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Unlike the Nintendo conductor game, this system uses acceleration and orientation data to control the Mac’s selection of string sounds in real time. In other words, for example, when I make large gestures, samples of musicians playing loudly are used. In addition to controlling the volume of the sounds, the timbre of particular sounds is determined by dynamically selecting the sounds the musicians originally played.

Beethoven - Symphony No. 7, Allegretto
The Fauxharmonic Orchestra

Brahms - Symphony No. 3, Poco allegretto
Jay Bacal, conductor

Debussy - La Mer - Jeux de vagues
Andrew Blaney, conductor

Vaughan Williams - Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Jay Bacal, conductor

Heuser - A Screaming Comes Across the Sky
The Fauxharmonic Orchestra

Tuman - Awakening
The Fauxharmonic Orchestra

Some digital orchestras, like the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, involve groups of musicians on a stage, playing digital instruments.

Others, like The Fauxharmonic Orchestra, produce recorded music in a studio.

And some digital orchestras, like those produced by Immersion Music, live in museum exhibit spaces offering visitors a hands-on conducting experience, complete with a motion-sensing baton and video.

Most people have already heard music played by a digital orchestra, although they probably do not realize it. Almost any orchestral music you hear on television commercials, for example, or on children’s television programming is played on a digital orchestra. And, increasingly common is the presence of a digital orchestra in film soundtracks, often mixed seamlessly with separate recordings of live musicians. Many musical theater productions also augment their pit orchestras with digital orchestral instruments.

The purpose of this site is to bring together various researchers, musicians, composers and conductors to more easily collaborate on projects that advance the art of digital orchestra music.

What’s the difference between “Virtual Orchestra” “Digital Orchestra?”

A virtual orchestra is simply another (older) term for digital orchestra. We prefer “digital orchestra” because not all activities in this realm aim to replicate an orchestra, although that is certainly a major part of the current aesthetic movement in digital musical practice. Virtual orchestra could also be some sort of musical ensemble made entirely of traditional performers using no digital technology. A string quartet plus a few wind players could be considered a “virtual orchestra.” So, to be a bit more precise, we use the term “digital orchestra.”

Some historical context

The replication of the orchestra should be thought of here not as verbatim, unthinking copying, but as something more akin to genetic mutation. We want to start with what is arguably one of humanity’s greatest musical accomplishments (the symphony orchestra) and extend it. Spur it forward with as-yet-untapped opportunities digital instruments offer. For example, the loudest sounds (think stadium rock) and the quietest can all be produced in this medium. This range of possibility is only now beginning to be explored in the orchestral medium.

Thus, when understood in the larger context of musical history, digital orchestras are not a radical departure, but simply a next evolutionary step in a 400-year-old process of expanding the palette of instrumental music.

For nearly sixty years this technology has been embraced in new music circles where the inventiveness and imaginations of composers have already gone beyond what traditional orchestras can offer. Now, almost as a “trickle-down” dividend, the descendants of tools and techniques forged in labs and concert halls since 1948 are now being employed in the performance of any instrumental or orchestral music, no matter in what year it’s composer may have died.

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