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127th AES Convention Coverage (New York, NY Oct. 9-12)
PRESS RELEASE
Peterson Tuners Put to Use to Create the Bottle Organ
July 27, 2001
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OK, so this isn't an organ that you will see in stores, but it was so unique and drew a steady crowd at the NAMM show that it deserved some attention. Odds are that at one time or another, you've experienced the pleasure of (or annoyance of others) blowing across the mouth of an open bottle, which produces a distinct sound. You may have also noticed that the pitch produces varies with how much of the bottle's contents have been consumed, and perhaps even made a little tune. But Peterson Tuners has taken it to the extreme. The Peterson Bottle Organ is a MIDI-based instrument that uses jets of air passed over the tops of bottles - in this case mostly Guinness Extra Stout - to produce its sound (no word on how long it took to "prepare" the bottles). Each bottle in the organ corresponds to a single pitch, which was tuned by controlling the amount of liquid in the bottle with the aid of a Peterson strobe tuner no doubt. For the curious, mineral oil was used in the bottles as water would evaporate too quickly, throwing the organ out of tune. What may seem rather low tech was made modern with its MIDI implementation, capable of being played by the keyboard or by inserting a floppy with your favorite MIDI tunes into the MIDI file reader. It just cries out for Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" ala the well-known Simpsons episode. The Bottle Organ is not scheduled for production of any kind, but if you're interested in having one of your very own, Peterson will build them to order. For more information, visit their web site at http://www.petersontuners.com/.
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