Since I recently got a great midi controller (an Edirol PCR30) for Christmas I’ve been busy making music. I’m having a lot of fun with it and really learning a lot about music and sound in general. The amount of control over sound that comes with software music production programs nowadays is absolutly amazing.

So, today’s post is about some amazing midi-controlled robotic instruments. From the NYTimes comes a story about a homemade robotic guitar.

The flier for his concert prominently displays a quote from the visionary Australian composer Percy Grainger: “Too long has music been subject to the limitations of the human hand and subject to the interfering interpretation of a middle-man: the performer. A composer wants to speak to his public direct.”

I would have to agree. Today’s technology can go beyond what a performer is physically capable of. But, as I have found out this weekend, the element of human touch cannot easily, or even ever be completely replicated.

The problem is resolution. A robotic instrument will always be playing within a finite range of values. Or in other words, it’s resolution and accurary will always be limited by a finite amount of accuracy that is built into the machine and its software. Now, this level can be made extremely good, depending on how much you are willing to spend, but I venture it will be some time before we see automated instruments that are able to express themselves as fully as one played by a virtuoso. The human mind can always get better and better, with essentially no limit on resolution. This is why the human still has the edge in some sense, even though the robot may be able to physically out-perform a human (such as playing more notes that is physically possible for a human player).

I experienced this first-hand playing an amplified bass for the first time this weekend. I sat down for a number of hours, and before long I was expressing myself better than I have been able to do with software music production thus far. It was the feedback loop, which was so incredibly rich. Extremely small changes in my hands would cause dramatic changes in the sound, leading me to use smaller and smaller movements to achieve the output I desired. Even in this short time I was able to create music with much more of a feeling of personality than I am typically able to using software. I can see how this process continues indefinitely in someone who dedicates their time and effort. I can now truly understand how some great musicians can make their instruments sound like voices.

And on that note — I want a bass!

Back to robotic instruments. How about a computer controlled turntable setup. Now that is just sweet.

Would it not be awesome to see a fully robotic symphony, playing the some great epic trance such as anything produced by BT. How about the work being done by Brendan Adamson at Juilliard in New York.

RoboRecital, a concert of mechanical music presented by composer J. Brendan Adamson, will include no human performers. It will instead feature four automated instruments: GuitarBot, a self-playing guitar; an automated fifty-seven rank pipe organ; a Yamaha Disklavier, a modern player piano; and ModBots, a collection of robotic percussion instruments.

Six of Brendan’s own pieces will be presented alongside works by Bach and Mozart. His transcription of J. S. Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080, Contrapuncti Nos. 2 and 3 will be performed by Guitarbot. W. A. Mozart’s Allegro und Andante (Fantasia in F Minor, K.608) will be heard on Paul Hall’s Holtkamp pipe organ, controlled by computer. Although several practical editions for human organist have been made, Mozart’s piece will be heard in its original form for self-playing organ on RoboRecital.

That is awesome, and even better, his shows are free!

via Engadget (GuitarBot), (Drum playing robot), (Electronic trumpet), (Digital accordion), (Robo-DJ)
via Robotic Concert @ Everything2

Oh, and I found a quiz with sounds produced by MIDI verses sounds produced by a virtuso. Not exactly related, but close enough to link to.