According to an unconfirmed source chatting up Ars Technica, the band-in-a-box version of Rock Band 3 will ship with the 1980s bastard child of an electric guitar and a synthesizer. Yep, the keytar, that fugly-looking thing in the screenshot above.

About time, says me. I'm a keyboard player, or pianist, or whatever the term is these days. I've been playing since I was four. And I've always felt a bit weird standing in front of the TV brandishing a fake Fender Strat and tapping out transliterated keyboard solos in the last few iterations of the RockGuitarBandHero games.

I've actually seen a keytar played live (thank you Chick Corea Elektric Band, Omaha, Nebraska, 1994) and it's a lot of fun--more showmanship than musicianship, but hey, it gets the keyboardist out from behind stacks of synths, rack mount modules, patch cables, laptops, and jungle-gym stands.

What else. Ars's "mole" claims Rock Band 3 will include a "pro" mode, say something a step higher than "expert" that requires you use "proper technique," whatever that means. Is Harmonix planning to release more realistic instruments? Could they be working on a way to interface real keyboards, electric guitars, and drum pads with the game?

If they did, they'd arguably take a monumental step toward mitigating criticism--however unfounded--that simplifying the relationship between technique and output misleads nascent musicians.