Legendary guitar maker Gibson has created its own island in Second Life, making it the first major music manufacturer to do so.

The island launched last Wednesday with an exclusive live performance by Bob Welch.

Perhaps predictably, the island is shaped like a Gibson Les Paul guitar, and features humbucker mountains, theatres, mini-theatres, and guitar-related objects.

Over the next few months, the island will play host to a number of concerts, including blues performances by Matt Murphy and Howlin' Wolf.

(Via MI Pro)

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For that extra bit of bling on your music gear, Jason Nicholls can create faithful reproductions of knobs and fader caps for amplifiers, guitars, desks, keyboards, and other equipment in silver, gold, platinum, diamond, sapphire, and ruby.

His company, wonderfully named "Endless Knobbing", can also create engraved keyrings and plectrums.

Back in the day, I was surprised when someone wanted to use my old Atari ST to make music on and it's a similar feeling now that there are rave reviews of the Asus Eee PC for the very same reason.

Musicians have realised that these sub-notebooks, despite their diminutive stature, have enough under the hood to work as well as any turntable and come in a darn site cheaper too. Even the Windows-based models will do, running versions of Guitar Rig and SuperCollider.

The lines are getting more than a little bit blurred out there in the music game world. Developer Harmonix, remember, created Guitar Hero for Activision, before being head-hunted to invent Rock Band for MTV and Electronic Arts.

Now, in Guitar Hero World Tour, the Activision game is adding drums and microphone support, blatantly copying Rock Band and making pretty much everyone in the world more than a little confused about why the two series seem to be converging and eating each other in public. Here's the official GH4 trailer:

Slightly insane. Playing guitar riffs on the drums? Singing? Lenny bloody Kravitz? With Rock Band taking off in such a spectacular fashion, it seems slightly odd that the GH series would want to turn itself into what will surely only be seen as a Rock Band clone.

Nice drums, though. Well-placed symbols.

(Via Kotaku)

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As a keyboard player who'd love to also be able to play the guitar, but can't, this new instrument appeals to me.

The Harpejji takes the best characteristics of a guitar, and the same of a keyboard instrument, and combines them. This 24 string instrument features a visual matrix representing all the keys on a piano, and each string has a small piezo pickup embedded in its saddle, creating a clear representation of the natural string harmonics.

Rather deceptively called the Stylophone Original, this beauty is a near faithful reproduction of the original 70s electronic "musical" icon, but with some very 21st century tweaks.

Oh it looks very much the same, and is based on the same basic technology, but it now comes with a volume control, two new sounds as well as the original, a headphone socket, plus an audio input jack for connecting up an MP3 player and then jamming to your music.

If you fancy some nostalgia, it'll set you back just £14.95. I think I've still got a Stylophone rusting away in the loft, though I doubt it works any more.

(via Gadgets.co.uk)

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It may have been out for a while, but we've just found it on our travels through ThinkGeek and it looks too good to pass up. KORG's Kaoss Pad 3 is based on tactile control system that makes sound processing and sampling a whole lot of fun.

Finger gestures on the intuitive touchpad dynamically alter effects and samples in real time, allowing expert, almost organic control over sound manipulation. The red LED matrix on the pad follows and records your finger position, so you can get a visual representation of what you've created when you play it back. Not only will you sound good during that impromptu houseparty DJ set, but you'll look good as well. It's $399.99.

Korg Kaoss Pad 3

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Sorry, the elusive Pacemaker portable DJ gadget isn't here yet, but an online DJ portal is. Coupled with a free PC/Mac music / mixing editor, the web site allows you to create your own mixes and share them with the community.

Tonium has apparently done deals with a number of international music publishing houses, so the resulting service should be fairly watertight legally.

The free software is cool to use on its own, and it looks ready to integrate with the Pacemaker hardware when it becomes available.

Give it a go -- even if you never get your hands on the Pacemaker, the software is fun to use and there are some interesting mixes already in place on the web site.

Pacemaker.net (via PSFK)

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Classic 80s synthesizer, the Korg MS-10, is currently being recreated inside the diminutive Nintendo DS handheld console. Far from being some cheap hack ported on to a SD card and slapped into a dodgy machine, this is fully functioning, absolutely 100% official synth, drum machine and sequencer. It's called the Korg DS-10 - can you see what they've done there?

AQ Interactive is handling development of this DS adaptation of the technology. They were the ones responsible for Vampire Rain, which isn't exactly encouraging, but at least this project is a very different kettle of fish. Clearly game making isn't their forté anyway. You'll control the DS-10 software using the touch-sensitive screen, natch, and you'll have access to real-time sound control, a keyboard interface and a matrix screen.

Connectivity aspects sound a little sketchy at the moment, but it is believed you'll be able to "exchange sounds and songs and play multiple units simultaneously through a wireless communications link." It certainly paves the way for greater things, possibly even an entire band made up of shoulder-pad wearing robot women. Oh god yes.

Anyone remember Jean Michel Jarre's laser performances, where he supposedly played synth leads by breaking laser beams? Some said it was fake, but nonetheless it is possible, as Stephen Hobley has proved with his Laser Harp.

To say it's a custom build is an understatement. There are plenty of technical details on his web page, but if you just want to see it in action, take a look at the video below:

It's not the most practical instrument in the world, but it certainly looks fun. Could even get you some physical exercise into the bargain.

Now, when's someone going to hook it up to a games console and release "Laser Harp Hero"?

Laser Harp (via DoDevice)

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Please don't laugh at my DJ skillz when you watch the video above. I mean it - I will know if you do, and my feelings will be hurt so much they'll shatter and break into a million little pieces. I may not be the next Carl Cox, but Tonium's Pacemaker DJ mixer was so much fun to review, anyone who's interested in electronic music and especially in creating music themselves should definitely check out this video review, and then the actual product itself, when it launches early March.

It will retail for £400, and will make a fine addition to your decks and mixer, otherwise as a cool toy to show off in the loos down at Fabric or whatever trendy nightclub is in fashion these days.

Pacemaker

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Back in May last year, I may've rashly described the Pacemaker Pilot DJ mixer as being 'perfect for twatty Nathan Barley types', due to its similarity to the TV character's Wasp T12 Speechtool device. I've definitely changed my mind however, mostly because it's launching next month, and I'm admittedly getting quite excited about such a nifty piece of convergence.

So what exactly is it? I'm glad you asked. Basically it's a portable DJ tool made by the Swedish company Tonium. With a 120GB hard drive, it supports a tonne of audio manipulation features, including line-out and headphone crossfader, bend, pitch, DJ pause, Cue, Loop, Split Loop, EQ, Gain, Filters and Audio FX. Hopefully all of that means something to the DJs out there...

With the 120GB of storage, you'll be wanting to pop lots of different files on, so luckily it supports varied audio file formats, such as MP3, VBR, AAC, WMA, WMA lossless, OGG, FLAX, and WAV.

They're taking reservations now, so hop to it, it's 'well weapon'.

Pacemaker

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A piano isn't a proper piano unless it's battered, has a few keys missing, and floods the room with dust when you hammer out Chopsticks. At least, that's my view. Casio would presumably disagree, since it's in the business of selling shiny new digital pianos like the PX-720 and PX-120, which have just been announced.

They're 88-key scaled hammer-action pianos, with a choice of colours (silver and dark grey, or silver and light brown for the PX-120, while the PX-720 comes in ash-walnut, cherry and maple editions). Casio reckons the PX-120 is the world's smallest digital piano to boot, which is good if space is limited in your lounge / music room / en-suite concert hall.

The PX-120 costs £549.99, while the PX-720 costs £649.99. Both also have advanced audio technology, such as Acoustic and Intelligent Filtering, and Tri-element sampling. It is unclear what effect this will have on Chopsticks.

Casio Privia website

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I thought we'd seen the back of electronic drum kits with the demise of Spandau Ballet and their ilk in the 1980s. But they're back - and this time they're actually like real drums.

Well, the Traps E400 kit is anyway. Designed by drummers rather than technicians, the E400 kit includes two cymbals, a hi-hat, three toms, a snare drum, bass drum and the stool, all offering the look and feel of a real set of drums, but without the bulk and with one very notable addition - you can plug in a pair of headphones for some silent drumming practice. Which is good for everyone, especially your long-suffering neighbours.

You can pick up the Trap E400 for £450.

Trap drums (via Electric Roulette)

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It's no Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, but the Air Musician Virtual Guitar over at ThinkGeek will have you belting out the rawk in no time.

It's dead easy to use too, by the looks of things. All you need to do is strap it to your wrist, select a song, and off you go. With every movement your wrist makes, a new chord in the song will be played. Unfortunately there's only five songs to choose from, including classics from Deep Purple, Aerosmith, T-Rex and Lenny Kravitz, but as it resembles a slightly Tokyo Flash-esque watch, your friends will be amazed your air guitar skillz have progressed so much, you're actually ejecting music from your body! Only $19.99, too, Santana wannabes.

ThinkGeek's Air Musician Virtual Guitar

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I'm pretty sure that Pac-Man would rather munch a ghost than a guitar fret, but nonetheless, this custom-made guitar will make some retro gaming musician very happy indeed.

No doubt destroying a whole bunch of copyright laws, the guitar from SPECIMEN custom guitars features a 'variable-speed knob', which is 'located on the eyeball so you can synchronise the blinker to the beat'. Unfortunately it was just a one-off, but I'm sure if you throw enough gold coins and cherries at the manufacturer, they might make you a ghost guitar instead?

SPECIMEN custom guitars (via Uber Gizmo)

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