Been doing the Guitar to Midi for 15+ years. I have owned and currently own*
Roland GK2 and GK3 pickups
*RMC piezo pickup to 13 pin connector built into a Brian Moore iguitar 8.13
*Jam Origin Midi Guitar 2 Software
*Fishman Triple play Pickup
Roland VG8, Roland VG99 guitar processors *Roland GR3 , Roland JV010 *Roland Integra7 synths
Non Roland Rack mounted synths , Proteus 1 , Kawai K5000R, Akai S2000 sampler
*Numerous Software Synths : Omnisphere, Analog Lab 4, SynthMasterOne , Reactor, M-Tron Pro, Reason and a few more
I have used them live for playing keyboard parts , Sax solos etc. I have used them for home recordings as well.
Here is what I have learned :
- You have to adjust and tweak the sensitivity to your playing style - Midi Guitar 2 has a global setting , Triple Play has a per string setting and some other global settings as well. IMO Triple play is more flexible here
- You have to modify your playing Technique to reduce mis-triggered notes.
- Playing at full speed creates tracking issues and glitches . I have found the Triple play to track the best .
- Special Pickups and the bulky controller can be cumbersome. The built in RMC/piezo system eliminated this but alas it is still a 13 pin Roland compatible system. ( But at least I was able to sell all my GK pickups back in the day) Midi Guitar 2 is great in this regards works with any guitar
- Triple play has the least amount of conversion latency and just feels better as I don't have to modify my playing style as much as say Midi Guitar 2
- Triple play pickup can easily be removed and move to another guitar as long as you have extra mounting HW - not true with GK pickups
Final Thoughts
- I use the Triple play 95% of the time these days as it performs the best for me. I got a smoking deal on a used Triple Play pickup and floor controller FC1 for $242. Way less then a new pickup only ($400) let alone the combo ($600). It was at a price that I could not resist - I got lucky with an Ebay auction.
- Midi Guitar 2 is $100 - combine that with some low cost soft synths and you can get into this at a very low cost . Get that and see if you are happy with it and if not bargain hunt the Triple play.
- Stay away from the GK/Roland stuff - it is a dead product and the 13 pin cable is a real pain as they tend to short out over time.
- Regarding your question to notate - I have had little need for that and when I played around with it I was not happy with the results with the Triple play sw bundle - note that SW has since been discontinued . I just upgraded my DAW to Studio One 5.1 and it has the ability to notate the midi - I should give it a try
- Hooking an expression pedal into the midi controller opens up some fun options - pitch bend , mod wheel, volume swells etc
- Lastly don't forget to play with the AxeFX3 synth block it is capable of great sounds - it is monophonic but still usable. I use it to play a few horn parts and the song CARS in my current band
Again this is just my experience over the years - Things have gotten better and cheaper along the way.
I hope this helps - and it was fun going down memory lane - thanks for asking