Star Power!

jalien21 · February 04, 2009, 04:53:59 PM

so i had this goofy idea to use a mercury switch or an accelerometer to kick in an extra boost (or something) onboard effect when i hold my guitar more vertically. does anyone have a suggestion for what would be a cool effect (or collection of effects) that would be appropriate for using STAR POWER (guitar hero style)?

alanlan · February 04, 2009, 07:42:14 PM

Flange, wah and overdrive - one on each axis (x, y and z).

Radamus · February 04, 2009, 07:51:25 PM

It might be nice to have some sort of cool-augmenter to make up for the cool-loss by playing guitar hero.

A delay could be really cool. The notes played with the guitar up could take on that epic feel of selective delay. I'm not sure how well that would work. A booster probably makes more sense in the context of the game, though.

Sorry for making fun of you, but I can't help it. I usually use "I actually play guitar and this song isn't that hard" as an excuse when I suck at guitar hero.

earthtonesaudio · February 04, 2009, 08:05:33 PM

I played guitar hero a couple times and I totally sucked at it. I'm not exactly a novice guitarist, so it was quite humbling to be so thoroughly "pwned" by a 10-year-old with a retainer. It was then I realized that real guitarists have about as much competition from that game as real football players have from the Madden series.

I think a simple boost would be lame. Now, a delay set for self-oscillation...

jefe · February 05, 2009, 07:19:58 AM

I tried guitar hero the other day. It was a joke. I pushed the buttons when the screen told me to, but it felt completely out of sync from the actual music that was playing. After a while, I wasn't even listening to the music, I was just watching the screen, pushing the buttons. NOTHING like playing real guitar. What I find odd is that so many kids think they are learning guitar, as well as their parents. Oh, I tried the drums too, just as stupid.

newfish · February 05, 2009, 09:50:52 AM

We are all Guitar Heroes (and we know how some of our gear works!)

We've all left the house to play gigs and kissed girls - we win, I reckon...

Ben N · February 05, 2009, 10:12:19 AM

Totally dull, but a mercury switch is a great addition to cut power to any on-board electronics when the guitar is vertical--like, on a stand. That way you don't have to always make sure the cord is unplugged to save your battery.

~arph · February 05, 2009, 10:24:27 AM

Will only work if you're a static player.. the mercury moves by g-forces as well..

jalien21 · February 05, 2009, 03:23:02 PM

yeah, i suck at guitar hero, too. the point of this isn't really to try to be more like guitar hero, but rather to experiment with different switching things. i'm not a totally static guitar player, but i probably don't move the guitar more than 90 degrees, or thrash around a whole bunch. we'll see.

i kinda like alanlan's idea of multiple effects from multiple axis, maybe use a micro controller and an accelerometer... the more vertical the guitar is, the more drive, the more twist it has, the more flange... and maybe a wah when you shake it side to side? hahaha. sounds like fun to me.

i'm not opposed to feed-backing delays/ other 'noisy' effects. i was actually just playing with my reboote last night that i put an infinite delay momentary switch on. if you kinda turn the level down and then play, press the infinity button, and turn the level back up (while goofing with the delay time knob of course), you can get some waacky feedback. could be kind of cool to have an onboard delay that starts feeding back and looping indefinitely when you hold it upright (or upside down?)... oh! and then you go in with the 'twist' accelerometer and have that control the delay time. DONE

Radamus · February 06, 2009, 02:01:15 AM

You should check out Matthew Bellamy's guitars (the guy from muse). He's got everything built into the guitar, and, from what I've heard, the motion of the guitar effects things, as well as his hand distance, etc. You can go all out with light sensors, motion detectors, etc.

I think It's a general rule that people who actually play guitar suck at guitar hero. I haven't met someone who didn't fit that yet.

Good luck tweaking.

Cliff Schecht · February 06, 2009, 03:32:47 AM

I kick ass at Guitar Hero

. It's a much different beast than playing guitar though, so it really just takes a lot of practice. Skills in Guitar Hero don't translate to guitar, but playing guitar helps immensely with GH (especially in the picking aspect). Learning to coordinate those 5 stupid click buttons is the trick.

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Star Power!