Pat Metheny- Orchestrion FAQ Question #2

[leebax]

Interesting that he's still using the Synclavier, which I saw him demo in 1981. (It's sitting behind him) In a sense the Orchestrion is doing what the Synclavier was trying to do. They're both ancient.

[crimulus]

Fantastic concept, but to me it's still kind of like playing with a recording of yourself. The next step is mimicking a performer's catalog of variations to give some randomness in sound but still stay within the general patterns of a performer (so that you literally can feed off your own variations and, of course, compensate for the high-nights and low-nights in performing).

[KawhackitaRag]

Check out the Componium, invented by Diedrich Nikolaus Winkel, which did basically what you're describing (minus the additional live performer, who theoretically could play along with the instrument if they knew the tune). And - it did this in 1821!

[julphan]

@KawhackitaRag The orchestrion plays back what he just played. Everything Pat played, will be sent to those instruments as MIDI commanders and respond back as real sounds. The idea came from the player piano but the process is totally different. The addition is not the performer but the orchestrion.

[CJ81]

same here

[eysikal]

Looking forward to the record and tour.