Slashdot Mirror
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."
The day MIDI can duplicate Elvis's unique voice is the day they find a way to electrically control the spinal columns of about 10,000 people in Vegas.
I thought this was going to be about dead musicians coming back from the grave to kill those who use their music as ring tones. Still cool though.
Unfortunately insiders acknowledged that it would be impossible to bring Michael Jackson's mucis back from the dead.
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.
Part of the charm of Glenn Gould's recordings stems from the fact that you can hear him humming along with the music if you listen carefully. I guess he drove recording techs nuts.
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.
Is a (not-so-) live concert by the legendary Hotblack Desiato.
Unfortunately, he's spending a year dead for tax purposes, but hey, we can't but hope, eh?
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
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!
Gives a whole new perspective on the term 'de-composing'
Zenph Studios, a software company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, claims that it has found a solution to the problem, although it refuses to say how for commercial reasons.
There have been attempts at music transcription software since the 1970's. For some obscure reason, many of the people who tried didn't seem to think of the fact that classical music comes with a score.
So, the "solution" to the problem is simple: use the known score to get the notes and polyphony, and use the recording primarily to infer the performance parameters. It's not a very complicated problem, actually. I suspect the main reason why you haven't seen this before is because it is of fairly little commercial interest.
"The projection wouldn't even have to be very good.."
Frankly, I don't care if it is very good or not. If they don't stick to the standard of emblazaning an H on his forhead, I'm going to nitpick!
"Derp de derp."
Glen Gould is alive in my heart.
Damn, that must really hurt.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
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”
The Rolling Stones are on tour this summer.