The EM Poll

Review: Starr Labs Ztar Z7S

Jun 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Marty Cutler

           

IT MAY LOOK LIKE A GUITAR, BUT THIS MIDI INSTRUMENT IS LIKE NO OTHER

FIG. 1: Although it mimics the form of a guitar, the Ztar Z7S relies on a sophisticated array of triggers to generate MIDI data.

Starr Labs has been building distinctive, guitarlike MIDI controllers for many years. Company owner Harvey Starr may not be a household name, but the company's Ztar Guitar/Fingerboard Controllers are known to many fans of alternative MIDI-instrument controllers. EM has covered several of these products in its “What's New” section and reviews, and the Ztar Z6 won an EM Editors' Choice Award in 2002.

Past Ztars were custom instruments with options such as string triggers and touch pads. The Z7S, however, represents Starr's first attempt at packing many such features into a comparatively affordable instrument (see Fig. 1). You still can get a few options, though, including a neck-sensor strip ($95), MIDI wireless ($249), a breath controller ($149), and a battery-pack kit with charger and two batteries ($199).

MARRIAGES OF CONVENIENCE

By no means a guitar, the Z7S is an attempt to marry the expressive capabilities of a guitar with the precision of a MIDI keyboard controller. The basic Z7S guitarlike form factor hosts a set of six string triggers, frets arrayed with fingerboard buttons, a ribbon controller, and a combination joystick and fire button of the sort found in some game controllers.

The string triggers extend to a length of about six inches from setscrews that are positioned where a guitar's bridge would normally sit. The string tension seemed a bit stiff, but it was easy to loosen for a better feel. The string triggers provide somewhat faster tracking and more accuracy than my guitar-to-MIDI system, but I found the tactile difference between the Z7S string triggers and the strings of my conventional MIDI guitar difficult to reconcile.

On the upper portion of the instrument's face, a row of membrane switches offers up and down octave transposition, patch selection (for controlling external instruments), and access to the various Ztar modes. You also get a Write button to confirm edits, a Record button for capturing and overdubbing MIDI data for playback, and a Panic button.

At the center of the instrument's top side panel is a large green LED display flanked by two rows of eight buttons. At the top level, the buttons select Ztar patches. Hit the Edit switch at the panel's left, and the patch-selection buttons access a menu of editing options; hitting it again accesses submenus and parameters. A pair of buttons above the Edit switch increase and decrease the values. Hitting the Edit switch again backs you out of Edit mode.

FIG. 2: Viewing the Z7S upside down reveals the game-style joystick at the top left, in the shark’s fin–like area. A ribbon sensor runs across the body to the right.

The ribbon controller is convenient for achieving rhythmic filter effects with taps of the picking-hand pinkie, but be careful not to strum too zealously!

The plastic Velocity- and Pressure-sensitive fingerboard buttons are programmable and can be mapped to a variety of MIDI data types, so they can do much more than just trigger notes.

Membrane switches provide octave transposition, patch selection for external instruments, access to the Ztar modes, MIDI recording, and more.

JUMP FOR JOY

A 3-way joystick is positioned at the lower “bout” (the front part of the body where it joins the neck) of the instrument. I had to move my hand over and across the string triggers to engage it. I'd prefer to have the joystick near the instrument's upper bout, where I could catch it more easily.

My review unit had the optional neck-sensor strip installed along the top side of the neck. With this in place, you can run your thumb along the side of the neck to send Pitch Bend, MIDI Volume, or any number of expressive Control Change messages. However, players who normally bring their thumb over the fingerboard to hold down a string must be wary of accidentally sending MIDI data.

The ribbon controller sits next to the joystick, across the bottom of the guitar (see Fig. 2). It's relatively easy to reach and convenient for achieving rhythmic filter effects with taps of the picking-hand pinkie. Given its placement, though, I had to be careful not to strum too zealously.

HEAVY NECKING

The Z7S's neck is one of the instrument's most obvious departures from guitar design: in place of guitar strings, six rows of elongated buttons, nestled in plastic frets, correspond to frets on a guitar. The rounded buttons are roughly the diameter of my guitar's wound D string and feel smooth enough to navigate comfortably. In string trigger mode, they determine the MIDI Note Number of a plucked string and will sustain until released or dampened by the picking hand.

In Dual mode, you can simultaneously trigger notes and discrete Control Change messages based on Velocity data from the strings. Strings can trigger a different set of notes than those issued by tapping the buttons.

The buttons are Velocity and Pressure sensitive, and Starr has bestowed them with tremendous MIDI-data-mapping capabilities. For example, you can set up Velocity zones in which a range of values can output a different Note Number or MIDI channel. This is a great way to program alternate drum hits or crossfade between instrument variations.

IN THE ZONE

In addition to mapping to Velocity zones, the triggers offer remarkable independence: different areas of the fingerboard can send to different MIDI channels and can accommodate practically any tuning you can conceive of. For instance, you can set one zone to respond to tapping the keys and another zone to trigger only when the strings are picked. Zones can overlap and can use different note-interval settings. If that isn't enough, an optional, independently programmable trigger pad (the $299 TCA1) installs over the strings, toward the neck. Consequently you can set up more zones than you have digits to accommodate them with.

Unlike a guitar fingerboard (whose frets are spaced closer together higher up), the Ztar's fingerboard scale is equidistant over the length of the neck. Presumably a graduated, guitarlike scale would add considerable expense. Still, the scale of the fingerboard buttons can be difficult to get used to if you are accustomed to a guitar-scale fingerboard; at first, I frequently overreached and triggered unintended pitches.