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EXCLUSIVES

iGuitar - How do you make guitar players cooler?
Just Add a Mac

by Jone Devlin

November 2007

They come in right-handed models and left-handed models. You can order one standard or have them customized right down to the color. You can play it as a hobby or become one of their featured artists.They're cool, they're classy, they rock and they have given pause to the myth that there just isn't anything new or exciting you can do with a guitar.

Welcome to iGuitar Inc. , formerly Brian Moore Guitars. Made out of only the finest materials and as easy to use as, well, a Mac, iGuitar has spent the 14 years since their initial inception refining, honing, and continually improving on their creation (note to owners of old school electric guitars, yes, you will have to buy a new iGuitar to use the technology, but trust us, it's an investment you'll never regret).

iGuitar CEO Patrick Cummingscan not talk about anything to do with iGuitar without his voice bubbling over with enthusiasm. "The main product we're selling right now is an iGuitar product that has two systems built in to it. The first is a USB audio system (iGuitar USB 13), and the second is a 13 pin RMC system. What that means is that with just iGuitar and one little box you can control the entire desktop music experience."

Cummings, who is a musician himself, talked about his early days as a guitar player, learning riffs by playing vinyl records over and over again, picking up and putting down the needle as he tried to replicate the notes. This was frustrating and time consuming, and pretty much meant that only the most dedicated musicians were going to stay with it. Nowadays that's all changed.

"The typical kid plugs iGuitar. USB into his computer and can make a piece of music. Basically they can make anything they want with just iGuitar and a Mac and they can upload it to iTunesor MySpaceor wherever. That's the power of iGuitar.USB, it gives the guitarist complete creative control of the desktop music environment. I mean what kid, or adult for that matter, would not want a guitar that's totally USB that would give them all this control to jam online and upload their own music etc."

Another thing users can do with iGuitar is play music-real music-right away. Using an iGuitar compatible notation program called Finale, users can actually program TABs into their Mac. Cummings explained it this way "Let's say you didn't know any guitar at all. I would show you where to put your fingers on the neck and then you would play. With the iGuitar I can show you where to put your fingers and you play it right into Finale and you'd have it stored right on your screen."

Something else Cummings is excited about is a new trend in music, one in which people are able to jam together in real time over the web. This, he is convinced, is the wave of the future in music. "This is the next biggest social online network. There have always been digital drums and keyboards, but we are on the forefront of digital guitars." iGuitar works with both PC and Mac, though Cummings admits it "works on Mac better." To show off their product's capabilities (as well as to have some fun) the company is hosting a series of events in New York, Pennsylvania and Los Angles to demonstrate iGuitar. USB as well as Apple's Garageband software, which, Cummings told us, provides users "with a whole library of sound effects for their guitars."

Can't get to an Apple store on the one of the coasts? Well, some other areas where iGuitar has popped up recently include the Summer NAMMshow, where iGuitar USB was featured via several 'Fun Zones' or iGuitar/MAC workstations.

iGuitar USB has also been featured on the John Lennoneducational tour bus, a national program committed to providing students with increased access to music, audio, video, and broadcast technologies.

So where will iGuitar go from here? Cummings is clear when he says the ultimate goal for iGuitar is to help people get more out of their Mac "from a music standpoint anyway."

Product iGuitar
Made By iGuitar, Inc.
Price Between $1,200 and $2,500, depending on level of customization
Pros: It's a custom guitar that can make users sound like experienced musicians quickly
Cons: It's a bit expensive for the beginning musician, and some novice users have a little trouble adjusting the guitars to get the various sound combinations working
Rating: 4 stars