I always try to make it as easy as possibly to lay a riff down as soon as the inspiration strikes me. Like most people I’m lazy and if I have to take the effort of setting up recording gear I often put it off, hoping I’ll just remember what I wrote and just record it later. That’s why I always keep a mic in front of my go-to practice amp. It’s perpetually ready to record.
Gibson have another approach to the solution. They built a recorder into a guitar cable. A Memory Cable, to use the correct name . It records over 10 hours of audio onto a micro SD card, as an uncompressed 44.1k/16-bit WAV file. Eventually you can unload those files onto your PC or whathaveyou. And yes, it’ll still work as a regular instrument cable if the AA batteries in it die.
It’s a neat idea but I have to wonder if this is ultimately easier than just having a little portable recorder, which in this day and age can just be your phone plus the right interface. The one thing specifically I’m skeptical of is how Gibson describes it as a “re-amping solution.” In what context would you use this cable for re-amping? Yes, it’s cheaper than a good re-amping box like the Little Labs 3D phantom, but ultimately that seems like the easier way to go for workflow in a DAW setup.
But everyone’s needs and situation are different, so what do you readers think. Would you have a use for a cable that records you?
Source: Gizmag
funeraldoombuggy / April 25, 2014 1:49 pm
I think this cable is a great idea but to me it wouldn’t really improve my work flow at all. When I come up with something I don’t want to forget I use my phone to video myself playing it, it’s easy to access that way and if I want it in my daw it’d be easier to just replay it then to import off a SD card.
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The Devil / April 25, 2014 2:35 pm
Yet another Gibson idea that sounds cool at first, but is really kind of pointless when it comes down to it. Maybe they should focus instead on properly leveling and crowning the frets on their new instruments for a change.
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Benninho / April 25, 2014 5:08 pm
I’d rather take my temperature with an iphone.
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NuMetalGod / April 25, 2014 5:28 pm
I’d rather see Gibson do more limited guitars out of demolished church support beams than this.
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mouseporn / April 25, 2014 6:59 pm
finally, a Gibson idea that isn’t total bullshit. sounds cool.
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SheWölf / April 25, 2014 7:17 pm
I like the idea, but it depends on the quality of the recording. And now that I think about it, I usually only record when jamming with my band mates, so I probably wouldn’t get a lot of use out of it. Unless we could each get one and use them to record tracks to be layered together. But then what about the drums? Meh, don’t need one… (But now I kinda want one!)
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SheWölf / April 25, 2014 7:19 pm
Also, how much do these puppies cost??
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anonymous / April 25, 2014 11:35 pm
fuc*ing moron author, if you don’t get why it is a re-amping solution you obviously write articles for Metal-Sucks, re-amping takes a CLEAN SIGNAL and adds post-production (i.e. effect) distortion on it, thus obviously anything that travels through this cable is a PRE signal that hasn’t yet reached a distortion pedal, effects box/pod, etc. The only thing RECORDED by this is a CLEAN signal, so it is great for re-amping because IT’S THE ONLY THING THIS CAN BE USED FOR, unless you want to connect it from your amp to your interface, but at that point just USE YOUR FUC*ING INTERFACE to record… I swear to god can’t ONE GOD DA*N MOTHERFUC*ER at metal-sucks actually PLAY METAL and UNDERSTAND WHAT THE FU*K THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT?!
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timapples / April 26, 2014 1:46 am
I think you’re missing the point of what he said – sure you can re-amp using it, but it’s a clumsy solution compared to recording the clean signal in your DAW then reamping using an effect send/mic on a new channel, or one of the million ways you can do it straight out your DAW and keeping it in the context of any other instruments you’ve recorded for that song. When do you ever need to re-amp a guitar by itself in isolation?
Sounds like this toy would be way better as a quick-record-this-riff-before-i-forget-it than for re-amping.
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Chris Alfano / April 28, 2014 3:35 pm
Yes, thank you, I’m well aware that this is only recording the clean signal (or at least, un-amped, if you have a distortion pedal and the cable is going out of your board, not in). What I was saying is that this method of reamping seems completely impractical compared to a DAW.
As Timapples already commented, your parts will be isolated with no reference point to the music. So how would you sync it up? Play four ghost notes at the beginning of the take and manually move it in a daw later? Will you do this for multiple takes or layers? How will you handle punching mistakes?
I can’t imagine a recording situation serious enough to require reamping, yet casual enough where you’d be like “fuck it, I’ll play one pass to a click and fit it into the song later.”
Unless I’m missing something here, the main advantage to this cable
seems to be for when you write a cool riff and don’t want to forget it.
But for reamping? It’s a bullet point that I’ve very skeptical of until they address how it’d work.
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I Shot J.R / April 26, 2014 1:28 am
Hooray! Solutions to problems that don’t exist!
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Paco Secada / April 29, 2014 9:24 pm
If this is cost-effective and of good quality, goodbye DI Box!
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Tim Hosking / June 1, 2014 9:14 am
I’d rather have a true bypass pedal that could do this giving me the freedom to connect it anywhere in the chain.
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