The Cosmic Guitar
Make music, not sounds.
We invented a new kind of guitar made of electricity and light called a photonic guitar. The photonic guitar physically makes music, but in the form of light, not sound. To make this new instrument audible and accessible we created the Cosmic Guitar plug-in. The Cosmic Guitar plug-in turns your electric guitar into a photonic guitar by using the physics of light, measurements of a photonic guitar, and your iOS device.
Cosmic Guitar Demos
Inspired by the End of Stars
We demonstrate a few of the included presets and musical effects available from the Cosmic Guitar plug-in. The presets and instrument tones were inspired by the heavy distortions caused by the extreme physics of stars.
Hear the Light
How we use light like sound
Our everyday experience with light and sound are of course very different. The difference in physics is primarily driven by the size of light waves vs sound waves. The light we see has wave sizes 100 – 200 times smaller than the width of a human hair. In contrast, sound waves can be as large as 50 ft.
The photonic guitar is a revolutionary approach to creating a musical instrument. An electric guitar matches the same frequencies as an acoustic guitar. In contrast, the photonic guitar uses light the same size, or wavelength, as sounds made by an acoustic guitar.
While the details of a photonic guitar require an advanced physics understanding, in essence the photonic guitar works just like an acoustic guitar. The acoustic guitar uses the resonance of wood and sound to create music. The photonic guitar uses the resonance of electricity and electromagnetic waves (light) to create music.
Physics of Light
There are No Rules
The Cosmic Guitar plug-in authentically recreates photonic guitar tones by using a new more versatile formulation of boundary conditions developed by our founder, Dr. Russell Stoneback. The physics of light is dictated by boundary conditions. Change how light behaves at a boundary and the entire solution changes. We used Dr. Stoneback’s state-of-the-art formulation to create a physically accurate guitar model and then hooked up knobs to as many parts of reality as we could. Explore a multiverse of photonic guitars!
Check out the feature on our founder in the Dallas Morning News (non-paywall) for more on how Dr. Stoneback uses physics to create art. Additional background may be found in the UT Dallas magazine. Technical users may appreciate his dissertation or his patents (7777118, 119, 120).
Speed of Light
Why the Cosmic Guitar is an App
We can’t play photonic guitars without technology. Not only can we not hear light but the speed of light is roughly a million times faster than the speed of sound. This makes everything about photonic instruments faster. Since we can’t physically play music a million times faster, we needed to translate a physical photonic guitar into something musicians can actually use.
We used our physics and software expertise to create an iOS plug-in that recreates the photonic guitar. The plug-in uses measurements of a photonic guitar, along with the physics of light, to apply the musical effect of a photonic guitar body to your electric guitar. The Cosmic Guitar works with your existing setup and enhances and transforms your sound!
The App Interface
Toggle, swipe, and adjust to find your perfect tone. Go crazy with possibilities.
It’s an effects pedal for your electric guitar. Using the Cosmic Guitar plug-in you can vary the modeled photonic guitar to create new instrument tones and effects and apply them to your music. To connect your guitar to the Cosmic Guitar plug-in a USB iOS guitar interface is required.
REAL and IMAGINARY:
Remember real and imaginary numbers from math class? Now’s the time to use them. Get the perfect tone by transforming the constant impedance of commercially available coaxial cables, or photonic guitar strings, into something unique. Plus, explore negative impedances that convert the photonic guitar into an amplifier and push your distortion to the limit.
PLATE and BODY:
Be honest, how many guitars do you have? We get it though, each guitar has its own unique tone and range. Using the Cosmic Guitar you can play through photonic guitars from big to small, all to support creating the perfect tone for any song. We all know that the tone of an acoustic guitar held close is irreplaceable. That’s why the proximity knob turns up the photonic guitar’s near field. Finally, sometimes the right guitar is an impossible guitar. Small plate, big body? We got ya. Individually vary the properties of the guitar body vs the guitar top plate.
OUTPUT:
Vary the strength of the guitar plate and body responses in the mix, as well as the mix of the photonic guitar model and your input sound. The ‘Force’ section requires that the photonic guitar string impedance changes in a variety of ways to produce uniquely impossible tones. The chorus/delay sliders provide our unique interpretation of delay, chorus, and flange effects.
MODE SELECTOR:
Load, store, and delete Cosmic Guitar presets. Select the coupling between the photonic guitar strings and the body and plate models.
FREQUENCY SPECTRUM:
Monitor the photonic guitar frequency response as well as the impedance of the photonic guitar strings in real time as model parameters are varied. To view the different frequency spectrums select the appropriate tab.
Get ready to take your music to the next level while supporting an instrument revolution. Try out the Cosmic Guitar plug-in FREE for 7 days!