Mobile Music, Sensors, Physical Modeling, and Digital Fabrication: Articulating the Augmented Mobile Instrument

Abstract

Two concepts are presented, extended, and unified in this paper: mobile device augmentation towards musical instruments design and the concept of hybrid instruments. The first consists of using mobile devices at the heart of novel musical instruments. Smartphones and tablets are augmented with passive and active elements that can take part in the production of sound (e.g., resonators, exciter, etc.), add new affordances to the device, or change its global aesthetics and shape. Hybrid instruments combine physical/acoustical and “physically informed” virtual/digital elements. Recent progress in physical modeling of musical instruments and digital fabrication is exploited to treat instrument parts in a multidimensional way, allowing any physical element to be substituted with a virtual one and vice versa (as long as it is physically possible). A wide range of tools to design mobile hybrid instruments is introduced and evaluated. Aesthetic and design considerations when making such instruments are also presented through a series of examples.

Keywords

• mobile music
• physical modeling
• musical instrument design