[Dixielandjazz] Terminator 4 - The rise of the Orchestrions

[W1AB at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/24/2010 9:34:15 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
barbonestreet at earthlink.net writes:

May 23,  2010 - NY TIMES - By Ben Ratliff
If Not 76 Trombones, Everything Else a  One-Man Band Can Handle

Imagine a player piano. Now imagine you’re a  guitarist and composer named 
Pat Metheny and that you have a kind of  player piano that can both play 
what you’ve composed for it — not through  perforated paper  
but digital technology — and also replicate  whatever you’re playing on 
the guitar. You can also play a long phrase on  the guitar and command the 
piano to loop the phrase, so that you can play  against the loop.
 
 
 
    About 35 years ago, Les Paul did a  show in Baird Auditorium of the 
Smithsonian Institution.  This was BDA  (before the digital age), of course.  
Les demonstrated how he made his  multi-track recordings on digital tape.
 
    He had a four-foot relay rack of  equipment that he called the Les 
Paulverizer, with a hefty multi-conductor cable  between the rack and his 
guitar.  He laid down a rhythm guitar track, then  pushed a button on the 
guitar-mounted controller, which rewound the magnetic  tape he had just recorded.
 
    Then he added the bass line via a  similar process.  Then the lead.  
Then some counterpoint.  And so  on.  When he was finished, it sounded just 
like one of his multi-track  recordings of the 1950s.  It was a very good 
demonstration.
 
    About five years ago, there was an  excellent PBS show about Les, his 
innovations, and his life.  I recommend  it to your viewing.  Perhaps not 
"OKOM," but I like to think that a lot of  OKOMers like other music, as well.
 
                                                                Al  B