Thursday, November 15, 2012
Sheet Music Scanner Will Play Your Symphony Without an Orchestra
gizmodo.com: A group of researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a handheld scanner that's able to read sheet music and play back a composition in real-time whether it's designed for a piano, a guitar, or an entire symphony. So if it's ever commercialized, wannabe Mozarts and Beethovens will always have an orchestra at their disposal.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I've always been fascinated by OCR technology, but I've never seen it in a handheld device before, this is really neat. It makes sense that all of the processing still has to happen in a computer now, because I know even when I scan text documents and OCR convert them to real text, it takes a while to process. Because this is a music-specific application or OCR technology, I am very curious how the programming handles reading the timing and rhythm of a score. Although the note lengths are represented in the musical notation itself, (1/4 note, whole note, etc.) the speed at which the user scans the paper would affect how much time (or how little time) the program has to interpret the wait time between notes, as well as each note's duration. Is there a time delay between scanning and playback? Does the user scan the entire system of measures in a line of the score before it begins playback?
This is really neat. There will never be anything like a live orchestra, but to be able to have this tool to hear what something sounds like without one opens up new possibilities to composers. I would be interested to find out more specifics about how the program works. IT must be able to accept the rhythm it is given and somehow read the notes and orchestrations via scanner, but how accurate is it? And is there a variation based on neatness or style of composition? I understand that it is still a new technology, and that more research and tweaking will probably have to be done. However, this is a major step forward for composition - an area which has historically been less computerized than many others.
What?! How cool is this? I'm stunned. I can't get over how specific this is. I wonder how this will progress. It seems like this could easily influence how people write music in the future - especially with size corresponding to volume. I would absolutely love to try this product out. I think this will drastically change how people compose. This has the potential to be an incredible tool for musicians, composers, designers, and artists - not to mention for teaching music. I can't wait for products like this to become readily available to the public and I look forward to seeing how it changes the music industry.
I don't see how useful this is. Sure, its cool, but the uses are extremely limited. The only application seems to be initial listening to a handwritten piece of music for a composer (which isn't all that useful to them- they wrote it so they probably have some idea what it sounds like), or for teaching. Also, it looks like it uses its own sort of notation (i.e. larger notes for louder), which means you'd have to write in a different way to make this technology useful. I also agree with Will- the fact that speed is not automated makes me further doubt the usefulness because a constant tempo is one of the major factors of music.
This technology has been around for a while. In the 90’s there was software that you could write in your notes and it would play it. There was also a pen deal that would scan what you write and turn it to text. These good people just combined the technology. Good for them.
Couple things: A genuine question, do composers really hands compose? I assumed all modern composers did it in digitally. If they did they would not even need this program-
This begs the discussion that was began last week with the talk of hand sign painting and what not. But there is a time when computes will replace all elements of our lives, even the artistic ones. It is sad but true. Right before the zombie apocalypse.
I think that this is wonderful technology, but I am unsure how useful it will actually be. I wonder how many composers now compose there music by hand. I think that this product might just become a cool this than technology can do , more of a toy, then anything that a musician would often use. It might however lead technology in an interesting direction.
Technology just gets crazier and crazier. This is such a fascinating invention. I really like it because of the fact that they seemed to make it with education and composing in mind and not as a replacement for the real live thing. When I first saw the article I thought it would be such a great tool for composers to try out a few different ideas and tweak things before they even get access to a live orchestra. I never thought of it being a good education tool but now that they mentioned it, I think thats brilliant. I myself have had a hard time trying to learn to read music (I am an auditory learner) and I think myself and many other kids out there would really benefit from seeing the notes on the page while simultaneously hearing the exact way the note makes the music sound.
Post a Comment