Oud later), tuned in successive fourths. Curt Sachs said they were called (from lowest to highest pitch) "bamm", "maṭlaṭ", "maṭnā" and "zīr". "As early as the ninth century" a fifth string "ḥād" ("sharp") was sometimes added "to make the range of two octaves complete". It was highest in pitch, placed lowest in its positioning in relation to other strings. Modern tuning preserves the ancient succession of fourths, with adjunctions (lowest or highest courses) which may be tuned differently following regional or personal preferences. Sachs gives one tuning for this arrangement of five pairs of strings, d, e, a, d', g'. Historical
Virtuoso Violin Virtuoso Violin Virtuoso Violin is a violin-playing machine, invented by Fred Paroutaud for QRS Music Technologies, the same company that produced the first MIDI-compatible player piano. It was first unveiled February 13, 1998. The Virtuoso uses an electromagnet instead of fingering the strings. The electromagnet's position changes the behavior of the vibrating string to attain the desired pitch. The Virtuoso is designed to play a real violin, although its setup requires the strings to be restrung and the bridge to be removed and replaced with a mechanical bridge which controls the string oscillation and bow movement. The Virtuoso Violin is