Viola Organista by Da Vinci

[KatMaestro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sv3py3Ap8_Y

Reconstructed by Sławomir Zubrzycki. The Viola Organista is basically a hurdy gurdy but more elegant and awesome. I consider this is the greatest music hack in human history. [Original article]

Who wouldn't want a piano to play string instruments?

What do you think of this?

[Phonometrologist]

At 3/11/14 12:39 AM, Elitistinen wrote: Who wouldn't want a piano to play string instruments?

What do you think of this?

Well it does sound like the name that is given. At first my ears kept getting confused to what it was hearing, i.e. a harpsichord, an organ, and cello? But I'm getting use to the sound, and it is only fitting to play the works that he did which were close to that era. Though, I would have liked to hear how it would sound with more modern works.

I think it is clever to come up with an instrument like this that sounds more like a bowed instrument because of the difficulty of having to place the finger at a certain spot to get the right intonation as it is in stringed instruments. It's much easier to just have to think about pressing down on a key.
Thanks for sharing.

[KatMaestro]

At 3/11/14 01:42 AM, Phonometrologist wrote:
Well it does sound like the name that is given. At first my ears kept getting confused to what it was hearing, i.e. a harpsichord, an organ, and cello? But I'm getting use to the sound, and it is only fitting to play the works that he did which were close to that era. Though, I would have liked to hear how it would sound with more modern works.

Ya I first heard of this I thought its sound was a cross between harp and organ. Though it sounds much more unique than what I thought. It's very interesting how its maker constructed the Viola Organista.

I think it is clever to come up with an instrument like this that sounds more like a bowed instrument because of the difficulty of having to place the finger at a certain spot to get the right intonation as it is in stringed instruments. It's much easier to just have to think about pressing down on a key.

Back in the day there was no virtual library plugged with MIDI controller so I guess Da Vinci had to come up with something like this. Nowadays we have massive libraries playing hundred kinds of sound.

I would love to play this one day...

Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome :)

[Rahmemhotep]

Honestly (it might be because I know of such a vast amount of instruments) I'm not impressed. It's a very normal sounding instrument.

[Phonometrologist]

At 3/11/14 12:44 PM, Rahmemhotep wrote: I'm not impressed. It's a very normal sounding instrument.

Agreed, but what I find most interesting about it is the history of what could’ve been.
If instead of the harpsichord, it makes one wonder how music would have been composed on this instrument and would it be any different? The use of trills and other ornamentation wouldn’t have been needed as much to keep a certain note in focus because of the decay and lack of variation in volume of the harpsichord. I think this instrument sounds much better than some of the instruments of the time such as the clavichord.

[samulis]

It reminds me much of the Bowed Psaltery or of the Viol family, which were the stringed instruments of Da Vinci's day before the Violin family came into the limelight.

[SoundChris]

When i invented this they called me da vinci ... as time goes by ... thanks for the nice memories :D