Gibson Digital Guitar - A packet of MaGIC powder

Related link: www.gibsondigital.com

Has Gibson announced the beginning of a music technology revolution, or signalled their own demise with the announcement of the new digital Les Paul Guitar?

With memories of clunky add-on MIDI-guitar systems and pricey proprietary guitar-synth solutions adding to my skepticism that this new system would actually be any good, I checked out the web page touting Gibson’s new guitar. It didn’t take long to realize that this sucker has a lot going for it. It’s a real Les Paul. And, it’s playable strictly as an analog guitar, if that’s what you want to do. That’s what I call 100% backwards compatibility. So far, so good.

The digital pickup is built right in, and it sends a digital signal to a breakout box (called BoB) which converts to analog. Makes sense.

Then some lights started to go on. You can output a single analog signal made up of all six strings. Or, you can output two groups of three strings (hi-lo split). Or, you can output each string individually. Anyone with six guitar amps will be trying out some wild spacial effects that would put a sixties stereo guitar to shame.

That’s actually pretty damn cool.

I haven’t figured out if you can also route digital signals out of BoB. My head is starting to spin thinking of what I could do with a digital feed each individual string. Imagine what sounds and effects might come with that kind of flexibility.

A big plus is the fact that the guitar can do its digital thing through a single CAT-5 cable, over ridiculous distances, with no noise, and perfect digital clarity. If you’re worried about the relative frailty of network cable connectors, Gibson has engineered a sturdy replacement.

And then I started to wonder… so what? Isn’t enough to get a guitar, plug it into an amp or a stomp box, and thrash away? Who is really going to utilize all that capability? Sure, there will be a small contingent of home-studio tech-heads that will wring everything possible out of every piece of gear, but what about the weekend basement blasters like me? A lot will hinge on the price. One website, Polo.com of all places, has it listed at a cool four grand. That's about a grand for a great guitar and three more for all the digital gadgetry. The initial pricing will likely mean slow adoption and low breakout sales. With many, many years and millions of dollars of development on the line, has Gibson R&D’d themselves into big financial trouble?

So. There’s two sides to the coin… or are there three?

The story here, isn’t the guitar. Not at all. It turns out the technology that makes the Les Paul work in the digital domain, MaGIC, is not intended as just a guitar technology. Rather, MaGIC is an open-source specification for the extremely rapid transmission of audio and control data. The Gib-digital guitar is just an application of this technology. This is key

If MaGIC catches fire and isn't usurped by some new firewire-based scheme, the digital Les Paul will simply be the first of many accessories that all work together.

Briefly, MaGIC is a spec for moving up to 32 full-duplex channels of up to 192 kHz digital audio, plus a whack of control signals, such as 100 MIDI channels. There’s power on the wire for devices, eliminating batteries (YES!). And, it runs over fast and cheap CAT-5 ethernet cable. MaGIC is being deployed to link physically distant music studios for extremely low-latency inter-communication. Put simply, you and a buddy can jam in real-time, even though you are a mile away from one another.

I haven’t fully absorbed whether the MaGIC specification is a brilliant evolution or just another open standard that nobody else but Gibson will support. But I have the feeling that this could be the start of a whole new paradigm in music technology.

Did Gibson pull a rabbit or a red herring out of the MaGIC hat with the new Les Paul?