During my first quarter at CCRMA I had the pleasure of taking Sasha Leitman’s class Physical Interaction Design for Music, where for the final project I created an augmented trumpet.

The keys to the design were:

  • To sample the instrument at the mouthpiece and the bell, using either or both to drive virtual instrument sound synthesis, allowing for more complex input than merely quantized pitch selection and air flow.
  • To have an intuitive interface that felt familiar to experienced trumpet players which allows for control of the virtual instrument in parallel, in or out of sync, with the physical one.
  • To leave the physical trumpet functioning as is, so the player could enjoy the benefit of the air column feedback to further support their existing playing expertise, and to be able to pass the natural trumpet sound through unchanged if desired.

The design and creation process were documented on the project page here:

https://ccrma.stanford.edu/wp/250a-fall-2016/khatzotzraash/

And here is a short video documentation with some playing at the end:

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