Patent ID: 7799986

Claim:
A system comprising: a stringed instrument including: a plurality of strings; a pickup to which each of the plurality of strings is respectively coupled, the pickup to detect a string vibration signal associated with each string as the string is played, wherein each of the detected string vibration signals is converted into a digital string vibration signal; and a serial interface circuit coupled to the pickup and to a digital connector, the serial interface circuit to format each digital string vibration signal into a digital serial protocol and to transmit each serially formatted digital string signal to the digital connector; and a computer coupled by a serial link to the digital connector of the stringed instrument such that the computer receives each serially formatted digital string signal over the serial link, the computer operating at least one audio DSP-based software module to process each received serially formatted digital string signal in order to emulate a corresponding string tone of a model of a stringed instrument selected by a user from a plurality of selectable models of stringed instruments to create an emulated digital string tone signal.