Members Anderton Posted November 21, 2007 Members Share Posted November 21, 2007 I managed to get my hands on one, it's not even in the stores yet but slated to land on December 7th. Anyway, I wrote a review of it for the next issue of the Harmony Central Confidential newsletter, so if you're interested in what it's all about, make sure you're a subscriber. And if you have questions, feel free to ask 'em here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted November 21, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted November 21, 2007 What's a robot guitar? A guitar shaped like a classic robot? A guitar that plays itself? A dessert mint? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bbach Posted November 21, 2007 Members Share Posted November 21, 2007 What's a robot guitar? A guitar shaped like a classic robot? A guitar that plays itself? A dessert mint? From what I understand, it has an automatic tuning mechanism built in, attempting to achieve and retain proper intonation.There was one for sale on eBay. Since Craig says it is not available in stores yet, I wonder how the dude on eBay got one, but there it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bbach Posted November 21, 2007 Members Share Posted November 21, 2007 eBay link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bp Posted November 21, 2007 Members Share Posted November 21, 2007 This guitar uses the Tronical system developed by Chris Adams. It's quite something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted November 22, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted November 22, 2007 This guitar uses the Tronical system developed by Chris Adams. It's quite something. So it's a Gibson with a Tronical installed at the factory? I suppose that's sort of a big deal, like the Fender guitars with the Roland hex pickup for their guitar synth modules. Automatic tuning seems like it should be a good idea, but I dunno. As I recall from seeing that system at NAMM shows, it wasn't all that simple to tell it what to do. If I was going to a different tuning, I could probably do it quicker than it would take me to remember how to make the auto-tuner go there. I guess I just don't think the same way these gadgets do. And as far as keeping the guitar in tune in whatever tuning it's in, well, I guess I've just never had severe enough tuning problems to warrant an expensive automatic tuner. If I didn't have to tune, I'd never get to tell a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bp Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 It's nothing like a hex pickup. It's servo driven heads that "speak" to the electronics that are incorporated into the volume pot. Once you've set it up, it takes 3-5 seconds to tune the guitar. While the added price means it'll have a limited market, it's going to be a great addition for many players. For the studio professional, it should be a great help. If you play a bunch of alternate tunings live, it could help cut down on the number of instruments that player requires for a show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beck Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 I find this so-called robot guitar very intriguing and am looking forward to seeing Craig's review and others. I don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphajerk Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 that is {censored}ing wicked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DevilRaysFan Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 Im sorry, I dont mean to sound jaded, but if anything ever epitomized the term "bell and whistle" on a musical instrument, that would be it................. Look, Im a bass player, but I think that a practical genre of guitar where that type of device would be a very beneficial asset would be for slide guitarists, in which case the Les Paul is probably not a good choice for that (an SG, I can see).............. To me, I just think its another typical musical instrument manufacturer's strategy of targeting the upper-class collector's and hobbyists, instead of adding something practical for the guys in the trenches like me that play music for a living........ It makes about as much sense to a fulltimer like me as this does to a carpenter: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted November 22, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 Well, there's needing to tune an instrument, and there's NEEDING to tune an instrument. When I was recording the samples for my AdrenaLinn Guitars sample CD, because it was a sample CD every sample had to be perfectly in tune. It was a huge time sink to check the tuning constantly to make sure nothing had drifted out. It would have been so much easier to just have it tune itself automatically every now and then. Granted, the number of people using guitars to create sample CDs isn't much of a market But the thing that gets lost in a lot of the commentary is that this tunes all six strings at the same time, which makes it a lot faster than the usual process of tuning a string, then moving to the next one, etc. For onstage use, this is fantastic as you can tune up discreetly between songs in a matter of seconds. And as has been mentioned, it makes alternate tunings a breeze instead of a pain in the butt. I've probably played more alt tunings with it in the past week than in the last five years. So while it may seem to be a gimmick, it has some really practical uses that pretty much fall under the "Save time, save hassles" category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DevilRaysFan Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 But the thing that gets lost in a lot of the commentary is that this tunes all six strings at the same time, which makes it a lot faster than the usual process of tuning a string, then moving to the next one, etc. For onstage use, this is fantastic as you can tune up discreetly between songs in a matter of seconds. And as has been mentioned, it makes alternate tunings a breeze instead of a pain in the butt. I've probably played more alt tunings with it in the past week than in the last five years.So while it may seem to be a gimmick, it has some really practical uses that pretty much fall under the "Save time, save hassles" category. If we are building a better mousetrap, and it was a new universal application that can be applied to most production musical instruments as a standard fixture all up and down the retail spectrum, and that would have neglible/nominal cost impact to the consumer to affix, then "Yes" I can concede the possibility that it may be a good forward-thinking idea that can benefit everyone.....but, somehow, I think the sticker price on that thing ( like most Gibsons ~$2500+), and how its being marketed for its uniqueness ("Be the first kid on your block to own the Gibson Robot Guitar and Secret Decoder Ring!!"), is going to be way out of budget and practicality for the typical layman gigging stiff....... ...I think this more comes off as yet something else for the upper-echelon 'haves' to show-off when comparing vintage and boutique guitars and amps at blues jams and guitar shows...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cry Logic Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 Fantastic concept.Horrible name.Why couldn't they call it TunoMatic or something?Robot Guitar is just terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DevilRaysFan Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 Fantastic concept. Horrible name. Why couldn't they call it TunoMatic or something? Robot Guitar is just terrible. I think Tunomatic is already taken.....much in the same way a Roach Clip is called a Roach Clip because "Pot Holder" was already taken..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted November 22, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted November 22, 2007 It's nothing like a hex pickup.Of course. I knew that. I only used the Fender guitar with a hex pickup as another example of the concept of a guitar company equipping one of their models with another manufacturer's product so the user won't have to modify (add) it. It's servo driven heads that "speak" to the electronics that are incorporated into the volume pot. Once you've set it up, it takes 3-5 seconds to tune the guitar.I've seen it work. I think it's cool, but I don't see its necessity. While the added price means it'll have a limited market, it's going to be a great addition for many players.Sadly, it's the ones who can't tune quickly that seem to have the most money. For the studio professional, it should be a great help. If you play a bunch of alternate tunings live, it could help cut down on the number of instruments that player requires for a show.I would expect a studio player would have good instruments and would be able to keep them in tune easily. Good point about the alternate tunings, but that's a pretty limited market. For a while, Joni Mitchell was playing a MIDI guitar programmed to transpose strings appropriate for the tuning she was using, but that only lasted about one tour. This kind of arrangement might make more sense, but how intuitive is the user interface to select the tuning you need. With the Roland setup that Joni was using, she could select a tuning by the name of the song, but there isn't enough room on the Tonical system to display that information. How many people can remember "#6 while holding the 2nd string on the 3rd fret" when they want the tuning for "Platonic acorns?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted November 22, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted November 22, 2007 I think Tunomatic is already taken.....much in the same way a Roach Clip is called a Roach Clip because "Pot Holder" was already taken..... Digidesign wanted to call their controls surface "D-Con" but that's a rat poison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted November 22, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted November 22, 2007 If we are building a better mousetrap, and it was a new universal application that can be applied to most production musical instruments as a standard fixture all up and down the retail spectrum, and that would have neglible/nominal cost impact to the consumer to affix, then "Yes" I can concede the possibility that it may be a good forward-thinking idea that can benefit everyone.....Tonical would like to think that's what they developed, but it's not cheap. And they've been promising an acoustic guitar version for almost a year now. That might see more of a market for the users of alternate tunings as (I think) they're more common among acoustic players than electric players. The electronics are cheap, but the mechanics are expensive, and the user interface may kill it for all but the most serious gadgeteers who would probably prefer to put the hardware on their own choice of guitar rather than buy a new guitar with it pre-installed. It would be fun to play with for a couple of weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 Cool Idea? Yes. Worth the money to most users? HELL no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members franknputer Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 Look, Im a bass player, That's why tuning is a foreign concept to you... JOKE, joke. :poke: Hey, I get it. Sure, limited appeal & all that - still, if you are a big users of alternate tunings then this is a VERY useful concept. Heck, think of the aforementioned hex pickups - those are used only by a minority of guitarists too, but they still have their place in the grand scheme of things. Personally, although I may not like all their attempts, I'm glad to see Gibson trying some new things with the instrument instead of just resting on their laurels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 I tried one of those robot guitars. It kept waving its arms and yelling "Danger Will Robinson". That's not even my name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted November 22, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 If we are building a better mousetrap, and it was a new universal application that can be applied to most production musical instruments as a standard fixture all up and down the retail spectrum, and that would have neglible/nominal cost impact to the consumer to affix, then "Yes" I can concede the possibility that it may be a good forward-thinking idea that can benefit everyone.....but, somehow, I think the sticker price on that thing ( like most Gibsons ~$2500+), and how its being marketed for its uniqueness ("Be the first kid on your block to own the Gibson Robot Guitar and Secret Decoder Ring!!"), is going to be way out of budget and practicality for the typical layman gigging stiff..........I think this more comes off as yet something else for the upper-echelon 'haves' to show-off when comparing vintage and boutique guitars and amps at blues jams and guitar shows...... From what I understand, you've pretty much nailed what's happening behind this first production run...the pricing/promotion is clearly aimed toward a higher-end, and possibly even collector, market. But I've also heard that Gibson expects to bring the price down and turn this into a commodity item, much like adding a vibrato tailpiece. Whether it can retrofit existing guitars or not I don't know, but it does seem that Gibson is looking beyond this first run, with the "mainstream" version slated to come out in late 2008. I'm just guessing here, but the long delay between this first run and the mainstream run implies to me that maybe Gibson bought out Tronical and has a whole bunch of original inventory that needs to be dealt with, but the sale of which can also capitalize the next generation. If they're looking to late next year for the next big run, that gives them a lot of R&D time to re-engineer the system and try to figure out how to cut costs. Again, let me emphasize this is speculation - I have no inside knowledge. In any event, I agree with one of the comments here that it's nice to see a company that's willing to push the envelope. I'll never give up playing my PRS and Tele, but the Digital Les Paul, and now the Robot Guitar, has really made me pay attention to Gibson...which I hadn't done for quite some time. They're both very impressive products, even if (for now) the technology is expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seclusion Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 How many times have you nailed that perfect take and then listened back and there's that "slight" tuning problem. Even though we're probably the only ones that would notice, it's still something there! Yes other then I don't like Gibson that much, it's still something interesting. Wonder if it'll make it to other guitars? Or if Behringer will copy it and make an add-on. Later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 I play in 4-5 different tunings at every show, and I have exactly one guitar that I use for all of them. While I'm quite proficient at quickly finding my tuning while simultaneously chatting up my audience so they don't get bored in the meantime, it's a giant pain in my ass. It gets to the point that I start leaving songs off the set list specifically because I don't want to deal with the re-tuning every other song. I think the guitar is great for people like me -- if I wasn't an acoustic guy, and I'm sure as hell not putting anything robotic on my Martin D-18V. But I'm not sure how many folks who are pooh-poohing this product have watched the video at the Gibson site. I wasn't too impressed in theory until I saw it in action. It's really neat. Why be negative about something you know nothing about? It's freakin' cool, and it's the type of thing that may become a standard on many guitars in the future. Best to get to know it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted November 22, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 I wasn't too impressed in theory until I saw it in action. Bingo. When I first heard about it, I thought, yeah, that's okay, I know how to tune a guitar. But Gibson was insistent that I check it out, and they were right. When you hold the guitar in your hands, strum it, and watch the thing tune itself up, it's a mindf*ck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EccentRick Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 When I watched the (I think) very first Gibson approx 30-second demo/ad that showed the keys turn and then an "E" chord was strummed, the very first thing my ears told me was "That 'E' chord is out of tune." In the ballpark, mind you, but still in need of tuning IMHO. YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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