[dragonsky]

>>> As of now, the drones’ propellers are still somewhat noisy. But as quiet drone technology becomes available, they’ll be able to add it to the existing framework.

So really everything you would expect from hanging a speaker from a drone, noisy and power hungry.

[jojobas]

My immediate thoughts. If only pianos were typically positioned in the same spot for a long time, allowing to do those measurements once and hang the speakers appropriately from the ceiling. Or make a speaker array in the base and do all sorts of spacial Fourier/phased array madness.

I guess if you want a gimmick piano you can have it.

[jdlshore]

It’s a concept piece. Gimmicks (or, more charitably, exploring out-there ideas) are the whole point.

[kbos87]

DJI has made a shocking amount of progress at making its drones quieter over the past few years. What used to sound like a loud swarm of bees 20 feet overhead is now almost imperceptible.

[xattt]

The volume of air moved remains a limitation of physics.

One thing the news release didn’t cover was whether there were attempts to integrate sound production into the coils of the motors.

[skykooler]

It’s not just the volume of air but also the speed that it’s moved at. Large slow propellers are quieter and more efficient than small fast propellers. (But less maneuverable.) In the limit, I could see this being done by big, spidery drones with huge props relative to their weight, like a scale model of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AeroVelo_Atlas.

[klyrs]

Even better with servo-controlled booms so the speakers are stationary when in use...

[jojobas]

Maybe a prop-stabilized blimp. You can hear flies and moths, no way a presumably 100+g speaker and a battery could be silent.

[brudgers]

Mic up the prop, phase shift 180 degrees and cancel the prop noise…kinda like noise canceling headphones?

[dTal]

If you cancel the noise for one listening spot, you double it for another listening spot. Conservation of energy!

[brudgers]

Unlike Newtonian theory, in audio engineering all points in space are not equivalent. Some points are between a pair of ears, some are not.

A common audio engineering strategy these days is to direct phase shift effects of multiple point sources vertically, e.g. linear speaker arrays. For audience members, reinforced and canceled frequencies fifteen feet off the ground don't effect musical experience.