quote: "Similarly digitally enhanced are the electric violins, a family of new hybrid instruments that are sufficiently well-established to become a mainstay of the modern music scene."
I don't know about the new part of it, Jean-Luc Ponty has been fiddling with electricity since since the late-60's.
This seems like a good opportunity to plug my friend Felix's Machines. A weird collection of music making machines that remove the human from performance. Check them out here: http://felixsmachines.com/
There are some more slightly more amateur videos of the machines on Youtube as well. There's also a video of Felix's TED talk coming out soon. And some albums next year I think...
I don't know about the new part of it, Jean-Luc Ponty has been fiddling with electricity since since the late-60's.
For some examples and maybe early '80's hair see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKkMvBvyqvE (violin starts around 1:15), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk3ffGs40VY&feature=playe.... Plenty of other examples are out there, some of it wears well.
For more recent stuff, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_T9adkdBhY.
I have good memories of reading the whole Chronicles of Narnia to the album "Imaginary Voyage": http://www.amazon.com/Imaginary-Voyage-Jean-Luc-Ponty/dp/B00...