Inventor: Gibson Musical Instruments
We've already got digital music files like MP3s and digital music players like the iPod, so why not create music with a digital instrument in the first place? In January, Gibson will be the first musical-instrument maker to release an electric guitar with a digitizing microprocessor and circuit board built right in. When a player strums the guitar, the analog signal from each of the six strings is converted into a digital file and then pushed out of the guitar through an Ethernet connection attached to the instrument. The resulting sound is much clearer and less susceptible to all sorts of distortion. Rock on!
Availability: January 2004, about $3,000
To Learn More: gibson.com