The Edelweiss Talking Piano

US Exuberant overview from Mark Rober 20/03/22

A talking piano plays the fundamental frequencies of a sound using FFTs to mimic the human voice and many other things. The first one was shown by an Austrian composer named Peter Ablinger at the 2009 at the World Venice Forum, which you can see in the video below. In the video above, youtuber Mark Rober enthusiastically demonstrates what it can do, explaining how a piano key actually works, and goes over the mechanics inside 'Chopstix'.

Aside from the slightly over enthusiastic presentation style and a cringe inducing fire effect, it's shows whats happening inside the piano very well. Using solenoids on each key allows the piano to trigger notes over a 128 step velocity range - which sounds familiar! We get to see a MIDI file being recorded and played back on the piano, as well as some highly complex pieces testing it to the limits.

Here's Peter Ablinger's speaking piano:

If you want one of your own, here is the Edelweiss website: https://www.edelweissinfo.com/

About the author [midierror]: midierror makes nifty Max For Live devices, innovative music hardware, award winning sample packs and hosts a podcast speaking to people in the music world.