MIDI + Steam Organ Project : Need Volunteers !

We are looking for musicians who could volunteer for our calliope projects.  

A veteran steam engineer in Brooklyn has created a calliope or “steam organ”, which locals come to play on every New Year’s Eve to celebrate the coming of the year. Along with his collection of steam whistles, this instrument is run by steam, generated from DC generators (the oldest of its kind in the Northeast U.S.) especially for this event. The sound would be heard from miles away, and vibrate your whole body as you stand near. 

Last year, we designed a series of circuit boards enabling this long-forgotten 19 century instrument to play prerecorded MIDI files downloaded from Internet. As we successfully put this new and old technology together, we found that we need to make some adjustments / customizations on MIDI files for the instrument.  

The problem is we know nothing about music - and we need your help. We have some music in MIDI format that we need to have transposed so it can be made to run through the calliope and all the notes can be heard. We also have sheet music from the 19th century that we are looking for someone to play. The performance would be recorded and played back via MIDI at future events. This is an excellent opportunity for someone to really sink their technical know how and artistic merit into a project. 

If you are interested or know someone knowledgeable in this field, please contact us. Although the event itself is on the New Years’ Eve, we would love to have someone come over as soon as possible. Thanks! 

Frank Sokolow
Makiko Nukaga
[email protected]