SlashGear Japan
We’ve seen Gameboy mods before, but I didn’t know you could repurpose one to act as a guitar effects and sample loop box. That’s just what software Nanoloop does, and since you don’t really want to be jabbing at a D-pad while you’re meant to be concentrating on your frets, Joey Mariano has just the breakout-box hack necessary. Edit: Check out Joey’s clarification of the setup in the comments.
Check out the video of the system in action after the cut
The Gameboy itself undergoes some drastic surgery, with the battery compartment removed and various wires hooked up to the circuitboard’s button traces. They terminate on a DB-15 serial port, which links up to a custom breakout box; mains power routed through there keeps the Gameboy going, while it also has sockets to plug in standard sustain pedals to control the handheld.
What you end up with is a way to trigger all manner of loops, samples, effects and even macros without interrupting your playing. Nanoloop is Gameboy sequencing software, and the pedals mean you can trigger loops while still playing. Check out Joey’s video below to see how it all comes together.
[via Hack-a-Day]
3 Responses to “Gameboy effects & sampler foot controller hack”
joey mariano June 16, 2008
Hey man,
What you got there is wrong – the guitar tone is made by the FXDoctor.com 8bit fuzz pedal + a Boss Giga Delay. The gameboy pedals have nothing to do with the guitar tone.
There are no samples involved in this music!
Nanoloop is software for the that lets you sequence on the Gameboy. You trigger loops using button combinations – so, what i did was just put the gameboy buttons on the floor so i could do it with my feet while playing guitar.
Hope that clears some stuff up.
- joey mariano
+2Chris Davies June 16, 2008
Thanks Joey, I appreciate the clarification! As you might be able to guess, I suck at music but I do know a great mod when I see one!
Neutraljoey mariano June 20, 2008
no prob! thanks for the press~!~!
Neutral