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The viola organista is sort of like a grand piano version of the hurdy-gurdy (and also it sounds way better imo). It was designed by da Vinci, a few of them were built in the 1600s, but then their popularity just completely died out. Here's a modern reconstruction of one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3py3Ap8_Y It's so weird watching this because it feels like someone's just taken audio of a string quartet and dubbed it over video of a piano being played.
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Jan 4, 2014 16:37
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You guys are crazy, the most obsolete instrument is obviously the ondes Martenot.
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Jan 4, 2014 16:41
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Manky posted:Cool! I can't even tell what's going on but I like it. 
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Jan 4, 2014 17:20
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strangemusic posted:I don't know about the Qchord, but the Omnichord is badass and I will hear no criticism of it Totally agreed. The Omnichord is bad rear end, where the Qchord is just rear end.
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Jan 4, 2014 19:27
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Computer viking posted:As for the hurdy gurdy, it's more of an ... acquired taste, kind of like the bagpipes. There's an explanation of the thing here. Here's a video of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page using a hurdy gurdy (far left) for Gallows Pole in 1994. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9DuDgzGjtE There's also a spooky lakeside sequence of Jimmy Page playing a hurdy gurdy in The Song Remains the Same.
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Jan 4, 2014 19:46
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I was expecting the Cinco logo to pop up at the end of the QChord demonstration but it's actually real  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSwqnR327fk
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Jan 4, 2014 20:18
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Ron Burgundy posted:You guys are crazy, the most obsolete instrument is obviously the ondes Martenot.
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Jan 4, 2014 21:57
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On the subject of niche musical instruments, can anyone put a name to this device's description? Several rows of contiguous hexagonal black and white keys, that was supposed to be a geometrical rearrangement of a piano's octaves. I think someone from Dream Theater was serving as the promotional speaker for it at an electronic musical instruments expo or something along those lines. Came across a Youtube video of its demonstration a few years back, and haven't been able to find it since then.
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Jan 4, 2014 22:37
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Darthemed posted:Came across a Youtube video of its demonstration a few years back, and haven't been able to find it since then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7OeRkXWTtQ I think this is the one you're looking for.
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Jan 4, 2014 22:48
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People have been trying to jam synths into guitars for decades, and it still hasn't caught on. The first problem is that a guitar makes for a rubbish MIDI controller, just like any other string instrument, as its output varies in frequency constantly (through vibrato, string bending, imperfections in string quality and intonation and just plain ol' being out of tune), which maps really badly onto MIDI, which is designed for whole notes. So guitar synths have a horrible tendency to "hunt" between MIDI notes as the A/D converter keeps changing its mind about what note you're closest to, changing your sweet vibrato into something that sounds like it should be fixed to the roof of an ambulance. The second problem is that their manufacturers make them look like this:  No.  No!  NO!  ARGH!!   Those last two are attempts by Casio and Aitken to get around the hunting problem by abandoning the use of piezo pickups to tell what frequency the string was vibrating and instead measure where your fingers were - not unlike a Guitar Hero controller. Thus you don't tune the "guitar", you simply place your fingers in the appropriate place and pluck the relevant string (which isn't connected to the strings on the fretboard) and the instrument outputs the midi note that corresponds to. Thus you end up with basically a keyboard that you play like a guitar, and that has all the disadvantages of both instruments and none of the advantages. What a loving stupid instrument. And people keep making them.
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Jan 4, 2014 23:35
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I first saw this in Billy Idol's "Flesh for Fantasy" video and couldn't figure out what the hell it was (no internet in those days). Possibly  for S&M dancers.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw1oM7LBbxE Jim Stafford plays it on the Tonight Show (the logo is blacked out for some reason): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3VgdpU2nEw One of the musicians on the Simpsons used it on one of the early season episodes, too.
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Jan 4, 2014 23:48
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Rotary Speakers are pretty cool looking on the inside . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mIQ7umFocQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkgQ6jU-4G4 Cool Web Paige has a new favorite as of 00:20 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 00:00
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Lallander posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7OeRkXWTtQ
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Jan 5, 2014 00:32
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The viola organista, Leonardo Davinci's hypothetical cross between harpsichord and hurdy-gurdy, as built by a Polish pianist: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/11/viola-organista/
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Jan 5, 2014 00:42
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Now that's an amazing instrument.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:49
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Base Emitter posted:The viola organista, Leonardo Davinci's hypothetical cross between harpsichord and hurdy-gurdy, as built by a Polish pianist: I do not envy the person who has to tune it.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:50
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It's weird that when the video was posted on the top of this same page, nobody cared. Add a picture and the crowd goes wild.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:55
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Axeman Jim posted:People have been trying to jam synths into guitars for decades, and it still hasn't caught on. The first problem is that a guitar makes for a rubbish MIDI controller, just like any other string instrument, as its output varies in frequency constantly (through vibrato, string bending, imperfections in string quality and intonation and just plain ol' being out of tune), which maps really badly onto MIDI, which is designed for whole notes. So guitar synths have a horrible tendency to "hunt" between MIDI notes as the A/D converter keeps changing its mind about what note you're closest to, changing your sweet vibrato into something that sounds like it should be fixed to the roof of an ambulance.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:56
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Collateral Damage posted:Isn't the guitar-shaped midi controller what a keytar is for? Unfortunately, you still need to know how to play a keyboard to play a keytar. Man, if they could ever figure out how to make a not-total-garbage synth guitar I'd be so happy. Learning how to play guitar almost feels like a waste of time when you realize how limited the instrument's capabilities are compared to a decent keyboard.
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Jan 5, 2014 01:38
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Lallander posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7OeRkXWTtQ Having only barely played any instruments in my life (some forced piano and keyboard at school), that looks fascinating.
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Jan 5, 2014 01:57
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Computer viking posted:Talking about more classical instruments, the harpsichord family is a small niche these days, after a long dominance, and the hurdy-gurdies have gone from a common instrument to a historical curiosity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJdTsDUuuFk Oh, and regarding that hurdy-gurdy, I had never heard of that before. When the wikipedia article was loading, I was like "haha, what kind of American redneck thingie is this?", and was then put to shame when I was it was over 1000 years old. The name though...
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Jan 5, 2014 02:41
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ol qwerty bastard posted:The viola organista is sort of like a grand piano version of the hurdy-gurdy (and also it sounds way better imo). It was designed by da Vinci, a few of them were built in the 1600s, but then their popularity just completely died out. Base Emitter posted:The viola organista, Leonardo Davinci's hypothetical cross between harpsichord and hurdy-gurdy, as built by a Polish pianist:  ): 
Sham bam bamina! has a new favorite as of 03:29 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 03:27
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strangemusic posted:This is a laaaate quote, but god dammit my car was made in 2006, which in case you can't remember because it was apparently eons ago was well into the digital music age. It came with no aux in, and I still have to use one of these every day. It's infuriating, sounds awful,I feel like a silly techno-Grandpa, and I can't replace the dash audio unit with a new one (without going to the dealer and paying a mint) because it's integrated into the console. Do yourself a favor and get one of the inline ones that hardwires to the receiver and feeds microvolt-level RF into the antenna input instead of the one you leave rattling around on your dashboard. They're much better.
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Jan 5, 2014 03:59
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^ Seconding that, I too had a car made after 2000 that lacked any reasonable cost method for adding an auxiliary input (would have required a new head unit, which in turn would have required an adapter that cost more than the head unit.) The term he's looking for is FM modulator BTW. I used one in the aforementioned vehicle (a 2007 Chevrolet Malibu) for about two years and couldn't complain. Audiophile  aside about FM lacking the frequency range, it will output drat near CD quality audio with little or no interference.
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Jan 5, 2014 04:17
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The car might also have an unused CD changer port on the back that can be adapted to an aux-in. Crutchfield is a pretty good resource for that kind of thing. In the spirit of this thread, my 2007 Mazda had an unused cassette or Minidisc slot that I'm now using an an aux-in.
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Jan 5, 2014 04:21
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eddiewalker posted:The car might also have an unused CD changer port on the back that can be adapted to an aux-in. Crutchfield is a pretty good resource for that kind of thing. Hey now, Minidisc was legit. I actually wish it hadn't perished.
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Jan 5, 2014 04:55
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Pilsner posted:Oh, and regarding that hurdy-gurdy, I had never heard of that before. When the wikipedia article was loading, I was like "haha, what kind of American redneck thingie is this?", and was then put to shame when I was it was over 1000 years old. The name though... Hurdy Gurdys are really fascinating and there are actually quite a few different forms the instrument takes depending on where it was made and the local music tradition. They're made as diatonic and chromatic instruments, and are quite often used in folk music. There are bass models which can be as large as a cello and they go all the way down to small child sized models for students and travel use. While they get a bad reputation as being tinny sounding and whiny like bag pipes, just like bag pipes when a decent instrument is used and well played they have a very sweet sound and a really enjoyable to listen to. They work by having a rosined wheel continuously rub against all the strings, of which there are melody strings and drone strings. Like bagpipes, the drone strings produce a constant tone and the melody strings are used to add notes on top of that baseline. The buzzing you hear is caused by the player subtly increasing the speed they are turning the crank, speeding up the wheel and causing a special piece called a "chien" or buzzing bridge to vibrate against the body of the instrument. They are still used in a variety of folk and traditional music across Europe and into Slavic Asia. Beyond the Hurdy Gurdy, the best known types are Spanish, French, Hungarian and German, called Zanfona, Vielle à Roue, Tekerőlant, and Drehleier respectively. They tend to be beautifully decorated as you can see in the pictures below. You can also find the more ancient styles of the instrument which were simply rectangular boxes, and these are relatively simple to construct, but don't give nearly as clean a sound.    This is a small diatonic one playing a slavic song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd0nSwRi8ec This is a Spanish fellow who is quite good playing a more complicated and perhaps more pleasing sounding tune for unaccustomed listeners. The first song at least. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V67ak1QwU38 If you want to get into really bazaar instruments you should see stuff like the Swedish Nyckelharpa. Similar in concept to the Hurdy Gurdy with the strings being keyed instead of pressed with the fingers, but they are played with a bow like a traditional fiddle.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgwJ99NNi8o Nyyen has a new favorite as of 05:09 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 04:55
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strangemusic posted:Hey now, Minidisc was legit. I actually wish it hadn't perished. Minidisc was insanely popular in Japan until fairly recently. Not really sure why.
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Jan 5, 2014 04:59
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I was always fond of the glass armonica, actually. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQemvyyJ--g
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Jan 5, 2014 05:03
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eddiewalker posted:In the spirit of this thread, my 2007 Mazda had an unused cassette or Minidisc slot that I'm now using an an aux-in. Mazda has (had?) a shared stereo platform across their entire line up from 2003 onwards that included a universal expansion port that could be used for a cassette deck, MD player, disc changer and in later years, satellite radio. The sylfex auxmod is a plug & play addon that interfaces with this port and emulates a tape deck, allowing an 1/8" stereo input.
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Jan 5, 2014 05:11
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Are we doing "MIDI? Oh you shouldn't have". Creative Prodikey  It won CES's "best gadget" in 2003. And managed to get reasonable reviews for an entry level keyboard in the market. But it was dogged by the fact it was marketed as a learning tool for budding musicians not professionals. The included software was mostly there to load up samples and allow you to play along to MIDI tunes. The keyboard was pretty cramped as the software seemed to want you to play a one man band and crammed in effects by the octave. An octave shift button was introduced in later models.  There wasn't much support beyond Windows Vista so it died out quietly, despite seeming to have a small cult following - helped immensely by Paul Seow's enthusiastic promo video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr-Cr999fy0
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Jan 5, 2014 05:28
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Pretty much any audio hardware from 5+ years ago is hilariously obsolete. I've got a DR 202 kicking around somewhere, and I swear that thing still feels like the future.
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Jan 5, 2014 05:47
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The FM transmitters for CD players were bullshit. I had one... you had to keep it fed with AAA batteries, which is a pain in the rear end. If you forget batteries, you can plug it into the lighter, but then your CD player is sitting there sucking down its own AA batteries because there's only one outlet in the car. And if you don't keep batteries in the transmitter, it will forget which station you're on when you turn off the car--or when you turn the key to start it, so you could get in the car, set everything up nicely, go to start the car, and get hosed over. Eventually I gave up on it and spent $10 on one of those cassette adapters. No batteries, nothing fancy, just a single wire leading from my cassette deck, exactly as if there was an aux port.
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Jan 5, 2014 05:49
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Sham bam bamina! posted:Reminds me of the Wheelharp (which had a sadly unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign last year Does it sound like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SECNGjngzDk
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Jan 5, 2014 10:01
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Digging through trade show reviews brings up some interesting gizmos that either died an early death or never really made it. PC Expo 99 had a few interesting things. STAR WARS Episode 1 Digital transfer. Paul Thurrott posted:"The digital format means no scratches, skips, or dirty film, but it really goes beyond that with a visual quality that is hard to describe. Projected digitally off a massive hard drive with Texas Instruments' DLP Cinema technology, STAR WARS took on whole new levels of sharpness, depth, and image quality. Digital sequences such as the pod race and droid/Gungan battle scenes were even more realistic. And digital characters such as Watoo and Jar Jar Binks were virtually perfect. Bit more info here. Sceptre BT15+ LCD privacy screen  An LCD screen that displayed all white, until you used the special sunglasses that allowed you to view. I'm sure LCD refresh rates of 1999 combined with whatever was used to white out the screen made for some pretty painful viewing. Electrofuel PowerPad  A gigantic battery that sat under your laptop and promised (and seemed to hold up) to 15 hours of conservative battery use. However it cost $500, which was around half the price of an average laptop at the time. The search for portable storage. The time before cheaply available CD Rom's and USB thumb drives spawned a host of intermediaries. Iomega's zip drives were the top contender, but other companies like SyQuest and it's spin off Castlewood tried their best to create competing media that all ended up bankrupt as reliability was spotty. The biggest flaw came about from Iomega's cost cutting action of removing a bit of foam to soften the impact of a sudden read arm stop. In severe cases this would rip off the disk heads and cause a chain reaction where subsequent disks inserted would be torn up. The bit of foam was returned, but Iomega's reputation wasn't and the class action lawsuits against "lifetime warranties" mounted. Iomega Jaz drive. (1995) It had a penchant for getting a bit warm and causing it's disks to jam. The other issue was the metal drive door that would shave bits off your disk and jam the mechanisms with debris. Should you forcibly eject it you would damage both the cartridge and the drive. PocketZip (1999)  These were meant to be little luggable disks that were only 40mb in size with a 100mb version in the works before it vanished. During development and early demonstrations it went by the name "Clik!". Which was somewhat unfortunate given the "click of death" lawsuits that were soon to follow. Also they were flimsy and bent easily. ZipCD  The writing was on the wall for Zip disks as cheaper and rewritable CD's came into play. This attempt to survive at all costs resulted in a 1.2kg re-badged Philips CD-RW burner that was hampered by USB 1.1 speeds, at times having severely reduced read speeds (4x at an advertised 8x). The reliability was so bad that further lawsuits emerged in 2000 as burn failures mounted.
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Jan 5, 2014 16:53
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WebDog posted:
I saw this posted as a "hack" not too long ago. They remove the front polarizing screen from the monitor, and then use glasses with an equivalent polarizing screen. Nothing particularly special about the monitor or glasses. Just don't tilt your head too much, or the polarization will be out of alignment.
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Jan 5, 2014 17:03
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Guy Axlerod posted:I saw this posted as a "hack" not too long ago. Didn't they also suggest cutting up the polarizing screen and making glasses?
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Jan 5, 2014 17:08
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Any polarising filter will do. Put on a pair of polarising sunglasses, even cheap lovely ones from a petrol station, and tilt your head. At some angles you can read the screen perfectly, at others it's completely blank. poo poo, the expensive aftermarket stereo I once had installed in my car did this and was completely unusable while driving with shades on - unless you tiled your head 90 degrees. I had a go at the manufacturer as was told if wasn't something they tested for  And this was only back in the early 2000s, so it's not like LCD screens were new or anything.
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Jan 5, 2014 17:35
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WebDog posted:Sceptre BT15+ LCD privacy screen So this has no use apart from porn, right?
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Jan 5, 2014 17:38
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Wanamingo posted:So this has no use apart from porn, right? I could see it used at hospitals and clinics and such to keep patient data away from folks who'd misuse it. They take that stuff pretty seriously and already use those special screen filters on monitors to make it a blurry mess to anyone not standing directly in front of it.
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