Music Thing: The USB Lightsnake and other ways to connect your axe
By Marc Perton 
posted Apr 28th 2006 2:07PM
posted Apr 28th 2006 2:07PM
Each week Tom Whitwell of Music Thing highlights the best of the new
music gear that's coming out, as well as noteworthy vintage equipment:
Connecting a guitar to a USB socket is one of those technical questions that nobody has ever asked, but
lots of people have tried to answer. The latest, and possibly neatest, solution is the SoundTech
Lightsnake, a simple 10-foot guitar cable with a quarter-inch jack on one end and a USB plug on the other. Plug it
into a USB socket and it will glow green (mmm… retro!), and it promises to pump your guitar neatly into
GarageBand or whatever.
There’s a big cultural barrier between the two ends of the cable. Quarter-inch jacks are indestructible, ancient and roadworthy. They were introduced in 1878, for use in telephone exchanges, and they’re still in almost any piece of musical equipment you’d ever want to use, from a Les Paul to a Moog Modular. They never break, and if they do happen to fray, can be mended by anyone who knows which end of a soldering iron to hold. With no tools, a combination of sharp teeth and nimble fingers can make a workable repair.
Meanwhile the new-fangled USB plug, introduced in 1995, has no place in rock’n’roll. It’s invariably plastic, and was literally designed by a committee. Neutrik does produce a nickel-housed USB socket that could almost fit on a guitar amp, but would be unlikely to survive attack from a flying bottle of beer.
In the last year, USB/Guitar hybrids have been everywhere. The GuitarPlug does the same job as the Lightsnake, without the attached cable or the glowing LED. Towards the end of 2005 there was a rash of USB guitars, released by many, bought by few, culminating in the Behringer iAxe, a $149 guitar with a built-in USB socket and a bundle of free software. I’m sure it sounds great.
There’s a big cultural barrier between the two ends of the cable. Quarter-inch jacks are indestructible, ancient and roadworthy. They were introduced in 1878, for use in telephone exchanges, and they’re still in almost any piece of musical equipment you’d ever want to use, from a Les Paul to a Moog Modular. They never break, and if they do happen to fray, can be mended by anyone who knows which end of a soldering iron to hold. With no tools, a combination of sharp teeth and nimble fingers can make a workable repair.
Meanwhile the new-fangled USB plug, introduced in 1995, has no place in rock’n’roll. It’s invariably plastic, and was literally designed by a committee. Neutrik does produce a nickel-housed USB socket that could almost fit on a guitar amp, but would be unlikely to survive attack from a flying bottle of beer.
In the last year, USB/Guitar hybrids have been everywhere. The GuitarPlug does the same job as the Lightsnake, without the attached cable or the glowing LED. Towards the end of 2005 there was a rash of USB guitars, released by many, bought by few, culminating in the Behringer iAxe, a $149 guitar with a built-in USB socket and a bundle of free software. I’m sure it sounds great.
your links seem to be broken...
Tiny, minor, nit-picky point: That's a quarter-inch [i]plug[/i] on the other end of that cable, not a quarter-inch [i]jack[/i].
http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2005/01/add-usb-port-to-any-guitar-and-some.html
Those links in unscrambled-o-vision:
The Lightsnake:
http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2006/04/lighsnake-usb-guitar-cable.html
The GuitarPlug:
http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2005/01/add-usb-port-to-any-guitar-and-some.html
The Behringer iAxe:
http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2006/03/messe-whats-on-behringer-photocopier.html
Someone do the world a favor and exterminate silicon diodes from guitar amplifiers. They're great for bass,and the right company can make a wonderful clean channel or great distortion pedals, but there's absolutely no feeling to them.
Had the unfortunate opportunity of playing some Fender 2x12 solid-state monster recently. Even when using a PRS (a real one, not one of those ridiculous SE's), it was easily the worst thing I've heard since my first-ever 15w practice amp bit it.
Maybe this makes recording convenient, but I don't see the potential "charm" or otherwise. I'd rather take my chances open-miking my amp.
bad link,
but here's the product
This is a product that will end up in the bedrooms of budding musicians all over the world. That's the market for this product, the people who can't afford $1000+ vintage Fender tube amps. There's a lot of great sound modeling software for guitarists now - for someone starting out this is a great solution.
Will this work for an acoustic electric guitar, the type that have a built in pre-amp? The pre amp runs off a 9 volt battery so do you think my usb port on my computer will be able to power it? How does this get recognized by your computer if you are not connecting it to a sound card?
Typically, USB audio devices are displayed as being separate audio devices entirely. My old Logitech USB 350 headset was displayed just a second audio device besides the sound card. They don't require drivers either.
7. Will this work for an acoustic electric guitar, the type that have a built in pre-amp? The pre amp runs off a 9 volt battery so do you think my usb port on my computer will be able to power it? How does this get recognized by your computer if you are not connecting it to a sound card?
Why do you need to have your computer "power" your pre-amp through USB when you already said it's powered through a 9v battery??? You must use your 9v or equivalent power supply for that. USB would not be enough and is incompadible anyways.
As far as it not going into a sound card...it's because there is a driver interface that converts the magnetic audio signals to a readable USB transmission of audio. Pretty cool, huh?
Facts,
Preamps have a battery, but no 'ON' switch, they get their power through the 1/4" cable when it connects to something like a phantom powered sound card or through a guitar amp. I'm wondering if the usb has enough power to make the guitar amp pick up.
"As far as it not going into a sound card...it's because there is a driver interface that converts the magnetic audio signals to a readable USB transmission of audio. Pretty cool, huh?"
Not to be too pedantic, but that's kinda what a USB sound card does. It just happens to be small enough to be in the housing for the USB jack. For all intents and purposes, it looks like there's no sound card... it's just so small you can't see it.
In theory, these could be made with a pair of RCA's, or an XLR on the end of the cable too. If they were cheap enough, you could just keep adding inputs to the computer, without concern for having enough inputs on your soundcard. Make it robust enough, and you could run a whole live show off of these things and a laptop with ableton live on it.
Whether a cheesy one-chip in-cable USB DAC can really provide comparable audio quality to a good high-end sound card (or outboard true USB DAC) remains to be seen, though.
what would be super-cool is if someone created one that has an XLR plug and glows green
Snake?
Snake?
Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!
I'm not a guitarist, but I thought the second and third paragraphs about the history of quarter-inch jacks and USB were very interesting.
Thanks Babylonian - Nice to have someone say something positive in the comments for once...
"Preamps have a battery, but no 'ON' switch, they get their power through the 1/4" cable when it connects to something like a phantom powered sound card or through a guitar amp. I'm wondering if the usb has enough power to make the guitar amp pick up."
Um, no.
The preamp like is in his acoustic guitar is 100% powered from the 9V battery. When the plug is inserted into the jack it simply completes a circuit that turns it on. They don't need an on/off switch, because the action of the plug being in place does it. There is no signal or power or anything going from the amp to the guitar, just guitar to the amp.
Phantom power is only possible using XLR jacks, the third pin provides the power. Phantom power is impossible (without modification) is normal 1/4" jacks.
The USB jack is likely going to be drawing voltage to power the mini circuitry that makes the conversion from analog to digital, but no power is being transferred to the guitar.
Although it would be sweet if 1/4" jacks could power things, imagine not needing any batteries or plugs for floor pedals or tuners.
Ehm... some thing is wrong in there... jack cable ALWAYS break! I can't count how many guitar cable thogh I never broke a USB plug :S
#10 - not exactly. Preamps in guitars with batteries don't have on/off buttons, but that's not because they're powered by phantom power or similar. Like guitar pedals, they use the fact that guitar jack plugs are of the mono variety to be able to switch on/off when it's inserted into a stereo jack connector.
You can get this thing at sewell for $40:
http://sewelldirect.com/lightsnake-usb-instrument-cable.asp
It zaps me when I touch the stings, Anyone know of any way to fix that, Can't take it back.
I'm looking for a really cheap way to record my electro acoustic and this looks ideal if it weren't for the bad reviews! http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/SoundTech-USB-Intelligent-Instrument-Cable?sku=332600
Has anyone used one of these lightsnakes with the problems rectified?
Also, my guitar I got from a friend of a friend - the electro side of it has never been put through an amp. Listening to the comments on powering the internal guitar amp?, I wonder if it'll work for me anyways?; best I can describe is that there is a guitar jack on the corner and 2 fender-style volume knobs. No buttons or volume sliders ect.
Any help appreciated.
I would like to win the USB Lightsnake please!
any of the three would be cool.
oOo I've been looking for something like that Lightsnake for quite a while now. It'd be pretty cool to win :D
Thanks! I really want this one.
I want to WIN!!!
wrong board, sorry
POD by Line6 is the best option for guitar to computer via USB
There are mixers with USB connectivity located here:
http://www.worldmusicsupply.com/search/default.asp?Category=Category&Type=1&brand=&keyword=usb+mixer&action=search