physical modeling

Spicy Guitar is a free real-time acoustic guitar synthesis app for windows.

The Spicy Guitar project is the product of one year’s work by two students at the Ecole Centrale Paris:

“We wanted to combine our passion for music, specifically the guitar, with our experience in the sciences.”

Thanks to an original idea, we have developed a real-time sound synthesis software simulating acoustic guitar tones. It is based on physical modeling algorithms inspired by research works on modal synthesis, physical modeling, and convolution technology.

Since the mechanical and acoustic properties of the instrument are incorporated in our models, Spicy Guitar realistically simulates different guitars.

It is far from perfect, as we mainly focused our efforts on the synthesis method itself. Thus, you may find the playability to be basic, and you may experience some difficulties in using Spicy Guitar in your own compositions. But it is a good indication of the potential future of virtual acoustic instruments: more science and less use of samples!

Download here.

If you give Spicy Guitar a try, leave a comment with your thoughts!

We’ll admit it – this video of the V-Accordion Festival sort of freaked us out with its frightening majesty.

The technology behind Roland’s V-Accordion line, though, is pretty interesting – combining everything you know and love about accordions (Italian restaurants) with a slice of MIDI-controlled synth action. It does orchestral sounds, physical behavior modeling and has MIDI out for controlling Live, your bent Casio or whatever freaky gear you get your synth on with.

Anyway – Roland has announced an accordion contest, with the grand prize being a trip to Rome to jam with the V-Accordion babes at the V-Accordion festival.

Note: they actually make no mention of V-Accordion babes in the contest rules, but if you play the accordion, you can dream.

This is a demo of the biphonic vintage breath controlled physical-modeling synthesizer Yamaha VL-1.

Sound On Sound’s review of the Yamaha VL-1 said:

This is one of the most desirable instruments I have ever heard. I can see some session players earning lots of money from the VL1 — and that is probably where it sits in the market: for serious professionals only. The rest of us can sit and bite our fingernails hoping that a more affordable version does not appear to tempt us (but it probably will, eventually)!

Read more…

This video captures a demo of Randy Jones’ $50 multi-touch interface prototype – an 8 x 8 touch sensitive array sampled at 1300 Hz. 

The project is part of Jones’ M.Sc Thesis, Intimate Control for Physical Modeling Synthesis.

Abstract:

Physical modeling synthesis has proven to be a successful method of synthesizing realistic sounds, but providing expressive controls for performance remains a major challenge. This thesis presents a new approach to playing physical models, based on multidimensional signals. Its focus is on the long-term research question, “How can we make a computer-mediated instrument with control intimacy equal to the most expressive acoustic instruments?” In the material world, the control and sounding properties of an instrument or other object are intimately linked by the object’s construction. Multidimensional signals, used as connections between a gestural controller and a physical model, can in principle provide the same intimacy. This work presents a new, low-cost sensor design capable of generating a 2D force signal, a new implementation of the 2D digital waveguide mesh, and two experimental computer music instruments that combine these components using different metaphors. The new instruments are evaluated in terms of intimacy, playability and plausibility. Multidimensional connections between sensors and a physical model are found to facilitate a high degree of control intimacy, and to reproduce as emergent behavior some important phenomena associated with acoustic instruments.

[PDF]

via Make

NUSofting has released Modelonia Physical Modeling Synth v1.7.0.6.

Modelonia is a physical-modeling synthesizer that uses a hybrid of two distinct model ‘types’-

a plucked-string model, and a blown-bore (ie trumpet-type) model. Each model may be used simultaneously, and the signal path allows cross-modulation between the two models for more interesting and complex tones.

Preview the sound of Modelonia below:

 

 Modelonia demo [0:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

More demos are available at the NUSofting site.

Whats new:

• The 128 presets by Xenos explore new synthetic textures thanks to the Modelonia hybrid modeling
• Further engine optimization and stabilization
• Graphics updated
• Mac version for PPC and intel machines,