Self-Playing Violin: The Virtual Paganini

Aug 21 2006, 8:00am CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

I've always found player pianos to be just about the most interesting old-fashioned musical instrument concept ever, but I've never really thought about applying that same idea to other instruments...until I saw this. It's billed as the world's first self-playing violin.

The violin is quite obviously a much more difficult instrument to automate than a piano, which is why it took a retired president of a military technology company and a former NASA administrator to create it.It's titled the Virtuoso and it's quite a marvel. It is set to make its first concert debut in Sydney some time in the near future. You can watch the Virtuoso in action in this YouTube video. It's actually kind of surreal to just watch the violin playing itself. It's hard to believe it's not some kind of special effects thing.

The Virtuoso is actually already for sale, though it's just about the most expensive stringed instrument you'll ever find, at $17,500.

Via TechEBlog

Report Published by: Mark Raby

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Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at ml@i4u.com. Luigi posts regularly on LuigiMe.com about his experience running I4U.