That simple upgrade gives Chopstix some especially impressive capabilities. Rush E is considered to be one of the most complex songs for piano ever composed, and it’s entirely impossible for a ten-fingered human pianist to play without having the ability to slow-down time, but Chopstix handles it with ease. (The plumes of smoke seen in the video weren’t the piano overheating, but a smoke bomb added for dramatic effect.)
Where Chopstix gets even more impressive is that its ability to play all of its keys at the same time—or large groups of keys with 127 different levels of force and intensity thanks to the solenoids—also allows it to perform more than just the notes and chords of an incredibly complex song. Using Fourier transforms (some fun Monday morning mathematics) the soundwaves of a human voice recording can be broken down and reproduced by playing several piano keys at once. The results aren’t as crystal clear as a real recorded human voice and Rober admits to cheating in the video and using subtitles to make Chopstix’s voice more comprehensible, but it’s no less impressive a feat.