Massive Selector: SmithsonMartin’s 42-Inch Touchscreen DJ System. [Wired.com] - Looking like something lifted from the nightclub in Tron: Legacy, The Emulator DVS is a giant dashboard for selecting and mixing tracks. Position the included 2,300-lumen projector on the shelf beneath the 42-inch infrared touchscreen and hook up a laptop and the audience can watch as you swipe, twist, and tap to keep the beats bumping. Bring your credit card, though. It’ll set you back more than five grand.
On this episode of the Rock and Roll Geek Gadget Guide, Michael reviews and demos the Digitech iPB-10 Programmable Pedalboard.
If you’re a guitarist, chances are that you’ve got your share of effects pedals sitting around. Some players get by with a pretty straightforward signal chain, perhaps a little compression and distortion. Others have an entire array of pedals, with phase shifters, chorusing, digital delay, wah wah – you name it. Whatever end of the continuum you tend toward on stage, it’s rare that you’ll find a guitarist who doesn’t like to play with effects when given the chance, but at $50 to hundreds a pop, most of us are limited as to how many we can actually afford.
Here’s where the iPB-10 Programmable Pedalboard comes in. Hook it up to your iPad, and you’ve got a virtually unlimited combination of pedals, amps and cabinets at your disposal. It lets you choose from 87 pedals, 54 guitar amps and 26 speaker cabinets to emulate. You can use up to ten pedals in any order at a given time, and put them into presets to call up for specific songs. You can also add an amp and cabinet combination to each preset. You can then access the entire setup with footswitches, just like a regular chain of stomp boxes.
It’s also got a built in tuner, and presets to approximate the guitar sound of your favorite records – Queen, Hendrix, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Metallica – a huge selection of classic sound shapes. Add your own custom presets and the variety is mind blowing.
USB output or 1/4 inch, so you can go into a computer for recording without an amp, or plug into an amp or board.
I’m thinking a Ratt Overdrive into a 4×4 Marshall might be nice. What about you?
DigiTech IPB10 Guitar Floor Multi-Effects Pedal available for $499.95 at Amazon. iPad not included.
