Misa: a digital guitar
misadigital.com
misadigital.com
Plus it doesn't throw away one of the biggest lessons of rock: people will scream for a guy with a guitar in a way that they won't for someone behind a piano (or god forbid, a theremin).
That said, I have no problem with keyboardists or knob-twiddling...perhaps because I'm not especially moved by stage theatrics or arena-size performance.
A video of it in action is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_BMnwIbWJw
From the looks of it, I think the MISA would make quite an interesting addition to a stage show.
It'd be SO easy to fake even ridiculously complex performances, as by design you can offload a lot of the skill onto the computer inside your guitar!
But, then again I suppose this is the same problem we have always had, and always will have- computers vs. art and creativity.
This is a false dilemma; computers and technology enable true producers and artists to do more amazing things. The poseurs will get wrapped up the technology and try to use it to paper over their lack of creativity, but the real artists will find a way to harness it. Look at Pixar.
The number of options you have is overwhelming. On a certain level I appreciate the number of options I'm afforded. On the other hand I feel like 'tweaking this' and 'changing that' takes a front seat, and the actual production of something worthwhile gets left behind.
Take a look at all of the overproduced albums you hear these days. It's not digital music's fault-- but it's a common problem.
Given the number of full playback performances that are already happening, I don't suppose the faking could get any worse. "Real" musicians will never fake a performance others in the industry will use all means available to them to fake their way to fame and fortune. Both ends of this spectrum are targeting different audiences though.