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In a comparable vein to musical video games such as Guitar Hero and Trombone Champ comes ’Viola’ – Google’s brand-new cello-playing AI bird.
Now, I like the obstacle of a computer game. Anyone who understands me is aware that I can be discovered whiling away downtime glued to my Nintendo Switch, tough good friends to a Mario Kart competition, or recently, splayed on my sofa on a Sunday playing Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (when you start playing that video game, it is really hard to stop – if you understand, you understand). Sometimes when I lose web connection, I’ll spend ages on Google Chrome playing that dinosaur leaping video game.
So when I became aware of Google and David Li’s latest music-meets-tech partnership, ’Viola the Bird’, where you manage a huge purple bird playing a cello, clearly I needed to drop whatever to attempt it.
Viola the Bird is explained by Google as the world’s very first stringed instrument ’bird-tuoso’. Using your computer system mouse, you drag the bow, which is kept in Viola’s mouth, throughout the single string of a cello standing upright. There are 2 playing modes: show and freestyle. In show mode, you are directed to reproduce a tune by corresponding your bow strokes with a vertical line that shows the length of time to bet. Luckily, pitch is looked after; Viola the Bird’s left hand – or rather, leg?! – is holding up the neck of the cello (not that it seems doing much) so all you need to do is hold down the button and move your mouse from delegated right. It’s more a rhythm video game than anything else.
I was amazed by the variety of pieces available in show mode. I started with Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’, which was basic enough. Scrolling through, I couldn’t help however attempt my hand (leg…neck?) at Pachelbel’s Canon in D – having actually played that bass-line various times at wedding events as a bored cellist, I was pleased to take a crack at playing the tune! But it got rather tough in the area with demisemiquavers (I can hear the Americans weeping ‘32nd notes!’) as my mouse action looked like furious tremolo skating throughout my desktop. You can likewise choose to play the Prelude from Bach’s Solo Cello Suite no.1 (fortunately those three-note slurs throughout the strings are looked after – you simply require to pull the bow throughout), along with Schubert’s Ave Maria and ‘Jupiter’ from Holst’s The Planets.
As a string gamer, I needed to get my head around the manner in which the AI directs you to drag your mouse to the right initially (as if you’re doing a down bow) however this is reversed in Viola’s actions – she presses the bow with her (hilariously) slender neck when you go right so it appears like you’re doing an up bow rather.
’I ended up on an up bow!’ I regreted, as I reached completion of ‘Ode to Joy’.
Chaos occurred in freestyle mode. Viola the Bird is carried from the auditorium and put in front of a background of a waterfall and stone ruins (where is she?!) where her cello is changed with a cruder, ancient variation of the instrument. It seems made from corrugated cardboard. The bridge appears to have actually fallen to where the tailpiece ought to be. In freestyle mode, this time you can manage the pitch – not with your left leg as you might anticipate, however by altering the contact point area on the string. This suggests that in order to play a high pitch, you bow incredibly sul tasto, while to play a low note, you bow sul ponticello.
*wince*
OK, I shouldn’t take it too seriously. But it is quite amusing, and addicting too. And maybe a good chance to discover fantastic works of collection for those who are unknown.
I put it towards other members of The Strad editorial group, who put their abilities to the test.
’It’s oddly enjoyable, however needing to alter instructions on every note is frustrating,’ said Emma, The Strad’s editor. Ever musical, she continued, ’I wish to PHRASE it.’
’It’s rather enjoyable – not truly a musical instrument though,’ said Christian, our handling editor, who likewise felt restricted by the innovation. ’I couldn’t see how to play sharps or flats, so it simply appears to use entire tones; likewise playing gradually appeared to be near difficult – the slower I got, the quieter it got too!’
According to Google, the innovation was established with cellists and violinists Ashok Klouda, Dave Larkin, Elizabeth Goble, Peter Wilson, Zhivko Georgiev, and music arrangers Charles Mauleverer and Martin Batchelar. They established the experiment by training a neural network — a maker finding out design that can be trained on information — to comprehend cello and violin structures. The neural network was then used to produce a real-time audio synthesis engine that can produce the noises of a cello or violin based upon the gamer’s input.
’Viola the Bird is a terrific method for anybody to discover stringed instruments and to explore their own imagination through music,’ says Google.
‘I have made contemporary music!’ proclaimed Emma.
While we concur it’s a little bit of enjoyable, it’s definitely no alternative to getting a genuine instrument in your hands (not your leg). As Christian said, ’it’s a bit like declaring you might pass your driving test after a couple of video games of Grand Theft Auto.’
Want to take a crack at? Try your neck at Viola the Bird here:
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