A computer instrument based on a bioacoustic model of catacea clicks

Model-based sound synthesis generally focuses on providing tools for simulation of the sound production mechanisms in musical instruments for real-time sound synthesis. More recently, the same tools are being used for simulation of bioacoustical systems. The sound production anatomy and neurophysiology of animals are important subtopics in the study of sound in non-human animals. Although the musical potential of animal sounds has been recognized for a long time, the traditional means of musical usage of such sounds were quite limited. For instance, the animals sounds have been imitated by conventional instruments (such as piccolo imitation of bird songs), or more recently, by samplers. This paper documents the design of a virtual instrument that produces dolphin clicks. The design was motivated by a composition by Shinji Kanki for the Helsinki Computer Orchestra. The instrument is based on a simplified sound-source model derived from the acoustics of catacean clicks. It runs in real-time in CsoundAV, and can be controlled via a GUI. Besides their musical usage, such tools can be used in emerging subfields of musicology, e.g., zoömusicology. A distilled version of this paper will be submitted to Nordic Musicological Congress 2004. The designed instrument will be demonstrated during the presentation.