the future of guitar playing

[texas_virus]

I was playing around with some software on my computer the other day and fell in love with Native instruments guitar rig. Then I thought that this might very well be the future of guitar playing. The software has almost exact sound replicas of every classic amp and allows extreme versatility.


I believe that in 5 years it will be common to see a guitarist with a laptop on stage to select his amp presets. and in 10 years it will be the normal thing to get.

The amps emulations sound soo good, are easy to edit, and you can have anything a mouse click away. Rather than having one fender for a clean sound and a Mesa Boogie for the distortion, it will all be in a nice laptop where a person can add in chorus, wah pedal, delay all with one footswitch and not miles of wire and 10 different pedals from 7 different manufacturers.

Instead of this




a guitarist will have this






While this may not be the case for say a punk band, any band with differing guitar sounds that wants to mix up a live show can do this like nothing.

I KNOW that it will happen and here is my reasoning.

Dj's in the past used to vow by vinyl and the warmth they produced. Many still say that serato makes the music seem too digital and not full enough. Now very few carry vinyl records it is almost standard for a dj to have a laptop with serato. clubs even come equipped with it now, so dj's can just bring there laptop and be set.

We have seen analog decline, in terms of use. Hip hop producer Just Blaze swore by his MPC 4000, a big and powerful sampler/synth. About a last year he announced his switch from the mpc to software saying it can do everything the MPC can and more. This was a shock to the producer community because it was a piece he was known for he was just known for using it with dedication.

Keyboard players are already utilizing this to a short extent. They are using either integrated computer/ keyboards like the neko or a computer with a connected midi keyboard.

To me it is only a matter of time, what are your thoughts?

[burnttwaffle]

while i agree, i think you are 100% right that is where things will end up.

However i fuckin hate that shit, i mean no offense to anyone cause thats your opion if you like it but im going to stick with tubes and pedals from a billion brands lol.

i realize the technology is there to make everything sound perfect but, idk i could never see myself performing and using a computer for my tone.

its going to happen whether i like it or not. however im sure there will be the the few who remian faithful


and shit if it sounds better ill give it a shot

[Highbinder]

Its already happening. A while back I was in soundcontrol and they had what was effectively a computer-run effects sytem for a guitarist. The screen was on a stand (can't remember if it was touch sensitive or if it had dials) and then it was linked to a pedalboard (~a dozen pedals). It was about 800£ but looked absolutely amazing.

[rumandromanism]

My friend has one of these. As a saxophone player who plays through a pedalboard, I think I might try one out soon. It's hard lugging around my huge pedalboard through the city.

[texas_virus]

yeah I feel you, it loses it "rock n roll" to carry a macbook instead of hauling around a marshall tubed 800. But I can agree with rumandro that it sucks to haul everything around, a backpack with the pedal and laptop to connect to the PA will be a lot more convenient.

[potsandplans]

yeah my friend has the crazy hardware set up. I always wondered how he kept it all neat because it seems like a huge hassle.

anyway, this is what I use, except it is for my keyboard:

[flyhalf87]

music isnt about convenience, its about feeling something other than apathy about anything, and to get something for convenience's sake, kills the soul of the music.

just my opinion

[Palmer Eldritch]

you're incorrect flyhalf87, by removing some of the complex necessary components of music creation, you are inviting a whole new community of musicians to put out their own work. I believe that most humans are creative in some way whether it be scientific, performance or visually and that with all the other shit we have to deal with in our day to day lives, most of that creativity is lost. And that is a shame. If there are ways to save and manifest that creativity, we are doing humanity a great service.

I get where you're coming from. An artist loves the fact that his technical ability makes what he does exclusive and special. I'm a copper engraver (printmaker, not decorative), theres almost no one in the USA still doing this artform so there is a certain amount of prestige attached to it, but I believe it is a far better thing to allow more people to contribute to the arts community than me having that exclusive status.

There is software being developed for people with mobility disabilities that allow them to compose and perform their works in real time. This completely gets rid of the instrument and allows thought to translate to music almost directly. This is a wonderful achievement that with refinement would allow almost everybody to make the music they hear in their head, record it and share it.

So, I am obviously for the streamlining of music production. I use Amplitube2 with an M-Audio Revo7.1 card

[sky dog]

That's more or less what my Line 6 Spider III amp is like. I know a lot of people don't dig solid state amps, but the trade-off between tubes and having such a wide tonal palette is a no brainer for the price.

It emulates:

• A 1973 Hiwatt Custom 100
• A blend of mid-60’s Fender amps including the blackface ’65 Twin Reverb and blackface ’64 Deluxe Reverb
• A mixture of a ’53 Fender tweed Deluxe Reverb, ’58 Fender tweed Bassman and a ’60 Gibson Explorer
• A mix of a ’65 Marshall JTM-45, a ’58 Fender® Bassman, a ’63 Fender Vibroverb and a Supro
• Vox® AC-30
• '68 Marshall Plexi 50 Watt
• '68 Marshall Plexi 100 watt with a Variac and jumped input channels to create that infamous brown sound
• Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier

And from there you can adjust gain, EQ, reverb, tremolo, delay, chorus, phaser and a ton of other stuff. It's got a noise reduction function so you can suppress 60 cycle hum and you can also punch in an extra amount of overdrive.

[Enuff4All2Share]

I think, like it or not, we're not only heading in that direction, but have firmly been there/here for a while... the packaging is getting sexier now. In the late 90's/early 00's I stumbled on the Digitech X series pedals and grabbed 3 of 'em. Later I bought the RP2 from Digitech so I could do more without tapdancing or changing sounds. Both are examples of digital emulators of sought after analogue sounds. Now you get to do it with touch screens. Sexy!

E4A2S

[CosmicSerpent]

All I have to say is that I've never ever in my life heard anything digital that can accurately reproduce the sound of a good overdriven tube amp.

[PhishPhood]

Arent most of those pedals analog though? Making everything digital would suck, I doubt I'd ever make that change...

I can stand there and press my foot down to start distortion, or take my hands off the guitar, click around for a while and then get it after I've played with the thing for 1 min.

Stepping on something is easier, and can be changed easily on the fly. If its not broke.. Dont fix it imo.

[texas_virus]

Originally Posted by PhishPhood

Arent most of those pedals analog though? Making everything digital would suck, I doubt I'd ever make that change...

I can stand there and press my foot down to start distortion, or take my hands off the guitar, click around for a while and then get it after I've played with the thing for 1 min.

Stepping on something is easier, and can be changed easily on the fly. If its not broke.. Dont fix it imo.

Many come with pedals such as the guitar rig pictured above.

[PhishPhood]

Originally Posted by texas_virus

Many come with pedals such as the guitar rig pictured above.

Hmm, missed that somehow... let me make another excuse to avoid technology

What if the computer crashes mid song? I've never seen a pedal do that!

[Tokah-Jokah]

Originally Posted by burnttwaffle

while i agree, i think you are 100% right that is where things will end up.

However i fuckin hate that shit, i mean no offense to anyone cause thats your opion if you like it but im going to stick with tubes and pedals from a billion brands lol.

i realize the technology is there to make everything sound perfect but, idk i could never see myself performing and using a computer for my tone.

its going to happen whether i like it or not. however im sure there will be the the few who remian faithful


and shit if it sounds better ill give it a shot

i kinda feel the same way. i like to keep my sound "raw" and not processed but im willing to make an exception for a few things like reverb but not tone.