Electrical Musical Instrument Research Articles

‘Martenaut Waves’ in the Music of the French Avant-Garde Cinematographer of the First Half of the 20th Century (on the example of the creativity of A. Honegger)

The purpose of the study is to reveal the figurative, semantic and symbolic specificity of the interpretation of the timbre of "Martenaut waves" in the music of the French avant-garde cinematography of the first half of the 20th century, including in the work of A. Honegger. Research methodology. Cultural-historical, interdisciplinary historical-cultural, as well as analytical-musicological methods were essential for this work. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that it introduces for the first time into the circulation of art historians the materials related to the film music of A. Honegger and its timbral specificity, marked by an appeal to the semantic and expressive features of the "Martenaut waves". Conclusions. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as a result of rapid scientific and technical progress, cinematography came to the forefront of world art. The unity of cinematography as a synthetic art and music is strengthened by the emergence of sound cinema in 1926-1927, in which music is recorded on the same film as the image. The use of electric musical instruments, including "Martenaut waves", becomes organic in this process. Thanks to their unusual timbre, they acquired the meaningful status of the embodiment of "the materialisation of the intangible." The world of hallucinations and dreams, mystical spiritual revelations and unusual natural phenomena – such was the range of images that were conveyed with the help of this instrument in French film music of the 1930s and 1940s. A. Honegger worked most fruitfully in this field during the mentioned period, whose creative output includes more than forty soundtracks, including those using "Martenaut waves". One of the first films in which the expressive timbre of this instrument is used was the science fiction film "The End of the World" (1931) directed by A. Gans, as well as the animated film "Idea" (1934) directed by B. Bartosh and artist F. Mazerel. In the musical accompaniment of these films, the timbre of the "Martenaut waves" occupies almost the most important place, revealing the connection of the instrument with the sphere of the Sacred and the Cosmic and the spiritual and stylistic searches of European modern culture.

Exploring the Effects of Additional Vibration on the Perceived Quality of an Electric Cello

Haptic feedback holds the potential to enhance the engagement and expressivity of future digital and electric musical instruments. This study investigates the impact of artificial vibration on the perceived quality of a silent electric cello. We developed a haptic cello prototype capable of rendering vibration signals of varying degree of congruence with the produced sound. Experienced cellists participated in an experiment comparing setups with and without vibrotactile feedback, rating them on preference, perceived power, liveliness, and feel. Results show nuanced effects, with added vibrations moderately enhancing feel and liveliness, and significantly increasing perceived power when using vibrations obtained from the pickup at the cello’s bridge. High uncertainty in our statistical model parameters underscores substantial individual differences in the participants responses, as commonly found in qualitative assessments, and highlights the importance of consistent feedback in the vibrotactile and auditory channels. Our findings contribute valuable insights to the intersection of haptics and music technology, paving the way for creating richer and more engaging experiences with future musical instruments.

The Art of Listening

Music and seismology merged in the daily work of the Caltech professor Hugo Benioff, who united the avant-garde technology of the 1920s with a nineteenth-century Helmholtzian aesthetic, cultural, and scientific understanding of music. The transducer facilitated this merger, mediating between science and music and allowing for new ways of listening to waves outside the audible range. Benioff had the capacity to listen—“listening” understood here not as passive perception, but as an active search to distinguish and separate signal from noise, whether from in- or outside of the instrument. For more than forty years, Benioff worked as a sonic expert, perfecting the recording and reproduction of waves and vibrations of all types and frequencies. After tracing elements of Benioff’s biography, I examine how he incorporated the technology of the transducer in his workshop into his seismological and musical instruments, notable not only for the control, austerity, and clarity of lines of their modernist design, but also for a new kind of poetic technology. Benioff’s seismological instruments made it possible to listen to a large variety of previously undetectable phenomena such as the free oscillations of the earth, and his work with the pianist Rosalyn Tureck on electric musical instruments aimed to reproduce the pure sound of traditional instruments. I argue that Benioff’s search for an aesthetic reconciliation of the scientific modern with an enchanted view of the world is very much a product of the social, cultural, technical, and scientific conditions of the interwar period.

СОВРЕМЕННАЯ МАССОВАЯ КУЛЬТУРА КАЗАХСТАНА В КОНТЕКСТЕ ТЕНДЕНЦИЙ МУЗЫКАЛЬНОГО ВОЗРОЖДЕНИЯ

In the last third of the XXth century, traditional Kazakh musical instruments acquired a new sound. Folk music of Kazakhstan has been enriched by a wide variety of musical styles based on traditional folk music. The young generation is of great interest to performers with new technical capabilities. Traditional instruments are experiencing a second wave of reconstruction, electric musical instruments (electric dombyra, electric sherter, electric kobyz, etc.) appear, thereby a new performing tradition is born in the mass musical culture of Kazakhstan. Musicians-performers use new compositional techniques, introduce electronic patterns, etc., maintaining connection with national traditions of Kazakh folklore. Kazakh festivals provide an unprecedented opportunities to demonstrate their musical products to musicians and promoters, which is especially important for attracting a diverse audience to the revived repertoire.

Audio Effect Units in Mobile Devices for Electric Musical Instruments

With the advent of modern techniques, there has been an increase in mobile devices with powerful functions. This study aims to utilize application software instead of hardware equipment to alter the sound of electric musical instruments by developing the functions of audio effect units on a mobile device. The built-in software audio effects include dynamic effects, delay effects, mixing, and equalization. Multichannel audio signal processing is proposed to enhance sound externalization. The listening tests indicate that the sound effects together with a quadraphonic system produce superior special effects and spatial audio than conventional effect units. Additionally, a denoiser is proposed for noise reduction, which is a function especially helpful for singers performing on busy streets. The customization in the module is achieved by a personal voice preprocessing system. A dual-filter function was utilized for the denoiser to adjust to different environments. The objective performance measurements demonstrate that the proposed denoiser outperforms the state-of-the-art methods. A hardware audio interface serving as the connection between a mobile device and an electric instrument, such as an electric guitar, electric piano, or electric bass, was also built, providing impedance matching and voltage balance. The proposed interface transfers the electric instrument signal into a 3.5-mm jack in a smartphone or tablet. The developed audio interface is light and low-noise and can operate without being connected to an external power supply, thereby making it suitable for street musicians. The experiments validate the feasibility of using the proposed circuit for real-time audio signal conversion.

3D parametric design and CNC manufacturing of custom solid wood electric guitars using CAD/CAM technology

ABSTRACTThis study proposes a systematic approach for modelling and three-axis CNC milling of solid wood parts used in stringed electric musical instruments, mainly in electric guitars and basses, through CAD/CAM technology. Design and manufacturing philosophy undertakes particular characteristics of tonal woods, so as to produce high-quality resonant musical instrument parts with high accuracy. To do so, it is crucial to identify design features and to apply the appropriate machining strategies and parameter values based on obtained knowledge, as these have a great impact on both the acoustic characteristics of the parts and on the total appearance of the instrument, thus making it more appealing in a competitive market. Customization of musical instruments is well received among professional musicians who wish to stand out during their performance, as well as to own an instrument of uniquely original shape and sonic properties. Keeping custom instruments cost reasonable is a challenge, unless the overall production is systematic and modular. The proposed approach was developed and tested on a custom solid electric guitar, which was then finished and assembled with off-the-shelf components to form a great looking and sounding electric guitar.

Rehabilitation training for upper limb paresis of brain disease patients using the electric musical instrument: Cyber Musical Instrument with Score (Cymis)

Rehabilitation training for upper limb paresis of brain disease patients using the electric musical instrument: Cyber Musical Instrument with Score (Cymis)

“Electric Music” on the Victorian Stage: The Forgotten Work of J.B. Schalkenbach

This paper provides an overview of electrical pre-loudspeaker sound art in Victorian music halls, focusing on key figures, including one of the first female performers of an electrical musical instrument. Control of “acoustic incidents” separate from the artiste and the employment of artful presentation to create an aesthetic edifice—prerequisites of sound art—are apparent in the entertainments examined here. It is shown that the issues of today's sound art (in reconciling science with art, the coveting of the “active principle,” etc.) were also a concern in these early sound art ventures.

Capacitive electric musical instrument vibration transducer

A capacitive electric musical instrument vibration transducer contains one or more parallel plate variable capacitors. Each variable capacitor contains one vibrating variable capacitor plate, an electrically conducting surface that comprises, covers, or is embedded within an acoustically emitting vibrating surface on a musical instrument (such as a drumhead or soundboard), and one fixed variable capacitor plate comprising a rigid electrically conducting surface held a fixed distance away. When the instrument is played, the vibrating surface causes vibrations directly (without using airborne sound as an intermediary) in the vibrating variable capacitor plates, thus causing time-varying voltage oscillations in the parallel plate variable capacitors reflecting the vibrational state, and therefore the sound, of the instrument. An electric circuit in the transducer converts these voltage oscillations into the same kinds of signals produced by microphones and magnetic pickups.

Conservation and restoration of electroacoustic musical instruments at the Musée de la Musique, Paris

The Museum of Music in Paris possesses a collection of 280 instruments from the twentieth century. Most of them belong to the general families of electric and electronic musical instruments, which we will call ‘electrophones’, in deference to the name chosen by Curt Sachs (1940). The instruments are gathered in families so that the whole collection illustrates the milestones of the twentieth century; for instance, the museum has a large set of diverse Ondes Martenot. However, due to its scarcity, the Trautonium is represented by one of Oscar Sala's Mixtur-Trautonia.Like any museum, we have to encourage the conservation of this heritage. To maintain a large collection of electrophones like the one we have, a specific knowledge base has to be developed. We have been working on this aspect of the project for the past two years. From the onset, it was decided to start the collection with the Ondes Martenot. Our aim was to define a model approach that could also be applied to other electric and electronic instruments. This work involves organising the instruments, studying them in order to outline conditions of appropriate conservation, and determining which kind(s) of restoration should be undertaken.A first step has been to gather all information necessary to understanding the instrument and its mode of performance. With this goal in mind, we have taken a complete inventory of our collection with the aim of coming up with a first assessment of the state of the instruments and determining whether to allow performers to play them. Thanks to this work, we were able to start taking precautionary measures against degradation; we are now also able to answer many questions relevant to the restoration and conservation of this collection.

Electric musical instrument

An electric musical instrument is provided, which enables rich and diverse expressions to be achieved in musical performance. A driving member drives a tone generating source. A driving member-side signal generator obtains a signal from the driving member and outputs the obtained signal. A musical tone signal generator generates a musical tone signal using the signal output by the driving member-side signal generator and outputs the generated musical tone signal. In another aspect of the invention, a tone generating source-side signal generator obtains a tone generating source-side signal from the tone generating source and outputs the obtained signal, and a driving member-side signal generator obtains a driving member-side signal from the driving member and outputs the obtained signal. A modulation device frequency-modulates one of the tone generating source-side signal and the driving member side signal with the other signal. The modulated signal is output from the modulation device as a sound.

Electrical musical instrument providing sound field localization

An electronic musical instrument capable of providing an optimum sound field localization, such as key scale panning, suitable for a tone color selected from a plurality of tone colors by a player. A panning data for dividing a tone signal into right and left tone signals is generated in accordance a selected tone color and tone pitch of a tone signal to be generated. The panning is executed by using the panning data.

Electronic musical instrument for modulating musical tone signal with voice

An electrical musical instrument includes a scale designator for sequentially and automatically designating a scale on the basis of prestored data of a music piece, and a musical tone signal generator for outputting a musical tone signal including a harmonic frequency on the basis of the scale designated by said scale designator or as a fundamental frequency. A voice detector detects an external voice and the detected voice is divided by a modulator into voice signals in a plurality of frequency ranges. The musical tone signal is modulated in units of corresponding frequency ranges on the basis of the voice signals divided into the plurality of frequency ranges.

Electronic musical instrument with vibration feedback

A vibrator for vibrating an electronic musical instrument in accordance to the generated tone being produced. In this manner, a player of the electrical musical instrument will have the sensation of playing a conventional musical instrument due to the feedback of vibrational energy into the input device of the electronic musical instrument.

System for controlling the dynamic range of electric musical instruments

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Mositure-free-electromagnetic pickup for an electrical musical instrument of the stringed type

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The electric musical instrument based on the "Real Sound" concept

The electric musical instrument based on the "Real Sound" concept

Pick-up for an electrical musical instrument of the stringed type

A humbucking pick-up for an electrical musical instrument of the stringed type including two or three primary pick-up assemblies and, in either case, a lesser number of additional pick-up assemblies are all that is necessary to provide for humbucking, the secondary pick-up assemblies not being used for signal generation. The pick-up includes an instrument mounted preamplifier. With the preamplifier in use, the signals from the primary and secondary pick-up assemblies are summed thereat. The preamplifier may be bypassed and the signals from the primary pick-up assemblies conducted directly to an amplification system. This is accomplished while maximizing the output signal and still permitting humbucking. A dual tone control arrangement is provided so that the primary and secondary coils can be balanced simultaneously. The arrangement of the primary coils is such that the operation of the secondary humbucking coils is not affected thereby.

Vibration and decay characteristics of electrical basses

One of the assets of electric musical instruments such as guitars and basses is that they posess very long sustain. Since no acoustic radiation is required from the body of the instrument, very rigid and massive elements may be used in its construction. This will generally ensure that the sustain is long and constant from note to note. Structural resonances, however, occur in all structures with finite stiffnesses and masses and these resonances will influence the sustain of the instrument. Since the resonances occur at discrete frequencies, certain notes may have a more rapid decay than others and this may cause “dead spots” at certain notes. The relation among the structural resonances, the decay rates, and the input inertances at the ends of the speaking lengths of the strings of an electric bass will be discussed. The modal shapes will be shown and their shapes relative to the speaking length of the string will also be considered.

Automatic playing of pianos and electric musical instruments

Automatic playing of pianos and electric musical instruments