Would You Buy A "Digital" Guitar?

[c7sus]

This doesn't sound like a hybrid.

But something tells me a hybrid version of this idea will be more popular than a version without magnetic pickups.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,118752,00.html

[Outlaws]

I see digital guitars taking over in the future for a period of time...much like any fad...but then they will become so cheap to produce, they will become like keyboards, the standard beginner instrument, and the "real" analog guitar will become like the grand piano...only real musicians will own them...which could be a good thing.

[Ed Dixon]

The Line 6 Variax has been out for some time, and offers many of the features discussed here. They now have the second generation of that guitar.

Roland has also made digital pickups that can be added to guitars for about 20 years. While not exactly the same thing, they offer the hybrid sound. The sound it offers is limited mostly by the connected sound modules.

Ed

[Cyrokk]

"[Gibson's] most popular guitar, the Les Paul, retails at about $1,300. The digital guitar will cost $1,000 to $1,500 more than a standard model."

I guess I'm old-fashioned, because I'd rather have a Les Paul.

Plus, some of the arguments against modern "analog" guitars are kinda weak, like how with the digital guitars someone can have a metal crunch on the bottom strings and a clean tone on the top. First of all, the top strings are somewhat cleaner on electric guitars anyway, and the grit on those upper strings provides gain. Second of all, clean sounds are actually louder than distorted. Without some sort of gain reduction, that could easily blow a speaker or someone's ear drum. Maybe I am too skeptical, but it doesn't really sound like something that will change the face of music as these people are claiming.

And although Gruhn's statement is for the traditional electric guitar, the best sound comes from the fingers before the magnetic pickup and tube amp.

Cy

[DJL]

"Would You Buy A "Digital" Guitar?"

No.

[matty_boy]

No.

[wilkee]

"Would You Buy A "Digital" Guitar?"

I thought all guitars were played with the fingers?

[faderbug]

if you would've asked ten years ago "will you ever buy a computer to record music with" 95% would've said NO.

you can't stop progress.

[faderbug]

Originally posted by wilkee
"Would You Buy A "Digital" Guitar?"

I thought all guitars were played with the fingers?

all but "analog" guitars

[DJL]

Originally posted by faderbug
you can't stop progress.

If you want progress... pratice playing your guitar.

[Henri Devill]

No...




Don

[Light]

Not a chance.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[distortedrumble]

i would buy one....when the price goes down...way down.

[juststartingout]

Would I buy it as an option, probably. Does it excite me, not really.

I have been running a rolland gk-2a for a number of years. The ability to split your strings up is a powerful tool. The question is what does the pickup sound like?

I am not a fan of digital enhancing a signal, I am more of a humbucker and tube amp type of person. Now, if I could route the humbuckers to 6 or 12 different outputs ( one for each string / pickup), that would excite me. If they just use the ethernet to digitize the signal, and split it up at the mux, then it would be nothing more than a digital transport with the ability to split the your pickup. Unfortunatly, that's not what this is.

The other issue with it, is wireless. Current technology only allows for about a 30 Megabit system wich is not enough for 16 bit sample on 6/12 channels unless you use a lower sample rate and that would not be good.

Maybe they will get there someday, but for now, I will sit back and lite up the SG and Marshall.

[reel buzzer]

I'd like to have one around the house for mindless playing and such,

but I wouldn't play one on stage.

Too weird, and too finicky. I wouldn't trust it onstage.

[lpdeluxe]

Sorry, but NO. I can't imagine a situation where a digital guitar would allow me to do something that my current collection (which includes, as you might imagine, a Les Paul DeLuxe) wouldn't. This whole concept of "emulating" real instruments is troubling to me anyhow. Isn't it all about making music? Being original and creative? NOT copying somebody else's hit (or wannabee hit) record? I have spent my life as a graphic artist and it forever amazes me that musicians (to be fair, maybe just young ones) seem to think that a major artist is someone who can play "Stairway To Heaven" note-for-note. Get thee behind me, Satan.

Now, if I could use that digital guitar to get some greasy sound not possible on my "analogs" -- now we're talkin' MUSIC. But I haven't yet explored all the grease in what I have...try a '60's Ventura Chet Atkins copy tuned to open C, with a cheap knockoff of a Bigsby whammy: now we're talking grease where it lives.

[DJL]

Originally posted by lpdeluxe
This whole concept of "emulating" real instruments is troubling to me anyhow. Isn't it all about making music? Being original and creative? NOT copying somebody else's hit (or wannabee hit) record?

It's troublesome to me too... just the thought of going to a concert and seeing nothing but a drum machine, midi keyboard and digital guitar play with each other makes me sick. Disco crap.

[faderbug]

Originally Posted by DJL

If you want progress... pratice playing your guitar.

what i mean is if digital guitars are the thing of the future in 10 years time everybody will be playing one...maybe even you.

[Aaron Cheney]

Instrument mfgr's need to get something through their heads: there is a huge incentive for someone to buy a digital piano... they are smaller and more transportable, and becasue of the way notes are triggered it is easy to manipulate them as data. Buying a digital guitar does not offer any of those incentives... they are exactly the same size and not any more transportable. Beyond that, the notes aren't just triggered by a hammer and left to vibrate; they are triggered by the touch of a finger, held by a fingers, and manipulated over their durationby fingers. Digital, schmigital... my answer is a resounding NO.

A
www.aaroncheney.com

[Beltrom]

I won't throw out my other guitars. But yes, absolutely!

[Emperor !!!]

no!!!!!!!!!!

[RyanEmerson]

I wouldn't trust a damn thing FOX News says anyway.

[Ed Dixon]

The advantage for digital guitars is more live based than studio. Live gigs with small bands depend on a variety of things, and size and flexibility can be an important factor.

Just listening to a few Variac owners will show some of the advantages. More than a few started leaving their Les Pauls at home once they got used to the Variac.

I have used a Roland Gk-1/2 based system for almost 20 years. It offers some options you just can't get via other means in a live environment. What Gibson is talking about is perhaps the next step beyond the Roland/Variac.

Clearly pricing is a consieration, but I think it's something that has merit.

Ed

[tom18222]

depends. I mean, it is still a real guitar. it has a pickup, it has real strings. This could be a thing of the future, or it will die out. I dont think a keyboard is a good comparison, because everything on a keyboard is synth. Not on that guitar. but if it sounds like shit, then no i wouldnt get it.

[faderbug]

Originally Posted by tom18222

depends. I mean, it is still a real guitar. it has a pickup, it has real strings. This could be a thing of the future, or it will die out. I dont think a keyboard is a good comparison, because everything on a keyboard is synth. Not on that guitar. but if it sounds like shit, then no i wouldnt get it.

exactly, i don't see what the problem is, maybe it's just the word 'digital' that scares people off. you would still be playing on steel wire tensioned over a piece of wood. early jazz musicians like django reinhard at first refused to go electric because they were scared it would take away the 'soul' of their instrument. it doesn't. it doesn't because it's all in the players hands.

btw what's the difference between playing a 'real' electric and sending your signal through a digital modeler amp sim and AD convertor to be recorded on a HDD and sending a 'digital' guitars signal through the same chain?