Gibson’s New Website & Forum For The HD 6X Digital Les Paul

Disclosure Policy | Mon, Dec 4, 2006 | 357 |

Gibson Hd 6X Pro Digital Les Paul If the comments on one of my recent posts are any indication, there seems to be a whole lot of confusion over what exactly Gibson’s new HD 6X Digital Les Paul has to offer, and how exactly the guitar can be integrated into a digital workflow (yikes… I just used the words “workflow” & “guitar” in the same sentence.)

Anyways, there hasn’t been any official announcement from Gibson, but this morning it looks like they’ve released a brand new, and far more comprehensive mini-site for the Digital Les Paul, including a much needed HD 6X Forum.

I haven’t had time to run through the whole site yet, but unless I’m reading it wrong it looks like one of my commentors was correct in stating that while the Digital Les Paul does indeed create a separate digital signal for each string, those signals are then routed to a breakout box (BoB,) which converts the signal back to analog for output to an amplifier or your computer’s audio interface…

Which begs the question: why would you want to convert a pure digital signal to analog and then back to digital for post-processing? Hmmm… I guess I’m thoroughly confused.

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4 Comments For This Post

Antix2 Says:
December 5th, 2006 at 11:34 pm

No, you’re just fine, it’s Gibson that is confused.
This thing have been hyped for years now and it’s just silly nonsens.
What else do we need ‘reinvented’ I ask. How about a Hybrid T-Ford?

Guy-Paul Bedard Says:
March 3rd, 2007 at 1:47 am

I really don’t see the point for Gibson’s digital Les Paul. As people wonder, why analog to digital and back to analog. If I want a digital Les Paul, I’ll put RMC saddles on the bridge of mine, run it through the RMC polydrive preamp, then in the guit synth like Roland’s or Axon. Also to a PC if you really need it. And separate the strings just the same. You can use the Polydrive and the Guit synth for other instruments, like other guitars, more than one! also bass, banjo, mandolin, and violin with the Axon synth. Which means that the absolute real expense is for the saddles. Not 4000US… Can you use the BOB stuff and cables on any other instruments? Probably not. Even Roland’s digital pick-up GK2 or3 are better solution and much cheaper than that. And where’s the novelty? I’ve seen those for a good 15 years already. More! And that is if you really want to stick to your Les Paul because Godin’s guitars with synth access are there for a while already and they are great. I don’t want to advertise for anybody here, just to make sense. In my opinion, Gibson didn’t make a historic move with this one, but a very snobbish one. They exclude, instead of making versatile. To produce a Les Paul with individual saddles, preamp and 13 pin plug would have been more rational. For only a couple of hundred dollars more… It’s too obvious they force you to pay for baby BOB. But BOB will be their digital white elephant.

Casey Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 9:02 am

I think what Gibson is hoping for is more “Magic” enabled devices. That’s the part of this technology that has so many interesting possibilities. For example, if you could go out and buy a sound card for your PC with a Magic port, you wouldn’t need “BOB” – you have a digital signal from start to finish. You’d plug up the ethernet cable, open your recording program, and have a perfect digital signal with the ability to put each guitar string on it’s own track – that is pretty friggin cool. BOB would be more for utilizing the guitar in live situations, not for studio recording.

The problem is that right now there aren’t any Magic enabled devices to go along with the guitar. I hope more companies buy into the technology, because it looks pretty cool to me. I’d love to get rid of all these nasty 1/4 cables. Until then it looks like using this guitar would actually increase the number of nasty 1/4 cables I’d have to deal with :)

Daniel Says:
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:49 am

Nice website, very informative. I really do like to read a lot about guitars, effects, amps and the likes, thats why i visit them a lot. Keep up the good work :-)

Antix2 Says:
December 5th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
No, you’re just fine, it’s Gibson that is confused.
This thing have been hyped for years now and it’s just silly nonsens.
What else do we need ‘reinvented’ I ask. How about a Hybrid T-Ford?
Guy-Paul Bedard Says:
March 3rd, 2007 at 1:47 am
I really don’t see the point for Gibson’s digital Les Paul. As people wonder, why analog to digital and back to analog. If I want a digital Les Paul, I’ll put RMC saddles on the bridge of mine, run it through the RMC polydrive preamp, then in the guit synth like Roland’s or Axon. Also to a PC if you really need it. And separate the strings just the same. You can use the Polydrive and the Guit synth for other instruments, like other guitars, more than one! also bass, banjo, mandolin, and violin with the Axon synth. Which means that the absolute real expense is for the saddles. Not 4000US… Can you use the BOB stuff and cables on any other instruments? Probably not. Even Roland’s digital pick-up GK2 or3 are better solution and much cheaper than that. And where’s the novelty? I’ve seen those for a good 15 years already. More! And that is if you really want to stick to your Les Paul because Godin’s guitars with synth access are there for a while already and they are great. I don’t want to advertise for anybody here, just to make sense. In my opinion, Gibson didn’t make a historic move with this one, but a very snobbish one. They exclude, instead of making versatile. To produce a Les Paul with individual saddles, preamp and 13 pin plug would have been more rational. For only a couple of hundred dollars more… It’s too obvious they force you to pay for baby BOB. But BOB will be their digital white elephant.
Casey Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 9:02 am
I think what Gibson is hoping for is more “Magic” enabled devices. That’s the part of this technology that has so many interesting possibilities. For example, if you could go out and buy a sound card for your PC with a Magic port, you wouldn’t need “BOB” – you have a digital signal from start to finish. You’d plug up the ethernet cable, open your recording program, and have a perfect digital signal with the ability to put each guitar string on it’s own track – that is pretty friggin cool. BOB would be more for utilizing the guitar in live situations, not for studio recording.

The problem is that right now there aren’t any Magic enabled devices to go along with the guitar. I hope more companies buy into the technology, because it looks pretty cool to me. I’d love to get rid of all these nasty 1/4 cables. Until then it looks like using this guitar would actually increase the number of nasty 1/4 cables I’d have to deal with :)
Daniel Says:
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:49 am
Nice website, very informative. I really do like to read a lot about guitars, effects, amps and the likes, thats why i visit them a lot. Keep up the good work :-)

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Gibson’s New Website & Forum For The HD 6X Digital Les Paul

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