. . . that I mentioned in a post two days ago: it's been played beside a genuine Stradivarius instrument. From the video's home page:
The ‘3Dvarius VS Stradivarius’ video is a musical duet between Pauline Henric, a classical violinist and Laurent Bernadac, an electric violinist. The song is a Laurent Bernadac’s composition.
This video was shot in the Roman Theatre of Orange in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur near to Avignon and Marseille (South of France). The Roman Theatre of Orange is without doubt one of the finest remnants of the Roman Empire. Exceptional evidence of Ancient Rome and part of the UNESCO World Heritage list, it is the best preserved theatre in Europe. Special thanks to M. Michael Couzigou, director of the theatre, and Frédéric Sabatier, stage manager for their precious help.
The comparison is fascinating.
Great playing from both musicians.
Peter
5 comments:
It looks like the 3dvarius is more of a MIDI controller/trigger source than a viable acoustic instrument. I watched this video then went to Youtube and watched the beginning of a "live" session on Spanish TV, Laurent began by looping a percussion line then a simple bass track, but he was sitting in front of a bank of sound processing modules to do his magic.
We are getting there, it is only a matter of time before the first acoustic violin is printed...
There's still a pretty obvious electronic edge to the printed one that's a little hard on the ears.
It's an entertaining video. I think Laurent Bernadac is the musician I saw play the 3DVarius when they first printed it.
The 3DVarius is an electric instrument, bearing the same relationship to an acoustic violin as a Fender Stratocaster does to a fine acoustic guitar. They have the same number of strings and similar sizes, but that's about it. By itself, it makes very quiet sounds, so the pickups feed the signal to an amplifier and the signal manipulations that go on there. To carry the analogy, the acoustic characteristics of an electric guitar are essentially meaningless; creating the tone that the audience hears is what the electronics are for. Exactly the same with this 3DVarius.
There are tons of plastic electric violins on the market; the novelty of the 3DVarius is strictly that it was printed. As far as electric violins go, it's hardly the first. Just enter "electric violin" into the search engine on eBay and look at thousands of instruments that show up.
You might be surprised the places a Stradivarius can end up. I went to high school with a kid named Joe Caverlee (he was in my younger brother's class) who had shown talent early and found a patron who loaned him a Strad more or less permanently. I was fortunate to see him play in a few local bands when I was older. He's an accomplished bluegrass and country fiddler now--quite far from the stuffy concert halls you'd expect. I've heard that fiddle; I know it's the player and not the instrument, but he'd play it and you'd stop breathing, just before you wept.
Here he is (but sadly, not the Strad)in one of his more successful commercial ventures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjmcQVec7jA
Antibubba
I guess I'm out of touch--Joe's a permanent member of Tracy Lawrence's band!
Antibubba
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