Man Improves Guitar By Injecting the 1980s

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Man Improves Guitar By Injecting the 1980s



If Guitar Hero can make videogames cool, this 8-bit guitar should do the same for chiptunes.

Chiptunes - original pieces of music composed using old videogame machines - are lots of fun to listen to, but creating them can be quite a chore. It often requires using different forms of trackers, emulators, and re-purposed sound-chips from the 1980s. Mike Davenport's senior project for school, a chiptune guitar, aims to make the process a little bit cooler.

Forget about building up calluses on your fingers, the area where a guitarist would usually strum has been replaced with arcade buttons. The only strings involved here are internal wires, with "membrane potentiometers" instead modifying the guitar's pitch. The whole thing was put together using a field-programmable gate array, apparently. I know what that is.

He's uploaded a simple performance to YouTube (included below) that won't have fans cheering like they would at the Venice opera, but it exhibits the abilities of his creation. It appears to be able to create multiple loops that play simultaneously (or he's using a loop pedal), much like a chiptune tracker, so it's technically multiple instruments in one. It might not look like much now, but people said the same thing about Fred Piano's first prototype. With a coat of paint, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that would like an 8-bit guitar of their own.


Source: technabob [http://hackaday.com/2010/04/28/part-arcade-part-guitar/]

Image via technabob

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Nimbus

Token Irish Guy
Oct 22, 2008
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Ok, he built it, yeah.

Now learn to PLAY it, man!

Seriously, that was... Not good.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Thats is epic! hehe, gotta love th old school sounds!

I would totally get one!
 

TAGM

New member
Dec 16, 2008
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Chiptuning too hard? Then try chiptuning with a guitar!

Nah, seriously though, Guitar seems to be THE choice for "Instrument I want to learn today," So this may not be a half bad idea.
Now, the question is - Is he going to mass produce them and sell them?
 

Insanum

The Basement Caretaker.
May 26, 2009
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Well thats officially Epic.

Its now joined the list of things i want, Just under the Keytar.
 
Feb 18, 2009
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Not sure it can loop as it looked like he was using a <a href=http://www.digitech.com/products/Pedals/JamMan.php>JamMan with his feet. Cool sounds though.
 

Trivun

Stabat mater dolorosa
Dec 13, 2008
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Am I the only one listening to this and imagining someone like Klaxons or Pendulum or Crystal Castles taking that base idea and developing it themselves and using it, refined of course, in their own music? Because if the sound can be developed right, I would love to hear that sort of thing on, say, Klaxons' third album... :D
 

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Grinnbarr said:
Not sure it can loop as it looked like he was using a <a href=http://www.digitech.com/products/Pedals/JamMan.php>JamMan with his feet. Cool sounds though.
Oh, I see.
 

SaintWaldo

Interzone Vagabond
Jun 10, 2008
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An FPGA is a piece of silicon that can be programmed to emulate any number (up to the FPGA's limit, of course) of silicon gates in any configuration (within the above limits). So if you wanted a set of 16 or 32 8-bit chips that could be chained with push-button input, an FPGA is a good choice on how you would go about designing and iterating that project. It's the most flexible way of iterating chip designs; but due to the expense and ability for re-purposing, you don't (typically) put an FPGA in your end product.

So, Tom, now you DO know what an FPGA is. ;)
 

danosaurus

New member
Mar 11, 2008
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Nimbus said:
Ok, he built it, yeah.

Now learn to PLAY it, man!

Seriously, that was... Not good.
Yeah I'm with you - I saw this video last week and the context of it blew me away. I was like 'Awhhh no freakin way, 8-bit, Guitar, Retro'.
It had all the ingredients for an awesome concept but then he played it and made it sound like a piece of shit.

Son, I am disappoint :(
 

matrix3509

New member
Sep 24, 2008
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Can somebody please get this into the hands of Bitshifter or Anamanaguchi please? Kthxbie.
 

Blimey

New member
Nov 10, 2009
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I enjoy the people saying that he sucks at playing.


Did you all miss the fact that he fucking built this shit?


Apparently.
 

Mr. Mike

New member
Mar 24, 2010
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Very very cool. The potential is definitely there for some awesome tracks. Once the guy refines the guitar and makes sure every kink is ironed out, I'm sure chiptune bands would be rushing to get their hands on one of these.