Da Vinci's String Organ | Hacker News Reader

Da Vinci's String Organ

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This is very, very cool - one can only imagine Da Vinci's delight had he known this thing would actually be built and played all this time later!

Sadly, the demo video is incredibly useless. Not only is it an obnoxiously cut-together collage of song fragments, it also never shows how the organ actually works. They do show off the room it's standing in, the pianist, and the audience in detail, but not the instrument nor do they do an acceptable job at providing a good listening experience. One can only assume this is by design, since the article is pretty vague on the inner workings of the organ as well.

Still, the project itself is very neat. I'm looking forward to hearing more from the viola organista.

the keys when hit lower the strings on the constantly turning wheels. this video has some short footage on how the instrument works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS9c76V4RDE

There's an interview here which includes more detailed video of the instrument. Just be sure to toggle the subtitles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOrn_z9m9lU

It's not just that particular demo video: almost everything I've seen shows extremely little of the instrument in detail, including all the videos and articles posted as replies here. Almost nothing gives any details on the action, how the action deals with so many differing string heights and wheel contact angles, how tuning is done when affected by both string tension and what appears to be string bending by the action, how voicing is done considering all of this and the wheels... there is no detail at all.

This sadly seems like it might be intentional, too: in http://tygodnik.onet.pl/zmysly/the-da-vinci-tone-in-english/... (also posted elsewhere here), the maker skirts around encouragement to talk about details with the same generalities he uses in the videos, and then outright refuses to discuss details when asked directly beyond talking about the strings going out of tune and volume issues, both matters that are mostly obvious, uninteresting, and not unique to this instrument.

I hate to be that guy, but Leonardo didn't really innovate here: the hurdy-gurdy had existed for a long time by the time he sketched out this instrument, and it had rosined wheels turning against strings, the different pitches being selected by a crude keyboard of buttons. Sure, this is more refined, but all the important elements were present in an existing instrument.

Still, though, it makes a pleasant, musically useful sound. I wonder how hard it is to keep in adjustment; it seems like it would be touchy (just like the hurdy-gurdy).

First off, I didn't know the hurdy-gurdy was an instrument, nor did I know it preceded this. Guess I really didn't pay attention to Donovan's lyrics…

I'm even more curious now. I want to know why this couldn't or wouldn't have been built before.

Similar things were built. If you read German: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geigenwerk.

I don't. The English version [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geigenwerk] suggests the a hurdy-gurdy wheel is in constant contact with strings, while the viola organista allows for a large number of strings to lower on to the wheel, so individual notes strings and notes are played.

This seems like he moved technology forward, no?

The hurdy-gurdy has 4 drone strings and 2 for melodies, so it's a rather similar concept to bagpipes with regards how it plays.

Also interesting is the origin of the hurdy-gurdy, the Organistrum: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organistrum

Seems like it to me, too. Didn't think of that.

The work of Zubrzycki is impressive. For having studied acoustics quite a bit, I'm very impressed by the fact that the sound manages to have both a very short attack an a very good sustain (thanks to the wheel). Controlling the vibration of a bowed string must have been extremely difficult... For the interested reader, there's a more detailed article here: http://tygodnik.onet.pl/zmysly/the-da-vinci-tone-in-english/...

Here's someone from Japan who's been making Geigenwerk and Streichklavier for the last twenty years. Neat videos.

http://obuchi.music.coocan.jp/Geigenwerk/index-e.htm

Super cool. In both sound and musical capabilities, it seems like it shares a lot with the viola da gamba, especially as they both compare to modern stringed instruments; gambas, being fretted, can't achieve vibrato in the same way that modern strings can, and so depend a lot more on ornaments (trills, mordents, etc.) for emphasis. They also lack dynamic range as compared to modern strings because of their simpler bows, meaning dynamics were often achieved by adding or removing voices in ensembles. This new instrument is similar: vibrato and dynamics probably aren't easily achievable, so it seems well-suited to gamba repertoire.

No surprise, then, that in the Polish-language video linked elsewhere in the comments here, he plays a couple of M. de Sainte Colombe pieces, as he was a master gamba performer and composer.

Having played a gamba in college, despite its obvious limitations due to the frets, you could play wicked multi string chords not possible on a cello. Sadly due to the gut strings it did not like air conditioning. Because it had frets I as a guitar/bass player could actually learn to play it reasonably well.

The Brazilian ensemble Uakti plays another take on the bowed string and wheel instrument. Hauntingly beautiful. Can't get enough of Uakti. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yZijDmnLuY

Much better article, interview, and video here (watch the bottom one with CC on): http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/11/viola-organista/

Sounds amazing!

Da Vinci was certainly the hacker :)

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