February 6, 2009


GUITAR HERO
PHOTO


I have been seeing this gadget on many a tech blog this morning, and it is not hard to see why. After all, if there is one thing that gadget-lovers love, it is Guitar Hero, and this Maestro is designed to teach geeks how to play the guitar for real.

I believe we have already covered a device like this by Roland at CES, but this was for a keyboard, with a guitar version to come out soon. The Maestro is currently a concept from that fun website that we love to peek at every once in a while, Yanko Design.

As you can see from the photo, the Maestro clamps onto the guitar and then uses lasers to point to the right frets. How can it do this? You need to have an MP3 copy of the song on an SD and then put it on the Maestro.

I’m not certain how the Maestro can take the MP3 and translate the audio file into the proper frets, but it can somehow do it. I’m also not certain how you can calibrate the Maestro so the lasers beam on precisely the right places, because all guitars are not the same.

Still, you got to give Eugene Cheong, the designer of the Maestro, credit for trying something that Guitar Hero addicts dream of: a chance to actually play the guitar for real, and not just hit fret buttons and a strum bar.

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