Playing the Violin Without a Violin - Violin Synthesis

The main focus of this project is not to duplicate the sound of a violin. But trying to get the sound is a good start. Dr. Matthias Demoucron from the ICRAM lab in Paris, France, had successfully created a virtual violin through “real-time synthesis”, which can be played by a violin bow (only the bow) or a graphic tablet. Dr. Demourcron modeled his virtual violin after observing the “physical qualities” of a real violin. The “physical qualities” mainly refer to the contact of the bow and the strings because the bow is the exciter of the violin. He investigated the violin’s bow and focus on three of the qualities, which are: the distance of the bow from the bridge, the velocity of the bow, the force of the bow.

Dr. Demourcron developed “bow force sensors” to detect the pressure, velocity, and acceleration of the bow. He also used motion capture to measure different positions of the bow relative to the violin. Based on the data, he created different gestures controls, such as sautille (bow bouncing on strings), staccato (accent bow strokes), and tremolo, to providing more realistic controls. Last, he used the violin’s bow as the controller to play the virtual violin (he preformed Gigue from the Partita 3 for violin solo by Bach).

However, my instrument will not be focusing on imitating the controls of the violin/cello, rather than the sound synthesis. Dr. Demourcron had already successfully modeled the sound of a violin, thus, his method would be an efficient way of investigating the sound wave of a violin/cello.

References
Dr. Matthias Demoucron's website about his project:
http://recherche.ircam.fr/equipes/instruments/demoucron/wrap.php?file=garde
See it in action on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIlqUm7sJwI