Doug Morton, Audio Guru – Powers up the Guitar

Since 1982, Doug Morton has been spinning heads, CD’s and chips when it comes to digital audio. Doug’s company Q-Up Arts is one of the stalwarts in the sampling industry. Now, Doug Morton and Kevin Kent are working together again for the first time in years. Doug and Kevin worked together at E-Mu and a few years later Doug helped Kevin master his solo piano CD, recorded at the Record Plant Recording studios. Doug got the once over from Cliff on the tool kits for the custom chips that make up the audio portion of the You Rock Guitar, the three have been pounding away at the sounds since February. Session after session, one guitar after the other, the boys have finally settled in on their top guitars for the sound library built into the You Rock Guitar.

Inspired Instruments, Inc. announced the introduction of its hybrid guitar the ‘You Rock Guitar’ designed specifically for those who want to migrate from video games like Rock Band and Guitar hero to playing real guitar music. The You Rock Guitar’s patented technology bridges the gap between rhythm based video games and real music.

According to Kevin Kent, CEO of Inspired Instruments “The transition between video games and real music performance has been elusive and real holy grail for the millions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band players who want to step out of the game box and onto a real stage.  Playability must be immediate.  Never having to tune the guitar is essential.  The feature set must include incredible sounds and game-like fun in the jamming. The integration of multiple levels of technology makes the You Rock Guitar the most advanced game and music controller in history – all at an incredible value. This is guitar 2.0”

Inspired Instruments, Inc. is proud to announce that prestigious sound designer and composer, Doug Morton has agreed to produce the sounds and music for its breakthrough new product, the You Rock Guitar.  The You Rock Guitar will include custom internal sounds, including such classics and Les Pauls’, Stratocasters, Telecasters, Hamer’s, ES335’s, Washburn Acoustics,  12 Strings, and some metal and grunge and punk guitars that will melt the paint off your walls. Morton states, “We’re putting in about 20 grand worth of guitars in this thing, its a game changer, its rock and roll.”

The You Rock Guitar, is not just a controller for such hit games as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, but it’s separates the rockers from the wanna-be’s because it is also a fully functional live performance instrument. It has both stereo mini-out for use with an iPod and ¼ hi-impedance output for plugging right into your guitar amp or mixer.

The world’s best guitar sounds included

Morton has promised realistic acoustic guitars ranging from Punk grunge to screaming Les Paul leads as well as nylon, steel and 12 strings, but Doug’s specialty is outrageous electric guitars. “They called it You Rock Guitar, that was the mission. This has been an outrageous project starting with the sampling sessions to modeling the sounds and recording the loops to spec. The only problem is it all sounds so cool, I spend way too much time playing once I get a great sound, and hey, I got a deadline!”

he Chord Progressions That Changed the World and the “You Rock Mode”

Every new guitar player needs to learn and play some basic chord progressions so they can jam with their friends. Start with just two chards then three chords and then on to the major blues in 12 and 16 bars.  And if that’s not cool enough, how about “You Rock Mode” where you can run your fingers up and down the frets without ever making a mistake.  Learn the solo and pentatonic modes by playing, not studying some dry charts. This mode lets you play like a real rock star with the background tracks blazing away. Have Fun, Rock will happen.

According to Kevin Kent, CEO of Inspired Instruments “Doug and I first worked together almost 25 years ago. His work and quality speaks for itself, and when you get your hands on a You Rock Guitar and just play the sounds and music, you just may forget that you bought a real electric guitar that doubles as a game controller.  This instrument will take you and your family to new levels of music entertainment.

Kent, goes on to say “Having Doug produce the sound library and music says one thing about the You Rock Guitar… it will rock.  He is a good friend and at the top of his game, there is no better person in the world to develop these sounds.”  

To hear just a few of the guitars and You Rock sound loops:

The Guitar is mightier than the sword! From USAToday.

Within minutes, however, Lefcoski and an Iraqi bass player were working their way through Caravan, a classic by the American jazz great Duke Ellington. During the clinking of piano keys and the plucking of bass strings, Lefcoski said, they soon realized that “music was universal.”

The State Department wants to expand on that universal feeling with its new Musical Overtures program, which took Lefcoski and his band to Afghanistan, Armenia, Iraq and Lebanon in April.

Though U.S. musicians have visited other countries on cultural exchange missions for years, Musical Overtures is the first to take them into the dual war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, says Alina Romanowski, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for professional and cultural exchanges.

The State Department had wanted to send such delegations to both countries for years, but only recently have “situations on the ground” allowed for enough safety to send musicians, Romanowski says.

This kind of cultural diplomacy dates back to the Cold War, says Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Music was considered “a good cultural weapon” and the government sponsored jazz musicians specifically because “jazz was an internationally known, admired and a respected art form identified with the United States,” he says.

Sending jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie was one of the few ways to penetrate the countries behind the Iron Curtain, Morgenstern says.

The challenges for traveling ambassadors are different after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, though Alvin Atkinson — the lead singer and drummer of the band Lefcoski played in — says foreign attitudes toward the USA seem to be improving since President Obama took office. On a separate tour two years ago, he says, a man in Jordan called him a “bloodsucking imperialist” and demanded that he leave the country.

“With our new president, there’s a possibility to talk about things and not just assume things,” Atkinson says. “We now have the possibility of at least having an intellectual conversation.”

Funding for the State Department bureau that runs Musical Overtures and other cultural programs expanded under President George W. Bush from $900,000 to $10 million in 2008. The budget for 2009 is at $8.5 million.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has cited the need for cultural exchanges as part of the Obama administration’s emphasis on “smart power”: using non-military means as a way to expand American influence.

One of Atkinson’s most vivid memories from Afghanistan came in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where he danced on stage with Hassan Bismil, a famous local singer. Atkinson began to sing, and the crowd quickly grew from a few dozen to more than 300 people.

The locals didn’t know English, but they tried to sing along with him anyway, he says.

World Class Rock and Roll Guitar Sounds

More info about the You Rock Guitar

The You Rock Guitar is a great compliment to any guitar player because:
It’s small, lightweight, and portable – perfect for travel/on the road playing along with your iPod and iTunes library or any MP3 player.

You don’t have to carry multiple instruments to practice along with you tunes or jam along with some of the coolest progressions in history, featuring the perfect mix of rock and roll and great guitar sounds.

Use headphones or amps with batteries and the on-board sequencer allows you to play the blues from LAX to London’s Heathrow.
Learn – Create – Share

Here’s a 1.5 minute demo of some of the splash sounds and some of the guitar loops from the You Rock guitar… yeah we had to add the applause cause its just so fun… Enjoy it.