Entertainment

Musicians’ Own Heartbeats Drive This Orchestra’s Visual Performance

Take a peak at the screen behind this small “Heart Chamber Orchestra.” Those visuals are generated by a series of electrocardiograms and wires attached to the musicians. Their heartbeats create the visuals, which become increasingly powerful as the piece unfolds.


June 17, 2010
Software

An App To Help You Conduct A 200,000 iPhone Orchestra

The Street Orchestra iPhone app is like a simple version of Rock Band that lets you play classical music with up to 200,000 synched iPhones. Simple, classy, and free.


October 20, 2008
Entertainment

Sympho Canvas Orchestra Replaces Musicians With Speakers

Whoever said recorded music doesn’t have the same intensity as a live performance should meet Lead Sound, the Japanese company behind the Sympho Canvas virtual orchestra. Forty-six speakers are arrayed in a concert hall similar to the placement of instruments in a real orchestra and each speaker “plays” a discrete track. Four more fill in human voices and the rest add extra audio to improve the sonic facade. While this seems like an obvious experiment, it’s actually really really creepy, too, a totally still room brought to life with the music of ghosts.