Orchestra Hero

[steuard]

A month or two ago, Kim and I started playing Rock Band; it's a lot of fun. I've mostly been playing drums, in part because I've always been a little interested and in part on the theory that the skills there could transfer reasonably well to the real instrument. Better than the guitar, anyway!

I began to wonder if someone would eventually create "Orchestra Hero" so I could indulge my love of classical music, too. Kim and I spotted some significant difficulties, like:

• Shorter songs are good for game play, so rock works well but classical less so. Playing through a single piece (or even a single movement) could take up a whole game session. And how obnoxious would it be when the clarinetist "fails out" ten bars before the end of Beethoven's 9th?
• Rock band requires just three or four controllers for a standard rock setup, while to field an orchestra you'd need at least a dozen. Sure, not everyone would need to buy every controller, but it still fragments the market for those items. (And if you did get a dozen friends together to play, how would you show all the parts on the TV screen?)
• While a lot of people might end up enjoying Orchestra Hero, many fewer would think they'd enjoy it: the market just isn't there. (Related is the point that one fun thing about Rock Band/Guitar Hero is getting to play songs you already know. Fewer people know a wide range of orchestral music.)

By the end of that conversation, I felt disappointed to realize that Orchestra Hero probably wouldn't ever happen, but I moved on.

So it was a bit of a surprise to see an article on the NY Times website today entitled "Orchestra Hero". The article isn't actually all that great (the author spends half his time talking about his composing, which has pretty much zilch to do with the topic), and it doesn't really touch on any of those difficulties or suggest ways to overcome them, but it's still neat to see other people considering the idea.

It's made me start wondering if something like this could actually work. There are lots of classical CDs with titles like "20 Romantic Classics" or "Bach's Greatest Hits" that pick out short, well-known pieces, so maybe length isn't such a big concern if you're willing to give up playing full symphonies. You could reduce the number of controllers by combining similar instruments (e.g. one controller design might work as a clarinet, oboe, and even flute). Maybe someone will eventually create Orchestra Hero after all.

Comments

[kirin]

A friend and I down here have been holding out for either Prog Rock Hero (basically like the current Rock Band setup, but comes with a full keyboard (or maybe two) and Rick Wakeman sequined cape), or Accordion Hero, ideally with a full set-list of They Might Be Giants.

One of the reasons I haven't picked up any Rock band version yet (aside from the cost) is that I recognize a pretty sad fraction of the default songs, really. In theory downloadable content helps ameliorate that, but I haven't seen a critical mass of things I'd really want come through yet.

Meanwhile, I actually own an orchestra-themed rhythm game. It's called Mad Maestro, was on PS2 (I think), and you play the conductor, tapping out rhythms in square and triangle shaped to simulate using the wand. It also uses the pressure-sensitive buttons for dynamics. As rhythm games go it's merely serviceable, but I do remember it having some fun songs including Ride of the Valkyries, Toreador Song, Baba Yaga's Hut, Hall of the Mountain King, and the first movement of Beethoven's 5th.