Paring electronics with musical instruments has been going on for a long time.  But this was the first of its kind I’ve seen…

The Jammin Pro USB Acoustic 505 has built-in “toys” and features:  a chromatic tuner with LCD display, a pre-amplifier with a four-band equalizer, XLR out port, and a 1/4-inch jack out.

A 5-foot long USB cord is included.  A 9-volt battery must be inserted into the guitar for it to work with a computer…Windows recognized the guitar in the Recording section of the sound properties as a “Microphone – USB PnP Audio Device”.  I was able to record using Sound Recorder (in Windows)…

Initially, using the tuner, I was unable to correctly tune some of strings:  it indicated that the strings were tuned…but I wanted to check with another source (because it’s been months since I’ve tuned a guitar).  I used http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org to get into the general neighborhood of the tones/octaves.  When doing so, I feared I was tuning the strings much too tight…but after ignoring that feeling I found that once I was in the general area of proper tone, the tuner on the guitar helped to get the strings pitch-perfect.  (I’m just long out of practice…)

A copy of MAGIX Music Maker SE (http://www.magix.com/us/music-maker/) is also included for recording from the guitar.

I think this makes a great gift for someone who is interested in learning how to play the guitar, and those who are interested in creating music.

Jammin Pro has suggested that purchases be made from participating retailers (such as http://www.bhphotovideo.com, http://www.teptronics.com, and http://www.midtownsounds.com).

 

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