June Update

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Even though the calendar says June, the weather is saying “ha ha” as I’m looking at a Winter Storm Warning for this weekend here in Montana. Oh well, at least the weather is never boring and it will be a good weekend to be inside soldering boards and printing parts. :-)

Discord Server

We have set up a Discord server* for discussing all things related to Byte Arts products, modifying guitars, troubleshooting, and playing games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Clone Hero, YARG etc… Please join us here: Byte Arts Discord — I’d love to hear from you!

*A “Discord server” is just a website that acts as a discussion group with the ability to chat and share files.

OFMG Guitar Update

I know it’s taking longer than I’d expected, but it really does feel like we are getting close to releasing our new guitar. A few milestones have been achieved recently:

  • Added additional USB port for plugging in an “authentication controller” for using the guitar on a system with controller licensing restrictions (i.e. Xbox).

  • Confirmed compatibility with the Santroller firmware with the following features working:
    - All buttons working, with low-latency and de-bouncing.
    - LEDs light up when pressing a strum or fret button, or pressing the “overdrive” button. The color of each fret button’s LED corresponds to the “note color” of the fret in the game (green, red, yellow, blue, orange).
    - Works with PC, PlayStation and Xbox. Xbox requires an “official” controller be plugged into the guitar to do “authentication” to satisfy the licensing checks on the console.

  • Lots of tweaks to the design so that parts can be 3D-printed more reliably on a typical FDM printer.

As always, I’ll put more details on the OFMG guitar page, and if you really want to get the “inside scoop” on the guitar join our Discord.

Supply Chain, Tariff Updates

The turmoil over tariffs and the disruptions to the supply chain continue, but so far I’ve been able to time my orders to avoid the worst of the tariffs, but it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen in the future. For now, I’m continuing to try to stock up when I can — I’ve had to adjust prices slightly, and may need to make more adjustments as our costs increase but am trying to hold the line best I can.