Objective
Musical keyboards are not just sound producers but environments whose exploration requires touch and tone to be integrated. The harpsichord, often caricatured as lacking nuance, in fact embodies subtle haptic-aural interactions, whose historical dimension – elusive due to the loss of perishable materials and oral traditions – is revived and renewed by today’s performers. eMIDAS (expanding Musical Interactions with a Digital Ambimodal Synthesiser) seeks to preserve and extend this intangible heritage by creating the first digital harpsichord coupling haptic feedback and sound synthesis.
The project has three aims: (1) design a digital twin of the harpsichord by integrating a haptic keyboard with physical-model sound synthesis; (2) introduce “virtual voicing”, enabling performers to adjust touch-tone features in real time; and (3) develop methods to assess the credibility of digital twins through performer-centred evaluation. Building on pioneering work in touch synthesis and the ERC-funded NEMUS project, eMIDAS goes beyond the state of the art by creating the first ambimodal synthesiser, allowing keyboard players to transcend the current touch-sound intertwinement afforded by the existing instruments.
The research combines musical acoustics, engineering, performance studies, and organology, supported by training and supervision at the University of Bologna and a secondment at the University of Pavia within the ERC Synergy project REM@KE. Partnership with the Bologna Conservatory will ensure professional harpsichordists and students inform prototype development and explore its potential.
eMIDAS will strengthen the fellow’s interdisciplinary profile at the crossroads of engineering and humanities, advancing expertise in physical modelling and cognitive research. Its impacts range from scholarly and artistic research to education, heritage, and the European creative industries, where ambimodal synthesis may become a driver of innovation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
40126 Bologna
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.