All your basses are belong to me...

[SolarMan]

Originally Posted by 96tbird

You could at least be accurate in the usage of words chosen to insult someone directly, especially one that has a very ironclad definition. Chill, our contemptuous rudeness may betray the maturity of your mind.

The others that intelligently explained their opinions, I acknowledge them. The maker of the bass robot is a very talented person. I'm quite sure I never denied that. That person has a bright future. That machine is a project with zero practical use, but still a nifty piece of work. My comments were directed to the OP and the title of the thread, not to poke fun or belittle but to say NAH. Yes I realize he isn't serious in his comments; but if you open a discussion, you get a discussion.

Sorry! - I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers.

I have never heard anyone react to the word luddite like it was a slur or derogatory in any way - so you surprise me with your response. I consider myself to be a luddite - and I would love to smash all the machines that keep getting better and better until one day they take my job. I will live to see my profession essentially evaporate to compter databases and robotics. Of course the law prevents us modern day luddites from acting out - but in spirit we feel the same way.

Of course if the luddiets won, we would still be riding horses and picking cotton by hand - but there needs to be a balance at some point somewhere because technology is not going to stop. Eventually human labor and minds we become essentialy inferior products and an elite few will own us.

So, if I played bass I can imagine some day that a producer can hire a robot session bassist that can read music, add nuance, improvise, and write music. That day is coming my friend - although to the extent I am suggesting probably not in our lifetime. You said that you were not impressed and that when you see a robot with 10 fingers pick up and play a Sadowsky, then you will be impressed. But, you see, we won't get to your robot if we don't build these first.

Anyway, not trying to rant - Just wanted to try to make my point as clear as possible and that I meant no insult or ill will.

Peace

[96tbird]

Thank you. My apology to you as well. So then you were stating that you yourself are a Luddite? LOL, I put my foot in it there; seems to be a skill I possess.

Fortunately in my line of work, I have little to worry about unless they can imbue machines with the power of suspicion and intuition. I am currently uncovering a case of executive fraud and embezzlement. Let's see a computer do that. Even as blatant as this case is, no way a machine will ever be able, it can only manipulate numbers, it will never "see" them.

On topic, I think that a machine with four "left hands" and sixteen right hands ( the four plectrum holders with four plec's) is as I said earlier is only a novelty.

[Clef_de_fa]

Originally Posted by FretlessMainly

A key component of music is the human element that keeps excellent time. Perfect is not good; it sounds fake.

You ditch Rap, Electronica or video games music until 2000... or any music made with a computer...

[BogeyBass]

Maybe this is the perfect solution for needing to go pee in the middle of a show.

automated music has been a obsession with many famous players.
nevermind thousands of quarters ever droped into a coin operated Nickelodeon for innocent entertainment

I dont see why so many people find this offensive somehow.

does the machine play bass better than you or something?

thumbs up for being midi capable
it would be fun to jam to this machine on drums or guitar

also being able to sit in your living room and listen to a player piano is rather fun.
So having a whole midi controlled band would be just heaven.

you could even download Rebbecca black midi files and play everything through distortion and envelope filters for a robot version of Friday. darn so so sweet........JK

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by BogeyBass

So having a whole midi controlled band would be just heaven.

Near where I live there is an old 1920s era carousell in Glen Echo Park, Maryland, and it has a completely automated Wurlitzer marching band-style music machine built into it, complete with organ, drums, and horns, all run off of paper rolls and powered by an electric motor via belt drive. The whole thing fits into a space the size of a large closet on one side of the merry-go-round. The front of it, where the riders will see it, is a big fancy wooden facade with mechanical shutters that open and close to control volume.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtFMieTbdmo



Does it sound as good as a real band with trained musicians? Maybe not. Does it sound better than a high school band? Yes. The sound is loud and in tune and quite impressive.

Is it practicle? Of course it is; there's no way you could afford to pay for, and make space for, a real band in a merry-go-round in a tiny park.

It is an awesome piece of machinery and a tribute to the engineers who built such things in the 1920s, it's loud, and somebody is writing new paper rolls for it because I've heard it play some modern pop sings arranged for a marching band.

It's perfectly possible to build a robotic band and has been for decades.

you could even download Rebbecca black midi files and play everything through distortion and envelope filters for a robot version of Friday. darn so so sweet........JK

I would do that strictly to troll my neighbors.

[FretlessMainly]

Originally Posted by Clef_de_fa

You ditch Rap, Electronica or video games music until 2000... or any music made with a computer...

Gladly, with a swift kick toward the door.

I should add, however, that the creation that is the subject of this thread is a fine piece of engineering.

[SolarMan]

Here is question that might throw some light onto another subject:

Is it easier to build a Robot Bass or a Robot Guitar...?

Now...this is at least the 2nd robot bass I have seen.

But, has anyone yet seen a Robot Guitar that can impress anybody?

Now, here is one that I think we can all agree is actually useful -

Robot Assisted Guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WetVXbYRfWk

Maybe a Robot Assisted Bass would actually sell today?

(yep, it will lead to lazy humans...and then you know what comes next!)

[xaxxat]

I spent 14 years working in motion control.

I'm highly impressed with this.

James has a bright future ahead of him.

[steve_rolfeca]

Originally Posted by Clef_de_fa

...You ditch Rap, Electronica or video games music until 2000... or any music made with a computer...

I'm sorry, what was your point?

;-D

[1SHOT1HIT]

I could see full robotic music being cool, but it'll never replace humans, no matter how cool anyone could ever make it.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ahoqR6OGdM

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...5EtuoXu29ZXziw

[thewildest]

Originally Posted by xaxxat

I spent 14 years working in motion control.

I'm highly impressed with this.

James has a bright future ahead of him.

If you were highly impressed with this, sit down while you watch this....

http://www.patmetheny.com/orchestrioninfo/

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by 1SHOT1HIT

I could see full robotic music being cool, but it'll never replace humans, no matter how cool anyone could ever make it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ahoqR6OGdM

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...5EtuoXu29ZXziw

Personally I'm a big fan of animusic even though many musicians (including some here in TB) put it down pretty hard. But then Animusic isn't real machines. Just imaginative thought-machines. Cute to watch but not real.

However the bass machine IS real and oddly except for things like a rotary pick replacing the virtual animusic fingers it is amazingly similar to the animusic bass in the "retro" example.

Now that said, allow me to point out that 1shot1hit's statement here that many seem to agree with that robot instruments can "never" replace humans is dead wrong. Let me tell you what I mean. Let us exclude the "creative" side of things such as composition and expression.

So what is left: reproduction. So can a robot REPRODUCE a performance by a human player on the same instrument? And that answer has been "yes" long before there was even sound recording! I'm talking back to the turn of the 19th century! There was invented the "reproducing piano" capable of exactly recreating, expresion and all, the performance previously "recorded" on it. (Unlike a "player" piano which looses the expression) This device even gave concerts in the period. And I'd add that it also constitutes the ONLY "recordings" we have of some of the great composers playing their compositions on the piano. Gershwin, Dubussy, Ravel etc. And those "recordings" are amazing "time machines"!

So, could an auto-bass robot be designed with enough control that it could exactly reproduce a given performance by some bass great like jaco or jamerson? Sure it could. So in that limited sense a robot is "replacing" a human performer.

But can the robot emulate the creativity of a Jaco solo? Well, it can't now, but I'm not so silly as to say "never". But at present we'll have to let those into AI demonstrate the artificial Jaco brain first...

[superbassman2000]

It's a cool thing, but i'd rather see the demo of it doing something that people can't do.

Also, it's not a big deal. Bass players are always in fear of their job taken away by machines, such as keyboards, midi sequencers and computers...it's a cool concept, but at the same time, it's not a musical breakthrough in getting your bass player to play the song right.

[xaxxat]

Originally Posted by thewildest

If you were highly impressed with this, sit down while you watch this....

http://www.patmetheny.com/orchestrioninfo/

I knew it - Pat Metheny is a cyborg!

Cool link. Thanks.

[1SHOT1HIT]

Originally Posted by bassbenj

Personally I'm a big fan of animusic even though many musicians (including some here in TB) put it down pretty hard. But then Animusic isn't real machines. Just imaginative thought-machines. Cute to watch but not real.

However the bass machine IS real and oddly except for things like a rotary pick replacing the virtual animusic fingers it is amazingly similar to the animusic bass in the "retro" example.

Now that said, allow me to point out that 1shot1hit's statement here that many seem to agree with that robot instruments can "never" replace humans is dead wrong. Let me tell you what I mean. Let us exclude the "creative" side of things such as composition and expression.

So what is left: reproduction. So can a robot REPRODUCE a performance by a human player on the same instrument? And that answer has been "yes" long before there was even sound recording! I'm talking back to the turn of the 19th century! There was invented the "reproducing piano" capable of exactly recreating, expresion and all, the performance previously "recorded" on it. (Unlike a "player" piano which looses the expression) This device even gave concerts in the period. And I'd add that it also constitutes the ONLY "recordings" we have of some of the great composers playing their compositions on the piano. Gershwin, Dubussy, Ravel etc. And those "recordings" are amazing "time machines"!

So, could an auto-bass robot be designed with enough control that it could exactly reproduce a given performance by some bass great like jaco or jamerson? Sure it could. So in that limited sense a robot is "replacing" a human performer.

But can the robot emulate the creativity of a Jaco solo? Well, it can't now, but I'm not so silly as to say "never". But at present we'll have to let those into AI demonstrate the artificial Jaco brain first...

I disagree, I'm not saying that a robot/machine couldn't/can't do it, I'm saying that, IMO, there will never come a time where human musicians will become obsolete, no matter how cool, or perfect the machine.
Music is so much more than notes and sounds.

Not saying there isn't also room for cool bass playing robots either, there is. Sure.
But people have always had a need to express themselves through various mediums, IE; art, music, dance, etc.
Just as the perfect photo copy will never kill the painter. The perfect mechanical musician will never kill the human artist.
Just don't see it.


And bringing up a point that it was done long ago, only further proves my point, didn't take over then, won't take over now, and no matter how great it gets, or how awesome it seems, it's no substitute to the beautiful relation people have with music.

[BogeyBass]

Originally Posted by SolarMan

But, has anyone yet seen a Robot Guitar that can impress anybody?

Yah I think how about GTRBOT666 plays guitar and bass
all robot band drums, horns, guitars, bass

then a one man, a man who has actually been captured by robots
and forced to play in their band.

Spectrum thanks for the links im a fan of all things automated.
Have visited alot of private and public collections to hear them in person. your lucky to be close to something like that.

there is a company trying to find the links that makes midi controlled violins banjos drums pianos horns pretty much everything. Might buy one someday then have a all midi bluegrass band or something. lol

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by SolarMan

Robot Assisted Guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WetVXbYRfWk

Maybe a Robot Assisted Bass would actually sell today?

(yep, it will lead to lazy humans...and then you know what comes next!)

Oddly, as negative as I am about alternate tunings in a bass, I happen to own TWO of those robot guitars. An SG and an LP. I use it for open tunings in many keys for bottleneck playing. I also have a resonator guitar with that hipshot mechanical nighmare that does the same thing. Neither of these devices will give you the warm fuzzies. The mechanical one tends to be inaccurate while the Gibson tends to be slow. BUT, dig, this is the ONLY thing I know out there that lets you go from one open tuning to another in a reasonably fast time. The other alternative is to have a brace of guitars with each tuned to a different tuning (yes, I have that too with the monster guitar rack that goes with it.)

But in spite of the utility for me, I think Gibson had the idea that millions of rockers (did you note the almost 2 million views of that video? wow!) would buy these things. No sale. Which is how I got mine for a song. I don't think they even sell them anymore. And when it dies (batteries always die) I don't think Gibson will repair it. My conversation with customer service led me to believe that either they won't repair it or it will cost like a new guitar. I asked about replacement batteries and they refuse to sell them.

But like most things, when you see a problem, this is an idea for an invention. I just think that Gibson was thinking of a different problem from the one it really solved. How many bottleneck players out there will even consider a Les Paul? By the way even without the robot tuning that LP is one SWEET guitar! The SG not so much.

[Energy]

Originally Posted by 96tbird

Unimpressed.

Me too, beacause I think this bass robot looks waaaaay cooler.

[levis76]

So this is the guy who will eventually invent SkyNet, then we are all well and truly f@#$ed!!