The new instrument,
released for pre-order this month, combines a keyboard, fret board,
built-in plectrum and accelerometer-powered wawa effect. Named the
Artiphon Instrument 1, it is the invention of Mike Butera, a Ph.D. in
sound studies, from Virginia Tech.
The Instrument 1 draws on
the computational power of a modern smart phone to make and record
sound. A downloadable app on the phone allows you to select different
modes, helping you to change swiftly between instruments.
Butera says the invention
of the Artiphon came to him at a dinner party in his native Nashville
that descended into a late-night iPhone-based jam session.
The Artiphon Instrument 1 can be played in a number of different positions, including as a guitar
"It was a bit comical,"
Butera says, "the singers staring down in their lap at the phone,
fingers and hands contorted around a device that just begged to be
dropped, trying to tap the right notes to songs we could have instantly
played on a normal keyboard or guitar.
"It was then that I had
the idea of a multi-instrument that would adapt to each person's playing
technique and musical style. This wasn't a guitar or a violin or a
keyboard but it could be any of them."
Butera says that he finds
contemporary digital instruments such as keyboards, drum machines and
laptops boring, so he invented his own device. "I wanted to make
something that people at all skill levels could play, a device as
agnostic to musical style as the piano but as expressive as a violin."
The Instrument 1 is made
out of bamboo and hardwoods, and is produced by Nashville-based
woodworkers. The speaker grilles are made of polished aluminum and the
entire device is assembled locally.
Butera says it was
important to him that the instrument should be high quality in its
construction and materials: "I want to make instruments with innovative
technologies that people want to keep and pass on rather than toss when
they are obsolete," he says.
I wanted to make something that people at all skill levels could play
Mike Butera, Artiphon Instrument 1 inventor
Mike Butera, Artiphon Instrument 1 inventor
Showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show and the National Association of Music Merchants,
Butera hopes the Instrument 1 will be embraced by working musicians.
"I'd like to put the Instrument 1 in Brian Eno's hands, since he's
broken so many barriers in electronic music throughout his career," says
Butera. "And The Black Keys, because they're beyond obsessive about
tone ... but I'm probably most excited about the whizkid in Japan who's
going to post some killer video on YouTube and blow our minds."
The invention of new
musical instruments has always come from technological leaps. The modern
piano was a byproduct of mechanical development in the 18th century,
and the electric guitar evolved from amplification experiments being
done by big bands in the early 1900s.
The release of the
Artiphon Instrument 1 coincides with the 30th anniversary of MIDI, a
1983 innovation that many musicians regard as the birth of electronic
music.
The Instrument 1 can house an iPhone in its belly, but it is also compatible with Android and Windows Phone
Paul White, Editor in Chief of Sound on Sound magazine says the Instrument 1 "seems like a high-end take on the You Rock Guitar
idea, where the fingerboard is replaced by touch switches ... though as
a guitar player myself, physical strings feel much more natural than
virtual strings. How widely it is accepted remains to be seen but I'm
always encouraged to see new instrument ideas make it into the market
and this one certainly looks to be well engineered."
In 2008 the Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition
was established to showcase and recognize the invention of new musical
instruments. Commenting on the Artiphon Instrument 1, Gil Weinberg,
organizer of the competition and director of the Georgia Tech Center for
Music Technology, said: "In general, I'm a big believer in using the
capabilities of smart phones to power novel hardware. The 'brain' of
such devices is already in your pocket, so why not use it?
"Specifically regarding
the Artiphon, I think they did a very good job in providing a wide
variety of gestural input that can allow for more musical expression
than interacting with the iPhone GUI. My only concern is that these new
input modalities are still far from providing the expression that
acoustic instruments can provide. But as long as users know what to
expect, this can definitely be fun to play."
So how does it sound?
According to Butera, the instrument "can sound like anything you want."
So if you are in the market for a harp that plays like a violin and
looks like a space-age guitar, Artiphon's new Instrument 1 may be the
one instrument for you.
source cnn.
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