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A "Game-changer"???

Started by KB7DQH, April 12, 2012, 07:56:04 AM

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KB7DQH

For the past few days I have seen story after story about the following technological combination...

Here are but a few examples...

http://www.fellowgeek.com/a-Watch-This--Kinect-Hacked-to-Control-Organ-ix1983.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEMbjnTJCHM

http://chrisvik.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/controlling-a-4-story-pipe-organ-with-the-kinect/

Kinect Hacked to Control Organ
There are Kinect hacks, then there are Kinect hacks. This is one heck of a Kinect hack. An australian composer, who also happens to be a fan of the Kinect, decided that he would meld his two passions together into one mind-blowing technology demonstration. Using a 4 storey, 83 year old pipe organ and Microsoft's killer XBox peripheral, he created an organ that was controlled by his motions rather than a keyboard.

The project is possible because the pipe organ was upgraded to support MIDI in the 1980's.

Chris Vik, creator of this project, had previously made a custom program called KinectAR that turns your Kinect into a MIDI controller. He used it to make electronic dance music controlled by, well, dancing.

MIDI being MIDI, Vik is able to control any MIDI instrument with a Kinect, now, whether it is an old analog synth of a gigantic many-tonned monstrosity.

Vik teamed up with veteran singer Elise Richards for a new song composed for the organ. They played the piece at a town hall performance last November. You can catch a snippet of it below.

Vik's wondrous Kinect hacks are made all the more impressive when you consider that he has only been toying with the Kinect since last April.

I, for one, can't wait to see what the next hack he makes does.

If you want to give KinectAR a go for yourself, he offers it free online.


From Vik's Wordpress blog...

QuoteControlling a 4-story pipe organ with the Kinect
Posted on April 3, 2012

In this video I briefly explain and demonstrate how I used the Kinect to control the massive Melbourne Town Hall Organ. It contains a short excerpt from our performance "Carpe Zythum" November 2011.

I've created my own software Kinectar, which allows the use of the Kinect to control MIDI devices, ie. playing notes through simple gestures and motion. The Melbourne Town Hall Organ got a referb in the late 90s adding the ability of MIDI messages to active the notes... this happened.

The company that provided the control system to allow the organ to be played via MIDI are Solid State Organ System.

Co-composition and Kinect performance and programming by Chris Vik
Co-composition, lyrics and vocals by Elise Richards

Video produced by Unkle Nicnac Films

Full performance out next week!

I can only imagine this would raise awareness of pipe organs amongst the greater population generally :o 8) ??? ::)

Eric
KB7DQH
The objective is to reach human immortality—that is, to create things which are necessary to mankind, necessary to the purpose of the existence of mankind, and which have become the fruit that drives the creation of a higher state of mankind than ever existed before."

KB7DQH

Especially as this has gone quite viral...  I still receive "alerts" about this, and I am quite surprised nobody here has bothered to comment ::) ??? :-[ :-\ :o

Eric
KB7DQH
The objective is to reach human immortality—that is, to create things which are necessary to mankind, necessary to the purpose of the existence of mankind, and which have become the fruit that drives the creation of a higher state of mankind than ever existed before."

AnOrganCornucopia

More gimmick than game-changer, I suspect. Could be useful at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom, I suppose.