Here's something new and exciting; OpenStomp Coyote-1 has been released, and it has the potential to invoke unrivaled creativity for guitarists. It's a stompbox that allows you to create your own audio effects in a software workbench to patch together your effects and use or share them.

The accompanying OpenStomp Workbench for Windows lets you graphically combine effects to make patches and move them between the Coyote-1 stompbox and your PC. The software is open source for maximum tweaking and customizable behavior, and the hardware portion has been documented thoroughly so you can really make the whole pedal do what you want it to do.

The Coyote-1 is fueled a pretty awesome microprocessor: the Parallax Propeller. The Propeller has eight independent processor cores that run simultaneously at 80MHz. Its unique architecture supports "Spin," a high-level byte coded language as well as a low-level assembly language. With the Propeller development tools, you can create firmware using solely a USB cable. It even includes a video output that can be adapted to implement graphical tuners, spectral analyzers, oscilloscopes and even light shows.

A third bi-directional, quarter-inch audio in / out can be used as a stereo effects out or as an input for modulation effects. You can use this audio input to modulate a second one. Once you've got your creations concocted (or if you're looking to use what other brilliant minds have mangled), you can head on over to the Parallax Propeller Forums.