I think this is great. EETimes has an article about a new Gibson guitar that will be digital. Instead of using an analog cable to connect to other devices, it will use Cat5. The article mentions that new mixers built on the same technology will be able to store settings for an entire band's gear on CD so they can be loaded instantly. And I say, screw the Cat5, wait until they add wirless. Coming from someone who has unloaded stages for bands like Eve6 and Fuel, the thought of having no wires and devices that find each other in a Rendezvous like network is awesome.
The obvious question is what about the sound? The article says that using this technology, each string on the guitar will be able to be treated individually, using seperate effects and settings. That's a bonus. However, many people think analog sounds are much nicer than digital. There's a group of audiophiles out there who say that transferring analog (vinyl, for example) to digital loses the highest highs and the lowest lows as well as some sound in between. If you've never heard a perfectly clean record with a brand new high quality sharp needle, you won't be able to comprehend this due to the high level of quality CD's give over a wide range of equipment. However, in the right environment, other formats do put digital to shame.
Personally, I think for real musicians, this type of technology may be one more way for them to experiment with new sounds and techniques (a la Miles Davis playing into the floor of the stage because the reflection of the sound was more interesting than what came straight out of the horn). For the layman, though, this will definitely be one more crutch creating another generation of studio bands as cleanup work and synchronization can be applied realtime, making Bobby's garageband sound like a well oiled machince. That, I'm not so sure is a good thing, especially when it could open the way for the talentless hacks on last week's American Idol to make it further than they already did. Oh, the horror!
I'd be wary about wireless stuff in concerts. They do it now a bit with the mics, but there are old stories of Steve Wozniak fscking with wireless instruments back in his college days. He would override the signal and pump in something from the radio while a band was on stage. of course, with WEP, it may not be an issue. Rather than hijacking the signal, wouldn't it be possible to flood the spectrum and cancel any data transmission, or at least kill the bandwidth enough to cause lag? Always something to worry about though.
Being a guitar player, I'm a bit fond of the old school stuff. I have two amplifiers. A newer Crate which is all digital, and an old Peavey tube amplifier. i think the tube amps sound way nicer than the new digital ones. Everything is just so much warmer. I dunno, like you said. Audiophiles. *shrug*
I don't know, I think with any equipment if someone wants to cause trouble bad enough they can. It may be a little easier until the technology gets more secure. As for just overloading the spectrum, You probably could try to flood the place with junk, but I'm not sure how effective it would be depending on the strength of your frequency compared to that of the equipment. Even if you're right, though, and wirless isn't an option, having standard cat 5 connections on *everything* at a concert and not having different types of wire going everywhere, the setup and clean up would still be easier.
I've never heard the difference between a digital and tube based amp. Maybe I'll have to hit up the guitar store and see if they can hook me up.
I suggest you do it. Go to a local guitar shop and ask one of the guitar techs to play something folky (Dylan, Petty, etc...) on a tube amp and then a new-age amp. It's worth it. Smoooooth like Kaluha. ;)