Yes, with the addition of a Game Flex cartridge (purchased separately), the You Rock Guitar can have you playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii video game consoles. Just like the controllers that are included with video games, the guitar neck is detachable for easy transport.
But you can also use it as a real guitar, with strings that don’t need tuning. Either just to plug into an amp and play, into an iPod so you can accompany your songs through headphones, or into a computer to function as a MIDI device, complete with a wide range of effects – such as guitar & synth, drum sounds, Ricky 12 string, Strat, synth organ, and many, many more.
You’re also able to use the You Rock Guitar as a teaching system. For instance, you can fire up ‘You Rock Mode’, and learn to play the blues in A. In Mode 1 if you miss a note it will make a sound much like when players miss a note in Rock Band, in Mode 2 that scraping sound is removed.
Features
- 100 preloaded presets combining sounds, tunings, and modes 25 digitally sampled guitars, 6 and 12 string acoustics, electrics from jazz to shredding leads, etc
- 50 synth sounds for layering, solos, organs, voices, strings and pads
- 65 Open-tuning presets – plus user programmable MIDI controller with multi-channel MIDI modes: Mono & Poly
- USB controller for Mac/PC MIDI Music Plug in your MP3 player/iPod
- Whammy Bar for real pitch bend and game play Fret Select
- Record your own creations with the on-board MIDI recorder
- Game Flex
- The removable neck makes this truly a digital mobile guitar Built-in whammy bar for pitch bend – both up and down Standard guitar cable output Stereo mini-headphone output for iPods
- High Speed USB to MIDI
- Legacy MIDI 5 pin connector
- Uses 4 AA batteries or USB power
Watch the You Rock Guitar in action
Watch this seven minute video to get an overall look at everything the You Rock Guitar can do. The voiceover might be cheesy, but what the device can do is pretty impressive.
You Rock Guitar price and availability
The You Rock Guitar can be purchased online at the ThinkGeek website – click the graphic below to go to the online store. The You Rock Guitar has a list price of US$219.99, though at the time of writing it is on sale for US $199.99.
The Game Flex cartridges that enable you to use the You Rock Guitar as a videogame controller have a list price of US$24.99, they too are on sale at the moment for $19.99. Also available are carry bags, picks and headstocks.
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