Re: Fishman TriplePlay Wireless Guitar MIDI Controller Versus??

I mostly lurk here -- I'm a software developer, and am the guy behind one of the iOS (and soon, OS X) pitch-to-MIDI apps.  My target audience is casual users, who want to pay a few bucks to play around with MIDI, but are not ready to cough up $400 to $2k for a serious guitar MIDI rig. 

 After playing with MIDI guitars in music stores for years (and not being able to justify a big investment), I pulled the trigger on the Fishman.  Technology has marched forward since the early days, and IMO, the TriplePlay has hit the nail on the head.  The tracking is amazing, and the wireless performance is stellar.  I could not be more impressed.
 

 I've talked to one of their engineers (there were some possible collaborations between my team, and theirs).  The radio system is not WiFi or Bluetooth -- it's a specialized radio system for low latency.  In my software development, I also work on MIDI-over-Bluetooth; the Fishman radio is much faster than Bluetooth (and Bluetooth LE is pretty darned good).
 

 With guitars, the technology has not changed much, so you can still get replacement parts for old hardware, and in many cases, parts are interchangeable.  This is not true with electronics -- the new circuits completely trump the old stuff, and there's not much for a company to gain in supporting dead tech.  If I had an 8-track tape player in my car, it would probably be a little challenging to find anyone who would be willing to repair it -- the smart move is to just junk it (even if it was expensive back in the day), and move over to an MP3 player.
 

 I understand the dissatisfaction with there not being better support for older tech -- but if the companies don't move forward rapidly, they'll get killed in the marketplace.  Apple regularly obsoletes their older hardware, and that's one of the reasons they can introduce new and better stuff all the time.  Microsoft, by contrast, is bogged down supporting ancient versions of their code, on a wide range of hardware.
 

 I'm stepping out of lurk mode because I really think the TriplePlay deserves a lot of praise.  In some respects, they're a competitor, but they're really in a different league (both in terms of performance, and price -- my app, MIDImorphosis, is $8; pocket change compared to what I think is a very fair price for the Fishman).
 

 The only possible complaint I might have about the TriplePlay is that the pickup is a bit to thick for my Telecaster; I could make a mod, but it's a little more than I want to do to the guitar.  So.... I installed it on my #2 guitar, a Danelectro.  I can put the USB dongle into an iPad using a CCK, and have access to an incredible array of synths.  When I think of what I have, versus the dollar investment -- it's beyond my wildest dreams.