Back in 2010, we featured a demo of Dylan Menzies’ O-Bow optical bow prototype, an experimental controller for electronic musicians.

Here’s a demo of the latest version (prototype 5). 

New feature summary:

• robust tracking from low to high speeds.
• bow contact parameter, enables ringing string sound when bow is removed while bowing.
• all communication is using the USB-MIDI protocol providing immediate connection to music software.
• cylindrical casing design for flexible configuration and orientation, for example using standard mic holder.
• contact saddle manufactured from optimized CAD design, for bow engagement and tracking.
• software moved to the Native Instruments Kontakt platform. The script language is strong enough to implement all the O-Bow features. This allows the O-Bow to operate as a virtual instrument in a wide variety of music software.
• manipulations are possible on the control data directly in a sequencer.
• speed to gain warping for a variety of playing feel.
• new violin sample recordings, including ringing. The samples are for prototyping puposes only- fully professional samples will be incorporated later.

The O-Bow is currently a prototype.