Misa Digital Guitar Runs On Linux 125
conner_bw writes "Imagine strumming a guitar without any strings, on a touchscreen. Think the idea is too far-fetched? The Misa digital guitar claims to be exactly this. Overcoming the natural limitations of a traditional guitar, this new instrument eliminates the need to pluck strings while using the right hand to control sound. Specs: Linux kernel 2.6.31 (Gentoo); 24 frets; touchscreen; MIDI out; RJ-45 Ethernet. My favourite parts of the site are the FAQ (How do you SSH into the guitar?), and this quote from the developer: 'Because the software is open source I'm hoping people completely change the instrument and share new "firmware" with others. Different graphics, different control ideas etc. It would all be free of charge. So I'm hoping that happens as the instrument becomes more familiar.'" The developer, Michael, has not yet promised a delivery date or set a price for the instruments he is manufacturing.
Needs wireless connectivity (Score:1, Funny)
so I can play air guitar
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From a life long guitarist... (Score:1)
Video (Score:5, Informative)
Skip the words, watch a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2eiP12hQQY&fmt=35 [youtube.com]
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While definitely cool, don't you need some kind of tactile feedback from the guitar strings to play it better? The same reason why there will always be use for mouse and keyboard too, to provide better control.
But since I'm not a real guitar player, this could be a fun thing to have (and probably easier to play than a real guitar)
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Yes and no; players adapt and the sound of the instrument changes according to limitations. Take drums, using the bounce of the stick from the batter head is part of any good players technique. Where the original electronic kits had rubber pads, modern electronic kits use mesh heads so the feel is similar to a traditional kit. While any half-decent drummer should be able to bang out a performance
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If you try to play them the way you'd play a regular guitar, it can quickly turn into a hash.
However, the notion of using a guitar-like interface for MIDI control is not a a bad one at all. Lord knows, there are tons of different controller-types I'd like to see. Unfortunately, the box with a grid of buttons seems to be on the ascendancy again in the Monome and new Launchpad. I've been hoping for a Theremin-like MIDI controller, where I can control other parameters besides pitch a
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Oops, sorry about the double-post, but I just noticed that there have already been theremin to midi controllers. Moog handled one for a while called the "Etherwave". It cost $5k and is no longer in production. I also found some homebrew information. Should have used google before I shot my mouf' off.
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That should be easy, shouldn't it? Two proximity sensors and a microcontroller to translate that to midi messages. Or maybe just send raw data via serial port and let a real computer chew it.
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You can also get a nifty touchscreen pitch-bend controller, and run it inline with another midi device, like one of these grids of buttons. Between the two you ought to be able to get the effect you want, though you may not like mashing keys or stroking a touchpad. It seems like you also ought to be able to get the same effect with a touchpad operating a virtual midi controller on your PC...
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photon x25. it is cheap and has a theremin styled controller. just set the cc values to whatever you want.
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Did you see the laser guitar at instructables.com yet? http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Prism-A-Laser-Synth-Guitar/ [instructables.com]
Not really as advanced as MISA but seems to fit the theremin bill.
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the next step from MIDI is OSC [opensoundcontrol.org]. higher precision and networkable are my two favourite features. lots of small/homebrew stuff already supports it (plogue bidule, dsmi, iphone apps), and Native Instruments has support for it in some of their newer gear, though i hear the support is spotty and not too well documented. if you're on a mac there's OSCulator [osculator.net] that acts as an OSC host, passing data to/from your midi hosts. there's also work being done to get it running in Ableton Live with some python scripts. I'm e
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Plogue bidule is one of my favorite tools. I'll have to look into OSC.
Thanks for the tip, liquidsin.
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I've never used a guitar midi controller, but I always thought that being able to fret a chord across three octaves might prove useful compared to the one full octave I can do on a keyboard. I used to run XXX heavy strings, like .054-.014, wound B strings, &c. That would be good for midi control maybe? The pitch doesn't change much even when you bend'em way across the neck.
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I am a "real guitar player", and I want one of these. I've been doing a lot of experiments with music lately: alternative tunings, inserting weird things between strings, building my own strange instruments, defretting an electric guitar, experimenting with touchpad as a controller, etc. This "guitar" is on my wishlist.
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I am a luthier (stringed instrument builder) of traditional archtop and electric guitars,basses and others. I am also a MIDI guitar controller enthusiast. I use a baritone guitar to control my synth. While some tactile elements of tradition are helpful for some patches, using a standard instrument is not without glitches and artifacts(kinda neat if you want to include those elements, absolute PITA if you don't)
I can see from the video that his touchscreen is a fix to this proble
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While definitely cool, don't you need some kind of tactile feedback from the guitar strings to play it better? The same reason why there will always be use for mouse and keyboard too, to provide better control.
But since I'm not a real guitar player, this could be a fun thing to have (and probably easier to play than a real guitar)
I'm a long-time guitar player, and I have played around with "MIDI guitars" like the Rolands before, however they were actual guitars with sensors much like standard electric guita
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Such BS doesn't even make a good soundbite. I would be willing to bet that the computer you are posting from has all sorts of patents and patent-pending notices in its documentation and stamped on the body.
If I were to go into your kitchen, your bathroom, your bedroom, and your living room, I'd see all sorts of little gadgets, gizmos, appliances, and devices that have patents or have a patent pending.
Worse yet, I bet you have a lot of
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you are THAT guy.
If he's that guy, what does that make you? Oh wait, I know. Trolled.
Thanks (Score:2, Insightful)
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I like how you didn't use the AC this time.
You're a fucking tool: I haven't used AC in years, and I regularly flame ACs for their cowardice. Check your crystal ball, Kreskin, it's a bit cloudy. Welcome to my foes list, fucko. I don't appreciate being called a liar.
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Also, TFA mentioned that the touchscreen is a simple X Y MIDI CC. Devices like that, such as the Korg KAOSS pads, have been out for awhile. My question(I'm a longtime guitar player) is if the touchscreen could be calibrated(via OS hacks?) for fingerstyle playing. That is, to calibrate seperate resting positions for your thumb and then five other spaces for the other strings and then each tap in that particular spot would pluck its respective string.
Think of playing songs like Fleet
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abuse of moderation (Score:1, Offtopic)
If he's that guy, what does that make you? Oh wait, I know. Trolled.
I was NOT the troll in question. In addition my above comment is the truth as I see it, and by definition nothing you believe is a troll, though it can be flamebait. Permitting the masses of asses to moderate slashdot is a massive failure of judgement.
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
hmmm (Score:1, Offtopic)
Misa day startin pretty okee-day with a brisky morning munchy, then BOOM! Gettin very scared and grabbin that Jedi and POW! Misa here! Misa gettin' very very scared!
This is proof (Score:4, Funny)
That linux rocks! \m/
Re:Gentoo (Score:2)
It's a meta-distribution for ricers, you insensitive clod!
Must see: http://funroll-loops.info/ [funroll-loops.info]
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Yeah, because a site, that contains not a single argument, but only out-of-context quotes, and idiotic ideals, is just oh so cool.
It’s like stating that because some idiots do idiotic stuff with something, that thing must be idiotic too, and so must everyone else who uses it.
Show me your car, computer or really anything, and I build you a website showing nothing but idiots using it in idiotic ways, or using it like you do, but out of context, so that you look like a total idiot.
You know, those who hat
Re:Gentoo (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, because a site, that contains not a single argument, but only out-of-context quotes, and idiotic ideals, is just oh so cool.
(..)
Frankly, you both can fuck right off.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a *official Gentoo Developer*. You can check it here:
http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/devrel/roll-call/userinfo.xml [gentoo.org]
However that doesn't prevent me of finding that website *extremely* funny.
Jesus Christ, can't people laugh anymore?
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However that doesn't prevent me of finding that website *extremely* funny.
Me, too. Their lack of understanding of HTML is hilarious.
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However that doesn't prevent me of finding that website *extremely* funny.
Me, too. Their lack of understanding of HTML is hilarious.
I bet they riced it for IE.
Bending strings (Score:2)
Sounds (and looks) pretty cool though - I think I want one.
Re:Bending strings (Score:5, Informative)
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If there's no strings, what's the point of the neck and the frets?
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The frets tell it which note/chord to play while the touchscreen controls the effect(s) added and the timing. (from watching the video)
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well, this isn't a guitar, but a keytar with a touchscreen and the keys in the neck.
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You can hack this baby and make it do whatever you want. Duh.
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As long as you weren't wanting to give a guitar performance:
With this, the right hand gains options, and you actually lose options with the left hand. On a guitar the left hand provides fretting, bending, vibrato, harmonics, muting and probably more techniques that I don't know about. Triggering all the notes at the same time is also limiting as it rules out sweeping and slow strumming. To actually give a performance that's expressive in the same way a guitar is you're going to have to fill the touch pad wi
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This is all true what you've said about all the techniques that you can use with real strings, and all of these things are almost exactly what I am missing when I'm playing piano (I started playing guitar long before keyboards). However, a piano is a very different instrument from a guitar, and has a lot of its own strenghts. Same thing with Misa.
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Of course. As far as I'm concerned any MIDI controller + any synthesiser patch = a new instrument. Different weights of keys demand different playing technique, as well as 'alternative' controllers such as the haken continuum [cerlsoundgroup.org], axis series (based on harmonic tables) [c-thru-music.com], MIDI theremins, electronic wind instruments [akaipro.com], various silly keyboard/guitar hybrids [wikipedia.org], guitars with hexaphonic pickups [roland.com], pad controllers [akaipro.com], handheld wands [buchla.com] and all manner of magic touch surfaces [buchla.com].
On top of that the playing technique for a slow synth pad
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> http://mansons.co.uk/shopping/categories/manson-signature-guitars/manson-signature-guitars/mb1-standard/ [mansons.co.uk]
A sustainer! :D
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That isn't how a guitar works. You have to fret the string AND pluck or strum the string.
Yeah, duh... The whole point is that this isn't a guitar... its a digital 'guitar' that is more of a new tech than a simple guitar....
Sorry to tell ya, but this isn't just another rehashing of the same old idea over and over... its something new.
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I think there are pressure sensors in the neck, which correspond to guitar notes. The touchpad probably has columns corresponding to where the strings would be. So hit the E-string part of the touchpad while holding the first fret of the E-string part of the neck, it will play an F.
This doesn't allow you to bend notes with the fretting hand. Most guitarists will find this to be major omission.
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Don't think it works like that. He mentioned that the two dimensions are mapped onto midi parameters (velocity, distortion). That doesn't leave anything left for "which string".
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If there's no strings, what's the point of the neck and the frets?
To choose tones in a way 'similar' to how a guitar player chooses them.
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As several people have pointed out that's bullshit.
how is it bullshit? i think it is quite obvious that the tones are scaled across the 'frets' very similarly to how a guitar's tones are scaled... the finger placement is obviously affecting the output tones in ways that are similar to how they do on a guitar.
make a frikking point.. .oh wait.. you're just a coward with nothing real to say.
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anything's gotta be cooler than a fscking keytar...
The point: (Score:3, Insightful)
It is true that you can already do all that on a keyboard with a touchpad. The interesting thing though is that the keys aren't placed in the same way on a guitar than they are on a keyboard so you can compose things that sound different.
In other words, you'll be able to compose and play differently since piano tends to make you compose in a linear way, and a guitar forces you to play notes that are all over the keyboard.
It's a bit like the Akai EWI USB which gives you more control over the sound level depe
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It's not really a guitar. It is a synthesizer that sounds like a guitar with distortion. I do play guitar. There is a joke among proficient guitar players where the term 'talent pedal' or 'talent booster pedal [deanguitars.com]' is used in place of 'distortion pedal'. While a lot of good players do use distortion, it is used by a lot of not so good, or downright bad players to cover up their bad playing. When you hear that computer sound in singer's voices in the pop songs that are out there today (i.e. young girls and somet
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This is technology that allows the engineer [photobucket.com] to move off key singing back into proper pitch within their Digital Audio Workstation.
God I wish I had some mod points. I'm a sound man and that is some funny shit. I used to have that Farside comic laminated to my console. Haven't seen it in years. Thanks for the memory. And IMHO, Auto-tune IS a suck button. Thanks Cher!
Yes, but does it run... (Score:2, Funny)
oh...
Simon? (Score:5, Funny)
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$ grep dissonant /var/log/solo.log
too many lines
Die Jar Jar! DIE! (Score:2)
Tactile feedback (Score:2)
I don't want to come over all Luddite - but surely part of playing guitar is the sensation of the strings against the fingers. You know where they are, because you can feel them. You know whether and how hard you've plucked/strummed, because you can feel them.
I think playing this thing would be a bit like typing on an on-screen keyboard - a second class experience.
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I had that same experience when I tried to play an electronic saxophone. All the feel of the reed in the acoustic instrument is gone.
However, guitars have been "electric", which actually means a hybrid instrument, for decades now. This Misa is actually a third generation instrument, we have the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, and the touchscreen guitar, three entirely different instruments that s
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the electric of electric guitar is only the manner of picking up the string vibrations - a coil with magnets instead of a microphone. by all other means an electric guitar is a real guitar (except that most electric guitars are solid body guitars to avoid feedback).
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You have never played a guitar, have you? Playing an electric guitar is fundamentally different from playing an acoustic guitar.
Probably the best analogy would be to say an electric guitar is to an acoustic guitar as an organ is to a piano. In a piano the string is plucked by a hammer, while in the organ the sound is emitted continuously by the air flowing in the tubes.
An elect
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I play guitar for almost a decade and I've built a couple of electric guitars by myself. But it seems you don't know shit about the history of electric guitar. The only reason for solid body was to avoid feedback at high volumes. All the effects came much later.
And no, playing an electric guitar is not fundamentally different from playing an acoustic guitar. There are some additional tricks that differ, but most things are pretty much the same.
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Both electric (we're talking well built, not Musician's Friend Strat or Les Paul style budget models) and acoustics both "dissipate" sound at about the same rate. The path is just different. With an acoustic, the sound is radiated by vibration of the wood and is directed outward by the sound hole. In a solid body, the vibrations are constr
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I have played plenty of guitars, for 30 years.
There is basically no difference between playing an electric and playing an accoustic.
I own 5 guitars, A Strat, a Les Paul, a Yamaha bass and 6 string acoustic and a Takamine acoustic.
The taka acoustic has a very good pickup, and great sustain, at least equal to the strat!
Any extra sustain comes thru distortion/compression with an amplified guitar.
The downside with nthe acoustic with picup is too MUCH sustain, otherwise known as feedback.
AC due to mods in this t
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That one is a very good analogy.
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I don't want to come over all Luddite - but surely part of playing guitar is the sensation of the strings against the fingers. You know where they are, because you can feel them. You know whether and how hard you've plucked/strummed, because you can feel them.
I think playing this thing would be a bit like typing on an on-screen keyboard - a second class experience.
I think i would like it WAY more than a guitar... but that's my taste... part of it being that I'm not expecting a guitar, i'm expecting a new fun piece of technology.
Yes, but what is it programmed in? (Score:5, Funny)
I heard they wanted to do it in C#, but that idea fell flat, so they went with C.
*groan*
I'm going to one-half-up that joke... (Score:2, Flamebait)
Hey, C sharp, fell flat... C. Ah, I get it. Ha. Ha-ha-ha...
I guess your choice of words wasn't completely accidental.
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Mod parent up (Score:2, Funny)
+1/2, Funny
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That joke sort of worked in this case, but does it scale?
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|: The original joke was sort of funny but it wasn't worth repeating. :|
Patent pending? (Score:2)
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What looks unique to me is the use of the touchscreen not to interact with virtual strings but to control midi parameters - the neck is used to finger chords, and all notes fingered are played no matter where on the touchscreen you tap. The touchscreen is used to modify pitch and distortion with multiple fingers at the same time for multiple chords.
In comparison, your example involved fingering chords and 'virtually' strumming them - much closer to a typical electric guitar. If it's an effective instrumen
/shakes head (Score:1)
Reall want to hear Holdsworth play on of these (Score:1)
I think he could make it really sing, just like he does with the synthaxe.
Guitar-ZyX: NDS homebrew touchscreen WhammyPad (Score:2)
Shameless plug-
If you are interested in recycling an NDS into a touchscreen whammypad that you can embed in or velcro to a real guitar, check out-
http://gzyx.org/ [gzyx.org]
It comes with a fedora-11 derived LiveUSB appliance distribution that boots straight into the open source rakarrack f/x processor. Along with a server to listen via wifi to the NDS which runs a homebrew remote control application, to control changing f/x presets and mapping 2 parameters to the X and Y of the touchscreen.
100% open source, self host
As a bass player, I want this. (Score:1)
What about MIDItar? Oh, that's Windows and Mac (Score:2)
Yeah, it doesn't offer the capabilities of the Misa, but you can noodle a bit with your Guitar Hero/Rock Band controllers, drums or guitars. I just got it hooked up and it works (with a bit of chaining between MIDItar, Max, LoopBe and Fruity Loops).
If nothing else, MIDItar makes for an inexpensive MIDI drum kit - and for that use, it's pretty effective.
Just when I thought... (Score:1)
Just when I thought all the fun of playing guitar had been completely eliminated, somebody yet again proved me wrong.
How to shred? (Score:1)
Bleh (Score:1)
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Could not agree more about the difficulty of learning on crap guitars.
Only in the last few years have I bought really nice guitars and the difference is amazing. Some poieces that were difficult to manage on an average guitar are easy on a decent one.
The difference is unbelievable really, I reckon I played 30% better as soon as I picked up my new accoustic. Yay!
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