] Juszkiewicz is about to take the guitar on its biggest
] technology leap since George Beauchamp and Adolph
] Rickenbacker first added an electric pickup in 1931. In
] early 2004, Gibson will introduce the first digital
] guitar.
]
] "His notion is to obsolete all guitars," says Craig
] Devin, who worked on the technology before leaving Gibson
] to start Devin Design & Development. "And the only way he
] can do that is through a technology play."
]
] "What he's going for is pretty incredible," says Neal
] Schon, guitarist for Journey, who has test-played some of
] Gibson's prototypes.
]
] Electric guitars %u2014 like most instruments %u2014 are
] analog. The sounds come from vibrations and modulating
] electrical fields, not data and computer chips. It's hard
] to fault an instrument that has given us a range from
] John Lee Hooker's beehive licks to the sounds of Keith
] Richards, Kurt Cobain and Carlos Santana. But an electric
] guitar has some hang-ups. Like, its tone can be affected
] by the length of the cord from the guitar to the amp.
] Plus, as versatile as an electric guitar is, it's not
] always versatile enough.
]
] The guts of Gibson's digital guitar would be the few
] high-tech chips inside. The cord you plug in would be an
] ethernet cable, which would run to a digital amp, or into
] a laptop that becomes the mixing board.
]
] The sound, once set, would never alter by even a shade.
] "I tried it with 200 feet of cable, and there was no
] change in tone," Schon says ecstatically. This is a big
] deal to musicians who want to roam a large stage, which
] Schon will do this summer as Journey tours with REO
] Speedwagon and Styx %u2014 concerts sure to be packed
] with more middle-aged moms per square foot than a
] suburban bunco card-game tournament.
]
] Performers' sound checks would no longer be necessary,
] Devin notes. The artist could set up preferences for how
] the guitar should sound, then a laptop computer could
] listen to the way the guitar reverberates in that room
] and automatically make adjustments so it sounds exactly
] right. The system could adjust the sound as the number of
] people in the audience changes, thus changing the room's
] acoustics.
]
] A digital guitar could assign a different effect to each
] of the six strings, so maybe the two bass strings could
] have a crunchy fuzz tone while the four higher strings
] mimic a mellow jazz guitar. Today's electric guitars
] can't do anything like that. And no one's even started to
] talk about what it would mean if you could plug a guitar
] straight into the Internet. Could you sell guitar licks
] on eBay?
]
] Under it all, Gibson promises to preserve and even
] improve on the basic guitar that's been a part of rock
] 'n' roll OK
not sure how I feel about this yet. Sure, it sounds like a cool idea, but there is a lot of charm in analog electrics unpredictability of what the sound is going to be like. And the notion of making sound checks obsolete? Complete BS what about the vocalists and drums? Both are analog instruments that need to be miked and checked. And most guitarists still prefer to mic their amps rather than running direct to the board, and I dont see that ever changing. Oh
and tube distortion vs. digital? Nuff said. The techno and electronic musicians will love this. And it might open up some new abilities for all guitarists as an extension of the instrument. But this will NEVER replace analog electrics.
to obsolete all guitars? Oh, he must mean just the way electronic drum pads were supposed to replace real skins. Laughing Boy |
