Robot: Tune Yourself! Automatic Tuning for Musical Robotics

Jim Murphy, Paul Mathews, Ajay Kapur, and Dale Carnegie

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

This paper presents a method for a self-tuning procedure for musical robots capable of continuous pitch-shifting. Such a technique is useful for robots consisting of many strings: the ability to self-tune allows for long-term installation without human intervention as well as on-the-fly tuning scheme changes. The presented method consists of comparing a detuned string's pitch at runtime to a pre-compiled table of string responses at varying tensions. The behavior of the current detuned string is interpolated from the two nearest pre-characterized neighbors, and the desired virtual fret positions are added to the interpolated model. This method allows for rapid tuning at runtime, requiring only a single string actuation to determine the pitch. After a detailed description of the self-tuning technique and implementation, the results will be evaluated on the new Swivel 2 robotic slide guitar. The paper concludes with a discussion of performance applications and ideas for subsequent work on self-tuning musical robotic systems.

Citation:

Jim Murphy, Paul Mathews, Ajay Kapur, and Dale Carnegie. 2014. Robot: Tune Yourself! Automatic Tuning for Musical Robotics. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1178883

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{jmurphy2014,
 abstract = {This paper presents a method for a self-tuning procedure for musical robots capable of continuous pitch-shifting. Such a technique is useful for robots consisting of many strings: the ability to self-tune allows for long-term installation without human intervention as well as on-the-fly tuning scheme changes. The presented method consists of comparing a detuned string's pitch at runtime to a pre-compiled table of string responses at varying tensions. The behavior of the current detuned string is interpolated from the two nearest pre-characterized neighbors, and the desired virtual fret positions are added to the interpolated model. This method allows for rapid tuning at runtime, requiring only a single string actuation to determine the pitch. After a detailed description of the self-tuning technique and implementation, the results will be evaluated on the new Swivel 2 robotic slide guitar. The paper concludes with a discussion of performance applications and ideas for subsequent work on self-tuning musical robotic systems.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 author = {Jim Murphy and Paul Mathews and Ajay Kapur and Dale Carnegie},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1178883},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 pages = {565--568},
 publisher = {Goldsmiths, University of London},
 title = {Robot: Tune Yourself! Automatic Tuning for Musical Robotics},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2014/nime2014_345.pdf},
 year = {2014}
}