Experimental study of AO and T1 modes of the concert harp

String instruments are usually composed of a set of strings, a soundboard, and a soundbox with sound holes, which is generally designed to increase the sound level by using the acoustic resonances of the cavity. In the case of the harp, the soundbox and especially the sound holes are primarily designed to allow access to the strings for their mounting. An experimental modal analysis, associated to measurements of the acoustic velocity in the holes, shows the importance of two particular modes labeled A0 and T1 as it was done for the guitar and the violin. Their mode shapes involve coupled motions of the soundboard's bending and of the oscillations of the air pistons located in the sound holes. The A0 mode is found above the frequency of the lowest acoustically significant structural mode T1. Thus, the instrument does not really take advantage of the soundbox resonance to increase its radiated sound in low frequencies. However, contribution of mode A0 is clearly visible in the response of the instrument, confirming the importance of the coupling between the soundboard and the cavity.     

The structural dynamics of the American five-string banjo

The American five-string banjo is unique among musical instruments in that many significant parameters that effect tone are easily adjusted. This is probably why so many banjo players fiddle with their banjo. The instrument is a combination of canonical vibrating systems (strings, and a circular membrane) and therefore more amenable to analysis and modeling than most other musical instruments (e.g., the violin). Such an analysis is presented here. The model is a harmonically driven string which excites the other strings and a membrane under tension, causing the membrane to radiate sound. Three figures-of-merit, FOMs, are assumed. They are loudness, brightness, and decay of the sound. The effects of a number of parameters on the proposed FOMs are investigated. Among these are the loss factor and tension of the membrane, the mass of the bridge, and the location on the string of the excitation. It is noted that the calculated effects of the changes agree with generally accepted setup practices.     

Modal parameters of two incomplete and complete guitars differing in the bracing pattern of the soundboard

Similarities and differences in vibrational behavior of two guitars having a symmetric Torres bracing pattern and an asymmetric pattern forming a lattice on a soundboard are investigated by means of the modal analysis technique and laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) measurements. Instruments are investigated before and after a bridge and strings assembling (i.e., they are incomplete or complete). The bracing pattern and the absence/presence of the bridge and strings have some effect on modal frequencies and mode shapes. The bracing pattern does not affect the sequence of at least first three low frequency mode shapes of incomplete/complete instruments but affects their modal frequencies. Depending on frequency, the bridge behaves either as a rigid or a flexible structure.     

A platform for manipulation and examination of the acoustic guitar: The Chameleon Guitar

A platform for manipulation and examination the acoustic guitar is presented, based on a novel guitar design – the Chameleon Guitar – featuring a replaceable acoustic resonator functioning as the soundboard of the instrument. The goal of the design process is to create a tone as sonically close to that of a traditional guitar as possible, while maintaining an easily replaceable soundboard. An iterative, data driven approach was used, each design step coming under examination from one or more measurement tools: finite-element method, acoustic impulse testing, and laser vibrometry. Ideal resonator geometry, bridge location, and piezoelectric sensor positions were determined. The finished instrument was then examined with laser vibrometry to confirm earlier results, evaluate the behavior and chosen sensor positions for various tonewoods, and examine the acoustic effects of adding sensors and wax finish. The conclusions drawn are diverse and point to the significance of attention to detail in each step of instrument construction. For example, when changing instrument material from one softwood to another, ideal locations for piezoelectric sensors are subject to change. We conclude that detailed acoustic analysis can significantly aid in the construction of new instruments by quantifying the impact of instrument geometry and material properties.     

Acoustical properties of petung bamboo for the top plate of guitars

In this paper, the use of petung bamboo (Dendrocalamus asper) as an alternative material for the top plate of acoustic guitars was evaluated. In the first research stage, the analysis was carried out on petung bamboo splits, which were treated with three different preservation conditions, namely unpreserved, preserved by boiling in water and preserved by boiling in a solution of 5% borax and boric acid. The vibration damping ratios and the sound radiation coefficients of these three types of splits were measured. It was found that their vibration damping ratios were not significantly different, whereas the sound radiation coefficient of the petung bamboo splits preserved in borax and boric acid was 40–60% higher than the other two variants. Based on this result, in the second research stage, three acoustic guitars with top plates from the borax–boric acid preserved petung bamboo, spruce, and pine were constructed. The top plate frequency response function of the three guitars was evaluated. Here, the spruce guitar was used as a reference for the generally preferred guitar sound characteristics, whereas the pine guitar was included as a sample of guitar made from local Indonesian wood. The results showed that the frequency response function of the petung bamboo guitar were generally five times lower than that of the spruce guitar, but two times higher than that of the pine guitar. The response amplitudes of the bamboo guitar were significantly higher than those of the spruce and pine guitars for frequencies between 200 and 400 Hz. Based on the results, it is concluded that petung bamboo has the potential to be applied as an alternative material for guitar top plates. However, since the bamboo guitars exhibits different resonances, the produced sound will have distinctive characteristics compared to the sound from guitars with spruce top plates.     

Acoustics of the jarana jarocha

Some acoustical measurements on the jarana jarocha primera (first), a traditional Mexican instrument, a “one-piece” body instrument, in the coastal region of the Gulf of Mexico, are presented. Experimental mobility function, radiativity function, and some radiation patterns were obtained. Harmonic analysis and visualization techniques using both the finite element method and laser speckle-Chladni methods were made to obtain the lower deflection shapes of the soundboard. The experimental analysis using mobility function measurements of the lower resonances shows behaviour very similar to that observed in the classical guitar.     

The application of smart structures toward feedback suppression in amplified acoustic guitars

Smart structures technology can be applied to amplified acoustic guitars to prevent instability resulting from acoustic feedback. This work presents a coupled model of the guitar dynamics and the acoustic feedback mechanism, and explains how a simple control loop using a piezoelectric ceramic actuator can be used to reduce the effects of acoustic feedback. In addition to model simulations, experimental results using a real system and a simple controller are presented. The results show that a significantly higher (7 dB) guitar output can be achieved before instability, without detrimentally affecting the amplified and unamplified guitar response.     

Inharmonic strings and the hyperpiano

This paper describes a design procedure for a musical instrument based on inharmonic (nonuniform) strings. Fabricating nonuniform strings from commercially available strings constrains the possible string diameters, and hence the possible inharmonicities. Detailed simulations of the strings are combined with a measure of sensory dissonance (or roughness) to help narrow down the remaining possibilities. A particularly intriguing variation is a string that consists of three segments: two equal unwound segments surrounding a thicker wound portion. The corresponding musical scale, built on the 12th root of 4, is called the hyperoctave. A standard piano is modified to play in this tuning using these inharmonic strings; this instrument is called the hyperpiano.     

The violin: Chladni patterns,plates, shells and sounds

In this article we consider the vibrations and radiated sound of the bowed violin. The vibrations are discussed in terms of the normal modes of the instrument involving the coupled vibrations of the bowed string, the supporting bridge, the hollow shell comprising the body of the instrument and, ultimately, the acoustic modes of the performance space in which the instrument is played. We show that damping plays an important role in characterizing the normal modes in what can be distinguished as weak and strong coupling limits. The historic and modern application of Chladni pattern measurements to enhance our understanding of the acoustics and as an aid to the making of violins is highlighted, alongside the modern equivalents of experimental modal and computational finite-element analysis. The symmetry-breaking properties of the internal soundpost is shown to have a profound affect on the intensity and quality of sound radiated by the bowed instrument.     

弦音实验仪的设计与制作

自制了弦音实验装置,利用吉他的主体结构,设计了模仿人激励弦线的电子线路,同时测量了弦线的线密度、横波在弦线上的传播速度及弦线张力等参量.     

Some characteristics of the concert harp's acoustic radiation

The way a musical instrument radiates plays an important part in determining the instrument's sound quality. For the concert harp, the soundboard has to radiate the string's vibration over a range of 7 octaves. Despite the effort of instrument makers, this radiation is not uniform throughout this range. In a recent paper, Waltham and Kotlicki [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 124, 1774-1780 (2008)] proposed an interesting approach for the study of the string-to-string variance based on the relationship between the string attachment position and the operating deflection shapes of the soundboard. Although the soundboard vibrational characteristics determine a large part of the instrument's radiation, it is also important to study directly its radiation to conclude on the origins of the string-to-string variation in the sound production. This is done by computing the equivalent acoustical sources on the soundboard from the far field sound radiation measured around the harp, using the acoustic imaging technique inverse frequency response function. Results show that the radiated sound depends on the correlation between these sources, and the played string's frequency and location. These equivalent sources thus determine the magnitude and directivity of each string's partial in the far field, which have consequences on the spectral balance of the perceived sound for each string.     

Vibration measurements in the classical guitar

Some measurements are described that pertain to the high frequency behaviour of the vibrations of the string and soundboard of the guitar.Three isolated soundboards of different woods were compared with respect to their early decay times (by means of measurements of their vibrational impulse responses), in order to assess its possible use as an objective measure of the reverberation time of the plates. The results of all these measurements show that high frequency vibrations and radiation occurs significantly from 1 to 14 kHz, but that the sound radiation has harmonics at frequencies up to 20 kHz. This report does not produce any experimental evidence as to the importance of the high frequency region from the subjective point of view, or to the correlation of the subjective impression of reverberation of the plates with measured data of early decay times, as these aspects were not addressed at this point.     

Vibration of strings with nonlinear supports

The dynamic string motion, which displacement is unilaterally constrained by the rigid termination condition of an arbitrary geometry has been simulated and analyzed. The treble strings of a grand piano usually terminate at a capo bar, which is situated above the strings. The apex of a V-shaped section of the capo bar defines the end of the speaking length of the strings. A numerical calculation based on the traveling wave solution is proposed for modeling the nonlinearity inducing interactions between the vibrating string and the contact condition at the point of string termination. It was shown that the lossless string vibrates in two distinct vibration regimes. In the beginning the string starts to interact in a nonlinear fashion with the rigid terminator, and the resulting string motion is aperiodic. Consequently, the spectrum of the string motion depends on the amplitude of string vibrations, and its spectral structure changes continuously with the passage of time. The duration of that vibration regime depends on the geometry of the terminator. After some time of aperiodic vibration, the string vibrations settle in a periodic regime where the resulting spectrum remains constant.     

Efficient synthesis of tension modulation in strings and membranes based on energy estimation

String and membrane vibrations cannot be considered as linear above a certain amplitude due to the variation in string or membrane tension. A relevant special case is when the tension is spatially constant and varies in time only in dependence of the overall string length or membrane surface. The most apparent perceptual effect of this tension modulation phenomenon is the exponential decay of pitch in time. Pitch glides due to tension modulation are an important timbral characteristic of several musical instruments, including the electric guitar and tom-tom drum, and many ethnic instruments. This paper presents a unified formulation to the tension modulation problem for one-dimensional (1-D) (string) and two-dimensional (2-D) (membrane) cases. In addition, it shows that the short-time average of the tension variation, which is responsible for pitch glides, is approximately proportional to the system energy. This proportionality allows the efficient physics-based sound synthesis of pitch glides. The proposed models require only slightly more computational resources than linear models as opposed to earlier tension-modulated models of higher complexity.     

Vibroacoustic characteristics of a gothic harp

The "gothic" style of harp was popular across most of Europe from the late medieval period to the Renaissance. These harps have a one-piece, longitudinally oriented hardwood soundboard, as opposed to the transverse-oriented bonded softwood structure on a modern instrument. In addition, the one-piece back is flexible, whereas the back of a modern instrument is a rigid molded shell. To study the gothic harp, one was constructed from plans created by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts from a late German model in their collection. The vibrational behaviors of the soundboard and soundbox were measured at various stages of construction. The completed instrument was subjected to modal analysis and radiativity measurements. The sound radiation is dominated by two breathing modes at 188 and 273 Hz, each with strong motion of the back, and modes around 350 Hz. Taken together, these modes function like the A0/T1 resonance pairs seen in the soundboxes of other instruments, and a comparison is made with the guitar. Also observed is that as the frequency increases, radiation is emitted from higher up the soundboard, and from higher soundholes. This feature has been observed in other harps, and is a consequence of the harp family's unique geometry.     

Model-based sound synthesis of the guqin

This paper presents a model-based sound synthesis algorithm for the Chinese plucked string instrument called the guqin. The instrument is fretless, which enables smooth pitch glides from one note to another. A version of the digital waveguide synthesis approach is used, where the string length is time-varying and its energy is scaled properly. A body model filter is placed in cascade with the string model. Flageolet tones are synthesized with the so-called ripple filter structure, which is an FIR comb filter in the delay line of a digital waveguide model. In addition, signal analysis of recorded guqin tones is presented. Friction noise produced by gliding the finger across the soundboard has a harmonic structure and is proportional to the gliding speed. For pressed tones, one end of a vibrating string is terminated either by the nail of the thumb or a fingertip. The tones terminated with a fingertip decay faster than those terminated with a thumb. Guqin tones are slightly inharmonic and they exhibit phantom partials. The synthesis model takes into account these characteristic features of the instrument and is able to reproduce them. The synthesis model will be used for rule based synthesis of guqin music.     

Investigation of phase coupling phenomena in sustained portion of musical instruments sound

This work investigates aperiodicities that occur in the sustained portion of a sound of musical instrument played by a human player, due to synchronous versus asynchronous deviations of the partial phases. By using an additive sinusoidal analysis, phases of individual partials are precisely extracted and their correlation statistics and coupling effects are analyzed. It is shown that various musical instruments exhibit different phase coupling characteristics. The effect of phase coupling is compared to analysis by means of higher order statistics and it is shown that both methods are closely mathematically related. Following a detailed analysis of phase coupling for various musical instruments it is suggested that phase coupling is an important characteristic of a sustained portion of sound of individual musical instruments, and possibly even of instrumental families. Interesting differences in phase deviations where found for the flute, trumpet and cello. For the cello, the effect of vibrato is examined by comparing the analysis of a closed string sound played with a natural vibrato to analysis of an open string sound that contains no vibrato. Following, a possible model for phase deviations in the cello is presented and a simulation of phase fluctuations for this model is performed.