Design Of Musical Instruments Research Articles

3D Digital Technologies for Studying Historical Musical Instruments

ABSTRACT This essay describes the authors experience engaging with digital technologies as a subject specialist who focuses on the history and design of musical instruments. While digital technologies (like 3D scanning and printing) offer exciting research opportunities, they should be tools for, not the focus of, research. Collaboration between subject specialists and technology experts is crucial. This essay reflects on how recent studies of musical instruments have used various technologies and includes new case studies from the authors own work. It is intended to be a resource for subject specialists in the Humanities wanting to engage with 3D digital technologies.

Design and Development Of Musical Instruments from Recycled Materials for the Elderly in Phitsanulok Province In the Northern Part Of Thailand

This research project explores the creative potential and sustainable innovation of designing and developing musical instruments using recycled materials, specifically focusing on involving the elderly community. In an era where environmental sustainability is paramount, and the elderly population is often overlooked in creative endeavors, this study aims to bridge these two aspects, offering a unique and inclusive approach to music and recycling. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the feasibility of using recycled materials to construct functional and aesthetically pleasing musical instruments while actively engaging the elderly, music experts, geriatric specialists, product design experts, and technicians in the design and development process. By leveraging their accumulated knowledge, wisdom, and artistic sensibilities, this project seeks to empower and enrich the lives of the elderly while contributing to reducing waste and environmental conservation. Results indicate that the elderly participants derive numerous physical, cognitive, and emotional benefits from their involvement in the project, including enhanced motor skills, cognitive stimulation, and a sense of accomplishment. Additionally, the musical instruments produced demonstrate impressive innovation, sound quality, and aesthetics, underlining the viability of using recycled materials in the design of musical instruments.

Triboelectric nanogenerator for Self-Powered musical instrument sensing based on the Ion-Electricfield-Migration Nylon/Na2SO4 nanofiber film

The advanced sensing technologies have a significantly important influence in promoting the design and research of intelligent musical instruments. Herein, we propose an ion-electricfield-migration enhanced triboelectric nanogenerator (IE-TENG) with the features of low-cost, lightweight and high-sensitive for the sensors of intelligent musical instruments. Compared to pure nylon nanofiber films, the voltage of IE-TENG with the nylon/Na2SO4 nanofiber films has been improved by 4.5 times, which is benefiting from the improved electrostatic induction of anions and cations migration. The fabricated IE-TENG sensor can achieve an excellent sensing performance with a sensitivity of 7.29 V N−1, a signal-to-noise ratio of 68.61 dB and a response-time of 10 ms, which are several times higher than the previous research works. Importantly, combined with the array structure design, multi-channel data acquisition and artificial intelligence digital analysis, an intelligent musical instrument system is constructed to gather and analyze the performer's playing information in real-time and quickly give the corresponding evaluation and improvement suggestions. Our finding not only give a good way for fabricating excellent performance TENG, but also promotes the application of TENG in intelligent musical instruments.

The Logic and Practical Path of Higher Education Curriculum Reform Based on Cognitive Psychology

Abstract Based on cognitive psychology theory, this study explores the doctrinal logic and practical path of higher education curriculum reform to enhance the effectiveness of higher education programs, with particular attention to improving students’ psychological quality and learning effectiveness. The study uses the finite element method and digital waveguide technology to simulate and analyze the stringed musical instrument. Accurate simulation of the vibration characteristics of the musical instrument is realized through the vibration equations of an ideal string and the principles of the digital waveguide algorithm. The experimental results show that the applied simulation technique can effectively simulate the vibration characteristics of the resonance box of the musical instrument, such as the ideal string vibration and the cavity coupling effect. In addition, the study involves the mathematical expressions of forced vibration and resonance and the effects of various materials on the modal frequencies of the resonance box. The application of artificial intelligence technology in studying acoustic properties of musical instruments significantly improves the accuracy and efficiency of simulation. It provides essential theoretical support for the design and production of musical instruments.

Virtual Simulation Research on Resonance Box Vibration Characteristics of College Symphony Orchestra Driven by Artificial Intelligence Technology

Abstract This study focuses on applying artificial intelligence techniques to virtually simulate the vibration characteristics of the resonance box of a college symphony orchestra to improve the understanding and optimization of the acoustic performance of the instrument. The study uses the finite element method and digital waveguide technology to simulate and analyze the vibration characteristics of the stringed resonating musical instrument, which is realized by the vibration equation of an ideal string and the principle of digital waveguide algorithm. The experimental results show that the applied simulation technique can effectively simulate the vibration characteristics of the resonance box of the musical instrument, such as the ideal string vibration and the cavity coupling effect. In addition, the study involves the mathematical expressions of forced vibration and resonance and the effects of various materials on the modal frequencies of the resonance box. The application of artificial intelligence technology in studying acoustic characteristics of musical instruments significantly improves the accuracy and efficiency of simulation. It provides essential theoretical support for the design and production of musical instruments.

Influence of 3D Printing Direction in PLA Acoustic Guitars on Vibration Response.

The design of musical instruments is a discipline that is still carried out in an artisanal way, with limitations and high costs. With the additive manufacturing technique, it is possible to obtain results for the generation of not only electrical but also acoustic instruments. However, it is necessary to generate a procedure to evaluate the influence of the process on the final result of the acoustics obtained. This study focuses on investigating the relationship between the construction of acoustic guitars and their final sound. The reinforcement structures at the top of the instrument are analysed, as well as how this design affects the vibratory behaviour of the top in the first five vibratory modes. Specifically, this article presents a procedure for the design of customised acoustic guitars using additive manufacturing through parametrisation and a vibrational analysis of the designed tops using finite element (FEA) and experimental physical tests, in order to develop a methodology for the study of stringed instruments. As a result, an 11% increase in the high-frequency response was achieved with a printing direction of +45°, and a reduction in the high-frequency response with ±45°. In addition, at high frequencies, a relative error of 5% was achieved with respect to the simulation. This work fulfils an identified need to study the manufacture of acoustic guitars using polylactic acid (PLA), and to be able to offer the musician a customised instrument. This represents a breakthrough in the use of this manufacturing technology, extending its relationship with product design.

Surface dynamics on Jeffrey nanofluid flow with Coriolis effect and variable Darcy regime

AbstractStretching and shrinking application ranges from aerodynamic extrusion of plastic sheets, biological implants, condensation of metallic plates to the design of musical instruments. To emphasize the need for proper fluid flow in the mammalian system, the phenomenon of stretching or shrinking suppresses muscle strains and cramps, and also prevents stroke and heart disease. For further insight into the dynamics of blood with Prandtl number of 21.0 in a rotating system, the present study theoretically investigates the flow of a Jeffrey fluid induced with gold nanoparticles over a rotating sheet. The homogenization of the gold nanoparticle with the base fluid is due to the Tiwari‐Das approach. To investigate the flow profiles and dynamics of the sheet, the spectral local linearization method (SLLM) is used to obtain approximate solutions to the resulting system of nonlinear differential equations. The results obtained using the SLLM are validated by taking the limiting case and comparing against published literature results. The obtained results suggest that the velocity of the nanofluid and the heat transfer rate on the stretching and shrinking sheets exhibit an opposing behaviour. A blood sample with gold nanoparticles is advised for a reduced skin friction effect in the stretching sheet but a more significant drag force in the shrinking sheet than in the base fluid. For a unit value of the rotating parameter, the skin drag force reduces by 36% for the primary skin drag force and 57% for the secondary skin drag force.

SIMPLE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS USING TOUCHLESS TECHNOLOGY FOR KIDS

Musical instruments have been an important part of human culture since ancient times. In recent decades, technological developments have allowed us to create more sophisticated and creative musical instruments. one of them is by designing a simple musical instrument with arduino based touchless technology. In recent years, touchless technology has become increasingly popular in product and application development. Touchless technology allows users to interact with devices in a contactless manner or in other words not touching the device itself. The purpose of making a simple musical instrument design with touchless technology based on Arduino is to design a musical instrument that can be used even without touching the musical instrument. and it is also hoped that users, in this case children, will be interested or like the musical instrument. In addition, by designing a simple musical instrument with arduino-based touchless technology, it can provide an innovative and hygienic music playing experience for children. meaning that the touchless technology used in the musical instrument can minimize physical touch or physical contact for children, and also minimize the risk of transmission of diseases or viruses in children. With the experimental method, namely realizing a simple musical instrument with touchless technology, measurements can be made of the performance of the musical instrument and the effectiveness of touchless technology which is the main factor in the purpose of this tool, which is expected that children can be interested in the world of music

Women in Electronic Musical Instrument Design: A balance shift [Pipelining: Attractive Programs for Women

Women in Electronic Musical Instrument Design: A balance shift [Pipelining: Attractive Programs for Women

Real-time musical performance across and within extended reality environments

The design of real-time digital musical instruments, both novel as well as the emulation of traditional musical performance practices using computer systems, has always required nearly imperceptible latencies between controlling gesture and expressed sound. Sound and music based experiences built within immersive visual rendered spaces often struggle to provide seamless articulate control of rendered dynamic output. Working across and within extended reality environments, the complexity of the challenge continues to evolve with current generations of hardware and software pushing core and graphics processors to their respective limits. The introduction of networked performance spaces has only added to the complexity, resulting in the need for additional latency mitigation strategies from both the technical and artistic domains. This paper will discuss recent creative and technical strategies and concerns in the design, development and use of real-time virtual musical instruments.

Q1Synth: A Quantum Computer Musical Instrument

This paper introduces Q1Synth, an unprecedented musical instrument that produces sounds from (a) quantum state vectors representing the properties of a qubit, and (b) its measurements. The instrument is presented on a computer screen (or mobile device, such as a tablet or smartphone) as a Bloch sphere, which is a visual representation of a qubit. The performer plays the instrument by rotating this sphere using a mouse. Alternatively, a gesture controller can be used, e.g., a VR glove. While the sphere is rotated, a continuously changing sound is produced. The instrument has a ‘measure key’. When the performer activates this key, the instrument generates a program (also known as a quantum circuit) to create the current state vector. Then, it sends the program to a quantum computer over the cloud for processing, that is, measuring, in quantum computing terminology. The computer subsequently returns the measurement, which is also rendered into sound. Currently, Q1Synth uses three different techniques to make sounds: frequency modulation (FM), subtractive synthesis, and granular synthesis. The paper explains how Q1Synth works and details its implementation. A setup developed for a musical performance, Spinnings, with three networked Q1Synth instruments is also reported. Q1Synth and Spinnings are examples of how creative practices can open the doors to new application pathways for quantum computing technology. Additionally, they illustrate how such emerging technology is leading to new approaches to musical instrument design and musical creativity.

FEM-BEM Vibroacoustic Simulations of Motion Driven Cymbal-Drumstick Interactions

The transient acoustic dynamics of a splash cymbal are investigated via the Finite Element Method-Boundary Element Method. Real three-dimensional motion data recorded from the interaction of drummer–drumstick–cymbal provide the initial and the loading conditions to the simulated interaction of the drumstick–cymbal Finite Element Models. Progressively intensified free strokes are used as loading conditions for both experiment and simulation. The velocity values of the moving drumstick in various drumming conditions are monitored, recorded, and analysed to provide input data into the time domain simulations. The synergy of motion capturing and numerical methods allows computing the sound generated by the combined interaction of the vibroacoustic behaviour of the cymbal with the motor-interaction of the performer. The proposed methodology promotes a novel perspective in musical instrument design, optimization, and manufacturing considering performance discrepancies intentionally introduced by performers.

The evolution of the mutes for brass instruments (from Ancient Egypt to present)

The influence of mutes on the sound palette of instruments is very significant: they are able to create sounds of various timbres, which are used both in academic and pop jazz music. This device, which is necessary for a modern performer, has gone a long way to improve in accordance with the changes in the design of musical instruments and the technique of playing them. Therefore, the study of the evolution of mutes sheds light on the specifics of the development of wind performing. Despite the availability of some scientific information, the history of mutes still remains an area for discussions. The article traces the evolution of mutes for brass instruments from the beginning to the present day, and their varieties are singled out and described. Asystematic approach to revealing the topic made it possible to consider the main stages of the history of mutes and the directions of their use by musicians of the past. Analysis of documentary and scientific sources, comparison and generalization of information contributed to the rebuilding of an holistic panorama of the historical evolution of the mutes, which, together with their consistent descriptionclassification, was an innovative research task. It is resumed that mutes, which belong to non-traditional means of expression, have been used for a long time: their first samples were found during the excavations of Tutankhamen’s tomb in Ancient Egypt. Since then, each century demonstrates the constant presence of this device, first in ritual-religious and military actions, and later in the artistic environment. Historically, the first ones, according to preserved evidences, were mutes for trumpets. Popularity of mutes grew along with the need for a variety of timbre colors, due to the emergence of new stylistic trends and individual compositional solutions. With the improvement of the performance technique on brass instruments, the mutes included to the pedagogical process as the devices for strengthening the performance apparatus. Finally, today there is a need to ensure comfort of both the musician and his environment during the long classes of the concert performer and the brass student. Evolution of the mute led to the emergence of a significant number of its modern types, designed to create various sound effects, so the article contains an overview of those varieties that have gained authority among performers and composers. Discovery of new archival documents, corrections to the interpretation of the already known ones, as well as new archaeological finds are constantly clarifying the understanding of the history of mutes, and the process of developing new varieties of them is in constant motion. So, the topic of this research remains open.

Playing Gamelan Bonang in the Air: User Requirements for Designing a Digital Musical Instrument for the Malay Bonang

In recent years, computer technologies have been impactful in the design and development of Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs). As music interaction became prominent in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field, emphasis on user requirement upon the design of musical interfaces has also grown since the last decade. Although designing new DMIs is becoming very popular, it is often determined by the designers and often not reflective of users’ needs. In this study, we explored user requirements for the design of a virtual musical instrument of the Malay bonang, an instrument found in the Malay gamelan ensemble. The requirements were elicited from a group of gamelan experts to establish the bonang playing techniques to be mapped to the virtual instrument which we called Air Bonang. Findings revealed that in designing the Air Bonang that is natural and expressive, the fundamental playing techniques of the bonang should be integrated into the system using mid-air interaction. In addition, exploratory techniques might also be integrated into the Air Bonang to leverage musical expression. The outcome of the study proposes design criteria that encompass three aspects of a natural Air Bonang, namely, embodiment, expressiveness, and feedback.

Synthesized Socialism: Soviet Modernity and the Politics of Timbre in the Cold War

Abstract In this article, I show that contrary to enduring Cold War binaries between Western experimentalism and Soviet socialist realism, the Soviet government strategically deployed electronic music to bolster its image as a modern, forward-looking nation during the early Cold War. Drawing on previously unseen archival sources, oral history interviews, and organological methods, I argue that the Soviet government cultivated a specific politics of timbre through the creation of state-sponsored electronic musical instruments and ensembles. I begin by examining a 1955 order from the Ministry of Culture, by which engineers and inventors were tasked with building electronic instruments that sounded “modern.” I then follow the development of the Ekvodin, a multivoice synthesizer with a keyboard for easy performance, which the Ministry of Culture heralded as the future of Soviet music. Using the Ekvodin as a case study reveals both the sonic and the ideological values at play in the design of electronic musical instruments. I also explore two “misfires” in Soviet electronic music: the invention of the Il’ston synthesizer and Alfred Schnittke’s Poem about Space. Finally, I analyze the reception of the Ekvodin and the All-Union Radio and Television’s Ensemble of Electromusical Instruments to highlight the ideological debates over how best to “sound modern” in global networks of musical creation. In doing so, the article invites a broad reconsideration of musical aesthetics and politics in the Cold War.

From Fiction to Function: Imagining New Instruments through Design Workshops

Abstract This article introduces a series of workshop activities carried out with expert musicians to imagine new musical instruments through design fiction. At the workshop, participants crafted nonfunctional prototypes of instruments they would want to use in their own performance practice. Through analysis of the workshop activities, a set of design specifications was developed that can be applied to the design of new digital musical instruments intended for use in real-world artistic practice. In addition to generating tangible elements for instrument design, the theories and models utilized, drawn from human–computer interaction and human-centered design, are offered as a possible model for merging the generation of creative ideas with functional design outputs in a variety of applications within and beyond music and the arts.

Charles Wheatstone: Britain’s Great Victorian Inventor

Hardly remembered today, Sir Charles Wheatstone was a scientific pioneer who played a crucial role in the development of telegraphy, 3D imaging and musical instrument design.

Tensions in designing tablet-based musical instruments for students with disabilities

The purpose of this study was to explore the design and development of tablet-based musical instruments for individuals with disabilities in a music education context. Emergent themes were examined using the design tensions framework in order to better understand the ways student-user abilities, teacher knowledge, and designer expertise were leveraged for this project. Tensions that were encountered and balanced by the design team included: (a) interaction, (b) feedback, (c) context, and (d) ensemble experience. Based on these tensions, “as created situations” were found as results of the actions taken by the design team. These outcomes included: (a) a reduced causality due to the decreased proximity of the student-user to the sound source, (b) a connected musical experience that contextualized student choices, and (c) the emerging need for a context-specific musical pedagogy that connects new visual representations to musical output. Implications for music education and the design of technology for and with individuals with disabilities are also discussed.

Basic Study About Large-Scale Acoustic Analysis of Violin Based on Domain Decomposition

Recent advances in numerical computation technology have popularized wave acoustic analysis, which is used in the design of musical instruments. The goal of this study is to shorten the production time and reduce the cost of musical instruments by predicting the sound behavior of a violin as the object of analysis. The analysis model was created based on CT scan data of a Stradivarius violin, and the open software ADVENTURE_Sound was used as the analysis tool. ADVENTURE_Sound is characterized by its ability to perform detailed analysis with tens to hundreds of millions of degrees-of-freedom meshes and its high parallel efficiency even in massively parallel computing environments consisting of tens of thousands of processors. In conclusion, we confirmed that a steady-state analysis of a high-definition violin model is successfully performed with more than tens of millions of elements.

Designing felt experiences with movement-based, wearable musical instruments: From inclusive practices toward participatory design.

Inclusive musical instruments benefit from incorporating wearable interfaces into digital musical instrument design, creating opportunities for bodily felt experiences and movement-based interactions. In this article, we discuss the evolution of our inclusive design approach behind the design and performance practices of three wearable musical instruments. By focusing on the embodied, somatic, and tacit dimensions of movement-based musical interaction, we evaluate these case studies, combining the third and first-person perspectives. The design and implementation of the wearable sensing, utilizing the additive manufacturing techniques, are discussed for each instrument and its performer in specific cases of musical expression. This article further discusses how our approach integrates music performance as a crucial step into design and evaluation, utilizing these performance practices and such collaborative settings for improved diversity and inclusion. Finally, we examine how our design approach evolves from user-centered design to more participatory practices, offering people with diverse abilities a shared music performance space.