I'm more intrigued by the premise behind this wild robotics project than the technology itself: "What if digital music could control a real instrument and become physical sound again?"
That's what propelled the invention of the MegCell Pulse, a 3D-printable robotic system that can fit on any acoustic guitar and play music you feed it in a digital tablature format. This machine will actually press the strings down between frets and pluck those strings in time, like a human guitarist.
So what you hear is the sound of the instrument itself, with all its acoustic properties along with those of the room it's placed in.
The machine works using a series of gears, magnetic actuators, and arms in a mechanical structure split into the equivalent of a musician's fretting hand and picking hand.
We've seen robots play instruments before, but this is a wholly different take on the idea. The Pulse can perform much more intricate compositions than, say, a pair of industrial robot arms, and can work directly off of digital notations without the need for custom programming.
The New Zealand-based engineer behind this, who goes only by Bruce online, has not only developed the machine and calibrated the mechanical componentry; he's also enabled it to assist a human musician by taking over fretting duties.
You can see an example of this in the video above.
Bruce has even worked on making the Pulse replicable. He's put together a Kickstarter campaign to fund this project; backers will receive STL files for 3D printing most of the components, along with a separate list of parts and assembly instructions to put the whole thing together on your own. That also means it can be repaired and upgraded in the future.
Now, there are certainly some limitations as to what it can play in its current form – it doesn't cover the entire fretboard of most guitars, and can't slide between frets to play legato licks. But it's still impressive, and indeed delivers on the promise of delivering physical sound to the listener.
Bruce notes that the system is still evolving; I wonder if there's scope to incorporate embellishments and artifacts in the Pulse's performances that might make it sound more human.
Source: Kickstarter
