Boy all that work and he's still just playing a fender.

Slap Bet

I actually love that, but it seems a tad unpredictable... Like Rock and Roll and young love It has it's... moments... mmmmm...

Mike8606

@thesilentnight: [www.myspace.com]

Mike8606

oh what can't this glorious wiimote do? you know, except offer 1:1 movement without some sort of add-on.

Anomynoose

@JesseX: I'd rather use a foot pedal for (extreme) pitch shifting...but don't get me wrong: This sort of data feedback has tremendous potential for a variety of instruments or performance arts. That said, I don't think using this to do (normal) pitch bend or vibrato is a very good idea. It is WAY easier to just do it with your hands.

johnnyabnormal

Good tech, horrible musicians.

JEmlay

It seems to take a while to actually respond to the movement, though, which would be problematic for me.

thebigcheese

Max/MSP is a crazy-awesome program. Its the same programming tool used to create the brains behind the famous Keepon dancing robot.

I took a few semesters in college utilizing Max/MSP exclusively. For my final project I designed a Random Music Generator program (aptly named Mr. Randomizer) that composes complete pieces of music on the fly and completely random, from scale to chords to tempo to length of the "song." Every now and again when I'm sick of my mp3 library, I fire it up!

LastVigilante

Was he actually trying to make... MUSIC... at the end there?

Cool implementation, horrible execution...

Stang70Fastback

Interesting stuff. Moving the guitar around seems like it would be a more natural way to control pitch shifting and other effects than using a foot pedal.

JesseX

Any chance you know if that's a legit band and if so what their name is? The music sounds amazing and I'd definitely be interested in seeing if there is more.

thesilentnight

umm, a real guitarist would just bend the strings. this done what a guitar can already do...and what happens when you want to rock and move the guitar around, is that going to make a pitch? cause, most people don't just stand and play like this dude. they actually rock.

lame-o-meter: 2

bernielomax

I would not be surprised if this gets adapted by some bands, imagine what someone like Matt Bellamy could do with this tech.

geoffcbassett

@tehdahl: A master of sarcasm!

johnnyabnormal

@thesilentnight: amazing, more like gimmicky, and not all that "musical", but that's just my opinion. Cool effect, but when you can't tell what's going on, then it's a little more "amazing". Someone who uses effects, in a non gimmicky, but musical way... RATM, and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello, he is the king of turning a wah into actual musical "notation", and not just color in a solo.

beekerstudios

I'd like to see Satriani play with this concept...

VNSROCK

@Slap Bet: Seems like a parker fly or something with a midi controller built-in might be more appropriate, but that's just me.

beekerstudios

@Slap Bet:
yeah, you buy a Fender if you don't necessarily care about the tones produced by the guitar itself.

A Fender is a well-built, cheap effects guitar.

tehdahl

@bernielomax: A 2? Really? I was thinking more like a 0.5 really.

Well, maybe .5 was his B.A.C. level.

ViperBorg

@Stang70Fastback: It sounded like someone downshifting at the wrong time.

ViperBorg

@Emulated: "color in a solo is a good thing"

Is this why nobody wants to sound "white"? :)

johnnyabnormal

Doesn't the Wii remote sensor see more than just one axis? I would think they could tap into more movement-based effects.

Gotta love people having fun with technology.

EricAlder

The band's name is Vivian Darkbloom out of Boston.
(Says so at the beginning of the live footage)

EricAlder

@beekerstudios: no

tom morello is the king of taking an effect and over using it so that his guitar sounds like crap. Plus musical notation refers to writing notes onto stuff and color in a solo is a good thing

Emulated

@thesilentnight: [www.myspace.com]
Vivian Darkbloom

Boognish

Anyone got a valium or to? Apparently I have hit the bad part of this trip and I am ready to get off.

SkyLab

Good or Bad, either way its pretty creative...

DarkHavoc99

@geoffcbassett:

Totally. This has Matt Bellamy written all over it. That's pretty much the first thought that came to my mind when I saw this.

MavisPuford

@johnnyabnormal: agreed

Jon B.

This is pretty counterintuitive. No one one wants to be waving their guitar up and down to get affects.

But there is a product using the same accelerometer technology in a wireless ring motion controller for effects named Hot Hand:

[www.sourceaudio.net]

sailor

So does anyone else think that "Vivian Darkbloom" is the name of his 17th level Dark Elf Assassin?

Pope John Peeps II

Lots of ranking on the wiimote dude. Too bad none of the wee commentards were able to do this first- or as well. Good on you, Vivian Darkbloom dude. Namaste.

nat lyon

@nat lyon: Agreed.

StopTheLHC

@Stang70Fastback: Agreed.

It's like he's too impatient to savour the individual effects he makes; he's too much in a rush to get to the next effect.

unspellable

Wow, for a second there I thought I was actually going to hear music.

nuggetz

@nat lyon: Hey nat, I wouldn't make any assumptions about the talents of Giz readers. I'm constantly surprised at the wide array of creative people in here. I wasn't that into this application of the wiimote & I've been playing guitar for 28 years and compose music for a living. Does that mean my opinion matters more? Nope. To each their own when it comes to interpretation of any art form...no matter how it was created.

johnnyabnormal

Wow! he invented a Tremolo I thought Fender did that in the 20's... No I got that wrong Gibson invented it first but it would untune the strings Fender came up with a more functional version that kept the guitar in tune.

well he is only about 80 years to slow but he will get them next time when he mods his Wii Fit board so that when he steps on it the distortion of his guitar will change, and he will call it his Distortion peddle. Ingenious right???

Assassin_Kensei

@Stang70Fastback:

That video was just showing off what he can do with the Wiimote hack. If you go to their website, they have actual songs that aren't just effect after effect.

MadCow234

@thesilentnight:

There's like a 30 second still of the band's website at the end of the video, lol.

MadCow234

@Anomynoose:

lol, I know right...why haven't they put out a MotionPlus-Wiimote yet, doesn't make sense to me either.

MadCow234

Marty McFly would be proud.

EbenezerSatyr

I vote: great!

TechSurfer

Vernon Reid would love it.....

JuliunNanger

There have been several companies who have tried to do motion-controlled effects... one of the first that come to my mind is the "eStrap". But, hey... this is a cool enough homemade solution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI58e5ML6I4

LeonardoAbderus

That was pretty annoying. Joe Satriani has been making sounds like that and better than that for years and he has something called..what is it? oh ya. Talent.

TreyOxyntes

Nice idea, but i wouldn't buy the album. He should loose the wiimote and just practice a little more.

eyephone

I think its great that people are using the accelerometer in ways Nintendo never intended, like that tapping game being developed for the Wii, and this here guitarness

mikeg1130