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.
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?
Thanks (Score:2, Insightful)
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 depending on how hard you blow into it. You'd need a pedal to get the same result with a keyboard, which is a less intuitive setup.
Different tools have different strong points and weaknesses.