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These things wouldn’t come into being until after 1910, and many of them involved abstract designs.
Yet Leonardo had indeed produced clear mechanical blueprints and had craftsmen replicate them.
If her idea was that long train, then his existence was like the boiler and coal fire, letting all the ideas pass through and creating profound tracks out of thin air.
The first paper roll was completely blank, serving as a sample for comparison.
The second one was a recording roll, meant to be placed on the air pipes of a special recording piano.
When the performer pressed a key, the piano string would trigger the air valve, which would then activate a small hammer.
The long paper tape had small indentations of varying depths,left by the small hammer.
He had even created a puncher, and completing a piece of music only took twenty minutes to punch.
Hedy looked at the interlocking mechanism in the square box and vaguely began to understand something.
Her conceptual design draft, compared to Leonardo’s physical device, had a very different distinction.
Medieval pianos didn't have vertical cabinets, and it was impossible to place the automatic playing mechanism above the music sheet.
So, Leonardo directly created a striking device at the back of the piano body, along with a bellows.
"So... are you planning to have someone lie on top of the piano to press the bellows?" Hedy examined the intricate gears and air valves before turning to look at him. "Or do you have another idea?"
"Wind-up." Leonardo smiled. "I got the idea from Giotto’s clock tower and the clockmakers."
Hedy paused for a moment, then chuckled softly. "Good idea."
They went to a concert hall near the Ducal Palace to conduct an experiment beside the piano.
Just as she had expected, it worked exactly as planned—
The plucking mechanism above the strings fed the paper roll, while the piano keys were pressed as though by an invisible hand, moving smoothly up and down, and the music flowed beautifully.
Hedy could vaguely imagine the scene—
Leonardo had probably not slept in the past ten days, having worked on the air valve and music sheets, even spending an entire day beside the piano, constantly tinkering with it.
He had a pure heart and a relentless dedication to things.
It was just like how she was when she was young.
"I always feel that these songs are a bit too trivial," Leonardosaid, taking the paper roll off and looking at her. "Mr. Medici has probably heard them many times already—do you know of any songs from the Holy Roman Empire?"
His energy had been completely drained recently, and instead of writing a new song on the spot, he just wanted to take a good nap.
Suddenly, Hedy had an idea and signaled him to place the recording paper roll in the designated spot.
Once Leonardo signaled that he was ready, she took a deep breath and began to play an old song.
This song was supposed to appear two hundred years later, hailed as the second national anthem of Austria.
Because the piano strings were struck through the paper, there wasn't much sound, just a muffled, dull noise.
Hedy played slowly but with a gentle and nostalgic expression.
She was playing "The Blue Danube," from her homeland.
