Piano Genie. Sounds at Your Fingertips | Robert Gogol

Piano Genie. Sounds at Your Fingertips | Robert Gogol

20th International Symposium on Sound Engineering and Tonmeistering, ISSET 2025
Curator: Tomasz Misiak
Duża Scena Gallery UAP, 24 Wodna Str.
Exhibition dates: 9-13.10.2025

Piano Genie is an experimental AI-based musical interface developed as part of Google’s “Magenta” project. It allows any user to improvise using a simple controller. The system maps 8 inputs to the full range of 88 piano keys, generating melodies in real time. The model was trained on around 1,400 recordings from the digital archive of the International Piano-e- Competition, enabling it to reflect many pianistic techniques found in classical music. This unique instrument becomes part of contemporary “virtual orchestras” (as described by music philosopher Harry Lehmann in his widely discussed book “The Digital Revolution in Music”), which raise questions – typical of digital culture – about the originality and uniqueness of musical creation. One of the best-known examples of such orchestras is The Fauxharmonic Orchestra by Paul Henry Smith, which already in its name underscores the faux pas inherent in such endeavors. But what kind of breach of “etiquette” are we really dealing with here? It seems there is no longer a clear set of rules denying today’s digital natives the right to play musical instruments without years of music theory or classical training.

It also seems that it’s not really about music here, but rather about playing with sound. With a custom-built controller and two monitors, Robert Gogol invites us to test our improvisational abilities. These are “sounds at your fingertips,” which born from unrestrained play can form sophisticated musical structures. Can we play together? Can stepping out of our private spaces, where we usually engage in such activities, help foster greater openness and creativity? Can we shed the weight of classical music history and enjoy making music knowing we don’t have to be musicians?

Tomasz Misiak

Robert Gogol, a PhD student at the Department of Acoustics, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. He studies the impact of spectral- temporal sound structure on speech and music perception. He combines scientific research with technical design and artistic projects.

www.robertgogol.pl