Guitars are a changin'

Here's the scoop from http://techtv.com Gibson, the country's second-largest guitar manufacturer, has developed a technology it claims should update the analog technology of the 1920s to today's digital domain. Gibson highlighted Magic, an acronym for Media-Accelerated Global Information Carrier, at a New York event Friday. Much of the music we listen to and hear live today is produced in analog. The switch to digital has been a laborious process held back by the slow speed on converting signals in and out of the digital realm. "In the past, if you were going to process something with the computer -- let's say a drum hit -- you would hit the drum and the computer would spit it out later," said Gibson CTO Nathan Yaekel. "Now, because of minimal latency, people can hear themselves perform, which is very important in a live venue. There is no delay. There is no latency." Gibson did this by modifying the Ethernet networking protocol to link instruments to the mixer and eventually straight to the listener. The advantages are both a cleaner sound and a simpler setup. While traditional concert setups require multiple cords, Gibson's Magic carries up to 64 signals per cable, thus saving space and time.