The Electronic Sitar Controller

Ajay Kapur, Ariel J. Lazier, Philip L. Davidson, Scott Wilson, and Perry R. Cook

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

• Year: 2004
• Location: Hamamatsu, Japan
• Pages: 7–12
• Keywords: atmel microcontroller,controller,electronic sitar,esitar,human computer interface,indian string controller,instrument graphical feedback,midi,veldt
• DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1176623 (Link to paper)
• PDF link

Abstract:

This paper describes the design of an Electronic Sitar controller, adigitally modified version of Saraswati's (the Hindu Goddess ofMusic) 19-stringed, pumpkin shelled, traditional North Indianinstrument. The ESitar uses sensor technology to extract gesturalinformation from a performer, deducing music information suchas pitch, pluck timing, thumb pressure, and 3-axes of head tilt totrigger real-time sounds and graphics. It allows for a variety oftraditional sitar technique as well as new performance methods.Graphical feedback allows for artistic display and pedagogicalfeedback. The ESitar uses a programmable Atmel microprocessorwhich outputs control messages via a standard MIDI jack.

Citation:

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{Kapur2004,
 abstract = {This paper describes the design of an Electronic Sitar controller, adigitally modified version of Saraswati's (the Hindu Goddess ofMusic) 19-stringed, pumpkin shelled, traditional North Indianinstrument. The ESitar uses sensor technology to extract gesturalinformation from a performer, deducing music information suchas pitch, pluck timing, thumb pressure, and 3-axes of head tilt totrigger real-time sounds and graphics. It allows for a variety oftraditional sitar technique as well as new performance methods.Graphical feedback allows for artistic display and pedagogicalfeedback. The ESitar uses a programmable Atmel microprocessorwhich outputs control messages via a standard MIDI jack.},
 address = {Hamamatsu, Japan},
 author = {Kapur, Ajay and Lazier, Ariel J. and Davidson, Philip L. and Wilson, Scott and Cook, Perry R.},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1176623},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 keywords = {atmel microcontroller,controller,electronic sitar,esitar,human computer interface,indian string controller,instrument graphical feedback,midi,veldt},
 pages = {7--12},
 title = {The Electronic Sitar Controller},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2004/nime2004_007.pdf},
 year = {2004}
}