Gibson to Embed Guitars with Ethernet

caseyuw writes "Gibson is planning to roll out their Magic this year with the delivery of guitars using Cat 5 instead of analog cables to connect instruments and amplifiers. The debate over the quality of digital vs analog signal processing is not new, but using a 'Magic' Les Paul would force you entirely into the digital domain." We mentioned this last year, but the above article has much more information.

Uhhhh

[l810c]

Let's DOS the basist.

Re:Can you imagine...

[Sarcasm_Orgasm]

Yep, I'd call it Slipknot.

OH YEAH!

[The_Rippa]

I can't wait until I can digitally UNLEASH THE FOCKIN' FURY!!!

Re:1st p0st

[l810c]

plus- how are roadies going to figure out the wiring sequence? Pin 1 >> Pin 3 Pin 2 >> Pin 6 Pin 3 >> Pin 1 Pin 6 >> Pin 2

Easy, quit smokin pot and it's pretty simple.

When a really bad band comes on in concert.......

[SirCrashALot]

I'll just pull out my handy-dandy 802.11 jammer :)

Does this mean...

[Quaoar]

...I'll be hit with a classmates.com ad every time I strum G#?

Has to be said

[Lord_Slepnir]

At least now "Let's hack the Gibson" will be a legit h4x0r saying...

Did Anyone Think...?

[Aldurn]

My fist thought was:

I didn't know Steve Gibson [grc.com] played guitar!

Re:Wireless?

[1ridium]

Just as long as no one in the audience is sitting there with a laptop and a Pringles can.

I'll be damned

[jarkko]

If I'm going to start replacing the cable during a hot solo (screaming chicks, crowd going wild) and the stupid plastic clip on the RJ-45 breaks off.

OTOH, the only time I've ever seen screaming chicks is when they run away.

Re:Does this mean...

[littleRedFriend]

No, but it does come with DRM. This will prevent you from playing tunes on your guitar that have been copyrighted.

Re:1st p0st

[Anonymous Coward]

Easy, quit smokin pot and it's pretty simple.

So I repeat the question... how are roading going to figure out the wiring sequence? :-P

Or. . .

[D+iz+a+n+k+Meister]

Smoke more pot and it's even simpler.

Re:CAT5?

[Anonymous Coward]

quote:
in a live or recording situation, you really can't have your guitar solo lagging behind the rhythm section
End quote

You obviously haven't been in a rhythm section before. I think going wifi would finally bring the guitarists back to playing on the beat.

I can see it now - Screw the Marshall stack,

[SensitiveMale]

Give me a Cisco Stack!!!!

Cool...

[Anonymous Coward]

...Now I can blame the guitar for having a lousy ping, when I screw up at a gig!

Does this mean...

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this mean Microsoft will require a EULA for all music played in the key of C# ?

*rimshot*

Thanks I'll be here all week!

Re:Think of the possiblities when they add memory.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, except that when the guitar plays a Rush song, it will still suck.

That guy just rules!!!

[chip_s_ahoy]

I know that you make fun of him, and all, but this is just an awesome display of technological diversity!!!

I mean, you can go to his website and get your probes ported, and get your testes shielded, and get your zip drive fixed, and get a screensaver, and get some really 31337 advice on stuff, and even get a tool that tells you your IP address. And it's all in "hand-crafted assembly code!!!"

And now he does stuff with guitars!!! And it's Ace Frehley's brand of guitar. Wow!!! ...oh...not that Gibson? So I shouldn't have used all the !!!'s?

Off Topic

[L3WKW4RM]

Q: How do you get a bassist off your porch?

A: Pay him for the pizza!

(...sorry)

Re:1st p0st

[beowulfcluster]

Since when is a Gibson a poor man's guitar? ;)

Re:Uhhhh

[Bullet-Dodger]

Dude, now we actually can HACK THE GIBSON!

I Dont Believe It

[Anonymous Coward]

As a previous founding member of the GMICS/MAGIC group (which was comprised of 3 Opcode Systems Employees after gibson closed down Opcode) and an ex-employee of gibson, I can honestly say that gibson is one of the cheapest dishonest companies I have ever worked.

The only thing I learned was that having a very young very inmature 'Manager' is less than ideal in a small isolated group. He was also quite dishonest, dissing henry the ceo whenever he was not listening, but kissing butt otherwise.

I took a look at the website and it looks strangly similar to the demo board made 4-5 years ago, a BabySharc, 100 MBit, pic chip, and a few codecs. I guess it took that long to debug the hardware. That group was very incompetent.

If they were smart they would use gigibit ethernet which has enough bandwidth to support the channels required for henry's dream. But I guess that would take that group another 25 years.

I wonder if it still uses my pic program and the sharc os (called GROS for Gibson Realtime OS)

I do have a fond memory of buying a carvin from www.carvin.com while employed at gibson, that guitar rocks, employee discounts sucked.

That and the GIFF that was passed around email, it was that gibson logo, the one with the pic and the ribbon on the bottom saying 'Musical Instuments", some employee spent the time to seamlessly replace the text with "Hates You" this is how I remember my time at gibson.

Re:Gibson quote:

[198348726583297634]

Fiddles have no frets, cat intestines were never used for any part of the violin (sheep intestines were), and the strings haven't been made of gut in hundreds of years.

idiot

It goes...On and On and On ... Stop the madness!!!

[SuperGlue]

With these new "MAGIC" components included, I am curious on how long it will take for the following things to happen:

1. MS announcing an embedded version of NT for the Gibson.

2. The developers of products such as Soundforge,Cakewalk *& Protools get preloaded in package deals.

3. Slashdot features an article showing how easy it is to Mod the gibson with the latest Gforce card & monitor, mouse & keyboard connectors.

4. Not satisfied with only supplying the OS for the guitar, MS purchases Gibson.

5. All songs after this will begin with that happening and eternal windows startup wav file.

6. Slashdot post an article featuring the first Linux build for it.

7. A custom neck mod made with a slot for scanning your guitar tab in. (Embedded LED's light up green on frets and turn red on wrong notes)

8. The first Worm makes its rounds looking for predefined sequences and modifies the output based on it. (Ygnwie capped at 12 notes a minute or possibly the always unheard Church guitarist will have their volume adjusted to an audible level)

9. A small number of freshly networked guitar players attempting to break from the norms of society will stop speaking and develop a riff-only based form of communication. (Coincidentally following a profound LSD experience)

10. Actually the previous item may have already happened.

11. Terrorist are accused by homeland security as using embedded messages within a guitar which is reveiled when the correct 80's hair band solo is played.

12. Humans realize their diminishing fun while playing these devices and get back to their musical roots (Fart, Burping & beating on things with sticks)

13. Slashdot post its final article on the subject on the greatest MS Gibson guitar mod of all ...... Firewood

Almost Sober,
SuperGlueBooger

Re:A Good Reason Not to go Wireless

[HawkingMattress]

Can you imagine being a guitarist on stage at a show at a small venue, and all of a sudden the owner of the place gets a phone call that effectively stops the show? Hey that would be an homage to Spinal Tap you clueless insensitive clod !

Re:Does this mean...

[heretic108]

I don't think it would work that way.

But here's how it *could* work:

• At the start of each gig, the guitar amp would 'activate' with a central Gibson server via GPRS, WLAN etc.
  
• Once cleared by the server, the guitar would then be able to play wirelessly.
  
• During each gig, the guitarist's playing would be written to disk as a compressed MIDI file.
  
• During the next 'activation' with the Gibson server, the midi file of the last gig gets uploaded.
  
• The Gibson server analyses the musical components of the MIDI file, and determine which of the licks, riffs, rhythms, fingerings, chops, changes, scales, arpeggios and general melodic sequences are already on the 'copyrighted guitar techniques' database, as well as general songs databases.
  
• For all playing elements that encroach on copyright, the Gibson server would calculate a royalty bill, which would be totalled up and emailed out to the musician. For example, the chord sequence Am/D7/Edom9 would cost 0.1 cent each time it's played.
  
• Failure to pay the royalty bill at the end of each month would result in the guitar refusing to 'activate' at the start of the next gig. Either that, or physically incapable of all chords except those for 'Achy Breaky Heart'
  

Re:CAT5?

[Alien Being]

Yeah, but this one would go to 802.eleven.

Only a matter of time..

[Scooter]

Lets get rid of the troublesome strings then, replace the operator with some software! Said operator can then concentrate fully on the strutting, and generally looking cool.

I can only imagine your traditional rock band roady will think of this - can you imagine:-

"Oi! Dave, make us a cuppa tea - I'm jus con-figging dur main switch"
"yeah alf a mo John, gotta unpack da amps and those er.. 'rooter' things you was talking about"
"Noice one, don't forget the bootp server"
"er... John.. what's this 'effernet' anyway?"
"not now John" (taps microphone) " Testing, testing..er I mean 'Ping 12.12.123.12'"

"No response from bass guitar"
"is it da cable?"
"Nah thas normal - he's bladdered, innit".

Re:Off Topic

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

You misspelled "drummer".

Re:Wireless?

[Bohnanza]

Would it then be possible to send the info wirelessly (sp?) to the amp? Seems kind of cool.

Yes, I would love to connect my digital wireless ethernet guitar to my tube amp.

The RIAA...

[Jaysyn]

...will put DRM in it so you can't play anyone else's songs.

Jaysyn

Re:CAT5?

[necromaedian]

wtf is de jure? du jour? i'm confused...but also drunk

Re:Uhhhh

[Salo2112]

This one's special: it goes to 101Mbs....

- Nigel Tufnell

Re:Off Topic

[squarefish]

another one:

What's a stripper do to her asshole before she goes to work?

She drops him off at band practice.

Excuse me?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hack the what?

New opportunities for 1337 hax0rs

[qengho]

I can just see it: a worm that turns the output of a Nine Inch Nails show into the treacly slop of Kenny G. The horror, the horror! (Although vice-versa might be interesting...)

Re:Off Topic

[edbarrett]

How many drummers does it take to screw in a light bulb? None, they have machines to do that now.

Re:Off Topic

[cayenne8]

What's the last thing the drummer said before leaving the band??----"Hey, guys, I've got some songs......"

Re:Off Topic

[Anonymous Coward]

No, no, it goes like this.

Q: What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend?

A: Homeless.

Re:Off Topic

[masterkool]

to ammend the drummer jokes....

Q. Hey, did you hear about the drummer who graduated fromhigh school?

A. No.

Q. Neither did I.