LAVA GENIE – Stringless Touch-Enabled Smart Sampler Guitar

Guitars are not the easiest instrument to learn to play. Learning how to play guitar can be tough, not to mention downright frustrating at times, especially if you have no musical knowledge. In fact, playing guitar is harder to learn at first than playing piano because of the lack of a mechanism striking the note for you, as well as the need to synchronize both hands to produce notes. The traditional way for people to learn how to play guitar is by learning all the different chords, getting accustomed to hand positioning, and ultimately build up strength and confidence. Enter LAVA MUSIC, a music technology company based in Guangdong, China specialized in designing innovative musical instruments that enable people to create music in the simplest way possible. LAVA MUSIC’s most recent creation is called the LAVA GENIE, which gives guitar enthusiasts an easier way to play guitar.

The LAVA GENIE is a smart sampler guitar that has a foldable, detachable design and is equipped with an onboard speaker system comprising a full range dual-driver and bass which makes it capable of delivering a truly immersive sound. The guitar features a stringless interface with a touch fingerboard and smart guiding lights, through which you simply touch and tap to play it and swipe to play arpeggios, while also enabling you to change keys, extend chords, and add drums and bass to your songs, plus 5 TapPad buttons for playing different chord patterns.

It also boasts over 500 instrument presets built-in such as acoustic guitar, electric guitar, double felt piano, synth, and more, along with multiple HD Recording Samples and lavaAI Sound Effects. The guitar also integrates a volume switch, a microphone input, a 6.5mm output, and offers up to 8 hours battery. Via the LAVA+ App, you can access interactive cord charts that help you learn over 10,000 licensed songs, select different instrument presets, create customizable chords and assign playing elements with Creative Mode, and you can also transcribe your own songs to chord charts with lavaAI.

Designed as an entry-level instrument that allows anyone to make music in seconds, this smart sampler guitar offers beginners an easy way to create melodies with no music background required, while more experienced guitar players can explore different ways to create music. With it, you can experience true musical freedom, anywhere and at any time.

Here’s our in-depth review of the LAVA GENIE, where we discuss in detail all the cool features this smart sample guitar has to offer you.

DESIGN & SPECS

Starting with the guitar’s size, this smart sample guitar has a compact form factor, as it is designed with portability in mind. The guitar measures just 30.5 inches long by 12.3 inches wide by 2.8 inches thick after its fully assembled, and is also rather lightweight, as it only weighs 4.2 lbs. (1.9 kg).

On top of its sleek dimensions, the LAVA GENIE also features a foldable, detachable design, which further enhances its portability.

The guitar’s foldable design consists of a folding handle integrated on the side of the guitar’s main piece that’s shaped as half of a guitar’s body, which unfolds directly from its main body where its onboard is integrated. Its folding handle also doubles as a carrying handle that you can use for carrying the guitar in the same fashion as you would with a guitar case.

In addition, this smart sampler guitar also comes together with a detachable, stringless fretboard that allows for an easy assembly of the guitar.

Furthermore, the LAVA GENIE also packs a high-quality construction, as it’s built with lightweight materials.

What’s more is that the guitar also comes with a premium shoulder strap for wearing it over your shoulder, which not only facilitates playing it, but also gives you another way to carry it.

Lastly, the guitar also comes with a custom hard shell travel case for storing it safely when you’re not using it, while also making it easy to bring it with you anywhere.

SET UP / INSTALLATION

When it comes to assembling it, know that the LAVA GENIE also offers you a quick and easy set up process.

All you have to do is attach its fretboard to the top side of the guitar’s body, then simply unfold its folding handle and it’s ready to play.

Once you’re done using it, you can easily disassemble the guitar’s fretboard from its main body by pressing an unlocking button at its back side, and then safely store both parts inside its travel case.

AUDIO SPECS & AUDIO QUALITY

Moving on to the guitar’s audio specifications. For reproducing its sound, the LAVA GENIE comes equipped with an onboard speaker system that’s comprised by a full range dual-driver unit and a bass unit, which together make this smart sampler guitar capable of delivering a loud, balanced, and truly immersive sound.

Its full range dual-driver is rated to have 12 Watts of Sound Output, while its bass can deliver up to 20 Watts of Output Power.

INTERFACE & CONNECTION PANEL

For controlling its operation, this smart sampler guitar features a stringless interface that makes playing it accessible for everyone, even those with hand disabilities.

Its stringless interface consists of a touch fingerboard through which users can play it and produce sound with simple touch taps and presses. Its touch fingerboard is divided into seven different chord zones, and each cord zone is also split into three separate sections, thus extending the guitar’s capabilities up to 21 chords.

Users can extend the guitar’s default chords by simply tapping onto its fretboard and holding for a few seconds.

Its chord zones are numbered on the left side of the guitar’s fretboard, which also integrates built-in smart guiding lights that light up with different colors (in synchrony with the mobile app) to help users learn thousands of licensed songs.

There’s also two touch buttons located at the back side of the guitar’s fretboard that allow users to change keys, including an Increase Key button and a Decrease Key button, plus a Reset button between those that enables users to reset the guitar’s key settings for its chords back to default.

Integrated at the center of the guitar’s body, there’s also five (x5) TapPad buttons that are used for playing different chord patterns.

The LAVA GENIE’s TapPad buttons can be customized through its mobile app with customizable chords and can also be assigned specific playing elements, for which it boasts over 500 instrument presets built-in, including acoustic guitar, electric guitar, double felt piano, synth, among many others, along with multiple HD Recording Samples and lavaAI Sound Effects.

Additionally, there’s also a smart illuminated swipe pad next to its TapPad buttons over which users can simply swipe their fingers to play arpeggios, as if you’re strumming the strings from a traditional acoustic or electric guitar.

At the right of its swipe pad, there’s also a mute button in the form of the company’s official logo, and directly next to it, there’s also a drum and bass panel through which users can add drums and bass to their songs.

Embedded below is LAVA MUSIC’s official video guide highlighting all of the LAVA GENIE’s different capabilities:

Integrated close to the bottom-end of the guitar’s body, there’s a Power On/off button that doubles as the guitar’s volume switch, followed by a 3.5mm input port for connecting a microphone to the guitar, which is then followed by the guitar’s dedicated USB-C charging port.

Last but not least, there’s also a 6.5mm audio output port integrated at the base of the guitar’s body that enables users to connect it to an external speaker (or speaker system).

CONNECTIVITY

For establishing a wireless connection with its mobile app, the guitar utilizes Bluetooth connectivity.

BATTERY & BATTERY LIFE

For its power, this smart sample guitar uses 2500mAh Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery that can offer users up to 6 hours of battery life when using the guitar’s onboard speaker, or ultimately up to 8 hours battery life when playing it with an external speaker connected to the guitar.

When its battery is running low on power, you simply have to connect the USB-C charging cable from its power adapter to its USB-C charging port. It only takes a few hours for the guitar’s battery to fully charge.

THE SMARTPHONE COMPANION APP – The LAVA+ App

Users can also install the LAVA+ App on their smartphones (available for iOS and Android devices) to further extend the capabilities of their LAVA GENIE guitar.

Via the LAVA+ App, users are offered access to interactive cord charts with color coding matching the guitar’s guiding lights that help them learn over 10,000 licensed songs.

The app also features a Creative Mode that enables users to select different instrument presets as well as create customizable chords for the guitar’s TapPad buttons.

Finally, the app also enables users to transcribe their own songs to chord charts with lavaAI.

FINAL THOUGHTS

All in all, this smart sampler guitar gives beginners an all-in-one instrument that removes the hurdles of playing traditional guitars with strings, making playing guitar simpler and more accessible to anyone.

If you’re interested in purchasing it, know that each unit is priced at $399, and each purchase is also accompanied by a 1-Year Warranty.

We’d also like to note that the guitar comes with a free 3-months subscription to the LAVA+ App. Once that free subscription period expires, users can opt to pay just $2.99 per month to continue using all of the app’s features.

You can order the LAVA GENIE online directly from LAVA MUSIC’s official shopping page.