GLOVOX
New limelight for the
legendary glove
Only recently, by pure
chance, the undersigned, Bernardo Lanzetti,
discovered that, on an important software sharing site, in English, a device
called "GLOVOX" is presented
exploited and promoted.
It is a glove equipped
with a contact microphone that, positioned on the throat of a vocalist, is able
to pick up the monophonic signal of the vocal cords and direct it to dedicated
software able to process it so that the singer can get to play, for example,
synthesizers!
Now, Bernardo Lanzetti
invented GLOVOX in 1987 as evidenced by numerous documents, audio, video and
news also available online.
The equipment was, at
the time, considered non-patentable because it was a simple assembly of a
working glove, two piezoelectric microphones and a jack or canon cable with
switch, but its particular and exclusive user manual was filed with the SIAE
and therefore reproductions of it or parts of it violate copyright in Italy and
abroad.
In the initial
presentation of GLOVOX on the Git-Hub site mentioned at the beginning, Bernardo
Lanzetti is referred to as the first inventor/user but he was never informed of
the expropriation of his idea and of the original name of his device.
Furthermore, Bernardo
Lanzetti is indicated with a certain sufficiency, literally as “one of the
singers of the Primiata Forneria Marconi. Yes, Primiata with the "i".
I can say that Glovox
has nothing to do with the aforementioned band despite having been their lead
singer from 1975 to 1978 and, officially, exiting it in 1979.
Here, then, is a small
history of Glovox:
In 1986, the
Australian company Fairlight came out with the "Voicetracker", a
device, historically the first one, capable of transforming an analog
monophonic signal, see the human voice through a microphone, into digital
information to play computerized instruments such as midi synthesizers of the
time.
Various prototypes
were delivered to famous vocalists such as Peter Gabriel, Michael Jackson and
Kate Bush and one even came to Bernardo Lanzetti who had already distinguished
himself for particular research on voice and electronics.
The Fairlight,
revolutionary for those times, revealed some problems including that one of
having to use a microphone that, by its nature, picks up every sound, even
within a narrow range, and therefore made the equipment unusable, live, on a
stage where all the other musicians are also playing.
To be clear, the
dedicated processor took too long to distinguish which was the sound of the
voice to decipher and decode because it arrived mixed with the indentations of
guitar, bass, drums etc.
If we then consider
that the vocal cords, before emitting a usable note, take a few milliseconds
because, at the beginning of each single vibration considered, they only
produce noise, the Fairlight device was always late in responding so that the
vocalist was forced to sing anticipating every single note.
Between ’86 and ’87,
to overcome the problem of the microphone, Bernardo, while working with the
oboist and composer Arnaldo De Felice, had the idea of using "contact
microphones" or piezoelectric, similar to small coins, to be placed on the
neck in order to pick up the vibrations of the vocal cords right outside the
throat.
In this way, only the
singer's voice could be taken into account.
To overcome the
problem of delay or latency, it was decided to consider only the analog signal
or to treat what was captured as if it were, for example, the sound of an
electric guitar, in this case with a single metal string ...
Lanzetti's studies
were presented by himself, for Fairlight, in London where no other famous
vocalist and possible user of the Voicetracker showed up unlike some engineers
and painters / illustrators.
With the presentation
of Arnaldo De Felice, Bernardo illustrated his invention at the School of
Electronic Music in Basel but also manufacturers of electronic instruments such
as the American Alesis and the Japanese Zoom were contacted.
All the subjects
involved in the above structures and organizations judged the GLovox
interesting but only because the undersigned knew how to use it in a curious
and exclusive way. In conclusion, they judged the device not a real musical
instrument with market potential.
A few years later,
even the Chinese came to comment: it costs too little. If we put it on the
market, then the Vietnamese make a half-price version!
For more than fifteen
years Bernardo's Glovox has been laughed at or, at best, badly tolerated by
fellow musicians but, suddenly, the audience present at live performances with
groups such as CCLR, Extra, Beggar's Farm, Acqua Fragile and others, has started
to get passionate about performances where he sticks his “magic glove” around
his throat.
From what was found on
the Git-Hub site, the manager of this “usurped” Glovox signs himself with the
name Riccardo Yorke Reali.
From first researches
on the net nothing has emerged that is certain and in any case likely to be
related to what is exposed and described, in truth with competence, in the
pages relating to the presented glove.
A mischievous person
could imply that the person responsible would like to hide behind some nick
name and I'm not talking about the leader of Radiohead ...
In conclusion, the
undersigned Bernardo Lanzetti is very happy that there are those who have
studied and tried to develop his legendary Glovox.
It goes without saying
that not having been contacted to issue an appropriate release and not having
been made aware of the operation, sharing the results and perhaps being able to
recommend necessary corrections already highlighted, will force him to take
every action, even legal, to safeguard the product of its wits and copyright.
I take this
opportunity to launch an appeal online so that the subject activated on Git-Hub
or others, aware of his work here described, could contact me at:
il blog di Bernardo Lanzetti
https://bernardolanzetti.blogspot.com/
facebook:
Vox 40 Bernardo Lanzetti:
https://www.facebook.com/EventoConcertoVox40
Bernardo Lanzetti The Voice Impossible:
https://www.facebook.com/BernardoLanzetti