Fed II Star newsletter - masthead The weekly newsletter for the Fed II game by ibgames

EARTHDATE: February 19, 2006

OFFICIAL NEWS
Page 10

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REAL LIFE NEWS: VIRTUAL AIR GUITAR

If you're into heads-down, no-nonsense mindless boogie and like nothing better than to strap on a metaphorical air guitar and pretend to be a rock god, you may be interested in a new invention by a group of young Finnish scientists: a virtual air guitar. You simply put on a pair of orange gloves and stand in front of a camera which is attached to a computer, and the software reads your hand movements to create beautiful music. Or music of some sort!

The software comes with two basic programs: chords and solo. Set it to chords and the software will analyse your finger positions to work out which chord you are attempting to play. I'm not sure it could handle esoteric chords like flattened minor 7ths or diminished 9ths, but then if you knew how to play chords like that you'd probably be playing a real guitar and not a pretend one! Still, according to the news report I read, "even the most musically inept can, within a minute or two, produce the opening riff to Deep Purple's classic Smoke on the Water".

The solo function, however, is where it really gets interesting. After all, most people would fantasise playing lead guitar, with the emphasis on the kick-ass solo rather than the plodding chords. And apparently, all you have to do is waggle your hands in a vague imitation of playing a guitar, and you too can sound like Yngwie Malmsteen.

(Speaking of whom, he used to call himself Yngwie J Malmsteen - presumably the middle initial was important to distinguish himself from all the other Yngwie Malmsteens out there! Although when I checked my CD collection to make sure I'd spelt the name right, I note that on his later albums he's dropped the J. But I digress...) If you're not into rock and have never heard of Yngwie, he is a heavy metal guitar player from Sweden - according to his web site he's "one of rock's premiere virtuoso guitarists". His music is flashy and pretentious, and I mean that in a good way!

So, back to the virtual air guitar. Leaving aside the sheer joy in being able to sound like you can play guitar when you can't really, this technology offers a completely new way to control computers, without having to sit still and fiddle with a keyboard or a joystick. So long as the camera can see your hands, you can move about at will. Imagine an extension of this allowing you to control the avatar in, say, a Kung Fu game - your avatar mirrors the kicks you actually make!

And there are also exciting implications for live music performances. Right now, a lot of modern music is made by synthesizers, and watching a band stand on stage doing little more than twiddle the knobs on a computer is just boring. UK band The Orb once showed this by not even bothering to try to look interesting when they appeared on TV show Top of the Pops - they sat playing chess while their tune Blue Room played seemingly without their intervention. But other instruments developed by the same team as the virtual air guitar allow performers to play synthesizers by physical movements and dramatic flourishes, with gives electronic music a more human quality.

The virtual air guitar should hit shops next year. There's lots more information on the Virtual Air Guitar web site.


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