In the concert: Arduino powered Self-playing instruments set the right note

If you would see a self-playing instrument in a movie, then I would guess a ghost, but with these self-playing violin and glockenspiel, the ghost is much more intelligent and powerful. Its the ghost of MIDI and Arduino that drives these instruments. Called Violi MIDI and Metal.lòfon MIDI, these are created by Spanish artist Joan Vallvé as part of Sónar, a music and multimedia festival in Barcelona. These instruments are a part of a project to design and construct an automated musical environment. This environment must be able to play live. This is the reason that it’s design translates into easy to handle, reliable, stable and completely portable.

self playing instruments

The roots of this project lie in a reflection on the use of robotics as a tool for composing music and in this new environment where no factor can influence the creative process, a new environment, a new language and a new interface will produce new creation and even new musical styles.

Via: Makezine/Joanvallve