Actuator suggestions for music playing automats/robots

Hey,

This is a posting for a brain storming session.

If we want to design and build a music playing robot/automat with a
group of amateur robot lovers (with limited pocket money) what would
you suggest particularly for different types of actuators for
different types of musical instruments?

Assume that we want to play
  * Percussion Instruments (Drum, tabla, etc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percussion_instrument )
  * String Instruments (Violin,  etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_instruments )
  * Wind Instruments ( Flute, clarinet etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_instruments )
  * Guitar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar )
  * Piano

Few issues for the actuators;
   * Actuators should be quite (not noisy) ,
   * Actuation rate should be high enough for the particular
instrument that it will be used for, for playing fast music pieces for
that instrument,
   * Applied force should be adjustable
   * :( Low cost and can be build by amateurs):


If you know URLs for music playing robots/automats would you share
them with us?

Regards,

Miem Chan



PS. If you did not know already, you should visit http://www.animusic.com/
for fantastic music playing robot animations.