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University of Southampton Research Repository ePrints Soton Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk New Electronic Performance Instruments For Electroacoustic Music Dylan Menzies Department of Electronics, University of York A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. February 1999 Acknowledgements Thanks to my supervisor, David Howard, for enduring me for three years and making sure this thesis was finished on time and understandable. I am also grateful for the patient assistance provided by the technical support staff, particularly Ross Oliver. To room T223 and its past inhabitants I say farewell, and fondly remember time spent talking over countless cups of tea. Thanks to the Music Department for letting me use their facilities, and drill the occasional hole in a wall. I feel privileged to have made some good friends among the music postgraduates. May nerve8 continue to prosper! Finally, thanks to all my family. Abstract Musical performance is an ancient art form covering many different musical styles and instruments. Since the turn of the century the rise of electricity and then electronics has opened up opportunities to create and control sound in fundamentally new ways. This process continues today through the rapid development of computers. The use of modern technology in musical performance is first examined, focusing on the electroa- coustic style, and with reference to traditional forms of preformance. From this guidelines are con- structed for designing new performance instruments. The characteristics of traditional instruments play a central role in these guidelines. Four projects are then used to demonstrate how the principles can be incorporated with contemporary synthesis and spatialisation techniques. Considerable effort is devoted to the practical as well as theoretical aspects. Some CD recordings are included to illustrate the work. A broad range of practical techniques are developed, and deeper insights into the performance prob- lem are gained. The success of the designs supports the original design principles, in particular those based on traditional instruments. There remain practical obstacles to more widespread application of these ideas, but with time we may see the emergence of a new class of high quality electronic instrument. Contents 1 Introduction 2 2 Technological Developments in Musical Performance 5 2.1 Aspects of Performance Pre 1900 . 5 2.1.1 Classical Music . 5 2.1.2 Folk Music and Improvisation . 6 2.1.3 Changing Views Towards Performance . 6 2.2 New Technology . 7 2.2.1 Electricity . 7 2.2.2 Early Electronic Instruments . 7 2.2.3 Radio Broadcasting . 8 2.2.4 Recording . 8 2.2.5 Musique Concrete` . 9 2.2.6 Elektronische Musik . 9 2.2.7 The Growth Of Live Electronics . 10 2.2.8 Computer Music . 12 2.3 Recent Developments In Live Computer Performance . 15 2.3.1 Event Processing . 16 2.3.2 Signal Processing . 17 2.3.3 Hyperinstruments . 19 2.3.4 Commercial Physical Controllers . 20 i 2.3.5 Non-Commercial Physical Controllers . 23 2.4 Popular Music . 27 2.4.1 Recording and Live Concerts . 28 2.4.2 The Electric Guitar . 28 2.4.3 Synthesizers, MIDI . 29 2.4.4 Hiphop . 35 2.4.5 House . 36 2.4.6 Electronic Music . 36 2.5 Summary . 37 3 Acoustic Instruments 41 3.1 Idiophones . 42 3.1.1 The Vibraphone . 42 3.1.2 The Blues Harp . 42 3.2 Membranophones . 42 3.2.1 The Tabla . 42 3.3 Chordophones . 43 3.3.1 The Pianoforte . 43 3.3.2 The Violin . 44 3.3.3 The Guitar . 45 3.4 Aerophones . 46 3.4.1 The Saxophone . 47 3.4.2 The Oboe . 48 3.4.3 The Trumpet . 49 3.4.4 The Penny Whistle . 49 3.5 The Acoustic . 49 3.6 Summary . 50 4 Digital Signal Processing for Live Performance 53 ii 4.1 Abstract Algorithm Synthesis . 53 4.1.1 Additive Synthesis . 53 4.1.2 Waveshaping . 54 4.1.3 Amplitude Modulation (AM) . 54 4.1.4 Frequency Modulation (FM) . 55 4.1.5 FM-related Modulation . 56 4.2 Processed-Recording Synthesis . 56 4.2.1 Wavetable Synthesis . 56 4.2.2 Group Synthesis . 56 4.2.3 Granular Synthesis . 57 4.3 Spectral Synthesis . 57 4.3.1 Linear Predictive Coding . 57 4.3.2 FFT and The Phase Vocoder . 58 4.4 FOF and VOSIM . 58 4.5 Physical Modeling . 59 4.5.1 Cellular Models . 59 4.5.2 Waveguide Models . 59 4.5.3 Modal Models . 60 4.6 Effects Processing . 60 4.6.1 Delay . 61 4.6.2 Early Reflections and Reverberation . 61 4.6.3 Chorus . 61 4.6.4 Flange . 61 4.6.5 Pitch-shifting . 62 4.6.6 Vocoding . 62 4.6.7 Envelope following . 62 4.6.8 Gating . 62 iii 4.6.9 Compression . 63 4.6.10 Equalization . 63 4.6.11 Exciters . 63 4.6.12 AM and FM . 64 4.6.13 Granulation . 64 4.7 Spatialisation . 64 4.7.1 Live Electronic Diffusion . 65 4.7.2 Audio Engineering . 65 4.7.3 Huygens Principal . 65 4.7.4 Stereo . 66 4.7.5 Quadraphonics . 66 4.7.6 Dolby Surround . 67 4.7.7 Ambisonics . 67 4.7.8 Binaural Reproduction . 71 4.7.9 Transaural Stereo . 71 4.7.10 Hypersonic Sound . ..

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