ABSTRACT
This paper presents a new approach for designing acoustic guitars,
making use of the virtual environment. The physical connection
between users and their instruments is preserved, while offering
innovative sound design. This paper will discuss two projects,
reAcoustic eGuitar, the concept of a digitally fabricated
instrument to design acoustic sounds, and A Physical Resonator
For a Virtual Guitar, a vision in which the guitar can also
preserve the unique tune of an instrument made from wood.
1. BACKGROUND
Each acoustic instrument made of wood is unique. Each piece of
wood is different, leading to uniqueness of tune of the acoustic
sound that is created. Both uniqueness and expressivity are the
most important characteristics of the acoustic instrument. Digital
instruments lack the uniqueness but usually allow more sound
flexibility [1], by offering digital sound processing or synthesis
[2].
Digital keyboard instruments have been significantly more
successful than bowed or plucked instruments, which suffered
from lack of expressivity and uniqueness of tune. On the one
hand, the digital instrument can add new interfaces, controllers
and sound abilities to the musical experience. On the other hand,
there is a significant cost for modeling the captured information
into a pre-defined digital structure. Besides the processing
problem, it usually leads to decreasing or canceling the
uniqueness of tune and expressivity of the instrument.
The main approach to deal with the expressivity problem lies in
the field of sound processing, instead of synthesis. One option to
this approach is to capture expressive signal and modify some
parameters while preserving the expressive behavior [3].
We come to suggest a different approach. We believe that
significant work can be done by combining benefits from both of
the worlds (digital and physical) – preserving the values of
acoustic instruments while applying digital control to their
structures.
1.1. Acoustic, Electric and Virtual Guitar
The design of a guitar is influenced by its cultural context. For
thousands of years lutes and afterwards guitars evolved: starting
with ancient instruments that were made out of natural chambers
(turtle shells, gourds), through fine handmade wooden chambers
[4] to electrically amplified guitars. Carfoot [7] presents and
analyzes the huge changes in guitar in the 20th century; electric
guitars, which use electricity in order to amplify instead of
chambers, evolved at mid century and were a part of the musical
revolution of Rock & Roll and its distortion sound.
The guitar has been influenced by electrical technologies. It is to
be expected that digital technologies will now take a significant
part in the guitar evolution. While sound design has been
conventionally done using digital software, expressive digital
instruments are starting to appear as well. The Line 6 Variax [5]
guitar gives a variety of preset sounds, from classic acoustic and
electric tones to sitar and banjo. It allows the player to plug into a
computer and customize a chosen tone. Expressive playing and
sound flexibility is enhanced with the digital guitar. Another
example is Fender’s VG Stratocaster [6], a hybrid electric and
digital guitar.
Carfoot uses the term virtual instead of digital. If digital defines
the type of process being done, virtual refers better to an
experience’s context. Like virtual reality, the virtual sound
created in digital environment imitates real life experience. This
experience feels like a natural experience to our senses, but it was
created with a computer model of that real life experience. In
sections 2 and 3 we present our approach using the virtual sound
experience in order to create a new physical guitar (a conceptual
work). In section 4 we present a different vision in which the
guitar can also preserve unique tune of a material (a work in
progress).
2. COMBINING VIRTUAL AND PHYSICAL IN GUITAR DESIGN
3D design, sound design and digital music software are becoming
common and easier to use. Their combination is leading to the
possibility of designing, simulating and printing objects according
to pre-required acoustic behavior
3. reACOUSTIC eGUITAR
Three perspectives are fundamental to the sound experience
created by a musical instrument: the listener, the performer and
the instrument constructor [12].
The vision of reAcoustic eGuitar invites players to become
creators of their acoustic instruments and their sounds with
endless possibilities for the sounds to be re-shaped. Players will
customize their own sounds by assembling different small
chambers instead of using a single large one. Each string has its
own bridge; each bridge is connected to a different chamber.
Changing the chamber size, material or shape will change the
guitar’s sound.
Designing sounds digitally allows the player to share the
experience of the constructor. This might lead in a change of
relationship between players and their instruments. Today rapid
prototype materials have a broad range of qualities. Players can
now take part in designing their own acoustic sounds, by
modifying the physical structure of their instruments, revealing
the characteristics of new materials (see Figure 1).
We created a simple chamber in rapid prototype process. This
chamber adds a significant amplification to a single string (see
Figure 2)1, even without optimizing acoustical parameters as
membrane thickness and sound box size.
In the reAcoustic eGuitar vision digital technology will be used to
design the acoustic guitar structure (see Figure 3 for a design
suggestion). It presents a novel sound design experience between
users, their objects and the digital environment.
Re-designing the guitar according to the characteristics of rapid
prototyping materials could lead to sound innovations. Open
source and shared files environments could create a reality in
which a player downloads or designs his own sound cells, and
plugs them to his instrument (see Figure 4).
Starting from virtual sound, getting the desired virtual shape and
then printing it, the reAcoustic eGuitar offers a new user
experience for the guitar player.
The main disadvantage of the reAcoustic eGuitar concept lies in
the rapid prototype process itself. The process is expensive and
doesn’t preserve uniqueness of tune as wood does. Perhaps in a
few years, 3D printers will become less expensive and more
accessible so this idea can be reconsidered.
4. A PHYSICAL RESONATOR FOR A VIRTUAL GUITAR
The former project led to a new vision, A Physical Resonator For
A Virtual Guitar. It is a concept of combining the values of the
virtual guitar with the uniqueness of the wooden acoustic guitar’s
tune. By doing so we can achieve expressive playability in a
unique tool that also enables the player to design the required
sound with the computer.
The uniqueness of a musical instrument influences more than just
its sound. By differing itself from other instruments, it assumes an
individual economic value and stabilizes a unique relationship
with its owner. The structure of the wood is the main reason for
the acoustic instrument’s unique behavior. The grain of the
soundboard [13], the wood’s humidity, the exact thickness and
more influence how it transfers different frequencies. Luthiers
[14,15] used their experience in order to tune the instrument by
making modification to the wood until it gave the required results.
A Physical Resonator For A Virtual Guitar focuses on the
influences of the chamber on the sound of the acoustic guitar. The
chamber’s main parameters are the shape and material [14,15].
The structure and shape can be virtually designed on a computer
and be used as a virtual chamber. The material will not be
synthesized or modulated. In this way we will get a hybrid
chamber – part of it is physical (the guitar’s resonator) and part of
it is virtual
A replaceable slice of the material (the guitar resonator) will be
connected to the guitar bridge using mechanism that enables easy
replacement. Piezo sensors will capture the frequencies being
developed on the guitar’s resonator. The signal will be transferred
to a digital signal-processing unit (DSP). The DSP will modify the
sound by simulating different chambers shapes and sizes,
thickness and surface smoothness.
By combining the virtual with the physical, we believe we can
preserve both worlds’ values. More than that, the new approach of
the physical resonator can play an important role in continuing the
traditional relationship between players and their unique
instruments. The digital part can be replaced and updated; the
resonators can be collected and saved. A player could take one
guitar body with many resonators, instead of a lot of guitars.
The use of a physical resonator is not limited to wood. The
resonator can also be created in a rapid prototype process; similar
to the concept presented in section
5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
We believe that the future of the guitar lies in the connection
between digital sound design and acoustic experience. Digital
processing can create new options for sound design, where the
acoustic part of the instrument will give the expressivity and
uniqueness of tune. The reAcoustic eGuitar concept is based on
rapid prototype techniques and 3D printers. This process is
expensive and not accessible to the majority of guitar players.
There is not enough knowledge and experience of using rapid
prototype for creating acoustic instruments. However, we believe
that this may be more feasible in the future.
The A Physical Resonator For A Virtual Guitar is a work in
progress. We believe that by creating a chamber that is part virtual
and part physical, we will preserve expressivity and uniqueness of
tune in digital sound design innovations. We intend to develop a
working model for A Physical Resonator For A Virtual Guitar.
This process will be divided into different parts - from mechanical
solution for the replaceable resonator through development of
piezo sensors system that will be able to capture the resonator
vibration in different locations. We also intend to develop a DSP
unit that will implement the digital modeling of the structure.
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Authors want to thank MIT Media Laboratory, Marco Coppiardi,
Cati Vaucelle, Nan-Wei Gong and Tamar Rucham or their help
and support
Download Rosmarry of song here
This paper presents a new approach for designing acoustic guitars,
making use of the virtual environment. The physical connection
between users and their instruments is preserved, while offering
innovative sound design. This paper will discuss two projects,
reAcoustic eGuitar, the concept of a digitally fabricated
instrument to design acoustic sounds, and A Physical Resonator
For a Virtual Guitar, a vision in which the guitar can also
preserve the unique tune of an instrument made from wood.
1. BACKGROUND
Each acoustic instrument made of wood is unique. Each piece of
wood is different, leading to uniqueness of tune of the acoustic
sound that is created. Both uniqueness and expressivity are the
most important characteristics of the acoustic instrument. Digital
instruments lack the uniqueness but usually allow more sound
flexibility [1], by offering digital sound processing or synthesis
[2].
Digital keyboard instruments have been significantly more
successful than bowed or plucked instruments, which suffered
from lack of expressivity and uniqueness of tune. On the one
hand, the digital instrument can add new interfaces, controllers
and sound abilities to the musical experience. On the other hand,
there is a significant cost for modeling the captured information
into a pre-defined digital structure. Besides the processing
problem, it usually leads to decreasing or canceling the
uniqueness of tune and expressivity of the instrument.
The main approach to deal with the expressivity problem lies in
the field of sound processing, instead of synthesis. One option to
this approach is to capture expressive signal and modify some
parameters while preserving the expressive behavior [3].
We come to suggest a different approach. We believe that
significant work can be done by combining benefits from both of
the worlds (digital and physical) – preserving the values of
acoustic instruments while applying digital control to their
structures.
1.1. Acoustic, Electric and Virtual Guitar
The design of a guitar is influenced by its cultural context. For
thousands of years lutes and afterwards guitars evolved: starting
with ancient instruments that were made out of natural chambers
(turtle shells, gourds), through fine handmade wooden chambers
[4] to electrically amplified guitars. Carfoot [7] presents and
analyzes the huge changes in guitar in the 20th century; electric
guitars, which use electricity in order to amplify instead of
chambers, evolved at mid century and were a part of the musical
revolution of Rock & Roll and its distortion sound.
The guitar has been influenced by electrical technologies. It is to
be expected that digital technologies will now take a significant
part in the guitar evolution. While sound design has been
conventionally done using digital software, expressive digital
instruments are starting to appear as well. The Line 6 Variax [5]
guitar gives a variety of preset sounds, from classic acoustic and
electric tones to sitar and banjo. It allows the player to plug into a
computer and customize a chosen tone. Expressive playing and
sound flexibility is enhanced with the digital guitar. Another
example is Fender’s VG Stratocaster [6], a hybrid electric and
digital guitar.
Carfoot uses the term virtual instead of digital. If digital defines
the type of process being done, virtual refers better to an
experience’s context. Like virtual reality, the virtual sound
created in digital environment imitates real life experience. This
experience feels like a natural experience to our senses, but it was
created with a computer model of that real life experience. In
sections 2 and 3 we present our approach using the virtual sound
experience in order to create a new physical guitar (a conceptual
work). In section 4 we present a different vision in which the
guitar can also preserve unique tune of a material (a work in
progress).
2. COMBINING VIRTUAL AND PHYSICAL IN GUITAR DESIGN
3D design, sound design and digital music software are becoming
common and easier to use. Their combination is leading to the
possibility of designing, simulating and printing objects according
to pre-required acoustic behavior
3. reACOUSTIC eGUITAR
Three perspectives are fundamental to the sound experience
created by a musical instrument: the listener, the performer and
the instrument constructor [12].
The vision of reAcoustic eGuitar invites players to become
creators of their acoustic instruments and their sounds with
endless possibilities for the sounds to be re-shaped. Players will
customize their own sounds by assembling different small
chambers instead of using a single large one. Each string has its
own bridge; each bridge is connected to a different chamber.
Changing the chamber size, material or shape will change the
guitar’s sound.
Designing sounds digitally allows the player to share the
experience of the constructor. This might lead in a change of
relationship between players and their instruments. Today rapid
prototype materials have a broad range of qualities. Players can
now take part in designing their own acoustic sounds, by
modifying the physical structure of their instruments, revealing
the characteristics of new materials (see Figure 1).
We created a simple chamber in rapid prototype process. This
chamber adds a significant amplification to a single string (see
Figure 2)1, even without optimizing acoustical parameters as
membrane thickness and sound box size.
In the reAcoustic eGuitar vision digital technology will be used to
design the acoustic guitar structure (see Figure 3 for a design
suggestion). It presents a novel sound design experience between
users, their objects and the digital environment.
Re-designing the guitar according to the characteristics of rapid
prototyping materials could lead to sound innovations. Open
source and shared files environments could create a reality in
which a player downloads or designs his own sound cells, and
plugs them to his instrument (see Figure 4).
Starting from virtual sound, getting the desired virtual shape and
then printing it, the reAcoustic eGuitar offers a new user
experience for the guitar player.
The main disadvantage of the reAcoustic eGuitar concept lies in
the rapid prototype process itself. The process is expensive and
doesn’t preserve uniqueness of tune as wood does. Perhaps in a
few years, 3D printers will become less expensive and more
accessible so this idea can be reconsidered.
4. A PHYSICAL RESONATOR FOR A VIRTUAL GUITAR
The former project led to a new vision, A Physical Resonator For
A Virtual Guitar. It is a concept of combining the values of the
virtual guitar with the uniqueness of the wooden acoustic guitar’s
tune. By doing so we can achieve expressive playability in a
unique tool that also enables the player to design the required
sound with the computer.
The uniqueness of a musical instrument influences more than just
its sound. By differing itself from other instruments, it assumes an
individual economic value and stabilizes a unique relationship
with its owner. The structure of the wood is the main reason for
the acoustic instrument’s unique behavior. The grain of the
soundboard [13], the wood’s humidity, the exact thickness and
more influence how it transfers different frequencies. Luthiers
[14,15] used their experience in order to tune the instrument by
making modification to the wood until it gave the required results.
A Physical Resonator For A Virtual Guitar focuses on the
influences of the chamber on the sound of the acoustic guitar. The
chamber’s main parameters are the shape and material [14,15].
The structure and shape can be virtually designed on a computer
and be used as a virtual chamber. The material will not be
synthesized or modulated. In this way we will get a hybrid
chamber – part of it is physical (the guitar’s resonator) and part of
it is virtual
A replaceable slice of the material (the guitar resonator) will be
connected to the guitar bridge using mechanism that enables easy
replacement. Piezo sensors will capture the frequencies being
developed on the guitar’s resonator. The signal will be transferred
to a digital signal-processing unit (DSP). The DSP will modify the
sound by simulating different chambers shapes and sizes,
thickness and surface smoothness.
By combining the virtual with the physical, we believe we can
preserve both worlds’ values. More than that, the new approach of
the physical resonator can play an important role in continuing the
traditional relationship between players and their unique
instruments. The digital part can be replaced and updated; the
resonators can be collected and saved. A player could take one
guitar body with many resonators, instead of a lot of guitars.
The use of a physical resonator is not limited to wood. The
resonator can also be created in a rapid prototype process; similar
to the concept presented in section
5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
We believe that the future of the guitar lies in the connection
between digital sound design and acoustic experience. Digital
processing can create new options for sound design, where the
acoustic part of the instrument will give the expressivity and
uniqueness of tune. The reAcoustic eGuitar concept is based on
rapid prototype techniques and 3D printers. This process is
expensive and not accessible to the majority of guitar players.
There is not enough knowledge and experience of using rapid
prototype for creating acoustic instruments. However, we believe
that this may be more feasible in the future.
The A Physical Resonator For A Virtual Guitar is a work in
progress. We believe that by creating a chamber that is part virtual
and part physical, we will preserve expressivity and uniqueness of
tune in digital sound design innovations. We intend to develop a
working model for A Physical Resonator For A Virtual Guitar.
This process will be divided into different parts - from mechanical
solution for the replaceable resonator through development of
piezo sensors system that will be able to capture the resonator
vibration in different locations. We also intend to develop a DSP
unit that will implement the digital modeling of the structure.
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Authors want to thank MIT Media Laboratory, Marco Coppiardi,
Cati Vaucelle, Nan-Wei Gong and Tamar Rucham or their help
and support
Download Rosmarry of song here
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