Learning to play an instrument can be tough and expensive. It doesn’t have to be either of those things with jamstik+, a wireless SmartGuitar and MIDI controller that you can use with your iPhone, iPad or Mac system.
An older version of the product called jamstik had a small problem. Whenever a user played a note, the sound came out with a delay. This problem is now fixed on the jamstik+, and the company has also added hexaphonic magnetic pickup so that the SmartGuitar has more of a traditional feel.
The SmartGuitar uses BluetoothSmart to connect wirelessly to your device (similar to this). To learn how to play on jamstik+, download the jamTutor app to access lessons and if you already know how to play you can just use jamMix to start jamming out.
“Someone won’t become Jack White overnight with the jamstik and the JamTutor apps,” said jamstik’s Music Product Specialist Christopher Heille in an interview with NoisePorn, “but they will be able to pick up a really guitar and play open string chords, some barre chords, some scales, and read TAB after finishing JamTutor. We accomplish this by using a couple of interfaces, of which Arcade Mode is one.”
Since jamstik+ is also an MIDI controller, it can access all of the MIDI note range, and it doesn’t have to be used solely as a guitar. You can make the smart guitar produce the sound of any instrument you’d like and it never needs to be tuned. It has six strings and real frets like an actual guitar. You can bend the strings on a jamstik+ and even try vibrato. The wireless SmartGuitar is compatible with popular apps like GarageBand, Loopy, SampleTank, and Ableton, allowing you to mix your own professional sounding tracks.
For the company’s new Kickstarter campaign, every 15 jamstik+s backed will provide one jamstik+ for a music education program, a music therapy program or a charity. The campaign has 41 days left and it already surpassed its $50,000 goal!
For $249, jamstik+’s features and price are definitely music to the ears of many. It’s also perfect for travel since it doesn’t take up as much space as an actual guitar.
