Pat Metheny has done something similar with his orchestrion project, 12 years ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsYEOUKS4Yk). At the time I went to see him perform with it in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, which was impressive, but still missing the band energy that normally makes the music come alive. He did mention that it was the first gig on the tour without major technical issues, it does seem like a nightmare to set it all up correctly.
Captured by Robots also did this, but his look like humanoid robots and have conversations with the singer which are part of the act. The type of music isn't for everybody (or most people). But if you're musically open I'd recommend checking out one of his shows if he's in town. It's an entertaining performance.
I was gonna say the same, I went to DePaul music school with Jay before he was...assimilated. He may not have been the very first to have a virtuoso robot band, but he probably isn't far from it.
IMHO, Captured by Robots is great because it isn't just bots playing instruments, it's a full-on theatrical performance. At least that's what it was when I saw it like a decade ago.
He is currently working on v3 of it. v2 was more of what he did with v1 which was hack it together and try to get it right. He learned about half way thru v2 that method was good for prototyping and looking cool and was good for 'close enough' but was failing to get the control and precision he wanted. He ended up adding way more complexity than he liked. v3 he is starting with reduce part counts and 'how do I actually build this thing' and decent testing of each part iteration to find ones he likes.
My personal favorite example of composition for robots was the project Squarepusher did for Zima (yes, the defunct drink that tasted like alcoholic diet Sprite) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkUq4sO4LQM]. That being said, there's a long history of music being sequenced for machines to play. Automated calliopes and orchestrions go back over a hundred years. Also, Conlon Nancarrow should be credited with being the first modern composer to write music purely for machines using techniques and speeds that would be impossible for a human to replicate [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2gVhBxwRqg]. I really like how the One Hacker Band took a lot of these preexisting ideas, but added things that I haven't seen applied to sequenced physical instruments, namely using machine learning to allow the band to compose music.
I'm working on a robotic drumming project, but rather than playing canned sequences, I'm experimenting with rhythm synthesis to create an intuitive and expressive instrument that anyone can play. This was a test of an early version with rhythm synthesis happening with oscillators in Puredata that trigger OSC hit instructions to the robot which is just an ESP8266 wired to a Vertiq smart motor. https://youtu.be/zeHJXyyhJ70
My model of rhythm in that version was extremely naive, so now I'm now trying to grok Godfried Toussaint's The Geometry of Musical Rhythm with the goal of moving the rhythm generation to the microcontroller. This is to have a toolset for making autonomous musical ensembles.
I'm definitely having challenges figuring things out, so if anyone else is interested in this stuff, ping me and I'd love to share notes.
Godfried-Willem Raes is a fascinating guy and builds the robots. I asked him once about how he coded his firmware and he insisted that nothing but a very specific flavor of Power Basic was appropriate.
I can't remember the exact tech he uses, but a lot of the performances of the orchestra involve human dancing and movement that is translated into musical phrases for the robots. The sensors have excellent latency, but don't work so well with clothes on. As any engineer would conclude, the true problem was in wearing pants and so the performances are mostly in the nude.
For a steampunk throwback of this idea, there are a number of self-playing full orchestras at the House on the Rock (an amazing museum of all things kitsch Wisconsin) that use 100% mechanically driven pneumatically controlled instruments. It's amazing and this video doesn't do it justice, but here's a pretty good idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpaRGpoMyjg
Notable for featuring a four-armed drummer bot, and headbanging action on many of the robot players. It's really like if Dr. Wily discovered metal in the 80s.
This band looks more like a real life Animusic. Cool, but not as metal.
Well, a sample player likely sounds better and costs less, but automating the instruments is certainly a lot of fun. I do it the other way round, in that I replace a full live band by a single person (no sequencer involved): http://rochus-keller.ch/?p=1153
First one dates back to 1805: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panharmonicon. I've seen small mechanical ensembles from the 1920s, which included multiple bowed string instruments (which sounded horrible, BTW). Apparently, it was the ‘Phonoliszt Violina’ made by Hupfeld. There is more than one video on YouTube.
> I’m a disabled musician building a robot metal band to keep playing music. DIY robot instruments, broken manikin bandmates. Creative mind of Step "Satyra" Tranovich
Robotic musicians that could improvise - especially if they can do so alongside human musicians - would be interesting indeed. It seems to me that we have all the building blocks needed for this. If someone isn't working on it already, they should be.
I clicked this link expecting to finally see a writeup on the amazing people who created Compressorhead and got... some instruments with automation attached to them. Which is great. But a headline like, "there's an All Robot Band!!!", that would be... Compressorhead. This is "engineer has added midi automation to live instruments" which is not novel by itself at all. There's 100 year old player pianos that have guitars and snare drums in them (which frankly sound better than this, hitting the hihat from below?! like this one I saw this summer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6sc9ULNA64) .
Going in exactly the opposite direction, the Electronicos Fantasticos have been making electronic instruments for humans to play: https://youtu.be/UB7ZyZSKLX8
I knew this would be in here somewhere. This definitely stirred something when I first saw it. If I hadn't already begun a career in computers, I'm certain this would've catalyzed it.
[+] [-] EL_Loco|3 years ago|reply
Compressorhead video page: https://www.youtube.com/@RobocrossMachines/videos
[+] [-] raesene9|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frx|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] svdree|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] swimfar|3 years ago|reply
https://capturedbyrobots.com/
[+] [-] Optimal_Persona|3 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] newobj|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smusamashah|3 years ago|reply
Wintergatan - Marble Machine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q
[+] [-] sumtechguy|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dmcginty|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _spduchamp|3 years ago|reply
My model of rhythm in that version was extremely naive, so now I'm now trying to grok Godfried Toussaint's The Geometry of Musical Rhythm with the goal of moving the rhythm generation to the microcontroller. This is to have a toolset for making autonomous musical ensembles. I'm definitely having challenges figuring things out, so if anyone else is interested in this stuff, ping me and I'd love to share notes.
[+] [-] robotguy|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xtrohnx|3 years ago|reply
Godfried-Willem Raes is a fascinating guy and builds the robots. I asked him once about how he coded his firmware and he insisted that nothing but a very specific flavor of Power Basic was appropriate.
I can't remember the exact tech he uses, but a lot of the performances of the orchestra involve human dancing and movement that is translated into musical phrases for the robots. The sensors have excellent latency, but don't work so well with clothes on. As any engineer would conclude, the true problem was in wearing pants and so the performances are mostly in the nude.
[+] [-] FLpxpyJ|3 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0hwNWas9mk
[+] [-] deeths|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoeAltmaier|3 years ago|reply
I pumped through Under the Double Eagle march endlessly as a kid. What a thrill to hear all that music come out of a piano through my effort!
Maybe if this guy's music robot was pneumatic and required a kid to pump the compressor, then it'd provide that same thrill.
[+] [-] bitwize|3 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaY7vohLXK4
Notable for featuring a four-armed drummer bot, and headbanging action on many of the robot players. It's really like if Dr. Wily discovered metal in the 80s.
This band looks more like a real life Animusic. Cool, but not as metal.
[+] [-] Rochus|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] not_the_fda|3 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9HeaddNiqU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnXu6YNrJ7A
[+] [-] dmd|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tgv|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] camel-cdr|3 years ago|reply
From the channel description:
> I’m a disabled musician building a robot metal band to keep playing music. DIY robot instruments, broken manikin bandmates. Creative mind of Step "Satyra" Tranovich
[+] [-] 4b11b4|3 years ago|reply
The point of witnessing live music is to experience the hard work and character of a human with their instrument.
An entire band in sync together - witnessing this incites some emotion in me. Improvisation... this is exciting.
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