Gibson's New Robot Guitar - Wave of t...

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Author Message   Johns Username: Johns Registered: 2-2001 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 9:51 am:    Anybody heard of this new self-tuning LP? If not check it out here: http://www.gibson.com/robotguitar/index.html There are some amusing and instructional videos here: http://www.gibson.com/robotguitar/RobotGuitarVideo Voting.aspx The thing I want to know is, what happens when it breaks?   Peterdryan Username: Peterdryan Registered: 6-2007 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 10:23 am:    Yes, it's the PowerTune system and it's been available as an add-on for a while but I believe Gibson is the first to sell it pre-integrated. http://www.tronical.com/   Dave_g Username: Dave_g Registered: 1-2002 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 11:00 am:    Fender has a simlar system in a strat theres a demo on utube   Chazmo Username: Chazmo Registered: 3-2007 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 6:37 pm:    I have to say, I was trying to learn something and see what this robot guitar actually was. The Gibson web site seemed practically content-free. I realize you guys are talking about an automatic tuning system, but I didn't get that at all from Gibby's site. I guess I'm spoiled. Taylor's site is so clear and informative... I feel they should all be that way.   Johns Username: Johns Registered: 2-2001 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 6:46 pm:    Chazmo: Go to the videos page, scroll to the bottom and watch the Instructions video, all the way through. You'll get the whole enchilada.   Chazmo Username: Chazmo Registered: 3-2007 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 7:41 pm:    Ah, very good, John. Thanks. Well, hmm.... servo-controlled tuning. Kinda cool. But, jeez, the instructions for setting everything up were very non-intuitive. Just so much you can do with a single knob. Ok, but pretty cool nonetheless.   Grateful66 Username: Grateful66 Registered: 8-2007 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 8:35 pm:    Ground control to Major Tom. Commencing countdown tuners on? No thanks, but thank you Johns.   Guitarwhisperer Username: Guitarwhisperer Registered: 6-2007 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 9:06 pm:    Saw one today in fact. It's a self-tuning guitar, that also self-tunes to different open tunings. It worked really well from what I've seen. Once you get over the learning curve, of course. I just like the name "Robot Guitar". You can say stuff like "Hey, man, check out my robot guitar!". Now, if they could make it fetch your beer for you that'd be REALLY cool!   Guitarwhisperer Username: Guitarwhisperer Registered: 6-2007 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 9:09 pm:    Great, now I've got that darn song stuck in my head.   Chazmo Username: Chazmo Registered: 3-2007 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 9:22 pm:    [Queen] Dohmo arigato, guitar roboto. [/Queen]   Peterdryan Username: Peterdryan Registered: 6-2007 Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 11:10 pm:    Styx - Mr. Roboto   Chazmo Username: Chazmo Registered: 3-2007 Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2007 - 11:16 am:    Yikes. Styx! Sorry!   Peterdryan Username: Peterdryan Registered: 6-2007 Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2007 - 12:40 pm:    DeYoung went through that "rock opera" phase for a few albums and, yeah, they do kind of sound like Queen in a few places.   Guitarwhisperer Username: Guitarwhisperer Registered: 6-2007 Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2007 - 1:47 pm:    Anyone heard of a band called Nightwish? Here's a cool "rock opera" tune:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBFEX5kkAJQ&feature =related. Actually, it's a Finnish metal band.   Talajuha Username: Talajuha Registered: 11-2006 Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2007 - 6:06 pm:    More Nightwish, audio and video samples in "Files", "Datein", ... http://www.nightwish.com/   Harry Username: Harry Registered: 3-2001 Posted on Monday, December 03, 2007 - 3:51 am:    Nightwish...love that band! Going to see them in the Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam on March 21. By the way: I'm getting bored about all the bottomless discussions on Youtube about this old singer/new singer issue.... About the Robot guitar....why call a self-tuning guitar a robot guitar? It really would be a robot guitar if it would be able to PLAY automatically. Just upload the songs of your playlist into the guitar's memory and here you go...no more mistakes when you have a gig....once switched on it would be playing like crazy, just standing on it's stand and you'll be backstage drinking... My worry: if everything in music business is going to be taken over by samplers, machines, effects, high-tech, self-tuning guitars.....where is the "charm" of being a musician? Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I love the risk of de-tuning guitars, breaking strings and everything that can go wrong during a gig. That's what makes it so exciting. How dull would it be if you never had to worry again, because everything has been taken care of and you're 100% sure that every chance of something going wrong have been banned? So much for excitement! Harry   Fox Username: Fox Registered: 2-2003 Posted on Monday, December 03, 2007 - 7:15 am:    Guitarwhisperer & Harry, I have "followed" Nightwish quite closely through their entire career, from the recording of their first demo Dec.1996-Jan 1977 ..   Chazmo Username: Chazmo Registered: 3-2007 Posted on Monday, December 03, 2007 - 12:45 pm:    Harry, I think the Gibby folks are just messin' with us. They named it a robot guitar just to pique our interest and get us talking about it. The videos on the site are meant to be humorous (except the instructions). The guitar doesn't play anything, it just provides a tool for tuning. I liken this to an sequential transmission on a car where you select the gears but don't have to deal with a mechanical clutch. But, you made some interesting points. What really is the charm in being a guitarist? Fender has a Roland "pickup" in their VG Stratocaster that is essentially a synthesizer. It's very cool, very versatile, does all kinds of automatic non-standard tunings and even generates a 12-string sound that's impossible acoustically (because it raises the B and E strings with octaves)... Is this crossing the line? Back in the '80s when MIDI was invented, the intent was to allow keyboard players to drive any vendor's synth that that they wanted with the same console keyboard. Ultimately, what's captured in the MIDI spec is "performance" data that can be replayed on any synth. Then Yamaha got creative and put electronics inside a grand piano and started "recording" performance data for great pianists. Now, you can truly have a player piano that sounds like Claudio Arrau in your living room. I don't think anyone's built a guitar with the ability to play itself, but it's possible to do. MIDI data could play back a guitar performance... I don't know. In my opinion, stuff like VG and Gibson's auto-tuning are just versatility tools and do not take the charm away from being a musician. Yamaha's Synclavier grand pianos on the other hand...

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