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Op-Ed: ACPAD — The new face of guitar?

ACPAD is the brain child of a guy called Robin Sukroso. This guy’s no musical mug, obviously. I’d never heard of him before. The ACPAD idea is very relevant to the needs of modern musicians, and above all, it’s practical. Check out the ACPAD story and you can see he’s put in a lot of time and thought into getting this good idea to come to life. Looks like a natural evolution of his musical style and ideas as from the video below, and this one will hit a lot of raw nerves with guitarists.

The interface is a simple, rather elegantly designed, MIDI, with rechargeable batteries. It “allows a mix of electronic and acoustic”, which, let’s face it, is one of the common issues with modern music. Why should you have to stuff around with multiple handling issues when you’re trying to play music?
All due respect (not much) to the mythos of recording, but if it gets in the way of play, it’s just annoying. ACPAD is showing signs of a single stream for playing, which is a great improvement.
This design wasn’t put together by some apathetic number cruncher, for sure. It’s a perfect fit on to the body of the guitar, and doesn’t get in the way, to start with. It’s easy to use, efficient, and can be used while playing, which is absolutely critical. One of the major issues for songwriters is the ability to work with their own ideas using multiple instruments and fitting arrangements together. ACPAD lets you do that, quickly, and while the stream of consciousness is alert and active.
ACPAD is now in the process of putting together a new Kickstarter project, and anyone who loves music should be paying attention. This is a way out of the instrument-schlepping/ fiddly/ bitsy stuff when you’re on a motherlode of good ideas.
Forget the “purist inverted digital snobbery” stuff, too — this is working musical idea, a practical Guitar Hero with no limits as well as a straightforward musical pickup for guitar.
It’s not clear whether you can do custom patches, but they’d be easy to incorporate. Recording works through wireless or USB. That’s exactly what this cumbersome, time-wasting “gotta have the software” current crap is missing. You should be able to record exactly what you play and work with it without too much third party “can the software do…?” distraction and frustration.
Ironically, I’m just now re-installing Sibelius while writing this. Sibelius is OK, but it does have its “protocols.” I can write in hours what I can play in minutes. ACPAD could be the easy way for recording, writing and playing. It’d be nice if ACPAD could do a “play/ write/ record” function in some future incarnation. Writing while playing has been around for years, in very half-ass forms. Make it all digital, and it’s comparatively easy.
Another point for musicians and it’s very much about handling what you’re playing — this level of instrumental and orchestral flexibility is a great big plus. You can try things out, and if you’re recording, not waste time and space on the bits that got away. You can save, and keep the ideas.
The business end of this will be very interesting to see. There’s some good IP value in ACPAD, as well as the obvious functional improvements and streamlining of the process. The question is whether the music software and hardware industry, which is as tech-addled as any, will recognize a good idea when it sees one.
One thing for sure — ACPAD is a very accurate reflection of exactly what guitarists need — good MIDI, no fuss tech. Take the hint, people — music is about getting things done, and ACPAD can deliver just that.

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Editor-at-Large based in Sydney, Australia.

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