Biohazard

Wow, onelastgoodbye thats an incredible post, very interesting too. Nice job there psw, I could have guessed you'd be that perfectionist guy, i'm sort of the same with some things. I'm not suprised you always carry a notebook either, you probably have ideas comming out of your head as if it were a production line. You gotta store them somewhere!

in terms of cost, yet again, this is something you have to think about independently so I still think you should focus on finishing this product before worrying about costs. Costs is a side thought on how you get the product out into the public and therefore you shouldn't lightly think about this. Trust me, I want this thing to suceed for you

Hi guys, been away for two days and just had to read all from page 35 to 37. Its a hell of a lot. Damn you psw for writing posts that could give the book of genesis a run for its money in length . Anyway, I'm amazed by the graphics and amazed by the progress. Seeing that driver for real is amazing. Since first starting to follow this from around page 6 it may have been, i cant remember, I must say that this is the most exciting time so far!!! Its nearing its final stages and its all finally comming together. I'm really happy for you psw. I'm going to stick by my advice given a few pages back and say that although the idea of extra effects and stuff is cool, you really should concentrate on getting this thing finished. Maybe even forget about ideas for getting this thing into the world market and all this patent nonsences etc. Just get it finished, then prehaps see what people at music shops think. Then consider your options for getting it out in the open. Since there are a lot of options open to you in this field, I think it is something you should consider after you have the working prototype. Keep up the awsome work!!!

I really like this box idea, and yes the control knob is a stroke of genius. It is the perfect control for what you are wanting it to do. Especially if you also need to be dampening the strings when using the device. I think that box as it looks right now is a cool looking piece of kit, I can't say I would deny it a place behine my tailpiece. But just one thing is bugging me. You say you need to dampen the strings while altering the control knob. Well, taking my quitar for example, which is a Tune-O-Matic bridge with tailpiece. You dampen the strings at the bridge itself, not the tailpiece. So there is going to be a little bit of a gap between the control knob and the actual Tune-O-Matic bridge? Have I made sense here or have I confused a lot of people? Those with Trem bridges could well experience similar problems with reaching the knob while dampening strings. Unless of course, as I suggested above, I have completely missed the point.

Hi psw, well done to the other guys who have done some graphics work and made these box ideas into visual realities. Those pics all look fantastic and i'm very impressed. Good to see the progress is constant all the time.

Cool, great news psw. Would love to see this completed and working soon. I'd be really pleased for you. You are right about the security though, we all need to keep this very secret. I guess it is a decision only you can make about closing this thread and continuing in private. If you feel the secrets are at risk at all, then I would recommend doing what you thought of (closing thread).

Cool, thats ok then. Cheers for all the help. Hopefully i'll be able to make a decision soon on a laptop. What a long road this has been from first looking into desktops then laptops and now being able to evaluate a few laptops to decide on the best one. Its like researching stuff for when I had my guitar made all over again lol.

Yeah, I must admit, despite all the rumours, confusion, tales etc about the VIA chipsets with the AMD processors in laptops, the A64 attracts me the most because of the future-proofing of it. We are in the dawn of 64 bit software, so buying the A64 will keep you afloat a year or two longer than the 32-bit processors will. Obviously, choosing an Intel 3.0ghz (whether with HT or not) will last you a long time. But an A64 will last that little bit further. On a side note, I can't see Intel going too much longer before they decide to announce or release an Intel 64-bit processor. Thanks for any further advice, but I appreciate all the help people have given me so far. It would have been far easier for you guys to have given in to the temptation of thinking "god what an ass". Thanks for the help!!!

The lights idea is great and I think any lights would advantage the product. For the first time in this 33 page thread, I don't like an aspect of the idea. that aspect, as stated above, is the box as also a tailpiece. I wouldn't really want to start messing around with replacing a tailpiece. Plus that starts to eliminate the minimal instrument adjustment spec point. Ok psw, sorry, I just wanted to make sure the product still had plenty of advantages even if the circuitry was mounted inside the guitar. You have pointed out that it does still hold a number of advantages over the competitors. I don't think I would mind a small box behind my bridge, i'd have to see how it looks in reality on a real guitar. I just definately wouldn't want a tailpiece & box combo. I wouldn't concentrate on this aspect much at all. Once you get a prototype working with whatever final solution you come up with for the circuit housing, I think you'd be stupid not to give it a go and take it to a company to see whether they think there is a market for it. Heck, take a few different versions, one with the box, one with the circuitry inside, so they can see the variations of this thing. Good look with the progress!!!!! BTW, nice graphics there onelastgoodbye.

Ah right. So the Intel with HT maybe isnt to such an advantage. So if M-Audio, Cakewalk and Steinberg email me back saying there wont be problems with the VIA chipset, I could go ahead and look at an AMD 64 processor which might be more of an advantage than an Intel £.0ghz with HT (when the HT wont advantage me much)?

Yeah thats one point psw. you would need the battery in a place that means people dont have to remove their pickguard and strings every time they need to change the battery. If you could incorporate a recharge plug system than that would be great. but how much would that affect the sound of the guitar in terms of any possible inteference? I dont mean to sound like an arse here but if this system will after all be going inside the guitar, then what advantages does it have to the two sustainer systems currently on the market? Thats maybe something that might need a little bit of thought (and then some doing )

I want to get a good high spec laptop as it will need to see me through to around 2009. Ok so the VIA problems are diminishing now compared to in the past? So the K8 (I think that is the current one) is just as stable for use with the AMD 64 processors? I know about the nForce chipsets but cant find them on any laptop. Its interesting that AMD is preferred in the audio world, because that contradicts every audio computer company here in the UK who are only using Intel processors. As a precaution, I have emailed Cakewalk, Steinberg and M-Audio to ask about any problems with VIA and an AMD system with the firewire audiophile, Sonar and Cubase. Thanks for all the advice, hopefully I should be able to make a decision soon. So really, I could choose either a P4 HT processor laptop, mobile P4 HT processor laptop or an A64 processor laptop and be really happy with the quality I get (no droputs, latency, or any other problems etc)? Cheers.

Cool, i'll try and give it a go some time in the next week or two when my school work amount gets a little less. What simple booster circuit should I copy out and start experimenting with? So, are you saying, start off with a simple booster, once ive manipulated it and understand it, I may be able to move onto a small distortion circuit and realise what is happening? Then this continues and continues until I find myself designing my own circuits?

Unfortunately my guitar space will be no use to you since it is custom built and the routing cavity is in the back and bigger than most. What you need to do is look at all the variations of cavities that people have and work out if there is one common way of doing this. How about checking out this part of the warmoth site: http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/bodies/bodies.cfm Click on each of the bodies here and you get a front view and a back view. It also shows the typical cavity for that guitar. Maybe you can spot something that is common to all the cavities there are. I don't know how deep cavities go in guitars but maybe you could make the circuit small enough so that it can just go on the edge of the cavity (against the cavity wall) rather than horizontally in the cavity? Just an idea, I have my fuzz factory circuit sitting virtically rather than horizontally in my guitar. I'm just wondering if the same could be done with your circuit, depends how big it is I guess. The fuzz factory circuit is really small and simple, your circuits are most likely to be bigger and more complex.

Hi, ok so if the Intel chipsets are the best. How come a lot of people prefer AMD processors when they use VIA chipsets. Ok admitedley you can get NVIDIA chipsets for the AMD processors but a lot still also use the VIA and those with notebooks using AMD over intel are bound to the VIA chipset. So thats why this is all a little confusing for me. Most people's preference are contradicting the opinions and advice of the audio computer companies i contacted that only use Intel based systems. Should I follow the advice of these companies or should I try for AMD which have had a lot of reviews as being better than Intel processors?

what is that 'power' bit that gets connected to the 9v battery? Is it just s way of routing the power to the three different parts of the circuit that it needs to go?

Ok, sounds cool. Is it good to help idiots like me learn about electronics a little more and understand what is going on in circuits, especially music effects cuircuits etc.

Ah, so there will be no problem at all with the VIA chipset if I make sure the firewire device is compatible with that particular chipset? So some devices wont work with it but others will?

Oh right it sounds cool. What is that SPICE thing though lol. What kind of circuits can you simulate with it? Anything you want?

Cool, still going steady with that progress psw. Unfortunately, the electronics aspects of this is starting to go over my head, i'm not too bright when it comes to electronics unfortunately. You talked a while back about seeking advice for acquring patents. How about going to seek advice for possibly stimulating interest from companies who might want to buy this idea off you. Whether you sell it or a major company sells it, I think the thing will be a huge hit. Especially if it is small, and cheaper than the current solutions. For a start, you would get interest from Steve Vai fans and Matt Bellamy fans (muse frontman who had a fernandes sustainer built into his guitar). Go for it psw!!!!!

What is this software? What does it do etc?

Ok, been looking around for laptops and have a list of two or three companies that I like. However, I have run into a problem choosing one. Its about processors and chipsets (more chipsets really). I have been hearing bad things about laptops with AMD processors because they use the VIA chipset, which is apparently not too good for audio, for a number of reasons but one main one that was mentioned to me was something about the firewire bus. This has been mentioned to me by three audio computer companies here in the UK, they all use only Intel processors. However, on places like the Studio Central forum, they all seem to prefer AMD, despite these apparent flaws in the VIA chipset with audio. I'd be very greatful if any of you guys could clear this issue up for me as it is frustrating running into many problems once old ones get sorted out.

Hi, fantastic stuff psw. LED idea is great, asthetics is something that catches my eye with a product. I agree that you shouldnt go and build effects into the device though. Keep it at what it was first intended to do, otherwise you concentrate on the side project, then maybe side-side projects and thats why the main project ends up failing. When you ask what people would like from it in terms of whether they would modify their instrument, I think you may also need to ask further afield than this forum. On here, there are people building instruments from scratch, and putting different electronics in etc, so they are perfectly willing to route extra. Then you get some people like me wiht built in fuzz, aluminium cladded guitar who obviously have no problem routing out extra. However, those guys who have factory guitars of decent quality, those are the ones who dont want to harm their pride and joy, but might love to try a device like this.

Bloody hell psw!!!!! That thing is AWSOME! I can't believe how small that is. All I can think in terms of names is cheesy stuff like "super sustain". Can't think of s decent name.

Ok, what I want to do is get experience with sequencer software like Cubase or Sonar with a firewire audio/midi box interface such as the M-Audio Audiophile. I will be recording mine or a friends band studio format (one instrument at a time) and dont know how many tracks I will use. I also want to try recording as a live setting, as in them or my band playing all together at the same time. Plus anything else I come accross that seems interesting.