
Bot-controlled piano emulating spoken voice (2009) [video] - prawn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muCPjK4nGY4
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po
Not mechanical, so much lower resolution... but you might have recently seen
the History of Japan video being linked around... the guy who did that, Bill
Wurtz also did this:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBI-
nZTUgf8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBI-nZTUgf8)

There's an entire subreddit of this stuff as I guess it's really good practice
for playing by ear:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/zappafied](https://www.reddit.com/r/zappafied)

It includes this awesome Palin one:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBI-
nZTUgf8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBI-nZTUgf8)

P.S. In case you missed it this is the History of Japan one again:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5LY4Mz15o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5LY4Mz15o)
If you watch it again, you can hear him using that technique of harmonizing
with his own spoken voice in the background music of that video.

~~~
ino
That reminds me of the metal band Spastic Ink playing voices, sounds and music
from Bambi.

original:
[https://youtu.be/X5SWc_k_Hmk?t=16m59s](https://youtu.be/X5SWc_k_Hmk?t=16m59s)

with Bambi:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhP4lg28fs0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhP4lg28fs0)

Something awesome happened to me. I've known the album well but I didn't know
the track was from Bambi. It was a weird track. Some time later I decided to
watch Bambi because I was into animation classics and it was awesome all the
time thinking "where have I heard this before?" Thank you for making me
remember this awesome experience I've had.

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jarmitage
See also this version of "All I want for Christmas is you" converted to MIDI.

It's a really great illusion I think.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psIdan9GSRM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psIdan9GSRM)

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adrianN
It's like with those "Play X backwards to hear the Devil" type videos. You
understand it perfectly with subtitles, but close your eyes and it's
gibberish.

~~~
scrollaway
This article talks about that effect (with a similar example):

[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/sounds...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/sounds-
you-cant-unhear/373036/)

~~~
th-ai
great link thanks! it's like the McGurk Effect
[https://youtu.be/G-lN8vWm3m0](https://youtu.be/G-lN8vWm3m0), and why I time
Vocal Text to appear just before you hear it
[https://youtu.be/b-jrV7LyN7E](https://youtu.be/b-jrV7LyN7E)

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afandian
I always though this was amazing, and a great disappointment that there
weren't more videos and documentation about the project. It clearly took a lot
of effort, and it's a shame that there's nothing more than a news report to
show for it.

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bencollier49
The possibilities are intriguing!

This reminded me of the speech synthesis using pipes which William Gibson
described in Neuromancer, I think.

I'd like to see this tried with a church organ. Or a set of flutes.

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codeshaman
Very interesting !

I guess it's possible to use a MIDI synthesizer instead of the physical piano
to achieve the same result ?

All that's needed is the conversion from the voice spectrum to notes/chords...

The added advantage is that it would be possible to use the pitch wheel to
achieve intermediate notes for higher fidelity..

The output can then be processed again and it's pitch changed and so we can
create music from synthesized speech. Does this make any sense :) ?

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecm5PKTiVhw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecm5PKTiVhw)

~~~
afandian
Thank you for bringing Paul Lansky to my attention! A radically new soundscape
(for me at least). Any more recommendations?

~~~
JoeDaDude
I don't have a specific recommendation, but Lansky sounds a lot like the Tape
Musician's of the 50's. Said musicians would slice and glue together countless
snippets of sound recordings of real objects or spoken voice to create their
compositions. Today, the same can be accomplished digitally. Here is a recent
example (though a little pop-music like):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAwR6w2TgxY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAwR6w2TgxY)

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ohitsdom
I'm really curious about the build of the bot. Are the "fingers" that press
the keys pneumatic? I'm about to start an unrelated project but it does need
fast responding "pressers", which might be classified as actuators. What are
the benefits of using air powered vs electric? Does a bot like this have a
huge can of compressed air or need to be hooked up to a pressurized line?

~~~
jackhack
Seeing those banks of enormous capacitors, I'd say simple solenoids.

Pneumatic is one approach. Simple and inexpensive but with a lack of control
over actuation speed.

It would be expensive, but linear actuators would give incredible speed and
precise control over position and velocity.

~~~
ohitsdom
Thanks for the info, much appreciated for a hardware noob like me.

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ogig
Consider the low resolution of this piano speech. Pay attention at how many
notes are used to create that low resolution speech, then imagine how many
notes/frequencies are really used in natural speech.

As an amateur singer it's amazing and frightening how big is the range to sing
out of tune.

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callinyouin
Assuming it's not all homegrown, can anyone determine what software he was
using besides MPlayer?

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Tistel
great. now my nightmares have a voice. :)

I do love the fact that someone had a non-trivial odd-ball idea and followed
through.

