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SUMMARY:Psychoacoustic experiments with virtual violins - Dr Claudia Fritz
DTSTART:20060525T131500Z
DTEND:20060525T140000Z
UID:TALK5053@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lorisa Dubuc
DESCRIPTION:The ultimate aim of this research is to be able to answer the 
 typical question that a violin maker will ask: "What will happen to the so
 und if I change such-and-such a constructional detail?". To answer this qu
 estion\, we start by measuring the forces recorded by piezoelectric sensor
 s on a violin bridge\, while the violin is being played normally. These re
 cordings are stored as standard force functions\, which can then be applie
 d to different violins to hear how they sound without having to worry abou
 t any complications being caused by variations in playing. Instead of achi
 eving this by using a robotic violinist which repeats the same piece on a 
 variety of real violins\, the tests are virtual. The standard force functi
 ons are applied to a computer model\, which generates an accurate predicti
 on of the sound of the violin using digital filters.\n\nOnce the violin re
 sponse is represented in digital filter form\, it becomes very easy to mak
 e controlled variations of a kind which would be almost impossible to achi
 eve by physical changes to a violin. The typical process is to start from 
 the measured response of a chosen violin\, then use that as a basis for a 
 number of modified "virtual instruments" in which\, for example\, individu
 al resonances are changed in frequency\, amplitude or damping. Psychoacous
 tical test methods can then be used to find the threshold for detection of
  any particular change\, and also to obtain statistically significant data
  on quality judgements made by listeners.
LOCATION:Rainbow Room\, Computer Laboratory
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