Five string violin Five string violin A five string violin is a variant of violin with an extra string tuned to a pitch below the violin's usual range. In addition to the G, D, A, and E strings of a standard violin, a five string violin typically includes a C string. (Six and seven string electric violins also exist, adding lower strings tuned to F and B.) The five string violin was created as a solution for improvisers that allowed musicians to combine the pitch ranges of violins and violas. Bobby Hicks, an award-winning bluegrass fiddler, popularized the five-string violin in 1963 as
Electric violin to an independent MIDI channel. Most recently, Keith McMillen of Keith McMillen Instruments, a founder of Zeta Music, announced the StringPort polyphonic string-to-USB 2.0 converter for the Zeta polyphonic pickup and other modern polyphonic violin systems. Whilst no other dedicated violin-to-MIDI systems have been manufactured, more generic pitch-to-MIDI systems like those from Roland, and Yamaha can be adapted to use standard electric violin output. Most systems allow only monophonic operation—only one pitch can be detected and digitised at a time—but through the use of proprietary pickups, some limited MIDI polyphony can be achieved. Some pitch to MIDI interfaces from Axon/TerraTec