Patent ID: 7304232

Claim:
A method for simultaneously controlling the waveform amplitude information of two independent audio signals, comprising the steps of: a. providing two audio signal inputs originating from a multiplicity of acoustical-electrical transducer pickups that are incorporated into a picked or plucked stringed musical instrument, said two signals being different, and b. providing a joystick having two or more axes, a base and a handle, said handle being movable in relation to said base within a motion limit, and said base being mounted to said instrument's body adjacent to the picked or plucked section of said instrument's strings, so that said joystick's location is more particularly described as: i) beside the strings on the side of the body that hangs downward when the guitar is in a suspended playing position, and ii) far enough away from the strings that the handle is not blocked by the nearest string when tilted fully toward it within said motion limit, and iii) close enough to the strings that a player's picking hand can move the handle to any position within said motion limit while picking strings, and iv) approximately midway between the string bridge and the body end of the neck along an axis parallel to the strings that passes through the joystick body, and c. providing a translation means for translating the position of said joystick handle in relation to said joystick base as corresponding independent modifications of the waveform amplitude information of said individual input signals to provide two resultant independent signals, whereby the waveform amplitudes of said resultant two audio signals are independently modified, and may be simultaneously varied, by moving said joystick handle.