Jan 08

You Rock Guitar: Like Guitar Hero, Only Less Fake

Posted in: guitar, Today's Chili, video games

yourockguitar.jpg

Hey Guitar Hero fans, ever heard this one before: “Why don’t you put down that controller and learn a real instrument”? Well, You Rock Guitar may well be your chance. This $199 device doubles as a Guitar Hero controller for the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3, and as a real guitar. There are steel strings at the bottom, which correspond to rubber strings on the neck.
The guitar is also compatible with PC or Mac, so you can use it create actually music in apps like Garage Band. Once plugged in, it can double as a bass, drums, and a number of other instruments. The You Rock also ships with a number of songs to play along to, just like the real (fake) Guitar Hero.

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Jan 06

You Rock Guitar now on track for February at $180, rockin’ still in question

Posted in: guitar, Today's Chili
Last we heard anything about ezGear’s You Rock Guitar it was on track for a launch in “either Q2 or Q3” (of 2009) and would supposedly pack a price tag in the neighborhood of $150. Well, it seems that another year and another CES can make quite the difference, as the company (now known as Inspired Instruments) is now promising that the not-a-toy guitar will launch in February of this year, and that it will sport a slightly higher price tag of $179.95. From the looks of things, however, that’s about all that’s changed with the guitar, which still packs the same USB connectivity, MIDI functionality, and iPod or MP3 player connectedness as before. The company is even going so far as to reuse its tried and true promotional video — see it after the break.

Continue reading You Rock Guitar now on track for February at $180, rockin’ still in question

You Rock Guitar now on track for February at $180, rockin’ still in question originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 23

Highlights from NYU’s ITP winter show 2009

Posted in: guitar, Music, new-york, Today's Chili

Our friends over at Adafruit Industries made their way over to NYU’s ITP winter show 2009 recently, and they’ve blessed us with some highlights. ITP shows are always interesting and worth a walk through, and this is one show we regret missing this time around. The fridgebuzz MK1 protoype alone is enough to snag our hearts — a MIDI controller with 32 LED button switches and six copper switches, all in a super attractive package. The Super Duper cubes go beyond their ridiculous name, and operate as an interface to control video and music, with each cube boasting a gyroscope, accelerometor, battery, and wireless communication, so that the cubes can be turned (no wires!). There is plenty more to see, so hit the source link to check out photos and a video of the full highlights.

Highlights from NYU’s ITP winter show 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 07

Guitar picks crafted from old circuit boards spark binary solo revolution

Posted in: diy, guitar, Music, Today's Chili, video

As the great Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement would say:

0, 001, 001!
Come on sucker, lick my battery!

We’re no experts on translating binary rock ‘n roll into modern day English (or Russian, for that matter), but we’re guessing that the boys from New Zealand would most certainly approve of a guitar pick crafted from recycled motherboards. Etsy member TheBlueKraken seems capable of churning these guys (and many other wares) out in almost any hue of PCB, and at just $7 or $8 apiece, they’re hardly a rip off. In fact, we’d wager that these are pretty much the most awesome stocking stuffers of all time. Boogie, boogie, boogie, robo boogie, all after the break.

Continue reading Guitar picks crafted from old circuit boards spark binary solo revolution

Guitar picks crafted from old circuit boards spark binary solo revolution originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 03

BOSS eBand Audio Player lets you rock along to its tinny accompaniment

Posted in: guitar, Music, Today's Chili

Are you sick of the guitar player in your life anachronistically asking you to reset the needle on their turntable so they can rock out to the Electric Light Orchestra? Maybe the eBand JS-8 from BOSS will shut them up. The unit (which doesn’t float in the air casting reflections upon jeans, as the horrible Photoshop above might suggest) can play tracks off of a USB stick or SD card, with the ability to change the pitch and tempo of songs, as well as some audio engineering magic to kill the guitar or vocal parts. They can then plug your guitar in and rock out over the built-in speakers, and tap record to immortalize their roughly hewn pentatonic scales up against the backing tracks. It’s sort of a less-portable version of Tascam’s MP-GT1 DAP, and perfect for the guitar player who doesn’t have everything.

BOSS eBand Audio Player lets you rock along to its tinny accompaniment originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 28

Korg Nanokey controller repurposed into MIDI foot pedal

Posted in: diy, guitar, hack, keyboard, mod, Music, Today's Chili

Korg’s Nanokey MIDI controller is pretty awesome in its own right, but using it with your feet gets a little difficult under “normal” conditions. We can’t say for certain why Marc Fischer decided to convert his perfectly good control board into a MIDI foot pedal, but frankly, that’s beside the point. The point is he did it, and he did it with just a bit of ingenuity, some wooden blocks for risers and a bit of Plexiglas to cover up the missing keys. Hit the read link if you’re interested in doing something similar, and feel free to ask the man himself where that gorgeous shag carpet came from. Kinky!

[Via MAKE]

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Korg Nanokey controller repurposed into MIDI foot pedal originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 07

Mad Catz Rock Band Wireless Fender Telecaster ‘Player’s Edition’ might just get Dylan to go electric

Posted in: controller, guitar, Today's Chili

If you’re really, really into fake guitar playing, Mad Catz newest ‘Player’s Edition’ Fender Tele might be just the thing for you. It boasts four ways to kick yourself into Overdrive (traditional tilting, a backtuning button, a touch sensitive pickup over the strumming bar, and a sold-separately Electro Harmonix pedal), plus some new fast action Shredderz fret buttons. Of course, the real draw here is aesthetic, and they’ve definitely hit all the right notes, there. The Rock Band Telecaster is available now, and it’s going to run you $109.99 — but you can make that in busking tips, right?

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Mad Catz Rock Band Wireless Fender Telecaster ‘Player’s Edition’ might just get Dylan to go electric originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 09

Logitech tests the boundaries with overpriced wireless guitar and drums for Wii

Posted in: expensive, guitar, logitech, luxury, Music, nintendo, nintendo wii, NintendoWii, Today's Chili, wii, Wireless

You’d never know that we’re still pulling out of a recession if you took one glance at the music peripheral market. The Beatles: Rock Band bundle costs more than some game consoles, and Mad Catz is charging $300 for a genuine Fender Stratocaster that controls Rock Band on the Xbox 360. Now, Logitech is joining the whole “rob gamers blind” movement with the introduction of the Wireless Guitar Controller and Wireless Drum Controller for Nintendo’s Wii. Both products are licensed for use with Guitar Hero, with the axe boasting a maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and metal frets. Heck, there’s even a “noise dampening strum bar and fret buttons,” not to mention a touch-sensitive slider on the fretboard. The skins look all too familiar, with a trio of drum pads and a pair of cymbals to go along with the stainless steel kick pedal and its fancy adjustable spring. Naturally, you’ll need to snap a Wiimote into each before mashing play, and more importantly, you’ll need to empty $199.99 and / or $299.99 (respectively) from your bank account before snagging ’em this October.

[Via Joystiq]

Gallery: Logitech tests the boundaries with overpriced wireless guitar and drums for Wii

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Logitech tests the boundaries with overpriced wireless guitar and drums for Wii originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 04

Mad Catz ships $300 Fender Stratocaster Rock Band guitar, disgraces real musicians everywhere

Posted in: controller, expensive, guitar, luxury, Microsoft, Music, Today's Chili, Wireless, xbox 360, Xbox360

We always knew something like this was a realistic possibility, but we had high hopes that it’d never really come to fruition. Today, what little hope we had left in humanity has been thoroughly crushed, as the introduction of a guitar controller that costs far more than many actual guitars has occurred. In an effort to truly milk the sector for all it’s worth, Mad Catz has begun to ship the sunburst-colored Rock Band Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster, which is a 1:1 replica of the iconic axe that is constructed from genuine Stratocaster wooden blanks. Heck, even the tuning keys and bridge are built from genuine Fender metal parts and fittings. There’s also a wireless module designed to function with Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and just so you know you’re getting your money’s worth, the $299.99 asking price also includes a Fender guitar strap and a headset socket for online play. So, who out there is brazen enough to admit that they’re buying one (or two)?

[Via OhGizmo]

Gallery: Mad Catz Fender Stratocaster Rock Band guitar

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Mad Catz ships $300 Fender Stratocaster Rock Band guitar, disgraces real musicians everywhere originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 31

Video: Retractible wireless Rock Band / Guitar Hero controller perfect for the five-button shredder on the go

Posted in: guitar, peripheral, playstation, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, Today's Chili, wii

Guitar Hero and Rock Band‘s plastic axes aren’t exactly behemoths in their own right, but if you need something even tinier, little-known game accessories company NEXiLUX looks to have a more portable solution in the works. The video for its mini guitar isn’t the clearest, but from we can see, the body is about the same size as the retracted neck, which expands from behind the touch-sensitive pads to reveal the infamous quintet of colored buttons. D-pad, navigation buttons, whammy bar, and pickup selection have all survived the compression, and to make each unit as universal as possible, there’s a switch on the bottom for choosing between either Guitar Hero for Wii or Rock Band for Wii, PlayStation 2, and PS3. Both black and white models are seen here, but there’s no mention either in-video or on the company’s website of price or release date. See it for yourself after the break.

[Thanks, Floyd]

Continue reading Video: Retractible wireless Rock Band / Guitar Hero controller perfect for the five-button shredder on the go

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Video: Retractible wireless Rock Band / Guitar Hero controller perfect for the five-button shredder on the go originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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