This plays so beautifully, literally brought a tear to my eye. the man who tuned this should open his own business for tuning them, he did it near perfectly. a rare thing considering there are 4 seperate instruments here.
Thank you so very much for your very kind comments! It is very nice/good to read that the instrument still brings jou and tears in the eyes of its audiences. I would Also like to thank you for writing ever so joyous about the tuning of pith the piano and the 3 droefste Violins. I tuned the instrument myself just before every recording. Indeed it off VITAL importance- an out of tune Violin a is really not enjoyable at all.
King Punchwood Tuned the violins an extra time with mean ear. ( and also play the violin since I was 6 years old ) so by now know how to tune a violin so it that it was perfect for the recordings. Thank you for noticing. :)
BinaryXioms Thank you :) I take that as a big compliment for the work my co-workers and I put into it, for a really long time, to make this one; one of the best playing examples. :)
Such a wonderful restoration. I worked for a summer at a musical museum in St. Louis MO in the 1960's and they never had theirs tuned well, what a difference it makes when its all working correctly. I also remember my Grandfather telling me about a machine that played a Violin with Piano at a tavern type location when he was young he used to enjoy it. It turned out it was still there and they had an auction but even though it was dirt cheap by todays standards I couldn't out bid a collector of the time.
Was that the Paul Eakins Melody Museum? He did have one at one time, among the many other musical goodies there. In fact, no early American "pioneer collector" of the generation first saving orchestrions etc. from the dump in the 1940s-1960s had heard one play correctly until several collectors heard one play at an MBSI (Musical Box Society) meeting in New Jersey in the early 1970s, which had been restored by Mr. Alan Lightcap, and with attention paid to every detail and nuance. Everybody was stunned because none of the American collectors had suspected these were capable of so much musicality. Suddenly, the value and reputation of these instruments rose dramatically from 'very little value except as a curiosity' to 'I MUST have one', and everyone else who had one (eventually) realized theirs wasn't playing properly. Today, most of the ones I've heard play somewhere in the ballpark of properly, because there are enough well-restored examples around to keep people mindful of how they SHOULD be sounding. Today, original Phonoliszt-Violinas are valued in the six figures.
WOW this is really incredible... I just stumbled across the name "phonoliszt" in something I was reading and Googled it. Brought me here, totally blown away. What a fascinating machine... so intricate, and it really sounds incredible.
doctor zaius Thank you for all your very kind words. :). The “Phonliszt” was the piano only version, which had been developed by Hupfeld and released a few years earlier. Now this is also a Phonoliszt piano ( the piano playing system was named like that by the factory ) Then when they developed the top par with the violins - it became the “Phonoliszt-Violina” we all don’t know that well today. But I am trying mg my best to promote its existence as well as possible so we do not forget a Wonder like this! I mean - Violin playing robots form Toyota are alright, extremely advanced in technology - doesn’t even come close to what this machine that works with paper with holes and vacuum !:)
That's such a well done instrument of it's kind. I haven't seen anything like it. I have seen many other devices that play music but this one may be the finest yet. Considering the time period when it was built, it's a real jewel of imagination and design.
The vibrato feature works shockingly well and keeps the music from sounding mechanical. The “fingers” don’t appear to slide vertically to allow smearing of notes (instead it’s more like a fretted instrument) but I don’t really miss it. It looks like instead of sliding it plays each finger quickly in sequence and that replicates sliding and ends up not sounding staccato at all. Would love to better understand the mechanism that controls the bow speed. Would also like to know what the various controls on the roll are. Guessing vibrato x3, violin notes x3, violin tilt x3, bow speed, 88 keys, damper.
Thank you for your nice response Mark! =) If you're really interested how this machine works and how its build and controlled - drop me an email, if you like, weltemax@gmail.com.
Ah yes, one the many things I want really bad but am too poor to buy or trust with my country’s postal system, also it is a very well crafted and restored machine, on the ground it takes up the space of a piano and is short enough to fit in most houses, it both complex, beautiful and well made yet it does not take up too much space and can fit in most homes. Great job
Absolut beeindruckend wie die Drehzahl des Bogens an das Musikstück angepasst wird und wie die Violinen entsprechend mit dem richtigen Druck an den rotierenden Bogen gedrückt werden. Bitte wenn möglich weitere Songs von diesem Wunderwerk der Ingenieurskunst hochladen.
I always fuel my own aircraft and I always insert a dip stick into each tank prior to engine start. I do not rely on my fuel gages but time each flight. My engine consistently burns 10 gal/hour which makes this easy to do. In the military I had totalizer gages along with 20min fuel warnings so you had to work at running out.
In perfect working condition - in opposition to so much modern technology that is built to be thrown away. Please post more videos with recordings of these instruments! 🙂🙂🙂
If I was ever at a party with this, there'd probably be a conversation like this; "Sir, you haven't taken part in the festivities all evening! Don't you wish to converse with the other people here?" Shoosh, I'm watching the violin! "But sir, it's onl-" Op, shhhh, violiiiiiin! "*Sigh* very well, sir, enjoy the violin." Thank you. 😂
Good spot. I've never understood why machine heads for violins (and violas and cellos) have never caught on. There are two or three designs on the market, to my knowledge.
I'm pretty sure I've seen this before but it's always fascinating to watch. Built in 1910 right? 108 years ago this was built. This machine doesn't get the credit it deserves. I would love to see one in person sometime but I doubt there are many left.
They have one at the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar, CA. Reservations must be made, but the tours are free. I went there recently and they play a piece on their machine like this one, as part of the tour. They also demo many, many other automatic instruments, including an Automatic Banjo Nikelodeon and a pipe organ that takes up an entire wall and makes the room vibrate with its intensity. The lower floors, as well as another building across the street, have a huge collection of equally impressive antique and collectible vehicles, all of which are restored to look like new and are fully operational. Highly recommend anyone check it out if you are anywhere near enough to visit! (No, I'm not affiliated, and tours are free, as I mentioned.)
Wow, what a beautiful and magnificent instrument! I'm curious to know as to how the circular bow speeds up and slows down? Are there e.g. 4 columns of holes on the music which encodes the speed of the motor? Also, I love the way that it appears to auto rewind at the end!
Kc Daugirdas, film composer : It has a vibrato pneumatic on top ( to the actual bottom of you would take the violin right side up when playing by hand).
Kc Daugirdas, film composer Kc Daugirdas, film composer Awesome! You're welcome =) Also yet another important detail I forgot in the answer I just gave you. The vibrato pneumatic, is merely a small device that is mounted on top of each violin. This is one of the key secrets that makes the Phonoliszt-Violina musically extremely sound and therefore the Violano-Virtuoso was simply no match on 1910! On the world exhibition in Brussels. But of course, you do not only need the actual pneumatic, Well. I indeed think you also need an arranger that makes good proper musical use of this gimmick. The clever part is of it all that the pneumatic is controlled by the track on the far right hand side. It so always coded with single perforations(instead of longer slots). This makes it possible to have different vibrato speeds! :) They didn't call this mechanical musical marvel "The 8th Wonder of the World" Cheers, Max Lakeman WelteMax
The final item to understand about the Hupfeld Phonoliszt-Violina is the roll note scale, which is given in the books "Treasures of Mechanical Music" and also in "The Golden Age of Automatic Musical Instruments". Amazingly, all piano and violin functions and expression are controlled by a roll with only 77 hole positions! (This is because the same paper width and hole spacing were re-used from Hupfeld's popular earlier "Phonoliszt" expression piano, which in turn was based on the 73-note "Phonola" home player piano, which I *think* was, in popularity, to Continental Europe what the 65-note player piano was to the UK and USA at that time. The piano part of the Phonoliszt-Violina is based on a Phonoliszt expression piano system and design). I believe the piano plays around 39 notes automatically, and also has a treble coupler and treble separator so that it can play either in octaves, or an octave higher, in the treble, giving the piano greater range than would be available from the scale. Of course, each violin only has one playing string, and three other strings which I believe are kept tuned, but are there for sympathetic resonance only. The violin fingers are cleverly multiplexed in the roll scale; in other words, one set of holes controls almost twice that number of fingers, since most holes have the ability to control two different fingers for a particular violin. The way they make that work is that there is a separate "note switch" multiplex hole which tells the finger holes in the tracker bar for a particular violin which of the two different fingers they're connected to. When the "note switch" hole is not open, the finger holes are connected to the valves for the first group of fingers for that violin. When the "note switch" hole is open, the finger holes are then connected to the valves for the second group of fingers for that violin. Since each violin only uses one finger at a time to fret the string (or none, for open string playing), this works. It's not like the piano which needs to be able to play chords with the note holes. Finally, the violin expression is actuated by a mere handful of holes which control different expression levels / bow speed and pressure, plus a couple to allow for "violin on strongly" (for accenting), etc. Some examples of the Phonoliszt-Violina have an automatic violin mute which is applied or taken off automatically under control by its own track in the roll, for the "con sourdino" sound. The tremolo is controlled by a single track which you'll see in the far right margin as a series of small holes which come up, and which you can immediately correlate with what you're hearing. The action in this is single-stroke, so it shakes the violin once for every hole that appears in the roll. Thus, the (genius) arrangers can get remarkably realistic effects by changing the hole spacing for the tremolo track and thus changing the speed (actually, here an exact ratio of the music, which is even MORE realistic) of the vibrato/tremolo to suit the dynamics, and mood and character of the piece. In my opinion, this is the single most crucial thing separating the Phonoliszt-Violina from the Violano-Virtuoso in expression abilities... the single-stroke totally controlled and variable tremolo/vibrato, versus the Violano's one-fixed-speed, on/off tremolo/vibrato. Just my opinion.
On April 1st, 1911, another patent was filed, US patent #1,025,397, entitled "Expression Device for Mechanically-Operated Violins", also, of course, filed by Gustav Karl Hennig. This patent is the only source I can find on the internet which completely explains how the Phonoliszt-Violina's violin expression system works and shows it clearly. A glance at Figure 1 shows not only the large pneumatic which moves the violin towards the bow, but also how that is restricted in its depth of travel by a cam on the end of a lever, which allows the depth of the violin into the bow to be changed. This cam-lever (shown as "d" in the drawings), is moved by a connecting rod, linked eventually to a pair of pneumatics, which are also ganged to simultaneously actuate a slide-valve connected to the wind-motor which turns the bow. Thus, as the expression pneumatics change the depth of contact the violin has with the bow, the speed of the bow is also changed, much like a real violinist will change bow speed and pressure to get dynamics. Of course, in the production instrument, I would assume these parts are adjustable, so that fine expression changes can be made, with bow speed and pressure independently adjustable: patents.google.com/patent/US1025397A/en?inventor=Gustav+Karl+Hennig
If that was the late Julie Ann Johnson, it probably has. She also had a Hupfeld Helios I/32 orchestrion now restored and on display at the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois.
These are fascinating machines - but can you tell me why the speed of the 'bow' changes? I would guess that it may be because certain notes need a particular speed and pressure of engagement - I note that chords are not often played on the violins.
I saw and filmed one of these at the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar a couple months ago. Just amazing piece of engineering and craftsmanship! Today, I posted some of my videos on Instagram and someone asked me if the tour guide (who also does the restorations) provided any explanation for why the violins are upside down. I'm assuming it has to do with how the spinning bow needs to come in contact with the strings, as well as the position of the bow in relation to the motor. Can you provide more insight to this?
I have no doubt that the violins were placed upside-down so that a person of normal height (not a basketball player) can reach the screw-tuners on the violin headstock to tune the violins, whereas in this 9 foot tall cabinet, if they were oriented with the headstock pointing UP, one would need a ladder to tune the violins and it would be terribly inconvenient, not to mention hazardous. Also, the headstocks of the violins would be 'put in jail' by the vertical metal posts that connect the circular bow to the flywheel mounted in the top of the cabinet, so there would be no way to tune the violin with the bow spinning, unless of course everything was reversed and the bow flywheel was mounted UNDER the violins. But again, the height problem. So this arrangement provided the best solution: the flywheel hangs from the roof of the violin cabinet at the top, the bow hangs from posts on the flywheel (with, I think gravity plus the rigidity of the arrangement keeping it correct position), and then the violins are upside-down with the headstock at the bottom, so most people don't need even a stepladder to reach up and tune the violins.
Thank you. I assure you - all the fretwork it there though - and you are actually looking to the inside of the left curved door. The curved “violin cover doors” are nothing more than a board of wood and fretwork. In the inside it is just piece of cloth to visually close up the fretwork. Even when closed, these doors let the violin sound thru very nicely. These could actually be used with doors open Or closed. :)
Here is the Scala Salon Orchestra playing this in the acoustic period of recording (i. e. probably before 1925 and the advent of electrical microphone recording. The artists recorded into a horn, where a diaphragm-type "reproducer" picked up the vibrations and etched the master record... the horn method introduced many 'wolf notes' into many recordings, which is why this record is so distorted in the midrange). The orchestra here are very likely playing from the same exact stock published sheet music arrangement that the Hupfeld arranger used to make their arrangement for the Phonoliszt-Violina (although of course they have rearranged it as a violin and piano duet): ruclips.net/video/nvadYcIvh60/видео.html
Here's another recording of it by Edith Loran's Orchestra, featuring a violin or viola solo at the beginning. This is also practically the same exact arrangement as probably used to arrange the Phonoliszt-Violina roll. Listen to the gorgeous feel and phrasing... so evocative of that other era, but for me, still so enjoyable today. I believe this is an electrical recording (made with a microphone), but here reproduced on an acoustic phonograph: ruclips.net/video/usHPeNJWfhM/видео.html
@@briannamarie1580 One of my European street-organ friends, I think it might have been either Bjorn Isebaert or Jan Kees de Ruijter, sent me a thumbnail-sketch biography of Mr. Ohlsen, but I can't find it now! I'll ask. He was a real person. I can't remember if E. or F. is the correct first initial, but they had his first name and a short list of some other pieces.
ngshinong The bow is driven by a "wind motor" (suction powered motor) of the same type that drives the music roll in most home player pianos. The Wind motor has a "governor" (medium sized pneumatic bellows connected to a choker valve, and a spring), to regulate constant speed despite changing suction levels, the same as home foot pumped player pianos have to keep a constant tempo regardless of pumping speed (so you can get dynamics with the pedals). And, like home player pianos have a special slide valve to change the speed of the windmotor (connected to the tempo lever and indicator), so does this have a way of opening the windmotor to four stages of suction, getting, I believe, four bow speeds. I think even the speeds at which bow speed/pressure change can be switched from faster to slower, so, you can go from softer to louder , or louder to softer, fast, for quick dynamic changes, or change dynamics slowly, for more gradual crescendos and decrescendos.
I think there are around 50 originals of this instrument known to exist (out of something like, I think, 2,000 originally built?), plus several replicas.
"E. Ohlsen", I wonder about the name... never heard of Him/Her. Is there a partiture (music sheet) to this piece? I loved this melody! Plus the "apparatus" is impressively GENIOUS!
I picked up a music box miniature of a church organ and found it had spaces in upper compartments for violins and wondered if it was for music or storage. This settles that question.
Why in the freaking worked did you mix in that other audio file??!!!! Seriously wrong! Or was there actually a rock band playing next door? I had to turn off the big speakers.
Steve G Dear Steve, of course I didn’t do that on purpose. So calm them tattas;) There was a flap valve on the pump that mail functioned. I tried to eddies it out. But sorry, this is the best I could do. I hope the Video Stil was a little enjoyable to you ;)
The video was awesome I enjoyed it very much. I was pretty much joking. I figured there was something loud playing the next room over that you did not have control over. :)
@Hawk Holloway I take that as a joke and laugh about it. I'd also find it funny to hear some modern music played on a miracle like this, just for curiosity's sake!
Anyone wanting to understand more about how this instrument works would do well to check out US patent #1,079,046, invented by Gustav Karl Hennig, and filed May 27th, 1909. This patent covers much of the basic principle of the Hupfeld Phonoliszt-Violina (although not all things shown in it went into the production models, and in fact, some ideas shown in this patent appeared to have been suggestions / for experimentation only) which can be downloaded here: patents.google.com/patent/US1079046A/en?inventor=Gustav+Karl+Hennig
Very sharp of you. The “heart beat” you hear is actually the “heart” of the mechanical system. The “thumbs” you hear are the flap valves on the vacuum pump. 1) It was quite hard to re-master the equaliser in such a way you didn’t hear them. 2) Flap valves do actually make this noise when they are new and still a little stiff. :)
This plays so beautifully, literally brought a tear to my eye. the man who tuned this should open his own business for tuning them, he did it near perfectly. a rare thing considering there are 4 seperate instruments here.
Thank you so very much for your very kind comments! It is very nice/good to read that the instrument still brings jou and tears in the eyes of its audiences. I would Also like to thank you for writing ever so joyous about the tuning of pith the piano and the 3 droefste Violins. I tuned the instrument myself just before every recording. Indeed it off VITAL importance- an out of tune Violin a is really not enjoyable at all.
@@WelteMax you're welcome! And it is really quite something seeing these. Back in the day, they were freaking people out. Today, they still are.
@@WelteMax truly remarkable. You have inspired me to get ours playing.
Close your eyes and it sounds like a person is actually playing. It's amazing how good it sounds
Wow, the other Phonoliszt-Violinas I've seen on youtube don't sound nearly as good as this one! Great job on this restoration!
it also has to do that its in tune
King Punchwood Tuned the violins an extra time with mean ear. ( and also play the violin since I was 6 years old ) so by now know how to tune a violin so it that it was perfect for the recordings. Thank you for noticing. :)
BinaryXioms Thank you :) I take that as a big compliment for the work my co-workers and I put into it, for a really long time, to make this one; one of the best playing examples. :)
TwoSetViolin needs to see this!
Such a wonderful restoration. I worked for a summer at a musical museum in St. Louis MO in the 1960's and they never had theirs tuned well, what a difference it makes when its all working correctly. I also remember my Grandfather telling me about a machine that played a Violin with Piano at a tavern type location when he was young he used to enjoy it. It turned out it was still there and they had an auction but even though it was dirt cheap by todays standards I couldn't out bid a collector of the time.
thats too bad
Was that the Paul Eakins Melody Museum? He did have one at one time, among the many other musical goodies there.
In fact, no early American "pioneer collector" of the generation first saving orchestrions etc. from the dump in the 1940s-1960s had heard one play correctly until several collectors heard one play at an MBSI (Musical Box Society) meeting in New Jersey in the early 1970s, which had been restored by Mr. Alan Lightcap, and with attention paid to every detail and nuance.
Everybody was stunned because none of the American collectors had suspected these were capable of so much musicality.
Suddenly, the value and reputation of these instruments rose dramatically from 'very little value except as a curiosity' to 'I MUST have one', and everyone else who had one (eventually) realized theirs wasn't playing properly. Today, most of the ones I've heard play somewhere in the ballpark of properly, because there are enough well-restored examples around to keep people mindful of how they SHOULD be sounding. Today, original Phonoliszt-Violinas are valued in the six figures.
WOW this is really incredible... I just stumbled across the name "phonoliszt" in something I was reading and Googled it. Brought me here, totally blown away. What a fascinating machine... so intricate, and it really sounds incredible.
doctor zaius Thank you for all your very kind words. :). The “Phonliszt” was the piano only version, which had been developed by Hupfeld and released a few years earlier. Now this is also a Phonoliszt piano ( the piano playing system was named like that by the factory ) Then when they developed the top par with the violins - it became the “Phonoliszt-Violina” we all don’t know that well today. But I am trying mg my best to promote its existence as well as possible so we do not forget a Wonder like this! I mean - Violin playing robots form Toyota are alright, extremely advanced in technology - doesn’t even come close to what this machine that works with paper with holes and vacuum !:)
This is an engineering marvel!
That's such a well done instrument of it's kind. I haven't seen anything like it. I have seen many other devices that play music but this one may be the finest yet. Considering the time period when it was built, it's a real jewel of imagination and design.
Ive never seen one of these before - amazing. An old aunt had a pianola and i loved that as a child - a piano that played by itself.
imagine where this might've been a hundred years ago, and how fascinated people must've been to see it play
Wat een mooi antiek instrument, en geweldig goed gerestaureerd, mijn complimenten. Prachtige wals ook van Ohlsen
whoever created this machine took the job of making a music box way too seriously xD
Ludwig Hupfeld
Deutscher Musikinstrumentenbauer
The vibrato feature works shockingly well and keeps the music from sounding mechanical. The “fingers” don’t appear to slide vertically to allow smearing of notes (instead it’s more like a fretted instrument) but I don’t really miss it. It looks like instead of sliding it plays each finger quickly in sequence and that replicates sliding and ends up not sounding staccato at all. Would love to better understand the mechanism that controls the bow speed. Would also like to know what the various controls on the roll are. Guessing vibrato x3, violin notes x3, violin tilt x3, bow speed, 88 keys, damper.
Thank you for your nice response Mark! =) If you're really interested how this machine works and how its build and controlled - drop me an email, if you like, weltemax@gmail.com.
There is a little lever below the bridge that wobbles the pitch a little. Pretty cool!
@@kennyadvocatit just wobbles the whole violin.
It sings from the soul! 😊
Excellent! A very good restoration. Thank you.
A very fine machine! Plays the music with such expression! Uncommon, in my humble opinion, for these types of machines!
Ah yes, one the many things I want really bad but am too poor to buy or trust with my country’s postal system, also it is a very well crafted and restored machine, on the ground it takes up the space of a piano and is short enough to fit in most houses, it both complex, beautiful and well made yet it does not take up too much space and can fit in most homes.
Great job
What a beautiful piece of engineering art.
Many thanks for the restoration!!!
Absolut beeindruckend wie die Drehzahl des Bogens an das Musikstück angepasst wird und wie die Violinen entsprechend mit dem richtigen Druck an den rotierenden Bogen gedrückt werden. Bitte wenn möglich weitere Songs von diesem Wunderwerk der Ingenieurskunst hochladen.
Complimenti , mai visto così tanto ingegno sorprendente .
I always fuel my own aircraft and I always insert a dip stick into each tank prior to engine start. I do not rely on my fuel gages but time each flight. My engine consistently burns 10 gal/hour which makes this easy to do. In the military I had totalizer gages along with 20min fuel warnings so you had to work at running out.
Schitterend gelukte restauratie! Petje af hoor! Groeten, Wim van der Baan
@TwoSetViolin where are yall?? This is better than the modern sAcRiLeGiOuS robots playing a violin😂
DARN TOOTIN!!!
TF I JUST CAME HERE FROM THAT VIDEO
What is the name of thatpiece
@@harbinger.h Ditto!!!
That's not the point. Lol
In perfect working condition - in opposition to so much modern technology that is built to be thrown away. Please post more videos with recordings of these instruments! 🙂🙂🙂
If I was ever at a party with this, there'd probably be a conversation like this;
"Sir, you haven't taken part in the festivities all evening! Don't you wish to converse with the other people here?"
Shoosh, I'm watching the violin!
"But sir, it's onl-"
Op, shhhh, violiiiiiin!
"*Sigh* very well, sir, enjoy the violin."
Thank you.
😂
I wish I could have something like this, this is amazing. I would have this thing play whenever guests were visiting.
Same
The iconic thing about this Gizmo is that the Violins have Geared Tuners like a Guitar which makes them easier to tune up.
Good spot. I've never understood why machine heads for violins (and violas and cellos) have never caught on. There are two or three designs on the market, to my knowledge.
@@rich8037 They really should catch on because they save the headstock from wearing out.
@@rich8037 I did however put them on my 5 String Cello & they actually put the strings at a sharper angle over the nut
What a gorgeous machine ❤️ it plays so beautifully
Sensational! Sounds beautiful.
This is great! +Wintergatan would love this.
He's done a video on it!
Yep he did a video about it. That's how I came across this video.
This is the way I know how to play any "instrument" !
I'm pretty sure I've seen this before but it's always fascinating to watch. Built in 1910 right? 108 years ago this was built. This machine doesn't get the credit it deserves. I would love to see one in person sometime but I doubt there are many left.
They have one at the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar, CA. Reservations must be made, but the tours are free. I went there recently and they play a piece on their machine like this one, as part of the tour. They also demo many, many other automatic instruments, including an Automatic Banjo Nikelodeon and a pipe organ that takes up an entire wall and makes the room vibrate with its intensity. The lower floors, as well as another building across the street, have a huge collection of equally impressive antique and collectible vehicles, all of which are restored to look like new and are fully operational. Highly recommend anyone check it out if you are anywhere near enough to visit! (No, I'm not affiliated, and tours are free, as I mentioned.)
Best self playing violens on the block this thing should perform again it’s made to
Wow. What an amazing instrument. Thanks for sharing :)
Amazing!
wow, such a wonderful creation!!!! I am dream to have one in home even we have iphone today.
well this thing was made 100+ years ago and they cost $850000
Beginning the paper jolts inward. that's my favorite part.
Idk why i just imagine this thing rolling down the deck on the titanic as it sank 🤣
WONDERFUL LOVED IT. THANKS
Amazing machine.
Wow, what a beautiful and magnificent instrument! I'm curious to know as to how the circular bow speeds up and slows down? Are there e.g. 4 columns of holes on the music which encodes the speed of the motor? Also, I love the way that it appears to auto rewind at the end!
Do they ever make anything like this today? So much craftsmanship!
The Ramey Company builds a machine which plays piano, percussion, and Banjo!
How is the machine rendering vibrato on the violins? I would expect the tone to be more straight from the look of the machine?
Kc Daugirdas, film composer :
It has a vibrato pneumatic on top ( to the actual bottom of you would take the violin right side up when playing by hand).
Oh, cool, I see that now!
Kc Daugirdas, film composer Kc Daugirdas, film composer Awesome! You're welcome =) Also yet another important detail I forgot in the answer I just gave you. The vibrato pneumatic, is merely a small device that is mounted on top of each violin. This is one of the key secrets that makes the Phonoliszt-Violina musically extremely sound and therefore the Violano-Virtuoso was simply no match on 1910! On the world exhibition in Brussels. But of course, you do not only need the actual pneumatic, Well. I indeed think you also need an arranger that makes good proper musical use of this gimmick. The clever part is of it all that the pneumatic is controlled by the track on the far right hand side. It so always coded with single perforations(instead of longer slots). This makes it possible to have different vibrato speeds! :) They didn't call this mechanical musical marvel "The 8th Wonder of the World"
Cheers,
Max Lakeman
WelteMax
It’s still amazing
This is indeed an engineering marvel 👍👍👌👌
WOW THIS IS INCREDIBLE !!!!!
awesome!!!!
J'adore ! Merci
The final item to understand about the Hupfeld Phonoliszt-Violina is the roll note scale,
which is given in the books "Treasures of Mechanical Music" and also in "The Golden Age of Automatic Musical Instruments".
Amazingly, all piano and violin functions and expression are controlled by a roll with only 77 hole positions!
(This is because the same paper width and hole spacing were re-used from Hupfeld's popular earlier "Phonoliszt" expression piano, which in turn was based on the 73-note "Phonola" home player piano, which I *think* was, in popularity, to Continental Europe what the 65-note player piano was to the UK and USA at that time.
The piano part of the Phonoliszt-Violina is based on a Phonoliszt expression piano system and design).
I believe the piano plays around 39 notes automatically, and also has a treble coupler and treble separator so that it can play either in octaves, or an octave higher, in the treble, giving the piano greater range than would be available from the scale.
Of course, each violin only has one playing string, and three other strings which I believe are kept tuned,
but are there for sympathetic resonance only.
The violin fingers are cleverly multiplexed in the roll scale; in other words, one set of holes controls almost twice that number of fingers, since most holes have the ability to control two different fingers for a particular violin. The way they make that work is that there is a separate "note switch" multiplex hole which tells the finger holes in the tracker bar for a particular violin which of the two different fingers they're connected to. When the "note switch" hole is not open, the finger holes are connected to the valves for the first group of fingers for that violin. When the "note switch" hole is open, the finger holes are then connected to the valves for the second group of fingers for that violin. Since each violin only uses one finger at a time to fret the string (or none, for open string playing), this works. It's not like the piano which needs to be able to play chords with the note holes.
Finally, the violin expression is actuated by a mere handful of holes which control different expression levels / bow speed and pressure, plus a couple to allow for "violin on strongly" (for accenting), etc.
Some examples of the Phonoliszt-Violina have an automatic violin mute which is applied or taken off automatically under control by its own track in the roll, for the "con sourdino" sound.
The tremolo is controlled by a single track which you'll see in the far right margin as a series of small holes which come up, and which you can immediately correlate with what you're hearing. The action in this is single-stroke, so it shakes the violin once for every hole that appears in the roll. Thus, the (genius) arrangers can get remarkably realistic effects by changing the hole spacing for the tremolo track and thus changing the speed (actually, here an exact ratio of the music, which is even MORE realistic) of the vibrato/tremolo to suit the dynamics, and mood and character of the piece.
In my opinion, this is the single most crucial thing separating the Phonoliszt-Violina from the Violano-Virtuoso in expression abilities... the single-stroke totally controlled and variable tremolo/vibrato, versus the Violano's one-fixed-speed, on/off tremolo/vibrato.
Just my opinion.
On April 1st, 1911, another patent was filed, US patent #1,025,397,
entitled "Expression Device for Mechanically-Operated Violins", also, of course, filed by Gustav Karl Hennig.
This patent is the only source I can find on the internet
which completely explains how the Phonoliszt-Violina's violin expression system works and shows it clearly.
A glance at Figure 1 shows not only the large pneumatic which moves the violin towards the bow,
but also how that is restricted in its depth of travel by a cam on the end of a lever, which allows the depth of the violin into the bow to be changed.
This cam-lever (shown as "d" in the drawings), is moved by a connecting rod, linked eventually to a pair of pneumatics,
which are also ganged to simultaneously actuate a slide-valve connected to the wind-motor which turns the bow.
Thus, as the expression pneumatics change the depth of contact the violin has with the bow, the speed of the bow is also changed, much like a real violinist will change bow speed and pressure to get dynamics.
Of course, in the production instrument, I would assume these parts are adjustable, so that fine expression changes can be made, with bow speed and pressure independently adjustable:
patents.google.com/patent/US1025397A/en?inventor=Gustav+Karl+Hennig
Beautiful machine. It makes me want to play rollercoaster tycoon
I love this song!!! it would be great to make new videos about this nice tool!
Freaking amazing !
Los inicios de la música totalmente digital. IMPRESIONANTE INGENIERÍA.
Anyone know the name of the song and where I can find a MIDI file for it?
ElectronicsCritic e-mail me at weltemax@gmail.com. Maybe I can get you the midi file from a roll scan.
@@WelteMax do you know if they sell records for this song im looking for it to gift to my fiance as its a peice from when we first started dating
Fenomenalna maszyna!
Brzmienie skrzypiec jest idealne, jakby grał człowiek.
A marvelous instrument! I never heard or saw it before! Very well restored! Can still be new music be "programmed" into it?
Wonderful!
I knew a lady in West Chicago,IL who had e of these in her home. She is now deceased, I hope it found a good gome?
If that was the late Julie Ann Johnson, it probably has. She also had a Hupfeld Helios I/32 orchestrion now restored and on display at the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois.
excellent done
It's so AMAZING!
These are fascinating machines - but can you tell me why the speed of the 'bow' changes? I would guess that it may be because certain notes need a particular speed and pressure of engagement - I note that chords are not often played on the violins.
Your pressure idea is probably right.
Changing bow speed and pressure are how they get the violins to play louder and softer.
Old but gold
I saw and filmed one of these at the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar a couple months ago. Just amazing piece of engineering and craftsmanship! Today, I posted some of my videos on Instagram and someone asked me if the tour guide (who also does the restorations) provided any explanation for why the violins are upside down. I'm assuming it has to do with how the spinning bow needs to come in contact with the strings, as well as the position of the bow in relation to the motor. Can you provide more insight to this?
I have no doubt that the violins were placed upside-down so that a person of normal height (not a basketball player) can reach the screw-tuners on the violin headstock to tune the violins, whereas in this 9 foot tall cabinet, if they were oriented with the headstock pointing UP, one would need a ladder to tune the violins and it would be terribly inconvenient, not to mention hazardous. Also, the headstocks of the violins would be 'put in jail' by the vertical metal posts that connect the circular bow to the flywheel mounted in the top of the cabinet, so there would be no way to tune the violin with the bow spinning, unless of course everything was reversed and the bow flywheel was mounted UNDER the violins. But again, the height problem. So this arrangement provided the best solution: the flywheel hangs from the roof of the violin cabinet at the top, the bow hangs from posts on the flywheel (with, I think gravity plus the rigidity of the arrangement keeping it correct position), and then the violins are upside-down with the headstock at the bottom, so most people don't need even a stepladder to reach up and tune the violins.
I bet the musicians back then were not too happy about these machines.
Very nice indeed. I hope you can replace the missing fretwork too one day. Wonderful instrument.
Thank you. I assure you - all the fretwork it there though - and you are actually looking to the inside of the left curved door. The curved “violin cover doors” are nothing more than a board of wood and fretwork. In the inside it is just piece of cloth to visually close up the fretwork. Even when closed, these doors let the violin sound thru very nicely. These could actually be used with doors open Or closed. :)
Very glad to read this ! Splendid work !@@WelteMax
Mechanization is gonna take our jobs!
Erik Hunter These were made in the 40's you idiot
the first self playing violin machine was made in the early 1900's
dude these things were made in the early 1910
I guess no one got the sarcasm...
I guess with such a topic people are a bit on their toes......
whew.. this is really cool
Fabulous!
So I know the song is "Lotusblumen Waltz" by E. Ohlsen but I can't seem to find a recording of it anywhere, can someone shoot me a link by chance?
Tyler Quinn Me too. I can't even find anything on this E. Olson person. I'm going crazy looking for it!!
ruclips.net/video/tvl4gIMkMHQ/видео.html is this what you're looking for?
Here is the Scala Salon Orchestra playing this in the acoustic period of recording (i. e. probably before 1925 and the advent of electrical microphone recording. The artists recorded into a horn, where a diaphragm-type "reproducer" picked up the vibrations and etched the master record... the horn method introduced many 'wolf notes' into many recordings, which is why this record is so distorted in the midrange).
The orchestra here are very likely playing from the same exact stock published sheet music arrangement that the Hupfeld arranger used to make their arrangement for the Phonoliszt-Violina (although of course they have rearranged it as a violin and piano duet): ruclips.net/video/nvadYcIvh60/видео.html
Here's another recording of it by Edith Loran's Orchestra, featuring a violin or viola solo at the beginning. This is also practically the same exact arrangement as probably used to arrange the Phonoliszt-Violina roll. Listen to the gorgeous feel and phrasing... so evocative of that other era, but for me, still so enjoyable today. I believe this is an electrical recording (made with a microphone), but here reproduced on an acoustic phonograph: ruclips.net/video/usHPeNJWfhM/видео.html
@@briannamarie1580 One of my European street-organ friends, I think it might have been either Bjorn Isebaert or Jan Kees de Ruijter, sent me a thumbnail-sketch biography of Mr. Ohlsen, but I can't find it now! I'll ask. He was a real person. I can't remember if E. or F. is the correct first initial, but they had his first name and a short list of some other pieces.
Magistral !!!
¡Extraordinario!
How do the machine varies the speed of the bow?
ngshinong The bow is driven by a "wind motor" (suction powered motor) of the same type that drives the music roll in most home player pianos. The Wind motor has a "governor" (medium sized pneumatic bellows connected to a choker valve, and a spring), to regulate constant speed despite changing suction levels, the same as home foot pumped player pianos have to keep a constant tempo regardless of pumping speed (so you can get dynamics with the pedals). And, like home player pianos have a special slide valve to change the speed of the windmotor (connected to the tempo lever and indicator), so does this have a way of opening the windmotor to four stages of suction, getting, I believe, four bow speeds. I think even the speeds at which bow speed/pressure change can be switched from faster to slower, so, you can go from softer to louder , or louder to softer, fast, for quick dynamic changes, or change dynamics slowly, for more gradual crescendos and decrescendos.
Does speed really matter? isn't it the length?
Nvm pressure does need more speed
so question, is it possible to run it with the cupola shuttered?
First i thought, whats that rotating thing on top... then i realized: its the Bow. cool Instrument 👍👍
Why do these violins have 4 strings if they use only one per violin?
Is this the same one that is part of the Nethercutt collection?
volumin, revealin, revolvin,
Какой сложный инструмент! Какой гениальный мастер делал это!
Why aren’t the piano keys moving??
Aren't piano keys supposed to move? Wonderful restoration!
Very well done! Playing as if it was in the show room... Arrangement could be less condensed though..
How is the speed of the bow controlled?
Nice! Is this in the Deutsches Museum in München? I saw a demonstration of one there last year.
Sherri Williams no, this was restored for a private collection by a colleague of mine.
I think there are around 50 originals of this instrument known to exist (out of something like, I think, 2,000 originally built?), plus several replicas.
NO there were about 10.000- 12.000 produced! ´=)
WHAT?!?!?! And only 50-60 still known to exist out of TEN THOUSAND produced?!?!? That's terrible!!!
How do you know how many were built?
Mind is blown 🤯🤯🤯🤯
"E. Ohlsen", I wonder about the name... never heard of Him/Her. Is there a partiture (music sheet) to this piece? I loved this melody! Plus the "apparatus" is impressively GENIOUS!
Emil
@@googlestealmydatapls5410 Yes I think you're right; their name was Emil Ohlsen.
I found the sheet music on imslp! imslp.org/wiki/Lotosblumen%2C_Op.100_(Ohlsen%2C_Emil)
I’m glad someone finally posted it!
this is how they listened to music without youtube
I picked up a music box miniature of a church organ and found it had spaces in upper compartments for violins and wondered if it was for music or storage. This settles that question.
i'd love to own a cd of this beautiful machine playing music
Why in the freaking worked did you mix in that other audio file??!!!!
Seriously wrong!
Or was there actually a rock band playing next door?
I had to turn off the big speakers.
Steve G Dear Steve, of course I didn’t do that on purpose. So calm them tattas;) There was a flap valve on the pump that mail functioned. I tried to eddies it out. But sorry, this is the best I could do. I hope the Video Stil was a little enjoyable to you ;)
The video was awesome I enjoyed it very much.
I was pretty much joking. I figured there was something loud playing the next room over that you did not have control over.
:)
You mean that 70Hz woomp woomp?
you messed up by not playing the soundtrack to westworld
Alex You have to consider he's the laying this type of music because this machine was invented in the 20's and this is going in a museum
@Hawk Holloway I take that as a joke and laugh about it. I'd also find it funny to hear some modern music played on a miracle like this, just for curiosity's sake!
1:42 this is best part
Also
“Oh boo hoo let me play a sad song on the worlds largest violin”
jesus now ive seen it all
And the thing is probably 100 years old. They were smarter back then than we tend to think.
Built in 1910. So yea 108 years old
It even makes vibrato ... what a charming and marvelous machine.
@@whalesong999 And dynamics!
Anyone wanting to understand more about how this instrument works would do well to check out US patent #1,079,046, invented by Gustav Karl Hennig, and filed May 27th, 1909. This patent covers much of the basic principle of the Hupfeld Phonoliszt-Violina (although not all things shown in it went into the production models, and in fact, some ideas shown in this patent appeared to have been suggestions / for experimentation only) which can be downloaded here: patents.google.com/patent/US1079046A/en?inventor=Gustav+Karl+Hennig
1:09 largest flash memory
this song is so underrated
There are 2 types of musical instruments in the Hupfeld Phonoliszt-Violina. Can you name them?
The violin moves and changes the playing dynamics. No slide legato tho.
Am I the only one that hears a heart beet in the background
Very sharp of you. The “heart beat” you hear is actually the “heart” of the mechanical system. The “thumbs” you hear are the flap valves on the vacuum pump. 1) It was quite hard to re-master the equaliser in such a way you didn’t hear them. 2) Flap valves do actually make this noise when they are new and still a little stiff. :)