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Kinect used to control 83-year-old, four-story high organ in Australia

Kinect used to control 83-year-old, four-story high organ in Australia

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An Australian composer has developed Kinect software used to play a historic organ in Melbourne.

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Melbourne Town Hall Organ
Melbourne Town Hall Organ

Australian composer Chris Vik wanted to play the historic four-story tall Town Hall organ in Melbourne, and he decided that Microsoft's Kinect would be the best way to go about it. While the organ was built back in 1929, it was upgraded to support MIDI in the 90s. Meanwhile, Vik had already created his own software called Kinectar, which turns Microsoft's motion sensing device into a MIDI controller and was previously used to create dance-controlled electronic music. When it came to playing the historic organ, Vik decided to compose an original song and team up with singer Elise Richards, and the duo put on a performance at the town hall last November (a snippet of which you can see below). Vik hasn't revealed what his next project is, but the composer / developer has only been playing around with Kinect since last April — so we can't wait to see what he comes up with next.