Four polished bakelite wheels spun by a 110 volt motor while a series of electromagnets "finger" the notes as a 44 note piano plays accompanent. Even the violin strings were tuned automatically.

Virtuoso Violin is a violin-playing machine, invented by Fred Paroutaud for QRS Music Technologies, the same company that produced the first MIDI-compatible player piano. It was first unveiled February 13, 1998.[1]

Mechanics

The Virtuoso uses an electromagnet instead of fingering the strings. The electromagnet's position changes the behavior of the vibrating string to attain the desired pitch.[2]

Compatibility

The Virtuoso is designed to play a real violin, although its setup requires the strings to be restrung and the bridge to be removed and replaced with a mechanical bridge which controls the string oscillation and bow movement.[2]

The Virtuoso Violin is capable of playing standard MIDI files.[2]

Reception

The Virtuoso Violin was debuted at the Frankfurt Music Trade Show, and guests were both excited about the new invention and confused as to how it worked.[3] The novelty of the digital-to-analog player violin has been a huge hit, and the Virtuoso Violin has been used as a replacement to the concertmaster soloist at concerts mainly for show reasons.[4]

The price of the violin was originally estimated at under $10,000 just before its release.[1] In 2003, its price was $12,500[5] and has risen since to nearly $22,000.[6]

The sound projected by the Virtuoso Violin lacks the same quality found in a human violinist's playing, largely due to the inability for the device to spontaneously play emotionally.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Player Violin Introduced". Entertainment Wire. February 13, 1998.
  2. 1 2 3 "How the Virtuoso Violin compares to a real violin". QRSMusic.com. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
  3. ↑ "The Virtuoso Violin photo gallery". PlayerViolin.com. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
  4. ↑ King, R.T. (March 9, 1998). "String section: After you tune up the cellos, boot up the violins". The Wall Street Journal: B1.
  5. ↑ Ausdall, G.v. (December 2003). "Virtuoso performance". Robb Report: 30–1.
  6. ↑ "Gulbransen Bottle Organ and Virtuoso Violin". QRSMusic.com. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
  7. ↑ Clapton, B.; Schallock, M. (August 24, 2006). "Virtuoso Violin". Life in general. Violinist.com. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
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