Musical Instrument Design

We present the prototype of a hybrid instrument, which uses two contact microphones to sonify the gestures of a player on a generic surface, while a gesture localization algorithm controls the pitch of the sonified output depending on the position of the gestures. To achieve the gesture localization we use a novel approach combining attack parametrization and template matching across the two microphone channels. With this method we can correctly localize 80 ± 9 % of the percussive gestures. The user can assign determined pitches to specific positions and change the pitch palette in real time. The tactile feedback characteristic of every surface opens a set of new playing strategies and possibilities specific to any chosen object. The advantages of such a system are the affordable production, flexibility of concert location, object-specific musical instruments, portability, and easy setup.

"Up to this time, of the new powers which computers bring to music, commercially available music software has focused mainly on precision and memory. These are wonderful attributes, but one of the computer's greatest strengths remains barely touched. Logic, the computer's ability to learn and to simulate aspects of our own human intelligence, lets the computer grow into an actively participating extension of a musical person, rather than just another tape recorder or piece of erasable paper.

I firmly believe that logic, when used well, does not conflict with intuition, emotion, or other aspects of music which are often considered contrary to it. Rather than constraining musicality, logical structures can serve to support, extend, and amplify our ability to express and embody the undefinable qualities of aesthetic meaning which we are forever trying to capture.

This is a very exciting time for music. With the advent of computers, many of music's past restrictions can begin to fall away, so that it becomes possible for more people to make more satisfying music, more enjoyably and easily, regardless of physical coordination or theoretical study, of keyboard skills or fluency with notation. This doesn't imply a dilution of musical quality. On the contrary, it frees us to go further, and raises the base-level at which music making begins. It lets us focus more clearly on aesthetic content, on feeling and movement in sound, on the density or direction of experience, on sensuality, structure, and shape -- so that we can concentrate better on what each of us loves in music that lies beyond the low level of how to make notes, at which music making far too often bogs down.

This simple program hopes to provide an introduction to the vast and still-barely- explored realm of musical intelligence in software which doubtless includes possibilities beyond anything we conceive of now. For those who have wanted to do music but have lacked the background, computer intelligence may make it possible. For those of us who have already gone a long way in music, it may let us go further than we ever imagined before. This program is a small beginning, written to some extent as a pointer.

--Laurie Spiegel
New York City, 1986-8"

This paper explores the convergence of musical and architectural theory in Vitruvius’ De Architectura. Section 1 describes Vitruvius’ architectural lexicon, borrowed from Aristoxenus (I.2), and explores his description of the laws of harmony, modeled on Elementa Harmonica (V.4). Section 2 explores how Vitruvius proposes using music theory in practical architectural design, including construction of columns using architectural orders analogous to Aristoxenian genera (I.2.6; IV.1); acoustical designs for theatres (V.5); and the development of machines, including siege engines ‘tuned’ like musical instruments (X.12) and water-organs [hydrauli] constructed to execute all the different varieties of tuning (X.8). Section 3 reflects on Vitruvius’ use of analogies with a musical instrument, the sambuca, to explain his understanding of cosmic harmony and architectural form, and his possible sources (VI.1). Finally, Section 4 discusses Vitruvius’ ideas about the importance of a liberal arts education that includes study of music theory. The best architects, Vitruvius explains, can discover in music the secrets to forms they both encounter in nature and create themselves.

The Russian born clarinetist and inventor, Iwan Müller, was responsible for the development of the thirteen-key clarinet. In 1803, he constructed an eight-key clarinet while living in Russia, and by 1808, he travelled to Dresden where he worked with the maker Heinrich Grenser. An alto clarinet in F was constructed by removing the four lowest asset keys of a basset horn and adding 16 keys according to Müller's specifications.  This instrument and its improvements were noted in a review of Müller's 1809 concert. Müller travelled to Vienna later in the year to have Johann Baptist Merklein construct a soprano clarinet according to his design. At a concert later that year Müller's alto clarinet was described as not having as full a sound as his basset horn. In 1811, Müller arrived in Paris, established an instrument making shop with the clarinetist and stockbroker Marie Pierre Petit, and with an amateur musician, Boscari. Müller hired an instrument maker who completed a 13-key clarinet which he presented to an eight-member commission of the Paris Conservatory on May 12, 1812. The "Gamme de la Clarinette" illustrates a thirteen-key clarinet with two additional thumb keys, one operating the F#/C#, the other the Ab/Eb lever. The 1812 Commission did not accept Müller's soprano clarinet because Müller present it as capable of playing in all tonalities and they wanted to preserve clarinets in C, B-flat and A. They did approve his alto clarinet.  Subsequent French makers of 13-key clarinets followed Müller's design but did not use the additional thumb levers.
Müller also introduced a metal ligature with two screws to hold the reed on the mouthpiece, rather than twine. The earliest prize winner at the Conservatory to receive a thirteen-key clarinet was Pierre Hugo, a student of Louis Lefèvre, in 1825. Müller designs influenced all later clarinet makers.

This paper deals with the musical instrument "Octo" invented in 2010 and aspects of instrument invention in our contemporary setting, especially focused on enabling musical instruments to have playable micro-intervallic properties and spatial capacities. The paper discusses design and playability considerations when accommodating such tonal properties and the future perspectives of developing/remodeling such hybrid instruments as musical tools for the expansion and further development of musical genres and esthetics in our contemporary setting. Background In the 20 th century we have seen various developments within harmony and techniques that have not been explored before, some of them which are:-microintervalic music and "spatial" music. These developments have helped expand the overall musical/compositional language and have brought new compositional tools for composers, that help in turn develop new ways of writing music and new esthetic horizons.

Uniform strings have a harmonic sound; nonuniform strings have an inharmonic sound. This paper experiments with musical instruments based on nonuniform/inharmonic strings. Given a precise description of the string, its spectrum can be calculated using standard techniques. Dissonance curves are used to motivate specific choices of spectrum. A particular inharmonic string consisting of three segments (two equal unwound segments surrounding a thicker wound portion) is used in the construction of the hyperpiano. A second experiment designs a string with overtones that lie on steps of the 10-tone equal tempered scale. The strings are sampled, and digital (software) versions of the instruments are made available along with a call for composers interested in writing for these new instruments.

A system is introduced that allows a string player to control asynthesis engine with the gestural skills he is used to. Theimplemented system is based on an electric viola and asynthesis engine that is directly controlled by the unanalysedaudio signal of the instrument and indirectly by controlparameters mapped to the synthesis engine. This method offersa highly string-specific playability, as it

When envisaging new digital instruments, designers do not have to limit themselves to their sonic capabilities (which can be absolutely any), not even to their algorithmic power; they must be also especially careful about the instruments' conceptual capabilities, to the ways instruments impose or suggest to their players new ways of thinking, new ways of establishing relations, new ways of interacting, new ways of organizing time and textures; new ways, in short, of playing new musics. This article explores the dynamic relation that builds between the player and the instrument, introducing concepts such as efficiency, apprenticeship and learning curve It aims at constructing a framework in which the possibilities and the diversity of music instruments as well as the possibilities and the expressive freedom of human music performers could start being evaluated.

In this paper, we describe an adaptive approach to gesture mapping for musical applications which serves as a mapping system for music instrument design. A neural network approach is chosen for this goal and all the required interfaces and abstractions are developed and demonstrated in the Pure Data environment. In this paper, we will focus on neural network representation and implementation in a real-time musical environment. This adaptive mapping is evaluated in different static and dynamic situations by a network of sensors sampled at a rate of 200Hz in real-time. Finally, some remarks are given on the network design and future works.

This paper explores the roles of technical and musical familiarity in shaping audience response to digital musical instrument (DMI) performances. In an audience study conducted during an evening concert, we examined two primary questions. First, whether a deeper understanding of how a DMI works increases an audience's enjoyment and interest in the performance; and, second, given the same DMI and same performer, whether playing in a conventional (vernacular) versus an experimental musical style affects an audience's response. We held a concert in which two DMI creator-performers each played two pieces in differing styles. Before the concert, each half the 64-person audience was given a technical explanation of one of the instruments. Results showed that receiving an explanation increased the reported understanding of that instrument, but had no effect on either the reported level of interest or enjoyment. On the other hand, performances in experimental versus conventional style on the same instrument received widely divergent audience responses. We discuss implications of these findings for DMI design.

This practice-based research project is an original investigation into the process of producing five compositions employing a self-designed digital musical instrument (DMI) called the ‘Flexible Phrase System’ (FPS). This research consists of two interconnected design processes: one is the production of a portfolio of music, and the other is the development of the FPS, which supports the production of the music. Composing the music and designing the FPS are developed in an iterative design process. The interconnected processes affect the content of the compositions, and it impacts the development of the FPS. Similarly, the FPS is designed for underscoring western advertising or movie trailers; therefore, the compositions are biased towards western popular music. All of the original works are three minutes long and used western popular instruments. The iterative design process offers insights into the compositional process and the artistic motivation that are intertwined with the possibilities provided by the FPS.
Audio-visual self-study observation methods are utilised to gain knowledge of composing, the impact of the FPS, and the implementation of an iterative design process. These self-study methods focus on the principles of autoethnographic studies, reflection-in-action studies, and studies of the creative process of music composition (CPMC).
This study contributes five western popular compositions for commercials and movie trailers to the repertoire of music, and it also contributes the newly designed DMI to the field of virtual instruments (VIs) and user interface controllers (UICs). It reveals original and critical insights into the iterative design of a DMI. Additionally, other composers, producers, and music technologists can use the developed self-study
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observation methods and the iterative design process to analyse their compositional process with the aid of a self-designed DMI.

This paper describes a 3-year project that seeks to explore tuning systems and to develop instruments appropriate for the audition and performance of music composed in just intonation tunings. The project is a response to the transformation in computer music enabled through the introduction of wireless technologies and is motivated by a desire to enable performance of music based on

What does it mean to speak of tele-media as a musical instrument? The unfolding of this question is aided by analysis of the control domains of two existing instrument categories, acoustic instruments and digital controllers. Design criteria for making tele-media instruments are formulated thence, and also from consideration of the special capacity of tele-media to bring together multi-lateral non-proximate control sources. Such design anticipates musicians in different continents participating in single sonic outcomes. What does it mean for such a tele-instrument to facilitate virtuosic performance? Any high standard of instrument making urges that instrument makers do so. Virtuosity is understood in part as performance presence, an important issue for tele-media criticism. The broader topic concerning the relation between presence and transmission is represented narrowly here in a single argument. Transmission of performance intention is more important to remote performance presen...

This study investigates the nature of interrelationships between technological, musical and aesthetic developments in the design of new electronic instruments within the field of live electronics and access technology for disabled musicians, making particular reference to two key concepts: gesture and the instrument. I focus on two key practitioners in the field: STEIM (Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music), Amsterdam, and The Drake Music Project, London.

This contribution analyses the Cristofori piano action which is preserved at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence and reveals a new incredible discovery regarding its link with the 1726 piano which is preserved in the Museum of Musical Instruments in Leipzig.