Scan and Play Sheet Music in Real Time with the Gocen

Beck’s new album is going to be sheet music based, meaning people without music reading or playing talents (see: Nickelback) won’t be able to replicate the album themselves. However, some smart buggers over at the Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a handheld scanner that can read sheet music, and play it back in real time (via Gizmodo). Suck on that, Beck – I ain’t learning shit!

The scanner can play it back regardless if its written for a piano, guitar, or the whole symphony. The device, the Gocen, can read chords, and words like “saxophone”, and figure out how loud the notes should be. Most amazing device ever?

Right now, the device must be hooked up to a PC to process the information. In the future, who knows! Check out a video of it in action below, and start furiously scanning sheets of music that you are struggling with at home (since we all have sheets of music sitting around our homes).