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Stringless Violin to Bring Soul to MIDI Music

Posted by michael on from the i-guess-that's-why-they-call-it-the-blues dept.

lperdue writes "Musicians complain that MIDI may be easy, but the results can be more than a bit cold and soul-less. This story from New Scientist says that Stanford Professor Charles Nichols believes his violin, sans strings will put the emotions back into MIDI music."

9 of 24 comments (clear)

  1. Oxymoron by andfarm · · Score: 2, Funny

    He claims that his electric violin will "put soul back into MIDI music".

    Soul? MIDI? Have we ever heard these two word togethe before?

    --

    TANSTAAFI: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free iPod.

  2. Nice try, but too specific by twilight30 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Take a good look at the graphic. I'd hate to see what other string players would have to use to get any mileage out of this: Can you imagine a cello in this style? A viola?

    Never mind what a guitarist would think. Then again, they already have much more flexibility -- with straight-ahead electric pickups, acoustic microphones and so forth.

    Hazarding a guess, I can't see many other violin players picking this up and saying it'd be all that useful. I'm not a musician, so this is just an opinion (uninformed to boot), but I have taken some public performance classes with jazz guitar and whatnot. I don't know how a classical fiddler would actively choose this over an electrified violin -- surely he or she would have to spend a lot of time finessing the MIDI code that something like this would generate.

    Wish him luck, surely, but don't hold your breath...

    And how does this stop people from putting crappy MIDI on their websites ? :)

    --
    ========================================
    Death will come, and will have your eyes
    -- Pavese
  3. The real benefit by ThinkingGuy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    IANAV (I am not a violinist) but I think the biggest advantage of a MIDI violin is simply the ability to practice silently.
    For someone like me, who lives in a small apartment where disturbing the neighbors is a concern, being able to play the violin, with all the tactile feedback of the real thing, yet without making a racket, would be extremely desirable.
    Electric guitarists, keyboardists, and drummers have had the ability to practice using headphones for years. I believe there are also attachments for the trumpet and saxophone to allow "silent" playing. This innovation (if it works as well as the article claims) just extends that ability to a new instrument.

    1. Re:The real benefit by skotte · · Score: 2

      of some note on this point: there is a silent bagpipe system. it is simply a set of headphones, which plug into a fFingering pipe. only it's not an actual pipe, it's an electronic unit which plays a droning tone, and has touch sensitive buttons fFor the fFingering holes, and another touch sensor at the mouth. the effect, you can practice the bagpipes on the bus, at the mall, in a bar ... you get the idea.
      and that, as you say, may be the real beauty here. practice quality without pissing off the parents/neighbors/housemates.

  4. Hmmph. by Devil's+BSD · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Being a violinist myself, I can say that I do not like this. Although it is nice in that it is a MIDI interface, any good violinist should rely on touch to help them play correctly. When I shift to another position, I feel the right relative position and the right amount of tension that I create in the string to make sure I nail that note. Of course, this must be all subconscious, but have you ever switched to an instrument with a higher bridge that what you had before?

    --
    I'm the Devil the Windows users warned you about.
  5. I need one of these by skotte · · Score: 2

    I could really use such a thing to learn to play! like, holding the bow just so really sucks, and theres actually a good deal of weight to cantilever balanced on one fFinger. this thing looks like it'd be a breeze to hold, because of the way the bow is built in. you just guide it this way and that.

    actually, on second thout, withoput the strings, you really dont know what note you're playing. there's no visual reference to guide you, it looks like. probably monstrous to play, now i think of it.

  6. Re:But Midi is not Music by divbyzero · · Score: 2

    It cannot be overemphasized the distinction that Syncronis is making. MIDI was originally designed as a realtime control protocol for use by musicians, not an offline file format for storing recorded music in a compressed form.

    MIDI can be used quite effectively by a musician to control very detailed aspects of the music, but to do so goes beyond the lowest common denominator of the General MIDI spec. Therefore, a professional use of MIDI will not allow you to substitute an arbitrary sound card, or even an arbitrary professional level synth for the particular one which the musician used when recording or writing the MIDI file.

    MIDI gets a bad rap because of General MIDI. Yes, it has some problems (too piano-centric unless you use the unreserved CC's and sysex), but the point is that it provides ample mechanisms to correct any initial flaws.

    --
    But my grandest creation, as history will tell,
    Was Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell.
  7. Check out a similar project by divbyzero · · Score: 3, Informative

    My favorite prof Perry Cook had a similar project going at one time: the Rbow.

    --
    But my grandest creation, as history will tell,
    Was Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell.
  8. Live?! by SanLouBlues · · Score: 2

    What the heck is the point to a live performance with this thing? I could see this at something like NAMM where people care very much about both music and electronics (and the combination thereof), but otherwise I'd give it a hearty "Whoop de doo."