Hand Played by Robots

HandPlayedby Robots
Andy Ryetalksto audiophile
favouritePat\letrenyabouthisOrchestrion
s editofPaulMiller
obsefvedwhendescribing
hisvisitto the l\,4useum
Of
4
I Mechanical
lnstruments
in
LesCets,France{seeHFNSept'09),
mechanised
instruments
of the last
centurywerethe high-end
audio
of theirday.Affordable
onlyfor the
veryrich,theywererealinstfuments
whichwereableto playmusicfor
theirownerson demand.
Fastforwardto 2010 and
jazzguitafistPat
distinguished
Methenyfeaturesanothersetof
mechanical
instruments
in the
form of a mechanical
bandhe's
commissioned
especially
for hisnew
project,Orchest on lNonesuchCD
7559798473).
7f
t \
F1
AWEIRDIDEA.,.
Afterfamouslybecomingthe
youngesteverteacherat the
prestigious
Berklee
CollegeOf
Music- he wasagedjust 19 at the
BELOW:Available time - l\,,letheny
went on to build
on CD now,
a reputation
for stunningvirtuoso
the tive.track
guitarplaying,stfongmelodic
Orchestrion set
compositions
andan imaginative
seesPat Metheny exploration
of differentmusical
g e n re a
s n db a n dl i n e ' u p s .
improvise on
guitarwhile
I talkedwith himaboutthe
controlling his
Orchestration
project,alongwith
robotic orchestra EricSinger
- oneof the designers
to play a pre"
who playeda leadingrolein
defined score
developing
andbuildingthe robot
band featured on the Orchestrion
CD and used for Metheny'sworld
tour, which runs between February
and summer this year.
Metheny admitsto having
difficultyin explainingthe project.
'l qet how questionsand why
questions.The "hows" I'm happy
to answer.The "whys" l'll keep
between me and my shfink,'he says.
While the idea for the project
was inspiredby chi dhood memories
of an antique player'pianoin his
grandfathefs housein Wisconsin,
w h i c h h e f e c a l s f i n d i n gf a s c i n a t i n g
as a nine year oid, the catalystfor
'l rFnri(prl:
(fa,,A
Pai.h
nia.o
"ElectricCounterpoint"for Steve's
70th birthda! concert. lt's basedon
m e p l a y i n g l 2 g u i t a r p a r t so n t a p e
and the final pa-r ive. I fealised,as it
e n d e d ,t h a t i . . - , <s t a n d i n go n s t a g e
a t t h e C a r n e g.
andlhadjust
p l a y e dw l t h : : : : e-.l a A n d I t h o u g h t " l f
r IUNE2010
l4 : w1,1/w.hifinews.co.uk
that'scooiandthe worldis OKwith
that,then maybenow'sthe time to
try thisweirdideaI'vebeencarrying
aroundsi ncel w asnine. "Thenext
dayI pushedthe go button.'
NON-HT'MAN LEAGUE
EricSingerleadsthe groupLEI\,4UR
(League
Musical
oi Experimental
UrbanRobots)
andis at the forefront
ot foboticinstrument
design.His
groupgivesconcerts,
andhe builds
not just
specialrobotinstruments
for bandsbut for galleryinstallations
andpfivatecommissions.
I askedEricabouthis
contribution,
with what
beginning
ha
r.t"zllw
^r^\,i,lA.l
'We cfeated the body ofthe
instrumentand Pat augmented it
with some other things he'd seen
out there. We have half a dozen
drums,toms, snares,a couple of
bassdrums,ten different cymbals,
all the mallet instruments- that's
t%
do, is incrediblyhigh. The guitar
lrom a
the contraption
suspended
curvedsuppoftbehind,whichflexes bots took the longesttime to delivef
becausewe were creating a new,
asthe motorised
bridgesfly up and
more foad-worthyinstrumentthan
downeachstring.
the originalguitar bot.'
WhileMethenywasclearabout
what he wanted,he tookthe
TAIIE IT TO THE BRIDGE
territory.
designers
into uncharted
'Theinventors
Theguitarbotseachhavefour
Ashe explains:
strings,
with a bridgethat is driven
to work
wouldget something
up anddowneachof thesestrings
andthey'dsay"isn'tit coolthat it
by a timingbelt.Singerdescribes
wofks?"l\,4y
thing is,it'scoolthat it
the instrument
aslikehavingIour
works,but it'sgot to soundgreat.
pedofmers
with single-stringed
slide
We spenta lot of time on sound.
guitarsat yourdisposal.
oneof
JackDelohnette
contributed
'Theycanall playindependently
hisdfumsetsandall of the cymbals
the : or together.Eachhasa stringwith
whileCaryBu on contributed
a movingbridge.
malletinstruments
Whenit getsa note,
a n dp i c k e do u t a l l the
' T h o cr r ita r
the bridgeis told
Thismeant
mallets.
to moveto that
I couldreallyget a
positionasquickly
gfeatsoundfromthe
aspossible
andit's
instfuments
aswell
veryquick.Because
a sh a v i n ga l l th e se
it hasto seekwhile
m e c h a n i c a l th i ngs
g o rn go n .'
it's playingthe note,youget a little
glideeffectandthat'spart of the
EricSingerelaborates
on the
- that
challenges
of workingon Metheny's charactefof the instrument
littlebit of twang.
commission.'Pat
is usedto a large
'Theplectraarefourguitarpicks
degfeeof musicianship
from his
players
andthe robotshadto exhibit on a cubeandthe cubefotatesa
that samestandardof musicianship. quarterturn eachtime it'stold to
pick.There's
played
a damper,whichlifts
lvlaking
sureeverything
up to playandthendampsback
asdynamically
andasaccurately
downto mute.lt soundssimplebut
And
aspossible
wasa challenge.
it wasincredibly
complicated
to get
thenthesethingshaveto be as
it to work.lt wasthe biggestrobotic
roadwofthyaspossible,
because
challenge
I'vehadto date.'
on touf theyaregoingon andoff
Interestingly,
Singerdeveloped
an
truckseveryday.Theyneedto be
ma i n ta i n a bal en dfunw i th mi ni mal opticalsensorin whichthe stfing's
sotheycouldbe relied waveformis usedto modulatee,
marimbaandorchestra intervention,
vibraphone,
uponto work,nightaftef night.'
bells andtwo guitafbots,which
instruments.'
afeour own specjality
BEAT THIS...
The'otherthings'mentioned
by Ericincludea Yamaha
Disklavier Thelargepercussion
modulethat
dominates
the stagewasdescribed
concertgrandpiano,acousticand
variously
by concert-goers
asbeing
bassguitar,a setof blownbottles
playedby compressed
air and
reminiscent
of a pawnshop
or
on
varioushandheldpercussion.
hardware
store.Singerelaborates
the complexity
of hisconstruction.
Onstage,Eric'spercussion
'Thereare 200 or so individual
with the
ensemble
is arranged
acoustic
andbassguitarson four
mechanisms.
Allthe mallet
for
shelves
of a blacksteelstructure
instfuments
havea mechanism
eachandeverykeyandbetween
setup in the terfitorytraditionally
that'sabout
occupiedby a drumkit. Eachbeater thosethreeinstruments
hasa whiteLEDthat illuminates
120 beaters.Mostof the cymbals
eachtime its solenoidis actuated.
havetwo to fourdifferentarms
Thevibraphone
andmarimbas
on themwith diiferentsticksand
eithersideof the
differentlocations.
Thedrumshave
are positioned
performer,
with the two guitafbots
at leasttwo armson them.The
guitarbotsdon'thavetoo many
towardsthe front of the stageand
probably
the pianoupstageleft.
mechanisms,
threeor four,
Theguitarbotslookvery
but the complexity
of contfolling
Thestfingsare mounted
fromwhat the
curious.
them,internally
haveto
verticallyandfacethe audience,
onboardmicroprocessors
Pat Metheny pictured with
BEIJOWT
the vast range ol robotic drums,
vibraphones,marimbasand guitar
bots that make uP his Orchestrion.
All the instruments can betriggered
digitally from Metheny's 9uitar
botsare our
speciaiity'
IUNE2010
BELOWTEric
singer,founder
of the Brooklyn'
basedLEMUR
group ano a
leader in robotic
instrument
design. He
created and
built the robot
band used for
the Orchestrion
project, working
closelywith
Pat Metheny
to develop the
instruments
turther
www.hitinews.co.uk 15
guitarstraight
a
himsendhisMLDI
the guitaf'soutput,because
andit followed
electricguitarpick-up intothe vibraphone
conventional
rightalongwith him.lt wasreally
to humfromthe
wastoo sensitive
quiteremarkable
howquicklyit
motorsaroundit.
responded
andsoundedlikeit was
Findingpartsto buildthe
playingin time with him.'
wasverytimeOrchestrion
AsSingerexPlains:
consuming.
'No-oneout the.eis building
SUITE SOUNDS
played
to be used
In concert,PatN/etheny
motorsandsolenoids
allfivecomposiiions
ffom his
on musicalrobots.You'realways
and re'purposing OrchestrionCD in order asa suite.
takingsomething
some
After9ivin9the audience
i t. An dy ouhav eallt ho s em u s i c a l
aswell.Likethe
background
to the projecthe next
fequifements
pedormedan improvised
piecein
components
can'tmakeringing
bellsand
noisesin the audiorange,which
whichguitar,orchestra
pianoplayedrapidarpeggios
in
to do with howyou
hassomething
unison,with specific
controlthem.Really
noteson hisMlDl
theyshouldmakeas
rrfrL l.-^+^
guitarappeafing
also
littlenoiseaspossible
^-^
I, I,IU^ I-,'l.J TD CTIE
to triggerdifferent
andwhenyou're
percussion
hits.
talkingaboutparts
that afe normallyused
ln a second
improvisation,
i n was hing
m ac hines ,
intendedto
wheretheydon'tcare
showcase
how he cancontrol
how loud they are, then it becomes
the fobot band,Methenyplayed
d Pdr LrLurdr r,,o,,c,,9c.
three
eightbarsof guitar,layering
partsthat continuedto playwhile
A IVIIDI ADVENTURE
he thenaddedeightbarseachof
Therobotbandis contfolledffom
drums,vibraphone,
Metheny's
MIDIguitar.MlDlisthe
marimba,blown
industrystandardprotocolthat
bottlesandbassguitar- before
messages'
suchas
soloinghisguitaroverthe top of
transmits'event
of musical
the afrangement.
He controlled
the pitchandintensity
Iof
instfument
selection
notesto play,controlsignals
by usingfoot
parameters
suchasvolume,vibrato pedalsanda smallscreenpositioned
a n dpanning,
c uesan
, dc l o c ks i g n a l s at waistheight.
N,4etheny
isverycleafthat his
to setthe tempo.
'Patisthe first
projectis an additional
Orchestrion
Singercontinues:
guyto usea MlDlguitarto drivethe areaof activitythat will dovetail
bots.lsat in hisstudioandwatched with hisworkwith othermusicians.
controlledvia
MIDI guitar'
AEOVE;One
mooern
mechanical
instrument used
by Metheny is
the automated
Disklavierpiano
from Yamaha:
here the keys
are driven
magnetically
trom scoreson
a hard drive or
other storage
BEI,OWLETT: A
xylobot used for
the Orchestrion
projecu the MlDl
interface takes
signalsfrom
Metheny'sguitar
BELOW:A single
guitar bot -four
individualstrings,
each with a
moving bridge
'Thisis no substitute
for anythingelse.lfeel
likel'vebeenbuildingthis
houseover the yearsand l've got the
tfio foom and the group room and
this is another room to go into.'
So what is l\,4etheny
hoping to
achievewith the project?
'Therewere lots of things about
this that were essentials
for me. lt
had to groove. lt hasto feel good.
It hasto have dynamics.So it has
causedme to 9o underneaththe
hood and examinemusic in ways
that I hadn't before.I do think that
jazz guys in general,throughout
most of jazz history were the guys
to do the reseafchand somewhere
afound I980, everybodyjust said
"hey let'sjust do that!". And I've
neverreallythought that works. I
pre-datethat, but to me, the jazz
guys ladmired alwayssaid "yeah,
but..." and this is a big "yeah but".
RISE OT THE ROBOTS
Oneof theaspects
of a groupof
playing
musicians
together
that's
pfoject
missing
fromthe Ofchestrion
isthe interaction
andinterplay
betweenmusicians.
Singeris
adamantthat hisinstfuments
have
that capability.'Pat
hasconceived
project.In the
thisasa ten-year
beginning
stageshe'sdonea lot oi
straight'up
orchestfation
- in the
samewayyouwouldorchestrate
for synthesizers.
Butthere'sa
bigdifference
whenyou have
playing.
liveinstruments
Ontour
he is staftingto movetowards
improvising
on the instruments
wheretheyarefollowinghisguitar.
'ln the futufethere'san
opportunity
to haveinstruments
impfovise
on theirown,basedon a
computeralgorithm.
Youcouldsay
"analyse
Coltraneandplaya guitar
solothat soundslikea Coltrane
solo".Theinstruments
arecapable
of doingthat. lt'sjusta matterof
applyingnewsoftwareto them.'l-)
IUNE2010 I www.hifinews.co.uk
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