This is very, very cool - one can only imagine Da Vinci's delight had he known this thing would actually be built and played all this time later!<p>Sadly, the demo video is incredibly useless. Not only is it an obnoxiously cut-together collage of song fragments, it also never shows how the organ actually works. They do show off the room it's standing in, the pianist, and the audience in detail, but not the instrument nor do they do an acceptable job at providing a good listening experience. One can only assume this is by design, since the article is pretty vague on the inner workings of the organ as well.<p>Still, the project itself is very neat. I'm looking forward to hearing more from the <i>viola organista</i>.
I hate to be that guy, but Leonardo didn't really innovate here: the hurdy-gurdy had existed for a long time by the time he sketched out this instrument, and it had rosined wheels turning against strings, the different pitches being selected by a crude keyboard of buttons. Sure, this is more refined, but all the important elements were present in an existing instrument.<p>Still, though, it makes a pleasant, musically useful sound. I wonder how hard it is to keep in adjustment; it seems like it would be touchy (just like the hurdy-gurdy).
The work of Zubrzycki is impressive. For having studied acoustics quite a bit, I'm very impressed by the fact that the sound manages to have both a very short attack an a very good sustain (thanks to the wheel). Controlling the vibration of a bowed string must have been extremely difficult... For the interested reader, there's a more detailed article here:
<a href="http://tygodnik.onet.pl/zmysly/the-da-vinci-tone-in-english/qw5s9" rel="nofollow">http://tygodnik.onet.pl/zmysly/the-da-vinci-tone-in-english/...</a>
Here's someone from Japan who's been making Geigenwerk and Streichklavier for the last twenty years. Neat videos.<p><a href="http://obuchi.music.coocan.jp/Geigenwerk/index-e.htm" rel="nofollow">http://obuchi.music.coocan.jp/Geigenwerk/index-e.htm</a>
Super cool. In both sound and musical capabilities, it seems like it shares a lot with the viola da gamba, especially as they both compare to modern stringed instruments; gambas, being fretted, can't achieve vibrato in the same way that modern strings can, and so depend a lot more on ornaments (trills, mordents, etc.) for emphasis. They also lack dynamic range as compared to modern strings because of their simpler bows, meaning dynamics were often achieved by adding or removing voices in ensembles. This new instrument is similar: vibrato and dynamics probably aren't easily achievable, so it seems well-suited to gamba repertoire.<p>No surprise, then, that in the Polish-language video linked elsewhere in the comments here, he plays a couple of M. de Sainte Colombe pieces, as he was a master gamba performer and composer.
The Brazilian ensemble Uakti plays another take on the bowed string and wheel instrument. Hauntingly beautiful. Can't get enough of Uakti.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yZijDmnLuY" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yZijDmnLuY</a>
Much better article, interview, and video here (watch the bottom one with CC on): <a href="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/11/viola-organista/" rel="nofollow">http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/11/viola-organista/</a>