8-bit arcade guitar sounds (and looks) like a little piece of nerd heaven
By Laura June 
posted April 28th 2010 10:02PM
posted April 28th 2010 10:02PM
The hand built, 8-bit "arcade guitar" that you see above is the result of a DIY senior project, and it's a pretty cool accomplishment. There's not a ton of detail about how it was constructed, but we know that it's got an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) for logic and function, strings and a joystick for adjusting the pitch, and it also boasts selectable waves and save banks. Most importantly, however, the final product sounds really, really good -- and we'd advise you to check the video below.
*AKA* Fart guitar.with mario included
@Alexpeegs I'd buy it.
@TjK ...but where's the D-PAD?????
@Alexpeegs
THAT IS F*CKING AWESOME!
@Alexpeegs aka an uglier guitar hero controller
@Alexpeegs
Interesting Toy, but love my Stratocaster with my effects, nothing compares to a real six strings electric guitar, or Hammond Organ or Rhodes Piano, you know, REAL instruments.
By the way about this toys (Hey i am young boy, 30 years old) I am BIG FAN of the Beatles and bought the $300 Beatles Rock Band and the only thing I really use is the Mic. When I want guitar I play my Strat.
Please someone invent the Time Machine (I want to live in the 60s and 70s my favorite music)
@Beatnik
Pat Metheny Orchestrion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VymAn8QJNQ
@sshole this is my new nerd alarm tone :
AWESOME. 8 bit rules.
I remember making a mantel clock for my senior project. I was pretty satisfied with it.
WANT
Too bad that guy sucked at playing that.
I would have loved to hear Pallet Town on 8-bit guitar.
@Jakintosh
Sucked is an understatement...
How did this even make the news anyway?...
With all the HP/Palm stuff it's not like it's a slow day or anything...
@insy Because it's fucking awesome.
his playing isn't the point here, it's the tool.
win.
If he wanted to be cool he should have used an NES as the body and played an actual song instead of random noises.
Let's see some 8-bit drums and get a band going
2/3 of the time, the thing seem to be playing itself. he didn't actually do very much.
@onlysublime Loop pedal
That is badass.
If you don't like it, you don't get it.
I want to see Guns'N'Rosses playing this live
Check out the awesome band The Depreciation Guild if you'd like to hear a real band really use 8bit sounds -- they back themselves up with an NES 2AO3 soundcard.
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Depreciation+Guild
@FuzzyDicePHL or also check out Anamanaguchi, who also use a hacked Famicom to accompany their stuff. While I love TDG, sometimes you just feel like something a little more upbeat (ie. happier :p), you know? Haha
Pfft... Guitar Hero WISHES it were this cool. Rock on, dude!
So maybe he needs to be on the Engadget Show?
@MrFantasticals i second that
horrific wiring
Someone give that thing to Matt Bellamy right now.
How much for the guitar?
@MrFantasticals Yes he should be invited to the Engadget Show to play that. Watch out nullsleep! Very sick indeed.
Btw, a friend of mine wanted to do a proyect like this with an FPGA (a xilinx one) back when i was on the university. Pretty cool, sounds like a MOOG
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades
One word.
Win.