As a user of a bucketload of effects at the start of the nineties (zoom 9050 + 8050 controller) I`d be hard pushed to describe myself as a hardcore traditionalist – certainly not a Luddite although certain aspects of my approach to the guitar are traditional. I like great sounding amps, stratocasters and using my hands to play.

In 2003 Gibson were the first musical-instrument maker to release an electric guitar with a digitizing microprocessor and circuit board built right in. Of late they`ve come up with the Dark Fire which although comes equipped with a humbucker, a single-coil and a bridge-mounted piezo acoustic pickup is DIGITAL through and through. The Chameleon Tone Technology claims to emulate every single guitar sound of worth ever, comes with a firewire connector and a midi adaptable hex connector too, a robot interface pack and Ableton Live 7 plus Guitar Rig III.

Have alook at the following electronic hybrids, controllers and synth axes if  you`re interested in where the Dark Fire`s genealogy really rests: Roland GR-500, Yamaha G10`s, Starr Labs Ztar, or the Synth Axe. Maybe Alvin Lee could see this coming when he put a robot on the cover of his album RX5.

Gibson have stepped up to the plate and brought the magnificent Dark Fire to life taking guitar straight into the future.

The exclusive Gibson version of Ableton Live software  dubbed Ableton Live 7 Gibson Studio Edition ? provides Dark Fire owners with the ability to record, play loops and perform every other function needed to play in any live or studio setting. Enjoy the benefits of using the same virtual studio software and stage solution package already used by hundreds of touring professionals all around the world.

Guitar Rig 3 features 12 supreme-sounding guitar and bass amps, new matched cabinet module, a total of 18 guitar and six bass cabinets, four rotary speakers and nine microphones and an integrated tuner, metronome and two tapedeck modules for easy recording.

Here is a fantastic review from Guitar World – you`ll be suitably impressed with this machine for sure, it’s a killer!

Here`s a link to New Zealands The Trons, where meccano meets metal and the Crazy J guitar playing machine, both pictured above. Sooner or later  I`ll have a look at why some people say that analogue sound is standing beneath a waterfall and digital sound is throwing ice cubes into a steel bucket!!