Musicians, your gear is about to get an upgrade! Say goodbye to the bulky, boxy amplifier and say hello to Jack – a wireless guitar headphone amplifier! This conceptual small pod-sized system offers unlimited tones and effects to truly give you all the tools without the cables. Come out on the other side of 2020 with an album – are you ready?
The set comes with a jack plug transmitter and wireless earbuds that pair with the smartphone app to help you level up your practice sessions. The physical elements of Jack’s system are designed to be intuitive to use with simple tactile controls to keep the focus on playing the guitar and make the experience streamlined as well as cable-free. The jack plug’s touch-capacitive tip switches between the user’s active sound and presets which lets them transition seamlessly between tones mid-song. It has gesture controls on the left and right earbuds that lets the user adjust the volume and track navigation without having to use their phones. “It relies on wireless headphone technology with zero latency, which is only recently achievable, and high-quality digital emulation. But I think it’s doable, or at least very near future!” says Elkington.
Users can build and fine-tune their sound presets with powerful tonal controls, infinite gear combinations, and simulated effects using the Jack app to produce high-quality music without spending as much on accessories. Emulators for real-world guitars, amplifiers, effects pedals, and the distinctive sounds of guitar legends are available for purchase in the in-app store with constant upgrades and additions. Jack is designed to be a smart device that also allows for integration with music streaming services for users to play along to tracks from their own music library and record their practice sessions for self-improvement. Or maybe an insane karaoke night! Jack can help musicians that are just starting out to explore their creativity and for professionals to hold their practice sessions without always having to be plugged into heavy gear. Making great music accessible again!
Have you ever attended a gig where you cheer on the artist when they come onstage and then awkwardly wait for 10 minutes while they tune their instruments? Not that anyone is getting aggressively mad about it but it certainly isn’t the best thing to keep your audience waiting when it could have been avoided by using a more efficient tuning process. Roadie3 is an automatic multi-instrument tuner that saves you time without compromising on the accuracy – let’s turn it up!
Designed to make tuning faster than ever for musicians, Roadie3 works on multiple instruments effortlessly as long as they have geared pegs like electric guitars, acoustic guitars, classical guitars with nylon strings, pedal steel guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, banjos, to name a few. “We have also seen musicians tune their lap steel guitars, bouzouki, mountain dulcimer, santoor, cigar box guitar, qanun with geared pegs, violins with planetary pegs, and many other exotic instruments including custom ones with the Roadie range,” says the team behind the clever musical innovation.
Roadie3 is carefully crafted with proprietary audio algorithms that heighten its vibration detection and enhance noise immunity which contributes to accurate tuning. It doesn’t get easier than this – just place the device on the tuning peg, it will listen to the vibrations of your guitar string, analyze its pitch, and automatically turn the peg to get your string into perfect tune. The lowest note it can detect is 27 hertz and can wind your new string to tension with an impressive motor speed of 120 RPM before tuning it. It saves so much time and effort when you play in a group and avoids lengthy sound checks before a performance. Even if something goes wrong with the tune, Roadie3 can fix it in seconds!
It can be used by a musician of any experience level. The key features include 100+ built-in tunings while allowing you to create your custom ones, fit any instrument with geared pegs, noise immunity that allows you to tune in loud places, a vibrating metronome mode, and more in just one portable, travel-friendly device. Roadie3 helps you to take your show on a bump-free road!
It only seems fair that kids learn how to play the guitar on a guitar that’s designed for them, right? I mean, you don’t teach a 6 year old how to ride a bike on an adult-sized bicycle. Back in 2010, Loog was started by Rafael Atijas as a Master’s Thesis at NYU. It slowly, over less than a decade, grew into a movement that saw support from thousands of children, parents, teachers, and even musical legends from bands like The Rolling Stones, Metallica, and Johnny Marr. The Loog is essentially the child-bicycle equivalent of a guitar. Scaled down to fit a child’s frame and hands, the Loog is a miniature electric guitar (available in 3 and 6 string formats) for children to learn to play on. It comes with an in-built amplifier, so you don’t need to invest in an external amp (or worry about hassled neighbors), and even packs flash-cards that teach children guitar essentials, and an augmented-reality-enabled app that can help kids learn to master the instrument at a young age… because the best time to learn an instrument is when you’re young, right?
The Loog comes in two formats. The 3-stringed is easier to teach younger kids, because getting kids to play bar-chords early is difficult (I still can’t master them and I’ve been playing the guitar for over a decade). Still completely playable, the 3-stringed guitar helps kids master the easier chords (which usually comprise of just 3 notes), and comes in a Mini, the smallest size available, and a Pro, which is perfect for kids above the age of 6. The Pro VI is a 6-stringed larger version for kids entering their teenage years, and is essentially a proper 6-stringed electric guitar scaled down to be kid-friendly. Each guitar comes fashioned with all the embellishments you’d expect in an electric guitar. Loop-pins for a guitar-strap, volume and tone-knobs, a quarter-inch jack output for an amplifier, and even an in-built amp that allows the kid to play the guitar anywhere without needing to lug an external amp around. Oh, it even backs built-in distortion, because what fun is an electric guitar without that recognizable rock-flavor?
Designed as more than just an instrument, each Loog comes with an entire educational component that guides kids through the music process. Flash-cards help kids pick up chords to play, while the app uses augmented reality to guide learners through more complex routines. The app even helps kids figure out how to tune their guitar, and an in-built songbook helps them pick up popular guitar-friendly tracks (because personally, kids need to listen to more Queen and less Marshmello, amirite?)
But more than anything, the Loog isn’t just a tiny guitar or an app, no sir. It’s an ecosystem designed to get children interested in playing a music instrument… which, as a child who was pushed to learn singing at the age of four, and the guitar at the age of twelve, I can definitely attest is an incredible thing. More children should learn how to play musical instruments. Music can have a calming effect on children from an early age, help them acquire better motor skills and hand-eye-coordination, and form closer bonds with other kids and people through the power of the instrument. Let’s just also admit that the Loog makes any kid look like a complete rockstar!
On a side note, the 6-string model is totally suitable for adults!
Electric guitars designed to make it fun and easy to play music. Loog guitars come with flashcards that teach you how to form chords, and an app that gets you playing songs on day one. They have songs by The Beatles, The Stones, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars and more, and you can play karaoke-style and learn through Augmented Reality.
Who Is It For?
Anyone who ever wanted to play guitar! Loog guitars are especially helpful for children, who can easily -and comfortably- form chords on Loog’s slim 3-string neck.
Learn on a Loog. Play Any Guitar
Their 3-string guitars use the first three strings -and tuning- of a regular guitar. Therefore, finger placement and everything you learn can be applied on a 6-string guitar too. It’s a seamless transition, approved by educators, that allows kids to learn on a Loog and then play any guitar.
And for grown-ups and those who are ready for a 6-string neck, they now offer the Loog Pro VI: a 6-string guitar that also pairs to the Loog app, allowing you to learn guitar through Augmented Reality!
The Loog Guitars – Mini, Pro & Pro VI
The Loog guitars come in three sizes. And have a built-in amplifier and speaker. And they did it in a quite subtle way; there’s virtually no extra weight, no awkward knobs or controls.
Here’s a demo of the Loog Pro VI Electric. Sound is from the built-in amp and speaker. You can still plug your Loog to an external amp if you want to. (Side benefit: Your Loog is now a pretty cool travel guitar!)
Loog Mini Electric. Recommended ages 3+.
Loog Pro Electric. Recommended ages 8+.
Loog Pro VI Electric. Recommended ages 12+.
The Loog App
You get an instrument bundled with everything you need to learn to play songs. There are flashcards that teach you how to form chords, and an app that gets you playing songs on day one.
The Loog Guitar app has an AUGMENTED REALITY feature that allows you to learn guitar using the selfie camera.
Here’s an unedited video showing the current development state of the app. The iOS version (iPad and iPhone) is almost ready and we’ll have an Android version too.
Tuner
The Loog app also has a tuner, video lessons, games, and a digital songbook so you can learn to play guitar by playing real songs.
It’s natural that technology will make everything more and more portable each year. So it really isn’t much of a surprise that the massive amplifier from years back is now small enough to fit right into your pocket!
The Jamstack gives electric guitarists the freedom most acoustic guitarists experience. Not being able to jam or play without a massive amplifier or a power source, the Jamstack now lets electric guitarists tap into the power of their smartphone, using its inherent CPU to process audio signals which then come playing out of the Jamstack, a guitar-mountable, pocketable, pocket-friendly 10W amplifier that you can carry around with you right in your guitar case.
Designed to attach itself right to the belt plug of your electric guitar in literally 3 seconds (making it universal and INCREDIBLY handy considering setting up can take near an hour), the Jamstack sits at the edge of your guitar’s body, away from your hand so you don’t accidentally hit it. It connects to your guitar via your smartphone (iOS, Android, Windows compatible) or even your iPod Touch, and works with the dozens of apps across the platforms to power your guitar from the popular Amplitube, to even apps like Yousician, letting you learn the instrument in a uniquely tailored fashion. Using the Jamstack means virtually not needing any other instruments as your phone can play backing tracks/vocals/drums while you riff away. All the effect layering you need can be done in-app, leaving the Jamstack with just a volume knob. Want to jam in private? The Jamstack even comes with an aux out, letting you plug your earphones in (and Bluetooth capabilities if you’ve embraced the jack-less phone culture). Its Bluetooth capabilities even lets you use it as a regular wireless speaker for your phone when you’re not connected to your guitar! The Jamstack comes with a whopping 8 hours of usage on a single charge, which should be great for even the most hardcore jammers… or just use it for the rest of the time as your dedicated Bluetooth speaker for watching tutorial videos! And when you’re done, slip it right into your pocket and scoff at the people who still lug those massive amps with them wherever they go…
You brought your guitar to the gig, but you forgot your amp? Problem solved. The JamStack is a compact guitar amplifier that will let you play anywhere without a traditional amp. The JamStack changes the game because it fits right on the bottom of your guitar and attaches in seconds.
It has a 10-watt speaker designed to delivers sound at high and low volume levels. It also can inline and mount your smartphone, letting you access a virtually unlimited supply of effects, using apps like AmpliTube or AmpKit.
Now you can carry your amp anywhere at anytime. The JamStack is going for about $229(USD) over on Kickstarter, but if you manage to get your pledge in soon, you might be able to snag one of the Super Early Bird units for just $138.
Nicola Pavan of Pavan Wood Works is a genius. He has singlehandedly taken the electric guitar to a whole new level. How, you ask? By building a guitar from LEGO.
Pavan created this cool instrument in six days. On the seventh day he rested. Because he’s a rock god, see? A LEGO rock god.
He says that the hardest part was getting all the necessary pieces. The entire thing is held together with a bit of glue and some screws, which are totally necessary in a build like this. The neck, bridge, pickup, and similar parts are standard guitar components, because some things can’t be LEGO.
Check it out in the video. It sounds as good as it looks.
Now he just needs a buddy with some LEGO Drums, and he can go on tour with them.
Bit Fix’s Game Boy Classic modding competition brought us Mod Purist’s silly Game Boy fridge. Here’s fibbef’s contribution to the contest, an electric guitar that also looks and plays like the classic Nintendo handheld.
Fibbef used a Raspberry Pi B+ and RetroPie for the emulation, then made the buttons and guitar body from scratch. The A and B buttons also double as the guitar’s volume and tone knobs.
Check out Fibbef’s build log here. Fibbef – who also made the Dreamcast controller screen mod we featured last January – challenged fellow Bit Fix admin lovablechevy as his rival for the Game Boy Classic contest. In case you’re interested lovablechevy crammed in a Super Joy III – the NES/Famicom clone – into a Game Boy for her entry, though she says it’s not 100% done yet.
This is the Cybertech T-RON custom electric guitar. Hutchinson Guitar Concepts probably named it so to avoid any trademark issues, but we all know it’s referring to the hit 1982 sci-fi flick Tyrannosaurus Ron, a movie about the last dinosaur who knew how to play guitar. I hear it’s getting a remake.
Either that, or it’s inspired by TRON: Legacy. Probably TRON: Legacy. The design borrows from the sequel’s aesthetics, specifically the inlaid tubes of blue light. The guitar is actually a sequel of sorts as well. It’s a spin off of an earlier custom guitar, from which it also gets the Cybertech name.
Like its predecessor, the Cybertech T-RON has an XY MIDIpad MIDI controller, but this time Hutchinson also installed a Ghost pick-up system alongside the Gibson humbuckers. The two devices should make it easy to add effects or change the tune of the guitar’s sound. The guitar also has locking tuners and a custom made through-body string retainer.
Sadly you’d have to be a rock star or an ENCOM exec to be able to afford the guitar. Hutchinson Guitar Concepts is selling the Cybertech T-RON for £4,000 (~$6,250 USD).
If you were looking for the most outlandish electric guitar ever, you might probably want to take a look at The Thunderer.
The Thunderer is a Steampunk electric guitar that is still being embellished by WillRockwell at Etsy, before it goes for sale sometime later for an undisclosed price. At the ... Continue Reading on Walyou
