"SoundTech Professional Audio, a division of US Music Corporation, announced today the release of LightSnake, an intelligent instrument-to-PC cable with embedded analog to digital converter and signal booster. The LightSnake USB’s unique design enables anyone to plug their guitar, bass, keyboard or other electronic instrument directly into a PC eliminating the hassle, clutter and learning curve associated with high-quality digital recording. The LightSnake USB intelligent instrument cable previewed at the National Association of Music Merchants 2006 (NAMM) show and won “Best in Show” honors from an independent panel of industry experts for its ability to provide a streamlined, cost effective solution for analog to digital recording. NAMM is the single most important event in the music merchant industry. With over 80,000 registrants in 2006, NAMM brings out the best and latest innovations in instruments, and performance enabling gear and accessories."There's cool, then there's
"Man, that's SO cool!" - this is the latter. You can get outboard USB devices with quarter inch input jacks for pretty cheap, but it's an extra device and added complexity. This solution is incredibly elegant, and if it works as well as I hope it will, it will be a boon for any musician that wants to jack their instrument into a laptop/desktop and lay down a track. I couldn't find any information about pricing, but there's a
PDF but some product specs. They're sending me one to try out, which I'm definitely looking forward to.