record

Thesis Info

LABS ID
00082
Thesis Title
The sound of friction: real-time models, playability and musical applications
Author
Stefania Serafin
2nd Author
3rd Author
Degree
PhD
Year
2004
Number of Pages
224
University
Stanford University, CA
Thesis Supervisor
Prof. Julius O. Smith III
Supervisor e-mail
Other Supervisor(s)
Language(s) of Thesis
English
Department / Discipline
Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA)
Languages Familiar to Author
Italian, french, english
URL where full thesis can be found
www.media.aau.dk/people/sts/serafinthesis.pdf
Keywords
physical models, friction sounds
Abstract: 200-500 words
Friction, the tangential force between objects in contact, in most engineering applications needs to be removed as a source of noise and instabilities. In musical applications, friction is a desirable component, being the sound production mechanism of different musical instruments such as bowed strings, musical saws, rubbed bowls and any other sonority produced by interactions between rubbed dry surfaces. The goal of this dissertation is to simulate different instruments whose main excitation mechanism is friction. An efficient yet accurate model of a bowed string instrument, which combines the latest results in violin acoustics with the efficient digital waveguide approach, is provided. In particular, the bowed string physical model proposed uses a thermodynamic friction model in which the finite width of the bow is taken into account; this solution is compared to the recently developed elasto-plastic friction models used in haptics and robotics. Different solutions are also proposed to model the body of the instrument. Other less common instruments driven by friction are also proposed, and the elasto-plastic model is used to provide audio-visual simulations of everyday friction sounds such as squeaking doors and rubbed wine glasses. Finally, playability evaluations and musical applications in which the models have been used are discussed.