Gibson, the country's second-largest guitar manufacturer, has developed a technology it claims should update the analog technology of the 1920s to today's digital domain. Gibson highlighted Magic, an acronym for Media-Accelerated Global Information Carrier, at a New York event Friday.
Much of the music we listen to and hear live today is produced in analog. The switch to digital has been a laborious process held back by the slow speed on converting signals in and out of the digital realm.
"In the past, if you were going to process something with the computer -- let's say a drum hit -- you would hit the drum and the computer would spit it out later," said Gibson CTO Nathan Yaekel. "Now, because of minimal latency, people can hear themselves perform, which is very important in a live venue. There is no delay. There is no latency."
Gibson did this by modifying the Ethernet networking protocol to link instruments to the mixer and eventually straight to the listener. The advantages are both a cleaner sound and a simpler setup. While traditional concert setups require multiple cords, Gibson's Magic carries up to 64 signals per cable, thus saving space and time.
Achieving all these goals took a lot more resources than the guitar maker had in-house. This is why Gibson seeded the idea with 12 engineers in its Silicon Valley labs in Sunnyvale, California, in January 1999.
CEO Henry Juszkiewicz spearheaded the effort.
"What we have done is called 'middleware,'" Juszkiewicz said. "We have put software on top of Ethernet that basically synchronizes those packets to a master clock and allows it to send many, many channels and have many work stations that work together in synchrony, meaning low latency, meaning music."
Yaekel said the technology could also cut setup time for bands on the road.
"As soon as you plug the guitar in to the Ethernet port or whatever instrument it is, it'll come up 'Nate's guitar,'" Yaekel said. "Just like in Ethernet, when you plug into an Ethernet hub, you're going to see your computer's name on the network. The same works for the guitar, except you won't have to set up any drivers or anything like that. You plug it in, and the mix position knows exactly where you are. It knows your effects, and it knows your sound."
Ultimately Gibson hopes to take Magic beyond the stage and studio.
Magic was developed as an open standard and will be licensed royalty-free. Gibson already has had discussions with companies like Intel, Sony, Philips, and networking giant Cisco Systems. It hopes its creation will find other applications in the home networking, home automation, and even medical imaging fields.
"By hitching our wagon to Ethernet it's not one point in time... it's a moving target, and it's going to drag us and the musician community into uncharted realms," Juszkiewicz said, adding that for now the focus remains music. However, the company says, don't be surprised to see Ethernet ports on guitars within the next 12 to 18 months.
