Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

I don’t care what it sounds like, I want one.

(The technology inside the electric guitar has been set since the 1930s: Magnetic pickups convert string vibrations into electrical impulses. Gibson’s new Les Paul, with proprietary Magic technology, does something else altogether, something no other guitar does. An audio converter inside the instrument’s body translates string vibrations into a digital signal that can travel over a standard Cat-5 Ethernet cable)

…I wonder how difficult it’ll be to upgrade the firmware? It could breed a whole new set of viruses that make your Les Paul sound like a coathanger bashing a dustbin, or a sack of hammers falling down a stone staircase, or something…

Better still, you’ll be able to get a webcam upgrade to broadcast your gigs live from stage.

Oh the fun we’ll have.


Categories: Memories.

/ 1 Comment

1 comment

  1. neilh

    Re: Blimey

    Ah, feedback, now there is an interesting question – thats one of the places where this technology is going to be noticed. The essence of feedback is resonance as opposed to delay, but you’ll find there are some frequencies that feed back more than others for any particular setup, this technology intrinsically has a delay in it (anything passed over real ethernet will have the packetisation delay, plus any collision time), which is going to have some strange effects but the basic idea will still work.

    As an aside, have you ever tried calling your own mobile phone from a speakerphone? Thats a wonderful demonstration of echo cancellation technology – and some groovy sounds before it kicks in.

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