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Handheld Acoustic Filter Bank for Musical Control

Tamara Smyth

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

This paper introduces the design of a handheld musical input device that produces control data by measuring, and analyzing, the resonances of carefully tuned pipes. The device provides input control information to several virtual reed instruments running in parallel, responsible for producing the sound. Inspired by the khaen, a musical instrument from Northeast Thailand and Laos, the controller consists of a row of acoustic tubes, with finger holes that change the tube’s resonance when covered. Each tube is equipped with both a microphone recording the change in pressure variations at a set location along the tube. The mic outputs are mixed, and input to the computer via the mic level audio ports, allowing the controller to interface very reliably (and conveniently) to most laptop computers.

Citation

Tamara Smyth. 2006. Handheld Acoustic Filter Bank for Musical Control. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1177007 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry


@inproceedings{nime2006_Smyth,
author = {Smyth, Tamara},
title = {Handheld Acoustic Filter Bank for Musical Control},
pages = {314--317},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
year = {2006},
address = {Paris, France},
issn = {2220-4806},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1177007},
url = {https://nime.org/proceedings/2006/nime2006_314.pdf},
keywords = {khaen, sound synthesis control, mapping, musical acoustics },
abstract = {This paper introduces the design of a handheld musical input device that produces control data by measuring, and analyzing, the resonances of carefully tuned pipes. The device provides input control information to several virtual reed instruments running in parallel, responsible for producing the sound. Inspired by the khaen, a musical instrument from Northeast Thailand and Laos, the controller consists of a row of acoustic tubes, with finger holes that change the tube’s resonance when covered. Each tube is equipped with both a microphone recording the change in pressure variations at a set location along the tube. The mic outputs are mixed, and input to the computer via the mic level audio ports, allowing the controller to interface very reliably (and conveniently) to most laptop computers.}
}