Real-time timbre control using waveguide synthesis
Dean Cannon · Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) · 2018
Waveguide synthesis is a method of physical modeling synthesis that can be used to digitally replicate acoustic instruments. Waveguides are made up of delay-lines and filters which are used to model an acoustic wave over time. This thesis examines how waveguide synthesis works and how it is used to create physical models of plucked string instruments. To implement these physical models, the EagenMatrix was used. The EagenMatrix is the internal synthesizer engine in the Haken Continuum Fingerboard that is programmed with a virtual patching matrix that allows the user to route different modules in the desired order while using dynamic formulas at each patch point to control the signal with the Continuum Fingerboard. This thesis first presents the Karplus-Strong algorithm and its extensions. Waveguide synthesis is explained next with the focus on its use for plucked string sounds and its connection to the Karplus-Strong algorithm. The Haken Continuum Fingerboard and the EaganMatrix are then introduced and explained. Multiple waveguide sounds on the Eagan Matrix are then examined to show how their models work and how a physical instrument can be used to control different parameters in real-time.