In the latest example of kinetic, sound-producing sculpture, an Arduino-controlled organ of moving cans makes eerie, beautiful descending noises. Jakub Koźniewski, a member of the panGenerator collective, sends in details of that group’s work, sponsored in this case by the stuff in the cans:

Kinetic audiovisual installation for burn
displayed during burn Selector Festival 2011

Movement of the cans is controlled by 9 independent servos connected to the Arduino board while the sound is purely analogue – air pumped by 9 ordinary mattress pumps blows into the “whistles” at the top of plexiglass pipes. Tone is modulated by the current position of the can.

Lots of soldering, gluing, screwing, cutting and coding

Worth viewing as it sounds really terrific; I’d love to hear it in person. The additional music bed is nice, as well: it’s Krzysztof Zimmermann, from the label Few Quiet People.

Thanks, Jakub!

Here’s someone who really, really loves Native Instruments’ B4 (II) software rendition of the Hammond B3 organ. The work of Markus Berger, this dead-ringer for a real B3 is actually a carefully crafted replica with elaborate MIDI control inside. The body is built by hand from cherry wood. Electronics were prototyped with the open source Arduino platform and implemented with electronics from Doepfer, then finished with manuals (that’s “keys” for you non-organists) from Fatar (as seen in Nord’s organs). Authentic-style drawbars finish the project. Correction: I got my wires crossed and originally claimed this had Fatar drawbars, but it’s Fatar manuals. Thanks to comments for spotting that.

The integration of the hardware design with the B4 is extraordinary: the creator notes that every single function is perfectly replicated, so you never have to touch a mouse or look at a screen. Of course, you can then make meticulous models tweaked on the B4 software that wouldn’t have been possible on the original hardware – and this hardware, while substantial, should be dramatically lighter.

More on those custom electronics:

The main controller electronics were actually custom developed and prototyped with Arduino. They were complemented by electronics from Doepfer for the two manuals.

Most of the electronics had to be custom developed as there was and still is nothing available to cover all the functionality of a classic Hammond B3 with the full drawbars set, preset keys and all the switches.

And yes, the bottom line is that this puts every controller for everything I’ve ever seen to shame. Thanks to Germany-based Twitter reader tillephone for sending this my way.

B4 Controller Project Page

I hesitate to even suggest this, but – is a Leslie cabinet next?

More photos after the jump:

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed never to make anything as cool as 17th Century keyboard makers.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announces (via its Twitter feed, no less) that it has gotten its Musical Instruments collection online. Over 800 inspiring objects of all kinds are available with photos, maker information, and historical notes, making this an extraordinary tool both for serious research and discovering wonderful designs.

The best place to start is the Musical Instruments department page, which includes links to highlights, how to find the gallery in the Museum (believe me, you may need that), publications, and other details. You can also search the database, picking out a keyword like “drum.”

Incredibly, this is only a fraction of what the Met has in their collection. The department has 5,000 pieces from every continent except Antarctica, with pieces dating back to around 300 BC, from Stradivari’s violins to rare African percussion.

Of course, seeing instruments isn’t nearly as meaningful as hearing them. The department offers concerts through the year, including an annual concert on its 1830 Thomas Appleton organ. Sadly, the works database doesn’t include sound samples yet; perhaps that can be the next step. (Anyone feeling generous and want to donate to them?) But this is the one case in which an art museum audio guide is a must-have; you can hear descriptions and brief sound samples when you visit the collection here in Manhattan.

Digital instrument makers and software designers often look only to the future or the recent past for inspiration, which is a pity: there’s plenty to learn from historic instruments. As a keyboardist, of course, my favorites tend to be the collection’s wildly imaginative keyboard instruments. One of my favorites of the museum is the 1598 Claviorganum, pictured above, which built an organ and a virginal into a tabletop chest of drawers. I always thought the idea of being able to pull a virginal out of a piece of furniture was somehow magical. It seems there’s no better time than 2009 to resurrect some of these ideas as people build their own instruments and digital technology allows new flights of fantasy. Bring on the Neo-Baroque Digital Age.

Updated: The museum sends us this video of a Strad performance, in case you want to know what a highly valuable instrument sounds like.

The concert violinist Eric Grossman performs the chaconne from the Partita no. 2 in D Minor by J. S. Bach (1685 – 1750) on a violin made by Antonio Stradivari in 1717. The instrument — one of three by Stradivari in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection — is named “The Antonius” and comes from Stradivari’s so-called golden period (about 1700 to 1720).

Violin, “The Antonius,” 1717
Made by Antonio Stradivari (Italian, 1644 – 1737)
Cremona, Italy
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of Annie Bolton Matthews Bryant, 1933 (34.86.1a)

And the Timeline of Art History has a bit on sixteenth century violin makers, in case you’re not an expert.

One of the wonderful things about control data is that there’s no saying you only have to interface with software and digital worlds: you can connect directly to the real world, too. Digitally-sequenced music can use acoustically-generated sound. 20th Century technology, meet 19th Century technology. CDM reader Gareth Edwards writes to let us know about his current project:

Just wanted to let you know about a wee toy we’ve just finished building here in Edinburgh. We are a group that is part of the dorkbot movement (http://dorkbot.org/) and have just finished hacking a robotic MIDI retrofit onto a 1890s Gray and Davison 16′ pipe organ using mainly surplus components.

Video here:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8R9lAIS1l4w

Main page here:

http://dorkbot.noodlefactory.co.uk/wiki/WaldFl%C3%B6te

Now, I got this while I was traveling in Berlin and my connection was so slow, I couldn’t even watch the video, so if you’ve seen this item elsewhere, no complaints please, okay? I haven’t dug out of RSS feeds yet. (Hey, the organ is from 1890 — I’m not that late.)

It’s quite brilliant work. We’ve seen organs before — anyone else care to comment on other examples of MIDI-powered organs?

Another video — with a Dueling Banjos cover, no less:

How 2.0: Pipe Organ Chair from My Home 2.0 DIY on Vimeo.

Pipe Organ Chair Project Page

The other project, by way of the multi-talented Allison Lewis (the creator of SWITCH, a DIY show for young women, and some brilliant fashion + technology work), is a wall harp. Think infrared sensors plus MIDI, using the MidiTron kit by Eric Singer, which is seen regularly around these here parts.

How 2.0: Build a Digital Wall Harp from My Home 2.0 DIY on Vimeo.

I wish that, in addition to the DIY portions, they had spent more than two or three seconds documenting the results. But I think this may be in New York, so maybe I’ll have to go over there and try it out myself.

If you’ve got your own favorite projects involving pipes or infrared sensors, let us know. And maybe this will inspire some of your own work.

Side note to Verizon: please stop torturing us poor New Yorkers with how awesome Verizon FIOS is when we can’t get it. Hurry up with that build-out, already. I can send you my address. You can come over with the fiber optic cable today, even; I’m pretty good with a wire crimper.

The Clavia booth showcased the new Nord C1 combo organ (the product says C3, but they’re changing it to C1), featuring two sets of digital drawbars for the keys and a third one for bass pedals—in this case a Roland PK-7A connected via MIDI.

Emulations include the B3, Vox Continental, and Farfisa, which are based on the most intimate mechanical details. (Nice playing, dude—and the wheel crosstalk and coil energy robbing in your sound was hot!)

There are built-in rotating speaker effects, as well as a real 11-pin Leslie output. The C1’s Half Moon Switch (at the far left of the bottom keyboard) controls the speed of both.

The C1 is scheduled to ship in April with an MSRP of $3600.

Ed.: Back to the future seems to be the theme of this NAMM, between retro electric pianos, new, real Rhodes, new Waldorf synths, and more. But, Clavia, could we have a MIDI controller-only version? I love the two registers! -PK

Nord C1 Product Page
Clavia main site (currently showing NAMM show report — Stevie Wonder on the Nord Stage Compact? That’s some celeb sighting!)

They put Minimoog and Prophet synth emulations into hardware boxes under a grand. Now Creamware has added an emulation of the most legendary organ of all time to its “Authentic Sound Box” (ASB) line, and it’s a lot easier to lift than the original. Could these guys replace your laptop and software synths? -Ed.

Creamware continues its efforts to reinvent classic analog hardware
with the introduction of the B4000 ASB, a clone of the Hammond B-3
electromechanical organ. Like the other ASB’s this one eschews keys
in favor of a space-saving tabletop design but it does have the real
drawbars organ players crave.

Personally, I expected to see them take on the ARP 2600 next and we
certainly aren’t lacking in killer software B4 emulations (Native
Instruments’ B4II really nails it) but if this thing sounds as good
as it looks, it will allow you to leave the computer at home. And for
those still lugging an original B4 to gigs, your chiropractor will
thank you.

No word yet on ship date or price, but CDM will be all over Creamware
at NAMM for the details.

Creamware has also launched a new site for the ASBs at http://
www.asb.creamware.de/index.htm.

Native Instruments’ beloved B4 organ soft synth now has a sequel, available now. The B4 II is a major overhaul of emulated organ, with a new “more authentic” sound and features. Building on Native’s success emulating amps and effects in Guitar Rig, B4 II has a new emulated tube amp, spring reverb, and studio reverb. If you want to go under the hood and tweak your organ to your liking (okay, that sounded wrong), new effects and tonewheel sets can recreate various vintage organs or produce wild, experimental organ sounds. There’s a bass-pedal legato mode and second rotating speaker for more playing versatility, too. As usual with Native’s soft synths, if you find all the customization options overwhelming you can simply dial up one of a healthy selection of presets, made easier by a new preset manager.

One of the best new features, though, is in the fine print: finally, native has added full MIDI assignments and MIDI learn mode, so you can use your hardware controller of choice. Native also offers a bundle with their B4D drawbar controller, just in case those faders on your keyboard don’t feel quite right.

I’ll be looking closer at this one soon — can’t wait to get my hands on it.

B4 II Product Page

CDM’s round-the-clock beer bottle organ coverage continues! Yes, in addition to the Gulbransen Beer Bottle Organ, there’s yet another MIDI-controlled organ. This one comes out of Chicago:

Peterson Tuners Beer Bottle Organ (Thanks, Charles; great find!)

Best of all, there are sound samples of the Peterson, demonstrating that this more or less sounds like a calliope. (I think there might be some unique timbral qualities to the beer bottle organ, and I’m absolutely positive you’ll hear additional timbral differences if you were helping drink the beer bottles for the organ.) Like the Gulbransen, it features MIDI control, but it has the thoughtful addition of a keyboard and wheels. These guys are actually bona fide organ component builders and tuners.

And, if you can’t afford the $23 grand you’d need for the Gulbransen, US$16.95 buys you a CD of bottle organ hits played on the Peterson. (Suggestion: get your buddies blind drunk, line up the bottles, and secretly start the CD. They’ll never know the difference.)

Ah, Gulbransen versus Peterson. It’s like Steinway versus Bosendorfer. Or it more like great taste vs. less filing?

There are times when I can say something wittier than the manufacturer’s ad copy. This is NOT one of those times:

The Bottle Organ is a real showstopper! It plays by blowing across the tops of real beer bottles, which are permanently tuned. And the music is so lovable! Driven by contemporary MIDI technology, the Bottle Organ is ideal for pubs and restaurants with a reputation for fun, where the past is respected, and where patrons appreciate the rare and unusual. Custom fabrication assures quality of the highest standard.

Sing along everybody: Take one down, pass it around, and there’s 99 MIDI-controlled singing bottles of beer on the wall . . .

Of course, you could get 100 drunken friends together to blow on beer bottles and save the $22,900 price of the bottle organ, but I betcha it won’t be permanently tuned.

The company also makes player pianos, nickolodeons, and, when you need to ask God for forgiveness after a particularly wild night of MIDI-controlled beer drinking, the Digital Hymnal. Best of all, they also make a MIDI-controlled, self-playing violin (Thanks, LeMel!)

Updated: This organ has a better-known rival (mentions on TapeOp, Boing Boing) from Chicago, which also features a keyboard and has downloadable sounds and for-sale CD

For more odd stuff, see Oddmusic’s Instrument Gallery