h a l f b a k e r yPoof of concept
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Gloves linked up to a stereo system or such in which that after determining the miming action of strings being plucked in a display of playing "air guitar", using an internal CPU, it converts the action into real guitar sounds!
Possible offshoots could create similar versions or programming in other
instruments eg. trumpet, bass, drums etc.
Virtual Music accessories
http://www.virtualm...om/products/access/
Virtual guitar pick, pressure-sensitive drumsticks. [jutta, Aug 25 2000]
Theremin World
http://www.thereminworld.com/
Mumble... lazy bookworm... [jutta, Aug 25 2000]
Thomas Zimmerman, now at IBM research
http://www.almaden....zimmerman/tzim.html
Shown wearing an early prototype of his glove. [jutta, Aug 25 2000]
Don Buchla's "Lightning" performance controllers
http://www.buchla.c...ightning/index.html
The "drum sticks" mentioned by Scott D? [rmutt, Aug 25 2000, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Virtual Theremin
http://www.bbc.co.u...und/theremin1.shtml
The BBC's free downloadable virtual Theremin for Macs and PCs [hippo, Aug 25 2000, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Like this?
http://news.bbc.co....hnology/3873481.stm
"Scientists are developing ways of capturing human movement in three dimensions which would allow music to be created with the gesture of an arm." [angel, Oct 21 2004]
Oh, those crazy Finns.
http://news.bbc.co....hnology/4694482.stm
[coprocephalous, Feb 13 2006]
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I could swear I've seen something like this before, along the lines of electronic drum sticks... |
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I've played simulated air guitar with electrodes attached to arm muscles (one volume, one frequency). It was fun, and I want one, but also a *lot* harder than I thought. |
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The problem is that most air guitarists can't actually play, so this system would result in rhythmic cacophony. Drums don't have this particular problem; most of the low-end pressure-sensitive drumsticks I've played with don't have a wide enough range of sounds to ever sound truly horrible. |
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There is already an instrument (pre-computer, too) that is played in a similar way. It's called a theremin, and you play it by moving your hands near it (one dimension for volume, one for pitch). I'm lazy, so a search ninja can put up the link if she so desires. |
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The "data glove" VR input device was apparently created with this exact purpose in mind -- Jaron Lannier being the air guitarist in question. Whether he ever actually got it to work for something other than pointing where you want to walk, I don't know |
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Let me point out that while Lanier has better hair, the developer of the glove seems to have been Thomas Zimmerman, working (as Lanier was) at Atari. |
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sure...let's just take all the skill and talent out of guitar playing...I'm all for it. |
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As stated in my Almaden page, I though of the air guitar with my friend Sam Wantman back in the 70's. We met at MIT and have been friends and collaborators ever since. Sam plays piano and cello and wrote an amazing music program for the Apple II that does polyphony without a sound chip (lots of tight assembly code). I've been in rock bands since junior high school playing guitar and studied electronic music at the New School in New York. |
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We also developed ideas for doing what would now be called virtual conductors. I fashioned it after my father who used to "air conduct" Beethoven. |
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I boiled down the air guitar problem to measuring the bending of fingers, developed optical sensors I sewed to a gardening glove, and applied for a US Patent. I coded up an air guitar using these gloves with my Atari 400 that had three digitally controlled oscillators. I also wrote a program that could interpret finger spelling (anyone who rides on the New York subway knows about those cards people hand out for money, that's where I learned about finger spelling!), and a few years later met Jaron Lainer who was working on Visual Programming Languages (hence VPL). I sold him some of my early hand made gloves. We formed VPL in 1985 together with some great programmers (Chuck Blanchard who wrote Body Electric, a body joint programming language, Young Harvell who did Swivel, one of the first 3D studios for Mac. I left in 1987 once glove production got to be a running business. A few years after that, Lanier got the air guitar running on Silicon Graphics machines and demoed it at Siggraph. |
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The problem with all of these things is exactly what Jutta mentions: they are hard to control with any precision. Without any tactile feedback, it's difficult to position your hands or body precisely enough to control things well enough to make music. Check out virtuoso Clara Rockmore, who demonstrates the extreme amount of skill and talent that's needed to play music (as opposed to mere whoops and whistles) on a Theremin. Just bending fingers precisely is tough --
even with tactile feedback, as anyone who has tried to play a fretless string instrument can tell you. |
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A "body joint programming language"? That's a little unbelievable... |
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//Check out virtuoso Clara Rockmore, who demonstrates the extreme amount of skill and talent that's needed to play music (as opposed to mere whoops and whistles) on a Theremin.// |
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She demonstrates that considerable skill & talent is required, but she also demonstrates that the Theramin is capable of some pretty amazing effects. |
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I rented //Theramin: An Electronic Odyssey// awhile ago and while there was much interesting material in there, there were a couple of disappointments: |
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[1] They didn't discuss the internal workings of the Theramin at all; it was elsewhere that I read how the amplitude control on the original Theramin worked (a HF oscillator was used to drive the filament for one of the amplifier tubes; damping the oscillator meant the filament didn't get as hot so the tube didn't amplify as much--talk about a major hack!) Reading that explanation certainly gave me an appreciation for why Ms. Rockmore liked Theramin's later version with a faster-acting volume control. |
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[2] They described the instrument used in "Good Vibrations" as a Theramin, even though the one they showed in concert footage was IIRC actually a Tammermin, quite a different instrument. It would have been nice if they'd clarified this (e.g. maybe the original recording used a Theramin, but it took several takes to get right and for concerts the Beach Boys needed something more consistent?) |
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Virtual syncushions anyone? |
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How out a set of VR gloves connected to a powerful computer that works out what you are *trying* to play and gives you a note perfect rendition. |
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A *must* for all air guitarists. |
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That is a terrible idea. It reminds me of electronic drums being used to sound like acoustic drums - why not use the real thing!!? - cheaper, less technology, not a bunch of absolute...... |
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And now, fully baked, thanks to those up North [see coprocephalous's link..] |
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