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| nankerphelge |
Gibson dares to make electric guitars digital
Deep in the heart of Gotham City, Batman's newest arch enemy known as The MBA cackles as his plan unfolds. The MBA has secretly developed technology that will make electric guitars obsolete.
Gibson's electric guitar has jacks for an analog cord and an ethernet cable.
Gibson
"Soon, I will control the music industry," he says. "And then the world! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Except Holy Hendrix! this is really happening.
Well, sort of. Henry Juszkiewicz, CEO of legendary guitar maker Gibson and Harvard Business School class of 1979, isn't exactly an MBA gone wrong. And, as far as I know, he doesn't plan to take over the world, even though one suspects it's a desire harbored by all Harvard MBAs and, in fact, might be a pre-condition for getting into the school.
But 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 like most instruments 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 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 for decades. "People aren't looking for a new instrument," Juszkiewicz says, "but for new capabilities."
Yet musicians will ask: Why do this? This crowd doesn't much like change. "Every guitar player is going to look at (Gibson and Juszkiewicz) like they're from outer space and say, 'I don't need it!' " Schon says. Juszkiewicz says that the industry has been "cynically supportive."
Musically, the reason to do it is much the same as when Beauchamp and Rickenbacker and then Les Paul and Leo Fender made guitars electric: It could give the instrument new life and change the very way musicians approach it.
Here's why to do it from an MBA point of view: Electric guitars are an odd business. Used guitars almost never die. In fact, older models are often coveted over newer ones. So used guitars satisfy a lot of the demand, leaving demand for new guitars growing slowly.
Gibson was founded in 1894, making acoustic guitars. In 1986, it was close to insolvency, and Juszkiewicz and two Harvard classmates bought it. As Gibson recovered, Juszkiewicz realized that the only way to make the new guitar business take off would be to make new guitars far superior to old guitars. The way to do that in the 21st century: go digital.
Only now is the technology here to make it work. It required, for instance, what Devin calls "a rip-snorting network protocol." The signal from the guitar would have to travel over long cords and through mixers and amps and come out the other end in no more than six milliseconds. Any more than that, and the delay would be noticeable, throwing the precision of a tight band into disarray.
Gibson worked with tech companies 3Com, AMD and Xilinx. The network system is called MaGIC, and Gibson hopes it will be adopted by amp makers and others in the industry. "We set out to do this product and set a standard for the music business," Juszkiewicz says.
The guitars, when they come out, will have two jacks one for the ethernet cable and one for the old-style analog cord. Digital will add about $200 to guitars that sell for well over $1,000.
Schon thinks it could eventually be big. But he emphatically adds: "Henry needs to hire me to make this a zillion-dollar business."
Maybe Journey isn't selling tickets like it used to.
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| Maxlugar |
No sir, I don't like it.
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| Joey |
" Gibson dares to make electric guitars digital
Deep in the heart of Gotham City, Batman's newest arch enemy known as The MBA cackles as his plan unfolds. The MBA has secretly developed technology that will make electric guitars obsolete. "
<------ and here I was hoping there might be some secretly developed technology that will make Tardrite Helmets Obsolete ...........................................
Developing .................................
" Come on Gorilla , we're in Manilla !!!!!
Come on Gorilla , this is a Thrilla'!!!!! "
Joey Ali ( circa 1975 )
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| Soul Survivor |
Dammit, guitars are fine how they are |
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| nankerphelge |
Joey, I share your hope that someday, the Tardrite helmet will be obsolete. But sadly, that day has not yet come.
For now, be proud to wear the Tardrite, for it stands at the cutting edge of technology. 300 sensors embedded throughout the helmet can determine the pitch and yaw of the wearer and send electrical stimuli to the portions of the less-than-normal brain to help maintain balance and lessen tremors.
The 2003 model also has the patented Autocool system to prevent unsightly head-sweating while maintaining normal cranial temperature to help prevent confusion and agitation.
And it comes in 5 groovy color combos!! Collect them all!!
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| Joey |
" The 2003 model also has the patented Autocool system to prevent unsightly head-sweating while maintaining normal cranial temperature to help prevent confusion and agitation.
And it comes in 5 groovy color combos!! Collect them all!!"
Friggin Priceless Nanky !
You are much loved by the Joey . Please don't tell anyone , lets keep it to ourselves , but you are RAPIDLY becoming my favorite poster here at the board .
I have my eye on your material .
J. Kins !
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| stonedinaustralia |
thanks nanker
very interesting
being of the old school type in this regard I must agree with max and say i don't like the sound of it much either
but one thing is almost certain, in 10 years time (maybe even less) this technolgy will be well established and accepted
it's not to hard to see a time when guitar sounds can be set by reference to a sample - e.g. want a sound just like keith's in his solo in SFTD on BB - well just programme a small sample of the sound and viola!! - every note you play will sound just like it - in fact i'm surprised in a way that this hasn't been developed further already |
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| Soul Survivor |
If it aint broke, dont fix it
Guitars are fine the way they are, ya know? |
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| stonedinaustralia |
agreed SS - but you can't stop this kind of shit
and remember people probably said the same type of thing when electric guitars were developed e.g. "it just makes it louder" or "it's using volume and artifical tone to mask average playing ability" that sort of thing |
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