Study of the relations between instrumentist and instrument in computer music

Abstract

Man-machine communication is a very decisive point in digital synthesis of sounds used as a musical creation tool. We are concerned here with the instrumental gesture aspect of this problem where gesture is regarded as the most basic form of the relationship. Two complementary axes of study are necessary: (1) Analysis of gesture in instrument-instrumentist relationship. An all important class of gestures is based on the energetical exchange between the instrumentist and his instrument. In such as case, the instrumentist receives information (by touch and dynamical perceptions) which determines his behavior and his listening. So we have built a special device for sound control, with mechanical feed-back, taking into account the fact that the gesture is simultaneously a transmitter and a receiver channel. (2) The carrying out of sound synthesis by means of concrete source simulation. The simulation system relies on a first analysis of the instrument as a combination of an exciter structure connected to a vibrating structure. The latter are then decomposed into elementary mechanical components. Algorithmic models for mechanical components then allow a representation by the computer programs that we have elaborated of the main types of phenomena encountered in traditional instruments.