWs.Basically, if you only want the midi functionality as a writing tool, it's usable. If you're expecting it to work perfectly with low latency, probably going to have a bad time.Additional note- I've been testing this guitar on Ableton 11 with their VST, Omnisphere, Serum, and Sublab.

The guitar is good in general.

Guitarra preciosa y compacta. Suena espectacular incluso desenchufada! Hecha con mimo y los mejores materiales nobles. Muy contento...