Developing an Affordable Programmable Multi-effects Guitar Pedal; The Effect of Evolving Technologies on the Music Industry

The Multi-effect pedal is an electronic unit for an electric guitar that can be programmed to add a multitude of different sounds and effects. The unit will take in an analog signal from a guitar, pass it into an embedded board, and perform various digital signal processing (DSP) operations to produce the desired effect. In order to process the signal from the guitar, we included an input filtering stage to filter out frequencies above a calculated frequency. Once filtered, we pass the filtered signal to an ADC to convert the analog guitar signal into a digital wave that can be processed by the embedded chip in the microcontroller. The MSP432P401R chip we will use in this project processes this digital signal and performs the required DSP operations to create the desired effect. The modified digital signal will then go through an DAC to output the modified analog signal, which will be played on an amp.

As technology advances, it continues to transform how things are done in a variety of industries. This especially holds true for the music industry as almost every aspect from music production to music distribution has evolved due to technology. Most improvements aren’t noticeable to the average listener, to them music has continued to become more accessible and they enjoy tuning into new songs. On the other hand, artists and music labels have had to adapt to technology otherwise they would not survive in the industry for very long. Some key examples of technology's effects on the industry include but are not limited to the introduction of the internet which leads to illegal downloads, the improvements in production technology lessening the need for instruments, and social media’s influence on which songs are promoted. These improvements sparked the change that created the music industry we know today.