Custom electric violin builder E.F. Keebler goes a little over the top with instruments like his Inferno. Pimp my violin, indeed: this is the first acoustic instrument I’ve ever seen that I can confidently say is NOT street legal. Take a look at these specs:

1. 79 LEDs in the fingerboard in a flame pattern, reponsive to motion and playing
2. 92 LEDs on the side for a flickering-flame effect, also responsive to music
3. 12 additional flame lights
4. Custom flame shell with custom engraving and airbrushing
5. Pewter sculpted devil’s head, designed by the late fantasy artist James Lane Casey
6. Laser-powered eyes and a spark-shooting mouth

E.F. Keebler Violins

You’ll pay a few grand for all the options, but it’s not just for show: Keebler’s designs are customized for playability, too. But, for you DIY types, you just have to appreciate the guts inside:

That’s just the beginning: electric violins are a must-have for music students, rockers, and (for some reason) crossover classical women wearing latex catsuits:

The original design of the violin is a classic, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying to improve upon it with modern tech.

While it looks mostly like an ordinary bow, the Hyperbow is designed to electronically measure gestures and calculate force, speed, and bow-bridge distance, thanks to accelerometers, gyroscopes, and force sensors. The bow, designed by MIT Media Lab Ph.D. candidate Diana Young, began as a way to measure different bowing techniques. But combined with MIT’s Hyperviolin, the all-electronic/non-acoustic violin also developed by the MIT Media Lab, the bow can unleash new means of making music with violins. If you’ve seen this before, it’s because Young has been working on it for several years and presenting it as it develops; the Hyperviolin for its part has been played by the likes of Joshua Bell. Here, Diana Young is pictured with Hyperbow and Hyperviolin from earlier this summer. (Photo: Donna Coveney, MIT News.)

Grad student’s Hyperbow makes music to measure [MIT News]
ASA paper abstract [Acoustical Society of America]
Video and audio clips, Toy Symphony (Featuring Hyperviolin)

So, what do you think? Innovation or reinventing the … um …. bow?

We hear lots of discussion of how to make better digital instruments. But to fully understand instrument design, it’s often best to look at instruments from around the world that have evolved over centuries. (Hey, these synthesizers and such, by comparison, are mere infants.)

Here’s a fantastically virtuostic performance from 11 year-old Sirena Huang, via June Cohen on the TEDtalks blog. Following the music, she discusses in frank terms why the instrument is such a timeless design. She’s got a smart audience for such thoughts: the performance comes from the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference, a legendary gathering of “thinkers and doers”. And while Sirena feigns surprise that her violin would be included with “real” technology like an iPod, I think she recognizes the violin is the better design by far.

Embedding their videos doesn’t seem to work, so I suggest checking out the story directly:

Sirena Huang on TEDTalks [Video links and comments, TEDblog]

Thanks to our friend Matrix of Matrixsynth fame for this. The TEDblog has plenty of other music coverage, including a similarly virtuostic video of pianist Jennifer Lin, not to mention lots of other general cool tech and non-tech topics.

Notably, on the topic of violins, the blog has a mini review of the book Stradivari’s Genius by Tony Faber, exploring the history of the most famous of violins.

Will digital instruments ever match an instrument like the violin? I tend to look at it the other way: watching a great performance is as much about the player as it is the design of the instrument. Practice your favorite digital instrument for a lifetime, and see what happens. And keep in mind that “easier” isn’t always better. A violin is anything but intuitive, and sounds awful when you first play it.

Let’s talk truly retro instruments for a moment: a violin owned and played by Beethoven himself is featured in a new recording by violinist Daniel Sepec. (The pianoforte is vintage, too; an 1824 model played by Andreas Staier.)

Beethoven’s violin used for first time in recording [CBC Arts, Canada]

Beethoven, Sonaten für Klavier und Violine op. 23 und op. 30 Nr. 2 [CD page, Beethoven-Haus, Bonn]

At the turn of the 19th century, Prince Lichnowski made Beethoven a handsome gift: a set of four string quartet instruments, which the 30-year old composer marked with a seal and large carved ‘B’. One of them was a violin made in Salzburg around 1700. Rediscovered and authenticated in 1995 by the experts of the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, this unexpected legacy is here presented for the first time in a wholly appropriate recording project: Sonatas nos. 4 and 7, the very embodiment of Beethovenian élan terrible, are performed by two outstanding artists.

The album is out on Harmonia Mundi, but it doesn’t appear to have come Stateside yet; anyone know how to import? (Or I can just wait; I expect it’ll be here soon.) European readers, you can order from the link above.

How is this digital music? It’s on a CD, silly. Now excuse me, I’m off to etch a “K” in my Novation ‘board. Just for me, you know — sounds like a good idea.

Whether you’re composing for real orchestrations, scoring films or games, teaching, or just learning more about how the orchestra works, there’s never a time when you stop learning about orchestration. That’s why a new free, online version of a classic Russian orchestration guide, complete with new interactive examples, is good news.

Sample designers Garritan Library, the folks behind the popular orchestral library Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO), have begun releasing portions of their free guide to orchestration (see my previous story). The full text and examples are straight out of the classic Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration text, the landmark guide to orchestration that has taught many master composers. The Rimsky-Korsakov is a must-read for composers, but it’s still one perspective and hardly perfect, so it’s even better to discover the text has been fully annotated in this version.

The result is a community-driven guide to orchestration that’s really unlike anything I’ve seen before. The whole course is designed for self-study, with plenty of examples and illustrations. The professors who edited and annotated the text are discussing the results, turning the Garritan forums into a kind of interactive classroom. When the whole set of lessons are done, they’re even holding an orchestration contest. (Now that’s something I never got in my orchestration classes — not just grades, but genuine competition.)

Talk about digital technology and music, and people are often skeptical: doesn’t technology get in the way of making music? But technology and music have always been interwined, and even for advanced composers, better understanding the technology of how acoustic instruments work is fundamental to realizing musical ideas. Unfortunately, orchestration books, despite their best intentions, can be disastrous for composers trying to understand instruments. Books by definition can’t include musical examples, and the texts themselves are often divorced from real practical information.

Now the good news: the Web could offer an antidote.

It’s nice to see the Web abuzz about digital music downloads of one of the great geniuses of all time, instead of, you know, just another that mash-up. In that spirit, I point you to BBC’s Radio 3 for hours of great weekend listening:

Beethoven Symphonies 6-9, BBC Radio Orchestra

They’re quite decent recordings, though if you really love them you’ll probably want the uncompressed CD BBC will release. Gianandrea Noseda really ripped through Beethoven 5, and now some of Ludwig van’s mature masterpieces are in store. But act now, because starting Monday July 4, the downloads will start to disappear.

Roll over Beethoven, indeed.

CDM Radio of the Week

For music, you can’t beat the Beeb, and the UK radio conglomerate is now easy to hear in the rest of the world thanks to some of the best net radio support on the Earth. Just don’t overlook the high-brow Radio 3 because you think it might be stuffy. Quite the contrary; check out some highlights:

Beethoven’s symphonies are available for free download for a limited time. (Right now 1-5 are there as MP3s; others later this month. Played by the BBC Phil, of course!)

New Music section features a message board and some hip new stuff, like the “Mixing It” interview series. San Fran digital duo Matmos and Brian Eno? Sign me up!

CDM’s Radio Pick of the Week is a new feature to keep you in touch with the latest in digital radio, Net radio, satellite radio, podcasts, streams, and good `ol FM. If you’ve got a radio feed you think digital musicians will appreciate (your own or your favorite bookmark), send it my way! -PK

NAMM was host to a bevy of new virtual orchestra products. Here's a quick summary:

• Garritan Personal Orchestra (Windows/Mac) now comes in three versions adding more sounds and articulations:
  the Second Edition update adds various enhancements and patch
  additions, while a new Advanced (US$499) version includes more
  instruments and articulations like harmonics and a Lite (US$149) is
  aimed at students and educators. New libraries were released that focus
  on band and violin solo; nothing on the Garritan site so see the MacCentral story. Powered by NI Kontakt.
• Miroslav Orchestral Library from IK Multimedia (Windows/Mac) is an entirely-new orchestral sample library; see our separate article; also US$499. Powered by SampleTank technology.
• MOTU's Symphonic Instrument (Windows/Mac, every format) is another library, but has some twists that make it worth considering: 8GB for just US$299, built-in convolution reverb, and editable in MOTU's MachFive sampler (none of the others here can be directly edited). Powered by MachFive.
• Synful (Windows only) was the most unique offering: instead of just being a sample library, it actually intelligently generates phrasing and articulations. Amazingly, a whole orchestra fits in just 32M of RAM. (How . . . I don't know.) US$479.

There's a free trial of at least the Synful; big test is how it sounds
and whether it fits into the way you work. Let us know if you've found
a favorite!

Italy makes great coffee. Modena-based IK Multimedia has been drinking lots and lots of that great coffee, judging by their NAMM lineup.

Studiophonik - Virtual Band: Computer music has been the domain
of electronica lovers for a long time, but an entirely new product from
IK aims to give you a full band. This uber-plugin has sampled virtual
instruments for an entire band, including 7 GB of drums, guitar, bass,
piano, organs, and horns. It's paired with a full suite of modeled tube
compressors, limiters, analog EQ and other console features, and gives
you microphone placement control for drums to boot. Expected spring
2005 for $/EUR 399, Mac/Windows in every format.

Miroslav Orchestral Library: Further, IK has acquired the
complete orchestral and choir sample collections of Weather Report
co-founder and world-renowned musician Miroslav Vitous, available in a
workstation plugin called Miroslav Philharmonik this spring for US$/EUR
499. (Can Miroslav himself, or even a whole orchestra, be IK's next
acquisition? Stay tuned — the coffee's really, really strong.)

SampleTank, T-RackS Updates: IK has updated SampleTank to
version 2.1 with enhanced time/pitch stretching, more sounds, new range
controls and 16 stereo outputs (due summer). Pro Tools fans, the
T-RackS mastering suite is now available for TDM.