Members seahorse Posted March 8, 2008 Members Share Posted March 8, 2008 Instead of picking up string vibration with wire-around-magnets has anybody come up with a pickup that could detect the vibration with light? I got this idea from the Planet Waves strobe tuner. It seemed like it might get a truer signal path for digital recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ryan7585 Posted March 8, 2008 Members Share Posted March 8, 2008 yep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted March 8, 2008 Members Share Posted March 8, 2008 They have existed for quite awhile. In my opinion they're nowhere near perfect, and have some inherent problems that don't make them a feasible replacement for magnetic-based pickups. http://www.lightwave-systems.com/ Lightwave uses IR sensors for the task. What I find is that they're devoid of personality. I like guitar sounds with balls, and the Lightwave pickups are devoid of testicular fortitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Lightwave uses IR sensors for the task. What I find is that they're devoid of personality. I like guitar sounds with balls, and the Lightwave pickups are devoid of testicular fortitude. Indeed. Unless they start adding "modeling" -that is, sensing the string vibrations optically and then simulating -modeling- the sound of other famous pickups-, the nature of the sound they can generate is plain and sterile. That may be good for some, and terrible for others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philbo Posted March 8, 2008 Members Share Posted March 8, 2008 I had an idea several years ago to use a fiber-optic core inside each guitar string, and use LEDs (or lasers) at one end to drive them, then have photo-diodes in the bridge to pick up the sound. Probably isn't too practical tho. Not necessarily for digital output - I'd rather have control over the A/D type. (An A/D is requisite - - after all, the sound IS analog...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted March 9, 2008 Members Share Posted March 9, 2008 Honestly, this stuff goes back to the late '80s/early '90s, when people first started messing with it. The result has been the same each time: guitarists prefer meaty tone over bells and whistles, and the pickup is your transducer (like a mic is to a singer)... the wrong one will really screw you up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted March 9, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 Instead of picking up string vibration with wire-around-magnets has anybody come up with a pickup that could detect the vibration with light? There was a MIDI guitar that worked like that. It was frightfully expensive, difficult to set up, and didn't last very long. Being a MIDI system, it didin't change the audio output of the pickup, only what you could synthesize once you figured out what note the synth should play. Anyway, light is analog. There are some strain gauges that have direct binary output, but I suspect not sufficient resolution to determine the period of a vibrating string without a lot of samples to average. Besides, guitar players don't like a 'pure' signal, they like something that sounds like a guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SKEETERtunes Posted April 7, 2008 Members Share Posted April 7, 2008 I don't see how pickups could ever be digital. Strings do not move in a fashion that would allow a laser to pick up binary information, it would still be picking up analog information. It would have to be changed from analog into digital info in the same way a pickup for a guitar synth does. It wouldn't be like a CD, where the laser is reading binary information. Strings don't move in binary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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