Michael Schreiner (www.MichaelSchreiner.eu)

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Virtual Violin

 

virtual vionlin. physical modeling synthesizer.

Together with the diploma student Christian Geiger a phyiscal modeling synthesizer was developped. It is implemented in C++ and realized as a VST-plugin, so that it can be used in many VST-hosts. The synthesizer is the realization of a physical model of the strings of a violin. The differential equations describing the motion of the strings are discretized using finite elements. Our method is different from the usual digital waveguides (see for example the web site of J. O. Smith). Our prototype has the following characteristics:

  • real-time solution of a transient non-linear FE-model.

  • The resonance body of the violin is simulated using FIR-filters (fast convolutions).

  • The discretization is done at the last stage, so that for example the contact bow-string or the stiffness of the strings can be included easily into the discretisation.

  • VST-Plugin with graphical user interface.

Our approach has in particular the advantage, that the dynamics at the start of the tone is very realistic. The pictures show the string after 10 ms and 100 ms, respectively. The dashed line marks the position of the bow. It can be seen easily, that at the beginnning of the tone, there are more harmonics, so that the typical scratching of the bow is audible.

 

 

 
 

after 10 ms

  

after 100 ms

  

 An animation of the first 250 ms of the bowed string can be obtained here (mpg, 1.5 MB).

And of course there are some examples to listen at:

  • Played legato, the virtual violin sounds like this: legato (mp3, 200 kB)

  • And played staccato like this: staccato (mp3, 50 kB)

  • It may happen with this model, (as it sometimes happens when plying a real violin) that the played tone changes into the first harmonic: oberton (mp3, 50 kB)

  • And a beginner may sound like this (when the pressure and the velocity of the bow are chosen badly): kratzen (mp3, 50 kB)

There are a lot of questions to be answered. If you are interested in a diploma or phd thesis in this field, do not hesitate to contact me.