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Joystiq

Rock Band guitar mod turns on the magic of invisible light

by JC Fletcher on May 15th 2009 3:00AM

Is the Rock Band strum bar too ... tangible for you? YouTube user adderd019 swapped out all that tiresome plastic in his Rock Band guitar for a beam of infrared light, turning it into an optical theremin of sorts.

The way he explains it, it sounds simple -- merely add an LED emitter and a receiver to the space where the strum bar usually goes, and then wire the controller up so that it registers a strum whenever the light beam is broken. Anyone can do that, right? The result is a guitar that strums when you wave your hand through the strum bar area. See the video after the break and marvel at the less-clicky, vaguely magical guitar!

[Thanks, Comet!]

Source

Tags: guitar, led, Microsoft, mod, Nintendo, rock-band, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (37)

awesome, i wonder how long till these are mass produced.

Pretty damn fly. I just hope these guys atleast get credited if such a guitar is ever mass produced.

I think he said the beam was 5mm wide, so in some instances the 3mm pick, if angles just right, wouldn't break the beam...

This kinda fixes my gripe with GH/RB. For songs like thrasher/ride the lightning/etc I can play them irl fine but it takes me a little more effort in the game. It's because, instead of a pick, I have that whole bar to move and it takes more force when trem picking (picking fast)

If he could play thrasher speed stuff without the strums getting messed up, I'm gonna go mod my controller right now lol.

I've read that HMX prefers to use picks while playing on the RB guitars. Give that a try.

Don't get why he say's you can't use a pick.. I mean just get a thicker one.. I've got ones that are 2 or 3mm thick, one of which I'm sure is called a 'chubby'..

definatly kills the dead zone on the RB guitar, fells to me like I'm strumming all 6 strings every strum.. on Metallica songs it feels like more effort than it really should be, I keep my hand where it needs to be, over the strings so for rock band I've had to unlearn that.. it already bugged me that I had to hold buttons for notes that on a real guitar aren't fretted ie 'open'...

Yeah that looks cool and unnecessary. Its only good if you like showing off your creative abilities to build things. If you can do it I hate you because I can't.

Unnecessary? you mean something useless? Tell that to all the people with a broken strum bar or one that isn't registering at all.

Ah... if only you had the power of imagination. You could figure out these necessary ideas yourself.

just get one of these
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=241
or http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2049723
and hook it to an op-amp or a logic gate. Make sure the voltage coming out is the same as the voltage coming off the switch (probably just use the original switch's wire) and you are good to go.

Ah, the power of electronics and physics. ^^

Amazing! Now only if an actual string mod is out there I'd like to see it.

I recall seeing a real string mod on scorehero once...

I recall seeing a string mod too
It's called a guitar... ;)

Yeah, how long until there's a game where you have to play the ACTUAL notes, reading an ACTUAL chart on an ACTUAL guitar?

Maybe Prince would allow some of his tunes on that game.

Sure, this is neat and all, but I don't think I'd ever want one. It seems like there is too much room for error - and I like feeling like i'm actually moving something when I play.

"less-clicky, vaguely magical guitar!" I say meh. The dude in the video is making more noise than the actual rock band strum bar makes.

seems cool, like the idea of my guitar not being so loud anymore.....however, the strummer helps keep rhythm, and I doubt 'tapping' would get me through more difficult parts than this video ever shows.

"ham it up"

i lol'd

A true Air Guitar for RB & GH! I like it.

Have to agree with others though, the strumming/clickety clicking helps me keep my rhythm.

I've always dreamed of playing a guitar with no tactile or audible response.

It'll fuck with the new 360 camera coming out, which calculates depth using infrared.

you really have no idea how light works do you?

Seems to make it a little more like a fake air-guitar. Also, faces in places... happy guitar is awesome.

uhhhhh, why? are people THAT socially sterile?

I'm confused. What makes you think they are "socially sterile"? Just because they aren't yelling at the camera?

Because they would spent THAT much time configuring a cheap plastic controller over maybe learning how to play a real one? Its Pathetic.

Alright, they used my tip!

If 2 light emitters and receivers could be squeezed in there, you could put a little logic in there to account for the up and down strumming. Nice find!

Pretty simple mod to pull off and undeniably cool, although I'd think that playing with no physical feedback would be rather difficult.

would be totally awesome if it had a visible laser beam

Fog kit!

I play real guitar and I'm pretty good at guitar hero / rockband and I can say I love the rockband controller (maybe more than the guitar hero) but the biggest problem with it is that there is no clicks on the strumbar, it makes things alot easier when you can feel the click. This LED light idea is even worse cause you can't feel anything. Real guitar or gaming controller you are supposed to be able to "feel" when you've plucked or activated the strumbar, it's just natural, this LED light idea is horrible, but I'm sure he just did it cuz he was extremely bored ;P

The nice thing is it would never wear out. But it's going to be near impossible to strum fast, you'll have to tap instead, which isn't really like playing guitar, it's more like playing Track and Field.

It'll also cut the battery life to half or less for whatever that matters.

ahhhh to not have a life and be a complete douche bag

Why is that guitar screaming?

them rock band guitars dont click anyways

freaking awesome.. the next generation of guitars should totally be infrared

Soon, you'll be able to bring your own air guitar to play Rock Band. It'll be great!

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Rock Band guitar mod turns on the magic of invisible light

Reader Comments (37)

Posted: May 15th 2009 3:11AM Regularpants said

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