What about a Gibson/Cakewalk midi guitar?

Anyone remember the Gibson Firebird X guitar? I seem to recall that part of the system was wireless Bluetooth communication with external controllers. Now that Sonar supports Bluetooth midi perhaps it's time for Gibson and Cakewalk to make us a guitar that can record midi directly into Sonar via Bluetooth. What do you think?

Seeing as they're already plugging one made by someone else, I would guess that it's unlikely...
 

As I was thinking about it I was playing my 1930 L1 while watching an old promo for the Firebird X. Something came over me at that moment. I don't think the FBX survived either.

I use a YouRock Gen 2 midi controller, but I'm keeping my eye on Frettrax's technology. It's been out there for a while, but not on the market - it looks like it's now available for bass. I'm looking forward to trying this on guitar.
 
https://www.facebook.com/frettrax/videos/1806368369617932/
 

stevethompson
This does seem like it would be a logical path for Gibson/ Cakewalk, I like the idea.

I've been using Fishman's Tripleplay setup for a while, I do like it a lot, especially the tracking. I am hoping for the ease and flexibility the Roland systems I had allowed (without needing a computer) in terms of tuning strings individually. Their foot controller should help. I probably need to spend a lot more time with it, which is another feet in itself :)

The wireless is really nice though!

 
I just recently saw a demo or three of this on Youtube. I had no idea they had come this far in terms of tracking and latency, even being able to bend notes and use the tremolo bar. One guy was using Ominisphere patches through it that sounded awesome.

Speaking as a guitar player and sound engineer:
 
This idea seems like a sledgehammer to crack a nut. On the one hand, there are all kinds of low cost guitar-like ways of generating good MIDI data. On the other, Gibson guitars are expensive big ticket heritage items. I like both of those things, but I think the overlap between them is non-existent. A nice Les Paul already costs a grand at least. The market of people willing to spend another $500 on MIDI tech must be tiny. Tiny enough to make that 500 into a grand or more, if you think about the economies of scale.

Don't get me wrong; I think a MIDI-delivering Firebird would be a glorious thing, but I can't see it making any business sense.

FWIW...I have a Godin guitar with hex out and an AXON AX-50. (I really like the guitar a lot because it's a nice-playing, nice-sounding instrument when used w/o MIDI.)
 
However, I don't use the AXON too much these days because Jam Origin's MIDI Guitar 2 plugin just seems phenomenal to me. I've gone back and forth to test tracking and barely see any difference. My guitar and keyboard skills are about the same so I don't use MIDI guitar a lot, but when I do Midi Guitar 2 works fine for me.
 
By the way..."CSR claims that aptX Low Latency for Bluetooth offers an end-to-end latency of 32 ms." (from Wikipedia). If that's the lowest you can go with Bluetooth instruments it might be a bit of a concern...

If Gibson can come up with a zero latency MIDI guitar controller with an USB out then I'd be in, otherwise nope.

FWIW the TriplePlay is pretty cool, but it wasn't worked too well on the Les Pauls I've tried. They're basically too "live" in terms of generating overtones and sustain, which confuses the tracking. I've found that the "deader" the guitar, the better. Some of this is due to my playing with a thumbpick and using .010 strings, which generates a really "big" string signal. Most MIDI guitars I've tried are happier with a flat pick and a light touch.
 
The Jamstik is very effective for rhythm guitar, but not really good for soloing. The YouRock guitar has the full neck range and tracks really well. Trying to make a guitar generate MIDI requires a lot of cleanup...I could probably step enter the part faster. 

Strange that everyone immediately went to a Les Paul as the controller. In Canada a nice Les Paul is 5K, way too expensive for a midi controller. I was thinking a bit more outside the box. The thing could be plastic. I just thought that with Gibson/Cakewalk the technical expertise could now be available to create an input device for non-keyboard players like me. I have no idea what an F#m looks like on a keyboard. Maybe one of Craig's Friday brainwaves could be a guide to putting guitar chords onto a piano keyboard.
 
 I like to start an idea thinking big and then let reality narrow my thinking. It's time to think of Gibson as a tech company instead of a guitar company. Based on their growth through acquisition history that seems to be where they're headed. Guitars, amps, microphones, speakers, cables that record...........

KeithAdv

BobF
...Other folks like Roland products or Godin (as mentioned above).  I prefer the add-on because I can put it on any guitar (almost).

Well, to clarify what I was saying, I'm extremely happy that the Godin I have is a nice guitar even without the hex out, because these days I'm more inclined to run the humbuckers into a direct box and let the Midi Guitar 2 plugin handle the rest (Or just use any of my other guitars). The latency and tracking is the same, in my experience.
 
Technically, I don't think there's anything that will ever make the guitar as capable a MIDI controller as the keyboard. The technology makes it impossible to achieve 0 latency and 100% accuracy. (No bricks, please!) However, at some times it can be convenient to enter guitar-like phrases on the right instrument! I'm glad that I can address those times with software rather than hardware and play whatever guitar I like best.
 

I wasn't dogging the choice.  Godin gets very high marks for their MIDI implementation(s).  Very nice instruments.  I ended up liking the MIDI keyboard well enough to start learning to actually play.  I even ended up buying a Roland FA.  So my TP does see long idle periods between uses.  It's easier for me to get a reasonable sax out of the guitar, but for most things I don't see much advantage of one over the other.
 
The TP plug-in is really handy for layering VIs too.  Works with any MIDI input, not just their controller.