Tech

Converse is releasing a shoe with a built-in guitar pedal

by Richard Howard

In what’s either the dumbest or coolest idea ever, Converse has announced its newest shoe: The ‘Chet Atkins All-Wah’ which, as the name suggests, actually has a wah pedal built into the sneaker itself.

If your first question is “Why?” then you’re obviously neither a tech nerd or gear-head musician – because as far as giving a new idea for a piece of gear a whirl, the prevailing wisdom is “Ah hell, why the fuck not?”

That being said, the above prototype developed by digital experience design agency Critical Mass three years ago couldn’t be considered as anything other than an impractical gimmick with no advantages over a conventional pedal (except maybe busting out some Jimi Hendrix riffs at a late night party where there’s an electric guitar but no wah pedal). Since then, wearable tech fashion house CuteCircuit has taken the reins, and Converse is set to start rolling out the final product.

The internationally known CuteCircuit brand has injected some of their know how (they make those crazy-ass LED dresses for Katy Perry) and considerably improved the design. The addition of wireless operation via Bluetooth could actually make this somewhat ludicrous idea useful, giving guitarists the novel option of moving anywhere on stage and still having their wah available.

Of course, it remains to be seen how accurately a built in micro-sensor can translate the flex of a shoe into the desired amount of ‘pedal travel.’ At least the new version didn’t get the entire motion of using a wah pedal completely backwards (seriously, whoever designed the prototype must have been high on the good stuff). Check out Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis trying out a still-wired but improved version while sounding as bored to death as only he can.

[h/t Pitchfork]