Augmenting Chordophones with Hybrid Percussive Sound Possibilities

In this paper we describe an approach for introducing new electronic percussive sound possibilities for string instruments by "listening" to the sounds of the instrument's body and extracting audio and data from the wood's acoustic vibrations. A method for capturing, localizing and analyzing the percussive hits on the instrument's body is presented, in connection with an audio-driven electronic percussive sound module. The system introduces a new gesture-sound relationship in the electric string instrument playing environment, namely the use of percussive techniques on the instrument's body which are null in regular circumstances due to selective and exclusive microphone use for the strings. Instrument body percussions are widely used in the acoustic instrumental praxis. They yield a strong potential for providing an extended soundscape via instrument augmentation, directly controlled by the musician through haptic manipulation of the instrument itself. The research work was carried out on the electric guitar, but the method used can apply to any string instrument with a resonating body.