Working on another someone else’s art – especially when significant changes are required – is both an honor and a responsibility.
Cole’s Piano originally made music by way of an ingenious motor-driven system, agitating actual piano strings with rapidly-spinning zip tie ends. The sound was surreal, and an accurate reflection of the unusual creative choices involved.
Over years of use, the motor-driven system gradually failed. Eventually the decision was made to completely reimagine Cole’s Piano – replacing the motor-driven system with something less prone to physical decay. The challenge was to come up with something equally unique, using completely different tools.
First the original piano keys were removed, and a full-size MIDI keyboard was put in. Addressable LEDs, fiber optic strands, and display panels were woven into the piano body; microcontroller and computer systems were hidden inside. In this version of Cole’s Piano, when a key is played, three things happen:
- A fiber optic strand running through the piano body lights up.
- A display above the keybed shows a dancing animated line.
- The musical note – sampled from the original artwork – plays through hidden speakers.
The goal was to create the illusion of musical notes shooting from the player’s hand, like bolts of colorful electricity, while keeping elements of the original, unearthly sound.
https://credits.meowwolf.com/house-of-eternal-return/the-house/star-room