Cantini E-Acoustic Hollow Body Archtop Electric Violin with ISSP3 Pickup, 5-String Natural

With its patented ISSP3 magnetic pickup system the Cantini E-Acoustic is a fabulous dual-purpose electric violin, with an analog output that works great with traditional amps & effects pedals and a separate MIDI output designed for use with compatible synths.

The E-Acoustic electric violin has the attractive traditional look of a traditional acoustic violin body's shape, with lovely flamed maple on top and stylized f-holes. Its name and look are deceiving, as it is not really an acoustic violin at all but rather what the guitar world would refer to as a hollow body archtop (think Gibson ES-330 or Gretsch Country Gentleman). The body design provides a familiar feel and look, plus some added resonance.

The ISSP3 (Inductor-based Separate System Pickup), isolates each string’s vibrations and provides an even, balanced signal, making it ideal for MIDI output. The electronics were designed from the ground up for compatibility with the Roland GK-interfacing devices, the most popular MIDI controllers on the market.

While the E-Acoustic excels at MIDI it is also a fantastic analog electric violin. Whereas most magnetic violin pickups result in a glassier tone, the ISSP3 combined with Cantini’s powerful onboard preamp has much of the warmth and response you’d expect from a good piezo-based pickup system. The E-Acoustic is not one of the most “natural” sounding violins, but its clean tone is excellent and, as a magnetic pickup, it sounds incredible with high-gain effects.

The ISSP3 pickup, which has a separate magnetic system for each string, requires steel strings with medium electric impedance and steel. The E-Acoustic comes with Dogal Electrosound strings, a steel core string with high ferrous content. Its magnetic pickups will also work with other high quality steel core strings such as D’Addario Helicore, NS Electric Strings, or Galli Overture, but for best performance we recommend Dogal Electcrosound. After changing strings you may need to individually balance the volume of each string using the adjustment screws on the back of the violin, since strings with different metal content may balance differently.

To use the Cantini MIDI output with a GK-compatible synth, a Cantini 8-pin DIN locking collar to 13-pin DIN adapter cable (sold separately) is required. Traditional analog signal is sent through the 1/4" output jack using a standard 1/4" TS instrument cable (also sold separately).

MIDI Tracking & Latency


To achieve good pitch-to-MIDI tracking it is very important to have a very clean playing style that prevents spurious sounds. Clean bow attacks and changes help the synth interpret envelope. PCM sounds in GK-synths have a very low latency: 0.7 ms max. Modeling Synth Sounds and other sounds do not have any latency.

Specifications

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