Fishman TriplePlay Express USB-C MIDI Guitar Pickup

It works great. Two things: 1. be very precise setting up the pickup. 2. The software that comes with and your DAW may not recognize the pickup unless you start the software first, THEN plug-in the USB.On the MAC it did not work if the USB for the pickup was plugged into the computer before the software was started. So, launch the software, then plug in the USB.

First of all, it didn't fit on all 3 of my guitars. On a Gibson LP with Hipshot Tone-A-Matic bridge, it wouldn't fit between the bridge and pickup. On my PRS SE Mira and LTD Viper 201B baritone, it fit, but with it raised as high as possible, it was still far lower than it's supposed to be from the strings. It must be designed for Strats or Teles.So I jury-rigged a shim to be able to try it out... WOW... the tracking is unbelievably terrible! I played a slow, simple, 3-note riff into a DAW and it tracked as many as 24 different notes!!! (See pics. You can see which 3 notes were intentionally being played.)The software is terrible. It immediately crashed upon scanning my plugin folder during its first run (on a brand new PC w/96GB RAM and 14th Gen Intel i9 24-core CPU). It supposedly can send each string on a different MIDI channel, but I couldn't find any setting to accomplish this with. It does let you divide the fretboard into 4 quadrants that play different synths within the app, but there's no way to do this within the DAW, so what is the point if you can't actually do anything beyond playing around with it?!But even if all of that DID work, the tracking is SO bad, it's completely unusable.So I got the Behringer PP1 eurorack module (which requires a eurorack power supply module to use). This works SO much better at converting guitar to MIDI in realtime. The trick is to use the neck pickup and roll the tone all the way off to 0. I also have EMGs with a VMC variable mid control, and using that to further cut ~1kHz all the way, the PP1 actually tracks better than any other device or software I've used for this. It still gets a few stray or wrong notes, but not so many that can't quickly be edited. The problem with this is, you have to dial in the guitar to be completely muddy for it to track well enough, so you can't simultaneously play the guitar as a guitar thru an amp AND have it converting/sending MIDI to a synth. It's also monophonic.The TriplePlay is supposedly polyphonic, but it's SO BAD that it doesn't even matter... it's completely unusable. It's because it's taking a signal straight from the strings right next to the bridge, where a guitar is the most trebly and mid-forward. It NEEDS to hear ONLY the fundamental in order to track half decently. You have to use a neck pickup AND cut all the treble (and high-mids, if possible) in order to have ANY chance of a usable, reliable-enough, outcome.The PP1 can take a mic input and convert your voice (or anything you can mic) into MIDI. I haven't tried it yet. It also has CV and Gate outputs for integration with any modular synth devices.I've been underwhelmed, at best, by most Behringer products I've used, but the PP1 is the most usable realtime guitar -> MIDI converter I've used... The Fishman TriplePlay guitar MIDI pickup is the absolute worst guitar -> MIDI converter I've used.

...with a few caveats.I bought this unit in hopes of using it to bring VSTs into a live setting without having to haul around a bunch of extra equipment, re-do my entire rig, or spend an arm and a leg. After a little tinkering, it's working GREAT!I first attempted to test-fit the FTP on several of my guitars and found that installing it on something with a tremolo (especially a Floyd Rose) would be challenging due to either string height or the space between the tremolo and bridge pickup. Luckily, I was able to squeeze it onto my PRS SE CU24 Navarro by moving the bridge pickup ever so slightly towards the neck.After the hardware was installed, I spent the better part of a day downloading, burning, and installing software. Once everything was installed (and updated!), I discovered that, although there are some rather nice-sounding patches included, my old laptop wasn't quite up to the task of running many of the FTP sounds (or GuitarRig) without noise or latency. That being said, it works beautifully with my copy of SonicSynth2. Latency is virtually non-existent and the tracking is superb. Time for a new laptop, I suppose.Overall, as long as you've got a powerful enough computer (or want to run it in hardware mode to control other VSTs), the FTP is a spectacular tool for expanding your sonic palette.

Very happy with this product and I'm amazed it only has a 3 1/2 star rating! From what I've read, people order it without realizing it won't fit on their guitar and have to return it OR they have trouble waiting for software to download. I had no trouble with either of these things, it fit perfectly on my stratocaster and I had no issues waiting for the software since I've purchased software online before and know how long downloading something takes. It took about 2 1/2 hours for all the software to fully download, although I understand it will vary drastically based on your internet speed. I started all the downloads and then watched a movie and it was done.Only 3 applications are required to run the official tripleplay software, Kontact, SampleTank and the TriplePlay software itself, although it can be used as a midi controller upon installation, no special software required. Activating the software was not a hassle, took about 15 minutes. Just leave the download on overnight and activate it in the morning. Bends, vibrato and such work perfectly, the one thing I must point out is that muted strums do not work. Overall this product has exceeded my expectations, the range is fantastic, the battery life is great, and most importantly, the tracking is excellent. Would highly recommend.