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Concert to be Performed from Beyond the Grave
rtphokie writes "Raleigh, NC based Zenph Studios is hosting a live concert performed by two piano virtuosi long since dead. Zenph developed software which digitally transcribes performances even from the scratchy recordings. A more faithful transcription of timing, key and pedal pressure is achieved using Yamaha's high resolution version of MIDI."
did you actually read the article - or even the summary?
The piano is just the thing they play it on, no one's saying that's a great achievement - MIDI enabled pianos have existed for years.
The achievement is being able to accurately translate a recording into MIDI instructions.
Whether or not it's as good as they claim is yet to be seen.
http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/articles/zenph/ index.html
Agile Artisans
Disclaimer. I used to work for the founder of Zenph Studios, back when he founded a networking software company and he left when it merged with a larger one. I am still in touch.
Someone takes a recording from long ago on vinyl. They play it on vinyl. Advanced signal processing listens to the sound from the original recording and detects which note is played when keys are pressed and lifted, and apparently when pedals are in use as well. This is laid down in a high-fidelity MIDI format. This MIDI file is fed through a high-performance Yamaha piano and the concert is played live on the piano in the concert hall. The piano translates the MIDI files and hits the keys, pedals, everything to the exact timing specified in the file. The magic is in the signal processing of the original recording. The idea is to replicate the original recording, note for note, tone for tone, microsecond for microsecond, feeling for feeling.
So, this is a HUGE step beyond player pianos. We can replicate old recordings and (GASP!) re-record them using modern methods, saving old lost tapes, making old recordings available in SACD and DVD-Audio. We can replicate concerts across the globe. Piano competitions can be done remotely. This could be of incredible significance to old classical music libraries and performances.
Velocity is a standard part of the MIDI protocol...
There are a few MIDI things related to volume -
Channel volume and Key velocity are the most common used.
Volume just being the output volume.
Velocity is usually used to affect both volume and timbre.
There's also Chanel aftertouch and Key aftertouch, which depending on the instrument may affect volume, timbre, pitch, or nothing at all.
Controller 11 - Expression is often volume related, and there's also the Breath controler (I don't know the number off the top of my head) which can also be used to affect volume and / or timbre, pitch or whatever...
There's plenty of room in standard MIDI for a wide range of expressiveness, it's usually the instrument that falls short, not the protocol.
Advanced users are users too!
In my job as a sound engineer, I regularly edit classical piano music. High-end midi pianos have an amazing potential for recording, as no high fidelity recording can substitute for a real live sound. A recorded midi file would have the feel of an artist, and it would be easy to correct wrong notes.
Extracting a usable midi file from a recording is very sophisticated signal processing. If the pedal is down a new attack can get lost among the wash of notes. The musical score would help if the program knew what notes to expect. Even so, I suspect they chose Glenn Gould because he was very sparing with the pedal when he played Bach.
I’m old enough to remember 16K of memory being described as “whopping”