virtual music

Remember player pianos? You dropped in a roll of music and the piano sprang to life, with the keys rising and falling apparently of their own accord, pneumatically manifesting the chords and melodies inscribed on the sheet of paper winding its way through the piano’s innards. It was as if a ghost was seated there, bringing the music to life. Unseen. The ghost in the machine.

Now take that same idea and add a generous dose of 3D computer programming. With the physical constraints of the real world lifted, a whole new realm of possibility opens up. New instruments. New compositions. New ways of thinking about music. The only real limit in this world is the depth of one’s imagination and the ability to bring those visions to life.

If you could create a virtual instrument, what would it be?