New Trends in Sound Synthesis and Automatic Tuning of Electronic Musical Instruments

Juan R. Aguilar¹     Renato Salinas²

[1] University of Santiago of Chile, Acoustical Engineer Ph.D. on Automation Program. Electrical Engineering, Department, Ave. Ecuador 3519. Santiago. Chile, Chileacus@hotmail.com.

[2] University of Santiago of Chile, Electrical Engineering Department, Ave. Ecuador 3519. Santiago. Chile. Rsalinas@lauca.usach.cl.

This paper is divided in two parts: first part corresponds to a review of newest sound synthesis techniques, while the second part contains the development of an automatic tuning system based on a fuzzy logic controller intended to emulate the human expertise in this field. As part of this work, two new concepts will be introduced: first, the idea of "tuning" a synthesized musical instrument, and second, the application of automatic tuning procedures by means of intelligent systems. If we consider the synthesis as a whole process which involves the reproduction of every aspect that determines the realistic sound of the musical instruments, tuning the synthesizer as a human expert does becomes meaningful.

Keywords: Sound Synthesis, Automatic Tuning, Musical Instruments.

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the kind participation of Mr. Ivan Trujillo, Piano Tuner, Mr. Cristobal Giesen from the Teatro Municipal de Santiago and Mr. Gabriel Tolosa, who collaborated in the realization of this research project. The second author (RS) also thanks the partial support provided by DICYT #069913SS.

References

[1] A. Chaigne and A. Askenfelt; "Numerical simulation of piano strings. I. A physical model for a struck string using finite difference methods". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 95 (2), February, 1994.

[2] A. Reblitz; "Piano servicing, tuning and rebuilding". The Vestal Press Ltd. New York, 1993.

[3] Edward Foote; "Historical tunings on the modern concert Grand Piano". http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/.

[4] Lefteri Tsoukalas, Robert Uhrigh; "Fuzzy and neural approaches in engineering". John Wiley and Sons, 1997.

[5] Michael Lee and David Wessel; "Real-Time Neuro-Fuzzy Systems for Adaptive Control of Musical Processes". ICMC. 1993.

Received november 19, 2003, accepted december 30, 2003