And, of course, there was also his signature, rectangular "Twang Machine" guitar, which is just plain brilliant.

I believe the instinct to experiment with sound is the same, whether it’s with acoustic instruments, electronic instruments, DIY creations, or software. So it’s comforting to know that people continue to look for sometimes-bizarre ways of pushing the envelope of what guitars can do. Here’s a sampling.

Virtual Guitar Sounds

One of the wonderful things about software is that it can be used to create combinations that are impossible or difficult in the real world. I talk a little bit this week on our Kore/Komplete minisite about how I like to add simulated Guitar Rig effects to synth sounds, then continue to modify them in the digital space:

Sound Design for Imaginary Instruments: Kore, Guitar Rig [kore.noisepages.com]

As it happens, none other than Keyboard Magazine just did a feature on the relevance of guitar effects to keyboardists and synthesists. Craig Anderton has some terrific tips, plus a spot-on survey of the relative strengths of available packages for different applications. There are some great bargains in there if you’re looking for cheap sets of multi-effects for computer use. You can read the whole article online, free:

Guitar Amp Simulators In Keyboard? [Keyboard Magazine]

Guitar as 8-Bit Instrument

Philadelphia-based artist Animal Style (Joey Mariano) has developed a unique way of making his guitar into an 8-bit, Nintendo-style instrument. Using a custom foot controller and 8-bit fuzz pedal, he feeds his guitar into 8-bit land and triggers pre-programmed chiptune loops programmed in homebrew Game Boy music system Nanoloop, running on a Game Boy Color. That means unlike many Game Boy artists, you’ll never see Joey hunched over the buttons of his game machine; everything is at his feet.

Meta-Harp Guitar + Computer A/V

Derek Bell (known on YouTube for his Ableton Live driver’s license controller and other projects) has been hard at work building the ultimate meta-guitar. Here, his MIDI harp guitar is controlling:

Different patches tuning using touch sensors

Ableton Live’s Sampler as sound source, with Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig 3 for effects

Quartz Composer for visuals, as sequenced in Ableton Live

This is an early demo — he’s now combining this with additional projects for a massive meta-guitar. We should see the results at the music evening we’re hosting at the HOPE hacker conference.

For more on the Guitar Rig 3 hacks, here he is working his way through Guitar Rig presets using onboard MIDI controls on a hacked electric:

Custom Guitar Controls Guitar Rig Directly [kore.noisepages.com]

I think there’s no better way to honor the history of guitar innovation and the memory of the greats than to keep on plugging on whatever it is you’re doing.

Bo Diddly photo (CC) Diego’s sideburns.

Bonus video: going the opposite direction, here’s a sample from last month’s Maker Faire of the Guitar Zeros, who have added Max/MSP software hacks to turn the faux guitar Guitar Hero controller back into a synth. Does that make this a keytar? A tartar? Hmmm…

Some readers on this site — wisely, perhaps — cautioned last year against doing a second "Create Digital …" site for interactive visuals, live visuals, and VJing. But to us, the connection between musical performance and technology and visual performance and technology is really essential. I’m pleased to announce that now, following a two-week sojourn on the Australian content, we’re finally kicking createdigitalmotion.com into high gear and lining up what we want the mature site to be. If you haven’t been reading lately, here’s a bit of what you’ve missed:

• Video scratching with Serato: At long last, one of the leaders in digital control vinyl has added video scratching as well as audio via a new plug-in called VIDEO-SL, now in beta; we’re planning our own test but already have one hands-on.
• We’ve got a big list of video and visual goodies we like. Is it a practical holiday shopping guide? Erm … bits of it are. It’s all drool-worthy, at least. And you’ll really want vintage, gigantic planetarium projections. Lay out some cots, and play that four hour ambient electronic set you’ve been working up.
• Want to learn this stuff yourself? vade has some nice online workshops and tutorials for working with visuals in Pure Data (Pd) and Processing. Both also work well for music, so if you want to dabble in custom-programmed audiovisuals (I swear, anyone can do it with some dedication!) this could be a good place to start. We’ve also got tips for inexpensive high-speed photography and not one but two CDMo tutorials on the free Quartz Composer tool in OS X Tiger and Leopard. See Keith’s report on what’s new in the Leopard release of Quartz Composer, plus a beginner-friendly tutorial for driving 3D cubes with audio courtesy VJ Kung Fu’s momo the monster. The latter should be ideal for whipping up some quick sound-driven visuals for your band; you can even host those visuals in the live music host Rax. Incidentally, our CDMo New Years’ Resolution: make more work, post more tutorials.
• Open jamming for visualists: Just as with music, the best way to practice your chops and share your work is to get out of your bedroom/studio and out to an open jam. We’ve got a full report on the Perth, Australia Plug and Play, an ideal example of how such an event could work, as part of their Byte Me! Festival I attended earlier this month. See the video below, and watch for more video soon – Jaymis and I are editing hours of video footage now.

Plug N Play – ByteMe Festival – Perth from Create Digital Media on Vimeo.

If you want to keep up-to-date on Create Digital Motion, you can add the feeds for the site:

RSS Feed (or subscribe via email)

Create Digital Motion Flickr pool

We’re also posting weekend inspiration each week, back next weekend post-holiday break.

From the whole CDM team, very happy holidays. (Yep, New Year’s Eve is among them — we’ll be cracking on 2007-in-review!)