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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Handhelds

For you axe-slingers who blame your inability to write a new song on the inability to afford a simple, portable recorder, your excuse is officially lame. TASCAM’s ingenious GT-R1 affords musicians the ability to simply plug their guitar and / or bass directly in and record using the built-in amp simulator and effects. Better still, the stereo condenser microphones up top allow users to record ambient noise, vocals, off the cuff jam sessions or anything else for that matter. The unit captures in MP3 or WAV format (16- or 24-bit), includes an SD card slot (1GB bundled in) and a USB 2.0 port for offloading files and charging the battery. Newbies can even queue up an MP3 and jam along, and the integrated metronome / chromatic tuner are just icing on an already über-sweet cake. Word on the street has a price of around €200 ($308), which actually sounds like quite the bargain from here.

[Via Engadget Deutschland]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Gaming

Don’t even try to deny it — you’ve been holding one mean grudge against that ridiculously accurate DeepNote bot ever since you saw it dominate Guitar Hero in mid-July. Really though, all that pent up aggression is completely unnecessary, and if you’ve been fruitlessly aiming to concoct one of your own, we’ve found the perfect place to start. The video posted up after the jump gives a fantastic overview of how the device actually works, and while it’s far (very far) from simple, it’s nothing the seasoned DIYer couldn’t handle on an extended weekend. Give it a look if you’re head over heels for PCBs and flashing LEDs (oh, and shameless rock ‘n roll).

[Thanks, Jeremy]Continue reading DeepNote Guitar Hero bot reveals its secrets on video

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Although Gibson’s self-tuning Robot Guitar is mighty snazzy, buying an entirely new instrument in order to ease your tuning woes isn’t exactly practical. Truth be told, the N-Tune won’t do the tuning for you, but it does make adjusting those flats and sharps a lot more interesting. Essentially, the chromatic tuner replaces the volume control on your electric axe and can be retrofitted in most every guitar / bass out there. Once installed, users simply pull the knob up to mute the volume and turn the tuner on simultaneously, and then you can check out the on-knob LEDs to gauge how accurately your strings are tuned. Best of all, this thing is slated to ship within the next month for just $100, but alas, it’s recommended that you pay a professional to actually rig it up.

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Features, Gaming, Handhelds

Yeah, you know you want one. While we’re rather skeptical about the “carabiner” aspects of this Guitar Hero Carabiner — forget your keychain, we’ve owned cars smaller than this thing — it certainly manages to bring enough of those Guitar Hero rock star vibes along with to make it worth the $15 (just think of it as your present to yourself for not seeing Jumper this weekend). The sound is decent for this type of handheld, and we had little trouble rocking out with the tactile buttons and cheap ass LCD, but we’d probably prefer the Verizon version of this experience just so we could hear some real songs. Video is after the break.

Continue reading Guitar Hero Carabiner hands-on

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Source: Paul Miller

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

If you (for whatever reason) thought the Air Guitar Rocker spotted at CES was the next best thing to Guitar Hero itself, you’ve got another thing comin’. Debuting at Toy Fair 2008 in New York, the Guitar Hero Carabiner takes thrashing to an entirely different level, albeit a much tinier one. Yep, this 7.75- x 3-inch device features a minuscule LCD screen, integrated speaker, five gloriously colorful buttons and a loop for clipping onto your knapsack (or similar). Additionally, the neck itself collapses down to make the entire thing just 4- x 3-inches for easy portability, and best of all, it can be yours for the low, low price of $14.99.

[Via CNET]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

For Rock Band players that have also had some experience with a bona fide six-string, getting used to that plastic strum bar can take some work. For one gamer in particular, he decided to spend that time doing something a bit more productive than getting acclimated, like adding in an actual guitar string. There’s also a switch mechanism that gets triggered by said string, which then sends an input to the game. Pretty swank, we say — check out the video for yourself after the jump!Continue reading Rock Band mod adds actual guitar string, touch of class to axe

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Gaming

In a bit of shocking news today, two members of the Rock Band instruments set (drums, guitar) have declared that come February 12th, they’re going solo. Citing “creative differences,” and the original bundled guitar’s inability to “clean up its act,” the two solo pieces will be on their own and available for $79.99 and $59.99, respectively. This should come as good tidings for players who’ve had trouble getting a bass into the mix (PlayStation 3 gamers), or those who’ve wanted to rock the drum vs. drum match-ups. No word on whether the microphone will join the fray and walk out on the trio, though rumor has it a number of labels are ready with offers.

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Alright, try to stay with us here. Guitar Hero III’s axe works just fine with Rock Band, but only the Xbox 360 hardware — and Rock Band’s guitar won’t play the first note on any flavor of GHIII. Yeah, it’s a bit confusing, but apparently the folks over at 1UP were downright tired of being dizzy, and phoned up Guitar Hero publisher Red Octane’s co-founder and VP of Business Development, Charles Huang, to chat about the totally confusing compatibility quandary. We fully understand the complexities in getting the instruments to work with other games, as well as the potential business impact, but Mr. Huang chose to take a different route in explaining why no Guitar Hero title would accept a Rock Band controller. He was quoted as saying that Red Octane wasn’t “too interested in having [Harmonix] guitars work on its game, because [Harmonix is] having a lot of issues with its guitars.” Of course, this logic begins to fall apart when you realize there was absolutely no compatibility even before these malfunctions came to light. Nice try, though.

[Via DailyTech]

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Source: Darren Murph

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