March Update - new things coming soon!

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The fact that it’s now April 3rd and I’m just getting around to writing the March Update tells you how busy I’ve been!

“Old” News (existing products)

We’re still fighting some part shortages and shipment delays and so some products have been out-of-stock lately but that should start occurring less often (and hopefully rarely).

We’re also making some minor changes to the Strum Fix Plus 4:

  • Instead of two red LEDs, I’m putting in a red and a yellow (amber) LED. One will light up when strumming down, the other when strumming up, which not only looks cool but can help you when learning to alternate strum. (I am still taking requests for custom LED colors as well).

  • The PCB will be changed to use surface mount parts. This makes it faster/easier to build the boards. I’ve left in the option to use thru-hole parts so if anyone wants to put in their own LEDs or resistors using regular soldering methods they still can.

“New” News (new products)!

For the last few months we’ve been working in “stealth mode” on a new guitar. The design is still being refined so I’m not ready to release too many details, but I have been telling a few key customers about it and gathering feedback and suggestions to help guide our design. Here are the highlights:

  • Modular design, with fret, strummer, and control modules. It will be possible to swap/replace modules in the field. Different strummer options will be available, such as a split strummer (like the Precision Bass guitar).

  • Mechanical keyboard switches are used for the frets and strummers. The strummer will feature socketed switches so they can be replaced/swapped in the field without soldering.

  • All buttons will have RGB LEDs with programmable color and brightness.

  • Wired USB cable, with magnetic breakaway connection. This eliminates the need for a dongle and batteries and improves the controller latency.

  • Multiple body options — body panels bolt on to the “core” of the guitar and can be changed in the field. You can even print your own custom body if you want.

  • Open source software, firmware and electronics.

  • OLED display with on-screen menus for setting up the guitar and adjusting settings such as LED color schemes.

  • Compatible with Playstation and PCs. Xbox compatibility is TBD (Xbox may require an additional adapter).

Our goal is to go into production at the end of this quarter (June ‘24). When PDP announced the new “Riffmaster” guitar we were tempted to speed up our development, but we decided to not cut any corners and continue to work at our normal pace.

Pricing is not determined yet, but we are designing it to be easy to manufacture using low-cost methods (such as 3D printing) so I think our price will be quite “reasonable”.

By freeing ourselves of having to make designs that fit into an existing guitar we can now make a strummer and frets that are optimized for the best performance and reliability. In the end the controller may not look like a real guitar, but that is not our goal anyhow. We want to make a professional quality controller that is can be upgraded, repaired, and modified easily.

I expect there will be a lot of interest in this product, and I’ll make more information available in the next few weeks.

It’s an exciting time for the music game community — with new guitars, and increasing interest in PC games like “Clone Hero” I think we’re going to have some fun stuff to play with!

Best regards,
Scott P (owner, Byte Arts)