Yamaha EZ-EG / EZ-AG Resources
Secret Weapons!
Marketed as "Learning Guitars", the Yamaha EZ-EG and EZ-AG are secretly a powerful instrument for controlling softsynths!
Here's a small video clip of me playing solo violin sounds from Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO):
e-guarn.mov (1.5Mb Quicktime)
Custom Guitar Environment
Besides their normal MIDI messages, these guitars also send out SysEx for each fret pressed and released. This allows us to create our own performance modes not originally found in the EZ-*G instruments.
Before you begin, you must install MIDI Yoke or some other virtual MIDI port loopback. Then, after configuring your ports correctly in your sequencing host, you just need to run this script application:
TenCrazy.com Yamaha EZ-Guitar Environment v2.21
Read the included instruction file for more details.
Model Differences
So far as I can tell, these are the differences between models.
| Yamaha EZ-EG | Yamaha EZ-AG |
|---|---|
| Electric guitar model | Acoustic guitar model |
| Wood body | Plastic body |
| Has whammy bar (controls pitch) | Has bridge touchplate (ends all hanging notes) |
| Can mute individual strings by touching them | Call only mute all strings at once (with touchplate) |
| Intended for use with pick | Better string response for fingerstyle play |
| Volume knob and On/Standby "knob" on body face | On/Standby press-button near I/O ports |
| Includes Yamaha PA-D09 Power Adaptor | No power supply included |
| Includes Yamaha UX-16 USB MIDI Interface | No MIDI interface |
| Lights up to 12th fret | Lights up to 6th fret |
| Plays 18 onboard songs | Plays 25 onboard songs |
| Street Price ~ $300USD | Street Price ~ $200USD |